The first constitution of the new Soviet state--the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic--was adopted by the Congress of Soviets on July 10, 1918. It is notable for its uncompromising encouragement of world revolution and the complete
overthrow of capitalism. There is no hint here that the "suppressing (of) all exploitation of man by man" as announced in Chap. II presaged any commitment to political democracy as practised in the West. Power was highly centralized and exercised by the
Communist party to the exclusion of all other political parties. Furthermore, Sec.2, Chap. IX, para. 23 suggests the impossibility of any organized opposition proving successful in the face of overwhelming state power. Thus, for example, the vote was deni
ed to bourgeois elements, ex[pre-revolutionary]-policemen and clergy. And whereas Karl Marx in his vision of the socialist future had looked forward to a society in which man gave according to his abilities and got according to his needs, the Leninist ver
sion [Sec. 2, Chap. IX, para. 18] reads more menacingly: "He who does not work shall not eat," [!] a prescription that was carried over word for word into Stalin's later constitution of 1936.
With the reconstitution of the Soviet republics (Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Georgia, et al.) into the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) in 1923, a new constitution was adopted in 1924. There, also, the monopoly of power by the Communis
t party was retained. That constitution in turn was replaced by Stalin's
Constitution of 1936 which was, like the earlier efforts, a mere façade of
the democracy it professed to install.
Sec.1.
Chapter I
1. Russia is declared a Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies.
All central and local authority is vested in these soviets.
2. The Russian Soviet Republic is established on the basis of a free union of free nations,
as a federation of national soviet republics.
Chapter II
3. With the fundamental aim of suppressing all exploitation of man by man, of abolishing
forever the division of society into classes, of ruthlessly suppressing all exploiters, of bringing
about the socialist organization of society and the triumph of socialism in all countries, the Third
All -Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies further
decrees:
a. In order to establish the 'socialization' of land, private ownership of land is
abolished; all land is declared national property, and is handed over to the laboring masses, without
compensation, on the basis of an equitable division giving the right of use only.
b. All forests, underground mineral wealth, and waters of national importance,
all livestock and appurtenances, together with all model-farms and agricultural enterprises, are
proclaimed public property.
c. As the first step toward the complete transfer of factories, works, shops,
mines, railways, and other means of production and of transport to the ownership of the workers'
and peasants' Soviet Republic, and in order to insure the supremacy of the laboring masses over the
exploiters, the Congress ratifies the soviet law on workers' control of industry . . .
d. The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets considers the soviet law
repudiating the loans contracted by the government of the Tsar, the landlords, and the bourgeoisie
as a first blow at international financial capitalism; and it expresses its conviction that the Soviet
government will continue firmly in this direction until the complete victory of the international
revolt of the workers against the yoke of capitalism.
e. The Congress ratifies the transfer of all banks to the ownership of the workers'
and peasants' government as one of the conditions insuring the emancipation of the toiling
masses from the capitalistic yoke.
f. In order to exterminate all parasitic strata of society and to organize the
economic life of the country, general compulsory labor is introduced.
g. In order to secure the supremacy of the laboring masses and to guard against
any possibility of the restoration of the power of the exploiters, the Congress decrees the arming
of the laboring population, the formation of a socialist Red Army of Workers and peasants, and the
complete disarmament of the propertied classes.
Chapter IV
8. . . . the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets . . . leaves to the workers and peasants
of each nationality the right to make an independent decision, at their own, at their own
plenipotentiary congress of soviets, whether they desire, and if so upon what basis, to participate in
the federal government and in other federal soviet institutions.
Sec. 2
Chapter IX
9. The principal object of the constitution . . which is adapted to the present transition
period, consists in the establishment of the dictatorship of the urban and rural proletariat and the
poorest peasantry, in the form of the strong all-Russian soviet power, with the aim of securing the
complete suppression of the bourgeoisie, the abolition of the exploitation of man by man, and the
establishment of socialism, under which there shall be neither class division nor state authority. . .
.
13. In order to secure for the laboring masses genuine freedom of conscience, the church
is separated from the state and the school from the church, and freedom of religious and anti-
religious propaganda is acknowledged to be the right of all citizens.
14. In order to secure for the laboring masses genuine freedom of expressing their
opinion, the [state] annuls the dependency of the press upon capital and hands over to the working
class and the poor peasants all the technical and material resources necessary for the publication of
newspapers, pamphlets, books, and all other printed matter, and guarantees their free circulation
throughout the country.
17.In order to insure for the laboring masses effective access to education, the [state]
undertakes to provide for the workers and poorest peasants complete, universal, and free
education.
18. The [state] recognizes work to be the duty of all citizens of the republic and proclaims
the watchword: "He who does not work shall not eat."
23. Guided by the interests of the working class as a whole, the [state] deprives
individuals or separate groups of any privileges which they may use to the detriment of the socialist
revolution.
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