On October 27, 1917, at its first meeting, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly on the date appointed by the Provisional Government, November 12, 1917. The elections took place according to lists drawn up before the revolution. For example, the left and right Socialist Revolutionaries, divided into two parties with different attitudes towards Soviet power, were on one list, like the Socialist Revolutionaries. Historians, including bourgeois ones, admit that the ratio of the number of deputies of the right Socialist Revolutionaries (370) and the left Socialist Revolutionaries (40) was random and did not reflect the position of the peasantry towards these two different parties. Among the delegates to the peasant congresses, to which the right and left Socialist-Revolutionaries were elected on separate lists, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries predominated. And in the elections to the Soviets in the cities, the Socialist Revolutionaries were inferior even to the Cadets.

The attitude towards the Constituent Assembly was a matter of principle, since it was a body that in its type corresponded to the bourgeois-liberal path of development of the revolution. On December 13, 1917, “Theses on the Constituent Assembly” was published - the most important work of V.I. after the April Theses. Lenin on state building in the Russian revolution. It said that the possibility of coexistence of two types of statehood had been exhausted, since the peasantry and the army definitely went over to the side of Soviet power, and the bourgeois forces began an armed struggle against it (the Kaledin uprising, the actions of the bourgeois regimes in Ukraine, Belarus, Finland and the Caucasus) . Therefore, the question of relation to the Constituent Assembly is not a legal one. It can be included in state construction only if it recognizes Soviet power. Being the pinnacle of democracy during the bourgeois revolution, the Constituent Assembly was “late.”

There are discrepancies in the data provided by historians on the number of votes cast for certain parties in the elections. Apparently, about 44 million voters took part in the elections. 715 deputies were elected (according to other sources, 703). About 60% voted for the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and various national parties. About 25% are for the Bolsheviks. About 15% are for the Cadets and other right-wing parties.

Thus, parties with a fundamentally bourgeois program received about 15% of those who took part in the elections, parties with different socialist programs - 85%. The conflict that arose in connection with the Constituent Assembly is a conflict between the socialists, and above all, between the two revolutionary socialist parties, the Bolsheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries (the Mensheviks had 16 seats, and the Socialist Revolutionaries 410). Chernov even declared “the will to socialism” from the chairman’s seat. This is important to emphasize, because during the years of perestroika, the press introduced into the public consciousness the idea that it was a question of a choice between the bourgeois-liberal and socialist path of development of Russia. On a number of issues (for example, in relation to terrorism) the Bolsheviks were a more moderate party than the Socialist Revolutionaries. The transfer of power to the Constituent Assembly (considered as a speculative option) would not mean the emergence of a capable bourgeois statehood, but the continuation of “Kerenskyism”5.

On the eve of the convening of the Constituent Assembly, on January 3, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution “On recognizing as counter-revolutionary actions all attempts to appropriate the functions of state power,” which stated that all power belongs to the Soviets and Soviet institutions and therefore any attempt to appropriate the functions of state power will be suppressed until use of armed force.

The Constituent Assembly began its work on January 5, 1918 in Petrograd, in the Tauride Palace. About 410 deputies were present with a quorum of 400. The right-wing Socialist Revolutionary V.M. was elected chairman. Chernov (former minister of the Provisional Government). Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Ya.M. Sverdlov read out the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People” and invited the meeting to accept it, i.e. admit Soviet power and its most important decrees: on peace, land, etc. The Left Social Revolutionaries also called on the assembly to adopt the Declaration and transfer power to the Soviets.

The Constituent Assembly rejected the Declaration (237 votes against 138). After this, the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries left the meeting. The meeting, no longer having a quorum, adopted a resolution that supreme power in the country belongs to him. At five o'clock in the morning, the anarchist sailor A.G., who commanded the guard. Zheleznyakov suggested V.M. Chernov stopped the meeting, declaring: “The guard is tired.” At 4.40 the Constituent Assembly ceased its activities. On January 6, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree “On the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.” There was no need to shoot the Tauride Palace; its doors were simply locked. The refusal of the right Socialist Revolutionaries to cooperate with the Soviet government sent events into a worse corridor. A compromise, according to V.I. Lenin, would have prevented civil war.

The Constituent Assembly as an alternative to the Soviets was not viable in those historical conditions. It did not have a social base that could support it, although the Socialist Revolutionaries worked in the troops and in factories. Judging by the recollections of eyewitnesses, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly did not attract much attention at that moment (it became an important topic in the recent anti-Soviet ideological campaign).

The further fate of the deputies is eloquent. Some of them, having created the illegal “Inter-Factional Council of the Constituent Assembly”, in the summer of 1918 formed anti-Soviet governments in the Volga and Urals, where Soviet power was liquidated by the White Czechs (Komuch, the Provisional Siberian Government, then the Directory, declared the All-Russian government). After Kolchak came to power, some of the deputies - “founders” were sent abroad, the other part was arrested. On December 23, they were shot in Omsk on the orders of Kolchak.

On January 10, 1918, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies met, which looked like the successor to the Constituent Assembly. On January 13, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies began its work. These congresses united, and thus a single supreme authority arose in the country. The Congress approved the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, and also decided to remove the word “temporary” from the name of the Soviet government.

2.In the morning October 25, 1917 The Military Revolutionary Committee, on behalf of the Petrograd Soviet, declared the Provisional Government overthrown.

Opened that evening II All-Russian Congress of Soviets, at which delegates from 402 Soviets of Russia were represented, authorized the transfer of power to the Soviets. Of the 670 delegates to the congress, 390 are Bolsheviks, 160 are Socialist Revolutionaries, 72 are Mensheviks, 38 are others; The decision of the congress was supported by the majority of delegates.

2 hours after the arrest of the Provisional Government, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets ratified two main decrees - “ Peace Decree" And " Decree on land" According to the first decree, all warring countries were invited to begin negotiations for a fair and democratic peace. It was assumed that secret diplomacy would be abolished and secret treaties would be published. Peace should have been made without annexations and indemnities. All of Russia's allies refused to consider these proposals.

“Decree on land” took into account peasant demands and was based on the Socialist Revolutionary program, developed on the basis of 242 peasant local orders. The abolition of private ownership of land and the nationalization of all land were proclaimed. Landowner property was abolished and transferred to the disposal of local peasant committees. Equal land use was introduced, hired labor and land rental were prohibited.

At the congress, a one-party Bolshevik government was formed (the Left Socialist Revolutionaries entered the government only in December 1917) - the Council of People's Commissars. The government was headed by V.I. Lenin, the remaining posts were distributed as follows: A.I. Rykov - People's Commissar of Internal Affairs; L.D. Trotsky - People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs; A.V. Lunacharsky - People's Commissar of Education; I.V. Stalin - People's Commissar for Nationalities; P.E. Dybenko, N.V. Krylenko and V.A. Antonov-Ovseenko - Commissioners for Military and Naval Affairs.

The composition of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) of the Congress of Soviets was elected. L.B. became the chairman. Kamenev. It consisted of 62 Bolsheviks, 29 Left Socialist Revolutionaries and several representatives of other parties.

In the first months October Revolution The government adopted a large number of decrees that consolidated changes in the political and economic situation of the Soviet state.

So, from October to December 1917 the following were adopted:

§ Decree on the introduction of an eight-hour working day;

§ Decree on the press;

§ Decree on the abolition of estates and civil officials;

§ Regulations on workers' control;

§ Decree on the formation of the Supreme Council of National Economy (VSNKh);

§ Decree on the democratization of the army;

§ Decree on civil marriage, about children and the introduction of state deed books;

§ Decree on the nationalization of banks;

§ Creation of the All-Russian Emergency Commission (VChK) headed by F.E. Dzerzhinsky;

§ Decree on the creation of people's courts and revolutionary tribunals.

In January 1918, decrees appeared:

§ On freedom of conscience, church and religious societies;

§ On the cancellation of government loans;

§ On the nationalization of the merchant fleet;

§ On the introduction of the Western European calendar, etc.

3. Reasons for the start of the Civil War

The Great October Socialist Revolution overthrew the power of capitalists and landowners and established the dictatorship of the proletariat. The world split into two opposing systems: socialist and capitalist.

The victory of the revolution provoked fierce resistance from the overthrown exploiting classes within the country and from world imperialism. The imperialists sought to restore capitalism and place a weakened and at-war Russia into enslaving political and economic dependence. The existing split of international imperialism into two hostile groups (the Entente, on the one hand, and the bloc of central powers led by Germany, on the other) prevented the creation of a united counter-revolutionary front of the imperialists against the young Soviet state. The struggle between the imperialist coalitions did not allow them to provide immediate armed assistance to the overthrown bourgeois government of Russia. However, the main, main enemy, which took upon itself the organization, support and supply of weapons, ammunition, and money to the White Guards, was world imperialism. V.I. Lenin, defining the role of the imperialists in unleashing the Civil War in Russia, pointed out that they are:

“... the leaders, the movers, the pushers in this war...” “World imperialism, which, in essence, caused us a civil war and is guilty of prolonging it...”

