Constituent Assembly. "The guard is tired!" How the Constituent Assembly opened and closed

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

provisional supreme body state power who has the power to establish the foundations political system, draw up the foundations of the political rights of the people, etc.. convened to develop and adopt (or only to develop) a constitution. Along with this "constituent power" U.S. during the period of its activity, it may sometimes also perform the usual functions of an organ of legislative power.

forms state structure, by means of a contract limits its natural rights, alienating them in favor of the state.

W.s. differ in the way of formation and their competence. Most often U.s. formed by general and direct elections. At the same time, the world constitutional practice knows U.S., some of whose members are elected by direct or indirect elections, and some are appointed or delegated (such U.S. adopted, for example, the constitutions of Turkey in 1982, Ghana in 1992, Uganda and Burma 1994). According to the competence of U.S. divided into sovereign and non-sovereign. Sovereign is the constituent assembly, which not only develops, but also adopts a new constitution (U.S. in the USA in 1787, Italy in 1947, India in 1950). The non-sovereign US develops and adopts a draft constitution, but the final decision on it is made either by voters in a referendum (the first and second US of France in 1946) or by another state body.

The first U.S. in the history of modern times there was a Congress of Representatives English colonies in North America in 1776, who adopted the famous Declaration of Independence. U.S. was next. in Philadelphia in 1787 (under the name of the Convention), which adopted the US Constitution, which is still in force today. In Europe, the first U.S. appeared with the beginning of the Great french revolution. It was organized from the General States of France, convened by King Louis XVI in 1789, constructed according to the then usual class principle. But under the pressure of the revolutionary bourgeoisie ("Third Estate"), the States General proclaimed themselves the U.S. called the National Assembly. The National Assembly adopted the era-defining Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and established the first democratic constitution that transformed France from absolute monarchy limited (Constitution of 1791). After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792, the second U.S. was elected to develop a new constitution based on universal suffrage (with a number of restrictions). under the name of the convention. It existed for 4 years and developed two constitutions:

the radical Jacobin constitution of 1793, which was adopted by popular vote but was never put into practice, and the second, much more moderate constitution of 1795 (Constitution of Year III). Next, you can point to U.s. France in 1848 and 1871, in Spain - in 1812, in Norway - in 1814, in Belgium - in 1831, the German U.S. in Frankfurt am Main - 1848 recent history this is the founding Sejm in Poland in 1919, which adopted the Constitution of the Polish Republic, the Lithuanian U.S. 1920, Latvian U.S. 1919, Weimar National Assembly in Germany 1919, which established the German Republic, National Assembly of the Czech Republic 1918, the same Assembly (Constituent) of Austria 1918, Constituent Assembly of Yugoslavia 1920, Grand National Assembly of Turkey 1922 U. with. were also convened after the Second World War to draw up the constitutions of France (1946), Italy (1947) and many other countries. AT last years in the U.S. the constitutions of Bulgaria (1990), Romania (1990), Cambodia (1993), Brazil (1988), Colombia (1991), Estonia (1992) and others were developed and adopted.

In Russia, for the first time, the demand for the convocation of the U.S. (Great Cathedral) put forward by the Decembrists. Wide use W.S. idea received during the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907. and after the victory of the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government called elections in the US. on November 12 (25), 1917, the Electoral Regulations provided for universal suffrage. After the October Revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks did not immediately decide to cancel the elections in the US. The Council of People's Commissars confirmed the date of the elections, which took place in November-December 1917, and in some remote places in January 1918.

Elections in the US brought victory not to the Bolsheviks, but to the centrist parties. The majority of the U.S., who met on January 5 (18), 1918 in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd, refused to discuss Ya.M. Sverdlov the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, did not recognize the decrees Soviet power adopted at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Not wanting to transfer power into the hands of the people's deputies, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, according to Lenin's report, on the night of January 6 (19) to January 7 (20), 1918. adopted a decree on the dissolution of the US.

The idea of convening the U.S. in Russia arose again in 1993 during an acute constitutional crisis. However, due to the disagreements of the parties to the conflict, this way of adopting a new constitution turned out to be unfeasible. A kind of U.S. was the constitutional meeting, which opened in the Kremlin on June 5, 1993.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted on December 12, 1993, provides for the possibility of convening the U.S. in the future for the adoption of a new basic law of the country (see the Constitutional Assembly).

Dodonov V.N.

Law Encyclopedia. 2005 .

See what the "FOUNDATION ASSEMBLY" is in other dictionaries:

constituent Assembly- Constituent Assembly, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish a form of government and draft a constitution. After the February Revolution, with the formation of the Provisional Government, its main ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

Constituent Assembly, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish the form of government and draft the constitution of Russia. In 1917, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, ... ... Russian history

Modern Encyclopedia

A representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish a form of government and draft a constitution. After the February Revolution, with the formation of the Provisional Government, its main task was considered ... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

constituent Assembly- in Russia, a representative institution. Elected by general election to establish a form of government in Russia and draft a constitution. In 1917 the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries and other parties. Convocation ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

In constitutional law, the supreme government agency elected for the purpose of developing and (or) adopting a constitution. Along with this constituent power, the U.S. during the period of its activity, it usually also performs the functions of a legislative body. ... ... Law Dictionary

ESTABLISH, hedgehog, eat; daily (yon, ena); owl., what. Establish, start, create. U. scientific society. Dictionary Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

In Russia, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish a form of government and draft a constitution. In 1917, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries and others ... Political science. Vocabulary.

