Misplaced Pages

#19980

87-692: Sometime in January 1919 a courier acting on behalf of the government of Soviet Russia contacted Ludwig C.A.K. Martens , a respected editor of Novyi Mir, the newspaper of the Russian Socialist Federation of the Socialist Party of America , appointing him its representative in the United States. Arrangements were made to organize an office staff, including a commercial department headed by industrialist A.A. Heller ,

174-513: A "wait and see" attitude towards the Soviet Bureau, New York state politicians and law enforcement authorities were motivated by a more urgent agenda. On Thursday, June 12, 1919, the RSGB's offices on West 40th Street were suddenly raided by New York Police at the behest of the state legislature's newly established Joint Legislative Committee Investigating Seditious Activities (commonly known as

261-499: A Soviet trade agency, terminated by a June 12, 1919 raid, the RSGB was contacted by an estimated 941 American companies seeking to sell products to or to obtain products from Soviet Russia. By the end of 1919, the Russian Soviet Government Bureau had signed contracts totaling nearly $ 25 million. This proved to be the first of a growing flood of commerce, with Soviet contracts with American companies topping

348-545: A diplomatic department headed by former head of the Finnish Information Bureau , Santeri Nuorteva , and a legal department headed by Socialist Party leader Morris Hillquit . On March 19, 1919, Martens contacted the U.S. State Department in an effort to present the diplomatic credentials prepared for him by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Georgy Chicherin . Chicherin authorized Martens to take over all real estate and property formerly held by

435-538: A magazine format with the title Soviet Russia: A Weekly Devoted to the Spread of Truth About Russia effective June 9, 1919. Soviet Russia included reprints of speeches by RSGB officials, news and commentary supporting the Soviet side in the ongoing Russian Civil War , and the pronouncements of top Soviet government officials on matters of trade and world politics. While the publication of such fare seemed reasonable to

522-671: A member of the Menshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1906. His position as ambassador was recognized by the United States government until his resignation in June 1922, when he established the Lion Match Company with other Russian immigrants. At his request the role of representative of Russia was transferred to his assistant Serge Ughet, financial attaché of

609-868: A new Constitution of Russia was adopted. On 29 May 1990, at his third attempt, Boris Yeltsin was elected the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR . The Congress of People's Deputies of the Republic adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR on 12 June 1990, which was the beginning of the " War of Laws ", pitting the Soviet Union against the Russian Federation and other constituent republics. On 17 March 1991, an all-Russian referendum created

696-745: A number of invitations to speak at radical meetings in New York City and elsewhere, activity which drew the ire of conservative forces in America. Martens retained close contact and warm relations with the Socialist Party of America (SPA) and the Communist Labor Party of America (CLP) which emerged from the SPA's organized left wing late in 1919. Relations with the rival Communist Party of America (CPA) were frosty, however, as

783-450: A persistent campaign of slander against Soviet Russia can explain why such drastic steps were taken in a case where a simple inquiry would have brought out all the information necessary — without breaking the law and the first principles of international hospitality." Martens, who had gone underground and often hid at Julius Hammer's home, was subsequently subpoenaed and called before the committee to give testimony. The organization

870-585: A result of the October Revolution , the Russian Soviet Republic was proclaimed as a sovereign state and the world's first constitutionally socialist state guided by communist ideology . The first constitution was adopted in 1918. In 1922, the Russian SFSR signed a treaty officially creating the Soviet Union. The Russian SFSR's 1978 constitution stated that "[a] Union Republic is a sovereign [...] state that has united [...] in

957-683: The All-Union Supreme Soviet (the other house, Soviet of the Union , had already lost the quorum after recall of its members by the several union republics). After the dissolution, Russia took full responsibility for all the rights and obligations of the Soviet Union under the Charter of the United Nations, including the financial obligations. As such, Russia assumed the Soviet Union's UN membership and permanent membership on

SECTION 10

#1732773306020

1044-573: The Azerbaijan SSR ( Azerbaijan ), Georgian SSR ( Georgia ) and Kazakh SSR ( Kazakhstan ) to the south. Roughly 70% of the area in the RSFSR consisted of broad plains , with mountainous tundra regions mainly concentrated in the east of Siberia with Central Asia and East Asia. The area is rich in mineral resources, including petroleum, natural gas, and iron ore. The Soviet government first came to power on 7 November 1917, immediately after

