WikipediaExtracts:Soviet (council)
Extracted from Wikipedia --
A soviet (Russian: совет, romanized: sovet, IPA: [sɐˈvʲet] , lit. 'council') is a workers' council that follows a socialist ideology, particularly in the context of the Russian Revolution. Soviets acted as the foundation of the form of government of Russian SFSR and the Soviet Union, and influenced the Makhnovshchina.
The first soviets were established during the 1905 Revolution in the late Russian Empire. In 1917, following the February Revolution, there emerged a state of dual power between the Russian Provisional Government and the soviets. This ended later that year with the October Revolution, during which the Second Congress of Soviets proclaimed itself the supreme governing body of the country.
The governmental bodies on various levels were formally named "Soviets of People's Deputies", colloquially "soviets of deputies" or "sovdeps". For this reason Soviet Russia or the Soviet Union may be called by the derogatory term "Sovdepiya" (Russian: совдéпия).
Because soviets gave their name to the later Soviet Union, they are frequently associated with the state's establishment. However, the term may also refer to any workers' council that is socialist, such as the Irish soviets. Soviets do not inherently need to adhere to the ideology of the Soviet Union.
