Adoption of the constitution of the RSFSR in 1918. Educational portal - everything for the student of law. Formation of local government
Decrees of the II Congress of Soviets were the first acts of a constitutional nature, because. they solved not only current, but also fundamental problems. This is stage 1 (October 1917). Stage 2 begins with the adoption at the III Congress of Soviets of the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People (January 1918) - was of a program nature. The final stage is the Basic Law of the Republic. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee developed a draft Constitution in 4 months. The following questions were discussed: 1) about the federal structure (administrative principle of the state structure, granting each subject broad rights to self-determination and management of its territory; 2) about the system of Soviets (having eliminated the lower links of this system, replacing them with traditional rural gatherings. Local councils was supposed to be transformed into municipal bodies). 3) about SNK. Either merge with the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, or withdraw legislative powers from the Council of People's Commissars. 4) about socio-economic transformations. Radicals (Socialist-Revolutionary Maximalists) insisted on the total socialization of property.
Adoption of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918
All proposals were rejected by a commission set up in June 1918 headed by Lenin. Amendments were made, the Declaration was included, the draft was supplemented with articles on the rights and obligations of citizens, changes were made to suffrage. On July 10, 1918, the 5th Congress of Soviets adopted the first Soviet Constitution and elected new composition All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Bolshevik in composition.
Principles of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918
formulated in its six sections: I. Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People; II. General provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR; III. the Constitution of Soviet power in the center and in the regions; IV. Active and passive suffrage; V. Budget law; VI. On the emblem and flag of the RSFSR. The Declaration defined the dictatorship of the proletariat and the system of soviets. The first economic transformations in nationalization were legally fixed. The duration of the Constitution was Xia as "transition from capitalism to socialism".
State structure according to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918
Worn federal Ha Rakter, the subjects of the federation were national republics. The creation of regional unions was envisaged. The Constitution proclaimed the All-Russian Congress of Soviets as the supreme body of power. The congress elected the All-Russian Central Executive Committee responsible to it. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee formed the Government of the RSFSR - SNK, which consisted of people's commissars who headed the sectoral people's commissariats. Local authorities were regional, provincial, county and volost congresses of councils. Town and village councils were created in towns and villages. Competence: The All-Russian Congress of Soviets and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee carried out the approval and amendment of the Constitution, admission to the composition, declaration of war and peace, management of foreign, domestic and economic policies, taxes and duties, organization of the armed forces, judiciary and legal proceedings, the formation of national legislation.
Electoralsystem according to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918.
Only workers were allowed to vote. A significant part was disenfranchised (persons using hired labor for profit; living on unearned income; private traders and intermediaries; representatives of the clergy, employees of the gendarmerie, police and security department. Representation was not equal. City councils had the advantage to provide a small worker class of the country, the majority in government. In addition, the workers took part in elections not only in the territorial districts, but also in party and trade union organizations. The constitution established a multi-stage system of elections to councils. Direct elections were to village and city councils, delegates of all subsequent levels were elected at the respective congresses of councils on the basis of representation and delegation.
Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 was the first in the history of the constitutions of the Soviet Socialist Republic. At the suggestion of V.I. Lenin, the first section of the Constitution was adopted by the III Congress of Soviets in January 1918 "Declaration of the rights of the working and exploited people." The Constitution was adopted by a resolution of the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers, Peasants, Red Army and Cossack Deputies on July 10, 1918 and entered into force on July 19 after publication in Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Proclaimed the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants', Red Army and Cossack Deputies the highest body of state power. The draft Constitution of 1918 was being prepared for 4 months (April-July 1918).
Structurally, the Constitution of the RSFSR consisted of six sections:
2) General provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR (they included articles on the rights and obligations of workers, the competence of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars, etc.);
3) The construction of Soviet power (the organization of Soviet power in the Center and in the localities);
4) Active and passive suffrage;
5) Budget law;
6) On the emblem and flag of the RSFSR.
The first section, "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People", declared Russia "a Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. All power in the center and locally belongs to these Soviets. The Russian Republic was established as a federation of Soviet national republics.
