Formation of the union of Soviet socialist republics. Formation of the ussr 1 in what year was the ussr formed
The state unification of the Soviet socialist republics played an important role in successful socialist construction. The voluntary unification of the sovereign Soviet republics into a single union multinational socialist state was dictated by the course of their political, economic and cultural development and was prepared practically as a result of the implementation of Lenin's national policy. The joint struggle of the peoples of the Soviet republics against external and internal enemies showed that the contractual relations between them, established in the first years of Soviet power, were not enough to restore the economy and further socialist construction, in order to defend their state independence and independence. It was possible to successfully develop the national economy only if all the Soviet republics were united into a single economic whole. It was also of great importance that the economic division of labor and interdependence had historically developed between different regions of the country. This led to mutual assistance and close economic ties. The threat of military intervention from the imperialist states demanded unity in foreign policy and strengthening the country's defense capability.
Union cooperation of the republics was especially important for those non-Russian peoples who had to go from pre-capitalist forms of economy to socialism. The formation of the USSR followed from the presence of a socialist structure in the national economy and from the very nature of Soviet power, international in its essence.
In 1922, a mass movement of working people for unification into a single union state developed in all the republics. In March 1922 it was proclaimed Transcaucasian Federation, which took shape in December 1922 in Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR)... The question of the forms of unification of the republics was worked out and discussed in the Central Committee of the party. The idea of autonomization, that is, the entry of independent Soviet republics into the RSFSR as autonomy, put forward by I.V. Stalin (since April 1922 General Secretary of the Party Central Committee) and supported by some other party workers, was rejected by Lenin, then the October Plenum (1922) of the Central Committee RCP (b).
Lenin worked out a fundamentally different form of unification of the independent republics. He proposed to create a new public education - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, into which all Soviet republics would enter together with RSFSR on an equal footing. The congresses of Soviets of the Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, ZSFSR, which took place in December 1922, as well as the 10th All-Russian Congress of Soviets, recognized the unification of the Soviet republics into a single union state as timely. On December 30, 1922, the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR opened in Moscow, which approved the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR. It formulated the basic principles of the unification of the republics: equality and voluntariness of their entry into the USSR, the right of free withdrawal from the Union and access to the Union for new Soviet socialist republics. The congress considered and approved the Treaty on the formation of the USSR. Initially, the Union of SSR included: the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the BSSR, the ZSFSR. The formation of the USSR was a triumph of Lenin's nationality policy and had a world-wide historical significance. It became possible thanks to the victory of the October Revolution, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the creation of a socialist structure in the economy. The 1st Congress of Soviets elected the supreme organ of power of the USSR - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (chaired by M. I. Kalinin, G. I. Petrovsky, N. N. Narimanov and A. G. Chervyakov). At the 2nd session of the Central Executive Committee, the government of the USSR was formed - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, headed by Lenin.
The pooling of material and labor resources in a single state was of great importance for the successful construction of socialism. Lenin, speaking in November 1922 at the plenum of the Moscow Soviet and summing up the results of the five years of Soviet power, expressed confidence that "... from NEP Russia will be socialist Russia" (ibid., P. 309).
In the autumn of the same year, Lenin fell seriously ill. While ill, he wrote a number of important letters and articles: "Letter to the Congress", "On imparting legislative functions to the State Planning Commission", "On the issue of nationalities or" autonomization "," Pages from a diary "," On cooperation " revolution "," How can we reorganize the Rabkrin "," Better less, but better. " In these works, Lenin summed up the results of the development of Soviet society and indicated specific ways of building socialism: industrialization of the country, cooperation of peasant farms (collectivization), carrying out a cultural revolution, strengthening the socialist state and its armed forces. Lenin's instructions, made by him in recent articles and letters, formed the basis of the decisions of the 12th Party Congress (April 1923) and all further policy of the party and government. Summing up the results of NEP for two years, the congress outlined the ways of implementing the new economic policy. The decisions of the congress on the national question contained a detailed program of struggle for the elimination of the economic and cultural inequality between peoples inherited from the past.
Despite significant progress in rebuilding National economy, in 1923 the country was still experiencing serious difficulties. There were about 1 million unemployed. In the hands of private capital were up to 4 thousand small and medium-sized enterprises of the light and food industries, 3/4 of the retail and about half of the wholesale and retail trade. The Nepmen in the city, the kulaks in the countryside, the remnants of the defeated Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik parties and other hostile forces fought against Soviet power. The economic difficulties were exacerbated by the crisis in the marketing of manufactured goods caused by differences in the rates of recovery of industry and agriculture, inadequacies in planning, and violations by industrial and trade authorities of price policy. Prices for manufactured goods are high, while prices for agricultural products are extremely low. The discrepancy in prices (the so-called scissors) could lead to a narrowing of the base industrial production, undermining industry, weakening the alliance between the working class and the peasantry. Measures were taken to eliminate the difficulties that had arisen, liquidate the sales crisis: prices for manufactured goods were reduced, the monetary reform (1922-24) was successfully carried out, which led to the establishment of a hard currency.
Taking advantage of the acute internal, as well as the prevailing international situation and Lenin's illness, the Trotskyists launched new attacks on the party. They vilified the work of the Party Central Committee, demanded freedom of factions and groupings, opposed lower prices for goods, proposed raising taxes on peasants, closing unprofitable enterprises (which were of great national economic importance), and increasing the import of industrial products from abroad. The 13th Party Conference (January 1924), condemning the Trotskyists, declared that “... in the face of the current opposition we have before us not only an attempt to revise Bolshevism, not only a direct departure from Leninism, but also a clearly expressed petty-bourgeois deviation” (“KPSS in resolutions ... ", 8th ed., vol. 2, 1970, p. 511).
On January 31, 1924, the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR approved the first Constitution of the USSR. It was based on the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, adopted by the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviets in 1922. The CEC consisted of 2 equal chambers: the Union Council and the Council of Nationalities. A single union citizenship was established: a citizen of each republic is a citizen of the USSR. The Constitution provided the workers of the USSR with broad democratic rights and freedoms and active participation in government. But at that time, in the midst of an acute class struggle, the Soviet government was forced to deprive the electoral rights of alien class elements: kulaks, merchants, ministers of religious cults, former police and gendarmerie employees, etc. The USSR Constitution had tremendous international and domestic significance. In accordance with its text, the constitutions of the union republics were developed and approved.
