* Chapter IV.
HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION *
There are five constitutions in the history of the Russian Federation – 1918,1925,1937,1978, respectively, and the current Constitution of 1993.
The validity periods of the constitutions of the RSFSR were successively 7, 12, over 40 and 15 years, which indicates, given the difficult historical path of Russia's development, in general, the relative stability of the constitutions.
The adoption of each of them marked significant changes in the life of society, summed up the previous development, determined, as a rule, a qualitatively new stage in the history of the state, reflected the approval of new concepts or the deepening and improvement of the previous ones.
The study of the procedure for the development and adoption of each of the constitutions, their general content refers to the subject of the science of the history of the state and law of Russia.
The science of constitutional law examines the features of each constitution from the standpoint of its role as the main source of the eponymous branch of law, the formation and development of constitutional legal institutions in it, the essence of the concepts reflected in it.
The first four constitutions of the RSFSR were Soviet socialist constitutions in their type.
Despite the essential features peculiar to each of them, they developed in accordance with the principle of continuity – the preservation of socialist values, the establishment of Soviet power, were of a class character, acting as the embodiment of the dictatorship of the working class, then its leading role.
All Soviet style constitutions were largely fictitious.
They proclaimed principles that were not actually implemented in life.
This applied to such principles as the ownership of power by the workers, the sovereignty of the Soviets, the federal structure of Russia, the use by citizens of the political rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitutions.
The common features of all the constitutions of the RSFSR do not exclude significant features in the content of each of them, the legal specifics of the state legal institutions enshrined in them.
The Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 – the first Constitution adopted shortly after the October revolution, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly – had the following features.
1. In comparison with all subsequent Soviet constitutions, as the first Constitution, it was not based on the principle of continuity of constitutional development, it defined the foundations of the structure of society at the constitutional level for the first time, guided by the slogans under which the Bolsheviks led by Lenin came to power, and based on the first decrees of the Soviet government adopted before the middle of 1918.
This Constitution completely erased all the previous state legal experience of Russia, left no stone unturned from pre revolutionary state institutions and structures.
2. Of all the Soviet constitutions, it was the most ideologized, had an openly class character.
It completely denied the general democratic concept of the people as the bearer and source of the sovereignty of the state.
It claimed power for the Soviets, for the working population of the country, united in urban and rural councils.
The Constitution directly enshrined the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Guided by the interests of the working class as a whole, the RSFSR deprived individuals and certain groups of individuals of the rights that these individuals or groups of individuals used to the detriment of the interests of the socialist Revolution (Article 23 of the Constitution).
3. The Constitution of 1918 differed from the subsequent constitutions of the RSFSR also by a significant number of program provisions, defining in many of its articles the goals to be achieved by the Constitution.
This applies to the provisions on the federal structure of Russia, established in the actual absence of its subjects, to the fixation of certain rights of citizens aimed at the possibility of their implementation in the future.
The Constitution contains a large number of "target" norms.
4. The specific features of the Constitution of 1918 include the fact that its norms and provisions go beyond the scope of domestic regulation.
It includes institutions aimed at the entire world community, and those of a purely political nature.
Thus, Article 3 stated: "Setting as its main task the destruction of all exploitation of man by man, the complete elimination of the division of society into classes, the merciless suppression of exploiters, the establishment of a socialist organization of society and the victory of socialism in all countries..."
4 an unyielding determination is expressed to pull humanity out of the clutches of financial capital and imperialism.
5. It is also necessary to point out such a feature of the Constitution of 1918 as the open recognition of the use of violence to affirm the principles of the new, socialist system.
This feature is not typical for subsequent Soviet constitutions.
Thus, Article 3 of the Constitution spoke about the destruction of parasitic strata of society, about the merciless suppression of exploiters.
The Constitution stipulated the forcible destruction of private property, allowed its compulsory gratuitous withdrawal.
6. From the point of view of legal technology related to the design of state legal institutions, usually clearly distinguished in constitutions, the Constitution of 1918 was largely imperfect, which was also explained by objective factors.
The absence of federal subjects did not allow us to single out the corresponding section in the Constitution.
The section on the foundations of the social system could not be presented in a generalized form, since the latter was still being laid.
All the mentioned features of the Constitution of 1918 characterize it as a constitution of a revolutionary type, adopted as a result of a violent change in the social and state system, rejecting all previous legal institutions that existed before the coup or revolution.
The reason for replacing the Constitution of 1918 with the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1925 was the unification of the RSFSR with other independent republics into the USSR and the adoption of the first Constitution of the USSR of 1924.
The latter stipulated that " the Union republics, in accordance with this Constitution, make changes to their constitutions."
Therefore, in the resolution of the XII All Russian Congress of Soviets, which approved the text of the Constitution of 1925, it is called "the amended text of the Constitution".
