USSR was a degenerate workers state, though the degeneration didn't fully take hold until 1930s. The concept of socialism in one country was a revisionist drivel against which Lenin fought his entire life. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 established soviets (worker and peasant councils) with direct democracy without privilege all over the country. it's a shame that the political upheaval in the USSR didn't go further and the calls to not only criticize Stalin but also Khrushchev didn't materialize, as well as his plan to return at least some democracy to the party for which he got ousted.