First Soviet editor of Izvestia, architect of the Soviet constitution
His Izvestia editorials were nicknamed steklyashki ("little Steklovs"), and Lenin sent him a handwritten note: "Comrade Steklov! I've read your editorial. This is how one should write, and more of it!" Steklov framed the note and hung it on his office wall.
Bolshevik journalist and historian from Odessa. After the February Revolution he became editor of the Petrograd Soviet's Izvestia and held the post until 1925. He co-drafted the 1918 RSFSR and 1924 USSR constitutions and served on the VTsIK Presidium. With Gorky he co-edited Novaya Zhizn and initiated the monthly Novy Mir. He left a vast body of work on socialist thought including major biographies of Bakunin and Chernyshevsky. Arrested in 1938, he died in Saratov prison in 1941 and was rehabilitated in 1956.
Career Timeline
- 1888–1893Organised a workers' circle in Odessa; joined the Social Democratic movement
- 1894–1899Arrested and exiled to Sredne-Kolymsk, Yakutsk, for 10 years
- 1901–1903Worked on Iskra; joined the Bolsheviks after the 2nd RSDLP Congress
- 1905–1910Took part in the Petersburg Soviet, arrested; advised the Duma SD faction
- 1911Taught at the Longjumeau party school; wrote for European SD press
- 1917–1925Editor-in-chief of Izvestia; member of the VTsIK Presidium
- 1918–1924Co-drafted the 1918 RSFSR Constitution and the 1924 USSR Constitution
- 1920–1930Produced major works on socialist thought including biographies of Bakunin and Chernyshevsky
- 1925Initiated the monthly literary journal Novy Mir
- 1929–1938Deputy chair of the Academic Committee under the USSR Central Executive Committee
Related historical events
- 1905–1907The Revolution of 1905Participant in the Petersburg Soviet & journalistHe participated in the Petersburg Soviet and published articles and pamphlets advancing the revolution in both legal and illegal Social Democratic press.
- 1937–1938The Great PurgeTarget who died in custodyThe journalist and constitutional drafter was arrested in 1938 and died in Saratov prison in 1941.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic Warprisoner
Drafter of the Soviet Constitutions
Steklov's most enduring institutional legacy is his work designing the constitutional foundations of the Soviet state. In April 1918 the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) formed a commission to draft the RSFSR constitution, and Steklov, together with Yakov Sheynkman, co-authored the Bolshevik faction's draft. Their text prevailed over competing proposals (Mikhail Reisner's Left Communist draft, the Maximalist SR draft, and others) and was adopted by the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets in July 1918 as the first Soviet constitution. It codified the dictatorship of the proletariat, concentrated power in the soviets of workers', soldiers', and peasants' deputies, and inscribed the principle 'He who does not work, neither shall he eat' into fundamental law.
After the formation of the USSR in 1922, Steklov was also one of the authors of the 1924 USSR Constitution. This was the first federal fundamental law to define the division of powers between the union and the republics, the bicameral structure of the Union Central Executive Committee (Soviet of the Union and Soviet of Nationalities), and the republics' right of secession. As a member of the VTsIK Presidium and a central figure in Soviet journalism, Steklov performed a dual role: giving legal form to the constitutional text and leading the broad public discussion of the drafts in the pages of Izvestia, which under his editorship served as the key national forum for constitutional debate.