There are two main meanings to the word soviet:

• Soviet (council) can mean a council of workers, a term that was used from the late Imperial Russia days. After the October Revolution, soviets (councils) became the main form of government at all levels: enterprise, village, city, region, etc., and eventually up to the Supreme Soviet governing the whole USSR.

• Hence Soviet became also an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the Soviet Union or its constituent soviet republics and another noun, Soviet, means citizen of the Soviet Union.

There have also been several soviet republics in existence outside of the Soviet Union:

• The Hungarian Soviet Republic was a short-lived revolutionary government that existed in Hungary from March 21, 1919 until the beginning of August of the same year.

• The Bavarian Soviet Republic was another revolutionary government that lasted from April - May 1919 in the German state of Bavaria.

• The Slovak Soviet Republic existed in south and eastern Slovakia from 16 June to 7 July 1919.

• Luxembourg was also a Soviet Socialist Republic for a three day period in 1919.