The 1936 Constitution

• In 1936, a new constitution, drafted by Nikolai Bukharin, was introduced, which Stalin claimed was 'the most democratic in the world.'
• It proclaimed the USSR to be a federation of eleven Soviet Republics. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets was replaced by a new 'Supreme Soviet' made up of the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities. Each republic also had its own supreme soviet.
• The new constitution promised local autonomy to ethnic groups and support for national cultures and languages. It also promised four-yearly elections with the right to vote for all over eighteens including the 'former people' who had previously been deprived of voting rights.
• It was accompanied by an extensive statement of civil rights - such as freedom from arbitrary arrest and the right to free speech. The new constitution did, indeed, look democratic and its main intention may have been to impress foreigners.
• In practice, the promised rights were largely ignored, and the central control exercised over the republics' budgets ensured the primacy of union laws and little real regional independence.
• Although the constitution acknowledged the right of any union republic to leave the union, when Party leaders in Georgia allegedly planned secession in 1951, they were purged.
• Elections were not contested so that the right to vote was merely to affirm a choice of representative and only approved party members names were on the ballot papers.
• Supreme Soviet economy met a few days twice a year. It provided more sense of participation rather than actual involvement. It was viewed by the Party as a forum for imparting decisions back to the localities rather than for electors to present their views to the centre.