In the second section, "General Provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic", the main task of this Constitution was determined - the establishment of the dictatorship of the urban and rural proletariat. The basic rights and obligations of citizens of the Republic were declared: free education, the obligation to work, universal military service.
The third section, "The construction of Soviet power (the organization of Soviet power in the Center and in the regions)" revealed the construction of Soviet power. It determined that the supreme power in the RSFSR was the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. It was formed by representing 1 deputy from 25,000 workers and 1 deputy from 125,000 peasants. According to the Constitution, the Congress was to be convened at least twice a year. (This rule has never been observed during the entire period of this Constitution.)
The fourth section, "Active and passive suffrage", defined active and passive suffrage. The constitution reflected the current socio-political situation in the country. The so-called "exploiters" - persons using wage labor, living on unearned income, merchants and commercial intermediaries, clergy, former policemen and gendarmes, etc., were deprived of their voting rights. Only representatives of those social groups were allowed to take part in the elections, in respect of which restrictions were not applied on the basis of gender, nationality, residence, education and religion. These groups were united by the concept of "workers".
The fifth section, "Budgetary Law", was devoted to budgetary law. Until the summer of 1918, there was practically no planned financing in the republic. The constitution established the basic principles for the formation state budget and the terms for which it was to be formed six months or a year. The Congress of Soviets and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee had the right to determine what types of revenues and fees are included in the national budget and what are at the disposal of local Soviets. The Soviets received the right to tax and collect fees for the needs of the local economy. The procedure for spending money and the forms of financial reporting were determined various levels Soviets.
In the sixth section, "On the coat of arms and flag of the RSFSR", the state symbols, trade, maritime and military flag of the RSFSR were established, their brief description was given.
The Constitution of 1918 legally consolidated the results of the six-month formation of Soviet statehood and a new legal system.
The dictatorship of the proletariat was called the social basis of Soviet power, and the system of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies was called the political basis.
Innovations in the economy, established by the Constitution - the complete nationalization of forests, land, subsoil, transport, banks, industry. The constitution established the monopoly of the state in the economic sphere. The Supreme Council of the National Economy is the highest body in the field of economic management.
The duration of the Constitution was set - a transitional period from capitalism to socialism. The state structure of the RSFSR according to the Constitution of 1918 is the Federation. The subjects of the Federation are national republics.
The system of public authorities according to the Constitution:
1) the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', Peasants' and Cossacks' Deputies - the highest body of legislative power. It was a temporary body, in the period between sessions of the Congress, the duties of the supreme authority were performed by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), elected by the Congress; The All-Russian Central Executive Committee is the highest legislative, administrative and controlling body, that is, the principle of separation of powers in the RSFSR acted conditionally;
2) The Government of the RSFSR is the highest executive body of power. It was formed by the Congress of Soviets;
3) Council of People's Commissars. It was accountable to the Government of the RSFSR, it included people's commissars who headed individual branch people's commissariats);
4) regional, provincial, district and volost congresses of Soviets, their executive committees - local authorities (in cities and villages - city and village councils).
Electoral system under the Constitution of 1918
Only representatives of certain social groups, "workers" (the proletariat, peasants) had active voting rights.
They did not have the right to elect:
1) persons using hired labor for the purpose of making a profit;
2) citizens living on “unearned income” (from renting out residential premises, lending to other citizens for a fee determined by a percentage for the use of funds, etc.);
3) private traders and intermediaries;
4) representatives of the clergy;
5) employees of the gendarmerie, police and security department.
Elections to the Soviets were multi-stage and based on the principles of representation and delegation, that is, citizens directly elected deputies to village and city Soviets and delegates to elections at all subsequent levels.
The main principles of the Constitution of 1918 formed the basis not only for subsequent constitutions of the union and autonomous Soviet republics, but also became fundamental for the Constitution of the USSR of 1924 - the first federal constitution that legally fixed the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922.
