Soviet Union

The Soviet Union is a one-party socialist state playable in the 1953 and 1979 presets. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) is the only seeded party: unlike China's united-front model there are no satellite parties at all. The Premier (Chairman of the Council of Ministers) is the head of government; the Chairman of the Presidium is a ceremonial head of state elected by a joint sitting of the legislature. The Supreme Soviet is genuinely bicameral, and the economy is a centrally planned command economy run through Gosplan and Gosbank.

Government structure

The Premier carries +4 actions per turn; a Supreme Soviet or Nationalities Deputy +1; a Republic First Secretary +2; the Chairman of Gosbank +3. The Chairman of the Presidium carries +0 actions and zero party-strength weight: the office is a ceremonial capstone, not a power base.

The Supreme Soviet

Unlike China's mechanically unicameral NPC, the Supreme Soviet is bill-active bicameral: a bill must clear both chambers to become law.

• Soviet of the Union: 750 deputies (708 in the 1953 preset), apportioned to the 17 macro-regions by population. Four-year terms, all seats contested each cycle.
• Soviet of Nationalities: 640 deputies, seated by republic rather than by population: 25 seats per union republic, 11 per autonomous republic, with a floor of 20 per region so every region has contestable seats.

Both chambers elect on the same day on a shared four-year cycle (anchored to 1954 in the 1953 preset and 1984 in the 1979 preset). Republic Supreme Soviets, the sub-national tier, run their own four-year cycle (1955 / 1980). There are no snap elections.

The coalition threshold is a bare majority of the Soviet of the Union: 376 seats (355 in 1953). Since the CPSU is the sole party, the threshold is a formality. The seeded government starts formed, with the CPSU holding a majority mandate from turn one.

When the last Supreme Soviet election of a cycle resolves, a convocation reset fires: the Premier's chair reopens for reappointment and the Chairman of the Presidium is cleared so the new chambers elect the head of state afresh.

Historical composition follows the single-list convention of the era: the CPSU takes about 75 percent of each chamber and the remaining quarter seats as non-party deputies.

One-party rule

The USSR runs the shared one-party-state regime system (see One-Party States):

• The CPSU is the only seeded party. No approved satellite parties exist, which makes the USSR stricter than China or East Germany.
• Vote multipliers: ruling-party votes weigh 3.0, approved parties 0.375, independents and banned parties 0. Player-created parties are automatically banned at charter ratification.
• No-confidence votes are skipped entirely. One-party states have no legislative confidence mechanism, and coalition loss cannot collapse the government.
• Internal party confidence replaces the confidence vote. The ruling leader starts at 75 confidence, gains +5 on renewal (capped at 95), and drifts each turn with policy alignment, popular mood and economic signals. Degrading confidence walks the regime through the four-stage escalation chain.
• Faction split: at Stage 3 an auto-split spawns the "Reformist Faction of the CPSU" as a spinoff party, the only organic path to a second party.
• Regime conversion is one-way. The collapse target is a parliamentary republic (the convention allowlist adds presidential). A negotiated convention reserves 20 percent of post-conversion seats for the former ruling party; the forced Stage-4 path reserves 5 percent (3 if the leader resisted) and delays the first election 12 turns instead of the default 24.

Party role labels are localized: chair reads "General Secretary", vice chair "Second Secretary", committee "Politburo". The social axis baseline is +3.5, tied with China for the most authoritarian start in the game.

The 17 macro-regions

The union is modelled as 17 macro-regions ("Republics" in the UI): ten covering the RSFSR and seven covering the other union republics. Each has a Republic Supreme Soviet and a directly elected Republic First Secretary (the governor office, who also signs regional bills).

The 1953 preset reapportions the Union chamber to 708 seats on 1953 populations (Ukraine 145, Central Asia 50, Baltic Republics 10, and so on). The Nationalities table is population-independent and identical in both eras. Byelorussia and the Baltics are seeded as USSR regions, not as separate countries, and seat their deputies inside the Supreme Soviet.

Council of Ministers

The Premier appoints ministers directly from Supreme Soviet deputies to a 16-seat Council of Ministers. Every seat carries a three-option tier setting (the middle option is the neutral default), a package of national metrics, and two ministerial orders: time-limited national modifiers that cost one ministerial action and run 24 turns (one game half-year). Most line ministries also get a regional target and an emergency action aimed at a single republic.