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY- institute constitutional law the highest state body elected for the purpose of developing and (or) adopting a constitution. W.s. during the period of its activity usually carries out the same. functions of the legislature. U.S. Institute appeared during... Legal Encyclopedia

In Russia, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage, designed in accordance with the bourgeois. state legal views to establish a form of government and draft a constitution. Elected in Nov. dec. 1917, ... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Books

History of the French Revolution. Volume 1. The Constituent Assembly (1789-1791), Jean Jaurès. Your attention is invited to the "History of the Great French Revolution. Volume 1. The Constituent Assembly (1789-1791)" by Jean Zhores - the first Russian lifetime edition. Only one came out...

Meeting room address Tauride Palace

Constituent Assembly - representative body in Russia, elected in November 1917 and convened in January 1918 to adopt a constitution. It nationalized the landlords' land, called for the conclusion of a peace treaty, proclaimed Russia a democratic republic, thereby abolishing the monarchy. It refused to consider the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, which endowed the Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies with state power. Dissolved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies, the dissolution was confirmed by the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies.

Elections

The convocation of the Constituent Assembly was one of the top priorities of the Provisional Government. The very name of the government "Provisional" came from the idea of "leisure decision" on the structure of power in Russia before the Constituent Assembly. But it delayed him. After the overthrow of the Provisional Government in October 1917, the question of the Constituent Assembly became paramount for all parties. The Bolsheviks, fearing the discontent of the people, since the idea of convening the Constituent Assembly was very popular, hastened the elections scheduled by the Provisional Government for it. On October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars adopted and published, signed by V. I. Lenin, a resolution on holding general elections to the Constituent Assembly on November 12, 1917, as scheduled.

The course of the Bolsheviks for radical transformation was under threat. In addition, the Social Revolutionaries were supporters of the continuation of the "war to a victorious end" ("revolutionary defencism"), which led the vacillating soldiers and sailors to disperse the Assembly. The coalition of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries decides to disperse the meeting as "counter-revolutionary". Lenin was immediately sharply opposed to the Assembly. Sukhanov N. N. in his fundamental work “Notes on the Revolution” claims that Lenin, already after his arrival from exile in April 1917, considered the Constituent Assembly a “liberal undertaking”. Commissar for Propaganda, Press and Agitation of the Northern Region, Volodarsky, goes even further, and declares that "the masses in Russia have never suffered from parliamentary cretinism", and "if the masses make a mistake with the ballots, they will have to take up another weapon."

When discussing Kamenev, Rykov, Milyutin, they act from "pro-founder" positions. Narkomnats Stalin on November 20 proposes to postpone the convocation of the Assembly. People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs Trotsky and co-chairman of the Bolshevik faction in the Constituent Assembly Bukharin propose to convene a "revolutionary convention" of the Bolshevik and Left SR factions, by analogy with the events of the French Revolution. This point of view is also supported by the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Natanson.

According to Trotsky,

Shortly before the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, Mark Natanson, the oldest member of the Central Committee of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party, came to us and said from the first words: - after all, it will probably be necessary to disperse the Constituent Assembly by force ...
- Bravo! exclaimed Lenin. - That's right, that's right! Will yours go for it?
- We have some hesitation, but I think that in the end they will agree.

On November 23, 1917, the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Stalin and Petrovsky, occupy the Commission for elections to the Constituent Assembly, which has already completed its work, appointing M. S. Uritsky as the new commissar in it. 400 people, and according to the decree, the Assembly was to be opened by a person authorized by the Council of People's Commissars, that is, a Bolshevik. Thus, the Bolsheviks managed to delay the opening of the Assembly until the moment when its 400 delegates had gathered in Petrograd.

On November 28, 60 delegates gather in Petrograd, mostly Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, who are trying to start the work of the Assembly. On the same day of the Presovnarkom, Lenin outlawed the Cadets party by issuing a decree "On the arrest of leaders civil war against the revolution." Stalin comments on this decision with the words: "We must definitely finish off the Cadets, or they will finish us off." The Left SRs, while generally welcoming this step, express dissatisfaction with the fact that such a decision was made by the Bolsheviks without the consent of their allies. The Left Socialist-Revolutionary I. Z. Steinberg, who, calling the Cadets "counter-revolutionaries", spoke out sharply against the arrest in this case of the whole party without exception. The Cadet newspaper "Rech" is closed, and two weeks later it reopens under the name "Nash Vek".

On November 29, the Bolshevik Council of People's Commissars forbids "private meetings" of delegates to the Constituent Assembly. At the same time, the right SRs form the “Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly”.

On the whole, the inner-party discussion ends with Lenin's victory. On December 11, he seeks the re-election of the bureau of the Bolshevik faction in the Constituent Assembly, some of whose members spoke out against the dispersal. December 12, 1917 Lenin draws up the Theses on the Constituent Assembly, in which he declares that “... Any attempt, direct or indirect, to consider the question of the Constituent Assembly with a formal legal side, within the framework of ordinary bourgeois democracy, without taking into account the class struggle and civil war, is a betrayal of the cause of the proletariat and a transition to the point of view of the bourgeoisie", and the slogan "All power to the Constituent Assembly" was declared the slogan of "Kaledintsy". On December 22, Zinoviev declares that under this slogan "is hidden the slogan 'Down with the Soviets'."

On December 20, the Council of People's Commissars decides to open the work of the Assembly on January 5. On December 22, the decision of the Council of People's Commissars is approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In opposition to the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries are preparing to convene the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918. On December 23 martial law is introduced in Petrograd.

Already on January 1, 1918, the first unsuccessful attempt on Lenin's life took place, in which Fritz Platten was wounded. A few years later, Prince I. D. Shakhovskoy, who was in exile, announced that he was the organizer of the assassination attempt and allocated half a million rubles for this purpose. Researcher Richard Pipes also points out that one of the former ministers of the Provisional Government, Cadet N.V. Nekrasov, was involved in this attempt, but was “forgiven” and subsequently went over to the side of the Bolsheviks under the name “Golgofsky”.

