Soviet of the Union

one of the two chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, elected by universal, equal, direct, suffrage, secret ballot by electorates with an equal number of votes. The Soviet of the Union, unlike the Soviet of Nationalities, represents the general interests of all working people of the USSR regardless of nationality.

Both the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities enroll equal numbers of deputies and enjoy equal rights.

The Soviet of the Union elects a chairman, who presides over its sessions and supervises its internal procedure. It also elects four deputy chairmen and several permanent commissions: a mandate commission, a commission on draft legislation, a planning and budget commission, a foreign affairs commission, and commissions on women’s work and welfare, and child care. The other permanent commissions are commissions on youth, on industry, on transportation and communication, on construction and the building-materials industry, on agriculture, on consumer goods, on public health and social security, on environmental protection, on public education, science, and culture, and on trade, personal services, and municipal services (seeBICAMERAL SYSTEM).