1131-532: The Belovezh Accords . The document, consisting of a preamble and fourteen articles, stated that the Soviet Union no longer existed "as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality". However, based on the historical community of peoples and relations between the three states, as well as bilateral treaties, the desire for a democratic rule of law, the intention to develop their relations based on mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty,

1218-737: The Communist Party of the Russian SFSR in the territory of Russia. On 6 November, he went further, banning the Communist Parties of the USSR and the RSFSR in the RSFSR. On 8 December 1991, at Viskuli near Brest (Belarus) , Yeltsin, Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and Belarusian leader Stanislav Shushkevich signed the "Agreement on the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States", known in media as

1305-820: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union ), the Russian SFSR was renamed the Russian Federation . The next day, after the lowering of the Soviet flag from the top of the Senate building of the Moscow Kremlin and its replacement by the Russian flag , the Soviet Union was self-dissolved by the Soviet of the Republics on 26 December, which by that time was the only functioning parliamentary chamber of

1392-660: The Constitution of the Russian SFSR . By 1918, during the Russian Civil War , several states within the former Russian Empire had seceded, reducing the size of the country even more, although some were conquered by the Bolsheviks. The Russian famine of 1921–22 , also known as Povolzhye famine, killed an estimated 5 million, primarily affecting the Volga and Ural River regions. The economic impact of

1479-607: The Democratic Russia pro-reform movement, was elected the first and only President of the RSFSR, a post that would later become the Presidency of the Russian Federation . The August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt in Moscow with the temporary brief internment of President Mikhail Gorbachev destabilised the Soviet Union. Following these events, Gorbachev lost all his remaining power, with Yeltsin superseding him as

1566-723: 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 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic into a single federal state, the Soviet Union. The treaty was included in the 1924 Soviet Constitution , adopted on 31 January 1924 by

1653-774: The Kazakh SSR (now Kazakhstan ) and Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic ( Kyrgyzstan ). The former Karakalpak Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic was transferred to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic ( Uzbekistan ). 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 (RSFSR). Just four months after Operation Barbarossa ,

1740-591: The Kuril Islands off the coast of East Asia, north of Japan , making them part of the RSFSR. The status of the southernmost Kurils, north of Hokkaido of the Japanese home islands remains in dispute with Japan and the United States following the peace treaty of 1951 ending the state of war. On 17 April 1946, the Kaliningrad Oblast – the north-eastern portion of the former Kingdom of Prussia ,

1827-611: The Russian Soviet Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , and unofficially as Soviet Russia , was an independent federal socialist state from 1917 to 1922, and afterwards the largest and most populous constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991, until becoming a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with priority of Russian laws over Union-level legislation in 1990 and 1991,

SECTION 20

#1732773306020

1914-668: The Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR . One of the early ambitious economic plans of the Soviet government was GOELRO , Russian abbreviation for "State Commission for Electrification of Russia" ( Го сударственная комиссия по эл ектрификации Ро ссии), which sought to achieve total electrification of the entire country. Soviet propaganda declared the plan was basically fulfilled by 1931. The national power output per year stood at 1.9 billion kWh in Imperial Russia in 1913, and Lenin's goal of 8.8 billion kWh

2001-762: The Ukrainian SSR . On 8 February 1955, Malenkov was officially demoted to deputy Prime Minister. As First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev's authority was significantly enhanced by Malenkov's demotion. The Karelo-Finnish SSR was transferred back to the RSFSR as the Karelian ASSR in 1956. On 9 January 1957, Karachay Autonomous Oblast and Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were restored by Khrushchev and they were transferred from

2088-633: The Wehrmacht was quickly advancing through the Russian SFSR, and was approximately 10 miles (16 km) away from Moscow. However, after the defeat in the Battle of Moscow and the Soviet winter offensive , the Germans were pushed back. In 1942, the Wehrmacht entered Stalingrad . Despite a deadly five-month battle in which the Soviets suffered over 1,100,000 casualties, they achieved victory following

2175-400: The then existing Constitution of 1978 , and were retained as such in the subsequent 1993 Constitution of Russia . At a total of about 17,125,200 km (6,612,100 sq mi), the Russian SFSR was the largest of the fifteen Soviet republics, with its southerly neighbor, the Kazakh SSR , being second. The international borders of the RSFSR touched Poland on the west; Norway and Finland on