The main enemy of the Soviet state within the country was the landowner-bourgeois counter-revolution, which created the armies of Kolchak, Denikin, Wrangel, Yudenich with the open support of the Entente and the USA and thanks to the use of fluctuations of the petty-bourgeois (mainly peasant) sections of the population.

Problems of periodization

The question of the start date and end date of the Civil War is controversial in historical science. According to V.I. Lenin, Civil war as a phenomenon, as a form of class struggle, took place from October 1917 to October 1922, but the time was from the summer of 1918 to the end of 1920, when the intervention and the Civil War merged into a single whole and the military question acted “as the main, fundamental question of the revolution” , Lenin defined it as the period of the Civil War in the history of the state.

The initial period of the Civil War. October 1917 - May 1918

Decisive victories over the combined forces of internal and external counter-revolution. March 1919 - March 1920

The struggle against the intervention of bourgeois-landowner Poland and the defeat of Wrangel's White Guard army. April - November 1920

Elimination of the last centers of the Civil War and intervention. End of 1920 - November 1922.

Reasons for the victory of Soviet power in the Civil War

The history of the Civil War and military intervention continues to be an arena of fierce ideological struggle. In an effort to whitewash the interventionists and obscure their criminal role in the outbreak of the Civil War, ideologists and propagandists from the anti-communist camp falsify these events, justify the policy of intervention, obscure the causes and nature of the war, distort the origins of the victory of the Soviet people, and distort the role of the Communist Party.

Victory in the Civil War was due to a number of socio-economic, political and military factors. The main sources of victory were laid in the new social and state system born of the socialist revolution, which, under extremely difficult conditions, proved its viability and inexhaustible possibilities for uniting the working people and mobilizing their forces to fight the enemy. The Soviets, as a political form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, were the best form of organization of state power, the highest type of democracy.

Union of the working class and the working peasantry

One of the decisive factors for victory in the Civil War was the military-political alliance of the working class and the working peasantry. The working class, the main force in the struggle against the White Guards and interventionists, bore the main burden of the Civil War on its shoulders. The working peasantry, under the influence of the policies of the Communist Party and on the basis of the practical lessons of the war, overcame their petty-bourgeois hesitations and took the side of Soviet power, which decided the outcome of the struggle in its favor.

Union of Soviet Republics

To others the most important factor was a military-political union of Soviet republics. Lenin's national policy united workers of all nationalities in the struggle against the White Guards, interventionists and bourgeois nationalists, made it possible to overcome local nationalism and great-power chauvinism, and strengthen the friendship of peoples based on mutual trust and the unity of interests of workers.

Support of the Soviet state by workers of other countries

The just nature of the war of the Soviet people aroused the warm sympathy and support of the working people of capitalist countries, and under the influence of the October Revolution, the revolutionary movement developed rapidly. The struggle of foreign workers against armed intervention and the economic blockade of Soviet Russia played a big role in the collapse of the invasion of foreign imperialists. Sov support state workers of other countries was also expressed in the fact that tens and hundreds of thousands of internationalists fought in the ranks of the Red Army: Austrians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Chinese, Koreans, Mongols, Germans, Poles, Romanians, Serbs, Slovaks, Finns, Croats, Czechs.

Lack of unity among the forces of counter-revolution

V.I. Lenin saw one of the conditions for the victories of the Soviet state in the fact that throughout the Civil War, international imperialism was unable to organize a general campaign of all its forces against Soviet Russia and at each individual stage of the struggle only a part of them acted. They were strong enough to pose mortal threats to the Soviet state, but were always too weak to bring the struggle to a victorious end. The Soviet state, led by the Communist Party led by Lenin, was able to concentrate the superior forces of the Red Army in decisive areas and invariably achieved victory. The Soviet government skillfully exploited the contradictions in the enemy camp. “If we defeated the intervention,” said V.I. Lenin, “it was only because their own interests split them, and united and strengthened us.” At the same time, the consistent struggle of the Soviet government for peace and respect for the sovereign rights of large and small states created a huge army of friends and allies of the Country of Soviets abroad, thereby undermining the forces of imperialist intervention.

Organizational successes of Soviet power

The Soviet government turned the country into a single military camp and achieved a unity of front and rear unprecedented in history. A new type of Armed Forces were created - the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and Red Navy, numbering 5.5 million people by the end of the war. In extremely difficult conditions of devastation, the Communist Party and the Soviet government were able to create a coherent military economy, which, although in a limited size, provided the front with weapons, ammunition, equipment, uniforms and food.

Contribution of the Communist Party

The inspirer and organizers of the victory were the Communist Party. Armed with a scientific understanding of the laws of social development, the party at all stages of the struggle developed a policy that expressed the interests of the working masses and responded to the prevailing international and domestic situation. The Central Committee of the RCP(b), headed by V.I. Lenin, exercised general management of the activities of all departments and institutions, the entire struggle of the Soviet people at the fronts, in the rear, behind the front line. Lenin headed the Soviet government and the Defense Council. His instructions determined the fundamental directions in the construction of the Red Army and formed the basis of all major operations. Correct strategic leadership on the part of the Party Central Committee was the most important condition for the victories of the Red Army.

The basis for the victorious outcome of the Civil War was the unity, cohesion and discipline of the Communist Party.

The party turned into a "warring party". About 300 thousand of its members (almost ½ of its composition) were in the ranks of the Red Army. 70 thousand Komsomol members fought alongside the communists. Party, Komsomol and trade union mobilizations played an important role during crisis situations on the fronts. The party carried out enormous work in the rear, mobilizing the efforts of the working people to restore industrial production, procure food and fuel, and organize transport.

The successes of the Red Army were possible only thanks to the political work carried out in its ranks by the Communist Party through the RVS, political departments, military commissars and party organizations of units and subunits. Much work in the rear, in the army and navy was carried out by F.E. Dzerzhinsky, M.I. Kalinin, N.K. Krupskaya, A.V. Lunacharsky, G.I. Petrovsky, Ya.M. Sverdlov. In leading political work in the rear, in military-political posts as members of the Revolutionary Military Council of fronts and armies were the Bolsheviks: N.A. Anisimov, R.I. Berzin, A.S. Bubnov, K.E. Voroshilov, Ya.B. Gamarnik, F.I. Goloshchekin, S.I. Gusev, K.X. Danishevsky, R.S. Zemlyachka, O.Yu. Kalnin, M.S. Kedrov, S.M. Kirov, S.V. Kosior, V.V.Kuibyshev, K.A.Mekhonoshin, A.F.Myasnikov, G.K.Ordzhonikidze, N.I.Podvoisky, P.P.Postyshev, I.V.Stalin, I.S.Unshlikht, P. K. Sternberg, Sh. E. Eliava, E. M. Yaroslavsky and others.

The superiority of Soviet military science

The new social and state system, the just nature of the war determined the necessity and prerequisites for creating the foundations of Soviet military science. The leading role in its creation belonged to the Central Committee of the party, Lenin. A significant contribution to the creation of Soviet military science and military art was made by generals and military commanders, commanders and politicians. composition of the army and navy. During the Civil War, the characteristic features of the Soviet military strategy, operational art took shape, tactics received comprehensive development.

During the Civil War, talented commanders and commanders emerged from among the working people, party workers, former junior officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the old army, who showed high combat skill and heroism on the battlefields. Among them are V.M.Azin, V.A.Antonov-Ovseenko, Ya.F.Balakhonov, P.I.Baranov, I.P.Belov, M.F.Blinov, V.K.Blyukher, S.M. Budyonny, S.S. Vostretsov, G.D. Gai, O.I. Gorodovikov, I.K. Gryaznov, B.M. Dumenko, P.E. Dybenko, D.P. Zhloba, G.V. Zinoviev , N.D. Kashirin, V.I.Kikvidze, G.I.Kotovsky, N.V.Kuibyshev, I.S.Kutyakov, A.V. Pavlov, A.Ya. Parkhomenko, V.M. Primakov, V.K. Putna, A.I. Sedyakin, S.K. Timoshenko, Y.F. Fabritsius, I.F. Fedko, V.I. Chapaev, N.A. Shchors, I.E. Yakir and others, sailors I.K. Kozhanov, N.G. Markin and others. The professional Bolshevik revolutionary M.V. Frunze became an outstanding commander.

A significant role was played by military specialists of the old army, most of whom honestly served the working people. Party and Sov. The government nominated the most capable and reliable specialists to high command posts: the commanders in chief were I.I. Vatsetis and S.S. Kamenev, the commanders of the front troops were V.M. Gittis, A.I. Egorov, V.N. Egoriev, P. P. Sytin, M. N. Tukhachevsky, V. I. Shorin, major staff workers - P. P. Lebedev, N. N. Petin, N. I. Rattel, B. M. Shaposhnikov, teams, armies - M. I.Vasilenko, A.I.Gekker, A.I.Kork, M.K.Levandovsky, S.A.Mezheninov, D.N.Nadezhny, D.P. Parsky, I.P.Uborevich, R.P. Eideman, the leadership of the Navy included V.M. Altfater, E.A. Behrens, A.I. Zelenoy, A.V. Nemitz and others.

