Education of the USSR (briefly). Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Prerequisites for the formation of the USSR

An important role in successful socialist construction was played by the state unification of Soviet socialist republics. 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 Soviet republics were united into a single economic whole. It was also of great importance that an 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.

The union cooperation of the republics was especially important for those non-Russian peoples who had to go through the path from pre-capitalist forms of economy to socialism. The formation of the USSR resulted 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 workers for unification into a single union state began in all republics. In March 1922 it was proclaimed Transcaucasian Federation, which took shape in December 1922 Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR). The question of the forms of unification of the republics was developed and discussed in the Central Committee of the party. The idea of ​​autonomization, that is, the entry of independent Soviet republics into the RSFSR on the rights of autonomy, put forward by I. V. Stalin (from April 1922 General Secretary of the Party Central Committee) and supported by some other party workers, was rejected by Lenin, then by the October Plenum (1922) of the Central Committee RCP (b).
Lenin developed a fundamentally different form of unification of independent republics. He proposed creating a new public education - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, into which all Soviet republics would enter along with RSFSR on equal terms. The Congresses of Soviets of the Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, and ZSFSR, as well as the 10th All-Russian Congress of Soviets, held in December 1922, recognized the timely unification of the Soviet republics into a single union state. 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 to freely secede from the Union and access to the Union for new Soviet socialist republics. The Congress reviewed and approved the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR. Initially, the USSR included: RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, ZSFSR. The formation of the USSR was a triumph of Lenin's national policy and had world-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 authority of the USSR - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (chairmen: 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 unification of material and labor resources in a single state was of great importance for successful socialist construction. Lenin, speaking in November 1922 at the plenum of the Moscow City Council and summing up the five years of Soviet power, expressed confidence that “... from NEP Russia there will be a 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 giving legislative functions to the State Planning Committee”, “On the issue of nationalities or “autonomization””, “Pages from the diary”, “On cooperation”, “On our revolution”, “How can we reorganize the Rabkrin”, “Less is better”. In these works, Lenin summed up the development of Soviet society and indicated specific ways to build socialism: industrialization of the country, cooperation of peasant farms (collectivization), carrying out cultural revolution, strengthening the socialist state and its armed forces. Lenin's instructions, made in his last articles and letters, formed the basis for the decisions of the 12th Party Congress (April 1923) and all subsequent policies of the party and government. Having summed up the results of the NEP for 2 years, the congress outlined ways to implement the new economic policy. The decisions of the congress on the national question contained a detailed program of struggle for the elimination of economic and cultural inequality between peoples inherited from the past.

Despite significant progress in restoration national economy, in 1923 the country was still experiencing serious difficulties. There were about 1 million unemployed. In the hands of private capital there were up to 4 thousand small and medium-sized enterprises in the light and food industries, 3/4 of retail and about half of wholesale and retail trade. Nepmen in the city, kulaks in the countryside, remnants of the defeated Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik parties and other hostile forces fought against Soviet power. Economic difficulties were aggravated by the crisis in the sales of industrial goods, caused by differences in the pace of recovery of industry and agriculture, deficiencies in planning, and violations of price policies by industrial and trade bodies. Prices for industrial goods are high, and prices for agricultural products are extremely low. Discrepancies in prices (the so-called scissors) could lead to a narrowing of the base of industrial production, undermining industry, and weakening the alliance of the working class and the peasantry. Measures were taken to eliminate the difficulties that had arisen and eliminate the sales crisis: prices for industrial goods were reduced, the currency reform(1922-24), which led to the establishment of a hard currency.

Taking advantage of the acute internal as well as the current international situation and Lenin’s illness, the Trotskyists launched new attacks on the party. They denigrated the work of the Party Central Committee, demanded freedom of factions and groupings, opposed lowering prices for goods, proposed increasing taxes on peasants, closing unprofitable enterprises (which were of great economic importance), and increasing the import of industrial products from abroad. The 13th Party Conference (January 1924), condemning the Trotskyists, stated that “... in the person 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” (“CPSU in resolutions...", 8th ed., vol. 2, 1970, p. 511).

On January 31, 1924, the 2nd 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 Central Executive Committee had 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 working people of the USSR with broad democratic rights and freedoms and active participation in government. But at that time, in an atmosphere of acute class struggle, the Soviet government was forced to deprive voting rights class alien elements: kulaks, traders, ministers of religious cults, former police and gendarmerie employees, etc. The Constitution of the USSR had enormous international and domestic significance. In accordance with its text, the constitutions of the union republics were developed and approved.

Nation-state building continued. The process of government was completed Russian Federation(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, populated mainly by Belarusians, as a result of which the territory of the BSSR more than doubled, and the population almost tripled. The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed as part of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1924-25, the national-state delimitation of the Soviet republics of Central Asia was carried out, as a result of which the peoples of Central Asia received the opportunity to create sovereign national states. The Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR were formed from the regions of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Bukhara and Khorezm republics inhabited by Uzbeks and Turkmens. From the regions of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Bukhara Republic, inhabited by Tajiks, the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, which became part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. Areas inhabited by Kazakhs, 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 Okrug was formed as part of the RSFSR.

The 3rd Congress of Soviets of the USSR (May 1925) admitted the newly formed union republics - the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR - into the USSR.

In 1918, the Declaration of the Rights of Working and Exploited People was adopted, proclaiming the principle of the future structure of the country. The federal basis of a 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 nationalities and nationalities lived there. The RSFSR partially included the territories of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In fact, until 1922, the Far Eastern Republic functioned in its likeness. There were economic, political and cultural prerequisites for unification. It was not difficult to impose Soviet power in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which declared 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, there was a struggle against the pro-Kiev course. The process of establishing Soviet power in the Central Asian republics - Bukhara and Khorezm - was difficult. Units of local armed opposition continued to resist there.