2262-474: The "Lusk Committee"). A search warrant was served and "every shred of written or printed paper" was removed from the premises, material which was later parsed at the Lusk Committee's leisure for evidence of illegal seditious activity and further radical connections for the committee to explore. The Soviet Bureau vociferously protested the Lusk Committee's action: The invasion of the office of

2349-525: The $ 300 million mark by May 1920. In addition to its role as the trade agency of the Soviet Russian government in America, the RSGB also served a propaganda function, attempting to counteract "the campaign of deliberate misrepresentation which is being waged by enemies of the Russian workers" in the press. The Soviet Bureau published a weekly informational bulletin from its earliest days, moving to

2436-485: The Bureau's commercial department. The nature and activity of the Soviet Bureau ventured into uncharted water, as historian Theodore Draper noted: "There were no precedents for Martens' bureau. It was set up as a diplomatic mission, without diplomatic recognition. It was made up mostly of Americans, and the others, like Martens himself, had been cut off for many years from direct contact with Russia. Couriers constituted

2523-532: The Civil War was devastating. A black market emerged in Russia, despite the threat of martial law against profiteering. The ruble collapsed, with barter increasingly replacing money as a medium of exchange and, by 1921, heavy industry output had fallen to 20% of 1913 levels. 90% of wages were paid with goods rather than money. 70% of locomotives were in need of repair , and food requisitioning, combined with

2610-510: The Communist Labor Party, Gregory Weinstein , as office manager. As administrative head, commercial attaché , and financial advisor, Julius Hammer, father of Armand Hammer , was assigned to generate support for the Russian Soviet Government Bureau and funded the Bureau by money laundering the proceeds from illegal sales of smuggled diamonds through his company Allied Drug while his Allied Drug partner, Abraham A. Heller, headed

2697-586: The Congress of People's Deputies of Russia approved the renaming of the RSFSR into the Russian Federation, by making appropriate amendments to the Constitution, which entered into force since publication on 16 May 1992. The Government was known officially as the Council of People's Commissars (1917–1946) and Council of Ministers (1946–1991). The first government was headed by Vladimir Lenin as Chairman of

Russian Soviet Government Bureau - Misplaced Pages Continue

2784-654: The Congress. At the same time, a number of prominent members of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries had assumed positions in Lenin's government and lead commissariats in several areas. This included agriculture ( Kolegaev ), property ( Karelin ), justice ( Steinberg ), post offices and telegraphs ( Proshian ) and local government (Trutovsky). Lenin's government also instituted a number of progressive measures such as universal education , healthcare and equal rights for women . On 25 January 1918, at

2871-462: The Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR and the last by Boris Yeltsin as both head of government and head of state under the title of president. The Russian SFSR was controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until the 1991 August coup , which prompted President Yeltsin to suspend the recently created Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . In

2958-607: The Georgian SSR back to the Russian SFSR . In 1964, Nikita Khrushchev was removed from his position of power and replaced with Leonid Brezhnev . Under his rule, the Russian SFSR and the rest of the Soviet Union went through a mass era of stagnation . Even after Brezhnev's death in 1982, the era did not end until Mikhail Gorbachev took power in March 1985 and introduced liberal reforms in Soviet society. On 12 April 1978,

3045-606: The Martens initiative. Despite the decision to forego formal recognition, the State Department did not immediately seek the removal of Martens, instead opting to advise Americans to use "extreme caution" in their dealings with the Soviet Bureau. With its chances of gaining official recognition clearly dashed from the outset, the Soviet Bureau concentrated its efforts on building commercial contacts with American businesses. Martens sought to take over assets previously held by

3132-543: The Provisional Government and to use these funds as part of a $ 200 million program to acquire commodities and capital goods for the struggling Bolshevik government of Russia. Martens declared that with the overthrow of the Provisional Government in the Russian Revolution of 1917 , the position of ambassador Boris Bakhmeteff had become vacant and the assets formerly held legally transferred to

3219-489: The RSFSR became an integral part of the economy of the USSR. The economic program of the RSFSR (NEP) was continued in all union republics. The Gosplan (State General Planning Commission) of the RSFSR, which replaced GOELRO, was reorganized into the Gosplan of the USSR. His early task was to develop a unified national economic plan based on the electrification plan and to oversee the overall implementation of this plan. Unlike