HISTORY OF THE FIRST SOVIET CONSTITUTION
Starting from the first day of its existence, the Soviet state has issued a whole series of acts of a constitutional nature. These are the decrees: On Peace and On Land; Decree On Court, etc., Appeal of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee “To the Citizens of Russia” and Appeal of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets “To Workers, Soldiers and Peasants”. An important legal act, which was almost entirely included in the first Soviet Constitution, was the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, adopted by the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets on January 12, 1918.
It entered the text of the first Soviet Constitution and is now a monument of law. Some authors directly call the declaration - the first document of Soviet Russia bearing a constitutional character. However, the declaration in some cases may not be a constitutional document, but contain the norms of the leading branch of law. Most often, it is published when explaining to citizens, the public, the world community the official policy in the field of interethnic relations or in connection with an assessment of the socio-political and economic situation.
July 10, 1918 The All-Russian Congress of Soviets, as the supreme body of the new government established as a result of a coup d'état, adopted the Basic Law, which fixed the principles of the organization of Soviet power, the form of government, territorial structure, relations between power and people, and state symbols. It was essentially the first formal constitution in the history of the Russian state, presented in a single normative act.
What did the Basic Law bring to the newborn country? What goals did the Bolsheviks pursue, hastily creating a Constitution for the country? What functions did the Constitution carry and what were the trends in the development of constitutional and legal thought in Soviet Russia?
The adoption of the Constitution of the RSFSR in 1918 was preceded by a difficult struggle for its content. The III All-Russian Congress of Soviets, held in January 1918, put forward the preparation of the Constitution of the RSFSR as one of the priorities of the Soviet government. The Congress, in particular, instructed the Central Executive Committee to prepare the main provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR for the next Congress of Soviets.
However, due to the sharp aggravation of the international situation in February-March 1918 (the termination of peace negotiations with Germany in Brest-Litovsk and the offensive of the German army), as well as the complication of the internal situation in Soviet Russia, all the attention of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet government was directed to the preservation of the Soviet building. The work of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the development of the Constitution was temporarily suspended.
The IV All-Russian Congress of Soviets, held on March 14-16, 1918, was of an extraordinary nature. All the work of this extraordinary congress was connected with the question of concluding the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany. At the suggestion of the Bolshevik faction, the congress ratified the peace treaty concluded in Brest-Litovsk. And only after the approval of the Brest peace treaty did the Soviet government get the opportunity to start organizing a systematic and daily government controlled all areas of socialist construction.
By the spring of 1918, a system of supreme bodies of power and administration had taken shape in its most important features, and the process of organizing the state apparatus in the localities was coming to an end. However, neither structural uniformity has yet been achieved in the construction of the local state apparatus, nor the necessary coordination in the interaction of central and local bodies based on the consistent implementation of the principle of democratic centralism. The competence of various state bodies was also not properly defined. It was necessary to give the mechanism of the Soviet state that had already taken shape in its basis the necessary harmony and clarity that it lacked in the work of all links of the state apparatus.
On March 30, 1918, the Central Committee of the RCP(b) recommended that the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the fourth convocation form a Constitutional Commission. On March 31, 1918, the Central Committee of the Party once again noted the urgency of putting the first Soviet Constitution into effect and emphasized that the period of conquest of power was over, the main state building was underway.
In accordance with the recommendations of the Central Committee of the Party, on April 1, 1918, the Bolshevik faction of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, according to the report of Ya. M. Sverdlov, approved its candidates for the Constitutional Commission. Representatives of a number of people's commissariats were also to be included in its composition. On the same day, at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, a resolution was adopted on the creation of the Constitutional Commission and the representation of factions in it was determined.
On April 19, 1918, at a meeting of the commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, they voted on three projects: the Bolsheviks, M.A. Reisner, and the Maximalist Social Revolutionaries. The commission accepted the Bolsheviks' draft. Further work on sections of the project was carried out by three subcommittees.
The struggle developed, first of all, around the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the basic constitutional principle. The Left SRs opposed the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat being enshrined in the Constitution.
The "Draft Constitution of the Labor Republic", presented by the Maximalist Social Revolutionaries, also denied the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This position was taken by the "left communists" on a number of fundamental issues, which, in essence, also denied the need for a period of transition from capitalism to socialism and the need for a strong state of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The anarcho-syndicalist concept of "left communists" was reflected in the draft "Basic Principles of the Constitution", developed by Professor M. A. Reisner.