Nation-building continued. The process of the state structure of the Russian Federation was coming to an end (by 1925 it included, in addition to provinces, 9 autonomous republics and 15 autonomous regions). In 1924 the BSSR transferred from the RSFSR a number of districts of the Smolensk, Vitebsk and Gomel provinces, inhabited mainly by Belarusians, as a result of which the territory of the BSSR more than doubled, and the population almost tripled. The Moldavian ASSR was formed as part of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1924-25, the national-state demarcation of the Soviet republics of Central Asia was carried out, as a result of which the peoples of Central Asia were given the opportunity to create sovereign national states. The Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR were formed from the regions of the Turkestan ASSR, the Bukhara and Khorezm republics inhabited by Uzbeks and Turkmens. From the regions of the Turkestan ASSR and the Bukhara Republic, inhabited by Tajiks, the Tajik ASSR was formed, which became part of the Uzbek SSR. The regions inhabited by Kazakhs, which were previously part of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, were reunited with the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. From the areas inhabited by the Kyrgyz, the Kyrgyz Autonomous District was formed as part of the RSFSR.
The 3rd Congress of Soviets of the USSR (May 1925) accepted the newly formed union republics - the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR - into the USSR.
In 1918, the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People was adopted, which proclaimed the principle of the future structure of the country. The federal basis of the free union of republics was the right of nations to self-determination. Following this, the Soviet government recognized the independence of Finland and the statehood of Poland.
Decay Russian Empire and the imperialist war led to the establishment of Soviet power throughout Russia.
Proclaimed in 1918, it occupied 92% of the entire territory and was the largest of all Soviet republics. More than 100 ethnic groups and nationalities lived there. The RSFSR partly included the territories of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. In fact, until 1922, the Far Eastern Republic functioned in its likeness. There were economic, political and cultural prerequisites for the unification. It was not difficult to plant Soviet power in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which had proclaimed their independence.
From 1920 to 1921, units of the Red Army occupied these states without visible resistance and established the laws of the RSFSR there. The Sovietization of Belarus was easy.
In Ukraine, it was not without a fight against the pro-Kiev course. The process of establishing Soviet power in the Central Asian republics — Bukhara and Khorezm — was going on with difficulty. Detachments of the local armed opposition continued to resist there.
Most of the communist leaders of the republics were worried about the existence of "Great Russian chauvinism"; they feared that the unification of the republics could lead to the creation of new empire... This problem was perceived especially painfully in Georgia and Ukraine.
The Communist Party turned out to be the real power that, thanks to its impeccable organization and hierarchy, created an effective governing structure for a huge country.
The unification of the republics was facilitated by the rigidity of the repressive organs.
The development of the principles of the national state structure was carried out by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee commission. Autonomous, federal and confederal options for building a single state were considered.
The plan for the declared autonomous entry of the Soviet republics into the RSFSR was proposed by the People's Commissar for Nationalities. However, the commission accepted the version of the union federal state proposed by Lenin. He gave the future republics formal sovereignty.
Lenin clearly understood that a united party and a powerful repressive system are a sure guarantee of the integrity of the state. Lenin's project could attract other peoples to the Union and not scare them away, like Stalin's option.
On December 30, 1922, at the 1st Congress of Soviets, the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was proclaimed. The congress adopted a declaration and a treaty.
The declaration spoke about the reasons, goals and principles of the association. The main goal was declared to be the creation of a world union of communist republics. Formally and legally, this goal was canceled in December 1991.
The Union was responsible for issues of foreign policy and export, defense, finance, communications and communications. The rest of the questions were within the competence of the republics.
The supreme legislative body was elected the Central Executive Committee (CEC), which consisted of two chambers: the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities.
On January 31, 1924, the 2nd All-Union Congress of Soviets adopted the first Constitution of the USSR, which stipulated the principles of the declaration and the treaty. These provisions were enshrined in the adoption of the constitutions of the union republics in 1924-1925. The formation of the USSR strengthened the communist regime and increased the power of the state.
Introduction
1 The internal political situation after the end of the Civil War
2 Prerequisites for the creation of the USSR
3 Stalin's and Lenin's projects of the USSR
1 Preparatory work for the I Congress of Soviets of the USSR
2 Adoption of the Declaration and the Treaty on the formation of the USSR
3 Adoption of the Constitution of the USSR in 1924
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
The relevance of the problem of the formation of the USSR for our time does not diminish, the fact is that modern Russia the stage of disintegration has not completely passed at all. It is enough to look at the events in the North Caucasus and it becomes clear that the situation is not at all cloudless. Therefore, for such a multinational state as Russia, the question of state structure is not an abstract topic of conversation. And the example of the collapse of the USSR has not lost its acuteness to this day, because even literally at the end of the eighties of the twentieth century, it seemed to many that a superpower was eternal and indestructible. But only a few knew for sure that the last months of the existence of this state had gone.
The appearance of the USSR on the political map of the world was not a fact of the emergence of an absolutely new state, even then they said that it was the Russian Empire in a new form. The novelty was that it was a state with a new type of socio-economic relations. But one should not assume that the USSR was at that time a unique phenomenon, because in Europe after the First World War all significant monarchies - German, Austrian, Russian and Turkish - disappeared. But if Austria and Turkey were reduced to the level of insignificant states in terms of political influence, then Russia and Germany, even with territorial losses, remained states with great economic and political potential. And both states eventually evolved from parliamentary states to authoritarian regimes with a socialist ideology. Only in Russia such an evolution took place earlier and as a result of the Civil War, in Germany the process was peaceful and lasted fifteen years. And if we add to these two countries Italy, with its fascist regime of Mussolini, as well as a number of totalitarian regimes in small countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, as well as France balancing on the brink of totalitarianism, then it follows admit that the USSR, with its totalitarian regime, was not at all an exception in Europe, and even more so in Asia.
The formation of the USSR was also a natural result of the development of society over the previous sixty years, since Not without reason, many consider the October Revolution to be a peasant uprising aimed at redistributing land. It was the peasant reform of 1861, during which the peasants received freedom, but did not receive land and provoked the discontent of the peasants, which ultimately resulted in a civil war.
The Bolsheviks who won the war gave the peasants land, but the renewed state had to be arranged and put in order. None of the top leadership of the USSR wanted to lose the lands of Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. But it was required to create a new state organization that would meet the requirements of the time and public sentiments. The unitary state was no longer suitable, since literally all the peoples inhabiting the territory of the former Russian Empire took an active part in the civil war. Indeed, one of the slogans that roused the masses to war was the slogan of national self-determination. For this reason alone, it was impossible to build a unitary state.
But the USSR, which managed to defeat Nazi Germany, collapsed in peacetime and the reasons for its collapse were not at all in economic sphere and not in the original mistakes in the project. After all, the economy of the USSR and the standard of living were at a fairly high level, for most of the republics leaving the USSR was unprofitable. In addition, internally, the USSR was constantly evolving from Stalin's totalitarianism to Gorbachev's liberalism, and the transformation of the USSR into a liberal, democratic state was only a matter of time. But nobody gave the USSR this time.
