The Bolshevik revolution in October 1917 brought Lenin to the head of the State. The USSR was created at the end of 1922.

During communism the government interfered in every part of Soviet life. There was no standing rule of law for the people to live by in the Soviet state, the rules varied from one official to the next and the bureaucrats ruled. Every person had almost the same income and living standard, except for the political class. The bureaucrats were demanding payment or favours for everything they did, from drivers licences to building permits.

Under Stalin’s totalitarian regime from 1924 to 1953 and then under the Brezhnev’s leadership in the 60s and 70s, criminal organisations largely developed. During communism criminal gangs operated from the prisons against their enemy, the Communist Party. The criminals and Russian state officials became more and more involved with each other. When Gorbachev got in power in 1985, the connections between the criminals and the government remained.