3306-631: The RSGB mailed letters of inquiry to 5,000 American firms and circulated press kits to 200 trade-oriented newspapers. Numerous firms took interest and sent their representatives to New York for direct discussions with Martens and his associates, including such industrial giants as the Ford Motor Company , meatpackers Armour and Company and Swift and Company , agricultural machinery maker International Harvester , cotton goods maker Marshall Field and Company , and Sears, Roebuck and Company . Indeed, during its brief period of active operations as

3393-540: The Russian Revolution, and in doing so, they became more doctrinaire than their teachers." While Commissar of Foreign Affairs Chicherin ultimately sided with Martens in maintaining financial and organizational independence from the CPA, relations between the Soviet Bureau and the party were stilted. On March 28, 1919 and April 11, 1919 The New York Times published articles urging to close what it deemed

3480-399: The Russian Soviet Government was altogether unwarranted and illegal. The Russian Soviet Government Bureau has conscientiously refrained from interfering in American affairs. Its activities have always been open to investigation by anyone honestly in search of information about Soviet Russia or about the activities of the Bureau. Only the existing state of hysterical reaction diligently nursed by

3567-402: The Security Council , nuclear stockpile and the control over the armed forces; Soviet embassies abroad became Russian embassies. The 1978 constitution of the Russian SFSR was amended several times to reflect the transition to democracy, private property and market economy. The new Russian constitution , coming into effect on 25 December 1993 after a constitutional crisis , completely abolished

Russian Soviet Government Bureau - Misplaced Pages Continue

3654-427: The Soviet Bureau and its political supporters, the presence of a Bolshevik propaganda agency in the heart of New York City was a proverbial red flag to conservative opponents of the Soviet regime. The Russian Soviet Government Bureau became a top target of the so-called Lusk Committee established by the New York state legislature to investigate radical activities in the state of New York. Martens and his staff accepted

3741-502: The Soviet form of government and replaced it with a semi-presidential system . Under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) and Leon Trotsky (1879–1940), the Bolshevik communists established the Soviet state on 7 November [ O.S. 25 October] 1917. This happened immediately after the October Revolution toppled the interim Russian Provisional Government (most recently led by opposing democratic socialist Alexander Kerensky (1881–1970)) which had governed

3828-408: The Soviet government to establish a temporary agency in New York City . The Russian Soviet Government Bureau (RSGB) was the stop-gap organization established by Martens in lieu of a recognized diplomatic embassy. The Bureau maintained offices at the "World Tower Building," located at 110 West 40th Street in Manhattan . A staff of 35 was hired, including a former editor of Novyi Mir and partisan of

3915-428: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 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 Kazakh ASSR . With the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution on 5 December 1936, the size of the RSFSR was significantly reduced. The Kazakh ASSR and Kirghiz ASSR were transformed into

4002-459: The Union" and "each Union Republic shall retain the right freely to secede from the USSR". On 12 June 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty , established separation of powers (unlike in the Soviet form of government ), established citizenship of Russia and stated that the RSFSR shall retain the right of free secession from the Soviet Union. On 12 June 1991, Boris Yeltsin (1931–2007), supported by

4089-483: The War Trade Board G.M. Bodman at a meeting on April 25, 1919, that the bureau "had nothing to conceal" and was "glad to furnish information to those entitled to have it." Additionally, Martens and his lawyer Charles Recht had met personally with officials of the Department of Justice in April and May, while Clark travelled to Washington, D.C. to consult with the personal secretary of U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer . While federal officials seem to have taken

4176-427: The agreement was ratified by the Supreme Soviet (the parliament of the Russian SFSR); therefore the Russian SFSR had renounced the Treaty on the Creation of the Soviet Union and de facto declared Russia's independence from the Soviet Union itself and the ties with the other Soviet republics. On 25 December 1991, following the resignation of Gorbachev as President of the Soviet Union (and former General Secretary of

4263-433: The denunciation of the union treaty was meaningless since it became invalid in 1924 with the adoption of the first constitution of the USSR . Although the 12 December vote is sometimes reckoned as the moment that the RSFSR seceded from the collapsing Soviet Union, this is not the case. It appears that the RSFSR took the line that it did not need to follow the secession process delineated in the Soviet Constitution because it