Therefore, in the early nineties of the twentieth century, there was a lively debate in the media about what was initially vicious in the USSR project, and what could be corrected. These disputes are still important today, because it is no secret that the customs and economic union between Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan actually means the beginning of the creation of a new USSR. Therefore, the debate of scientists about the reasons for the creation of the USSR, its disadvantages and advantages, also mean that there is active work in the direction of building a new state formation.
The purpose of this term paper will consider the creation of the USSR and modern approaches to this problem.
During the course work, the following tasks will be set:
consider the internal political situation after the end of the Civil War;
study the prerequisites for the creation of the USSR;
identify the differences between the Stalinist and Leninist projects of the USSR;
to consider the preparatory work for the I Congress of Soviets of the USSR;
show the adoption of the Declaration and the Treaty on the formation of the USSR and the USSR Constitution of 1924
Stalinist Leninist Soviet Union
Chapter I. Formation of the USSR in 1922 as a natural process for the creation of a centralized state
1. The internal political situation after the end of the Civil War
The end of the Civil War on the territory of the former Russian Empire marked not only the victory of the radical party adhering to communist views. The war ended with a tremendous devastation in the economy, enterprises did not work, Agriculture was also undermined, despite the distribution of land to the peasants. But the state of transport communications and communication systems was especially alarming for the new government. After all, everyone understood that the Russian Empire was connected by railways and the telegraph, and the absence of these connecting elements of the infrastructure threatened a real collapse of the state. And the leaders of the Bolshevik Party did not flatter themselves about the fact that in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine or Belarus, the same Bolsheviks were in power as they were themselves. Lenin, Trotsky and other leaders of the Bolsheviks studied in schools and universities and knew very well the history, which taught that states collapsed when the central government ceased to control local authorities. And without the punishing right hand of the central government, the degeneration of local authorities occurs very quickly. Moscow's fears were confirmed by the dynamics of the activity of the republican authorities, which began to independently conduct foreign policy in their republics. Thus, the aforementioned republics established full-fledged diplomatic relations with Germany, Poland, Turkey and other European countries. Although these steps were approved by Moscow, it was obvious that in the future the republics would consider conducting an independent foreign policy as their inalienable right. And, as far as domestic policy is concerned, by this time the independence of the republics was already quite high. This was especially true of Ukraine, whose leadership did not hesitate to defend the economic interests of its republic. Lenin and Stalin understood that if the process went on like this, then the final disintegration new Russia it will be a matter of time. Therefore, their work on the creation of a union state was aimed precisely at suppressing separatist tendencies in the republics. But both leaders had different views on the construction of the future state, if Lenin believed that the republics should be given a certain set of freedoms, then Stalin gave his preferences to a rigidly centralized state.
I.V.'s preferences Stalin had good reasons for themselves also because he understood that society after the civil war is like a raging sea, which, even without wind, will not calm down soon. Therefore, this society should be placed within a certain framework, otherwise a new round of civil war cannot be avoided. In addition, I.V. Stalin, by his upbringing and his inclinations, was an authoritarian personality and did not tolerate manifestations of disobedience. Stalin's whole life proceeded in such structures where discipline and diligence were valued above all, and it does not matter whether it was a theological seminary or a group of militants preparing to rob the Tiflis bank.
2. Prerequisites for the creation of the USSR
But the creation of the USSR in 1922 did not begin at all from scratch; in the summer of 1919, a military-political union of Soviet republics was formed. On June 1, 1919, a decree was signed "On the unification of the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus for the fight against world imperialism." The military-political unity of the Soviet republics played a huge role in the defeat of the combined intervention forces and the White Army. The Soviet republics entered into contractual relations with the RSFSR. In 1920 - 1921 Bilateral treaties were signed on a military-economic alliance between Russia and Azerbaijan, a military and economic alliance between Russia and Belarus, allied treaties between Russia and Ukraine, Russia and Georgia. During this period, representatives of Ukraine, Belarus, the Transcaucasian republics entered the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR, and some people's commissariats began to unite. As a result, the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the RSFSR actually turned into a governing body for the industry of all republics. In February 1921, the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR was created, headed by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky, called upon to lead the implementation of a single economic plan. Since the spring of 1921, in response to V.I. Lenin on the economic unification of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the creation of the Transcaucasian Federation (TSFSR) began, organizationally took shape in March 1922.In February 1922 in Moscow, a meeting of representatives of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Bukhara, Khorezm and the Far East republics instructed the delegation of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to represent at the international conference in Genoa on the economic restoration of Central and Eastern Europe (April 1922) the interests of all Soviet republics, to conclude any treaties and agreements on their behalf. The RSFSR delegation was replenished with representatives of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.
The practice of the first years of Soviet power was to create autonomies in the Russian Federation on a national, territorial, and economic basis. In 1918-1922. peoples, mainly small and compactly living surrounded by the Great Russian lands, received autonomy of two levels within the RSFSR: republican - 11 autonomous republics (Turkestan, Bashkir, Karelian, Buryat, Yakutsk, Tatar, Dagestan, Gorsk, etc.) and regional - 10 regions (Kalmyk, Chuvash, Komi-Zyryansk, Adyghe, Kabardino-Balkarian, etc.) and 1 autonomous Karelian labor commune (since 1923. Autonomous Republic). The Bolsheviks viewed the federation as a transitional stage on the eve of the world revolution.
3. Stalin's and Lenin's projects of the USSR
One should not think that V.I. Lenin and J.V. Stalin was constant throughout her life, this is completely wrong. The fact is that these people were, first of all, politicians who fully realized that “one should speak correctly and act as needed”. In other words, you can proclaim any slogans to the public, make any promises, but in real politics you should only take carefully calculated actions. This was especially evident in the position of V.I. Lenin regarding the choice of the state structure of the future USSR. Even on the eve of the Second Congress of the RSDLP, Lenin deliberately dwelled on the national question in several of his articles in the newspaper Iskra. In his article “On the Manifesto of the Union of Armenian Social Democrats,” he, while supporting the slogan of self-determination of nations, categorically opposes federalism and focuses on the rapprochement of peoples. At that time, Lenin was an opponent of the federation, considered it a bourgeois institution and recognized territorial-national autonomy only as an exception. After the congress, the Bolsheviks and, above all, Lenin, had to fight against federalism in the Social Democratic Party and, at the same time, against the principle of cultural and national autonomy. And ten years after the Second Congress, Lenin remained a principled opponent of the federal system. In this respect, his letter to S.G. Shaumyan of December 6, 1913, which repeatedly attracted the attention of specialists in national relations. In this remarkable letter, Lenin considered it necessary to write the following words: “We are for democratic centralism, of course. We are for the Jacobins against the Girondins ... In principle, we are against the federation - it weakens the economic connection, it is an unsuitable type of one state. Do you want to separate? Get lost to the devil if you can cut the economic connection. Autonomy is our plan for the organization of a democratic state. " At the same time, which has long been noted in the research literature, in articles devoted to the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Lenin emphasized that concrete historical conditions may dictate the need for federation with the aim of a democratic solution of the national question.
