Encyclopedia of Russian History

by James Millar

  The first Soviet constitution of 1918 contained no formal listing of constitutionally guaranteed rights. Yet when the rights were eventually itemized in the 1936 constitution, the condition was inserted that the expression of all such rights by the populace must be “in accordance with” the principles laid down by the Communist Party. Constitutions in all sixteen (later fifteen) republics contained this provision, which, in effect, narrowed the expression of traditional civil rights. See also: CENTRAL COMMITTEE; CIVIL WAR OF 1917-1922

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Harper, Samuel N. (1949). The Government of the Soviet Union. New York: Van Nostrand. Reshetar, John S., Jr. (1989). The Soviet Polity Government and Politics in the USSR, 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Row. Towster, Julian. (1948). Political Power in the USSR 1917-1947. New York: Oxford University Press.

  ALBERT L. WEEKS

  CONSTITUTION OF 1936

  The Soviet Constitution of 1936, also known as the “Stalin Constitution,” was approved by the Eighth Congress of Soviets and became law on December 5, 1936. This Constitution remained in force until 1977 when Leonid Brezhnev based his new “Brezhnev Constitution” on the 1936 document. At Josef Stalin’s urging, the Central Committee of the Communist Party had proposed to the Seventh Congress of Soviets in February 1935 that the 1924 Constitution be changed to reflect the profound transformations in Soviet society wrought by the First Five Year Plan (1928-1932). According to the Soviet government, the main goals of the new constitution were to reflect the successful attainment of socialism in the USSR, to institute universal suffrage, and to grant basic civil rights to the entire Soviet population. Former class enemies such as the nobility, the bourgeoisie, priests, and so-called rich peasants or “kulaks” would now be incorporated into Soviet life as equal citizens with full civil rights. The constitution affirmed that “socialist ownership of the instruments and means of production . . . shall constitute the economic foundation of the USSR,” though it did allow “the small-scale private economy of individual peasants and artisans based on their personal labor”; private ownership of small plots of land, houses, and domestic property; and inheritance of private property. The document expanded the state’s role in providing social welfare by guaranteeing the right to work, free secondary education, and medical aid for all toilers and by furnishing social insurance and paid vacations for industrial and white-collar workers. The constitution also reorganized the Soviet government based on direct elections and reshaped the federal structure of the Soviet Union.

  In a marked departure from previous Soviet political practice, a draft constitution was circulated beginning in June 1936, and the population was invited to take part in a “nationwide” discussion to propose changes. Throughout the summer and fall of 1936, the Soviet government put

  321

  CONSTITUTION OF 1936

  extensive pressure on local officials to organize collective discussions of the draft. Soviet figures claim that as many as seventy-five million people, or 80 percent of the adult population, took part in these discussions. In spite of the dangers of speaking out, the population actively criticized certain aspects of the draft constitution, such as the privileged status of workers in comparison to peasants. Many also protested the granting of equal rights to former class enemies. After polling citizens on their views, the government largely ignored the opinions gathered. Few of the changes proposed by the Soviet population made it into the final version of the constitution.

  Given the repressive political climate throughout the 1930s, one of the most striking aspects of the Stalin Constitution is the explicit enumeration of the civil rights of the individual. The constitution guaranteed “universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot” and created new legislative bodies at the all-union, republican, and local levels. The new Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the supreme soviets of the union republics, and various local soviets were all to be directly elected. Paradoxically, the government let loose a barrage of publicity informing citizens about the candidates for the Supreme Soviet elections in December 1937, despite the fact that each district ballot had only one candidate, who had been chosen in advance by Party and government officials. The constitution also guaranteed Soviet citizens equal rights irrespective of gender, nationality, or race; freedom of religious worship (but not religious propaganda); freedom of assembly; freedom of association; freedom of the press; and inviolability of person and of the home (Articles 122-128, 134). These extensive guarantees remained only on paper, however, as the Soviet government trampled on the civil rights of its citizens through censorship, persecution because of religion and nationality, and widespread illegal arrests and executions.

  The transformations in the federal structure of the Soviet Union brought about by the Stalin Constitution were more substantive. The constitution named eleven territories (Russian, Ukrainian, Be-lorussian, Azerbaijan, Georgian, Armenian, Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz) as union republics and granted other ethnic territories the status of autonomous republics and regions. This administrative structure created a hierarchy of nationalities that gave some groups more privileges than others. The constitution also enumerated a new division of powers between all-union and republican institutions. There is a scholarly consensus that the constitution represented a move toward greater political centralization at the expense of the Soviet republics.

  Analysts have sharply diverging views of the importance of the Stalin Constitution. Because of the egregious failure of the Soviet government to respect the civil rights it guaranteed in the constitution, most critics from the 1930s onward have dismissed the constitution as mere propaganda or window-dressing intended to woo Western European allies in the popular front against Fascism. In the early 1990s, a new interpretation (Getty) suggested that the constitution, and the elections that followed in 1937, were a genuine but abortive attempt to democratize the Soviet Union. According to this view, the constitution was both an attempt to tighten political control over the vast Soviet territory and a potential turn toward democracy that Stalin ultimately decided not to take. Stalin’s political intentions and the reasons behind the cancellation of contested elections in late 1937 after several months of preparations for them may never be known, but the remarkably contradictory nature of the document and the disjuncture between Soviet law and life are undeniable.

