Soviet (council) - Citizendia

For other uses, see Soviet (disambiguation).

A soviet (Russian: сове́т, Russian pronunciation: [sɐˈvʲɛt], "council"^[1]) originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages A workers' council is a Deliberative assembly, composed of Working class members intended to institute Workers' self-management or Workers' control The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya According to the official historiography of the Soviet Union, the first Soviet (in this sense) was organized during the 1905 Russian Revolution in Ivanovo (Ivanovo region) in May 1905. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 See also Russian Revolution (1917 The 1905 Russian Revolution also known as the Failed Russian Revolution of 1905 was an empire-wide struggle of Ivanovo (Ива́ново is a city and the administrative center of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. However in his memoirs Volin claims that he witnessed the creation of the St Petersburg Soviet in Saint Petersburg in January 1905. Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum ( August 11, 1882 - September 18, 1945) known in later life as Volin or (the spelling he used himself St Petersburg Soviet of Worker's Delegates was a Workers' council, or soviet in St Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River The councils were later adopted by the Bolsheviks, as the basic organizing unit of society. The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction

Originally the soviets were a grassroots effort to practice direct democracy. For other meanings see Grass roots (disambiguation. A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a Political movement Direct Democracy is a movement within the British Conservative Party dedicated to localism and Constitutional reform as a means of reviving public Russian Marxists made them a medium for organizing against the state, and between the February and October Revolutions, the Petrograd Soviet was a powerful force. The February Revolution (Февральская революция in 1917 in Russia was the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The October Revolution (Октябрьская революция Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya) also known as the Soviet Revolution The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, usually called the Petrograd Soviet, was the soviet (workers' council in Petrograd (Saint The slogan Вся власть советам ("All power to the soviets" or "All power to the workers' councils") was popular in opposing the Provisional Government led by Kerensky. The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd in 1917 after the February Revolution and the Abdication Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский Aleksandr Fjëdorovich Kerenskij) ( June 11, 1970) served

Shortly after the October Revolution, the soviets, as organized into a larger body, formed the new basis for governing the post-revolutionary society through soviet democracy. The October Revolution (Октябрьская революция Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya) also known as the Soviet Revolution For the Soviet republics of the Soviet Union see Republics of the Soviet Union. All parties were united in anticipation of a Constituent Assembly. The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное Собрание Vserossiiskoe Uchreditelnoe Sobranie was a democratically elected constitutional However, a year of debate and discussion within the Bolshevik party resulted in a significant change in party policy. The Bolsheviks adopted the position that the Constituent Assembly was a bourgeois-democratic institution, and counterpoised to it the direct mode of workers' democracy represented by the Soviets. Thus, the post-October Constituent Assembly was dissolved with the mass support of the urban working class (the restoration of the Constituent Assembly soon became the slogan of some of the more liberal Whites in the Russian Civil War). The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное Собрание Vserossiiskoe Uchreditelnoe Sobranie was a democratically elected constitutional The White movement (Beloie Dvijenie Белое движение whose military arm is known as the White Army (Belaia Armia Белая Армия or White Guard The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed The Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries together held a majority of seats in the Congress of Soviets and formed a coalition government, which lasted until the Left Socialist Revolutionaries left the coalition in the summer 1918. Over time, the independence of the soviets was supplanted by the top-down authority of the increasingly bureaucratized ruling regime, based on the strict hierarchy of power within the CPSU. Despite this, the claim was still made after the rise of Stalinism that Bolshevik power rested on the collective will of these soviets. Stalinism is the political regime named after Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1929–1953

The term also came to be used outside the Soviet Union by some Marxist-Leninist movements, for example, the Communist Party of China's efforts in the "Chinese Soviet Republic" immediately prior to the Long March. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Marxism-Leninism is a Communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream tendency amongst the Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the The Chinese Soviet Republic ( it is also translated as the Soviet Republic of China or the China Soviet Republic, though it is generally referred to in The Long March ( was a massive Military retreat undertaken by the Red Armies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP the forerunner of the People's Liberation

Based on the view of the state implicit in the Bolshevik use of the term, the word "soviet" naturally extended, or consciously was extended, to mean in effect any body formed by a group of soviets to delegate, up a hierarchy of soviets, the authority to express and effect their will. In this sense, post-Kerensky government bodies at local and republic levels (but in the Russian federated republic, local, republic, and federated republic levels) were called "soviets", and at the top of the hierarchy, the Congress of Soviets was the nominal core of the Union government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, officially formed in December 1922. The Republics of the Soviet Union were according to the Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Sovereign Soviet Socialist states that had united with other Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union in two periods from 1917 to 1936 and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Footnotes

^ Ukrainian: рада (rada); Belarusian: савет; Uzbek: совет; Kazakh: совет/кеңес; Azerbaijani: совет; Lithuanian: taryba; Moldovan: совиет; Latvian: padome; Kyrgyz: совет; Estonian: nõukogu

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See also