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Constitution of the Soviet Union
 
 
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The Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 was governed by three versions of its Constitution
Constitution

A constitution is a system for government — often codified as a written document — that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity....
, following the 1918 Soviet Constitution
1918 Soviet Constitution

The first Russian Constitution, which governed the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, described the regime that assumed power in the October Revolution of 1917....
 established by the Russian Federation, the immediate predecessor of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

e four constitutions were:



These constitutions had most provisions in common. These provisions declared the leadership of the working class
Working class

Working class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in specific fields or types of work....
 and, in the latter two, the leading role of the CPSU in government and society.






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The Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 was governed by three versions of its Constitution
Constitution

A constitution is a system for government — often codified as a written document — that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity....
, following the 1918 Soviet Constitution
1918 Soviet Constitution

The first Russian Constitution, which governed the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, described the regime that assumed power in the October Revolution of 1917....
 established by the Russian Federation, the immediate predecessor of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Chronology of Soviet constitutions

These four constitutions were:

  • 1918 Soviet Constitution
    1918 Soviet Constitution

    The first Russian Constitution, which governed the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, described the regime that assumed power in the October Revolution of 1917....
  • 1924 Soviet Constitution
    1924 Soviet Constitution

    The 1924 Soviet Constitution legitimized the December 1922 union of the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Belarusian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR to form the Soviet Union....
  • 1936 Soviet Constitution
    1936 Soviet Constitution

    The 1936 Soviet constitution, adopted on December 5, 1936, and also known as the "Stalin" constitution, redesigned the government of the Soviet Union....
  • 1977 Soviet Constitution
    1977 Soviet Constitution

    At the Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the fourth and last Soviet Constitution, also known as the "Brezhnev Constitution", was unanimously adopted....


These constitutions had most provisions in common. These provisions declared the leadership of the working class
Working class

Working class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in specific fields or types of work....
 and, in the latter two, the leading role of the CPSU in government and society. All the constitutions upheld the forms of social property. Each of the constitutions called for a system of soviet
Soviet (council)

A soviet originally was a workers' councils in late Imperial Russia. According to the official historiography of the Soviet Union, the first Soviet was organized during the 1905 Russian Revolution in Ivanovo in May 1905....
s, or councils, to exercise governmental authority.

The differences between Soviet and Western constitutions

On the surface, the four constitutions resembled many constitutions adopted in the West. The differences between Soviet and Western constitutions, however, overshadow the similarities. Soviet constitutions declared certain political rights, such as freedom of speech
Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to denote not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used....
, freedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly

Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
, and freedom of religion
Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in religious education, practice, worship, and observance....
. They also identified a series of economic and social rights, as well as a set of duties of all citizens. Nevertheless, Soviet constitutions did not contain provisions guaranteeing the inalienable rights of the citizenry
Human rights

Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedom to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, i...
, and they lacked laws to protect these rights. Thus, the population enjoyed political rights only to the extent that these rights did not conflict with the goal of building communism
Communism

Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarianism, classlessness, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general....
. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest Communist Party in the world....
 alone reserved the authority to determine what lay in the interests of Communism. Finally, Soviet constitutions specified the form and content of state symbols, such as the arms, the flag
Flag of the Soviet Union

The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag, with a hammer crossed with a sickle and a red star in the upper Flag terminology. The hammer and sickle symbolized the nation's workers and peasants while the red star represented the rule of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union....
, and the state anthem
National anthems of the USSR and Union Republics

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and its constituent republics each had a national anthem .The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic had no anthem, and used exclusively that of the Union: the Internationale from 1917 to 1944 and the Hymn of the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1991....
.

Criticism

According to communist ideologists, the Soviet political system
Soviet democracy

Soviet democracy or sometimes council democracy is a form of democracy in which workers' councils called "soviets", consisting of worker-elected delegates, form organs of power possessing both legislative and executive power....
 was a true democracy, where workers' councils called "soviets" represented the will of the working class
Working class

Working class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in specific fields or types of work....
. In particular, the Soviet Constitution of 1936
1936 Soviet Constitution

The 1936 Soviet constitution, adopted on December 5, 1936, and also known as the "Stalin" constitution, redesigned the government of the Soviet Union....
 guaranteed direct universal suffrage
Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the Suffrage to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and noncitizens....
 with the secret ballot
Secret ballot

The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices are confidential. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery....
. However all candidates had been selected by Communist party, at least before the June 1987 elections. Historian Robert Conquest
Robert Conquest

Dr. George Robert f Ackworth Conquest , United Kingdom historian, became a well known writer and researcher on the Soviet Union with the publication, in 1968, of his account of Joseph Stalin Great Purge of the 1930s, The Great Terror....
 described this system as

See also

  • Soviet democracy
    Soviet democracy

    Soviet democracy or sometimes council democracy is a form of democracy in which workers' councils called "soviets", consisting of worker-elected delegates, form organs of power possessing both legislative and executive power....