Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The Soviet Union (short for Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)) was a group of countries that came together (a federation). The Soviet Union was created after Vladimir Lenin led the overthrow of the unpopular tsarist autocratic (all powerful) government. The communist government developed industry and over time became a major, powerful country. The largest of these countries was Russia, followed by Ukraine. The capital city of the Soviet Union was Moscow. The Soviet Union existed from 1922 to 1991. It was the first and biggest country that has has a communist government.

The nation's government said that it was a socialist country that wanted communism. "Soviets", or workers' councils, were created to speak for the workers, and served as an elite group to govern the workers.^{[needs proving]}

1 Leaders
2 Holidays
3 Republics of the Soviet Union
- 3.1 Soviet Republics
- 3.2 Independent Countries

Leaders

Holidays

Date	English Name	Local Name	Remarks
January 1	New Year's Day	Новый Год
February 23	Soviet Army's Day	День Советской Армии и Военно-Морского Флота	February Revolution, 1917, Start of the Red Army, 1918
March 8	International Women's Day	Международный Женский День
May 1	International Labor Day (May Day)	Первое Мая - День Солидарности Трудящихся
May 9	Victory Day	День Победы	The win over Nazi Germany in World War II,in 1945
November 7-November 8	Great October Socialist Revolution	Седьмое Ноября	October Revolution 1917; it is currently called День Примирения
October 7	Constitution Day	День Конституции

Republics of the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was made of 15 republics. These were either Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Socialist Federal Republics. Each of these republics was independent. It also had the right to leave the union. The Federal Republics were different in that they had more autonomy, and were made up of states themselves. These were often called Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics. There were a number of them. Most of them still exist; though they are now republics, within the independent state. The Tatar ASSR turned into the Republic of Tatarstan, for example (It is located around Kazan. Tatars make up 3.8% of the population of Russia)