Most of the communist leaders of the republics were concerned about the existence of “Great Russian chauvinism”; they feared that the unification of the republics could lead to the creation of a new empire. This problem was especially painful 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 structure for governing a huge country.

The unification of the republics was facilitated by the harshness of the repressive authorities.

The All-Russian Central Executive Committee commission was involved in developing the principles of the national state structure. 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 a federal federal state proposed by Lenin. It gave future republics formal sovereignty.

Lenin clearly understood that a single party and a powerful repressive system were 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 version.

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 an agreement.

The declaration spoke about the reasons, goals and principles of the unification. The main goal was the creation of a world union of communist republics. Formally and legally, this goal was abolished in December 1991.

The Union had jurisdiction over issues foreign policy and exports, defence, finance, communications and transport. The remaining issues were within the competence of the republics.

The Central Executive Committee (CEC), which consisted of two chambers: the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities, was elected as the highest legislative body.

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 treaty. These provisions were consolidated by 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.

Prerequisites for the formation of the USSR

Before the young state, torn apart by the consequences of the civil war, the problem of creating a unified administrative-territorial system became acute. At that time, the RSFSR accounted for 92% of the country's area, whose population later accounted for 70% of the newly formed USSR. The remaining 8% was shared among the Soviet republics: Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Federation, which united Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in 1922. Also in the east of the country, the Far Eastern Republic was created, which was administered from Chita. Central Asia at that time consisted of two people's republics - Khorezm and Bukhara.

In order to strengthen the centralization of control and concentration of resources on the fronts of the civil war, the RSFSR, Belarus and Ukraine united into an alliance in June 1919. This made it possible to combine armed forces, with the introduction of centralized command (the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR and the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army). Representatives from each republic were delegated to government bodies. The agreement also provided for the resubordination of some republican branches of industry, transport and finance to the corresponding People's Commissariats of the RSFSR. This new state formation went down in history under the name “contractual federation.” Its peculiarity was that Russian governing bodies were given the opportunity to function as the only representatives of the supreme power of the state. At the same time, the communist parties of the republics became part of the RCP (b) only as regional party organizations.
The emergence and escalation of confrontation.
All this soon led to disagreements between the republics and the control center in Moscow. After all, having delegated their main powers, the republics lost the opportunity to make decisions independently. At the same time, the independence of the republics in the sphere of governance was officially declared.
Uncertainty in defining the boundaries of the powers of the center and the republics gave rise to conflicts and confusion. Sometimes state authorities looked ridiculous, trying to bring to a common denominator nationalities whose traditions and culture they knew nothing about. For example, the need for the existence of a subject on the study of the Koran in the schools of Turkestan gave rise in October 1922 to an acute confrontation between the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the People's Commissariat for Nationalities Affairs.
Creation of a commission on relations between the RSFSR and independent republics.
The decisions of the central bodies in the economic sphere did not find proper understanding among the republican authorities and often led to sabotage. In August 1922, in order to radically change the current situation, the Politburo and the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) considered the issue “On the relationship between the RSFSR and the independent republics”, creating a commission that included republican representatives. V.V. Kuibyshev was appointed chairman of the commission.
The commission instructed I.V. Stalin to develop a project for the “autonomization” of the republics. The presented decision proposed to include Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in the RSFSR, with the rights of republican autonomy. The draft was sent to the Republican Central Committee of the party for consideration. However, this was done only to obtain formal approval of the decision. Considering the significant infringements on the rights of the republics provided for by this decision, J.V. Stalin insisted on not using the usual practice of publishing the decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) if it was adopted. But he demanded that the Republican Central Committees of parties be obliged to strictly implement it.
Creation by V.I. Lenin of the concept of a state based on the Federation.
Ignoring the independence and self-government of the country's subjects, with the simultaneous tightening of the role of the central authorities, was perceived by Lenin as a violation of the principle of proletarian internationalism. In September 1922, he proposed the idea of ​​​​creating a state on the principles of a federation. Initially, the name was proposed - the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia, but was later changed to the USSR. Joining the union was supposed to be a conscious choice of each sovereign republic, based on the principle of equality and independence, with general bodies federal authorities. V.I. Lenin believed that a multinational state must be built based on the principles of good neighborliness, parity, openness, respect and mutual assistance.

"Georgian conflict". Strengthening separatism.
At the same time, in some republics there is a shift towards the isolation of autonomies, and separatist sentiments intensify. For example, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia flatly refused to remain part of the Transcaucasian Federation, demanding that the republic be accepted into the union as an independent entity. Fierce polemics on this issue between representatives of the Central Committee of the Georgian Party and the Chairman of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee G.K. Ordzhonikidze ended in mutual insults and even assault on the part of Ordzhonikidze. The result of the policy of strict centralization on the part of the central authorities was the voluntary resignation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia in its entirety.
To investigate this conflict, a commission was created in Moscow, the chairman of which was F. E. Dzerzhinsky. The commission took the side of G.K. Ordzhonikidze and severely criticized the Central Committee of Georgia. This fact outraged V.I. Lenin. He repeatedly tried to condemn the perpetrators of the clash in order to exclude the possibility of infringement on the independence of the republics. However, progressive illness and civil strife in the Central Committee of the country's party did not allow him to complete the job.

