1977 USSR Constitution

The development of a new constitution began in 1962 ^[1] , when on April 25 of that year the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decided to work out a draft of a new Constitution of the USSR and created a Constitutional Commission of 97 people. N. Khrushchev was appointed chairman of the Constitutional Commission.

On June 15, 1962, at the meeting of the Constitutional Commission, the main tasks of drafting a new Constitution were discussed and 9 subcommissions were formed.

In August 1964, the Constitutional Commission completed the development of the draft Constitution of the USSR and the explanatory note to it ^[2] . This project consisted of 276 articles. However, in the future it was subjected to serious processing and was not approved in its original form.

On December 11, 1964, L.I. Brezhnev became the chairman of the Constitutional Commission.

On December 19, 1966, according to the resolution of the Supreme Council, 33 new deputies were included in the Constitutional Commission in exchange for those who left.

The working group on the drafting of the Constitution was headed: since 1962, L. F. Il'ichev , from 1968 - A. N. Yakovlev , from 1973 - B. N. Ponomarev .

On October 4 - 6, 1977, the Constitution hearing was held at the sessions of the Supreme Soviet chambers. On October 7, the final joint meeting of the chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was held, where, first by sections, and then as a whole, the Constitution was adopted. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by separate vote in chambers, adopted the Declaration of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the adoption and declaring the Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the USSR, the Law of the USSR declaring the adoption of the Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the USSR on a national holiday and the Law of the USSR on the procedure for enacting the Constitution (Basic Law) of the USSR.

On October 8, the new USSR Constitution was published in all the newspapers of the country.

The constitution adopted in 1977 contained 9 sections, 21 chapters and 174 articles.
The structure of the Constitution at the time of adoption (October 7, 1977):

• Preamble
• Section 1. Basics of the social system and the policy of the USSR :

Chapter 1. The political system

Chapter 2. The economic system

Chapter 3. Social Development and Culture

Chapter 4. Foreign Policy

Chapter 5. Defense of the Socialist Fatherland

• Section 2. State and Personality

Chapter 6. Citizenship of the USSR. Equality of citizens

Chapter 7. Fundamental rights, freedoms and duties of citizens of the USSR

• Section 3. USSR National-State Structure :

Chapter 8. USSR - Union State

Chapter 9. The Federal Soviet Socialist Republic

Chapter 10. Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Chapter 11. Autonomous Region and Autonomous Region

• Section 4. Councils of people's deputies and the procedure for their election :

Chapter 12. The system and principles of activity of Soviets of People’s Deputies

Chapter 13. Election System

Chapter 14. People's Deputy

• Section 5. Supreme bodies of state power and administration of the USSR :

Chapter 15. USSR Supreme Soviet

Chapter 16. Council of Ministers of the USSR

• Section 6. Basics of building bodies of state power and administration in the Union republics :

Chapter 17. The supreme bodies of state power and administration of the union republic

Chapter 18. The supreme bodies of state power and administration of the autonomous republic

Chapter 19. Local Government and Administration

• Section 7. Justice, Arbitration and Prosecutorial Supervision :

Chapter 20. Court and Arbitration

Chapter 21. The Prosecutor's Office

• Section 8. Coat of arms, flag, anthem and capital of the USSR
• Section 9. The effect of the USSR Constitution and the order of its change

Preamble

In the preamble of the Constitution, the historical path traversed by the Soviet society for 60 years after the October Revolution was generally evaluated. A characteristic was given of Soviet society as "a developed socialist society, as a natural stage on the road to communism." The preamble also says that the Constitution preserves the principles of the previous Constitutions, and states that the Soviet government carried out the deepest socio-economic reforms, forever ended human exploitation by man, with class antagonisms and national enmity.

The text of the preamble in the Constitution of 1977 is about 20 times more than in the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 .

On March 14, 1990, the preamble excluded the mention that “the leading role of the Communist Party — the vanguard of the whole people” increased in the development of society, which was due to the legalization of the multiparty system and the actual rejection of the country from the socialist path of development.

Political system

The first section of the Constitution enshrined the general principles of the socialist system and the main features of a developed socialist society.

Article 1 meant that the USSR "is a socialist nation-state, expressing the will and interests of the workers, peasants, intellectuals, working people of all nations and nationalities of the country."

Article 6 legally enshrines the leading and guiding role of the CPSU, which was the core of the political system of the USSR. Legislatively secured an important role in the political system of trade unions, the Komsomol and other mass public organizations, which was a significant difference from the previous Constitutions: in the 1936 Constitution, the CPSU (B.) Was the “governing core of all workers' organizations, both public and state” (Art. 126), and the Constitution of 1924 was not mentioned at all ^[3] .

On the possibility of the existence of other parties in the Constitution nothing was said; The constitution recognized only the right of citizens to “unite in public organizations” (Article 51).