4350-476: The effects of seven years of war and a severe drought, contributed to a famine that caused between 3 and 10 million deaths. Coal production decreased from 27.5 million tons (1913) to 7 million tons (1920), while overall factory production also declined from 10,000 million roubles to 1,000 million roubles. According to the noted historian David Christian, the grain harvest was also slashed from 80.1 million tons (1913) to 46.5 million tons (1920). On 30 December 1922,

4437-429: The embassy and consulates of the Russian Provisional Government , to receive and disburse money on behalf of the Soviet government, and to solicit and answer all legal claims on behalf of Soviet Russia. With the economy of Soviet Russia on the verge of collapse, the administration of Woodrow Wilson was reluctant to grant formal diplomatic recognition , however, instead maintaining a wait-and-see attitude while allowing

SECTION 50

#1732773306020

4524-433: The embassy, who held this position until United States recognition of the Soviet Union in 1933. He introduced the concept of specific energy in hydraulics in his thesis and book Hydraulics of Open Channels in 1932. He married Marie C. Cole in 1938 in Duval County, Florida . In 1947 he received the Norman Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers . He died on July 21, 1951, in Brookfield, Connecticut , of

4611-454: The fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted both the new name, Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), and the Constitution of the Russian SFSR . Internationally, the Russian SFSR was recognized as an independent state in 1920 only by its bordering neighbors ( Estonia , Finland , Latvia and Lithuania ) in the Treaty of Tartu and by the short-lived Irish Republic of 1919–1922 in Ireland. On 30 December 1922, with

4698-410: The first years of the existence of the RSFSR, the doctrine of war communism became the starting point of the state's economic activity. In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP (B), the tasks of the policy of "war communism" were recognized by the country's leadership as fulfilled, and a new economic policy was introduced at Lenin's suggestion. After the formation of the Soviet Union, the economy of

4785-423: 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

4872-413: The founding state of the German Empire (1871–1918) and later the German province of East Prussia including the capital and Baltic seaport city of Königsberg – was annexed by the Soviet Union and made part of the Russian SFSR. After the death of Joseph Stalin on 5 March 1953, Georgy Malenkov became the new leader of the USSR. In January 1954, Malenkov transferred Crimea from the Russian SFSR to

4959-458: The illegal representation of the Soviet Bureau. New York's Lusk Committee and a number of government agencies conducted inquiries of the RSGB prior to its office being raided, including investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice , the U.S. Treasury Department , the Directorate of Military Intelligence , and the War Trade Board . Information was provided as requested, with Soviet Bureau official Evans Clark noting to assistant director of

5046-496: The interim Russian Provisional Government headed by Alexander Kerensky , which governed the Russian Republic , was overthrown in the October Revolution , the second of the two Russian Revolutions . The state it governed, which did not have an official name, would be unrecognized by neighboring countries for another five months. The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault on Petrograd occurred largely without any human casualties . On 18 January 1918,

5133-535: The last two years of the existence of the Soviet Union. The Russian SFSR was composed of sixteen smaller constituent units of autonomous republics , five autonomous oblasts , ten autonomous okrugs , six krais and forty oblasts . Russians formed the largest ethnic group . The capital of the Russian SFSR and the Soviet Union as a whole was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad (Petrograd until 1924), Stalingrad (Volgograd after 1961), Novosibirsk , Sverdlovsk , Gorky and Kuybyshev . It

5220-443: The mocking label Sovdepia ( Russian : Совдепия ) for the nascent state of the Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies. Speakers of colloquial English coined the term "Bololand" to refer to the land of the Bolos (a term identified from 1919 onwards with the Bolsheviks). On 25 January 1918 the third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets proclaimed the establishment of the Russian Soviet Republic . In July 1918,

5307-493: The new Russian Republic after the abdication of the Russian Empire government of the Romanov imperial dynasty of Tsar Nicholas II the previous March (Old Style: February). The October Revolution was thus the second of the two Russian Revolutions of the turbulent year of 1917. Initially, the new Soviet state did not have an official name and was not recognized by neighboring countries for five months. Anti-Bolsheviks soon suggested new names, however. By 1919 they had coined

