USSR

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from Советский Союз, Sovetskiy Soyuz. A soviet is a local council, the theoretical basis for the socialist society of the USSR. The Soviet Union was a Commonwealth of 15 autonomous republics on paper, with Russian SFSR as the largest and dominant republic. The Russian Soviet Republic's major dominance meant that the USSR was often referred to as "Russia" or "Soviet Russia" in the West.