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Soviet Union [USSR] Chapter 8. Government Structure and Functions
THE GOVERNMENT OF the Soviet Union administered the country's
economy and society. It implemented decisions made by the leading
political institution in the country, the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union (CPSU).
In the late 1980s, the government appeared to have many
characteristics in common with Western, democratic political
systems. For instance, a constitution established all organs of
government and granted to citizens a series of political and civic
rights. A legislative body, the Congress of People's Deputies, and
its standing legislature, the Supreme Soviet, represented the
principle of popular sovereignty. The Supreme Soviet, which had an
elected chairman who functioned as head of state, oversaw the
Council of Ministers, which acted as the executive branch of the
government. The chairman of the Council of Ministers, whose
selection was approved by the legislative branch, functioned as
head of government. A constitutionally based judicial branch of
government included a court system, headed by the Supreme Court,
that was responsible for overseeing the observance of Soviet law by
government bodies. According to the Constitution of 1977, the
government had a federal structure, permitting the republics some
authority over policy implementation and offering the national
minorities the appearance of participation in the management of
their own affairs.
In practice, however, the government differed markedly from
Western systems. In the late 1980s, the CPSU performed many
functions that governments of other countries usually perform. For
example, the party decided on the policy alternatives that the
government ultimately implemented. The government merely ratified
the party's decisions to lend them an aura of legitimacy. The CPSU
used a variety of mechanisms to ensure that the government adhered
to its policies. The party, using its
nomenklatura (see Glossary) authority, placed its
loyalists in leadership positions
throughout the government, where they were subject to the norms of
democratic centralism (see Glossary). Party bodies closely
monitored the actions of government ministries, agencies, and
legislative organs.
The content of the Soviet Constitution differed in many ways
from typical Western constitutions. It generally described existing
political relationships, as determined by the CPSU, rather than
prescribing an ideal set of political relationships. The
Constitution was long and detailed, giving technical specifications
for individual organs of government. The Constitution included
political statements, such as foreign policy goals, and provided a
theoretical definition of the state within the ideological
framework of
Marxism-Leninism (see Glossary). The CPSU could
radically change the constitution or remake it completely, as it
has done several times in the past.
The Council of Ministers acted as the executive body of the
government. Its most important duties lay in the administration of
the economy. The council was thoroughly under the control of the
CPSU, and its chairman--the prime minister--was always a member of
the Politburo
(see Soviet Union USSR - Politburo
, ch. 7). The council, which in 1989
included more than 100 members, is too large and unwieldy to act as
a unified executive body. The council's Presidium, made up of the
leading economic administrators and led by the chairman, exercised
dominant power within the Council of Ministers.
According to the Constitution, as amended in 1988, the highest
legislative body in the Soviet Union was the Congress of People's
Deputies, which convened for the first time in May 1989. The main
tasks of the congress were the election of the standing
legislature, the Supreme Soviet, and the election of the chairman
of the Supreme Soviet, who acted as head of state. Theoretically,
the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet wielded
enormous legislative power. In practice, however, the Congress of
People's Deputies met only a few days in 1989 to approve decisions
made by the party, the Council of Ministers, and its own Supreme
Soviet. The Supreme Soviet, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet,
the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, and the Council of Ministers
had substantial authority to enact laws, decrees, resolutions, and
orders binding on the population. The Congress of People's Deputies
had the authority to ratify these decisions.
The government lacked an independent judiciary. The Supreme
Court supervised the lower courts and applied the law, as
established by the Constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme
Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the
constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet Union lacked an
adversary court procedure. Under Soviet law, which derived from
Roman law, a
procurator (see Glossary) worked together with a judge
and a defense attorney to ensure that civil and criminal trials
uncovered the truth of the case, rather than protecting individual
rights.
The Soviet Union was a federal state made up of fifteen
republics joined together in a theoretically voluntary union. In
turn, a series of territorial units made up the republics. The
republics also contained jurisdictions intended to protect the
interests of national minorities. The republics had their own
constitutions, which, along with the
all-union (see Glossary)
Constitution, provide the theoretical division of power in the
Soviet Union. In 1989, however, the CPSU and the central government
retained all significant authority, setting policies that were
executed by republic, provincial
(
oblast,
krai--see Glossary, and autonomous subdivision), and
district
(
raion-- see Glossary) governments.
Data as of May 1989
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