Three epochs and three Constitutions of the USSR

During the time of its existence, the Soviet Union lived under three basic laws. The USSR Constitution was adopted in 1924, 1936 and 1977. The changes in the basic law had its own logic.

The peculiarity of the 1924 Constitution of the USSR was that it proclaimed the inequality of all citizens, as happened after some European revolutions, but, on the contrary, restricted the rights of representatives of all classes of society, except the worker. In addition, it had foreign policy in some of its provisions, in particular, the world revolution was declared the goal of the created proletarian state, naturally accompanied by the ruthless suppression of all exploiters. The result of this process, according to the authors of the first Constitution of the USSR, was to become the World Socialist Republic.

Instead of the territorial division inherent in the Russian Empire, the new basic law presupposed a national policy according to which each of the nations inhabiting the USSR received its land and the right to self-determination. In all, there were four republics: the Transcaucasian Federation (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia), the Byelorussian SSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the RSFSR. A connoisseur of national relations in the Leninist Politburo was considered I.V. Stalin, he was instructed to develop this line.

The Constitution of the USSR in 1924 introduced all-Union citizenship, a single payment unit, regulated many other issues, and also established a state border.

The Second Congress of Soviets was held in January, the document was adopted on the 31st day, ten days after Lenin's death.

The Constitution legislatively enshrined the creation of the world's first state of proletarian dictatorship.

The question of the possibility of building socialism in one country for a long time was the subject of the most bitter discussions between party groupings. In the mid-thirties, even skeptics realized that the new state exists, despite the hostile capitalist encirclement, and then a streamlined formulation emerged that socialism was built "mostly," but it's too early to talk about its final victory. Moreover, it turned out that the role of the state does not decrease, but quite the contrary, it grows. In 1935, at the February plenum of the CPSU (b), a decision was formulated on the need to update the Constitution of the USSR. The commission included Radek, Litvinov, Bukharin and other old party members, and Stalin headed it.

The Eighth All-Union Congress of Soviets adopted this document on December 5 of the following year. It was simply impossible to not accept, so it was beautifully composed. To assess the legal flawlessness of the act, it suffices to mention that the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 included entire chapters of the Stalinist constitution. Freedom was proclaimed all that can be imagined. All citizens have become equal. Although the goals of the Soviet state have remained the same, and the aspirations for a world revolution have not been canceled. In the new Constitution of the USSR, this was said, as it were, in passing, as about the possibility of adopting new republics, which were already eleven in the first edition.

In the text of the basic law, it was stated that the exploiting classes were liquidated, private property was declared illegal, but the right to personal property was guaranteed.

An important section of the Constitution was the one that determined the procedure for making changes. This opportunity proved to be superfluous, until 1947 it underwent seven amendments and one new edition.

In 1977, after making another three and a half dozen changes, a new fundamental law was adopted. The existence of the world socialist system made it possible to speak of the "final victory" of the new social formation. In general, the text of the document was similar to the previous legislative act, only more rights and freedoms became. The day of the Constitution of the USSR began to celebrate on October 7, and not on December 5, Soviet citizens did not feel any other changes.