SECTION 60

#1732773306020

5394-404: The new regime. While the effort to obtain massive assets came to naught, contacts with American companies eager to do business with Soviet Russia came fast and furious. By the end of the first month, Martens' right-hand man, the Finnish socialist Santeri Nuorteva , declared to the press that "we are swamped with requests for commercial connections." This tempo was accelerated in April 1919, when

5481-438: The newly elected Constituent Assembly issued a decree, proclaiming Russia a democratic federal republic under the name "Russian Democratic Federal Republic". However, the Bolsheviks dissolved the Assembly on the following day and declared its decrees null and void. Conversely, the Bolsheviks also reserved a number of vacant seats in the Soviets and Central Executive for the opposition parties in proportion to their vote share at

5568-525: The northwest; and to its southeast in eastern Asia were the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( North Korea ), Mongolian People's Republic ( Mongolia ) and the People's Republic of China (China, formerly the Republic of China ; 1911–1949). Within the Soviet Union, the RSFSR bordered the Slavic states: Ukrainian SSR ( Ukraine ), Belarusian SSR ( Belarus ), the Baltic states: Estonian SSR ( Estonia ), Latvian SSR ( Latvia ) and Lithuanian SSR ( Lithuania ) (Included in USSR in 1940) to its west and

5655-472: The only method of communication, but they were so slow and uncertain that it took two months for Martens to get in touch with the Soviet government." A secret mission to Russia in March 1919 conducted by Wilson administration envoy William C. Bullitt to assess the economic and political system there ended in a negative report which accentuated various atrocities committed in the name of the Bolshevik regime, effectively removing any chance of formal recognition of

5742-423: The parties agreed to the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States . On 12 December, the agreement was ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR by an overwhelming majority: 188 votes for, 6 against and 7 abstentions. The legality of this ratification raised doubts among some members of the Russian parliament, since according to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978 consideration of this document

5829-424: The post of President of the RSFSR and on 12 June, Boris Yeltsin was elected president by popular vote . During the unsuccessful 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt of 19–21 August 1991 in Moscow , the capital of the Soviet Union and Russia, Yeltsin strongly supported the President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. On 23 August, Yeltsin, in the presence of Gorbachev, signed a decree suspending all activity by

5916-454: The powerful Russian Federation of that organization sought to control the activities and purse of Martens and the Soviet Bureau in America. A historian has summarized the perspective of the communist wing of the Russian colony in America neatly: The leaders of the Russian federation ... did not hesitate to extend their jurisdiction over the official Soviet agency ... They felt that commercial and trade relations were foolish objectives. Only

6003-403: The pre-eminent figure in the country. On 8 December 1991, the heads of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belovezha Accords . The agreement declared dissolution of the USSR by its original founding states (i.e., renunciation of the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the Soviet Union) and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as a loose replacement confederation. On 12 December,

6090-429: The previous Russian constitutions, the 1978 Constitution devoted an entire chapter (Chapter II) to the description of the economic system of the RSFSR, which defined the types of property and indicated the goals of the economic tasks of the state. Boris Bakhmeteff Boris Alexandrovich Bakhmeteff ( Russian : Борис Александрович Бахметев ) (also spelled Bakhmetieff or Bakhmetev ) (May 14, 1880 – July 21, 1951)

6177-488: The republic providing education in 47 languages to some 23,941,000 students. A network of territorially organized public-health services provided health care. The economy, which had become stagnant since the late 1970s under General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev , began to be liberalized starting in 1985 under Gorbachev's " perestroika " restructuring policies, including the introduction of non-state owned enterprises (e.g. cooperatives). On 7 November 1917 ( O.S. 25 October), as

6264-405: The rights and obligations of the USSR under the Charter of the United Nations, including the financial obligations, and assumed control over its nuclear stockpile and the armed forces; Soviet embassies abroad became Russian embassies. On 25 December – just hours after Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union – the Russian SFSR was renamed the Russian Federation (Russia), reflecting that it

6351-512: The same borders of the old Tsardom of Russia before the Great Northern War of 1700 to 1721. The RSFSR dominated the Soviet Union to a significant extent. For most of its existence, the Soviet Union was commonly (but incorrectly) referred to as "Russia". While the RSFSR itself was only one republic within the larger union, it was the largest, most powerful and most highly developed of the 15 republics. According to Matthew White it

