Editing Republics of the Soviet Union (section)

== Overview ==
[[File:Rouble-1961-Paper-1-Reverse.jpg|thumb|400px|Reverse of the 1-ruble note of the 1961 series, with the value in all the official languages of the Union Republics]]
{{see also|National delimitation in the Soviet Union|Korenizatsiya|Religion in the Soviet Union}}
Chapter 8 of the [[1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union|1977 Soviet Constitution]] is titled as the "Soviet Union is a union state". Article 70 stated that the union was founded on principles "socialist federalism" as a result of free [[self-determination]] of nation and volunteer association of equal in rights soviet socialist republics. Article 71 listed all of 15 union republics that united into the Soviet Union.

According to Article&nbsp;76 of the [[1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union|1977 Soviet Constitution]], a Union Republic was a sovereign Soviet socialist state that had united with other Soviet Republics in the USSR. Article&nbsp;78 of the Constitution stated that the territory of the union republic cannot be changed without its agreement. Article&nbsp;81 of the Constitution stated that "the sovereign rights of Union Republics shall be safeguarded by the USSR".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K6Gt3FE5YHMC |title=Federalism and the Dictatorship of Power in Russia By Mikhail Stoliarov|page=56|isbn=978-0-415-30153-4 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |date=2014 |access-date=18 February 2014}}</ref>

In the final decades of its existence, the [[Soviet Union]] officially consisted of fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs). All of them, with the exception of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] (until [[Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|1990]]), had their own local [[Communist party|party chapters]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|All-Union Communist Party]].

In 1944, amendments to the [[1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union|All-Union Constitution]] allowed for separate branches of the [[Red Army]] for each Soviet Republic. They also allowed for Republic-level commissariats for foreign affairs and defense, allowing them to be recognized as ''[[de jure]]'' independent states in international law. This allowed for two Soviet Republics, [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukraine]] and [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussia]], (as well as the USSR as a whole) to join the [[United Nations General Assembly]] as founding members in 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NAQtAAAAIBAJ&pg=3477,829499&hl=en |title=Walter Duranty Explains Changes In Soviet Constitution |work=Miami News |date=6 February 1944 |access-date=18 February 2014 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1944.htm |title=League of Nations Timeline – Chronology 1944 |publisher=Indiana.edu |access-date=18 February 2014 |archive-date=15 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615123043/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1944.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/depts/dhl/unms/founders.shtml |title=United Nations – Founding Members |publisher=Un.org |access-date=18 February 2014}}</ref>

The Soviet currency [[Soviet ruble]] banknotes all included writings in national languages of all the 15 union republics.

All of the former Republics of the Union are now independent countries, with ten of them (all except the [[Baltic states]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Ukraine]]) being very loosely organized under the heading of the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]]. The [[Baltic states]] assert that their incorporation into the Soviet Union in 1940 (as the [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic|Lithuanian]], [[Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic|Latvian]], and [[Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic|Estonian SSRs]]) under the provisions of the 1939 [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] was [[Violation of law|illegal]], and that they therefore remained independent countries under Soviet occupation.<ref name="Latvia">{{cite web|url=http://www.am.gov.lv/en/latvia/history/occupation-aspects|title=The Occupation of Latvia at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia|publisher=Am.gov|access-date=31 October 2007|archive-date=24 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124083521/http://www.am.gov.lv/en/latvia/history/occupation-aspects/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Their position is supported by the [[European Union]],<ref name="EU">[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+MOTION+B6-2007-0215+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN Motion for a resolution on the Situation in Estonia] by the [[European Union|EU]]</ref> the [[European Court of Human Rights]],<ref name="Court">[[European Court of Human Rights cases on Occupation of Baltic States]]</ref> the [[United Nations]] [[United Nations Human Rights Council|Human Rights Council]]<ref name="UN">{{cite web|url=http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?c=62&su=70 |title=UNITED NATIONS Human Rights Council Report |publisher=Ap.ohchr.org |access-date=18 February 2014}}</ref> and the [[United States]].<ref name="USA">{{cite web |title=U.S.-Baltic Relations: Celebrating 85 Years of Friendship |url=http://merln.ndu.edu/archivepdf/EUR/State/86539.pdf |date=14 June 2007 |publisher=U.S. Department of State |access-date=29 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819185542/http://merln.ndu.edu/archivepdf/EUR/State/86539.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In contrast, the [[Government of Russia|Russian government]] and state officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of the [[Baltic states]] was legitimate.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4517683.stm Russia denies Baltic 'occupation'] by [[BBC News]]</ref>