Year of formation of the USSR

Officially date of formation of the USSR– this is December 30, 1922. On this day, at the first Congress of Soviets, the Declaration on the Creation of the USSR and the Union Treaty were signed. The Union included the RSFSR, the Ukrainian and Belarusian socialist republics, as well as the Transcaucasian Federation. The Declaration formulated the reasons and defined the principles for the unification of the republics. The agreement delimited the functions of republican and central government bodies. The state bodies of the Union were entrusted with foreign policy and trade, routes of communication, communications, as well as issues of organizing and controlling finance and defense.
Everything else belonged to the sphere of government of the republics.
The All-Union Congress of Soviets was proclaimed the highest body of the state. In the period between congresses, the leading role was assigned to the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, organized on the principle of bicameralism - the Union Council and the Council of Nationalities. M.I. Kalinin was elected chairman of the Central Election Commission, co-chairmen were G.I. Petrovsky, N.N. Narimanov, A.G. Chervyakov. The Government of the Union (Council of People's Commissars of the USSR) was headed by V.I. Lenin.

Financial and economic development
The unification of the republics into the Union made it possible to accumulate and direct all resources to eliminate the consequences of the civil war. This contributed to the development of the economy, cultural relations and made it possible to begin to get rid of distortions in the development of individual republics. Characteristic feature The formation of a nationally oriented state became the government's efforts in matters of harmonious development of the republics. It was for this purpose that some industries were moved from the territory of the RSFSR to the republics of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, providing them with highly qualified labor resources. Funding was provided for work to provide the regions with communications, electricity, and water resources for irrigation in agriculture. The budgets of the remaining republics received subsidies from the state.
Social and cultural significance
The principle of building a multinational state based on uniform standards had a positive impact on the development of such spheres of life in the republics as culture, education and healthcare. In the 20-30s, schools were built throughout the republics, theaters were opened, and the media and literature were developed. Scientists have developed writing for some peoples. In healthcare, the emphasis is on developing a system of medical institutions. For example, if in 1917 the entire North Caucasus There were 12 clinics and only 32 doctors, but in 1939 there were 335 doctors in Dagestan alone. Moreover, 14% of them were from the original nationality.

Reasons for the formation of the USSR

It happened not only thanks to the initiative of the leadership of the Communist Party. Over the course of many centuries, the prerequisites for the unification of peoples into a single state were formed. The harmony of the unification has deep historical, economic, military-political and cultural roots. The former Russian Empire united 185 nationalities and nationalities. They all went through a common historical path. During this time, a system of economic and economic ties was formed. They defended their freedom and absorbed the best of each other's cultural heritage. And, naturally, they did not feel hostility towards each other.
It is worth considering that at that time the entire territory of the country was surrounded by hostile states. This also had no less influence on the unification of peoples.

Introduction

1 The internal political situation after the end Civil War

2 Prerequisites for the creation of the USSR

3 Stalin and Lenin projects of the USSR

1 Preparatory work for the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR

2 Adoption of the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR

3 Adoption of the USSR Constitution of 1924

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The relevance of the problem of the formation of the USSR for our time does not become less, the fact is that modern Russia has not completely passed the stage of disintegration. Just look at the events in the North Caucasus and it will become 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 poignancy to this day, because literally at the end of the eighties of the twentieth century, it seemed to many that the superpower was eternal and indestructible. But only a few knew for sure that the last months of the existence of this state had passed.

The appearance of the USSR on the political map of the world was not the fact of the emergence of a completely 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 a unique phenomenon at that time, because in Europe after the First World War all significant monarchies disappeared - German, Austrian, Russian and Turkish. But if Austria and Turkey were relegated to the level of states with insignificant 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 into authoritarian regimes with a socialist ideology. Only in Russia did such an evolution occur earlier and as a result of the Civil War; in Germany the process was peaceful and lasted for 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, because Many people, not without reason, consider the October Revolution to be a peasant uprising with the goal of redistributing land. It was the peasant reform of 1861, during which the peasants received freedom, but did not receive land, that provoked peasant discontent, which ultimately resulted in a civil war.

The Bolsheviks, who won the war, gave land to the peasants, but the renewed state had to be equipped and streamlined. None of the top leadership of the USSR wanted to lose the lands of Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. But it was necessary to create a new state organization that would meet the requirements of the time and public sentiment. A unitary state was no longer suitable, because literally all the peoples inhabiting the territory of the former Russian Empire took an active part in the civil war. After all, one of the slogans that raised 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 lay not in the economic sphere or in the initial mistakes in the project. After all, the economy of the USSR and the standard of living were at a fairly high level; for most republics, leaving the USSR was unprofitable. In addition, internally the USSR was constantly evolving from Stalinist totalitarianism to Gorbachev’s liberalism, and the transformation of the USSR into a liberal, democratic state was only a matter of time. But no one 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 flawed 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 among scientists about the reasons for the creation of the USSR, its disadvantages and advantages, also means that active work is underway towards the construction of a new state entity.

The purpose of this course work will be to consider the issue of 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;

consider the preparatory work for the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR;

show the adoption of the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR and the Constitution of the USSR of 1924.

Stalinist Leninist Soviet Union

Chapter I. The formation of the USSR in 1922 as a natural process to create 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 that adhered to communist views. The war ended with enormous 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 telegraphs, and the absence of these connecting elements of infrastructure threatened the real collapse of the state. And the leaders of the Bolshevik party did not delude themselves with the fact that in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine or Belarus, Bolsheviks like themselves were in power. Lenin, Trotsky and other Bolshevik leaders studied in schools and universities and were well aware of history, which taught that states fell apart 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, who began to independently pursue foreign policy in their republics. Thus, the mentioned 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 their inalienable right. And, as for domestic policy, then 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 continued like this, then the final collapse of the new Russia would 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 design of the future state; if Lenin believed that the republics needed to be given a certain set of freedoms, then Stalin gave his preferences to a strictly centralized state.

