The chapter looks at how the CPSU legacy influences subnational political pluralism and competitiveness across Russian regions. We show that regions of Russia that were characterized by a larger share of CPSU members in their population in the past today exhibit lower levels of political pluralism, even if one controls for other predictors of subnational democracy or authoritarianism. This effect does not seem to be linked to the persistence of the Soviet elites. Rather, it is associated with the functioning of bureaucracy: in regions with a high CPSU membership share in the past, bureaucratic practices have remained more stable since the Soviet era, and this provided the incumbents with an instrument they could have used to consolidate their political control over the region.