Powerful guerrilla movement

The partisan and insurgent movement and the activities of the Bolshevik underground were important in the Civil War. The fight behind enemy lines was led by the Communist Party. The partisan movement covered vast areas, especially in Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Siberia and the Far East, distracting large enemy forces and disorganizing its rear. It was carried out in cooperation with the Red Army and often had strategic significance. Among the partisan leaders, N.F. Gikalo, I.V. Gromov, A.D. Kravchenko, S.G. Lazo, E.M. Mamontov, F.N. Mukhin, V.M. Sibirtsev, I P. Shevchuk, D. S. Shilov, P. E. Shchetinkin and others.

Results of the Civil War and foreign intervention

The war against the White Guards and interventionists was a just war of the working people of Soviet Russia for their freedom and independence, defending the gains of the October Revolution. Therefore, folk. the masses supported the Soviet state, its Red Army and Navy and, despite extreme fatigue from the First World War, losses, deprivations, hunger, cold, epidemics, they found the strength to bring the Civil War to complete victory. IN hard battles the working people of Soviet Russia saved their Motherland from the threat of colonial enslavement. The war brought enormous disasters to the Soviet people. The damage caused to the national economy amounted to about 50 billion gold rubles, industrial production fell to 4-20% of the 1913 level. The size of the working class has approximately halved. Agricultural production fell by almost half. From hunger, disease, terror of the White Guards and in battles, 8 million people died, including Red Army soldiers - about 1 million people.

The overall result of the Civil War was the consolidation and consolidation of the gains of the October Revolution and the opening of the path to the successful construction of socialism for the working class and working peasantry. The victorious outcome of the Civil War showed what colossal, truly inexhaustible spiritual and material forces the people possess when they took power into their own hands and rallied under the Leninist banner of the Communist Party. “They will never defeat that people,” said V.I. Lenin, “in which the workers and peasants for the most part recognized, felt and saw that they were defending their own, Soviet power - the power of the working people, that they were defending the cause, the victory of which was theirs.” their children will be provided with the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of culture, all the creations of human labor.”

4. Reasons for occurrence. The internal policy of the Soviet state during the Civil War was called the “policy of war communism.” The term “war communism” was proposed by the famous Bolshevik A.A. Bogdanov back in 1916. In his book “Questions of Socialism,” he wrote that during the war years the internal life of any country is subject to a special logic of development: the majority of the working-age population leaves the sphere of production, producing nothing, and consumes a lot. The so-called “consumer communism” arises. A significant part of the national budget is spent on military needs. This inevitably requires restrictions in the sphere of consumption and state control over distribution. War also leads to the collapse of democratic institutions in the country, so we can say that War communism was driven by wartime needs.

Another reason for this policy can be considered Marxist views of the Bolsheviks who came to power in Russia in 1917, Marx and Engels did not study in detail the features of the communist formation. They believed that there would be no place for private property and commodity-money relations, but an equalizing principle of distribution. However, at the same time we were talking about industrialized countries and the world socialist revolution as a one-time act. Ignoring the immaturity of the objective prerequisites for the socialist revolution in Russia, a significant part of the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution insisted on the immediate implementation of socialist transformations in all spheres of society, including the economy. A movement of “left communists” emerged, the most prominent representative of which was N.I. Bukharin.

The left communists insisted on the rejection of any compromises with the world and Russian bourgeoisie, the speedy expropriation of all forms of private property, the curtailment of commodity-money relations, the abolition of money, the introduction of the principles of equal distribution and socialist orders literally “from today.” These views were shared by most members of the RSDLP (b), which was clearly manifested in the debate at the VII (Emergency) Party Congress (March 1918) on the issue of ratification Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Until the summer of 1918 V.I. Lenin criticized the views of left communists, which is especially clearly visible in his work “The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power.” He insisted on the need to suspend the “Red Guard attack on capital,” organize accounting and control at already nationalized enterprises, strengthen labor discipline, combat parasites and quitters, widely use the principle of material interest, use bourgeois specialists, and allow foreign concessions under certain conditions. When, after the transition to NEP in 1921, V.I. Lenin was asked if he had previously thought about the NEP, he answered in the affirmative and referred to the “Immediate tasks of Soviet power.” True, here Lenin defended the erroneous idea of ​​direct product exchange between city and countryside through general cooperation rural population, which brought his position closer to that of the “left communists”. It can be said that in the spring of 1918 the Bolsheviks were choosing between a policy of attacking bourgeois elements, advocated by the “left communists,” and a policy of gradual entry into socialism, which Lenin proposed. The fate of this choice was ultimately decided by the spontaneous development of the revolutionary process in the countryside, the beginning of intervention and the mistakes of the Bolsheviks in agrarian policy in the spring of 1918.

The policy of “war communism” was largely due to hopes for the speedy implementation of the world revolution. The leaders of Bolshevism considered the October Revolution as the beginning of the world revolution and expected the arrival of the latter any day now. In the first months after the October Revolution in Soviet Russia, if they were punished for a minor offense (petty theft, hooliganism), they wrote “to be imprisoned until the victory of the world revolution,” so there was a belief that compromises with the bourgeois counter-revolution were inadmissible, that the country was turning into a single combat camp, about the militarization of all internal life.

The essence of politics. The policy of “war communism” included a set of measures that affected the economic and socio-political spheres. The basis of “war communism” was emergency measures in supplying cities and the army with food, the curtailment of commodity-money relations, the nationalization of all industry, including small industry, surplus appropriation, supplying the population with food and industrial goods on ration cards, universal labor conscription and maximum centralization of management of the national economy and the country generally.

Chronologically, “war communism” falls on the period of the civil war, but certain elements of the policy began to emerge at the end
1917 - early 1918 This applies primarily nationalization of industry, banks and transport."Red Guard attack on capital"
which began after the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the introduction of workers' control (November 14, 1917), was temporarily suspended in the spring of 1918. In June 1918, its pace accelerated and all large and medium-sized enterprises became state property. In November 1920, small enterprises were confiscated. Thus it happened destruction of private property. A characteristic feature of “war communism” is extreme centralization of economic management. At first, the management system was built on the principles of collegiality and self-government, but over time the inconsistency of these principles becomes obvious. Factory committees lacked the competence and experience to manage them. The leaders of Bolshevism realized that they had previously exaggerated the degree of revolutionary consciousness of the working class, which was not ready to govern. The emphasis is placed on state management of economic life. On December 2, 1917, the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) was created. Its first chairman was N. Osinsky (V.A. Obolensky). The tasks of the Supreme Economic Council included the nationalization of large industry, management of transport, finance, establishment of trade exchange, etc. By the summer of 1918, local (provincial, district) economic councils, subordinate to the Supreme Economic Council, emerged. The Council of People's Commissars, and then the Defense Council, determined the main directions of work of the Supreme Economic Council, its headquarters and centers, each representing a kind of state monopoly in the corresponding branch of production. By the summer of 1920, almost 50 central administrations had been created to manage large nationalized enterprises. The name of the departments speaks for itself: Glavmetal, Glavtextile, Glavsugar, Glavtorf, Glavstarch, Glavryba, Tsentrokhladoboynya, etc.

The centralized management system dictated the need for an orderly leadership style. One of the features of the policy of “war communism” was emergency system, whose task was to subordinate the entire economy to the needs of the front. The Defense Council appointed its commissioners with emergency powers. So, A.I. Rykov was appointed extraordinary commissioner of the Defense Council for the supply of the Red Army (Chusosnabarm). He was endowed with the rights to use any apparatus, remove and arrest officials, reorganize and reassign institutions, confiscate and requisition goods from warehouses and from the population under the pretext of “military urgency.” All factories working for defense were transferred to the jurisdiction of Chusosnabarm. To manage them, the Industrial Military Council was formed, whose regulations were also mandatory for all enterprises.

One of the main features of the policy of “war communism” is curtailment of commodity-money relations. This was evident primarily in introduction of unequal natural exchange between city and countryside. In conditions of galloping inflation, peasants did not want to sell bread for depreciated money. In February - March 1918, the consuming regions of the country received only 12.3% of the planned amount of bread. The rationed bread quota in industrial centers was reduced to 50-100 grams. per day. Under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, Russia lost grain-rich areas, which aggravated
food crisis. Famine was approaching. It should also be remembered that the Bolsheviks had a twofold attitude towards the peasantry. On the one hand, he was viewed as an ally of the proletariat, and on the other (especially the middle peasants and kulaks) - as a support for the counter-revolution. They looked at the peasant, even a low-power middle peasant, with suspicion.