Preferences I.V. Stalin had good reasons also because he understood that society after the civil war was like a raging sea, which, even without wind, would not calm down soon. Therefore, this society must be placed within a certain framework, otherwise a new round of civil war cannot be avoided. In addition, I.V. Stalin, by upbringing and inclinations, was an authoritarian person and did not tolerate manifestations of disobedience. Stalin's entire life took place in structures where discipline and diligence were valued above all else, and it did 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 out of nowhere; in the summer of 1919, a military-political union of Soviet republics was formed. On June 1, 1919, the decree “On the unification of the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus to fight world imperialism” was signed. The military-political unity of the Soviet republics played a huge role in the defeat of the combined forces of intervention and the White Army. The Soviet republics entered into contractual relations with the RSFSR. In 1920 - 1921 Bilateral agreements were concluded on a military-economic union between Russia and Azerbaijan, a military and economic union between Russia and Belarus, alliance agreements between Russia and Ukraine, Russia and Georgia. During this period, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR included representatives of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian republics, and the unification of some people's commissariats began. As a result, the Supreme Economic Council of the RSFSR actually turned into a management 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 unified economic plan. Since the spring of 1921, in response to the instructions of V.I. Lenin on the economic unification of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan began the creation of the Transcaucasian Federation (TCFSR), which 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 Eastern Republic instructed the delegation of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to represent 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 delegation of the RSFSR 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, predominantly small and compactly living surrounded by Great Russian lands, received two levels of autonomy within the RSFSR: republican - 11 autonomous republics (Turkestan, Bashkir, Karelian, Buryat, Yakut, Tatar, Dagestan, Mountain, etc.) and regional - 10 regions (Kalmyk, Chuvash, Komi-Zyryan, Adygei, Kabardino-Balkarian, etc.) and 1 autonomous Karelian labor commune (autonomous republic since 1923). The Federation was considered by the Bolsheviks as a transitional stage on the eve of the world revolution.

3. Stalinist and Leninist projects of the USSR

One should not think that the political line of V.I. Lenin and I.V. Stalin was constant throughout their lives, this is completely wrong. The fact is that these people, first of all, were politicians who were fully aware that “one must speak correctly and act as necessary.” In other words, you can proclaim any slogans to the public, make any promises, but in real politics only carefully verified actions should be taken. This was especially clearly manifested in the position of V.I. Lenin regarding the choice of government structure for the future USSR. Even on the eve of the Second Congress of the RSDLP, Lenin specifically dwelled on the national question in several of his articles in the Iskra newspaper. In the article “On the Manifesto of the Union of Armenian Social Democrats,” he, 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-national autonomy. And ten years after the Second Congress, Lenin remained a principled opponent of the federal structure. In this regard, his letter to S.G. deserves attention. Shaumyan dated December 6, 1913, which has 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... We are, in principle, against the federation - it weakens economic ties, it is an unfit type of one state. Do you want to separate? Go to hell if you can break the economic tie. Autonomy is our plan for creating a democratic state.” At the same time, what has long been noted in the research literature, in articles devoted to the Balkan wars of 1912-1913. Lenin emphasized that specific historical conditions may dictate the need for a federation for the purpose of a democratic solution to the national question.

And already during the Civil War there was a final change in V.I.’s views. Lenin on the essence of federation as a method of government. 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 give them the status of republics, even if this status would be largely fictitious. But there will always be an opportunity in the future to increase the independence of the republics in economic and foreign policy issues. Therefore, the project V.I. Lenin on the structure of the USSR reflects his views.

But there was more than one Leninist project; at the same time there was also a project developed by I.V.’s group. Stalin, reflecting his ideas about the state structure.

In the spring and summer of 1922, party organizations in 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, since the creation of the first Soviet government, headed the People's Commissariat for National Affairs.

During the work of the commission, I.V. Stalin put forward an “autonomization” plan, which provided for the entry of the Soviet republics into the RSFSR with the rights of autonomous republics. At the same time, the highest authorities state power and the directorates remained the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars and the STO of the RSFSR.

Stalin's plan for “autonomization” was the natural outcome of the struggle between those who, under the communist flag, moved toward 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 among the National Communists intensified, the position of the centralist wing of the party strengthened significantly. The idea of ​​uniting the republics on the basis of autonomy 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 highest echelons of power, but also advanced to 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 it, stating that unification in the form of autonomization was premature, the unification of economic and general policies was 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 partly economic activities.

In general, without objecting to the resolution, the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of Belarus expressed preference for contractual relations between independent union republics.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not discuss the project, but stated that it was based on the principle of Ukrainian independence.

The situation changed when, on September 23, 1922, representatives of the republics were summoned to a meeting of the commission of the Organizing 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 of the project I.V. Representatives of all republics voted for Stalin, with the exception of the representative of Georgia who abstained. 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-Russian Central Executive Committee, coordinate the appointment of authorized all-Union People's Commissariats, and appoint their representatives to the foreign missions of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The People's Commissariat of Finance was transferred from the all-Union to the category of Union-Republican. The commission accepted the project 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 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 that would stand over the RSFSR to the same extent as over other republics. Defending the principle of complete equality of the uniting Soviet national republics, he wrote: “... we recognize ourselves as equal in rights with the Ukrainian SSR and others, and together and on an equal basis with them we are entering a new union, a new federation, the “Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia.” I. V Stalin was forced to admit his plan for autonomy was 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. Education of the USSR and nation-state building

1. Preparatory work for the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR

Instructions V.I. Lenin were taken into account by the Central Committee commission. 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 Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, reserving for 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 USSR Constitution, which were sent to the communist parties 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 convening a Congress of Soviets of the USSR.

The resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) said:

"1. It is necessary to recognize the conclusion of an agreement between Ukraine, Belarus, the Federation of Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the “Union of Socialist Soviet Republics”, reserving for each of them the right to freely secede from the “Union”.

The executive body of the "Union Central Executive Committee" is considered to be the "Union Council of People's Commissars", appointed by the "Union Central Executive Committee".

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 the organization of the USSR. During November - December 1922, the Communist Party, its Central Committee, as well as party organizations of the republics, in accordance with the instructions of V.I. Lenin, a lot of work was done 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 state bodies of the USSR and preparing relevant state acts.

On November 1922, the commission elected by the October Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) discussed the issue “On the procedure for carrying out questions about the unification of Soviet republics into the Union of Republics.” To develop draft Fundamentals of the Constitution and the Treaty on the Unification of the Republics, the commission formed a subcommittee chaired by G.V. Chicherina. At the same meeting, the proposal put forward by V.I. was unanimously adopted. Lenin’s proposal “to create an institution of several chairmen of the Union Central Executive Committee (according to the number of units being united) 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. Kursky. The subcommission approved the name of the union state - “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, recorded the right of union republics to secede from the Union and a single union citizenship. On November 28, the Central Committee commission approved the subcommittee's draft. On November 30, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) generally approved the Main Points of the USSR Constitution presented by the commission. After this, at 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 form 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 (Bolsheviks), 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 lead the preparations for the Congress of Soviets, the Plenum of the Central Committee formed a commission. At a meeting of this commission on December 20, it was finally decided to name the union state “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 First Congress of Soviets of the USSR, presented by D.I. Kursky. At this point, the preparatory work for the formation of the USSR was largely completed.

2. Adoption of the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR

The First Congress of Soviets of the USSR began its work on December 30, 1922 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Very detailed materials have been preserved about the composition of the congress in many respects. A total of 2,214 delegates arrived at the congress, of which 1,673 had a casting vote and 541 had an advisory vote. There were only 77 women, representing 3.5% of the delegates. In terms of age composition, the congress, of course, was young. Only 2% of the delegates were over 50 years old, 1.2% were younger than 20, 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 there were 7.9%. That is, less than 10% of the delegates at the congress were over 40 years old. A young delegate corps created a young country.

The national composition of the congress was as follows. Russians made up 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 the Soviet Union was created, first of all, by 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 significant interest. The share of workers was 44.4%, peasants - 26.8%, intellectuals - 28.8%. In terms of the number of delegates, workers were in first place, significantly surpassing both 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-party members and 0.2% of the delegates belonged to other parties, which was only 5 people. Two delegates represented the Jewish Social Democratic Party of Poalei Zion, 1 an individualist anarchist and 2 left-wing socialist federalists of the Caucasus. It can be said without exaggeration that the overwhelming number of participants in the congress were promoters of October, this particular revolution. This is the general picture that gives an idea of ​​​​those people who had to legislatively decide the issue of creating 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 elections of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR Union. 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, despite all their joint actions, still walked apart, dealing with issues of their existence, and now, according to him, a new period begins - the period of 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 workers all over the world. Stalin described the opening day of the congress as “the day of triumph of the new Russia over the old, over Russia - the gendarme of Europe, over Russia - the executioner of Asia.”

The international aspect of the creation of the USSR, in general, was emphasized at the congress great value. This emphasized the possibility of other republics joining the USSR, including those where Soviet power had not yet been established. Modern researchers largely adhere to the same opinion that the creation of the USSR was an act of international significance. As B.N Topornin points out. “The answer to this question is not as simple as it might seem at first. Based on the fact that it was concluded by independent Soviet republics, it can be characterized as an international legal act. This assessment dominates today in Soviet legal science.” I.I. Lukashuk also notes: “The Treaty on the Formation of the USSR of 1922 is an international legal treaty, because 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; some researchers believe that relations between the Soviet republics on the eve of the formation of the USSR were of a federal nature. In developing this idea, O.I. Chistyakov points out: “by federal it is customary to understand such relations when individual state entities, having a certain independence, are at the same time connected by the unity of the highest bodies of power, citizenship, army, finance.” Later, O.I. Chistyakov came to a more definite conclusion: “The signing of the Agreement took place on December 30 and took place 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 its approval by the supreme authority of the Union? Since the Treaty was adopted by the legislative body of the country, then, in essence, it ceased to be a Treaty, but became law.”

But a completely reasonable argument that confirms precisely 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 of an international nature, because in fact the Russian Empire did not exist; completely new states arose from 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 a Declaration on the establishment of federal ties 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 evidence 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 independent republics of 1920-21. were not multilateral, but bilateral.”

