Development Of The Communist Dictatorship - The 1936 Constitution Flashcards
What did the new constitution proclaim?
-USSR be a federation of eleven Soviet republics
What happened to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets under this new constitution?
-was replaced by new ‘supreme Soviet’
-made up of Soviet of the Union + Soviet of nationalities
What did the new constitution do for the republics?
-each republic had own supreme Soviet
What did the new constitution do for ethnics?
-promised local autonomy to ethnic groups
-support for national cultures + languages — ‘nationalist in form, socialist in content’
What did it promise in terms of elections?
-promised yearly elections with right to vote for all over 18
-including ‘former people’ who were deprived voting rights
Who were the ‘former people’?
-dispossessed old elites who had no place in the new Russia
What did the constitution promise in terms of rights?
-extensive statement of civil rights
-freedom from arbitrary arrest + right to free speech
What was this construction designed to do?
-look democratic
-impress foreigners
What was it like in practice?
-promised rights largely ignored
-central controls exercised over republics’ budgets ensured primacy of union laws little regional independence
What was the result of the elections promised?
-elections not contested so right to vote was merely affirm choice of representative
What was the result regarding the supreme Soviet?
-supreme soviet only met a few days twice a year
-so members could continue regular employment
-also so the bound provided more participation than actual involvement in policy making
How was the supreme soviet viewed by the party?
-forum for imparting decisions back to localities
-not for electors to present views to centre