Under these conditions, the Bolsheviks headed for establishment of a grain monopoly. In May 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted the decrees “On granting the People’s Commissariat of Food emergency powers to combat the rural bourgeoisie that is hiding grain reserves and speculating on them” and “On the reorganization of the People’s Commissariat of Food and local food authorities.” In the context of an impending famine, the People's Commissariat for Food was granted emergency powers, and a food dictatorship was established in the country: a monopoly on the trade of bread and fixed prices was introduced. After the adoption of the decree on the grain monopoly (May 13, 1918), trade was actually prohibited. To seize food from the peasantry, they began to form food squads. The food detachments acted according to the principle formulated by the People’s Commissar of Food Tsuryupa “if it is impossible
If you take bread from the village bourgeoisie by ordinary means, you must take it by force.” To help them, on the basis of the decrees of the Central Committee of June 11, 1918, committees of the poor(combat committees ) . These measures of the Soviet government forced the peasantry to take up arms. According to the prominent agrarian N. Kondratyev, “the village, flooded with soldiers returning after the spontaneous demobilization of the army, responded to armed violence with armed resistance and a number of uprisings.” However, neither the food dictatorship nor the poor committees were able to solve the food problem. Attempts to prohibit market relations between town and countryside and forcibly confiscate grain from peasants only led to widespread illegal trade in grain at high prices. The urban population received no more than 40% of the bread they consumed using ration cards, and 60% through illegal trade. Having failed in the fight against the peasantry, in the fall of 1918 the Bolsheviks were forced to somewhat weaken the food dictatorship. By a series of decrees adopted in the fall of 1918, the government tried to ease the taxation of the peasantry; in particular, the “extraordinary revolutionary tax” was abolished. According to the decisions of the VI All-Russian Congress of Soviets in November 1918, the committees of poor people were merged with the Soviets, however, this changed little, since by this time the Soviets in rural areas consisted mainly of the poor. Thus, one of the main demands of the peasants was realized - to put an end to the policy of splitting the village.

On January 11, 1919, in order to streamline the exchange between city and countryside, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was introduced by decree surplus appropriation It was prescribed to confiscate surpluses from peasants, which were initially determined by “the needs of the peasant family, limited by the established norm.” However, soon the surpluses began to be determined by the needs of the state and the army. The state announced in advance the figures for its needs for bread, and then they were divided by provinces, districts and volosts. In 1920, instructions sent to places from above explained that “the allocation given to the volost is in itself a definition of surplus.” And although the peasants were left with only a minimum of grain according to the surplus appropriation system, the initial set supply of supplies introduced certainty, and the peasants considered the surplus appropriation system as a benefit compared to food detachments.

The collapse of commodity-money relations was also facilitated by prohibition in the fall of 1918 in most provinces of Russia wholesale and private trade. However, the Bolsheviks still failed to completely destroy the market. And although they were supposed to destroy money, the latter were still in use. The unified monetary system collapsed. In Central Russia alone, 21 banknotes were in circulation, and money was printed in many regions. During 1919, the ruble exchange rate fell 3,136 times. Under these conditions, the state was forced to switch to wages in kind.

The existing economic system did not stimulate productive work, the productivity of which was steadily falling. Output per worker in 1920 was less than one-third of the pre-war level. In the fall of 1919, the earnings of a highly skilled worker exceeded the earnings of a general worker by only 9%. Material incentives to work disappeared, and with them the desire to work itself disappeared. At many enterprises, absenteeism amounted to up to 50% of working days. To strengthen discipline, mainly administrative measures were taken. Forced labor grew out of leveling, from the lack of economic incentives, from the poor living conditions of workers, and also from a catastrophic shortage of labor. Hopes for the class consciousness of the proletariat were also not realized. In the spring of 1918 V.I. Lenin writes that “revolution... requires unquestioning obedience masses common will leaders of the labor process." The method of the policy of “war communism” becomes militarization of labor. At first it covered workers and employees of defense industries, but by the end of 1919 all industries and railway transport. On November 14, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the “Regulations on workers' disciplinary comradely courts.” It provided for such punishments as sending malicious violators of discipline to heavy public works, and in case of “stubborn refusal to submit to comradely discipline” to be subjected “as a non-labor element to dismissal from enterprises and transfer to a concentration camp.”

In the spring of 1920, it was believed that the civil war had already ended (in fact, it was only a peaceful respite). At this time, the IX Congress of the RCP(b) wrote in its resolution on the transition to a militarized economic system, the essence of which “should consist in bringing the army as close as possible to the production process, so that the living human power of certain economic regions is at the same time the living human power of certain military units." In December 1920, the VIII Congress of Soviets declared farming to be a state duty.

Under the conditions of “war communism” there was universal labor conscription for persons from 16 to 50 years old. On January 15, 1920, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the first revolutionary army of labor, thereby legalizing the use of army units in economic work. On January 20, 1920, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution on the procedure for carrying out labor conscription, according to which the population, regardless of permanent work, was involved in performing labor duties (fuel, road, horse-drawn, etc.). Redistribution was widely practiced labor force, carrying out labor mobilizations. Were introduced work books. To control the implementation of universal labor service, a special committee was created headed by F.E. Dzerzhinsky. Persons evading community service were severely punished and deprived of food cards. On November 14, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the above-mentioned "Regulations on workers' disciplinary comradely courts."

The system of military-communist measures included the abolition of fees for urban and railway transport, for fuel, fodder, food, consumer goods, medical services, housing, etc. (December 1920). Approved egalitarian class principle of distribution. Since June 1918, card supply in 4 categories has been introduced. The first category supplied workers at defense enterprises engaged in heavy physical labor and transport workers. In the second category - the rest of the workers, office workers, domestic servants, paramedics, teachers, handicraftsmen, hairdressers, cab drivers, tailors and the disabled. The third category supplied directors, managers and engineers of industrial enterprises, most of the intelligentsia and clergy, and the fourth category included persons using hired labor and living on income from capital, as well as shopkeepers and peddlers. Pregnant and lactating women belonged to the first category. Children under three years old received an additional milk card, and children under 12 years old received products in the second category. In 1918 in Petrograd, the monthly ration in the first category was 25 pounds of bread (1 pound = 409 grams), 0.5 pounds. sugar, 0.5 lb. salt, 4 lbs. meat or fish, 0.5 lb. vegetable oil, 0.25 lbs. coffee surrogates. The standards for the fourth category were three times less for almost all products than for the first. But even these products were issued very irregularly. In Moscow in 1919, a worker on ration cards received a calorie ration of 336 kcal, while the daily physiological norm was 3600 kcal. Workers in provincial cities received food below the physiological minimum (in the spring of 1919 - 52%, in July - 67%, in December - 27%). According to A. Kollontai, starvation rations caused feelings of despair and hopelessness among workers, especially women. In January 1919, there were 33 types of cards in Petrograd (bread, milk, shoe, tobacco, etc.).

“War communism” was considered by the Bolsheviks not only as a policy aimed at the survival of Soviet power, but also as the beginning of the construction of socialism. Based on the fact that every revolution is violence, they widely used revolutionary coercion. A popular poster from 1918 read: “With an iron hand we will drive humanity to happiness!” Revolutionary coercion was used especially widely against peasants. After the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted the Resolution of February 14, 1919 “On Socialist Land Management and Measures for the Transition to Socialist Agriculture,” propaganda was launched in defense creation of communes and artels. In a number of places, authorities adopted resolutions on the mandatory transition in the spring of 1919 to collective cultivation of the land. But it soon became clear that the peasantry would not agree to socialist experiments, and attempts to impose collective forms of farming would completely push the peasants away from Soviet power, so at the VIII Congress of the RCP (b) in March 1919, delegates voted for an alliance of the state with the middle peasants.

The inconsistency of the Bolsheviks' peasant policy can also be observed in their attitude to cooperation. In an effort to introduce socialist production and distribution, they eliminated such a collective form of initiative of the population in the economic field as cooperation. The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of March 16, 1919 “On Consumer Communes” placed cooperation in the position of an appendage of state power. All local consumer societies were forcibly merged into cooperatives - “consumer communes”, which were united into provincial unions, and they, in turn, into the Central Union. The state entrusted consumer communes with the distribution of food and consumer goods in the country. Cooperation as independent organization population ceased to exist. The name “consumer communes” aroused hostility among the peasants, since they identified them with the total socialization of property, including personal property.

During the civil war, the political system of the Soviet state underwent serious changes. The RCP(b) becomes its central unit. By the end of 1920, there were about 700 thousand people in the RCP (b), half of them were at the front.

In party life, the role of the apparatus that practiced military methods of work grew. Instead of elected collectives, narrowly composed operational bodies most often acted at the local level. Democratic centralism - the basis of party building - was replaced by a system of appointment. The norms of collective leadership of party life were replaced by authoritarianism.

The years of war communism became the time of establishment political dictatorship of the Bolsheviks. Although representatives of other socialist parties took part in the activities of the Soviets after the temporary ban, the communists still constituted an overwhelming majority in all government institutions, at congresses of Soviets and in executive bodies. The process of merging party and government bodies was intensive. Provincial and district party committees often determined the composition of executive committees and issued orders for them.