In mid-January, a second attempt on Lenin’s life was thwarted: a soldier Spiridonov came to Bonch-Bruevich’s reception, stating that he was participating in the conspiracy of the “Union of the Cavaliers of St. George” and was given the task of eliminating Lenin. On the night of January 22, the Cheka arrested the conspirators at 14 Zakharyevskaya Street, in the apartment of the "citizen Salova", but then they were all sent to the front at their personal request. At least two of the conspirators, Zinkevich and Nekrasov, subsequently join the "white" armies.

Boris Petrov and I visited the regiment to report to its leaders that the armed demonstration was canceled and that they were asked to "come to the demonstration unarmed so that blood would not be shed."
The second half of the proposal aroused a storm of indignation in them ... “Why are you, comrades, really laughing at us? Or are you kidding?.. We are not small children, and if we had gone to fight the Bolsheviks, we would have done it quite deliberately ... And blood ... blood, perhaps, would not have been shed if we had come out armed with a whole regiment.

We talked for a long time with the Semyonovites, and the more we talked, the clearer it became that our refusal to take armed action had erected between them and us a blank wall of mutual incomprehension.
“Intellectuals… They are wise, not knowing what they are. Now it is clear that there are no military people between them.

Trotsky L.D. subsequently sarcastically remarked the following about the Socialist-Revolutionary deputies:

But they carefully developed the ritual of the first meeting. They brought candles with them in case the Bolsheviks put out the electricity, and a large number of sandwiches in case they are deprived of food. So democracy came to the battle with the dictatorship - fully armed with sandwiches and candles.

First meeting and dissolution

Shooting of a demonstration in support of the assembly

According to Bonch-Bruevich, the instructions for dispersing the demonstrators read: “Return the unarmed back. Armed people showing hostile intentions should not be allowed close, persuaded to disperse and not prevent the guard from fulfilling the order given to him. In case of failure to comply with the order - disarm and arrest. Respond to armed resistance with a merciless armed rebuff. If any workers appear at the demonstration, convince them to the last extreme, as erring comrades going against their comrades and the people's power. At the same time, Bolshevik agitators at the most important factories (Obukhov, Baltiysky, etc.) tried to enlist the support of the workers, but were unsuccessful. The workers remained neutral.

On January 5, 1918, as part of columns of demonstrators, workers, employees, and intelligentsia moved towards Tauride and were machine-gunned. From the testimony of the worker of the Obukhov plant D.N. Bogdanov dated January 29, 1918, a participant in a demonstration in support of the Constituent Assembly:

“I, as a participant in the procession as early as January 9, 1905, must state the fact that I did not see such a cruel reprisal there, what our“ comrades ”were doing, who still dare to call themselves such, and in conclusion I must say that after that I execution and the savagery that the Red Guards and sailors did with our comrades, and even more so after they began to pull out banners and break poles, and then burn them at the stake, I could not understand what country I was in: either in a socialist country, or in the country of savages who are capable of doing everything that the Nikolaev satraps could not do, Lenin's fellows have now done. ...

GA RF. F.1810. Op.1. D.514. L.79-80

The number of dead was estimated with a range of 8 to 21 people. The official figure was 21 people (Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, January 6, 1918), hundreds of wounded. Among the dead were the Social Revolutionaries E. S. Gorbachevskaya, G. I. Logvinov and A. Efimov. A few days later, the victims were buried at the Transfiguration Cemetery.

On January 5, a demonstration in support of the Constituent Assembly in Moscow was dispersed. According to official data (Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, 1918. January 11), the number of those killed was more than 50, and more than 200 were wounded. Skirmishes lasted all day, the building of the Dorogomilovsky Council was blown up, while the chief of staff of the Red Guard of the Dorogomilovsky district P.G. Tyapkin was killed. and a few Red Guards.

First and last meeting

The session of the Constituent Assembly opened on January 5 (18) at the Tauride Palace in Petrograd. It was attended by 410 deputies; the majority belonged to the centrist SRs, the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs had 155 mandates (38.5%). The meeting was opened on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, its chairman Yakov Sverdlov expressed hope for "full recognition by the Constituent Assembly of all decrees and resolutions of the Council People's Commissars"And proposed to accept the draft Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, written by V.I. Lenin, the 1st paragraph of which declared Russia "Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies". However, the Assembly, by a majority of 237 votes to 146, refuses even to discuss the Bolshevik Declaration.

Viktor Mikhailovich Chernov was elected Chairman of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, for whom 244 votes were cast. The second contender was the leader of the Left SR party, Maria Alexandrovna Spiridonova, supported by the Bolsheviks; 153 deputies cast their votes for it.

Lenin, through the Bolshevik Skvortsov-Stepanov, invites the Assembly to sing the "Internationale", which is done by all the socialists present, from the Bolsheviks to the right SRs, who are sharply opposed to them.

During the second part of the meeting, at three o'clock in the morning, the representative of the Bolsheviks, Fyodor Raskolnikov, declares that the Bolsheviks (in protest against the non-acceptance of the Declaration) are leaving the meeting. On behalf of the Bolsheviks, he declares that “not wanting to cover up the crimes of the enemies of the people for a single minute, we declare that we are leaving the Constituent Assembly in order to transfer the final decision on the question of attitude towards the counter-revolutionary part of the Constituent Assembly to the Soviet power of the deputies.”

According to the testimony of the Bolshevik Meshcheryakov, after the departure of the faction, many soldiers guarding the Assembly "took their rifles at the ready", one even "took aim at the crowd of delegates - Socialist-Revolutionaries", and Lenin personally declared that the departure of the Bolshevik faction of the Assembly "would have such an effect on the soldiers and sailors holding the guard, that they would immediately shoot down all the remaining Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.” One of his contemporaries, Vishnyak M.V., comments on the situation in the meeting room as follows:

Following the Bolsheviks at four o'clock in the morning, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary faction left the Assembly, declaring through its representative Karelin that " The Constituent Assembly is by no means a reflection of the mood and will of the working masses ... we are leaving, moving away from this Assembly ... we are going in order to bring our strength, our energy to Soviet institutions, to the Central Executive Committee».