  Scholars writing in the late 1990s have argued that the constitution, despite its many contradictions, should not be dismissed as mere propaganda (Davies; Petrone). They suggest that the constitution introduced Soviet citizens to a new political language and opened up spaces for the discussion of such issues as justice, equality, and civil rights. This political language offered Soviet citizens new ways to articulate demands and means to negotiate with state authorities. While the promulgation of democratic ideals may have provided citizens with ways of envisioning alternatives to Soviet political structures, these alternatives were crushed by the intense repression of the late 1930s. See also: CENTRAL COMMITTEE; COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION; NATIONALITIES POLICIES, SOVIET; STALIN, JOSEF VISSARIONOVICH

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Davies, Sarah. (1997). Popular Opinion in Stalin’s Russia: Terror, Propaganda and Dissent, 1934-1941. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Getty, J. Arch. (1991). “State and Society under Stalin: Constitutions and Elections in the 1930s.” Slavic Review 50(1):18-35.

  CONSTITUTION OF 1977

  Petrone, Karen. (2000). Life Has Become More Joyous Comrades: Celebrations in the Time of Stalin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Unger, Aryeh L. (1981). Constitutional Developments in the U.S.S.R.: A Guide to the Soviet Constitutions. London: Methuen. Wimberg, Ellen. (1992). “Socialism, Democratism, and Criticism: The Soviet Press and the National Discussion of the 1936 Draft Constitution.” Soviet Studies 44(2):313- 332.

  KAREN PETRONE

  CONSTITUTION OF 1977

  The 1977 USSR Constitution was a curious mixture of fact and fiction. It gave a correct description of the formal government
structure of the USSR and correctly noted in Article Six: “The guiding and directing force of Soviet society, the nucleus of its political system, state, and societal organizations is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.” At the same time, it contained a purely illusory set of promises of basic human rights and the fundamentally false statement that the Communist Party “exists for the people and serves the people.” This “Brezhnev” Constitution, adopted when Leonid Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Communist Party, replaced the 1936 “Stalin” Constitution. It did not bring any significant immediate changes in the Soviet system. However, under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s, radical changes began to occur in the USSR, and the 1977 Constitution was amended to advance these changes. As the USSR disintegrated in 1990 and 1991, the constitution lost its practical importance. On December 25, 1991, the USSR was formally dissolved, thus ending the story of the 1977 Constitution.

  The opening chapter of the constitution was devoted to the political system. It accurately affirmed the superiority of the Communist Party. But it incorrectly stated that “all bodies of state power are elective from the lowest to the highest.” In fact, all important positions were filled by orders from the Communist Party. And it misled when it said that the Soviet state protects “the rights and freedoms of citizens.” The next chapter gave a generally accurate description of the economic system based on state ownership and state planning. The following chapter on social development and culture correctly noted the state’s role in providing public health and education services. However, it failed to note that the economic system provided for extraordinary privileges for members of the Communist Party elite. The chapter misinformed when it said, “the development of professional art and of the artistic creativeness of the people is encouraged in every way,” since in fact only creative works that met the narrow tastes of the party leadership were encouraged.

  The chapter on basic rights pointed out economic rights that were to a large extent implemented and civil rights that existed only on paper. The economic rights included rights to full employment, education, medical care, housing, and pensions. The political rights included a right to vote that was in fact meaningless because the Communist Party allowed only one candidate for each position, and a right to free speech that was mocked in practice by the sending of dissidents to labor camps and psychiatric institutions. The remaining chapters provided a relatively accurate description of the formal governmental structures of the USSR, though, of course, these structures were all subject to the leading role of the Communist Party as stated in Article Six of the Constitution. Even these chapters contained gross omissions and outright untruths. The provisions on elections did not mention that the party only allowed one candidate to run for each position. The provisions on the Supreme Soviet did not mention that it was controlled so as always to rubber-stamp unanimously anything that had party approval. The provisions on the courts did not mention that judges were expected to obey telephoned instructions from party officials.