And already during the years of the Civil War, a final change in the views of V.I. Lenin on the essence of the federation, as a method of state structure. After all, it was clear that it would be very difficult to keep the republics within unitary Russia, and it would be much better to grant them the status of republics, even if this status would be largely fictitious. But in the future there will always be an opportunity to increase the independence of the republics in economic and foreign policy issues. Therefore, the project of V.I. Lenin on the structure of the USSR reflects his views.
But Lenin's project was not one; at the same time there was a project developed by the group of I.V. Stalin, reflecting his ideas about the state structure.
In the spring and summer of 1922, the party organizations of Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia, discussing ways of closer unification with the RSFSR, turned to the Central Committee of the RCP (b) with a request to develop the principles and forms of a unified Soviet state. A commission of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) was created from representatives of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the republics. The chairman of the commission was I.V. Stalin, who from the moment of the creation of the first Soviet government headed the People's Commissariat for Nationalities.
During the work of the commission I.V. Stalin put forward a plan of "autonomization", which provided for the entry of the Soviet republics into the RSFSR as autonomous republics. At the same time, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars and the STO of the RSFSR remained the highest bodies of state power and administration.
Stalin's plan of "autonomization" was the natural outcome of the struggle between those who under the communist flag went to isolationism and separatism and those who sought to achieve the unity of the republics under the auspices of the central Moscow government. As separatist sentiments intensified among the national communists, the positions of the centralist wing of the party were significantly strengthened. The idea of uniting the republics as autonomous entities within the RSFSR, which, in addition to I.V. Stalin was defended by V.M. Molotov, G.K. Ordzhonikidze, G. Ya. Sokolnikov, G.V. Chicherin and others, matured not only in the higher echelons of power, but also advanced at the lower levels of the state apparatus and had many supporters among the communists of the outskirts.
The project was approved by the party leadership of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the RCP (b).
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia opposed, stating that unification in the form of autonomization was premature, the unification of economic and general policy is necessary, but with the preservation of all the attributes of independence. In fact, this meant the formation of a confederation of Soviet republics based on the unity of military, political, diplomatic and, in part, economic activity.
On the whole, without opposing the resolution, the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of Belarus spoke in favor of contractual relations between the independent union republics.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not discuss the project, but stated that it proceeds from the principle of Ukraine's independence.
The situation changed when, on September 23, 1922, representatives of the republics were summoned to a meeting of the commission of the Organizational Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the issue "On the relationship between the RSFSR and the independent republics." Already on the first day for the project I.V. Stalin was voted on by representatives of all republics, with the exception of the abstaining representative of Georgia. On September 24, all controversial issues were settled - the center made some concessions. The republics were allowed to have their representatives in the Presidium of the All-Union Central Executive Committee, to agree on the appointment of authorized all-Union People's Commissariats, to appoint their representatives to the foreign missions of the People's Commissariats for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The People's Commissariat of Finance from the all-Union was transferred to the category of the Union-republican. The commission accepted the draft as a basis and recommended it to the plenum of the Central Committee.
However, V.I. Lenin, who was ill and could not take part in the work of the commission, rejected the idea of autonomization. On September 26, 1922, he sent a letter to the members of the Politburo, in which he sharply criticized the "autonomization" project and formulated the idea of creating a union of equal Soviet republics. He proposed replacing the formula for the "entry" of the republics into the RSFSR with the principle of their "unification together with the RSFSR" in the union Soviet socialist state on the basis of complete equality. Lenin emphasized the need to create all-union bodies, standing over the RSFSR as much as over other republics. Defending the principle of complete equality of the uniting Soviet national republics, he wrote: "... we recognize ourselves as equal with the Ukrainian SSR and others, and together and on an equal footing with them enter a new union, a new federation," the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia. " Stalin was forced to recognize his plan of autonomization as erroneous.
October 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee approved the position of V.I. Lenin and adopted a new resolution on its basis.
Chapter 2. Formation of the USSR and nation-building
1. Preparatory work for the I Congress of Soviets of the USSR
V.I. Lenin were taken into account by the commission of the Central Committee. The resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the form of unification of independent Soviet republics (dated October 6, 1922) recognized the need to conclude an agreement between Ukraine, Belarus, the Federation of the Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, leaving each of them the right free secession from the Union. By November 30, the commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) developed the main points of the Constitution of the USSR, which were sent to the Communist Party of the republics for discussion. On December 18, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) discussed the draft Treaty on the formation of the USSR and proposed to convene a Congress of Soviets of the USSR.
The resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) said:
"one. Recognize it necessary to conclude an agreement between Ukraine, Belarus, the Federation of the Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, leaving each of them the right to freely withdraw from the Union.
The executive body of the "Union CEC" shall be considered the "Union Council of People's Commissars" appointed by the "Union CEC".
The decision of the October (1922) Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), drawn up on the basis of the instructions of V.I. Lenin, was the basis for all subsequent work on organizing the USSR. During November - December 1922, the Communist Party, its Central Committee, as well as the party organizations of the republics in accordance with the instructions of V.I. Lenin did a lot of work to prepare the formation of the USSR and develop its constitutional foundations. The main attention was focused on resolving practical issues, determining the structure of the state bodies of the USSR and preparing the corresponding state acts.
November 1922, a commission elected by the October Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) discussed the issue "On the procedure for conducting questions about the unification of Soviet republics into the Union of Republics." To develop drafts of the Fundamentals of the Constitution and the Treaty on the Unification of the Republics, the commission formed a subcommittee chaired by G.V. Chicherin. At the same meeting, the proposal put forward by V.I. Lenin's proposal “on the establishment of an institute of several chairmen of the Union Central Executive Committee (according to the number of uniting units) with their alternate chairmanship”, as well as the proposal of M.I. Kalinin on the structure of the highest bodies of state power and administration of the USSR.
November 1922, the subcommittee decided to take as a basis the draft theses on the Union Constitution, proposed by G.V. Chicherin and D.I. Kurskiy. The subcommittee approved the name of the union state - "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", fixed the right to secede of the union republics from the Union and a single union citizenship. On November 28, the Central Committee commission approved the draft of the subcommittee. On November 30, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) as a whole approved the main points of the Constitution of the USSR presented by the commission. After that, at the meetings of the commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on December 5 and 16, a number of practical issues related to preparations for the Congress of Soviets of the USSR were resolved, and the draft Treaty and Declaration on the Formation of the USSR were approved. The commission decided that these documents would constitute the Basic Law of the USSR. On December 18, a number of issues related to the work of the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR were considered by the Politburo of the Central Committee. On the same day, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), having discussed the same issues, decided that the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR would only basically approve the Declaration and the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, after which they would be discussed and ratified by the Central Executive Committee of the Union republics, and then finally approved by the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR. To guide the preparations for the Congress of Soviets, the Plenum of the Central Committee formed a commission. At the meeting of this commission on December 20, it was finally decided to name the union state "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". On December 28, the subcommittee approved the edited text of the Treaty on the formation of the USSR, as well as the draft resolution of the I Congress of Soviets of the USSR presented by D.I. Kurskiy. On this, the preparatory work on the formation of the USSR was basically completed.