The remaining deputies, chaired by the Socialist-Revolutionary leader Viktor Chernov, continued their work and adopted the following resolutions:

Servants of bankers, capitalists and landlords, allies of Kaledin, Dutov, serfs American dollar, killers from around the corner, the right SRs demand in the uchr. the assembly of all power to themselves and their masters - enemies of the people.
In words, as if joining the people's demands: land, peace and control, in reality they are trying to whip the noose around the neck of socialist power and revolution.
But the workers, peasants and soldiers will not fall for the bait of the false words of the worst enemies of socialism, in the name of the socialist revolution and the socialist Soviet republic they will sweep away all its open and covert killers.

On January 18, the Council of People's Commissars adopts a decree prescribing that all references to the Constituent Assembly be removed from existing laws. On January 18 (31), the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets approved the decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and decided to remove from the legislation indications of its temporary nature ("until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly").

The murder of Shingarev and Kokoshkin

By the time the meeting was convened, one of the leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party (Party of People's Freedom) and a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, Shingarev, was arrested by the Bolshevik authorities on November 28 (the day the Constituent Assembly was supposed to open), on January 5 (18) he was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On January 6 (19) he was transferred to the Mariinsky prison hospital, where on the night of January 7 (20) he was killed by sailors along with another leader of the cadets, Kokoshkin.

Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly

Although the right-wing parties suffered a crushing defeat in the elections, since some of them were banned and campaigning for them was banned by the Bolsheviks, the defense of the Constituent Assembly became one of the slogans of the White movement.

The so-called Congress of members of the Constituent Assembly, located in Yekaterinburg since October 1918, tried to protest against the coup, as a result, an order was issued "to take measures for the immediate arrest of Chernov and other active members of the Constituent Assembly who were in Yekaterinburg." Deported from Ekaterinburg, either under guard or under escort of Czech soldiers, the deputies gathered in Ufa, where they tried to campaign against Kolchak. On November 30, 1918, he ordered that the former members of the Constituent Assembly be brought to court-martial "for attempting to raise an uprising and conduct destructive agitation among the troops." On December 2, a special detachment under the command of Colonel Kruglevsky, some of the members of the Congress of the Constituent Assembly (25 people) were arrested, delivered to Omsk in freight cars and imprisoned. After an unsuccessful attempt at release on December 22, 1918, many of them were shot.

Timeline of the 1917 Revolution in Russia

Before:

Local Council: enthronement of Patriarch Tikhon on November 21 (December 4), 1917;

The first steps of the new government:

Beginning of negotiations on the Brest Peace on December 9 (22), 1917;

The first steps of the new government:

Unfolding of the Civil War:

January uprising in Kyiv(second attempt at Bolshevization)

After:
Unfolding of the Civil War:

Occupation of Kyiv by the troops of the Left SR Muravyov M.A. February 9;

Peace question:

Notes

Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly, draft order on the application this provision, explanatory notes of a special meeting on the development of a draft regulation on elections to the Constituent Assembly, on the issue of the number and distribution of constituencies deputy seats. - 1917. - 192 pp. .- (Chancery of the Provisional Government: 1917)
L. Trotsky. On the history of the Russian revolution. - M. Politizdat. 1990
Encyclopedia of St. Petersburg
All-Russian Constituent Assembly- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Constituent Assembly and Russian reality. The Birth of the Constituent. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
Arguments and facts No. 11 (47) of 06/03/2004 At gunpoint - forever alive. archived
Boris Sopelnyak In the slot of the sight - the head of government. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
Nikolai Zenkovich Assassination attempts and staging: From Lenin to Yeltsin. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
N. D. Erofeev. DEPARTURE FROM THE POLITICAL ARENA OF THE SRs
From the memoirs of a member of the Military Commission of the AKP B. Sokolov
Yu.G.Felshtinsky. Bolsheviks and Left SRs. October 1917 - July 1918
Sokolov B. Protection of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly // Archive of the Russian Revolution. M., 1992.
Yu.G.Felshtinsky. Bolsheviks and Left SRs. October 1917 - July 1918.
Sokolov B. Protection of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly // Archive of the Russian Revolution. M. T. XIII. pp.38-48. 1992.
« New life» No. 6 (220), 9 (22) January 1918
Party of Socialists - Revolutionaries after the October Revolution of 1917. Documents from the RPS Archive. Amsterdam. 1989. S.16-17.
All-Russian Constituent Assembly in documents and materials
On the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly: Decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, adopted at the meeting of the Center. Use K-ta January 6, 1918. Published in No. 5 of the Newspaper of the Provisional Worker and Peasant Government of January 9, 1918. // Collection of legalizations and orders of the workers' and peasants' government of 1918, No. 15, Art. 216
G. Ioffe. Between two guards. Literary newspaper. 2003, No. 14

Literature

All-Russian Constituent Assembly (1917 in documents and materials). - M. - L., 1930.
Rubinshtein, N. L. On the history of the Constituent Assembly. - M. - L., 1931.
Protasov, L. G. All-Russian Constituent Assembly: History of birth and death. - M .: ROSSPEN, 1997. - 368 p. -

Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809

Parliamentary system:	constituent Assembly
State:	Russian Soviet Republic Russian Democratic Federal Republic
Chairman:	V. M. Chernov
From party:


Deputies:
Year of foundation:
Previous Parliament:
Subsequent Parliament:	All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the All-Russian Congress of Soviets III All-Russian Congress of Soviets (as a constituent body)
Year of cancellation:
Recent elections:	November 1917
Meeting room address:	Tauride Palace

constituent Assembly- an elected institution modeled on the Constituent Assembly of the French Revolution, designed to determine the form of government and constitution in Russia after the February Revolution. It was dissolved by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of January 6 (19), 1918.