  Mikhail Gorbachev engineered major amendments in 1988, 1989, and 1990, which reflected and hastened the decline of Communist Party dictatorship. The 1988 amendments provided for relatively free elections to a newly created Congress of People’s Deputies, though the election constituencies were structured to favor the Communist Party. Further amendments in 1989 and 1990 abolished the special Constitutional position of the Communist Party, legalized competing political parties, restructured the electoral system to be fully democratic, and created the post of president. Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen president by the Soviet parliament. A constitutional amendment provided that future presidents should be chosen by popular election, but the Soviet Union dissolved before such an election could be held. Also during the period 1988-1990, under Gorbachev’s leadership, restrictions on private businesses were swiftly abolished. The constitution was amended to legalize

  CONSTITUTION OF 1993

  private business. In the area of civil rights and human rights, Gorbachev greatly liberalized the Soviet system. An amendment to the constitution created a Committee on Constitutional Review empowered to examine legislation for conformity to the constitution. During its brief existence, the committee found unconstitutional a number of the worst features of the Soviet system, such as secret legislation and restrictions on freedom of movement. See also: ARTICLE 6 OF 1977 CONSTITUTION; BREZHNEV, LEONID ILICH

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Aldieh, Robert B. (1997). Russia’s Constitutional Revolution: Legal Consciousness and the Transition to Democracy, 1995-1996. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. Butler, William E. (1988). Soviet Law, 2nd ed. London: Butterworths. Feldbrugge, F.J.M., ed. (1979). The Constitutions of the USSR and the Union Republics. Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Sijthoff amp; Noordhoff. Scurlock, John. (1980). “Constitutionalism Soviet Style.” University of Missouri at Kansas City Law Review 48:167-215. Unger, Arryeh L. (1981). Constititutional Development in the U.S.S.R. London: Methuen. Yakovlev, Alexandre, and Gibson, Dale. (1992). The Bear That Wouldn’t Dance: Failed Attempts to Reform the Constitution of the Former Soviet Union. Winnepeg: Legal Research Institute of the University of Manitoba.

  PETER B. MAGGS

  CONSTITUTION OF 1993

  The Constitution of the Russian Federation was enacted on December 12, 1993 by a public plebiscite. With the breakup of the USSR in late 1991, Russia needed a new constitution to enshrine the democratic values of post-communist Russian society and to establish the legal foundations for its governing institutions.

  The Constitution was the product of a three-year struggle between President Boris Yeltsin and his parliament. Throughout the period 1991 through 1993, various draft constitutions circulated. Some allocated the majority of power to a new parliament, while others favored a strong presidential system. Sharp differences also erupted between proponents of a strong central government, versus those who favored the devolution of power to the constituent republics and regions. Finally, the process by which a new constitution would be approved was not clear; some favored the convening of a constitutional congress, while others favored a referendum. The inability to resolve these issues resulted in a stalemate that led to Yeltsin’s dissolution of the parliament and attack on the White House (Russia’s parliament building) in October 1993.

  Once ratified in December 1993, the Constitution established a strong presidential republic; some describe it as a superpresidential system. The Congress of People’s Deputies was replaced with a bicameral (two-chamber) Federal Assembly. The upper chamber, the Federation Council, has 178 members-two from each of the eighty-nine republics and regions that comprise the Russian Federation. The Federation Council confirms appointments to the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, authorizes the use of armed forces outside Russia, and considers legislation coming from the lower chamber on the budget, taxes and currency matters, international treaties, and domestic policies.

  The lower chamber, the State Duma, is comprised of 450 deputies, one half elected by a plurality in each constituency and the other half from party lists on a proportional basis. The Duma confirms nominations for Prime Minister; can pass a bill of “lack of confidence” in the government and, if such a bill is passed twice in a three-month period, can force the president to announce the resignation of the government or dissolve the Duma itself. It also confirms and dismisses the chairman of the Central Bank, Accounting Chamber, and Commissioner on Human Rights; declares amnesties; and adopts federal legislation.

  The President, elected to a maximum of two four-year terms, appoints the Prime Minister, subject to consent of the Duma. The President also names other members of the government, as well as the chair of the Central Bank, judges of the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court, and the Procurator-General. The President has primary responsibility for foreign and defense policy and chairs the Security Council.

  The President may dismiss the government without consultation or consent of the Duma. The President can call for a national referendum
and can issue decrees that are binding, so long as they are not in conflict with federal law or the constitution. The President can veto legislation, which requires

  CONTROL FIGURES

  a two-third vote of both houses to be overridden. Under certain circumstances, the President also has the power to dissolve the parliament and force new elections.

  The 1993 Constitution establishes federal supremacy over “the subjects” of the Russian Federation. The President has the power to suspend acts of executive officials in the regions and republics. Although Article 72 mentions broad policy areas that are considered “joint federal-regional jurisdiction,” it is the President who mediates disputes between federal and regional governments. No powers or policy matters are designated as exclusively the domain of the subjects of the federation. Despite its flaws, the Constitution of the Russian Federation gained widespread acceptance and provided much needed stability as the country endured wrenching political, economic, and social changes in the decade 1994-2003. See also: FEDERAL ASSEMBLY; REFERENDUM OF DECEMBER 1993

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Ahdieh, Robert. (1997). Russia’s Constitutional Revolution. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. Sharlet, Robert. (1999). “Constitutional Implementation and State-Building: Progress and Problems of Law Reform in Russia.” In State-Building in Russia: The Yeltsin Legacy and the Challenge of the Future, ed. Gordon B. Smith. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. Smith, Gordon B. (1996). Reforming the Russian Legal System. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

  GORDON B. SMITH

  CONSTRUCTIVISM