In the project, the role of the Soviets was reduced to the function of a simple representation of the social and economic collectives of working people - "producers". The national basis of the Soviet Federation was denied in principle, and it was proposed to build the Soviet Republic "on the basis of a free federal union" of individual cities, provinces, districts and volosts. This was motivated by the fact that a large state and democracy are incompatible, that democracy is possible only in small self-governing communes, not subordinate to the central government and united in a "free federation".
Reisner's project was opposed by a document called "Theses on the type of federation", developed with the participation of Ya. M. Sverdlov and.
On the basis of these theses, the "Draft General Provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR" was developed, which, after a detailed discussion in the Commission, was included as an integral part in the final text of the first Soviet Constitution. These ideas formed the basis of the project of the Bolsheviks approved by the Constitutional Commission on April 19, 1918 " General Provisions Constitution of the RSFSR.
Russian constitutional law: Soviet constitutional law from 1918 to the Stalinist constitution.
POWER TO WORKERS
The Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, approved by the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918, together with the Constitution of the Soviet Republic approved by the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets, constitute the single fundamental law of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.
This fundamental law comes into force from the moment of its publication in its final form in the Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets. It must be published by all local bodies of Soviet power and exhibited in all Soviet institutions in a conspicuous place.
The Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets instructs the People's Commissariat of Education to introduce in all schools without exception and educational institutions of the Russian Republic, the study of the main provisions of this Constitution, as well as their explanation and interpretation.
SECTION ONE
DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE WORKING AND EXPLOITED PEOPLE
Chapter first
1. Russia is declared a Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. All power in the center and locally belongs to these Soviets.
2. The Russian Soviet Republic is established on the basis of a free union of free nations as a federation of Soviet national republics.
Chapter Two
3. Setting as its main task the destruction of all exploitation of man by man, the complete elimination of the division of society into classes, the merciless suppression of the exploiters, the establishment of a socialist organization of society and victory
socialism in all countries, the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies decides further:
a) In the implementation of the socialization of land, private ownership of land is abolished and the entire land fund is declared public property and transferred to the working people without any redemption, on the basis of equal land use.
b) All forests, subsoil and waters of national importance, as well as all living and dead stock, model estates and agricultural enterprises are declared national property.
c) As the first step towards the complete transfer of factories, factories, mines, railways and other means of production and transport into the ownership of the Soviet Workers 'and Peasants' Republic, the Soviet law on workers' control and on the Supreme Soviet is confirmed National economy in order to ensure the power of the working people over the exploiters.
d) The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets considers the Soviet law on the annulment (destruction) of loans made by the government of the tsar, the landlords and the bourgeoisie as the first blow to international banking and finance capital, expressing confidence that the Soviet government will firmly follow this path until the complete victory of the international worker uprisings against the yoke of capital.
e) The transfer of all banks into the ownership of the workers' and peasants' state is confirmed as one of the conditions for the liberation of the working masses from the yoke of capital.
g) In the interests of ensuring full power over the working masses and eliminating any possibility of restoring the power of the exploiters, the arming of the working people, the formation of a Socialist Red Army of workers and peasants, and the complete disarmament of the propertied classes are decreed.
Chapter Three
4. Expressing its inflexible determination to wrest humanity from the clutches of finance capital and imperialism, which have flooded the earth with blood in this most criminal of all wars, the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets fully subscribes to the policy pursued by the Soviet government of breaking secret agreements, organizing the widest possible fraternization with the workers and peasants who are now fighting between armies and achieve at all costs the revolutionary measures of the democratic peace of the working people without annexations and indemnities, on the basis of the free self-determination of nations.
5. For the same purposes, the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets insists on a complete break with the barbaric policy of bourgeois civilization, which built the welfare of the exploiters in a few selected nations on the enslavement of hundreds of millions of the working population in Asia, in the colonies in general and in small countries ...
From the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918
REVOLUTIONARY DECLARATION OR LEGAL DOCUMENT?