Elections

The convocation of the Constituent Assembly was one of the priorities of the Provisional Government. But it delayed him. After the overthrow of the Provisional Government in October 1917, the question of the Constituent Assembly became paramount for all parties. The Bolsheviks, fearing the discontent of the people, since the idea of convening the Constituent Assembly was very popular, hastened the elections scheduled by the Provisional Government for it. On October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars adopted and published, signed by V. I. Lenin, a resolution on holding general elections to the Constituent Assembly on November 12, 1917, as scheduled.

Not a single decree of the Provisional Government, despite the long preparatory work commissions specially created for this purpose, did not establish exactly what number of members of the Constituent Assembly is necessary for its opening. This quorum was determined only by a resolution of the Leninist Council of People's Commissars of November 26, according to which the Constituent Assembly was to be opened "upon the arrival in Petrograd of more than 400 members of the US", which accounted for more than 50% of the total planned number of members of the Constituent Assembly.

Less than 50% of voters took part in the elections. A total of 715 deputies were elected, of which 370 seats were received by the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries and Centrists, 175 by the Bolsheviks, 40 by the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, 17 by the Cadets, 15 by the Mensheviks, 86 by deputies from national groups (SRs 51.7%, Bolsheviks 24, 5%, Left SRs - 5.6%, Cadets 2.4%, Mensheviks - 2.1%).

At the same time, since the electoral lists were compiled and approved long before the October Revolution, the Socialist-Revolutionaries - Left, Right and Centrists - acted in the elections as a single list, and it remained unclear who the voters who preferred the Socialist-Revolutionaries voted for.

In addition, the results of the elections in different regions differed sharply: for example, about 930 thousand people participated in the elections in Petrograd, 45% of the votes were cast for the Bolsheviks, 27% for the Cadets, and 17% for the Socialist-Revolutionaries. In Moscow, the Bolsheviks received 48%, on the Northern Front - 56%, and on the Western - 67%; in the Baltic Fleet - 58.2%, in 20 districts of the North-Western and Central Industrial Regions - in total 53,1 %.

Deciding to dissolve

After the election of the Constituent Assembly, it became clear that it would be Socialist-Revolutionary in its composition. In addition, such politicians as Kerensky, chieftains Dutov and Kaledin, Ukrainian nationalist Petliura ( see List of members of the Constituent Assembly).

According to Trotsky,

On November 28, 60 delegates gather in Petrograd, mostly Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, who are trying to start the work of the Assembly. On the same day of the Presovnarkom, Lenin outlawed the Cadets Party by issuing a decree "On the arrest of the leaders of the civil war against the revolution." Stalin comments on this decision with the words: "We must definitely finish off the Cadets, or they will finish us off." The Left SRs, while generally welcoming this step, express dissatisfaction with the fact that such a decision was made by the Bolsheviks without the consent of their allies. The Left Socialist-Revolutionary I. Z. Shteinberg, who, calling the Cadets “counter-revolutionaries”, spoke out sharply against the arrest in this case of the whole party without exception. The Cadet newspaper "Rech" is closed, and two weeks later it reopens under the name "Nash Vek".

On November 29, the Bolshevik Council of People's Commissars forbids "private meetings" of delegates to the Constituent Assembly. At the same time, the right SRs form the "Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly."

On the whole, the inner-party discussion ends with Lenin's victory. On December 11, he seeks the re-election of the bureau of the Bolshevik faction in the Constituent Assembly, some of whose members spoke out against the dispersal. December 12, 1917 Lenin draws up the Theses on the Constituent Assembly, in which he declares that “... Any attempt, direct or indirect, to consider the question of the Constituent Assembly from a formal legal side, within the framework of ordinary bourgeois democracy, without taking into account the class struggle and civil war, is a betrayal of the cause of the proletariat and a transition to the point of view of the bourgeoisie”, and the slogan "All power to the Constituent Assembly" was declared the slogan of the Kaledinites. On December 22, Zinoviev declares that under this slogan "is hidden the slogan 'Down with the Soviets'."

Already on January 1, 1918, the first unsuccessful attempt on Lenin's life took place, in which Fritz Platten was wounded. A few years later, Prince I. D. Shakhovskoy, who was in exile, announced that he was the organizer of the assassination attempt and allocated half a million rubles for this purpose. Researcher Richard Pipes also points out that one of the former ministers of the Provisional Government, Cadet Nekrasov N.V., was involved in this attempt, but he was “forgiven” and subsequently went over to the side of the Bolsheviks under the name “Golgofsky”.

In mid-January, a second attempt on Lenin’s life was thwarted: a soldier Spiridonov came to Bonch-Bruevich’s reception, stating that he was participating in the conspiracy of the “Union of the Cavaliers of St. George” and was given the task of eliminating Lenin. On the night of January 22, the Cheka arrested the conspirators at 14 Zakharyevskaya Street, in the apartment of “citizen Salova”, but then they were all sent to the front at their personal request. At least two of the conspirators, Zinkevich and Nekrasov, subsequently join the "white" armies.

At a meeting of the Central Committee of the AKP, held on January 3, 1918, it was rejected, "as an untimely and unreliable act", an armed action on the day of the opening of the Constituent Assembly, proposed by the military commission of the party.

First meeting and dissolution

Shooting of a demonstration in support of the assembly

On January 5 (18) Pravda published a resolution signed by a member of the board of the Cheka, since March the head of the PetroChK, Moses Uritsky, by which all rallies and demonstrations in Petrograd were banned in the areas adjacent to the Tauride Palace. It was proclaimed that they would be suppressed military force. At the same time, Bolshevik agitators at the most important factories (Obukhov, Baltiysky, etc.) tried to enlist the support of the workers, but were unsuccessful.