In 1990, significant amendments were made to the 1977 Constitution, in particular, a multi-party political system was introduced ^[4] . At the same time, the new edition of Article 6 retained the mention of the CPSU, which makes it possible to characterize the established political system as a system with a dominant party .

Economic System

In Chapter 2, Article 10 fixed that the basis of the economic system of the USSR is socialist ownership of the means of production, which exists in two forms: state (nation-wide) and collective-farm cooperative.

On March 14, 1990, Article 10 was set forth in a new edition, in accordance with which the property of Soviet citizens and state property were declared the basis of the USSR economic system.

Article 16 enshrined the principle of state economic planning , at the same time it assumed a combination of centralized management with economic independence and the initiative of enterprises, the use of economic calculation, profit, cost and other economic levers and incentives

Authorities

The new Constitution introduced a new Section IV - “ Councils of People’s Deputies and the procedure for their election”, where the entire system of Soviets was fixed, the term of office of the Supreme Soviets was increased from 4 to 5 years, and local Soviets from 2 to 2.5 years. Subsequently (in 1988) a single term was established for all Soviets - 5 years.

The principle of universal , equal, direct suffrage by secret ballot , which already existed in the previous Constitution, was also consolidated. At the same time, according to Article 96 , the age of passive suffrage was reduced to Soviets to 18 years, to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - to 21 years (previously - 23 years).

Section V enshrined the provisions on the highest state bodies of power — the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the USSR . In Section VI , the authorities of the union and autonomous republics were designated, where the highest state bodies of power were the local Supreme Councils and the Councils of Ministers.

Government structure

Section III defined the national and state structure of the Union, as well as, like all previous Constitutions of the USSR, enshrined the right of the Union republics to freely secede from the USSR. This provision played a significant role in the collapse of the USSR in 1991 .

During the Constitution, amendments were made to it 6 times.

On June 24, 1981, amendments were made to article 132, according to which other members of the USSR Government could be included in the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers ^[5] .

On December 1, 1988, amendments were immediately made to three chapters relating to the electoral system and establishing the Congress of People's Deputies ^[6] .

December 20, 1989, amendments were made to Art. 108, 110, 111, 121, 122 and 130 relating to the Congress of People's Deputies ^[7] .

On December 23 of the same year, amendments were made to art. 125 concerning constitutional oversight ^[8] .

On March 14, 1990, the most extensive amendments were made to the Constitution, according to which the one-party system and the leading role of the CPSU were abolished, the post of President of the USSR was instituted, the institution of private property was introduced (“property of Soviet citizens”) ^[9] .

On December 26, 1990, the last amendments to the Constitution were made concerning the system of public administration ^[10] , three days later a law was passed to give effect to them ^[11] .

On September 5, 1991 , after the events of August 19-21 of the same year , the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR adopted the Law “On State Power and Administration of the USSR in the Transition Period” ^[12] , which has the power, importance and character of constitutional law, but without amendments to the Constitution itself. According to this law, the structure and order of formation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was changed, the post of Vice President of the USSR was abolished, the State Council of the USSR and other authorities and administrations were created. The USSR Constitution continued to operate only to the extent that it did not contradict this law.

On December 8, 1991, in Viskuly near Brest (Republic of Belarus), Presidents of the RSFSR and Ukraine Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kravchuk , as well as Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus Stanislav Shushkevich signed the “Agreement on the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States” (known in the media as the Belovezhskaya Agreement ). The document, consisting of the Preamble and 14 articles, stated that the USSR ceased to exist as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality. However, based on the historical community of peoples, the relations between them, taking into account bilateral treaties, the desire for a democratic rule of law, the intention to develop their relations on the basis of mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty, the parties agreed on the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States ^[13] .

On December 10, the Supreme Councils of Ukraine and Belarus ratified the agreement on the creation of the CIS ^{[14] [15]} .

On December 12, the agreement was ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR ^[16] . The validity of this ratification raised doubts among some members of the Russian parliament, since according to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the RSFSR of 1978, consideration of this document was under the exclusive authority of the RSFSR Congress of People’s Deputies, as it affected the state structure of the republic as part of the USSR and thus entailed changes to the Russian constitution ^{[17] [18]} .

On December 21, 1991, at the meeting of the heads of republics in Alma-Ata ( Kazakhstan ), another 8 republics joined the CIS: Azerbaijan , Armenia , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Moldova , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan , the Alma-Ata Declaration and Protocol to the Bialowieza Agreement were signed the creation of the CIS ^[19] .