The communists, welded together by strict discipline, voluntarily or unwittingly transferred the orders that developed within the party to the organizations where they worked. Under the influence of the civil war, a military dictatorship took shape in the country, which entailed the concentration of control not in elected bodies, but in executive institutions, the strengthening of unity of command, the formation of an bureaucratic hierarchy with huge number employees, reducing the role of the masses in state building and removing them from power.

Bureaucracy becomes permanent chronic disease Soviet state. Its reasons were the low cultural level of the bulk of the population. The new state inherited much from the previous state apparatus. The old bureaucracy soon received places in the Soviet state apparatus, because it was impossible to do without people who knew managerial work. Lenin believed that it was possible to cope with bureaucracy only when the entire population (“every cook”) would participate in governing the state. But later the utopian nature of these views became obvious.

The war had a huge impact on state building. The concentration of forces, so necessary for military success, required strict centralization of control. Ruling party placed the main emphasis not on the initiative and self-government of the masses, but on the state and party apparatus, capable of force implement the policies necessary to defeat the enemies of the revolution. Gradually, the executive bodies (apparatus) completely subordinated the representative bodies (Councils). The reason for the swelling of the Soviet state apparatus was the total nationalization of industry. The state, having become the owner of the main means of production, was forced to provide management of hundreds of factories and plants, to create huge management structures engaged in economic and distribution activities in the center and in the regions, and the role of central bodies increased. Management was built “top-down” on strict directive and command principles, which limited local initiative.

The state sought to establish total control not only over the behavior, but also over the thoughts of its subjects, into whose heads the elementary and primitive basics of communism were introduced. Marxism becomes the state ideology. The task was set to create a special proletarian culture. Denied cultural values and achievements of the past. There was a search for new images and ideals. A revolutionary avant-garde was formed in literature and art. Particular attention was paid to the means of mass propaganda and agitation. Art has become completely politicized. Revolutionary fortitude and fanaticism, selfless courage, sacrifice in the name of a bright future, class hatred and ruthlessness towards enemies were preached. This work was supervised by the People's Commissariat of Education (Narkompros), headed by A.V. Lunacharsky. He launched active activities Proletkult- Union of proletarian cultural and educational societies. Proletkultists were especially active in calling for a revolutionary overthrow of old forms in art, a violent onslaught of new ideas, and the primitivization of culture. The ideologists of the latter are considered to be such prominent Bolsheviks as A.A. Bogdanov, V.F. Pletnev and others. In 1919, more than 400 thousand people took part in the proletkult movement. The spread of their ideas inevitably led to the loss of traditions and the lack of spirituality of society, which was unsafe for the authorities in war conditions. The leftist speeches of the Proletkultists forced the People's Commissariat for Education to pull them back from time to time, and in the early 1920s to completely dissolve these organizations.

The consequences of “war communism” cannot be separated from the consequences of the civil war. At the cost of enormous efforts, the Bolsheviks, using methods of agitation, strict centralization, coercion and terror, managed to turn the republic into a “military camp” and win. But the policy of “war communism” did not and could not lead to socialism. By the end of the war, the inadmissibility of running ahead and the danger of forcing socio-economic changes and escalating violence became obvious. Instead of creating a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a dictatorship of one party arose in the country, to maintain which revolutionary terror and violence were widely used.

The national economy was paralyzed by the crisis. In 1919, due to the lack of cotton, the textile industry almost completely stopped. It provided only 4.7% of pre-war production. The flax industry produced only 29% of the pre-war level.

Heavy industry was collapsing. In 1919, all blast furnaces in the country went out. Soviet Russia did not produce metal, but lived on reserves inherited from the tsarist regime. At the beginning of 1920, 15 blast furnaces were launched, and they produced about 3% of the metal smelted in Tsarist Russia on the eve of the war. The catastrophe in metallurgy affected the metalworking industry: hundreds of enterprises were closed, and those that were working were periodically idle due to difficulties with raw materials and fuel. Soviet Russia, cut off from the Donbass mines and Baku oil, experienced a fuel shortage. The main type of fuel was firewood and peat.

Industry and transport lacked not only raw materials and fuel, but also workers. By the end of the Civil War, less than 50% of the proletariat in 1913 was employed in industry. The composition of the working class had changed significantly. Now its backbone consisted not of regular workers, but of people from the non-proletarian strata of the urban population, as well as peasants mobilized from the villages.

Life forced the Bolsheviks to reconsider the foundations of “war communism”, therefore, at the Tenth Party Congress, military-communist economic methods based on coercion were declared obsolete.

Related information.

In films about the revolution, filmed in Soviet period, opponents of the Bolsheviks periodically shrilly shouted “All power to the Constituent Assembly!” The Soviet youth had difficulty understanding what they were talking about, but considering who was shouting, they guessed that it was something bad.

With the change in political guidelines, some Russian youth realize that the Constituent Assembly is, apparently, “something good, if against the Bolsheviks.” Although he still has difficulty understanding what is being said.

How to live after renunciation?

The Russian Constituent Assembly turned out to be a very strange phenomenon indeed. They talked and wrote a lot about it, but it held only one meeting, which did not become fateful for the country.

The question of convening the Constituent Assembly arose immediately after the abdication Emperor Nicholas II and his refusal brother Mikhail Alexandrovich accept the crown. Under these conditions, the Constituent Assembly, which is a council of deputies elected by the people, had to answer the main questions - about the state structure, about further participation in the war, about land, etc.

The Russian Provisional Government first had to prepare a regulation on elections, which was supposed to determine those who would be included in the electoral process.

Ballot with a list of members of the RSDLP(b). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Very democratic elections

A special meeting to prepare the draft Regulations on the elections to the Constituent Assembly was convened only in May. Work on the Regulations was completed in August. The elections were declared universal, equal, and direct by secret ballot. There were no property qualifications; all persons over 20 years of age were admitted. Women also received voting rights, which was a revolutionary decision by the standards of the time.

Work on the documents was in full swing when the Provisional Government decided on the dates. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were to be held on September 17, and the first meeting was planned to be convened on September 30.

But the chaos in the country grew, the situation became more complicated, and it was impossible to resolve all organizational issues within the established time frame. On August 9, the Provisional Government changes its decision - now November 12, 1917 is announced as the new election date, and the first meeting is scheduled for November 28.

A revolution is a revolution, and voting is on a schedule

On October 25, 1917, the October Revolution took place. The Bolsheviks who came to power, however, did not change anything. On October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars adopted and published signed Lenin the decision to conduct it on the appointed date - November 12.

At the same time, it was technically impossible to hold elections simultaneously in all corners of the country. In a number of regions they were postponed to December and even January 1918.

The victory of the socialist parties was unconditional. At the same time, the preponderance of the Socialist Revolutionaries was explained by the fact that they focused, first of all, on the peasantry - we must not forget that Russia was an agrarian country. The worker-oriented Bolsheviks won the major cities. It is worth noting that a split occurred in the Socialist Revolutionary Party - the left wing of the movement became allies of the Bolsheviks. The Left Socialist Revolutionaries received 40 mandates in the elections, which provided their coalition with the Bolsheviks with 215 seats in the Constituent Assembly. This moment will subsequently play a decisive role.

Lenin establishes quorum

The Bolsheviks, who took power, created the government and began to form new state bodies, did not intend to cede the levers of government to anyone. At first there was no final decision on how to act.

On November 26, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Lenin, signed the decree “For the opening of the Constituent Assembly,” which required a quorum of 400 people for its opening, and the Assembly was to be opened, according to the decree, by a person authorized by the Council of People's Commissars, that is, a Bolshevik, or, theoretically, a left Socialist Revolutionary allied with the Bolsheviks.

The Provisional Government, as already mentioned, scheduled the convening of the Constituent Assembly for November 28, and a number of deputies from among the Right Socialist Revolutionaries tried to open it on that very day. By that time, only about 300 deputies had been elected, a little more than half of them were registered, and less than a hundred arrived in Petrograd. Some of the deputies, as well as former tsarist officials who joined them, tried to hold an action in support of the Constituent Assembly, which some of the participants considered as the first meeting. As a result, the participants in the unauthorized meeting were detained by representatives of the Military Revolutionary Committee.

“The interests of the revolution stand above the rights of the Constituent Assembly”

On the same day, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree “On the arrest of the leaders of the civil war against the revolution,” which outlawed the most right-wing party among those that entered the Constituent Assembly - the Cadets. At the same time, “private meetings” of deputies of the Constituent Assembly were prohibited.

By mid-December 1917, the Bolsheviks had decided on their position. Lenin wrote: “The Constituent Assembly, convened according to the lists of parties that existed before the proletarian-peasant revolution, under the rule of the bourgeoisie, inevitably comes into conflict with the will and interests of the working people and exploited classes, which began on October 25 socialist revolution against the bourgeoisie. Naturally, the interests of this revolution are higher than the formal rights of the Constituent Assembly, even if these formal rights were not undermined by the absence in the law on the Constituent Assembly of recognizing the right of the people to re-elect their deputies at any time.”

The Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries did not intend to transfer any power to the Constituent Assembly, and intended to deprive it of its legitimacy.

Shooting demonstrations

At the same time, on December 20, the Council of People's Commissars decided to open the work of the Constituent Assembly on January 5.

The Bolsheviks knew that their opponents were preparing to take political revenge. The Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party considered the option of an armed uprising in early January 1918. Few believed that the matter could end peacefully.

At the same time, some deputies believed that the main thing was to open the meeting of the Constituent Assembly, after which the support of the international community would force the Bolsheviks to retreat.

Leon Trotsky He spoke rather caustically on this score: “They carefully developed the ritual of the first meeting. They brought candles with them in case the Bolsheviks turned off the electricity, and a large number of sandwiches in case they were deprived of food. So democracy came to fight dictatorship - fully armed with sandwiches and candles.”

On the eve of the opening of the Constituent Assembly, the Socialist Revolutionaries and other oppositionists planned demonstrations in Petrograd and Moscow in support of it. It was clear that the actions would not be peaceful, since the opponents of the Bolsheviks had enough weapons in both capitals.

Demonstrations took place on January 3 in Petrograd and January 5 in Moscow. Both there and there they ended in shooting and casualties. About 20 people died in Petrograd, about 50 in Moscow, and there were victims on both sides.

"Declaration" of discord

Despite this, on January 5, 1918, the Constituent Assembly began its work in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd. There were 410 deputies present, so there was a quorum for making decisions. Of those who were at the meeting, 155 people represented the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries.

Opened the meeting on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Bolshevik Yakov Sverdlov. In his speech, he expressed hope for “full recognition by the Constituent Assembly of all decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars.” The draft “Declaration of the Rights of Working and Exploited People” was submitted to the Constituent Assembly for approval.

Photo of the only meeting. V.I. Lenin in the box of the Tauride Palace at a meeting of the Constituent Assembly. 1918, January 5 (18). Petrograd. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

This document was a constitutional act that proclaimed the basic principles of a socialist state according to the Bolsheviks. The “Declaration” had already been approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and its adoption by the Constituent Assembly would mean recognition of the October Revolution and all subsequent steps of the Bolsheviks.

He was elected Chairman of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly Social Revolutionary Victor Chernov, for which 244 votes were cast.

"We're leaving"

But in fact, this was already just a formality - the Bolsheviks, after refusing to consider the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People,” moved on to a different form of action.

Deputy Fyodor Raskolnikov announced that the Bolshevik faction was leaving the meeting in protest against the non-acceptance of the “Declaration”: “Not wanting for a minute to cover up the crimes of the enemies of the people, we declare that we are leaving the Constituent Assembly in order to transfer to the Soviet power of deputies the final decision on the issue of attitude towards the counter-revolutionary parts of the Constituent Assembly."

After about half an hour Deputy from the Left Socialist Revolutionaries Vladimir Karelin announced that his faction was leaving following the allies: “The Constituent Assembly is in no way a reflection of the mood and will of the working masses... We are leaving, withdrawing from this Assembly... We are going in order to bring our strength, our energy to Soviet institutions, to the Central Executive Committee."

The term “dispersal of the Constituent Assembly”, given the departure of the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries, is inaccurate. There were 255 deputies left in the hall, that is, 35.7 percent of the total number of the Constituent Assembly. Due to the lack of a quorum, the meeting lost its legitimacy, as did all the documents it adopted.

Anatoly Zheleznyakov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

“The guard is tired and wants to sleep...”

Nevertheless, the Constituent Assembly continued its work. Lenin gave orders not to interfere with the remaining deputies. But at five o'clock in the morning my patience ran out Head of Security of the Tauride Palace Anatoly Zheleznyakov, better known as “Sailor Zheleznyak”.

There are several versions of birth historical phrase, known to everyone today. According to one of them, Zheleznyakov went to the chairman Chernov and said: “Please stop the meeting! The guard is tired and wants to sleep..."

The confused Chernov tried to object, and cries were heard from the hall: “We don’t need a guard!”

Zheleznyakov snapped: “The working people don’t need your chatter. I repeat: the guard is tired!”

However, there were no major disputes. The deputies themselves were tired, so they gradually began to disperse.

The palace is closed, there will be no meeting

The next meeting was scheduled for 17:00 on January 6. However, the deputies, approaching the Tauride Palace, found armed guards near it, who announced that the meeting would not take place.

On January 9, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly. By decision of the Council of People's Commissars, references to the Constituent Assembly were removed from all decrees and other official documents. On January 10, in the same Tauride Palace in Petrograd, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets began its work, which became a Bolshevik alternative to the Constituent Assembly. At the Congress of Soviets, a decree was approved to dissolve the Constituent Assembly.

The situation in the Tauride Palace after the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly. Photo: RIA Novosti / Steinberg

A short history of Komuch: the second time the members of the Constituent Assembly were dispersed by Kolchak

For some participants in the White movement, including those who were not elected to the Constituent Assembly, the demand for the resumption of its work became the slogan of armed struggle.

On June 8, 1918, Komuch (Committee of Members of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly) was formed in Samara, declaring itself the All-Russian government in defiance of the Bolsheviks. The People's Army of Komuch was formed, one of whose commanders was the notorious General Vladimir Kappel.

Komuch managed to take control of a significant territory of the country. On September 23, 1918, Komuch united with the Provisional Siberian Government. This happened at the State Meeting in Ufa, as a result of which the so-called “Ufa Directory” was created.

It was difficult to call this government stable. The politicians who created Komuch were Social Revolutionaries, while the military, who made up the main force of the “Directory,” professed much more right-wing views.

This alliance was put to an end by a military coup on the night of November 17-18, 1918, during which the Socialist Revolutionaries who were part of the government were arrested, and Admiral Kolchak came to power.

In November, approximately 25 former deputies of the Constituent Assembly, on Kolchak's orders, were court-martialed "for attempting to raise an uprising and conduct destructive agitation among the troops." They were imprisoned, and later some of them were killed by Black Hundred officers.

Introduction

Russia, will represent the institution, intended in accordance with bourgeois state-legal views to establish a form of government and develop a constitution; its creation was supposed to be based on universal suffrage. The slogan of convening a Constituent Assembly was included in the program of the RSDLP in 1903. After the Feb. tall shape democracy than the bourgeois-democratic republic since the Constituent Assembly. With the victory of the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Party sought to help the petty-bourgeois masses, through their own experience, get rid of bourgeois illusions. On October 27 (November 9), Soviet production adopted a resolution on the Constituent Assembly on the appointed date. In November doc. 1917 (and some remote places in January 1918) elections to the Constituent Assembly took place, taking place under conditions of sabotage by counter-revolutionaries, which actually began the Civil War. Of those who took part in the voting, about 1/2 of the voters voted for the Bolsheviks, 40% for the Socialist-Revolutionaries, 2.3% for the Mensheviks, 4.7% for the Cadets, and the rest for other bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties and groups. The majority of workers and almost half of the soldiers voted for the Bolsheviks (who achieved success in Petrograd, Moscow, on the Northern and Western fronts, the Baltic Fleet, in 20 districts of the North-West and Central Industrial Districts), which confirmed the pattern of victory of the October Revolution.

The demand for the immediate convening of the Constituent Assembly and the “protection” of its rights and sovereignty from “usurpation” by the Soviets became the banner under which they united. All the forces of bourgeois and petty bourgeois counter-revolution. Considering the unpopularity of monarchist and bourgeois slogans and trying to mobilize forces to fight against Soviet power, the counter-revolution relied on a slogan that had not yet completely lost its popularity among the working masses. At the opening on 5(18) Jan. At the 1918 meeting of the Constituent Assembly of 715 deputies, approx. 410 (predominant: centrist Socialist Revolutionaries, led by V.M. Chernov; Bolsheviks and left Socialist Revolutionaries - 155 people, 38.5%). Counter-revolution the majority of the Constituent Assembly (president Chernov) refused to discuss the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People proposed by Ya. M. Sverdlov from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and did not recognize the decrees of the Soviets. authorities. The Bolshevik faction, and then the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and some other groups left the meeting. At 5 o'clock in the morning 6(19) Jan. The Constituent Assembly was closed. On the night of 7(20) January. Based on the report of V. I. Lenin, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, approved by the 3rd All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The remnants of the deputies of the Constituent Assembly gathered in Samara, where in June 1918 they formed a counter-revolutionary movement. Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly. The slogan of the Constituent Assembly became the basis during the Civil War political program the Mensheviks (withdrawn in December 1918), some of the leaders of the “White Cause” (modified by them into the slogan of the “legislative assembly” and used by the general education for tactical purposes) and especially the Socialist Revolutionaries. The military defeat of the counter-revolution, the socialist transformations carried out by the Soviet government in the country deprived the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties of a social base, predetermined the collapse of the slogan of the Constituent Assembly.