All Soviet type constitutions were largely fictitious. They proclaimed principles that were not actually implemented in life. This applied to such principles as the ownership of power by the working people, the sovereignty of the Soviets, the federal structure of Russia, the use by citizens of the political rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitutions.
The Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 - the first Constitution adopted shortly after the October coup, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly - had the following features.
1. In comparison with all subsequent Soviet constitutions, as the first Constitution, it did not rely on the principle of continuity of constitutional development, determined the foundations of the organization of society at the constitutional level for the first time, guided by the slogans under which the Bolsheviks headed by Lenin came to power, and relying on the first decrees of the Soviet power, adopted before the middle of 1918. This Constitution completely crossed out all the previous state-legal experience of Russia, left no stone unturned from pre-revolutionary state institutions and structures.
2. Of all the Soviet constitutions, it was the most ideologized and had an openly class character. It completely denied the general democratic concept of the people as the bearer and source of state sovereignty. It asserted power for the Soviets, for the working population of the country, united in urban and rural Soviets. The Constitution directly enshrined the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Guided by the interests of the working class as a whole, the RSFSR deprived individuals and groups of individuals of the rights that these individuals or groups of individuals used to the detriment of the interests of the socialist revolution (Article 23 of the Constitution).
3. The Constitution of 1918 differed from subsequent constitutions of the RSFSR also in a significant number of program provisions, defining in many of its articles the goals to be achieved by the Constitution. This refers to the provisions on the federal structure of Russia, established in the virtual absence of its subjects, to fixing certain rights of citizens, aimed at the possibility of their implementation in the future. In the Constitution - big number"target" rules.
4. The specific features of the Constitution of 1918 include the fact that its norms and provisions go beyond the scope of domestic regulation. It includes establishments oriented to the entire world community, and establishments of a purely political nature. So, in Art. 3 was fixed: "Setting as its main task the destruction of all exploitation of man by man, the complete elimination of the division of society into classes, the merciless suppression of the exploiters, the establishment of a socialist organization of society and the victory of socialism in all countries ...". In Art. 4 expresses the inexorable determination to wrest humanity from the clutches of finance capital and imperialism.
6. From the point of view of legal technique related to the design of state-legal institutions, usually clearly identified in constitutions, the Constitution of 1918 was largely imperfect in its power, which was also explained by objective factors. The absence of subjects of the Federation did not allow to single out the corresponding section in the Constitution. The section on the basics could not be presented in a generalized form social order, since the latter was just being laid.
All the noted features of the Constitution of 1918 characterize it as a constitution of a revolutionary type, adopted as a result of a violent change in the social and state system, rejecting all previous legal establishments that existed before the coup or revolution.
The first Soviet Constitution was adopted by the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets on July 10, 1918, considered by the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on July 18, and entered into force 101 years ago. The basic law of the country determined the basic principles of the structure of the new state. Most of these principles were developed during the revolution and were reflected in the first decrees of the Soviet government and documents of the All-Russian Congresses of Soviets, according to an article on the website of the Presidential Library named after B.N. Yeltsin. The first Constitution of the RSFSR consisted of 6 sections and included 17 chapters and 90 articles.
Document development
The draft Constitution of the RSFSR 1918 was prepared by the commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee formed in April 1918. It included representatives of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee: from the Bolsheviks were M.N. Pokrovsky, I.V. Stalin, Ya.M. Sverdlov, who was the chairman of the commission, from the Left Social Revolutionaries - D.A. Magerovsky and A.A. Schrader, from the Maximalist Social Revolutionaries with the right of an advisory vote - A.I. Berdnikov, as well as representatives from the people's commissariats (N.I. Bukharin and others who had the right to an advisory vote). The Bolsheviks insisted on enshrining the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the Constitution, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and Maximalist Socialist-Revolutionaries opposed this, considering the RSFSR a state that expresses the power of the entire working people, the Great Russian Encyclopedia says. Bolsheviks, recognizing the need for a federal form state structure(I.V. Stalin considered autonomous regions as subjects of the Federation, which were distinguished by a special way of life and national composition), nevertheless they were supporters of a centralized model of the state without dividing power structures into legislative and executive branches and sought, first of all, to strengthen the competence of the central bodies, it is noted in BDT. The Left SRs were adherents of a decentralized model of the state with broad autonomy for local self-government.