Together with the rear units of the Latvian Riflemen and the Lithuanian Life Guards Regiment, the Bolsheviks surrounded the approaches to the Tauride Palace. Assembly supporters responded with demonstrations of support; according to various sources, from 10 to 100 thousand people participated in the demonstrations.

January 5, 1918 as part of the columns of demonstrators, workers, employees, and the intelligentsia moved towards Tauride and were machine-gunned. From the testimony of the worker of the Obukhov plant D.N. Bogdanov dated January 29, 1918, a participant in a demonstration in support of the Constituent Assembly:

GA RF. F.1810. Op.1. D.514. L.79-80

According to official data (Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, January 6, 1918), 21 people were killed, hundreds were wounded. Among the dead were the Social Revolutionaries E. S. Gorbachevskaya, G. I. Logvinov and A. Efimov. A few days later, the victims were buried at the Transfiguration Cemetery.

M. Gorky in "Untimely Thoughts" wrote about this:

... "Pravda" is lying - it knows perfectly well that the "bourgeois" have nothing to rejoice at the opening of the Constituent Assembly, they have nothing to do among 246 socialists of one party and 140 Bolsheviks.

Pravda knows that the workers of the Obukhov, Cartridge and other factories took part in the manifestation, that under the red banners of the Russian Social-Democrat. parties to the Tauride Palace were the workers of Vasileostrovsky, Vyborgsky and other districts. It was these workers who were shot, and no matter how much Pravda lied, it would not hide the shameful fact.

The "bourgeois" perhaps rejoiced when they saw how the soldiers and the Red Guard were tearing the revolutionary banners out of the hands of the workers, trampling them underfoot and burning them at the stake. But, it is possible that even this pleasant sight did not please all the "bourgeois" anymore, because among them there are honest people who sincerely love their people, their country.

One of these was Andrey Ivanovich Shingarev, vilely killed by some beasts.

So, on January 5, the unarmed workers of Petrograd were shot. They shot without warning that they would shoot, shot from ambush, through the cracks of fences, cowardly, like real killers. ...

On January 9 (22) a demonstration in support of the Constituent Assembly in Moscow was shot down. According to official data (Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, 1918. January 11), the number of those killed was more than 50, and more than 200 were wounded.

First and last meeting

The session of the Constituent Assembly opened on January 5 (18), 1918 in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd. It was attended by 410 deputies; the majority belonged to the centrist SRs, the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs had 155 mandates (38.5%). The meeting was opened on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, its chairman Yakov Sverdlov expressed hope for "full recognition by the Constituent Assembly of all decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars" and proposed to adopt the draft "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People" written by V. I. Lenin, the 1st paragraph of which announced Russia "Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies". After the Right SRs refused to discuss this question, the Bolsheviks, the Left SRs and some delegates of the national parties left the meeting. The remaining deputies, chaired by the Socialist-Revolutionary leader Viktor Chernov, continued their work and adopted the following resolutions:

the first 10 points of the agrarian law, which proclaimed the land to be public property;
an appeal to the belligerent powers to start peace negotiations;
declaration proclaiming the creation of the Russian Democratic Federative Republic.

Lenin ordered not to disperse the meeting immediately, but to wait until the meeting was over and then close the Tauride Palace and not let anyone in there the next day. The meeting, however, dragged on until late at night, and then until morning. At 5 o'clock in the morning on January 6 (19), having reported that "the guard was tired," the head of security, the anarchist A. Zheleznyakov, closed the meeting, inviting the deputies to disperse. In the evening of the same day, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly.

On January 18 (31), the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets approved the decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and decided to remove from the legislation indications of its temporary nature ("until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly").

Chairman of the Constituent Assembly

The murder of Shingarev and Kokoshkin

By the time the meeting was convened, one of the leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party (Party of People's Freedom) and deputy of the Constituent Assembly, Shingarev, was arrested by the Bolshevik authorities on November 28 (the day the Constituent Assembly was supposed to open), on January 5 (18) he was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On January 6 (19) he was transferred to the Mariinsky prison hospital, where on the night of January 7 (20) he was killed by sailors along with another leader of the cadets, Kokoshkin.

End of Constituent Assembly

Although the right-wing parties suffered a crushing defeat in the elections, the defense of the Constituent Assembly became one of the slogans of the White movement.

By the summer of 1918, with the support of the rebellious Czechoslovak Corps, several Socialist-Revolutionary and Pro-Socialist-Revolutionary governments had formed on the vast territory of the Volga region and Siberia, which began an armed struggle against the government created by the Second Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. A number of members of the Constituent Assembly, headed by Viktor Chernov, moved to Samara, where they created the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch), another part of the deputies created a committee in Omsk. In September 1918, at the State Conference in Ufa, Komuch, the Provisional Siberian and other regional governments united, electing a temporary All-Russian Directory headed by the right-wing Social Revolutionary N. D. Avksentiev. One of its tasks the Directory proclaimed the restoration of the Constituent Assembly in Russia.

The offensive of the Red Army in August - September 1918 forced the Directory to move to Omsk; however, her desire to gather deputies and announce the opening of the Constituent Assembly, elected in 1917, did not suit the right (monarchists, cadets, etc.), who, even in the absence of Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries, would have been a minority in the Assembly. On November 18, 1918, the Directory was overthrown by the Omsk military; Admiral A. Kolchak, proclaimed supreme ruler Russia, declared that his goal was the defeat of Bolshevism, and when this happened, he would convene a Constituent National Assembly, but by no means the “party one that was dispersed by the sailor Zheleznyakov.”