On December 23, the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR ratified the Bialowieza Agreement along with the Alma-Ata Protocol ^[20] . Mention that Kazakhstan is a union republic of the USSR remained in the Constitution of the Kazakh SSR in 1978 (Chapter 7. The Kazakh SSR - the Federal Republic as part of the USSR, Articles 68-75) until January 28, 1993, when it was adopted and entered into force Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan ^{[21] [22] [23] [24]} .

December 25, Mikhail Gorbachev announced the termination of his activities as the President of the USSR. On the same day, the agreement on the creation of the CIS was ratified by the Supreme Council of Tajikistan ^[25] .

On December 26, 1991, the Council of the Republics of the USSR Supreme Council (formed by USSR Law No. 2392-1 of September 5, 1991, but not provided for by the USSR Constitution) adopted a declaration on the termination of the USSR in connection with the formation of the CIS ^[26] .

In April 1992, the Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation three times refused to ratify the Belovezhskaya Agreement and exclude from the text of the Constitution of the RSFSR the reference to the Constitution and laws of the USSR ^[27] , which later became one of the reasons for confrontation between the Congress of People’s Deputies and President Yeltsin and subsequently led to forceful dispersal Congress in October 1993 ^{[28] [29]} . The Constitution of the USSR and laws of the USSR continued to be mentioned in Articles 4 and 102 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation - Russia (RSFSR) 1978 ^[30] until December 25, 1993, when the draft Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by popular vote, which did not contain a mention of the Constitution and laws of the USSR.

On June 19, 1992, President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk signed a law on the complete exclusion of references to the USSR (including the Constitution of the USSR) from the Constitution of Ukraine in 1978 ^[31] .

Article 45 speaks of the free nature of all types of education, “the development of correspondence and evening education,” “the provision of state scholarships and benefits to pupils and students,” “the free delivery of school textbooks,” and “the creation of conditions for self-education” (this was not all in the 1936 constitution ).

While the 1936 Constitution referred to “teaching in schools in one’s mother tongue” (Art. 121), the Constitution of 1977 refers to “ opportunities to study in a school in one’s mother tongue” (Art. 45) - this reflects the widespread practice of that many parents preferred to send children to Russian-speaking schools, rather than to national ones.

Compared with the 1936 constitution, such articles appeared, in particular:

• Article 42 Citizens of the USSR have the right to health care.
• Article 44 Citizens of the USSR have the right to housing.
• Article 46 Citizens of the USSR have the right to enjoy the achievements of culture.
• Article 47 Citizens of the USSR ... guaranteed freedom of scientific, technical and artistic creativity. The rights of authors, inventors and rationalizers are protected by the state.
• Article 66 Citizens of the USSR are obliged to take care of the upbringing of children ... Children are obliged to take care of their parents and assist them.
• Article 67 Citizens of the USSR are obliged to protect nature and protect its wealth.
• Article 68 Care for the preservation of historical monuments and other cultural values ​​is the duty and obligation of the citizens of the USSR.
• Article 69 The international duty of a citizen of the USSR is to promote the development of friendship and cooperation with the peoples of other countries, maintaining and strengthening universal peace ^[32] .

At the stage of discussion, the draft Brezhnev Constitution was seriously criticized ^[33] , but in the era of stagnation, only the support of the bill came to the official press, and the criticism was distributed in samizdat .

• The adoption of the Brezhnev Constitution on October 7, 1977 , which fell on Friday , deprived the workers of the USSR of one day off for three years in a row - 1977, 1978 and 1979 . Until 1976, the Constitution Day of the USSR was celebrated on December 5, the day the USSR Constitution was adopted in 1936 , and was a non-working day. Since 1977, of course, December 5th ceased to be a public holiday and, being Monday, it became a working day. Instead, the day of the Constitution of the USSR, and therefore, a day off, was announced on October 7. But in 1977, on October 7, it was not yet time to become a holiday, and in 1978 and in 1979, this holiday fell on Saturday and Sunday. At the same time, the labor legislation of the USSR did not envisage the postponement of days off if the day off coincides with a holiday on the next working day. Thus, two more days off were taken away ^[34] .
• When adopting the Constitution at the extraordinary seventh session of the USSR Supreme Soviet of the ninth convocation, foreign guests were attended by Robert-Jean Long, Karl Marx's great-grandson.
• In 1992-93, when the Soviet Union no longer existed, Constitution Day in Russia continued to be celebrated on October 7, not April 12 (the day the Constitution of the RSFSR was adopted in 1978). Thus, for two years, the day of the constitution of a non-existent state was celebrated.

• Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993
• 1978 Constitution of the RSFSR
• 1924 USSR Constitution
• 1936 USSR Constitution
• Constitution Square in St. Petersburg

• Scientific Communism: Dictionary (1983) / Constitution of Developed Socialism
• 1977 Constitution of the USSR . 10/07/1977. Project of the Russian Military Historical Society "100 main documents of Russian history."