All members of the commission were unanimous in their decision to deprive the "exploiters" (bourgeoisie) of their voting rights. However, on all other aspects of the suffrage, their opinions were divided: some advocated equal suffrage for all workers in the city and countryside, subject to their membership in a trade union, for collective suffrage (from political, professional or cooperative organizations), but the majority insisted on legislative consolidation benefits of the working class. Other questions were also discussed. The Board of the People's Commissariat of Justice under the leadership of P.I. prepared its own version of the draft Basic Law of the country. Knocks.
The document had a pronounced class character, secured the establishment of the dictatorship of the urban and rural proletariat and the poorest peasantry in the form of a powerful All-Russian Soviet power in order to completely suppress the bourgeoisie, destroy the exploitation of man by man.
The first section of the Constitution was the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People. The state of the dictatorship of the proletariat was fixed as the main instrument for the construction of socialism, and as state form this dictatorship - the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Red Army Deputies.
The Constitution established that the supreme body of power in the country is the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and in the period between congresses - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK). The Congress of Soviets could cancel any act of any authority that contradicted the Constitution or acts of the Congress of Soviets. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee had the right to cancel or suspend resolutions and decisions of the Council People's Commissars(SNK). In the future, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was endowed with the same function.
State power was declared to belong only to the working part of the population.
The Constitution provided for indirect elections to county (district) and higher bodies of state power, established the production-territorial principle of elections to the Soviets. For the urban population, the elections were direct, for the rural population they were multi-stage (rural Soviets elected deputies to the volost and district congresses of Soviets, which then sent deputies to provincial and regional congresses, and those, in turn, to the All-Russian Congress).
The right to vote was deprived of: persons who resorted to hired labor in order to make a profit; living on unearned income (interest on capital, income from enterprises, proceeds from property, etc.); private traders, trade and commercial intermediaries; clergymen; former police agents and employees of the special corps of gendarmes and security departments; members of the Romanov dynasty that reigned in Russia; mentally ill or insane; convicts.
Representation at the All-Russian Congress of Soviets from the city Soviets was carried out according to the norm of 1 deputy from 25 thousand voters, and from the provincial congresses of Soviets - 1 deputy from 125 thousand inhabitants: as a result, the workers received an approximately threefold advantage compared to the peasantry and other categories of the population.
The Constitution approved the entry into the RSFSR of regional autonomies on a federal basis.
The constitution granted democratic rights and freedoms only to workers, they were also given the exclusive right to "defend the revolution with weapons in their hands."
The document set the task of providing the working people with a free and comprehensive education. It also stated that the financial policy of the Soviet state contributes to the main goal - the "expropriation of the bourgeoisie" and the preparation of conditions for "universal equality of the citizens of the Republic in the production and distribution of wealth."
The 1918 constitution established the emblem and flag of the RSFSR. Its provisions formed the basis of the constitutions adopted in 1919-1929 of the autonomous republics within the RSFSR, as well as the Soviet republics (Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, ZSFSR).
The People's Commissariat of Education was instructed to introduce in all schools and educational institutions of the Russian Republic the study of the basic provisions of the Constitution, their explanation and interpretation.
The main principles of the Constitution of 1918 formed the basis not only for subsequent constitutions of the union and autonomous Soviet republics, but also became fundamental for the Constitution of the USSR of 1924 - the first union constitution that legally consolidated the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922.
The text of the document can be found on the website of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov: http://www.hist.msu.ru/ER/Etext/cnst1918.htm
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First Constitution The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was adopted by the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets at a meeting on July 10, 1918 in connection with the formation of the RSFSR.
After the establishment of the Soviet system, control functions in accordance with the principle "All power to the Soviets!" were concentrated in the highest body of Soviet power. The Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 established that the supreme authority in the country is the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and in the period between congresses - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK). The Congress of Soviets could cancel any act of any authority that contradicted the Constitution or acts of the Congress of Soviets. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee had the right to cancel or suspend resolutions and decisions of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK). In the future, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was endowed with the same function.