The so-called Congress of members of the Constituent Assembly, which had been in Yekaterinburg since October 1918, tried to protest against the coup, as a result, an order was issued "to take measures for the immediate arrest of Chernov and other active members of the Constituent Assembly who were in Yekaterinburg." Deported from Ekaterinburg, either under guard or under escort of Czech soldiers, the deputies gathered in Ufa, where they tried to campaign against Kolchak. On November 30, 1918, he ordered that the former members of the Constituent Assembly be brought to court-martial "for attempting to raise an uprising and conduct destructive agitation among the troops." On December 2, a special detachment under the command of Colonel Kruglevsky, some of the members of the Congress of the Constituent Assembly (25 people) were arrested, taken to Omsk in freight cars and imprisoned. After an unsuccessful attempt at release on December 22, 1918, many of them were shot.

Since the phrase Karaul tired was uttered at 4:20, and the meeting stopped working at 4:40, before that at 4:30 it proclaimed Russia a republic, we can assume that the constituent assembly accepted the recommendation of Mikhail Alexandrovich of March 1

In the last years of the monarchy, the Russian people demanded reforms. But most of all, he was waiting for the creation of a democratic state body that would take into account his rights and interests. The idea of creating a democratic constituent assembly became a rallying point for all representatives of society: both reformists and radicals. It was also widely supported by revolutionary groups. The Octobrists, the Cadets, the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Mensheviks, even the moderates, all supported the constituent assembly.

It seemed that the Russian people were more thirsty for democracy and self-government than they were. The formation of the Duma in 1906, its betrayal of the tsar and the inefficient administration of the country during the February Revolution only strengthened the people's desire for a constituent assembly. During the turmoil of 1917, the plan to establish a constituent assembly became a light of hope for the future, but the Bolshevik revolution in October 1917 brought the constituent assembly into question. Would the Bolsheviks share their power with a newly elected state body represented by non-Bolshevik forces?

The answer to this question was received in January 1918. The Constituent Assembly lasted exactly one day, and after that it was closed. Russia's hopes for democracy were lost.

provisional government

It was formed in March 1917 and had two main functions: to organize elections to the Constituent Assembly and to ensure the provisional administration of the state until the assembly came into force. But it took more than one month for the provisional government to call a meeting and organize elections, although it is fair to say that the delay was not the fault of the provisional government. Russia did not have an electoral base for holding all-Russian elections based on universal suffrage and secret ballot. These processes had to be built from scratch, while the empire was destroyed by war and unrest.

In March 1917, members of the government promised to organize elections "as soon as possible." In June, a meeting of the election commission began. The following month, Alexander Kerensky announced that elections would take place at the end of September, but they were delayed until November 25 because the provincial districts were not physically ready to hold elections.

Such delays contributed to a decrease in popular support for the Provisional Government, not to mention rumors and theories that the government intended to abolish the Constituent Assembly. The radical Bolsheviks accused Kerensky of sabotaging the elections and insisted that the responsibility for holding the elections should pass into the hands of the Soviets. For their part, the Bolsheviks promised to support the meeting on the condition that it take the "correct" decision on some key issues.

The Bolsheviks demanded that the Constituent Assembly carry out land reform and protect the working class from exploitation. On October 27, after seizing power, Lenin announced that the elections would be postponed to November 12. Lenin was wary of the "illusions of the constitution" of the Constituent Assembly, warning that too much hope for an elected parliament created the risk of liberal-bourgeois counter-revolution.

Elections to the Constituent Assembly

Elections continued until the end of November, but showed no Bolshevik superiority. Social Revolutionaries - Party land reforms– reached the majority, winning 370 of 715 seats. The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, won 175 seats, a little less than a quarter of the entire assembly.

The vote statistics show a clear picture of electoral support for the Bolsheviks. They were the most popular political force in such major cities like Petrograd (43%) and Moscow (46%). The Bolsheviks also enjoyed support among the soldiers, but outside the army and major cities support for the Bolsheviks plummeted. In many villages and villages, the percentage of their support after the vote did not even show a double-digit number.

The results of the elections became decisive for determining the position of the Bolsheviks in relation to the Constituent Assembly. A few weeks ago, the Bolsheviks defended and promoted the idea of democratic elections, but after the elections they began to question the legitimacy of this body. Lenin condemned the assembly as a party of the SR, he carried out fierce propaganda against it, trying to reduce its influence and increase the number of his seats in parliament.

Two weeks remained before the next stage of the elections, and the Bolsheviks went into action. They arrested the members of the election commission and replaced them with their man, Uritsky. A few days before the scheduled start of voting, the Bolsheviks stationed a naval garrison in Kronstadt.

It became obvious that military suppression of the Constituent Assembly was inevitable. On the morning of November 28, the Council of People's Commissars ordered the arrest of the Cadet deputies at the meeting and the postponement of the first meeting of the Assembly until the beginning of 1918, citing poor preparation.

Bolshevik dictatorship

The Constituent Assembly was convened on January 5, 1918, despite the Bolshevik agitation. First of all, it elected a chairman, the leader of the SR, Viktor Chernov, a staunch opponent of Lenin and his followers. The Assembly also considered the issue of ratifying the Soviet decrees on peace and land. In the end, Chernov refused to approve these decrees and replaced them with SR decrees.

The next day, the Tauride Palace was barricaded and captured by the Red Guards. They said that by order of the Soviets the assembly would be dissolved. On the same day, Lenin said that the Soviets had taken all power into their own hands and that the Constituent Assembly, being the expression of the political ideals of bourgeois society, was no longer needed by the socialist state.