{{Anchor|Constitutional status}}
Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a [[federation]]. In accordance with provisions present in [[Constitution of the Soviet Union|its Constitution]] (versions adopted in 1924, 1936 and 1977), each republic retained the right to [[secession|secede]] from the USSR. Throughout the [[Cold War]], this right was widely considered to be meaningless; however, the corresponding Article&nbsp;72 of the 1977 Constitution was used in December 1991 to effectively dissolve the Soviet Union, when [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]], and [[Belarus]] seceded from the Union. Although the Union was [[History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)#Creation of the USSR|created]] under an initial [[ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|ideological]] appearance of forming a [[supranational union]], it never [[de facto]] functioned as one; an example of the ambiguity is that the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]] in the 1930s officially had its own [[foreign minister]], but that office did not exercise any true [[sovereignty]] apart from that of the union. The [[Constitution of the Soviet Union]] in its various iterations defined the union as a [[federation]] with the right of the republics to [[secession|secede]]. This constitutional status led to the possibility of the [[parade of sovereignties]] once the republic with de facto (albeit not de jure) dominance over the other republics, [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|the Russian one]], developed a prevailing political notion asserting that it would be better off if it seceded.<!--This notion would later be widely viewed as mistaken even by Russian nationalists, but Russian imperialism had flip-flopped on which denigratory view it most preferred for the others: from useful vassals to alleged welfare-queen moochers and then back again.--> The de facto dominance of the Russian republic is the reason that various historians (for example, [[Dmitri Volkogonov]] and others) have asserted that the union was a [[unitary state]] in fact albeit not in law.<ref name="Volkogonov-1998">{{cite book |last1=Volkogonov |first1=Dmitri Antonovich |authorlink=Dmitri Volkogonov |title=Autopsy for an Empire: the Seven Leaders who Built the Soviet Regime |date=1998 |publisher=Free Press/Simon and Schuster |location=New York |isbn=9780684834207}}</ref>{{rp|71,483}}<ref name="Butler-2002">{{cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=William E. |last2=Kahn |first2=Jeffrey |title=Federalism or Federationism. A book review of: ''Federalism, Democratization and the Rule of Law in Russia'' by Jeffrey Kahn |journal=Michigan Law Review |date=May 2002 |volume=100 |issue=6 |pages=1444–1452 |doi=10.2307/1290449|jstor=1290449 }}</ref>

In practice, the USSR was a highly centralised entity from its creation in 1922 until the mid-1980s when political forces unleashed by reforms undertaken by [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] resulted in the loosening of central control and [[dissolution of the Soviet Union|its ultimate dissolution]]. Under the constitution adopted in 1936 and modified along the way until October 1977, the political foundation of the [[Soviet Union]] was formed by the Soviets (Councils) of People's Deputies. These existed at all levels of the administrative hierarchy with the Soviet Union as a whole under the nominal control of the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Supreme Soviet of the USSR]], located in [[Moscow]] within the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]].

Along with the state administrative hierarchy, there existed a parallel structure of party organizations, which allowed the [[Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee|Politburo]] to exercise large amounts of control over the republics. State administrative organs took direction from the parallel party organs, and appointments of all party and state officials required approval of the central organs of the party.

Each republic had its own unique set of state symbols: a [[Flags of the Soviet Republics|flag]], a [[Emblems of the Soviet Republics|coat of arms]], and, with the exception of [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russia]] until 1990, an [[Regional anthems of the Soviet Union|anthem]]. Every republic of the Soviet Union also was awarded with the [[Order of Lenin]].
<gallery class="center" perrow="6">
File:E7901-Bishkek-museum-Lenin-carpet.jpg|A hall in [[Bishkek]]'s Soviet-era Lenin Museum decorated with the flags of [[Soviet republic (system of government)|Soviet Republics]]
File:USSRRepublicsPoster.jpg|Poster of the unity of the Soviet republics in the late 1930s. All republics, except [[Russia]], are shown with their respective traditional clothes.
File:Ltsr plakatas 1946 tsrs.jpg|Poster of the unity of the Soviet republics in 1946. Note that the map also points out the [[Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic|Karelo-Finnish SSR]] capital, [[Petrozavodsk]].
</gallery>