The most important documents of the congress, which can be called historical, 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 camp of capitalism, national enmity, colonialism, national oppression, the tangle of national contradictions becomes more and more entangled there, and the bourgeoisie turns out to be powerless to establish cooperation among peoples. Only the camp of the Soviets under the dictatorship of the proletariat can completely destroy national oppression. Only in this way was it possible to repel attacks by imperialists around the world, both internal and external. But the instability of the international situation creates the danger of new attacks and therefore a united front of the Soviet republics is necessary in the face of capitalist encirclement. But unification into one socialist family is also encouraged by the very structure of Soviet power, international in its class nature. Further, they emphasized both the voluntary nature of the unification, the equality of peoples, and the possibility of access to the Union for 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 uniting the workers 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 “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” was included. In the project, this phrase sounded slightly different. The draft also said nothing about the World Socialist Soviet Republic. Another difference, and undoubtedly an important one, was that instead of indicating the need to sign a Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Socialist Republics of Europe and Asia, as was the case in the draft, it provided for the signing of a Treaty on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Thus, the Declaration emphasized both international and internal factors in the unification of the republics, and, first of all, the emphasis was placed on the structure of Soviet power, which was international in its class nature. The Declaration upheld all three main principles of the national policy of the Communist Party, which were clearly visible 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 destruction at the root of national oppression, the creation of an environment of mutual trust and the 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 regard the new formulation was clearer than that present in the draft , which spoke about the foundations “that were laid five years ago,” that is, when they did not directly talk 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.” It, 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 appeared, for example, the number of members of the Central Executive Committee was previously planned at 300 members, and now - 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 the languages commonly used in the Union republics (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian, Turkic).” This was the result of local discussions about the project. The VII All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets, as noted, even used the term “state languages”. In the Constitution of Georgia of March 2, 1922, the Georgian language was declared the state language, but there was also a note about ensuring the right of free development and use for national minorities native language, and not only in their national-cultural, but also in national institutions. In the Treaty the term " state language” does not appear and instead 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 components of the all-Union budget, while the list of incomes and amounts of revenue deductions going to the formation of the budgets of the Union republics was to be determined by the Central Executive Committee of the Union.

According to 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 secession 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 approving 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 included in the Union, for which they were sent to the Central Executive Committees of the union republics and their reviews were to be presented to the Central Executive Committee of the USSR for its next session. It was decided to approve the final text of the Declaration and Treaty at the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR.

Closing the congress, Kalinin summed up the results of its work, calling it “an event of world importance.” On the same day, December 30, 1922, the First Session of the USSR Central Executive Committee took place, chaired by G.I. Petrovsky.

3. Adoption of the USSR Constitution of 1924

April 1923 The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a resolution on the completion 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, formed 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, 5 from the Ukrainian SSR, and 3 people each from the BSSR and TSFSR. M.I. Kalinin was placed at the head of the Commission. The activities of this Commission were based on a draft draft of the USSR Constitution drawn up back in February of the same year. In May, a discussion of the draft Constitution took place in special commissions of the Central Executive Committee of the union republics. The expanded 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 so that before the session of the USSR Central Executive Committee in the Commission, only the draft Constitution (Treaty) should be discussed, first of all, starting to discuss the issue of the all-Union budget, the Supreme Court , about the union coat of arms and flag. Next, it was decided to turn to the consideration of the general provisions on the People's Commissariats and then submit all these issues to the next session of the USSR Central Executive Committee.

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 regarding them. By a special decision of this Commission dated June 16, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR was instructed to “develop the issue of equality of languages ​​in all government and judicial institutions.” Of great interest are not only the specific resolutions of the Expanded Commission, but also the 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 the constitution. At this meeting, however, it was decided not to prejudge the question of what to call the all-Union fundamental law - the Treaty or the Constitution. This decision was made only at the last meeting, where it was considered appropriate 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. N.A. Skrypnik saw a huge difference between the wording of the draft presented by the Central Committee Commission, which stated that “the territory of each of the Soviet republics cannot be changed without consent” and the wording “can be changed only with consent.” The discussion of the item on union citizenship was equally lively, in which a number of members of the Commission took part, including Stalin, with whom Rakovsky again polemicized, however, on a private issue. On June 16, the Commission adopted a resolution to request 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 made on the relationship between the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Union and the Council of People's Commissars and commissariats, on symbolism, etc. In general, on June 16, the Expanded Commission completed an 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 introducing clarifications into a number of formulations, and then transferred 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 presented draft. The project was then discussed at sessions of the Central Executive Committee of the union republics.

The second session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the 10th 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 First Congress of Soviets of the USSR, taking into account the amendments made by the Expanded Commission of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. The draft Constitution was also approved by the third session of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee, the third session of the Central Executive Committee of Belarus and the second session of the Central Executive Committee of Transcaucasia. The next important step towards 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 again discussed chapter by chapter. 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 should be approved and immediately put into effect.” The same resolution provided for the Constitution to be submitted for final approval by the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR, and also before the formation of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, all powers by virtue of Chapters 4 and 5 of the Constitution of the USSR were to be assigned 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 on December 30, 1922, consisting of 19 members.

July 1923, a resolution of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR was also adopted, which emphasized that in accordance with the powers given to it by the second session of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the Presidium “began work as the highest authority of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, according to Chapter. fifth Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." On the same day, the Presidium also decided to approve and publish all decrees and resolutions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and its Presidium, so that they would have force throughout the entire territory of the USSR, and also invited the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to immediately begin its activities by virtue of the sixth chapter of the Constitution USSR. It was also proposed that the People's Commissariats of the Union begin their activities, form the Council of Labor and Defense, establish the Central Statistical Directorate 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 union institutions. In parallel, it was prescribed to form commissions to develop relevant 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 resolutions, corresponding commissions were created. So, then on July 13, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR created a Commission of 10 people headed by Kalinin, which was tasked with developing regulations on the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, general position about the People's Commissariats and about each People's 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 to celebrate the day of adoption of the Constitution of the USSR throughout the entire territory of the USSR on the sixth of July. Thus, on 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 going on.

The first Constitution of the USSR included the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which stated that “This Union is a voluntary association of equal peoples, and that each republic is guaranteed the right to freely secede from the Union.” 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 within 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 talked about their supreme and executive bodies and the relationship between the republican authorities and the all-Union ones. The Constitution also had 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, resolutions and orders of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR were binding for direct execution throughout the entire territory of the USSR, just as the Central Executive Committee of the USSR had the right to suspend and cancel decrees, resolutions and orders of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, as well as congresses of councils 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 USSR. In turn, in case of violation of the Constitution of the USSR, the legislation of the Union or the legislation of the union republic, the orders of the people's commissariats of the USSR could be suspended by the Central Executive Committees or presidiums of the republics. The Central Executive Committees of the Union republics and their presidiums also received the right to protest the decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, without suspending their execution.