The continuity of this Constitution with the provisions of the Constitution of 1918 is significant.
In some cases, there are references to the norms of the latter, which seems to prolong their effect.
Thus, Article 20 stated: "The All Russian Congress of Soviets is formed on the grounds established by Article 25 of the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, adopted by the V All Russian Congress of Soviets."
At the same time, the corresponding norm was reproduced.
A similar reference to the norms of the Constitution of 1918 is also found in article 51 of the Constitution of 1925.
Unlike the Constitution of 1918, the Constitution of 1925 did not include in its text the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, but recorded that it proceeds from its main provisions and reproduced many of them.
While remaining openly class oriented, the Constitution of 1925 significantly softened the wording of the norms on violence, suppression, and destruction of" parasitic " strata of society, excluded provisions on the world revolution and the interests of all mankind.
It became legally stricter, without the general political provisions inherent in the Constitution of 1918.
The new thing that characterizes the content of the Constitution of 1925 is as follows.
1. It reflects the fact that the RSFSR joined the USSR.
This is recorded in Article 3, where it was written that according to the will of the peoples of the RSFSR, who made a decision at the X All Russian Congress of Soviets on the formation of the USSR, the RSFSR, being part of the USSR, transfers to the Union the powers assigned in accordance with Article 1 of the Constitution of the USSR to the jurisdiction of the bodies of the USSR.
Article 19 provided that, within the limits specified in the Constitution of the USSR, and on subjects referred to the competence of the Union, resolutions of the supreme bodies of the USSR are binding on the territory of the RSFSR.
With this exception, no bodies other than the All Russian Congress of Soviets, the VTSIK, its Presidium and the SNK have the right to issue legislative acts of national significance on the territory of the RSFSR.
This indirectly confirmed the sovereign rights of the RSFSR outside the borders of the rights of the Union, but there was no direct reference to the sovereignty of the RSFSR in its Constitution.
It also did not provide for the preservation of the RSFSR's right to secede from the USSR (although there was such a rule in the 1924 Constitution of the USSR for all Union republics).
The competence of the RSFSR as a state that is part of the Union, unlike subsequent constitutions, was not determined directly, but only through the subjects of competence of the supreme bodies of the RSFSR.
2.In connection with the emergence of the subjects of the RSFSR, its Constitution included provisions defining their status and the powers of the Federation in relation to them.
In the structure of the Constitution, Chapter 4 "On Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics and Regions" was singled out, which established the principles of forming state authorities in them, the procedure for adopting the basic laws (constitutions) of the ASSR and the Provisions on autonomous regions.
The All Russian Congress of Soviets was responsible for the final approval of the constitutions of the ASSR.
The joint competence of the Congress and the Central Executive Committee included the establishment of the borders of the ASSR, the approval of the constitutions of the ASSR, the resolution of disputes between the ASSR and other parts of the Federation, the cancellation of resolutions of the congresses of the Soviets of the ASSR and autonomous regions that violate this Constitution or the resolutions of the supreme bodies of the RSFSR.
The subsequent constitutional development of the RSFSR was already directly connected with the adoption of new, union constitutions.
Moreover, there was a process of increasing convergence of the structure and content of the constitutions of the republics and the Constitution of the USSR and the creation of an almost uniform text of the constitutions of all the Union republics.
Therefore, the main features and features of the subsequent constitutions of the RSFSR were completely derived from the corresponding characteristics of the constitutions of the USSR.
The adoption of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1937 was a consequence of the entry into force of the Constitution of the USSR of 1936.
The renewal of the entire constitutional system of the Union was explained by the country's entry into a new stage of its development, which, as it was believed, marked the construction of the foundations of socialism, the complete elimination of exploiting classes and elements, which led to a significant expansion of socialist democracy.
The constitutions of this stage of both the Union and the RSFSR, as well as other Union republics, differ in the following features.
1. They retained, like the former ones, the class essence, embodied the dictatorship of the proletariat, which was explicitly mentioned, in particular, in Article 2 of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1937.
However, the form of expression of this entity has changed.
In connection with the liquidation of the exploiting classes, the deprivation of political rights of citizens on social grounds was abolished, universal, equal direct suffrage was introduced by secret ballot.
The Constitution for the first time enshrined the principle of equal rights of citizens, but in a very truncated form.
Article 127 of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1937 provided for equal rights of citizens only "regardless of their nationality and race".
2. For the first time, the Constitution introduced chapters on the basic rights and duties of citizens, which included a wide range of these rights and duties.
In particular, the right to work was secured for the first time.
However, the possibility of using political rights was guaranteed under the constitutions only "in accordance with the interests of workers and for the purposes of strengthening the establishment of the socialist system".
Thus, these democratic institutions of the constitutions were class oriented, ideologically oriented.
3. The preservation of the class essence of all the constitutions of the considered stage is evidenced by the consolidation of the leading role of the Communist Party, then called the CPSU(b).