2. Adoption of the Declaration and the Treaty on the formation of the USSR
The I Congress of Soviets of the USSR began work on December 30, 1922 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Preserved very detailed materials on the composition of the congress in many respects. A total of 2,214 delegates arrived at the congress, of which 1,673 with a casting vote and 541 with an advisory vote. There were only 77 women, which constituted 3.5% of the delegates. In terms of age, the congress was, of course, young. Only 2% of delegates were older than 50 years old, younger than 20-1.2%, and the main group - 45% - were delegates from 21 to 30 years old. Next came the age group from 31 to 40 years old, and from 41 to 50 years old was 7.9%. That is, less than 10% of the delegates were over 40 years old. The young delegate corps created a young country.
The ethnic composition of the congress was as follows. Russians accounted for 62.5%, Ukrainians - 8%, Belarusians - 1.1%, Jews - 10.8%, Caucasian peoples - 4.5%, Turkic peoples - 5.7%, Latvians and Estonians - 3.4% and other nationalities - 4%. It turned out that Soviet Union created, first of all, the Russians and this, of course, corresponded to reality. The social composition of the congress delegates was also taken into account, which is also of considerable interest. The share of workers was 44.4%, peasants - 26.8%, intellectuals - 28.8%. In terms of the number of delegates, the workers were in the first place, significantly exceeding both the peasants and intellectuals individually. It is also interesting that there were more intellectuals than peasants, the largest category of the country's population, accounting for approximately 85% of the total population of the country.
Naturally, the party affiliation of the delegates was also taken into account. 94.1% of all delegates belonged to the Communist Party, 5.7% were non-partisans and 0.2% of delegates belonged to other parties, which was only 5 people. Two delegates represented the Poalei-Zion Jewish Social Democratic Party, 1 an individualist anarchist and 2 the Left Socialist Federalists of the Caucasus. It can be said without exaggeration that the overwhelming majority of the congress participants were promoted to October, this very revolution. This is the general picture, which gives an idea of those people who were supposed to legislatively decide on the creation of the Soviet Union.
The agenda consisted of only three issues - a separate consideration of the Declaration and Treaty on the formation of the USSR and the election of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. On the first two points, and, in general, the main report of the congress was made by I.V. Stalin. According to him, the old period was ending when the Soviet republics, with all their joint actions, nevertheless went apart, dealing with the issues of their existence, and now, according to him, a new period begins - the period of the unification of the republics into a single union state. At the same time, he emphasized that this new period testifies to the desire of the Soviet government to develop into a serious international force capable of changing the international situation in the interests of the working people of the whole world. Stalin described the opening day of the congress as "the day of the triumph of the new Russia over the old one, over Russia - the gendarme of Europe, over Russia - the executioner of Asia."
The international aspect of the creation of the USSR, in general, was attached great importance at the congress. This emphasized the possibility of joining the USSR and other republics, including those where Soviet power had not yet been established. Modern researchers largely adhere to this opinion that the creation of the USSR was an act of international significance. As pointed out by B.N. Topornin. “The answer to this question is not as simple as it might seem at first. Based on the fact that it was concluded by the independent Soviet republics, it can be described as an international legal act. This assessment dominates today in Soviet legal science. " II Lukashuk also notes: “The Treaty on the formation of the USSR in 1922 is an international legal treaty, since it was concluded by states that are not members of any state-legal entity ”.
But this view of the problem of the formation of the USSR is not the only one, as some researchers believe that relations between the Soviet republics on the eve of the formation of the USSR were of a federal nature. In the development of this idea, O. Chistyakov points out: "under federal it is customary to understand such relations when separate state formations, possessing a certain independence, are connected at the same time by the unity of the highest authorities, citizenship, army, finance." Later OI Chistyakov came to a more definite conclusion: “The signing of the Treaty took place on December 30 and was held before the opening of the First All-Union Congress of Soviets. In this regard, the question is: what event should be considered a legal fact? ... Another thing became important: what character did the Treaty take after it was approved by the supreme authority of the Union? Since the Treaty was adopted by the country's legislative body, then, in essence, it ceased to be a Treaty, but became a law. "
But a completely reasonable argument, which confirms the international legal nature of the formation of the USSR, is the opinion of some legal scholars, who point to the following circumstance. Relations between the RSFSR and other republics were precisely international, because in fact the Russian Empire did not exist, completely new states arose on its ruins after the end of the Civil War. The following fact can be cited as an example. In February 1919, the First All-Belarusian Congress of Soviets even adopted the Declaration on the Establishment of Federal Relations with the fraternal RSFSR. However, no unified federal legislative and executive bodies were created. The existence of a Military Alliance between the republics is pointed out as one of the main proofs of the federal nature of relations. Meanwhile, these authors themselves admit that this union was not enshrined in the corresponding agreement - “Union treaties and other agreements of the RSFSR with the independent republics of 1920-21. were not multilateral, but bilateral ”.
The most important documents of the congress, which can be called historic, were the Declaration and the Treaty. The Declaration spoke of the split of the world into two camps - the camp of capitalism and the camp of socialism. In the capitalist camp, national enmity, colonialism, national oppression, the tangle of national contradictions there become more and more entangled, and the bourgeoisie is powerless to establish cooperation between peoples. Only the Soviet camp under the dictatorship of the proletariat can radically destroy national oppression. Only in this way was it possible to repel the attacks of the imperialists of the whole world, both internal and external. But the instability of the international situation gives rise to the danger of new attacks and therefore a united front of the Soviet republics in the face of the capitalist encirclement is necessary. But unification into one socialist family is also prompted by the very structure of Soviet power, which is international in its class nature. Further, they emphasized both the voluntariness of association, the equality of peoples, and the possibility of access to the Union and other socialist republics, including those that may arise in the future. Each republic was also guaranteed the right to freely secede from the Union. The creation of the Union was seen as an important step towards the unification of the working people of all countries into the World Socialist Soviet Republic.
