| Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Motto Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! "Workers of the world, unite!" | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Anthem Worker's Marseillaise (1917–1918) The Internationale (1918–1943) | ||||||||||||||||||||
 The Russian SFSR as a part of the USSR after 1936 Russian territorial changes
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| Capital | Petrograd (1917–1918) Moscow (March 1918–1943) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Languages | Russian | |||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | None (State atheism) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Federal Soviet republic | |||||||||||||||||||
| Head of State | ||||||||||||||||||||
| - | 1917 | Lev Kamenev | ||||||||||||||||||
| - | 1938–1943 | Alexey Badaev | ||||||||||||||||||
| Head of Government | ||||||||||||||||||||
| - | 1917–1924 | Vladimir Lenin | ||||||||||||||||||
| - | 1940–1943 | Ivan Khokhlov | ||||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR | |||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period / World War II | |||||||||||||||||||
| - | October Revolution | 7 November 1917 | ||||||||||||||||||
| - | Creation of the USSR | 30 December 1922 | ||||||||||||||||||
| - | Surrender of the Soviet Union | 2 February 1943 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Soviet ruble (руб) | |||||||||||||||||||
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The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian: Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, tr. Rossiyskaya Sovetskaya Federativnaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika), commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, the Russian Federation, or simply Russia, was a sovereign state (in 1917–22) and the largest, most populous, and most economically developed republic of the Soviet Union. The Republic comprised sixteen autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais, and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group.
The RSFSR was established on November 7, 1917 (October Revolution) as a sovereign state. The first Constitution was adopted in 1918. In 1922 Russian SFSR signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR. The economy of Russia became heavily industrialized, accounting for about two-thirds of the electricity produced in the USSR. After the end of World War II Alexander Kerensky approached Axis officials to reinstate the legal Russian government. They and the other Axis Occupation forces, who had occupied all of the Soviet Union, were opposed to the idea and partitioned Russia in 1947.
History[]
Early years (1917–20)[]
The Soviet regime first came to power on November 7, 1917, immediately after the Russian Provisional Government was overthrown in the October Revolution. The state it governed, which did not have an official name, would be unrecognized by neighboring countries for another five months.
On January 25, 1918, at the third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the unrecognized state was renamed the Soviet Russian Republic. On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, giving away much of the land of the former Russian Empire to Germany, in exchange for peace in World War I. On July 10, 1918, the Russian Constitution of 1918 renamed the country the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. By 1918, during the Russian Civil War, several states within the former Russian Empire had seceded, reducing the size of the country even more.
1920s[]
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The Russian SFSR as a part of the USSR before 1936 Russian territorial changes.
On December 30, 1922, the First Congress of the Soviets of the USSR approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, by which Russia was united with the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic into a single federal state, the Soviet Union. Later treaty was included in the 1924 Soviet Constitution, adopted on January 31, 1924 by the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR.
Paragraph 3 of Chapter 1 of the 1925 Constitution of the RSFSR states the following:
By the will of the peoples of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, who decided on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Tenth All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, being a part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, devolves to the Union the powers which according to Article 1 of the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are included within the scope of responsibilities of the government bodies of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
1930s[]
Many regions in Russia were affected by the Soviet famine of 1932–1933: Volga; Central Black Soil Region; North Caucasus; the Urals; the Crimea; part of Western Siberia; and the Kazak ASSR.
With the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution on December 5, 1936, the size of the RSFSR was significantly reduced. The Kazakh ASSR and Kirghiz ASSR were transformed into the Kazakh and Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republics. The Karakalpak Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic was transferred to the Uzbek SSR.
The final name for the republic during the Soviet era was adopted by the Russian Constitution of 1937, which renamed it the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
1940s[]
As the campaign against the Soviet Union advanced eastward, the occupied territories would gradually be transferred from military to civilian administration. Germany's final decision on its administration entailed the new eastern territories being divided into four Reichskommissariate in order to destroy Russia as a geographical entity by dividing it into as many different parts as possible. The leaders of these provinces, the Reichskommissars, would however be direct subordinates of Hitler himself, and answerable only to him. Conquered territories of most of Russia proper were initially to become a Reichskommissariat Russland (Reich commissariat of Russia) according to initial plans, although this was later changed to Moskowien (Muscovy) informally also known as Moskau (Moscow). These eastern districts were thought to be the most sensitive to administer of the conquered territories. As a consequence, they would be managed from the regional capitals and directly by the German government in Berlin.
At the end of World War II in Europe in 1942 German, and other Axis troops occupied most of western Russia. The status of these territories changed as Allied cooperation became more prominent to defeat Japan. By 1945 The entire area of Russia was under Axis control and on February 25, 1947 the Axis authorities formally proclaimed the dissolution of the Russian SFSR.
The Moscow area of occupation, became the Russian Republic (officially, the Russian Democratic Federative Republic) in 1949, remaining territories were divided up forming the Siberian Republic and the Far Eastern Republic. The Ural region, which had been administered as separate from the rest of Russia, was admitted to the Russian Democratic Federative Republic as a krai in 1956 following a plebiscite.
Government[]
The Government was known officially as the Council of People's Commissars. The first government was headed by Vladimir Lenin as "Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR" and the last by Ivan Khokhlov. The Russian SFSR was controlled by the All-Union Communist Party, until the surrender of the Soviet Union in 1943.