6438-489: The spread of the proletarian revolution mattered. If the revolution conquered outside Russia, then commercial and trade relations would come of themselves. If the world revolution failed, commercial and trade relations could not help the Russian Revolution to survive. In effect, the American Russians had taken literally what the Russian leaders themselves were saying about the necessity for a world revolution to save

6525-630: The surrender of the last German troops near the Volga River , ultimately pushing German forces out of Russia by 1944. In 1943, Karachay Autonomous Oblast was dissolved by Joseph Stalin (1878–1953), General Secretary of the Communist Party , later Premier, when the Karachays were exiled to Central Asia for their alleged collaboration with the invading Germans in the Great Patriotic War ( World War II , 1941–1945), and territory

6612-736: The third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets , the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR) was proclaimed. On 3 March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, giving away much of the westernmost lands of the former Russian Empire to the German Empire , in exchange for peace on the Eastern Front of World War I. In July 1918, the fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted

6699-706: The treaty on the creation of the Soviet Union , Russia (the RSFSR), alongside the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR, formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics . The final Soviet name for the constituent republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was adopted in the later Soviet Constitution of 1936 . By that time, Soviet Russia had gained roughly

6786-614: Was a subject of hearings in United States Senate from January through March 1920. On December 17, 1920, the United States Department of Labor decided to deport Martens. In January 1921 Martens finally left the United States. Work of the organization stopped with the departure of its leader. Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ( Russian SFSR or RSFSR ), previously known as

6873-607: Was an engineer, businessman, professor of civil engineering at Columbia University and the only ambassador of the Russian Provisional Government to the United States. He was unrelated to his predecessor as ambassador, George Bakhmeteff . He was born on May 14, 1880, in Tbilisi, Georgia . He married Helen on July 22, 1905, in Kineshma , Russia. His wife Helen died on July 24, 1921. He became

6960-406: Was an open secret that the country's federal structure was "window dressing" for Russian dominance. On 25 December 1991, during the collapse of the Soviet Union , which concluded on the next day, the RSFSR's official name was changed to the Russian Federation , which it remains to this day. This name and "Russia" were specified as the official state names on 21 April 1992, in an amendment to

7047-547: Was in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR . However, by this time the Soviet government had been rendered more or less impotent, and was in no position to object. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and recalled all Russian deputies from the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. A number of lawyers believe that

7134-643: Was incorporated into the Georgian SSR . On 3 March 1944, on the orders of Stalin, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was disbanded and its population forcibly deported upon the accusations of collaboration with the invaders and separatism . The territory of the ASSR was divided between other administrative units of Russian SFSR and the Georgian SSR. On 11 October 1944, the Tuvan People's Republic

7221-609: Was joined with the Russian SFSR as the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast , becoming an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1961. After reconquering Estonia and Latvia in 1944, the Russian SFSR annexed their easternmost territories around Ivangorod and within the modern Pechorsky and Pytalovsky Districts in 1944–1945. At the end of World War II Soviet troops of the Red Army occupied southern Sakhalin Island and

7308-586: Was not possible to secede from a country that no longer existed. On 24 December, Yeltsin informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations that by agreement of the member states of the CIS the Russian Federation would assume the membership of the Soviet Union in all UN organs (including the Soviet Union's permanent seat on the UN Security Council ). Russia took full responsibility for all

7395-437: Was now a sovereign state with Yeltsin assuming the Presidency . That same night, the Soviet flag was lowered and replaced with the tricolor . The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist the next day. The change was originally published on 6 January 1992 ( Rossiyskaya Gazeta ). According to law, during 1992, it was allowed to use the old name of the RSFSR for official business (forms, seals, and stamps). On 21 April 1992,

7482-420: Was reached in 1931. National power output continued to increase significantly. It reached 13.5 billion kWh by the end of the first five-year plan in 1932, 36 billion kWh by 1937, and 48 billion kWh by 1940. Paragraph 3 of Chapter 1 of the 1925 Constitution of the RSFSR stated the following: By the will of the peoples of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, who decided on

7569-483: Was the first socialist state in history. The economy of Russia became heavily industrialized, accounting for about two-thirds of the electricity produced in the Soviet Union. By 1961, it was the third largest producer of petroleum due to new discoveries in the Volga-Urals region and Siberia, trailing in production to only the United States and Saudi Arabia. In 1974, there were 475 institutes of higher education in

#19980