"Gorbachev proposed a presidential system for the USSR, changing the institutional basis for leading the country. Power would now rest in the president, not in the general secretary. The 1977 constitution was amended as well, creating a bicameral legislature with the Congress of People's Deputies as the lower house and the Supreme Soviet as the upper house. This was an early attempt to create a legislature, theoretically independent of the party. ('Soviet' is the Russian word for 'council,' so the name of this organization did not mean that it was a part of the Communist Party.)" - Condoleezza Rice
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