The text of the Declaration differed little from its draft developed by the Commission on October 6 and approved by the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on December 18, 1922. But there were still some differences. In addition to minor stylistic amendments, the phrase was included - "the new union state will be a worthy crowning of the foundations of peaceful coexistence and fraternal cooperation of peoples laid back in October 1917." In the project, this phrase sounded somewhat differently. The draft also did not say anything about the World Socialist Soviet Republic. Another difference and, undoubtedly, important, was that instead of indicating the need to sign the Treaty on the formation of the Union of Socialist Republics of Europe and Asia, as it was in the draft, it provided for the signing of the Treaty on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Thus, the Declaration emphasized both the international factors of the unification of the republics and the internal ones, and, above all, emphasis was placed on the structure of Soviet power that was international in its class nature. The Declaration adhered to all three main principles of the national policy of the Communist Party, which were well traced even on the eve of the October Revolution - the principle of internationalism, the principle of the right of nations to self-determination up to secession and the principle of federalism, Soviet federalism, which provided for the elimination of national oppression at the root, creating an atmosphere of mutual trust and laying foundations of fraternal cooperation between peoples. These principles were actually stated in the Declaration and, among other things, it demonstrated the continuity of the foundations of the new policy laid down in October 1917. The mention of October 1917 was not accidental, and in this respect the new wording was clearer than that which was present in the draft , which spoke about the foundations "which were laid five years ago," that is, when it was not directly mentioned about October 1917.
The next fundamental document discussed by the First Congress of Soviets was called the "Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." He, in fact, bore the character of the Constitution. Like the draft approved by the party authorities, it consisted of 26 articles. The differences from the project on individual points were not very significant. For example, some details have appeared, for example, the number of CEC members was previously planned to be 300 members, and now it is 371. A notable innovation was Article 14, where the following resolution was written: “Decrees and resolutions of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Union are printed in languages, commonly used in the union republics (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian, Turkic) ”. This was the result of local discussions on the project. The VII All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets, as noted, even used the term "state languages". In the Georgian Constitution of March 2, 1922, in general, the Georgian language was declared the state language, but there was also a note on ensuring the rights of national minorities to freely develop and use their native language, not only in their national-cultural, but also in state institutions. The term "state language" does not appear in the Treaty and instead of it they preferred to write about common languages, listing only six languages. It is curious that the term "Turkic language" appears, by which one can understand the languages of all Turkic peoples, not only Azerbaijani.
The Treaty clearly delineated the functions of the supreme bodies of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars, and the union republics. In particular, the republics were supposed to have their own budgets, which would be constituent parts of the all-union budget, while the list of income and the amount of income deductions going to the formation of the budgets of the union republics was to be determined by the Central Executive Committee of the Union.
Under the Treaty, a single union citizenship was established for citizens of all union republics, the flag, coat of arms and state seal of the USSR were established, and Moscow was declared the capital. The right of free withdrawal of the union republics and the need to amend the constitutions of the republics in accordance with the Treaty were recognized.
The congress adopted a resolution on the approval of the Declaration and the Treaty, by virtue of which they were basically approved. But, recognizing the extreme importance of these documents, the Congress decided on the need to listen to the final opinions of all the republics of the Union, for which they were sent to the Central Executive Committee of the Union republics and their responses were to be submitted to the USSR Central Executive Committee by its next session. It was decided to approve the final text of the Declaration and the Treaty at the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR.
Closing the congress, Kalinin summed up the results of his work, calling it "an event of world importance." On the same day, December 30, 1922, the First Session of the USSR Central Executive Committee was held, chaired by G.I. Petrovsky.
3. Adoption of the Constitution of the USSR in 1924
On April 1923, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a resolution on the termination of the activities of all previously formed commissions for the development of individual chapters of the Union Constitution and, in order to prepare the final draft of the Constitution, forms another, the so-called Expanded Commission, which included 25 people representing the union republics. There were 14 people from the RSFSR, of which 5 were representatives from the autonomous republics, from the Ukrainian SSR - 5, and the BSSR and the ZSFSR were 3 people each. MI Kalinin was put at the head of the Commission. The activity of this Commission was based on the draft of the Constitution of the USSR, drawn up in February of the same year. In May, the draft Constitution was discussed in special commissions of the Central Executive Committee of the Union republics. The extended commission began its work in the second half of May. An important stage in its work were the meetings of June 8-16, 1923. On June 13, a resolution was adopted that, before the session of the USSR Central Executive Committee, the Commission should discuss only the draft Constitution (Treaty), first of all, by starting to discuss the issue of the all-Union budget, the Supreme Court , about the union coat of arms and flag. Further, it was decided to turn to the consideration of the general regulations on the people's commissariats and then submit all these questions to the next session of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.
It was decided to postpone the provisions on individual people's commissariats until the next session of the USSR Central Executive Committee. In the meantime, the People's Commissariats were ordered to work on the basis of the previous provisions on them. By a special decision of this Commission dated June 16, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR was instructed to "work out the question of the equality of languages in all government and judicial institutions." Of great interest are not only specific decisions of the Expanded Commission, but also substantive discussion of certain issues. At the very first meeting of the Commission on June 8, an exchange of views took place on the question of whether to call the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR the Constitution of the USSR. H.G. Rakovsky, in general, opposed the use of the term "constitution", but M.I. Kalinin, D.Z. Manuilsky, M.V. Frunze insisted on the adoption of a constitution. At this meeting, however, it was decided not to prejudge the question of how to call the all-Union fundamental law - the Treaty or the Constitution. Such a decision was made only at the last meeting, where it was considered expedient to call the basic law the Constitution of the USSR.
June, the subject of lively discussion was a very important constitutional provision on changing the territory of each of the Soviet republics. ON THE. Skrypnik saw a huge difference between the wording of the draft submitted by the Central Committee Commission, which said that "the territory of each of the Soviet republics cannot be changed without consent" and the wording "can be changed only with consent." Equally lively was the discussion of the clause on union citizenship, in which a number of members of the Commission took part, including Stalin, with whom Rakovsky again argued, however, on a private issue. On June 16, the Commission adopted a resolution to ask the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Union to develop the issue of equality of languages in all government and judicial institutions of the USSR. On the same day, a number of other decisions were adopted on the relationship between the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Union and the Council of People's Commissars and the commissariats, on symbols, etc. In general, on June 16, the Extended Commission completed the article-by-article consideration of the draft Constitution, adopting the text of the draft.
However, this project was not final either. It was transferred to the constitutional commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), and there it was again considered article by article by making adjustments to a number of formulations, and then submitted to the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), which met on June 26, 1923. The plenum heard the report of I.V. Stalin on the Constitution of the USSR and generally approved the submitted draft. Further, the draft was discussed at sessions of the Central Executive Committee of the Union republics.