The work used the literature of the following authors: Kozlov V.A. History of the Fatherland: people, ideas, decisions; Novitskaya T.E. Constituent Assembly. Russia. 1918; Kiseleva A.F. Recent history fatherland of the XX century; Dumanova N.G. History of political parties in Russia; Boffa J. History of the Soviet Union. From the revolution to the second world war. Lenin and Stalin 1917-194; Azovtsev N.N. Civil war and military intervention in the USSR. Encyclopedia; Chernov M.V. The struggle for the Constituent Assembly and its dispersal.

The purpose of the work is Study the organization of elections to the Constituent Assembly of 1917.

Tasks

Get acquainted with the convocation of the Constituent Assembly;

Study the election regulations;

Consider suffrage and electoral lists for the Constituent Assembly.

Elections to the Constituent Assembly. On the formation of a Special Meeting. Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly

On March 25, it was decided that it was necessary to form a Special Meeting to prepare a draft Regulation on the elections to the Constituent Assembly. The composition of this body took more than a month to form and began work on May 25.

The Special Meeting is the institution that directly prepared the elections for the preparation of the Draft Regulations on the elections to the Constituent Assembly chaired by Kokoshkin (created by decree of the Provisional Government on March 25, 1917). The focus of the work of the Special Meeting, as well as the practical work of the All-Russian Commission on Elections to the Constituent Assembly (All Elections), created in the summer of 1917, was the development of new electoral legislation and the administrative infrastructure for its implementation. The general direction in resolving this issue (despite the representation of different parties) was determined by the desire of the professional part of the authors of the “Regulations” to reflect the will of society as objectively as possible, on the one hand, and, on the other, to neutralize, as far as possible, the negative impact on the outcome of the elections of the least prepared part of society ( This explains, in particular, the discussion about the age limit, the desire to ensure the rights of minorities, the discussion of the control system and re-ballots). A special meeting was formed “to prepare a draft regulation on elections to the Constituent Assembly,” and it was decided to appoint specialists in state law, a representative of statistical science and other knowledgeable persons to its composition and invite political and public figures representing the main political and national political trends Russia 63. Qualified lawyers, members of the State Duma of the first convocation, Professor S.A., were appointed to the Special Meeting. Kotlyarevsky and F.F. Kokoshkin, member of the State Duma of the second convocation, Professor V.M. Gessen, members of the State Duma V.A. Maklakov and M.S. Adzhemov, academician A.S. Lappo-Danilevsky, Master of State Law N.I. Lazarevsky, Master of International Law Baron B.E., Nolde, Head of the Main Directorate for Local Economic Affairs N.N. Avinov, member of the consultation established under the Ministry of Justice A.Ya. Galpern and candidate of rights V.V. Vodovozov. Further, however, this institution is blurred: as has been shown, representatives from parties and nationalities are included in it, which could not but lead to the disorganization of all work and the transition from professionalism to populism.

In the Regulations “On the formation of the Committee under the Provisional Government for the adaptation of the building for the Constituent Assembly. Resolution of the Provisional Government of May 24, 1917" The Provisional Government decided: I To form under the Provisional Government a Committee for the adaptation of the building for the Constituent Assembly, chaired by the Commissioner of the Provisional Government for the Ministry of Trade and Industry Vasily Aleksandrovich Stepanov, consisting of the following persons: Comrade Chairman of the Committee engineer Yakov Yakovlerich Brusov and members: Chairman of the Special meeting for the preparation of a draft regulation on elections to the Constituent Assembly, Senator Fedor Fedorovich Kokoshkin, the producer of the work of the Committee, Academician Vladimir Alekseevich Shchuko, the Assistant Commissioner of the Provisional Government over the Ministry of the Court, engineer Pavel Mizhayalovich Makarov, architect Nikolai Evgenievich Lansere, two representatives from the said Meeting and one representative each from the Ministry of Finance and State Control, granting the Chairman of the Committee the right to invite Members and other persons whose participation will be considered useful in the work of the Committee.

“The expenses of the Committee are aimed at preparatory work to adapt the building for the Constituent Assembly...”

“On approval of section I of the regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly. Resolution of the Provisional Government of July 20, 1917." Recognizing the urgency of putting into effect those rules on the elections to the Constituent Assembly that are necessary for the immediate start of the election process among the civilian population of the Provisional Government, based on the report of the Special Meeting for the preparation of the draft Regulations on the elections to the Constituent Assembly:

Approve the first section (chapters 1-5) of the Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly...

Entrust the preparatory work for compiling electoral lists to existing government agencies and public organizations specified by special decrees of the Provisional Government.

Entrust the Ministry of Internal Affairs with direct executive actions necessary for the technical preparation of the elections to the Constituent Assembly in order to speed them up and successfully pass them.

The election of members of the Constituent Assembly from the province occupied by the enemy, with the exception of the territory intended to be included in the future Polish state. The indication of the number of members of the Constituent Assembly in each district is established by special decrees of the Provisional Government.

In accordance with the provision, the following transitional rules have been established. Pending the formation of local institutions of provincial and district zemstvo and city and village self-government on the basis of decrees of the Provisional Government, members of commissions for elections to the Constituent Assembly and precinct election commissions ... are temporarily replaced by persons elected by local public institutions and organizations indicated by the Provisional Government.

Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly (Section one Chapter I) general position. The Constituent Assembly is formed from members elected by the population on the basis of universal, without distinction of sex, and equal suffrage, through direct elections and secret ballot, using the principles of proportional representation.

To conduct elections to the Constituent Assembly, the following electoral districts are formed:

Provinces: Altai, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan (including

inhabited by Kalmyks of the aimag of the Terek region and with the exception of the lands inhabited by the nomadic Kalmyks of the Kalmyk steppe and the Kyrgyz of the Inner Horde), Bessarabian, Vitebsk, Vladimir, Vologda, Volyn (with the exception of parts of it occupied by the enemy), Voronezh, Vyatka, Ekatsrinoslav, Yenisei (with inclusion in it of Russian citizens living in the Uriankhai region), Irkutsk, Kazan, Kaluga, Kiev, Kostroma, Kursk, Livlyandsk (with the inclusion of parts of the Kurland province not occupied by the enemy), Minsk (with the exception of parts of it occupied by the enemy, and with the inclusion of those not occupied by the enemy parts of the Vilna and Kovno provinces), Mogilev, Moscow (except for the city of Moscow), Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Olonetsk, Orenburg, Orel, Penza, Perm, Petrograd (except for the city of Petrograd), Podolsk, Poltava, Pskov, Ryazan, Samara, Simbirsk , Smolensk, Stavropol (with the inclusion of Karanogai, which is part of the Terek region), Tauride, Tambov, Tver, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Tula, Ufa, Kharkov, Kherson, Chernigov, Estland and Yaroslavl, and the regions: Don Troops, Transbaikal, Trans-Castle (beyond with the exception of the Mangyshlak district, but with the inclusion of the volosts of the named district populated by Turkmens), Kamchatka, Samar-Kand, Semirechensk, Syr-Daryinskaya (with the exception of the Amu-Darya department), Turgai, Ural (with the inclusion of the Mashashn Lak district of the Transcaspian region, except for the volosts of the mentioned Turkmens) districts), Fergana and Yakutsk - each form one electoral district.

The capitals Petrograd and Moscow each form a special electoral district.

On top of this, electoral districts are formed: Amu-Darya I, consisting of the Amu-Darya department, Syr-Darya region, Transcaucasian - as part of the provinces of Baku, Yelysavetpol, Kutais, Tiflis and Erivan, regions of Batumi and Kars and districts of Sukhumi and Zagatala, Kuban-Black Sea - in as part of the Kuban region" and the Black Sea province, the Terek-Dagestan region as part of the Terek region (with the exception of the Karanogai police station and aimak inhabited by Kalmyks) and Dagestan, Steppe - as part of the Akmola and Semipalatinsk regions, Ordynsky - as part of parts of the Astrakhan province inhabited by the nomadic Kyrgyz of the Inner Horde , Priamursky - as part of the Amur Primorsky and Sakhalin regions, Caspian - as part of parts of the Astrakhan province inhabited by nomadic Kalmyks, and the district of the Chinese Eastern railway- as part of the right-of-way of the said road.

The number of members of the Constituent Assembly to be elected in each district is determined separately.

Suffrage based on the Constituent Assembly.

In 1917, the most democratic law on elections to the Constituent Assembly was adopted: universal, equal, direct elections by secret ballot. The adopted law was significantly ahead social development electoral legislation in other countries and was revolutionary for Russia:

• Voting rights were granted to women (a first in the world).
• A low age limit for that time was set at 20 years (in the UK, Italy, USA, France the age limit was 21 years, in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain - 25 years).
• Russia became the only country in the world that granted voting rights to military personnel, but only if they reached the age established for the last early conscription by election day.
• The regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly did not recognize property qualifications, residency and literacy qualifications, or restrictions on religious or national grounds.