The term “federation” is never used in the Constitution, but from its content it could be understood 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 says nothing about its role, and this immediately raised the question of the relationship between formal guidelines and the actual state of affairs. In fact, the role of the party after the adoption of the USSR Constitution not only did not decrease, but even intensified. But in general, 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 wave of recognition of the USSR” would follow. This year, diplomatic relations are being established with Austria, Albania, Great Britain, Greece, Denmark, Italy, China, Mexico, Norway, France, Hejaz, and Sweden.

This, by no means, meant that further union construction ceased completely. 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. after all, 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

In conclusion, the course work should be concluded that the creation of the USSR was not a one-time act, but was the result of a rather long-term, multi-stage path, which showed how complex and, at the same time, important the creation of a new type of state was. Its formation was the result of an intensive exchange of views, sometimes heated discussions, during which various proposals and approaches emerged. The most powerful national movements of that time demanded that all political parties take a close look at the national issue and develop their own recipe for resolving it. There was clearly a struggle between these political parties to gain the support of the so-called Nationals.

At the Seventh (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (b) V.I. Lenin first put forward the idea of ​​​​creating a union of Soviet republics and, essentially, from that time on, the Bolshevik Party, which previously professed the principle of centralism and built 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 secessionists. The creation of a 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 to unification was the military union of the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus on June 1, 1919, which provided for close unification not only in the military field, but also in the field of economic, financial and communications upon recognition of independence , freedom and self-determination of national republics. In general, a number of Soviet republics retained their sovereignty and pursued their own 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 unified military and economic policy, but also coordination and then the implementation of a unified 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 a union of republics, with the creation of a new upper management floor, a plan that 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 in order to put 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, 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 secede from the Union, had its own constitutions, supreme and executive bodies, the right to use one’s own language and develop 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 entity. 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.: Yurist, 2000.

2.Lukashuk I.I. Speech at an extended 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. Development of views of V.I. Lenin on the creation of a new type of multinational state // Communist. 1972, no. 10

.Recent history Fatherland: XX century: Textbook. For students higher textbook institutions: In 2 vols. / Ed. A.F. Kiseleva, E.M. Shchagin. - M., 2002.

6.On the way to “socialist unitarianism”. (from new documents of 1922 on the history of education of the USSR) // Domestic history. - 1992. - No. 4.

7.Tereshchenko Yu.Ya. History of Russia XX - beginning of the XXI centuries / Tereshchenko Yu.Ya. - Philological Society “Slovo”; Rostov-on-Don: Publishing house “Phoenix”, 2004.- 448 p.

8.Topornin B.N. New union treaty: theoretical approaches.// New union treaty: search for solutions. - M., 1990.

.Chistyakov O.I. The Treaty on the Formation of the USSR and modernity. // Bulletin of Moscow University. 1995. No. 2.

Tutoring

Need help studying a topic?

Our specialists will advise or provide tutoring services on topics that interest you.
Submit your application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

100 RUR bonus for first order

Select type of work Thesis Coursework Abstract Master's thesis Report on practice Article Report Review Test Monograph Problem solving Business plan Answers to questions Creative work Essay Drawing Essays Translation Presentations Typing Other Increasing the uniqueness of the text Master's thesis Laboratory work On-line help

Find out the price

1. Prerequisites for the formation of the USSR

1.1. Ideological. October Revolution 1917 led to the collapse of the Russian Empire. There was a disintegration of the former unified state space, which had existed for several centuries. However, the Bolshevik idea of ​​world revolution and the creation in the future of the World Federative Republic of Soviets forced a new unification process. The RSFSR played an active role in the development of the unification movement, whose authorities were interested in restoring a unitary state on the territory of the former Russian Empire.

1.2. Bolshevik national policy. The national policy of the Soviet state contributed to the growth of trust in the central government. It was based on the principle of equality of all nations and nationalities and the right of nations to self-determination, enshrined in the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia (November 2, 1917) and the Declaration of the Rights of Working and Exploited People (January 1918). The beliefs, customs, national and cultural institutions of the peoples of the Volga region and Crimea, Siberia and Turkestan, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia were declared free and inviolable, which caused an increase in confidence in the new government not only from foreigners in Russia (who made up 57% of the population), but also in European countries , Asia. The right to self-determination was exercised in 1917 by Poland and Finland. Throughout the rest of the territory of the former Russian Empire, national governments fought for national independence during the Civil War (including the Ukrainian Central Rada, the Belarusian Socialist Community, the Turkic Musavat party in Azerbaijan, the Kazakh Alash, etc.).

1.3. Political. In connection with the victory of Soviet power on the main territory of the former Russian Empire, another prerequisite for the unification process arose - the unified nature of the political system (dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of Soviets), similar features of the organization of state power and administration. In most republics, power belonged to national communist parties. The instability of the international position of the young Soviet republics in the conditions of a capitalist encirclement also dictated the need for unification.

