1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union

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1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Long title Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Territorial extent	Soviet Union
Enacted by	Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Signed by	Leonid Brezhnev
Effective	7 October 1977
Repealed	26 December 1991
Status: Repealed

The 1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union, officially the Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,^[a] was the constitution of the Soviet Union adopted on 7 October 1977.

The 1977 Constitution, also known as the Brezhnev Constitution or the constitution of the developed Socialism, was the third and final

The 1977 Constitution's

, as did all previous constitutions:

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a socialist state of the whole people, expressing the will and interests of the workers, peasants, and intelligentsia, the working people of all the nations and nationalities of the country.

The 1977 Constitution was long and detailed, including twenty-eight more articles than the 1936 Soviet Constitution and explicitly defined the division of responsibilities between the

Article 74. The laws of the USSR shall have the same force in all Union Republics. In the event of a discrepancy between a Union Republic law and an All-Union law, the law of the USSR shall prevail.

Article 75. The territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a single entity and comprises the territories of the Union Republics. The sovereignty of the USSR extends throughout its territory.[4]

The 1977 Constitution was repealed upon the

Amendment process

souvenir sheet

from 1977 celebrating the adoption of the 1977 Constitution.

Adoption of the Constitution was a legislative act of the Supreme Soviet. Amendments to the Constitution were likewise adopted by legislative act of that body. Amendments required the approval of a two-thirds majority of the deputies of the Congress of People's Deputies and could be initiated by the congress itself; the Supreme Soviet, acting through its commissions and committees; the Presidium or chairman of the Supreme Soviet; the Constitutional Oversight Committee; the Council of Ministers; republic soviets; the Committee of People's Control; the Supreme Court; the Procuracy; and the chief state arbiter. In addition, the governing bodies of official organizations and even the Academy of Sciences could initiate amendments and other legislation.^{[citation needed]}

Soviet constitutions were frequently amended and had been changed more often than the constitutions of most Western countries.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, the 1977 Constitution attempted to avoid frequent amendment by establishing regulations for government bodies (especially the lists of ministries, state commissions, and other bodies in the 1936 constitution) in separate, but equally authoritative, enabling legislation, such as the Law on the Council of Ministers of 5 July 1978. Other enabling legislation has included a law on citizenship, a law on elections to the Supreme Soviet, a law on the status of Supreme Soviet deputies, regulations for the Supreme Soviet, a resolution on commissions, regulations on local government, and laws on the Supreme Court and the Procuracy. The enabling legislation provided the specific and changing operating rules for these government bodies.

Amendments to the 1977 Constitution

In October 1988, draft amendments and additions to the 1977 Constitution were published in the Soviet media for public discussion. Following the public review process, the Supreme Soviet adopted the amendments and additions in December 1988. The amendments and additions substantially and fundamentally changed the electoral and political systems. Although Soviet officials touted the changes as a return to "Leninist" forms and functions, citing that the Congress of People's Deputies had antecedents in the Congress of Soviets, they were unprecedented in many respects. The position of chairman of the Supreme Soviet was formally designated and given specific powers, particularly leadership over the legislative agenda, the ability to issue orders (rasporiazheniia), and formal power to conduct negotiations and sign treaties with foreign governments and international organizations. The Constitutional Oversight Committee, composed of people who were not in the Congress of People's Deputies, was established and given formal power to review the constitutionality of laws and normative acts of the central and republican governments and to suggest their suspension and repeal. The electoral process was constitutionally opened up to multiple candidacies, although not multi-party candidacies. A legislative body—the Supreme Soviet—was to convene for regular spring and fall sessions, each lasting three to four months. Unlike the old Supreme Soviet, however, the new Supreme Soviet was indirectly elected by the population, being elected from among the members of the Congress of People's Deputies.

Constitutional rights

The Soviet Constitution included a series of civil and political rights. Among these were the rights to

ideology of the government, the Constitution also granted social and economic rights not provided by constitutions in some capitalist countries. Among these were the rights to work, rest and leisure, health protection, care in old age and sickness, housing, education, and cultural benefits.

Unlike Western constitutions, the Soviet Constitution outlined limitations on political rights, whereas in capitalist countries these limitations are usually left up to the legislative and/or judicial institutions.

or atheistic propaganda." It prohibited incitement of hatred or hostility on religious grounds.

The Constitution also failed to provide political and judicial mechanisms for the protection of rights. Thus, the Constitution lacked explicit guarantees protecting the rights of the people. In fact, the Supreme Soviet never introduced amendments specifically designed to protect human rights. Neither did the people have a higher authority within the government to which to appeal when their rights were violated. The Supreme Court had no power to ensure that constitutional rights were observed by legislation or were respected by the rest of the government. The Soviet Union also signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Accords), which mandated that internationally recognized human rights be respected in the signatory countries. In the late 1980s, however, realigning constitutional and domestic law with international commitments on human rights was publicly debated.

Role of the citizen

Article 59 of the Constitution stated that citizens' exercise of their rights was inseparable from performance of their duties. Articles 60 through 69 defined these duties. Citizens were required to work and to observe labor discipline. The legal code declared evasion of work to be a crime of "

" and provided punishment for it. The Constitution also obliged citizens to protect socialist property and oppose corruption. All citizens performed military service as a duty to safeguard and "enhance the power and prestige of the Soviet state." Violation of this duty was considered "a betrayal of the Motherland and the gravest of crimes". Finally, the Constitution required parents to train their children for socially useful work and to raise them to be worthy members of the socialist society.

The Constitution and other legislation protected and enforced Soviet citizenship. Legislation on citizenship granted equal rights of citizenship to naturalized citizens as well as to the native born. Laws also specified that citizens could not freely renounce their citizenship. Citizens were required to apply for permission to do so from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which could reject the application if the applicant had not completed military service, had judicial duties, or was responsible for family dependants. In addition, the Presidium could refuse the application to protect national security, or revoke citizenship for defamation of the Soviet Union or for acts damaging to national prestige or security.

See also

• 1924 Soviet Constitution
• 1936 Soviet Constitution
• Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution
• Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union § Government

Notes

References

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Country Studies. Federal Research Division. – Soviet Union

External links

• Full Text and All Subsequent Laws Amending the 1977 Constitution of the USSR
• Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, PDF of the English text of the 1977 Constitution
• English text of the 1977 Constitution of the USSR
• On the Draft Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Results of the Nationwide Discussion of the Draft by Leonid Brezhnev
• The Soviet Constitution: A Dictionary, 1986 Soviet text in English.
• The New Constitution of the USSR, 1987 Soviet text in English.