1936 Soviet Constitution (Stalin Constitution)
소련 1936년 헌법 (스탈린 헌법)
The second constitution of the USSR, adopted on 5 December 1936 by the Eighth Extraordinary Congress of Soviets. It granted all citizens universal, equal, and direct suffrage by secret ballot and codified rights to work, rest, education, and social security, while Soviet leaders hailed it as 'the most democratic constitution in the world.' Yet it was adopted on the very eve of the Great Terror, and the dramatic gap between its enumerated civil rights and the ensuing mass repression became a defining historical paradox, one that raises a fundamental question about the meaning of a written constitution under a totalitarian regime.
In depth
Background and Adoption
The 1936 Constitution was drafted to replace the 1924 Constitution, the USSR's first. A 31-member constitutional commission chaired by Stalin himself produced the draft, with Bukharin, Radek, Vyshinsky, Molotov, Kaganovich, and others leading subcommittees. The draft, published in June 1936, was discussed nationwide for six months; roughly 51.5 million people (55% of the adult population) participated, submitting over 1.5 million proposed amendments. It was formally adopted on 5 December 1936, a date thereafter celebrated as Soviet Constitution Day.
Key Provisions
The Constitution declared socialist ownership (state and cooperative-kolkhoz) as the economic foundation and the Soviets of Working People's Deputies as the political foundation of the USSR. It introduced a separation of powers: legislative authority vested in the bicameral Supreme Soviet (Soviet of the Union and Soviet of Nationalities), executive authority in the Council of People's Commissars. Article 126 formalized the one-party state by naming the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) the 'leading core' of all workers' organizations. Article 122 guaranteed full equality for women, Article 123 prohibited discrimination by nationality or race, Article 124 guaranteed freedom of conscience and separation of church and state, and Article 125 guaranteed freedom of speech, press, and assembly.
Historical Paradox
Hannah Arendt, in The Origins of Totalitarianism, singled out the 1936 Constitution as 'the most outstanding example' of a totalitarian regime defying even those positive laws it had itself established. Isaac Deutscher called it 'a veil of liberal phrases and premises over the guillotine in the background.' The paradox was sharpened by the fact that many of the Constitution's own drafters, including Bukharin, Radek, Yakovlev, Stetskii, Tal, Chubar, and Akulov, were arrested and executed in the Great Terror almost immediately after its adoption. The 1936 Constitution remained the longest-surviving fundamental law in Soviet history, replaced only by the 1977 'Brezhnev Constitution,' and its formal structure and bill of rights served as a model for later Eastern Bloc constitutions.
Related people
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (RU) drafting commission membership, unofficial names (Сталинская конституция, Конституция победившего социализма), adoption date 5 December 1936, structure (13 chapters, 146 articles), nationwide discussion with 51.5 million participants
- Wikipedia (EN) basic provisions (universal suffrage, rights guarantees), Article 126 one-party formalization, J. Arch Getty quote on the Great Terror paradox, Schapiro/Deutscher/Arendt criticism, 1944 amendments, replacement by 1977 Constitution
- Marxists Internet Archive full English text of the 1936 Constitution with amendments, confirming Article structure and precise wording of key provisions
- library.oapen.org Samantha Lomb, Stalin's Constitution (Routledge 2018): 'Soviet leaders hailed the new so-called Stalin Constitution as the most democratic in the world'; scholarly study of the six-month popular discussion of the draft
- the1313.law.columbia.edu Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism: identifies the 1936 Constitution as 'the most outstanding example' of totalitarian defiance of its own positive laws