Soviets - Definition and Overview

There are two main meanings to the word soviet:

• Soviet (council) can mean a council of workers, a term that was used from the late Imperial Russia days. After the October Revolution, soviets (councils) became the main form of government at all levels: enterprise, village, city, region, etc., and eventually up to the Supreme Soviet governing the whole USSR.

• Hence Soviet became also an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the Soviet Union or its constituent soviet republics and another noun, Soviet, means citizen of the Soviet Union.