The second session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the X convocation began its work on June 29, 1923. After listening to the report of T.V. Sapronova, unanimously ratified the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR and the Treaty adopted at the I Congress of Soviets of the USSR, taking into account the amendments made by the Extended Commission of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. The draft Constitution was also approved by the third session of the All-Ukrainian CEC, the third session of the CEC of Belarus and the second session of the CEC of Transcaucasia. The next important stage on the road to the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR was the Second Session of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, which opened on July 6, 1923. Information about the work of the Constitutional Commission was heard and the draft Constitution was discussed again chapters. On the same day, the session adopted a resolution on the Constitution of the USSR. The very first paragraph of this resolution proclaimed: "The Basic Law (Constitution) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shall be approved and immediately put into effect." In the same decree, it was envisaged to submit the Constitution for final approval of the II Congress of Soviets of the USSR, as well as, prior to the formation of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, to entrust all powers by virtue of chapters 4 and 5 of the Constitution of the USSR to the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, elected at the 1st session of the Central Executive Committee of the Union SSR December 30, 1922, composed of 19 members.
July 1923, a resolution of the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee was also adopted, which emphasized that in accordance with the powers given to it by the second session of the USSR Central Executive Committee, the Presidium “began work as the supreme body of power of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, according to Ch. the fifth Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ”. On the same day, the Presidium also decided to approve and publish all the decrees and decisions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and its Presidium, so that they have their force throughout the USSR, and also suggested that the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR immediately begin its activities by virtue of the sixth chapter of the Constitution Of the USSR. It was also proposed that the Union people's commissariats begin their activities, form the Labor and Defense Council, establish the Central Statistical Office of the USSR, transform the State Bank of the RSFSR into the State Bank of the USSR, appoint collegiums of people's commissariats of the USSR, form the State Planning Committee of the USSR and other allied institutions. In parallel, it was ordered to form commissions to develop appropriate regulations on the People's Commissariats, the Supreme Court and the OGPU of the USSR, as well as on the budget of the USSR.
By virtue of these decisions, the corresponding commissions were created. So, then, on July 13, the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee creates a Commission in the amount of 10 people, headed by Kalinin, which was instructed to develop regulations on the USSR Central Executive Committee, USSR Council of People's Commissars, general position about the people's commissariats and about each commissariat separately. At the same time, a Commission was created to develop regulations on the budget of the USSR and the already existing Commission for the preparation of regulations on the Supreme Court of the USSR and the OGPU of the USSR was approved. But the direct management of the activities of all these commissions was carried out by the Commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b).
At a meeting of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR on August 3, 1923, a resolution was adopted on the celebration of the day of the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR on the entire territory of the USSR on July 6. Thus, from July 6, 1923, the Constitution of the USSR was not only put into effect, but this day was declared a holiday throughout the country. In parallel, the process of creating union government institutions was under way.
The first Constitution of the USSR included the Declaration and the Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, where it was written that "This Union is a voluntary association of equal peoples, that for each republic the right of free withdrawal from the Union is guaranteed." A special chapter was devoted to the sovereign rights of the union republics and union citizenship, and it was written in it: “The sovereignty of the union republics is limited only within the limits specified in this Constitution, and only in subjects referred to the competence of the Union. Outside these limits, each union republic exercises its state power independently. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics protects the sovereign rights of the union of republics. " In addition, there was a special chapter entitled "On the Union republics", which spoke about their supreme and executive bodies and about the relationship of the republican authorities with the all-Union ones. The Constitution also contained chapters on the supreme and executive bodies of the Union, the Supreme Court of the Union, the United State Political Administration, the coat of arms, the flag and the capital of the USSR. The Constitution provided for the publication of decrees and resolutions of the Central Executive Committee, its Presidium and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the languages of the union republics - Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian and Turkic-Tatar.
According to this Constitution, all decrees, decisions and orders of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR were binding on the entire territory of the USSR, just as the Central Executive Committee of the USSR had the right to suspend and repeal decrees, decisions and orders of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, as well as the Congresses of Soviets and Central Executive Committees of the Union republics and others. authorities on the territory of the USSR. The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and Supreme Court THE USSR. In turn, in the event of a violation of the Constitution of the USSR, the legislation of the Union or the legislation of a union republic, the orders of the People's Commissariats of the USSR could be suspended by the Central Election Commissions or the presidiums of the republics. The CECs of the Union republics and their presidiums also received the right to protest the decrees and decisions of the USSR Council of People's Commissars to the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee, without suspending their execution.
The term “federation” is never used in the Constitution, but from its content it was possible to understand that the USSR is a federal state of the Soviet type, and the inviolability of the foundations of Soviet power was already proclaimed in the preamble of the Constitution. The Constitution also never mentions the word "party" and does not say anything about its role, and this immediately gave rise to the question of the relationship between formal attitudes and the actual state of affairs. In fact, the role of the party after the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR not only did not diminish, but even increased. But on the whole, the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR completed the process of creating the USSR as a single federal state. It is no coincidence that in 1924 the so-called "first streak of recognition of the USSR" will follow. This year diplomatic relations are established with Austria, Albania, Great Britain, Greece, Denmark, Italy, China, Mexico, Norway, France, Hijaz, Sweden.
This, by no means, meant that further allied construction had completely stopped. In 1924, the Uzbek SSR was formed, in 1925 - the Turkmen SSR, in 1929 - the Tajik SSR, etc. But these were changes within the already created Soviet Union. With all the difficulties of the 20s-30s. nevertheless, interethnic relations were largely regulated and there was no need to talk about the national question in the USSR as an antagonistic issue at that time.
Conclusion
At the end of the course work, it should be concluded that the creation of the USSR was not a one-time act, but was the result of a rather long, multi-stage path that showed how difficult and, at the same time, important was the creation of a new type of state. Its formation was the result of an intensive exchange of views, at times, heated discussions, during which various proposals and approaches emerged. The most powerful national movements of that time demanded from all political parties to come to grips with the national question and work out their own recipes for its solution. There was clearly a struggle between these political parties to enlist the support of the so-called nationals.
At the Seventh (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (b) V.I. Lenin was the first to put forward the idea of creating a union of Soviet republics and, in fact, from that time on, the Bolshevik Party, which before professed the principle of centralism and based its national program primarily on the principles of internationalism and the right of nations to self-determination, includes the principle of federalism in its program. In 1917, it was the federalists who were in the majority on the national outskirts and outnumbered both the unifiers and the separatists. The creation of the federation made it possible to preserve a single country and at the same time take into account the wishes of its many peoples.
One of the most important stages on the path of unification was the military alliance of the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus of June 1, 1919, which provided for close unification not only in the military field, but also in the field of economic, financial and communications with the recognition of independence. , freedom and self-determination of the national republics. On the whole, a number of Soviet republics retained their sovereignty and pursued their not only domestic but also foreign policy, maintaining diplomatic ties with foreign countries. The end of the bloody Civil War and the difficult foreign policy situation required the establishment of not only a single military and economic policy, but also coordination, and then a single foreign policy.
