Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union

All-Union Congress of Soviets Всесоюзный съезд Советов
Soviet Union
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Established	30 December 1922
Disbanded	5 December 1936
Preceded by	Republic-level Congresses of Soviets All-Russian Congress of Soviets All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets All-Byelorussian Congress of Soviets All-Caucasian Congress of Soviets
Succeeded by	Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Leadership
Chairman of the Presidium of the Congress	Mikhail Kalinin
Elections
Voting system	Indirect elections
First election	1922
Last election	1936

The All-Union Congress of Soviets (Russian: Всесоюзный съезд Советов, romanized: Vsesoyuznyy s"yezd Sovetov) was formally the supreme governing body of the Soviet Union from its formation (30 December 1922) until the adoption of its second constitution in 1936.^[1] The Congress of Soviets determined the general direction of all public bodies and elected the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union: a body which was accountable to, and held the powers of the Congress when the Congress was not in session. Despite its nominal authority^[a], in practice the Congress served as a rubber-stamp for the Communist Party. With the 1936 Constitution, the All-Union Congress was replaced by the Supreme Soviet.

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