From Amendments to a New Draft
On December 5, 1936, the Extraordinary Eighth Congress of Soviets adopted a new constitution, replacing the framework for state organization established in 1924. Commonly called the “Stalin Constitution,” it passed through the Central Executive Committee, a special commission, and the Congress. On February 6, 1935, the Seventh Congress of Soviets had decided to revise the constitution, replacing unequal, indirect, open voting with equal, direct, secret voting. The next day, the Central Executive Committee appointed a 31-member constitutional commission.
Joseph Stalin chaired the commission, with Vyacheslav Molotov and Mikhail Kalinin as deputies. After its first meeting in July 1935, work was divided among twelve subcommissions. Nikolai Bukharin handled rights and Karl Radek the electoral system. Yakov Yakovlev, Alexei Stetsky, and Boris Tal assembled the sections into a draft, which Stalin helped revise in April 1936.
Public Discussion and Adoption
The draft was published on June 12, 1936, followed by several months of public discussion. Responses included proposed amendments alongside practical demands concerning social insurance and collective farms. Reporting to the Extraordinary Eighth Congress on November 25, Stalin assigned some requests to ordinary legislation, arguing that a constitution should define basic institutions rather than encompass every policy.
He opposed removing the union republics’ right to secede and continuing broad exclusions from voting based on former class status. At the same time, he explicitly rejected a multiparty system. Expanded citizenship and continued Communist Party leadership thus coexisted throughout the drafting process. After discussion and revision, the Congress adopted the final text on December 5.
The Supreme Soviet and the Government
The constitution defined the Supreme Soviet as the highest organ of state authority and the sole legislative body. Its two chambers, the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities, had equal powers and four-year terms. The former allocated one deputy per 300,000 people; the latter assigned representatives to union republics, autonomous republics, and other territorial units. Laws required a simple majority in each chamber, while constitutional amendments required at least two-thirds support in each.
A joint session elected the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which convened sessions, interpreted laws, issued decrees, and ratified international treaties. The Supreme Soviet also formed the government, the Council of People’s Commissars. As the highest executive and administrative body, it was accountable to the Supreme Soviet, and to the Presidium between sessions. Its people’s commissariats administered the economy, education, defense, and other fields.
References: [1]
Federal Structure and Economic Institutions
Article 13 of the original text listed eleven union republics, and article 17 retained their right to leave the Union. The Soviet of Nationalities gave smaller union republics the same number of seats at that territorial level as larger ones. Meanwhile, the allocation of legislative authority and the organization of administrative bodies strengthened institutional unity across the Union.
The economic provisions established the socialist economy and socialist ownership of the means of production as foundational, distinguishing state ownership from cooperative and collective-farm ownership. They incorporated the institutions created by industrial nationalization and agricultural collectivization into the fundamental law. In his report, Stalin presented this as confirmation of socialist achievements already attained rather than a program awaiting realization.
Rights and Their Political Conditions
The constitution enumerated rights to work, rest, education, and material support in old age, sickness, or disability, along with equality between women and men and between nationalities and races. Article 127 required a court decision or procurator’s authorization for arrest; article 128 protected the home and the privacy of correspondence. Article 125 conditioned freedoms of speech, the press, and assembly on serving workers’ interests and strengthening the socialist system.
Article 126 affirmed the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) as the leading core of workers’ public and state organizations. Electoral provisions generally allowed citizens aged eighteen or older to vote regardless of origin, property, religion, or past activities. They prescribed one vote per person, direct elections, and secret ballots, with exceptions for mental incapacity and judicial disenfranchisement. Party organizations, trade unions, cooperatives, youth organizations, and cultural associations could nominate candidates.
References: [1]
Elections and Repression
During preparations for the 1937 Supreme Soviet election, political controls restricted the promise of open participation. Samantha Lomb’s study of archives from the Kirov region found residents questioning why a seat had only one candidate. Local Party organizations and the NKVD regarded attempts by formerly disenfranchised people to obtain representation as a threat of “class enemies” entering state power.
As mass arrests unfolded in 1937, constitutional guarantees of equal eligibility and personal protection failed to constrain repression. In the Kirov region studied by Lomb, residents invoked the new constitution to demand representation, passports, and more equal treatment. Local Party and government offices and the NKVD increasingly classified these activities as hostile. The new language of rights and political participation came into conflict with established political controls and coercive institutions.