Public outrage at the closing of the Constituent Assembly was quelled. Some of the former deputies urged the people to rise up and defend the assembly, but the working people seemed content with the situation. The participants in the meeting made several more attempts to secretly form a ruling body, but soon it became too dangerous and the attempts stopped. Russia entered into new era Bolshevik dictatorship.

institute of constitutional law - the highest state body elected for the purpose of developing and (or) adopting a constitution. Us. during the period of its activity, it usually carries out the same. functions of the legislature. Institute Us. appeared during the bourgeois revolutions. In recent years, within the Us. the constitutions of Bulgaria, Romania, Cambodia, Brazil, Colombia and a number of other countries were developed and adopted. In the legal literature Us. sometimes so. called "constitutional assembly" and "constituent".

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CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

a temporary supreme body of state power, which has the power to establish the foundations of the state system, draw up the foundations of the political rights of the people, etc., convened to develop and adopt (or only to develop) a constitution. Along with this "constituent power" U.S. during the period of its activity, it may sometimes also perform the usual functions of an organ of legislative power.

The idea of U.S. is rooted in the doctrine of popular sovereignty and originates from the theory of the contractual origin of the state, according to which the people themselves, who alone have the power to establish forms of government for themselves, by contract restrict their natural rights, alienating them in favor of the state.

W.s. differ in the way of formation and their competence. Most often U.s. formed by general and direct elections. At the same time, the world constitutional practice knows U.S., some of whose members are elected by direct or indirect elections, and some are appointed or delegated (such U.S. adopted, for example, the constitutions of Turkey in 1982, Ghana in 1992, Uganda and Burma 1994). According to the competence of the U.S. divided into sovereign and non-sovereign. The constituent assembly is sovereign, which not only develops, but also adopts a new constitution (US in the USA in 1787, in Italy in 1947, in India in 1950). Non-sovereign U.S. develops and adopts a draft constitution, but the final decision on it is made either by voters in a referendum (the first and second U.S. of France in 1946), or by another state body.

The first U.S. in the history of modern times there was the Congress of Representatives of the British Colonies in North America in 1776, which adopted the famous Declaration of Independence. U.S. was next. in Philadelphia in 1787 (under the name of the Convention), which adopted the US Constitution, which is still in force today. In Europe, the first U.S. appeared with the beginning of the French Revolution. It was organized from the General States of France, convened by King Louis XVI in 1789, constructed according to the then usual class principle. But under the pressure of the revolutionary bourgeoisie ("Third Estate"), the States General proclaimed themselves the U.S. called the National Assembly. The National Assembly adopted the era-defining Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and established the first democratic constitution that transformed France from an absolute monarchy to a limited one (the Constitution of 1791). After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792, the second U.S. was elected to develop a new constitution based on universal suffrage (with a number of restrictions). under the name of the convention. It lasted 4 years and produced two constitutions: the radical Jacobin constitution of 1793, which was adopted by popular vote, but was never put into practice, and the second, much more moderate constitution of 1795 (Constitution of Year III). Next, you can point to U.s. France in 1848 and 1871, in Spain - in 1812, in Norway - in 1814, in Belgium - in 1831, the German U.S. in Frankfurt am Main - 1848. In recent history, this is the founding Sejm in Poland in 1919, which adopted the Constitution of the Polish Republic, the Lithuanian U.S. 1920, Latvian U.S. 1919, Weimar National Assembly in Germany 1919, which established the German Republic, National Assembly of the Czech Republic 1918, the same Assembly (Constituent) of Austria 1918, Constituent Assembly of Yugoslavia 1920, Grand National Assembly of Turkey 1922 U. with. were also convened after the Second World War to draw up the constitutions of France (1946), Italy (1947) and many other countries. In recent years in the US. the constitutions of Bulgaria (1990), Romania (1990), Cambodia (1993), Brazil (1988), Colombia (1991), Estonia (1992) and others were developed and adopted.

In Russia, for the first time, the demand for the convocation of the U.S. (Great Cathedral) put forward by the Decembrists. The widespread idea of U.S. received during the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907. and after the victory of the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government called elections in the US. on November 12 (25), 1917, the Electoral Regulations provided for universal suffrage. After the October Revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks did not immediately decide to cancel the elections in the US. The Council of People's Commissars confirmed the date of the elections, which took place in November-December 1917, and in some remote places in January 1918.

Elections in the US brought victory not to the Bolsheviks, but to the centrist parties. The majority of the U.S., who met on January 5 (18), 1918 in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd, refused to discuss Ya.M. Sverdlov, the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, did not recognize the decrees of Soviet power adopted at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Not wanting to transfer power into the hands of the people's deputies, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, on the night of 6 (19) to 7 (20) January 1918, adopted a decree on the dissolution of the US.

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Constituent Assembly. "The guard is tired!" How the Constituent Assembly opened and closed

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Books

Elections

First meeting and dissolution

Shooting of a demonstration in support of the assembly

First and last meeting

The murder of Shingarev and Kokoshkin

Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly

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Notes

Literature

Elections

Deciding to dissolve

First meeting and dissolution

Shooting of a demonstration in support of the assembly

First and last meeting

Chairman of the Constituent Assembly

The murder of Shingarev and Kokoshkin

End of Constituent Assembly

provisional government

Elections to the Constituent Assembly

Bolshevik dictatorship

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

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Constituent Assembly. "The guard is tired!" How the Constituent Assembly opened and closed

See what the "FOUNDATION ASSEMBLY" is in other dictionaries:

Books

Elections

First meeting and dissolution

Shooting of a demonstration in support of the assembly

First and last meeting

The murder of Shingarev and Kokoshkin

Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly

see also

Notes

Literature

Elections

Deciding to dissolve

First meeting and dissolution

Shooting of a demonstration in support of the assembly

First and last meeting

Chairman of the Constituent Assembly

The murder of Shingarev and Kokoshkin

End of Constituent Assembly

provisional government

Elections to the Constituent Assembly

Bolshevik dictatorship

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

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