The norm on the party was introduced into the Constitution for the first time.
Article 126 of the USSR Constitution of 1936 and the corresponding articles of the constitutions of the Union republics established that "the most active and conscious citizens from the ranks of the working class and other strata of the working people unite in the All Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), which is the vanguard of the working people in their struggle for the strengthening and development of the socialist system and represents the leading core of all workers' organizations, both public and state."
This constitutional norm vividly expressed the growing trend of turning the party, in fact, into a state structure.
4. The constitutions under consideration were approved for the first time, unlike the previous ones, as constitutions of constructed socialism.
All the main economic foundations of socialism were already fixed in them: the abolition of private property, the domination of the socialist economic system and socialist ownership of the tools and means of production, the establishment of the state national economic plan, which determined and directed the entire economic life of the state, etc.
5. The constitutions of this stage have acquired a more perfect form in their legal form.
They clearly identify the main state legal institutions, and systematize constitutional norms on an objective basis.
There were chapters: "Social structure", "State structure", "Basic rights and obligations of citizens".
6. In the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1937, the principles of its entry into the USSR are fixed in more detail than in the previous ones.
The norm is included that outside the limits of the rights of the USSR, the RSFSR exercises state power independently, while fully preserving its sovereign rights.
For the first time, the Constitution of the RSFSR included a provision on the preservation of the right to secede from the USSR.
In a separate article (19), the subjects of the RSFSR were defined.
7. Much more fully than in previous constitutions, the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1937 reflects its own federal structure.
There were independent chapters on the supreme state authorities of the ASSR, on the state administration bodies of the ASSR, on the state authorities of the autonomous regions.
For the first time, the norm on national districts was fixed.
The subsequent development of the constitutional system of the former USSR was carried out in connection with the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR in 1977.
On its basis, in 1978, the Constitution was adopted in the RSFSR, as well as constitutions in other Union republics
During its 15 year term, the 1978 Constitution underwent significant changes.
This concerned not only the content of specific norms, but also the very essence of the Constitution.
It consolidated the status of the RSFSR as a union republic within the USSR, and then as an independent state after the collapse of the Union.
In this regard, this Constitution at the last stages of its existence, unlike the previous ones, was the most unstable, changed often, and in the most radical way.
That is why its characteristics have different contents in relation to a particular period of its action.
In the first 10 years (before the beginning of the period called "perestroika"), the entire new constitutional system of the USSR, including the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978, was characterized by the following features.
1. The adoption of all the constitutions of this period was supposed to reflect the new stage into which, as it was claimed, Soviet society had entered – the stage of" developed socialism", which meant the transformation of the Soviet state from a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat into a national state, which was directly enshrined in the first articles of all the constitutions.
In this regard, the concept of "people" was introduced for the first time in the constitutions of both the USSR and the republics; it was he who was declared the subject to whom all power belongs.
Despite the statement about the national character of the state, the constitutions did not lose their class character.
This interpretation of the essence of the constitution was generally accepted in the political and state legal literature, since the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat was transformed into the idea of the leading role of the working class.
This was confirmed by the fact that, for example, the preamble to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978 explicitly stated that it preserves the continuity of the ideas and principles of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1925, the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1937.
2. The class character of the constitutions was also emphasized by the fact that they even more openly and directly reflected the role of the Communist Party, which is "the leading and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations," as written in Article 6 of the 1977 Constitution of the USSR and in Article 6 of the 1978 Constitution of the RSFSR.
It is significant that this was an independent article about the party, and included in Chapter 1 of the Constitution of the USSR (in the previous one, the article about the party was included in Chapter X and the provision about it was part of Article 126).
This meant further constitutional confirmation of the role of the party as the basis of the entire state structure.
3. The constitutions also preserved the class orientation of democracy, which was called "socialist democracy".
However, its scope has been significantly expanded.
In particular, the principle of equality of citizens before the law was approved, regardless of origin, social and property status, education, language, attitude to religion, type and nature of occupation, place of residence, which was not in the previous constitutions.
The Constitutions have consolidated a more complete list of citizens ' rights, introducing such new rights as the right to housing, the right to health protection, etc.
For the first time, the provision was fixed that the most important issues of state life are submitted for national discussion, as well as put to a national vote.
The Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978 for the first time stated in the preamble that it is accepted and proclaimed by the people of the Russian Federation.
4. The Constitution of the RSFSR, following the Constitution of the USSR, has changed very significantly structurally.
Unlike the Constitution of 1937, it had 11 sections divided into 22 chapters.
The Constitution has become much more voluminous and has deepened the systematization of constitutional norms by subject.
So, in the section.
I "Fundamentals of the social system and politics" were allocated chapters: "Political system", "Economic system", "Social development and culture", "Foreign policy activity and defense of the socialist Fatherland".