1.4. Economic and cultural. The need for unification was also dictated by the historical common destinies of the peoples of a multinational state, and the presence of long-term economic and cultural ties. An economic division of labor has historically developed between individual regions of the country: the industry of the center supplied the regions of the southeast and north, receiving in return raw materials - cotton, timber, flax; the southern regions were the main suppliers of oil, coal, iron ore, etc. The importance of this division has increased after the end of the Civil War, when the task arose of restoring the destroyed economy and overcoming the economic backwardness of the Soviet republics. Textile and wool factories, tanneries, printing houses were transferred to the national republics and regions from the central provinces, doctors and teachers were sent. The GOELRO (electrification of Russia) plan adopted in 1920 also provided for the development of the economy of all regions of the country.

2. Stages of formation of the USSR

2.1. Military-political union. The war and especially foreign intervention demonstrated the need for a defensive alliance. 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, and Belarus to fight world imperialism. A unified military command was approved, economic councils, transport, commissariats of finance and labor were united. It is clear that in those conditions, the management of the unified financial system was carried out from Moscow, just as national military formations were completely subordinate to the High Command of the Red Army. The military-political unity of the Soviet republics played a huge role in the defeat of the joint intervention forces.

2.2. Organizational and economic union. In 1920 - 1921 Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan entered into military-economic agreements with each other. During this period, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR included representatives of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian republics, and the unification of some people's commissariats began. As a result, the Supreme Economic Council of the RSFSR actually turned into a management body for the industry of all republics. In February 1921, the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR was created, headed by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky, also called upon to lead the implementation of a unified economic plan. In August 1921, the Federal Committee for Land Affairs was created in the RSFSR, which regulated the development of agricultural production and land use throughout the country. Since the spring of 1921, in response to the instructions of V.I. Lenin on the economic unification of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan began the creation of the Transcaucasian Federation, which took shape organizationally in March 1922 (ZSFSR).

2.3. Diplomatic Union. In February 1922 in Moscow, a meeting of representatives of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Bukhara, Khorezm and the Far Eastern Republic 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) interests of all Soviet republics, to conclude any treaties and agreements on their behalf. The delegation of the RSFSR was replenished with representatives of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

5. The importance of the formation of the USSR

5.1. Leveling the levels of backward peoples. The formation of the USSR united the efforts of peoples to restore and develop the economy, culture, and overcome the backwardness of some republics. In the course of nation-state building, a policy was pursued of bringing up backward national regions and achieving de facto equality between them. For this purpose, factories, plants with equipment and some qualified personnel were transferred from the RSFSR to Central Asia and the Transcaucasian Republic. This included allocations for irrigation, construction of railways, and electrification. Large tax deductions were made to the budgets of other republics.

5.2. Socio-cultural significance. There were certain positive results of the national policy of the Soviet government in the field of culture, education, and the health care system in the republics. In the 20s - 30s. National schools and theaters were created, newspapers and literature were widely published in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR. Some peoples receive writing developed by scientists for the first time. Health issues were resolved. Thus, if in the North Caucasus before 1917 there were 12 hospitals and only 32 doctors, then by 1939 there were 335 doctors working in Dagestan alone (of which 14% were representatives of the indigenous nationality). The Union of Peoples of the USSR was one of the sources of victory over fascism in 1941-1945.

5.3. The influence of the administrative-command system on national politics. In fact, the sovereignty of the union republics remained nominal, since real power in them was concentrated in the hands of the committees of the RCP (b). Key political and economic decisions were made by the central party bodies, which were binding on the republican ones. Internationalism in its practical implementation began to be seen as the right to ignore the national identity and culture of peoples. The question was raised about the withering away of national-linguistic diversity along the path to communism. Stalin's repressions in the republics and the subsequent deportations of peoples had a negative impact on national politics. At the same time, not only the peoples of the USSR suffered from the fight against nationalism, but no less the Russian people themselves. The administrative, unitarist tendencies of the national policy of the USSR created the ground for the formation of potential centers of future interethnic conflicts. At the same time, the Soviet leadership sought to suppress separatist tendencies in national regions by creating a local bureaucracy there, providing it with apparent independence under real strict control by the central government

Conclusion . The trend towards unitarity was gaining strength. It was not contradicted by the subsequent entry into the USSR of the newly created Soviet socialist republics - Uzbek, Turkmen (1925), Tajik (1929), Kazakh, Kyrgyz (1936), as well as the dissolution of the TSFSR and direct entry into the USSR in 1936 Azerbaijani, Armenian, Georgian SSR.

The formation of a multinational union state corresponded to many cultural and historical traditions of the peoples living on the territory of the former Russian Empire. The creation of the USSR also contributed to strengthening the geopolitical position of the new state within the world community. However, the initial commitment of the Bolsheviks to the ideas of unitarianism had a negative impact on further development statehood, which after 1936 was carried out within the framework of the established administrative system. By the end of the 30s. There was a final transition to the unitary model of the state in its Stalinist version.

2) The cultural life of the country in the 20s.

In the 1920s, there was undoubtedly a powerful cultural shift in the USSR.

In our country there has been a violent break with the cultural

historical tradition. The fight against vices old culture" led to

significant impoverishment and, in many respects, destruction of this tradition. The cultural life of the country developed very ambiguously. At the same time, in many areas of cultural development there were

Significant progress has been made. These primarily include the area

education, proportion of literate population in Russia

grew steadily (the historical legacy of the tsarist regime was a significant share

illiterate population.)

The function of educating society within the strictly defined framework of communist morality was imposed on art. The defining style in literature, painting and

other types of art became the so-called “socialist realism”; it did not reflect reality in its present form, but sought to pass off as reality what should only have been from the point of view of official ideology. The situation in the literature has changed significantly.

A distinctive feature in the field of theater was the development of innovative

activities of the Meyerhold Theater, Moscow Art Theater, etc. Cinema is developing rapidly. The number of films being shot is increasing. New opportunities opened up with the advent of sound cinema.