The portfolios that define the Soviet council:

The Foreign and Internal Trade seats are deliberately distinct levers: Foreign Trade tiers act on growth through the state import-export monopoly, Internal Trade tiers act on consumer costs and employment through domestic distribution. The remaining seats (First Deputy Chairman, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Railways, Health, Higher Education) follow the same tier-plus-orders pattern. See the Cabinet Guide for every seat.

Command economy

When an admin enables command economy, the USSR comes up fully command: its marketization level is scheduled at 10 through 1991 in both presets, far below the dual-track band. See Planned Economies for the full model.

• No stock exchange. State enterprises are recorded against the GOSPLAN state register, and founding private corporations is disallowed.
• One state-owned enterprise per sector. Every industry on the sector board has a plan enterprise with plant capacity (heavy industry, energy, extraction, agriculture, consumer goods, defense, chemicals, transport, and the rest).
• The three seats are wired to real offices. The Gosplan planner panel is operated by the Chairman of Gosplan cabinet seat and the state-credit panel by the Gosbank liaison; SOE directors are appointed per enterprise.
• The dial is earned. Black-market pressure, chronic plan under-fulfilment and a reformist policy stance push marketization up; a disciplined orthodox plan holds it down indefinitely. The CPSU's economic position of -4 feeds the policy driver toward orthodoxy.
• Fixed ruble. The SUR is non-convertible while the country is command: forex routes refuse open-market trades, the monobank stays passive, and shortage shows up as empty shelves and a black-market premium rather than price spikes.

The Warsaw Pact and the Cold War

The Warsaw Pact is the socialist bloc's collective-defense alliance, seeded from 1952 and dissolved on schedule in 1991. Founding members are the USSR, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia; the 1953 preset adds Albania, which is gone by 1979.

• Moscow holds permanent leadership. The pact's chair, the Supreme Commander of the Unified Command, is permanently assigned to the USSR. No other member can ever hold it.
• Tribute. In worlds that began at the 1953 preset, the two armed blocs (NATO and the Warsaw Pact only) levy a fixed tribute on non-voting client members instead of voted dues.
• Alignment. Between 1945 and 1990 the world runs on a WEST vs EAST alignment axis; the Warsaw Pact is the EAST bloc's accession channel, opposite NATO.
• Conflicts are player-made. The world starts with no pre-seeded wars. Every conflict on the board was started by a player declaration or a world event, and declare-war bills need a two-thirds majority even in a one-party state (the only bill class that keeps its supermajority here). See Conflicts Overview.

Career path for Soviet players

Starting scenarios

The rising cadre

First office: Nationalities Deputy (nationalitiesDeputy)

A young CPSU cadre from one of the union republics, sent to Moscow on the republic's delegation.

Stand in your republic's multi-seat race for the Soviet of Nationalities: 640 seats weighted by republic, elected the same day as the Union chamber on a four-year cycle. The seat carries +1 action per turn. From there work the apparat: ministers are appointed straight from Supreme Soviet deputies, Republic First Secretary adds +2 actions, and the Premier's chair at the top turns on internal party confidence, not a public vote.

The Gosplan track

First office: Supreme Soviet Deputy (supremeSovietDeputy)

An economic manager out of heavy industry. The plan is your politics.

Win a Soviet of the Union seat in an industrial region, then lobby the Premier for Chairman of the State Planning Committee. The Gosplan seat sets the Plan Emphasis tier (producer goods against consumer goods), carries the Mid-Plan Revision and Shock Work Campaign orders, and in a command-economy world it operates the national plan panel: output quotas and the investment split across every sector. Chronic under-fulfilment feeds shortage and pushes the marketization dial toward reform, so hit the targets.

Currency and economy

The 1979 budget models the Brezhnev-era pattern: slowing growth, suppressed inflation held near 1 percent by administered prices, and "financing the national economy" as the largest spending line. The 1953 budget is calibrated on the turnover tax as the dominant revenue source and infrastructure at roughly 30 percent of spending.

Key Soviet links

• One-Party States: regime tiers, escalation, reforms and conversion
• Planned Economies: the full command-economy model
• Cabinet Guide: every cabinet post, its metrics, and its actions
• International Organizations: the Warsaw Pact, Comecon and alignment
• Conflicts Overview: declaring war, fronts and occupation
• Core Systems: turn structure, action economy

Living history

The timeline below is written by the turn processor whenever a Premier transition or national-scope bill enactment happens in-game. Each entry is a real event from this save.