All this testified to a significant expansion of the subject of constitutional regulation, a more perfect level of formation of state legal institutions.
5. With regard to the provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR on its federal structure, the following new points can be noted.
The Constitution did not provide for the approval of the Constitutions of the ASSR by the bodies of the RSFSR; national districts were transformed into autonomous ones and listed for the first time; the level of normative acts on autonomous regions and autonomous districts increased (it is indicated that their status is determined by the law of the RSFSR, and previously the Provision on them was provided for).
6. The 1978 Constitution for the first time explicitly established that the RSFSR is a sovereign State.
This is the main, but far from complete, characteristic of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978 at the first stage of its operation.
The reform of the Constitution, which began in 1989, followed the line of gradual changes, first of all, of its essential features.
The process of restructuring and democratization of all aspects of society in a legal form was marked by the Laws of the RSFSR "On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the RSFSR" and "On Elections of People's Deputies of the RSFSR", adopted in 1989.
These laws significantly changed the system of bodies of the RSFSR and the procedure for the election of people's deputies.
The Congress of People's Deputies was established as the highest body of state power, which elected the Supreme Soviet by secret ballot – the permanent legislative, administrative and control body of the RSFSR.
Moreover, for the first time in the entire history of the constitutional development of Russia, its Supreme Council became a bicameral body.
The new electoral law, although it did not provide for a mandatory alternative to elections (i.e., the presence of at least two candidates on the ballot), opened up the possibility of its implementation, which was carried out at the first free elections.
Further reform of the Constitution of Russia was carried out by the Congress of People's Deputies.
In this process, the following trends can be identified: gradual changes in the essence of the Constitution, recognition of its general democratic nature, the embodiment of the will of the entire people in it.
We note the innovations of the Constitution, which were carried out in stages:
a) rejection of the characterization of the state as socialist and Soviet, its definition as a sovereign federal one; rejection of such definitions as "socialist property", "socialist democracy", "socialist legality", etc.; exclusion of provisions on the construction of communism as the goal of society;
b) the elimination of the provisions on the Communist Party as the core of the political system from the Constitution; a radical change in the content of Article 6, meaning constitutionally e recognition of multiparty membership;
c) recognition of the priority of human and civil rights;
d) recognition of private property protected by the state along with other forms of property; refusal to recognize state property as the main one; admission of freedom of economic activity;
e) gradual modification of the structure of Soviet power, the rejection of the Republic of Soviets, the transition to a parliamentary system; recognition of the principle of separation of powers; the introduction of the institution of the President; the establishment of local self government.
All these and other changes to the Constitution testified to a qualitative transformation of its essence.
With the collapse of the USSR, the Constitution of the RSFSR acquired a new essential property.
It was no longer the Constitution of a subject of the Federation, but the Constitution of an independent, independent state.
The objectively and inevitably brewing need for change was initially expressed in the demands for reforming the union Federation.
This happened in an acute confrontation between the union and republican authorities.
All republics, including the RSFSR, have adopted Declarations of their state sovereignty.
For the first time, the Russian Declaration set the task of developing a new Constitution of the RSFSR on the basis of the principles proclaimed in it, including the principle of separation of powers.
The Constitutional Commission of the Congress of People's Deputies was formed, which began this work.
However, the complex alignment of political forces in the composition of people's deputies led to a significant delay in the adoption of the new Constitution.
Basically, the process followed the path of making numerous changes to the current Constitution of the RSFSR, which in this regard acquired a contradictory character.
Some of its norms contradicted others.
This inconsistency caused the fierce confrontation and confrontation between the legislative and executive authorities, the culmination of which was the events in October 1993, which were resolved during the armed clash of the authorities by the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council.
There was not only a political, but also a constitutional crisis.
Under these conditions, the adoption of a new Constitution was supposed to be the basis for establishing stability in society.
Many drafts of the new Constitution were prepared.
The main ones were the draft of the Constitutional Commission and the draft prepared by the Constitutional Meeting convened by the decision of the President of the Russian Federation.
The draft Constitutional Conference incorporated many provisions of the draft Constitutional Commission and was adopted as a basis for the final revision of the Constitution with the involvement of the subjects of the Federation, deputies, their various factions, specialists, working groups.
It was this draft Constitution that was submitted by the President to the national vote.
It was held on the basis of the Provision on the popular vote on the draft Constitution of the Russian Federation on December 12, 1993, approved by a presidential decree.
According to the Provision, the Constitution was considered approved if the majority of voters who took part in the voting voted for its adoption, provided that more than half of the number of registered voters took part in the voting.
The new Constitution was adopted by popular vote (December 12, 1993) and entered into force from the date of its publication on December 25 of the same year.
Features that are inherent in /The Constitutions of the Russian Federation of 1993 / and distinguish it from the former Soviet constitutions are very significant.
