On December 5, 1936, the 8th Extraordinary Congress of Soviets of the USSR adopted a new constitution.

It reflected the formation of a number of new republics within the Soviet Union, asserted the establishment of a socialist economic system, and also fixed the new rights and freedoms of Soviet citizens.

Experts call it one of the most democratic in the world for its time.

Adoption of the constitution

The first constitution of the USSR was adopted in 1924.

It consolidated the unification of the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the BSSR and the ZSFSR into a single state.

It was based on the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR and the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, approved by the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviets in 1922.

“When the Bolsheviks first came to power, it was about the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The entire legal system was built on this principle.

There were entire strata of society deprived of civil and political rights.

This was done in order to eliminate the legacy of the past.

However, with the elimination of antagonistic classes, society was consolidated, and the need for specific measures aimed at establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat disappeared, "historian Yevgeny Spitsyn said in an interview with RT.

According to experts, already in the 1930s it became finally clear that the first Soviet constitution had outlived its usefulness.

“There have been tremendous changes in the economic and social situation of the country.

The agrarian country became industrial, a cultural revolution took place in it.

The first constitution was generated by the Civil War, and the new one was supposed to postulate a transition to civil peace, "Yuri Yemelyanov, candidate of historical sciences, said in a commentary on RT.

On February 7, 1935, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR created a constitutional commission chaired by Joseph Stalin and 12 subcommissions.

In June 1936, a draft of a new constitution was published.

The discussion lasted six months.

A total of about 1.5 million amendments and proposals were collected.

“There was a broad discussion of the project.

Discussion materials and different opinions on this matter were published in the newspapers.

Stalin personally ruled the project, and, by the way, his editing was reasonable, "said Vladimir Tomsinov, head of the Department of State History and Law at the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University, in a conversation with RT.

  • In a mountain village, a draft of a new Constitution is being studied.

    June 1936

  • © Sergey Strunnikov / Wikimedia Commons

According to experts, Stalin insisted on the abolition of the multi-stage election system and on the introduction of secret voting in the USSR.

“In the USSR, it was proposed to liquidate the category of disenfranchised.

All citizens of the Soviet Union should have received the right to elect and be elected, ”emphasizes Yevgeny Spitsyn.

On December 5, 1936, the 8th Extraordinary Congress of Soviets adopted a new constitution for the USSR.

It consisted of 13 chapters and 146 articles.

"Ahead of its time"

The 1936 Constitution reflected the formation of a number of new republics within the USSR, which were previously part of the RSFSR and the ZSFSR.

At the same time, the basic law bestowed sovereignty on the union republics.

The constitution dealt with the victory of socialism in the Soviet Union and the establishment of a socialist economic system.

The socialist system of property was established in two forms: state and cooperative-collective farm.

At the same time, the right of citizens' personal property to their labor income, savings and subsidiary farming was officially recognized.

The adoption of the new constitution also implied a large-scale administrative reform.

Instead of the All-Union Congress of Soviets and a bicameral Central Executive Committee, a bicameral Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a Presidium was created.

The authorities of the Soviet Union were officially divided into legislative and executive ones.

Legislative power since 1936 was assigned to the USSR Armed Forces, and executive and administrative power - to the Council of People's Commissars.

The 1936 Constitution officially fixed the place of the Communist Party in the political system of Soviet society as the "leading nucleus of all workers' organizations."

Councils at various levels have become permanent bodies.

In the USSR, equal and direct universal suffrage was proclaimed by secret ballot.

Soviet citizens received the right to vote from the age of 18, and the right to be elected - from 23. The production-territorial principle of organizing elections was replaced exclusively by the territorial one, notes Yevgeny Spitsyn.

  • Joseph Stalin speaks at the Extraordinary VIII All-Union Congress of Soviets with a report "On the Draft Constitution."

    1936 year

  • RIA News

“The struggle for the refusal from political discrimination of certain categories of citizens went on right up to the congress itself,” noted Yuri Yemelyanov.

In addition, according to him, the new constitution enshrined democratic rights and freedoms: the right to rest, education, social security, work, as well as freedom of conscience, speech and assembly.

“The Soviet constitution of 1936 established new rights.

At the same time, she paid much more attention to social rights than the basic laws of other countries.

It was a big step towards building a new society, ”said Vladimir Tomsinov.

  • Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya (left) and actress Ekaterina Pavlovna Korchagina-Aleksandrovskaya at the VIII Extraordinary Congress of Soviets (November-December 1936) in the Kremlin

  • RIA News

  • © Georgy Zelma

The Constitution declared the equality of all citizens and their equality before the law, regardless of gender and nationality.

She guaranteed the inviolability of the person and home, the privacy of correspondence.

“The Basic Law guaranteed rights and freedoms that could not have been ensured back in the 1920s.

This was a reflection of the changes that have taken place in society, ”Emelyanov emphasized.

According to some experts, the content of the 1936 constitution did not fully correspond to the realities of Soviet society.

For example, because of the restrictions imposed on the rights and freedoms by party and law enforcement agencies, as well as because of the forced nature of labor for a number of categories of the population.

However, almost all historians agree that the content of the 1936 constitution was one of the most democratic in the world.

  • The Constitution, approved on December 5, 1936, at the exhibition dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the death of Joseph Stalin "1953: Between the Past and the Future"

  • RIA News

  • © Yuri Abramochkin

"In a situation when ultra-right regimes came to power in Europe en masse, and a significant part of Africa and Asia was divided into colonies of Western powers, the basic law of the USSR looked like a major victory for the forces advocating for peace and progress," Yury Yemelyanov said.

According to Vladimir Tomsinov, the 1936 constitution hit hard on the powers of party secretaries, who did not want to abandon the policy of class enmity and looked at their political opponents as enemies.

“The 1936 Constitution was ahead of its time with democracy, rights and freedoms, embedded in it by a progressive power structure.

Largely thanks to the adoption of this constitution, the Soviet people successfully passed such difficult trials as the Great Patriotic War.

It is correctly called the “Constitution of the Winners,” "Tomsinov said.

  • 1936 Constitution stamps

According to Yevgeny Spitsyn, the 1936 constitution successfully created the preconditions for the dynamic development of the Soviet state, and therefore it operated for more than forty years - until 1977.

“It was an outstanding legal document.

He created a favorable basis for the development of the state, including through the formation of effective mechanisms to protect the rights of citizens, ”summed up Yevgeny Spitsyn.