Second Constitution adopted by the second session of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of the first convocation on July 6, 1923 and in the final version by the II Congress of Soviets of the USSR on January 31, 1924 (in connection with the formation of the USSR). The Congress of Soviets of the USSR became the supreme body of state power, in the period between congresses - the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the USSR, and in the period between sessions of the CEC of the USSR - the Presidium of the CEC of the USSR. The Central Executive Committee of the USSR had the right to cancel and suspend acts of any authorities on the territory of the USSR (with the exception of the higher - the Congress of Soviets). The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee had the right to suspend and cancel the decisions of the Council of People's Commissars and individual people's commissariats of the USSR, the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Union republics. The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee could only suspend the acts of the Congresses of Soviets of the Union Republics by referring the question of their cancellation to the consideration of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. In practice, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, as a rule, did not cancel acts that it recognized as unconstitutional, but suggested that the body that issued them bring them into line with the law. The Supreme Court of the USSR had the right, on its own initiative, to make submissions on the suspension and cancellation of resolutions and orders of the central bodies and allied people's commissariats that did not comply with the Constitution of the USSR; at the request of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, he gave opinions on the legality of acts of the authorities of the Union republics; resolved litigation between the union republics.
Third Constitution(“Stalinist”) adopted by the Extraordinary VIII Congress of Soviets USSR December 5, 1936. She finally approved the priority of union legislation over republican. It does not provide for the right of the republican bodies to suspend or protest the acts of the union bodies. Control over the observance of the Constitution of the USSR and the compliance with it of the republican constitutions is assigned to the jurisdiction of the USSR, but the specific body exercising this control is not indicated in the Constitution. The Constitution gives the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR the right to interpret laws and the right to annul acts of union and republican councils of people's commissars (councils of ministers) that contradict the Constitution. Questions of the constitutionality of normative acts were also considered by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
Fourth Constitution("Brezhnev") was adopted at the extraordinary seventh session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the ninth convocation on October 7, 1977. She retained the existing procedure for exercising constitutional control and specifically indicated this function in the list of powers of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
After the collapse of the USSR in the new historical conditions, Russia, like other union republics, proclaimed its independence ("Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR" of June 12, 1990). The Declaration fixed a new name - the Russian Federation and stated the need to adopt a new Constitution of Russia. In 1993, the President of the Russian Federation convened a Constitutional Conference to develop a new Constitution. A referendum on the adoption of a new constitution was held December 12, 1993 simultaneously with the elections of the legislative body of Russia - the Federal Assembly.
The Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 was adopted during a difficult transitional period and became one of the most important factors in the stabilization of the new state and economic structures. The constitution proclaimed the formation of a new system of state-political structure, drawing a line under the Soviet period in the history of Russia. The Constitution does not prescribe, as it was before, a pre-established unified economic system based on state ownership, it equally protects all forms of ownership, ensuring the freedom of development of civil society. All fullness of state power in the country is exercised by the President of the Russian Federation together with the legislative (bicameral parliament - Federal Assembly), executive (Government of the Russian Federation) and judicial authorities, acting independently. The President as head of state is the guarantor of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the rights and freedoms of man and citizen.
November 5, 2008 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in his message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, took the initiative to amend the Constitution. The changes increase the term of office of the head of state from 4 to 6 years, and of the State Duma from 4 to 5 years, and introduce a new annual duty of the Russian government to submit a report on its work to the State Duma.
November 21, 2008 amendments to the Basic Law were approved State Duma, November 26 - by the Federation Council. The new terms will apply to the President and the State Duma, who will be elected after the amendments come into force. After approval by the Federation Council, amendments to the Constitution are sent for consideration by the legislative assemblies of the subjects of the Federation. If approved by two-thirds of the regions, the amendments will be returned to the upper house, which will meet again and approve the decision of the regions. After the repeated adoption of the decision by the Federation Council, seven days are given to appeal it to Constitutional Court. If there is no appeal, the amendments are sent to the President for signature.
