Talk:Soviet Union

Wiki Education assignment: Shaping of the Modern World

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 26 January 2026 and 15 May 2026. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Glenn Khan35 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: ScythianCossack.

— Assignment last updated by DocBui (talk) 18:43, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

suggested lead changes

shall we consider the following

It wielded the world's largest arsenals of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. ive added three body paragraphs for this now, including mentioning the cw relevance to nato, not that it really matters to lead noteworthiness whether nato knew.

Its space program made extensive achievements in the Space Race, including the first artificial satellite and first human spaceflight. imo generically saying "significant achievements" in the lead is pretty worthless. you could make an argument for and first space stations as well but i won't push it.

Soviet culture was influenced by the official socialist realism style and later underground samizdat publications. this one obviously not ideal, could definitely cut the last five words. but it is an article about a country. culture is a top-level heading. you must have at least one line on it otherwise its a very poorly rounded lead. Doeze (talk) 21:55, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Not that long ago the history section was split because the article was too long. We now have a very short history section that inadequately summarizes history. Instead of expanding the other sections (to cram more details into the lead), we need to give an adequate summary of history and trim the other sections if necessary. Mellk (talk) 23:21, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Lead needs to state what the 'Soviet' in Soviet Union refers to: Ideological basis on Soviets (workers' councils)

I had made the following addition to the lead, before it was undone by user Altenmann. The addition is highlighted in bold:

"A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, ideologically based on soviets (workers’ councils), with the Russian SFSR being the largest and most populous republic.

Something like this necessarily explains what 'Soviet' in Soviet Union (or USSR) refers to, which is very important that its stated in the lead in a brief manner as above. I had made this edit, before it was undone by Altenmann without proper elaboration for why. If anyone wants to have a go at making this article's lead remotely close to NPOV, before they get shot down by another English wikipedia editor without elaboration, please be my guest, as I really believe this is a necessary addition. Aren Noronha (talk) 09:22, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

@Aren Noronha I get it, but you formulated it incorrectly. It was called the Soviet Union since the state was organised on a unitary system of soviets headed at its apex by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in accordance with unified state power and democratic centralism. TheUzbek (talk) 09:33, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

I see; I am no expert in this matter. I think it would still be useful to mention the soviets somewhere in the lead, in a way that is formulated satisfactorily. Maybe using the phrasing "initially based on soviets". Let me know what you think. Aren Noronha (talk) 11:09, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

After a good nights' sleep (and a fix in the lede of "Soviet (council)") I see how your addition may be fixed: a separate sentence must be added stating politically based on the hierarchy of soviets (councils), ideologically based on Marxism-Leninism, with centralized command economy, or something like this (any other major aspects?). --Altenmann >talk 14:44, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

Thank you, I appreciate the suggestion. Your framing is quite good, and slightly reframing it, it could be: Politically, it was based on a hierarchy of soviets(councils) and governed under the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, with a centralized command economy.

The only question is where to best insert this line and how to avoid restating things in the lede. The following line already exists in the first para, stating the centralized planned economy: In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized.

I still think it's worth mentioning these key defining things in the first para of the lede, which seems to be doing all the heavy lifting in initially explaining what the Soviet Union was, and still has much to improve. Just throwing in another small suggestion, the line "It was the world's third-most populous country, the largest by area, and bordered twelve countries" could go towards the end of the first para as it seems more secondary to me. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Aren Noronha (talk) 11:43, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

I was having a look at the Russian-language version of this same Wikipedia article, and I found that there's many things stated in its lede section that aren't stated anywhere in this entire English-language article. It may be worth looking into. Here is an English-translation of the lede/intro section (with relevant parts highlighted) of the Russian Wikipedia article for Soviet Union:

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics[~10] (Soviet Union, USSR) was a state in Eastern Europe and Northern and Central Asia that existed from 30 December 1922 to 26 December 1991.[3]

It was formed following the end of the Civil War (1917–1922) on the basis of the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR.[3] Soviet republics were not established in Finland, part of Poland, the Baltic states, and certain other territories of the former Russian Empire. The constitutions of the USSR were adopted in 1924, 1936, and 1977.[3] Power in the USSR (Soviet power) was formally based on a system of soviets of people’s deputies — representative organs of authority operating at all levels of state power and administration[4] — which, according to the ideology of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, were meant to express the interests of the working masses and serve as the foundation for the construction of socialism. In practice, power was centralized and belonged to the top leadership of the ruling party of the USSR — the Communist Party of the Soviet Union — as well as the Soviet nomenklatura.[4][5] The state was declared to be a federal union,[3] although contemporary legal scholarship regards the USSR as effectively a unitary state or a pseudo-federation.[6]

On 22 June 1941, Germany, with the support of its allies, attacked the USSR. The Great Patriotic War began, and after its victory in the war the USSR became, alongside the United States, a superpower.[7][8][9][10] The Soviet Union dominated the world socialist system and was also a co-founder of the United Nations, a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto power.

According to the provisions of the 1977 Constitution, the USSR was proclaimed a unified union multinational[11] socialist[12] state. The union republics were considered sovereign states.[13] From 1990 onward, the procedure for republics leaving the Union was regulated by a special law. A union republic had the right to enter into relations with foreign states, conclude treaties with them and exchange diplomatic and consular representatives, and participate in the activities of international organizations.[14] Among the 50 founding countries of the United Nations, alongside the USSR itself, were two of its union republics: the Byelorussian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1987, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev initiated Perestroika, major reforms aimed at democratizing the country. By some measures, the Soviet economy was the second largest in the world in 1990, but for many years there had been shortages of consumer goods and economic stagnation, which Perestroika only aggravated. The political situation inside the country and abroad, along with economic and other factors, led to the removal of the Communist Party from power and the dissolution of the USSR.[15] On 8 December 1991, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian SFSR, and Ukraine — as the founding states of the USSR that had signed the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR — signed the Belovezha Accords,[16][17] which declared that the USSR had ceased to exist as a “subject of international law and geopolitical reality” and announced the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

At the time of its dissolution, the USSR occupied nearly one-sixth of the inhabited land surface[18] with a population of 293 million people, ranked second in the world in industrial production — accounting for 16.5% of global output — and seventh in national income (3.4%).[19] It was the largest continental power of the 20th century by territory and the largest state by area in the second half of the 20th century.

The Russian Federation, in its Constitution, regards itself as the legal successor and continuator state of the USSR.[20] De facto,[21] Russia has been recognized as the continuation state of the USSR in international legal relations[~12] and took its seat on the UN Security Council.[~13] At the same time, under the current legislation of Ukraine, the latter is the successor to the rights and obligations of the Ukrainian SSR and to the international treaties of the USSR.[22] There remains an unresolved issue among the states concerning the USSR’s state debt.[23] The territory formerly occupied by the USSR is referred to as the “post-Soviet space.” Aren Noronha (talk) 12:06, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

CCCP

CCCPCCCP, very correctly, redirects here. However, the article is in dire need of a proper mention and explanation of this! Currently, the only place it technically appears is in the hatnote through a link to CCCP (disambiguation). Warmest regards, — Godsy ^(TALK_CONT) 10:39, 11 July 2026 (UTC)

That is not true. See Soviet Union#Etymology, second-last paragraph. Yue🌙 (talk) 22:31, 12 July 2026 (UTC)

@Yue: Thanks. Did not catch it because of the Сs. — Godsy ^(TALK_CONT) 04:52, 21 July 2026 (UTC)