How did the Soviet Union actually function? The USSR was a country of contradictions. It was a state purportedly founded to serve the interests of the working proletariat but that was always ruled either by a small elite (the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) or by one man alone, as it was under the dictator Joseph Stalin. In theory, the Soviet people had votes and a voice, but in practice, a group of about 20, the Politburo, made all major government policies and were accountable only to the party. Subscribe for more history: More Videos: How Did the Russian Empire Actually Work?: Why Did the Kaiser HAVE to Abdicate in 1918?: What Caused Division in Cyprus?: How Did the Allies Divide Germany?: What Caused the Iranian Revolution?: Sources Consulted: “1936 Constitution of the USSR, TOC.” Accessed May 3, 2023. Derbyshire, Ian. Politics in the Soviet Union: From Brezhnev to Gorbachev. Cambridge: W&R Chambers LTD, 1987. Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Translated by Samuel Moore (1885). Introduction and notes by A J P Taylor. London: Penguin Group, 1985. Miller, Stuart T. Mastering Modern European History. London: Macmillan Education LTD, 1990. O’Neil, Patrick H et al. Cases in Comparative Politics: Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2018. Pipes, Richard. The Three Whys of the Russian Revolution. London: Pimlico, 1998.