In the first half of 1922, the so-called autonomization plan was developed, which provided for the inclusion of the remaining independent Soviet republics in the RSFSR on the principles of national autonomy. This approach did not receive support in Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus and was replaced by V.I. Lenin proposes another plan - a plan for the union of republics, with the creation of a new upper management floor, a plan that is a prominent specialist in national relations
However, the proclamation of a new state at the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR on December 30, 1922 still required a lot of subsequent work with the aim of translating these ideas into practice. This work was completed at the next Congress of Soviets of the USSR, which approved the first Constitution of the USSR, which was already in force on July 6, 1923. The sovereignty of the union republics under this Constitution, of course, was limited, it became noticeably less significant than it was by the end of 1922, but in general, the USSR protected the sovereign rights of the union republics, each of them had the right to freely withdraw from the Union, had its own constitutions, supreme and executive bodies, the right to use their own language and the development of national culture.
In the numerous domestic literature published on the history of the formation of the USSR, one can find disagreement about what the Soviet Union really was as a state formation. In general, the literature was dominated by the statement about the USSR as a federal state.
Bibliography
1.Isaev I.A. History of state and law of Russia: textbook. - M .: Jurist, 2000.
2.Lukashuk I.I. Speech at an expanded meeting of the Academic Council of the Institute of State and Law of the USSR Academy of Sciences in January 1991 // Soviet State and Law. 1991. No. 5.
.Manelis B.L., Lenin V.I. - organizer of the USSR // State and Law. 1992. No. 12
.Mints I.I. The development of the views of V.I. Lenin on the creation of a multinational state of a new type // Communist. 1972, no. 10
.Recent history Fatherland: XX century: Textbook. For stud. higher. study. institutions: 2 volumes / Ed. A.F. Kiseleva, E.M. Shchagin. - M., 2002.
6.Towards "socialist unitarianism". (from the new documents of 1922 on the history of the formation of the USSR) // National history. - 1992. - № 4.
7.Tereshchenko Yu.Ya. History of Russia XX - early XXI centuries. / Tereshchenko Yu.Ya. - Philological Society "Slovo"; Rostov on / D: Publishing house "Phoenix", 2004.- 448s.
8.Topornin B.N. New union treaty: theoretical approaches. // New union treaty: search for solutions. - M., 1990.
.Chistyakov O.I. Treaty on the formation of the USSR and the present. // Bulletin of Moscow University. 1995. No. 2.
Tutoring
Need help exploring a topic?
Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Send a request with the indication of the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.
Read also:
|
With the end of the civil war, the need arose for a constitutional settlement of relations between the Soviet republics. The RSFSR occupied 92% of the territory, in which 70% of the population of the future Union of Soviet Republics lived. The rest of the territory was occupied by the Soviet republics: Ukraine, Belarus, the Transcaucasian Federation, which in 1922 united Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia. There was also a Far Eastern republic with its capital in Chita and two Central Asian people's republics - Khorezm and Bukhara.
In June 1919, for a more effective fight against the white movement and interventions, a military-political alliance was concluded between the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus. The armed forces were united, and a single military command was introduced. The form of unification that developed between the Soviet republics was called the contractual federation.
In 1920-1922. All Soviet republics signed bilateral agreements with the RSFSR and among themselves, which provided for joint measures in defense, in economic activity, and diplomacy. In accordance with them, the parties agreed to a military, financial and economic union. The military forces and the command, the bodies controlling the economy and foreign trade, the supply bodies, railway and water transport, the post and telegraph, and finance were to be combined.
Thus, a situation arose when, formally, the republics had the right to direct their policies, but in fact were deprived of the right to independently conduct them. Moscow constantly interfered in the internal affairs of the republics, in connection with which conflicts constantly arose between the center and the republic.
In January 1922, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR G. Chicherin proposed to unite with the fraternal republics. Inconsistency and sharp disagreements in resolving a number of issues appeared due to the lack of a clear delineation of powers between the central and republican authorities.
IN AND. Lenin in September 1922 proposed a project for the creation of a union state (the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia - USSR) on the basis of a voluntary and equal unification of independent union republics with federal authorities. Complete equality, sincerity, mutual respect, friendship, fraternal cooperation and mutual understanding - that is what, in his opinion, interethnic relations in the country should have been based on.
December 30, 1922 at the I Congress of Soviets, representatives of the RSFSR, the Ukrainian and Belarusian Soviet socialist republics, as well as the Transcaucasian Federation signed Declaration on the formation of the USSR and the Union Treaty. The Declaration stated the reasons and principles of the association. The Treaty defined the relationship between the republics and the center. Issues of foreign policy, foreign trade, finance, defense, means of communication, communications were transferred to the competence of the union bodies. The rest remained under the jurisdiction of the union republics. The supreme body of the country was declared the All-Union Congress of Soviets, and in the intervals between its convocations - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (CEC of the USSR), which consisted of two chambers: the Union Council and the Council of Nationalities.
Formally, the new state was created as a federation of sovereign republics with the preservation of the right of free exit and open access to it.
In January 1924, the II All-Union Congress of Soviets adopts the first Constitution of the USSR, which was based on the Declaration and the Treaty of 1922.
The Constitution was entirely devoted to the principles of building the world's first socialist union multinational state. It legislatively consolidated the full legal equality of all peoples of the USSR and their sovereignty. The State Flag, the Emblem and the capital of the USSR were approved.
The approval and amendment of the basic principles of the Constitution were in the exclusive competence of the Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The Union republic retained the right to secede from the Union, its territory could be changed only with its consent. A single union citizenship was established. The exclusive jurisdiction of the Union included: foreign relations and trade; decisions on issues of war and peace; organization and management armed forces; general management and planning of the economy and budget; development of the foundations of legislation (all-union justice).
The basic law of the USSR in 1924 differed from the subsequent Soviet constitutions in that it did not contain the characteristics of the social structure, chapters on the rights and obligations of citizens, on electoral law, on local authorities and administration. All these issues were determined by republican constitutions adopted in 1924-1925.
In the 1920s-1930s, the number of union republics within the USSR increased. In 1924-1925. the USSR included the Uzbek and Turkmen republics as allies. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan receive the status of autonomous republics within the RSFSR, and the Tajik Autonomous Republic becomes part of the Uzbek SSR. According to the Constitution of 1936, the USSR included both union Soviet socialist republics the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. In 1940, with the annexation of the Baltic States and Bessarabia, the Union Republics of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldavia entered the USSR.
The formation of the USSR was not only imposed by the leaders of the Bolshevik Party. For the unification of the peoples of Russia into a single state, there were objective prerequisites with deep historical, economic, political and cultural reasons. 185 nations and nationalities living on the territory of the former Russian Empire were linked by a common historical destiny, a single economic system, a division of labor that had been developing for centuries, the all-Russian market, and close cultural contacts.