1946 Yugoslav Constitution

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia

(1946)

The 1946 Yugoslav Constitution, officially titled as the Constitution of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (

elected on 11 November 1945. Constitution came into effect at its promulgation, on 31 January 1946.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Background

Constitutional Assembly

of Yugoslavia

Elections for the

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY). In the same time, drafting of the new constitution was initiated. On 31 January 1946, Constitution was adopted and promulgated. Solemn proclamation of the new Constitution was officiated by Ivan Ribar, President of the Presidency of the Constitutional Assembly of Yugoslavia.^[5]^[3]

Constitutional provisions

Constitution has defined

Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY), led by Josip Broz Tito, at that time President of the Yugoslav Government.^[6]

Under the Article 2 of the Constitution, federal state was defined as union of six

People's Republic of Montenegro

.

Two existing autonomous units were also confirmed, within the

Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija

. Under the Article 44, creation of new autonomous provinces and new autonomous regions was also allowed.

Equality of all citizens and all groups was proclaimed and guarantied, but not a single nationality or ethnicity was mentioned by name in the entire text of the Constitution.

The

official languages

were not defined.

One of the most important characteristics of the Constitution was that it resembled the

Constitution of the Soviet Union (1936). Yugoslav constitution promoted dominant position of state property, organization of authority on the principle of unity of authority and dichotomous

division of all state authority on state authorities and state administration.

The division of jurisdiction existed between the

centralist state regulations, side by side with the nominal federalism. Ideological, political and other forms of pluralism

were excluded.

This Constitution enabled further consolidation of the communist regime in the country. After the

Yugoslav Constitutional law of 1953

.

Commentaries

In his address to the

Communist Party of Yugoslavia, general secretary Josip Broz Tito

referred to several articles of the Constitution to demonstrate its liberal nature.

Let us take only Article 1 of the Constitution, which says: "The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is a federal national state of republican structure, a community of peoples enjoying equal rights, who on the basis of the right to self-determination, including the right to secede, have expressed their will to live together in a federated state."

There, that is how national equality is settled here, that is how it is codified and put fully into practice.
Further, how is the question of power settled in the Constitution and in practice in this country?
In Article 6 it is stated: "In the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia all power derives from the people and belongs to the people. The people exercise their power through the freely elected representative bodies of state authority, from the people's committees which, from the local people's committees up to the assemblies of the people's republics and the People's Assembly of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia originated and developed in the People's Liberation War against Fascism and reaction and which are the basic achievements of that struggle."

Consequently, the Constitution has only confirmed, or rather codified, what was won during the war, that is to say the power of the people, the power of a real people's democracy.[7]