The Russian trade union achieved the transformations from the planned economy into the market economy after the Soviet Union's collapse. The Russian trade union reform fi nally formed the model of social corporatism. On the basis of sorting out the history of the Russian trade union reform, the paper analyzes the reality of the Russian trade union in three aspects: the relationship between the government and trade union, the representativeness of workers' interests and their own ability of action according to the theory of corporatism. The article also argues that infl uenced by historical factors, the liberal model pursued by Russian trade union in the complicated and turbulent political and economic background in the early stage of reform was not successful. The relationship between Russian trade union and the government improved rapidly after the establishment of United Russia Party, and with the sympathy and support of the ruling party, it also improved its representativeness and action ability for workers' interests, especially the ability to use legal weapons. But Russian trade union is also facing challenges from new forms of employment and the growth of migrant workers, and further reforms are needed to adapt to complex changes in the labor market.