ABSTRACT
The fate of Soviet federalism is a unique example of the triumph of form over content. The system assigned almost every nationality in the Soviet Union to one of four categories of national autonomy and gave each autonomous unit an array of apparently substantial, but very vaguely defined, rights. The component nationalities of the USSR were granted all the paraphernalia of government and numerous symbols of statehood, but had only the most limited ability to exercise the corresponding rights without Kremlin approval. The elements tying the whole system together were (1) the Communist Party, with its centralized apparatus and discipline; (2) the Party’s swords, the Soviet army and the security forces; and (3) the planned economic system, which constricted the freedom of action of all republics, exercised strict control over the budget, and ruled directly over large industrial complexes located on republican territory (the socalled enterprises of all-Union importance).