Those recognized as insane or insane in accordance with the procedure established by law, as well as deaf and dumb people under guardianship, do not participate in elections.

Voting rights are deprived:

1) awarded by court sentences that have entered into legal force, if they have not previously been restored to the rights of the state. (to hard labor, to exile to a settlement)

2) convicted of theft

3) insolvent debtors recognized on the basis of judicial rulings that have entered into legal force.

4) military personnel who left the ranks of the troops without permission

5) Only persons included in the electoral list of the precinct have the right to participate in elections in each polling station.

Management of the election proceedings is entrusted to: the All-Russian, district capital, district and city commissions for elections to the Constituent Assembly and precinct election commissions, city and village councils and volost and zemstvo councils.

The All-Russian Commission on Elections to the Constituent Assembly is entrusted with:

· General observation of the progress of the elections to the Constituent Assembly and discussion of measures necessary to speed up these elections;

· Development of general instructions approved by the Provisional Government in addition to and development of both this Regulation and the Order on the application of this Regulation;

· Drawing up a list of persons elected as members of the Constituent Assembly, and

District commissions on matters of elections to the Constituent Assembly are entrusted with: 1) monitoring the timely formation and opening of actions of county and city commissions on matters of elections to the Constituent Assembly. 2) approval of the distribution of polling stations based on the proposals of county and city councilors in cases of elections to the Constituent Assembly of commissions and consideration of all submitted statements about irregularities committed in such distribution, 3) determination and public announcement of the day on which city and town councils and volosts zemstvo councils begin compiling electoral lists, monitoring the timely compilation of these lists and putting them up for public viewing, 4) accepting and considering candidate lists, numbering these lists, putting them up for public viewing and reporting the lists to district and city officials on matters of elections to the Constituent meeting with commissions, city and town councils and precinct election commissions, as well as public announcement of subsequent mergers of lists, 5) ordering the preparation of election envelopes, election notes, etc. or entrusting this to the district and city commissions regarding elections to the Constituent Assembly, 6) counting votes in the district, determining the election results and announcing them to the public, 7) issuing proper certificates of the subsequent election to members of the Constituent Assembly, 8) transfer of all election proceedings received by them to the All-Russian Commission for Elections to the Constituent Assembly and 9) disposal of loans allocated for the conduct of elections in a given district.

Capital commissions on affairs of elections to the Constituent Assembly

the rights and obligations assigned by these Regulations to both district and city commissions in matters of elections to the Constituent Assembly of the commission are assigned.

The precinct election commission consists of four members elected by the city or village government or the volost zemstvo government, including the chairman and secretary.

In addition, the commission includes, as members, one person from each group of voters who submitted a candidate list and indicated their representative to be included in this commission.

Precinct election commissions are responsible for receiving and initially counting ballot papers in a given polling station.

Institutions of local government and self-government are obliged to assist commissions on matters of elections to the Constituent Assembly and precinct election commissions in the performance by the latter of the duties assigned to them by these Regulations.

All kinds of acts and papers drawn up in cases of elections to the Constituent Assembly, both submitted to government, judicial, administrative and public institutions and officials of all departments and institutions, and issued by all these institutions and officials, are exempt from stamp and other taxes.

Electoral lists. To conduct elections to the Constituent Assembly, voter lists are compiled separately for each polling station. No one may be included in the electoral lists for more than one precinct.

The compilation of electoral lists is entrusted to city and village councils and to volost zemstvo councils, according to their affiliation

The day on which the said councils begin to compile electoral lists is designated for the entire district by order of the district election commission Convincing meeting and is announced to the public in the manner that best ensures wide notification of this to the population.

The educational list indicates the last name or nickname of each voter, his first name, patronymic, age, place of residence and occupation. The list for each precinct is compiled in alphabetical order by last name.

Within ten days after the election list is announced to the public, a representative of the local administrative authority may lodge protests, and persons enjoying the right to participate in elections may file complaints about the incorrectness or inaccuracy of this list.

Protests and complaints are considered within five days by county and city commissions in cases of elections to the Constituent Assembly in an open meeting in the manner established for the consideration of cases by administrative judges, in accordance with the Regulations on Administrative Courts

On November 12, 1917, elections began. During the elections, troops loyal to the Bolsheviks gathered in Petrograd. After the elections, the Bolsheviks began repressions against the Cadets. The Constitutional Democratic Party was officially declared a party of “enemies of the people”, and arrests of its members began. Constituting less than 2% of the Assembly's deputies, the Cadets were neutralized and did not take part in its activities.

The result of the elections was the victory of the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), who received almost twice as many votes (40% according to official data) as the Bolsheviks.

At the same time, in the elections to the Constituent Assembly, the party of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries acted with the party of the Socialist-Revolutionaries on common lists, since organizationally the left and right Socialist-Revolutionaries until the Congress of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries on December 2-11 (November 19-28), 1917, represented a single party.

Since at the time the lists were compiled, the Left Socialist Revolutionary faction constituted a minority in the Socialist Revolutionary Party, as a rule, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries were in the minority and came last on the list. That part of the peasantry that gave preference to the left Socialist Revolutionaries, voting for the general list, provided mandates for the right Socialist Revolutionaries. Voting on lists that did not reflect the relative weight of political groupings after the October Revolution could not but affect the party composition of the members of the Constituent Assembly.

In general, less than 50% of voters took part in the elections (44.5 million out of 90), and such disinterest in the long-awaited Constituent Assembly can be explained by the fact that the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies had already adopted all the most important decrees and proclaimed Soviet power.

Conclusion

During the preparation of the Constituent Assembly, Russian society for the first time independently raised and resolved issues of national identity and political self-determination. This time marks the most intense debate about human rights, the form of government and the type of future political system; administrative-territorial structure; the structure of parliament and the judiciary; legal status political parties; the order of formation and functioning of institutions of the transition period (in conditions of war and anarchy). The central problem in resolving these issues, as in other great revolutions, was the conflict between the constituent and constitutional powers. When designing the Russian Constitution, its liberal developers were guided by the negative experience of previous (mainly French) revolutions: they sought to avoid two extremes - on the one hand, the establishment of its complete and unlimited monopoly on power, which could lead to the tyranny of the majority; on the other hand, preventing weakness in relation to the temporary executive power, which could establish a dictatorship of the Bonapartist type and ultimately lead to the restoration of the monarchy.

The Constituent Assembly will direct the people to the right way, will not abandon him in difficult times, so many residents of even the deepest provinces thought.

The Provisional Government under the influence of the Cadets and personally P.N. Miliukov, who analyzed the results of local government bodies in Moscow and Petrograd, did his best to delay the elections to the Constituent Assembly in the spring and summer of 1917. Even in the summer, the legal council under the government did not begin to develop the principles of the election campaign. The government crises that took place against this background and the resignations of Cadet ministers contributed to the decline in the authority of this party and government. In general, the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries who collaborated with him as part of the coalition governments were also responsible in the eyes of society for delaying the convening of the Constituent Assembly.

As a result, the elections were held in conditions when the Bolsheviks declared the power of the Soviets and adopted the Decree on Land and the Decree on Peace. However, the popularity of the Constituent Assembly in the public consciousness was so great that, despite the proclamation of the power of the Soviets, they went to convene a body that was supposed to resolve the issue of power.

Elections to the Constituent Assembly, held in November 1917 throughout the country, were democratic in nature. For the first time in Russia, the principle of secret universal electoral and direct voting was tested. Citizens who had reached the age of 21 enjoyed the right to choose, without distinction of gender, nationality or religion. The political parties competing for representation in the Constituent Assembly represented various strata Russian society, starting from the right and the Cadets, and ending with the Bolsheviks. The Social Revolutionaries won the elections, receiving 191.10074 votes, followed by the Bolsheviks in the number of votes - 108.89437. The results did not satisfy the Bolsheviks, and they began to pursue a policy of delaying the convening of the Constituent Assembly.

People's hopes were not justified. With the Bolsheviks coming to power in October 1917, they pushed the Constituent Assembly into the background. Its convocation becomes a fiction, since the actual power becomes the Soviet government - the Council of People's Commissars, headed by V.I. Lenin.

Going to convene the Constituent Assembly, they adopted a number of decrees that disarmed the activities of the Constituent Assembly. However, they decided to accept the work of the Constituent Assembly if the specially developed document “Declaration of the Rights of Working and Exploited People” was recognized. This document legitimized the Decrees adopted by the Second Congress of Soviets and declared the only power to be the Power of the Soviets.

List of used literature

1. Novitskaya T.E. Constituent Assembly. Russia. 1918 / Transcript and other documents. Comp. T.V. Novitskaya. – M.: Russian open university, 1991. – 160 p.

2. Collection of documents on the history of the USSR for seminars and practical classes. The era of socialism. Issue 1917-1920 – M.: graduate School, 1978. – 264 p.

Periodicals

1. Chernov M.V. The struggle for the Constituent Assembly and its dispersal / M.V. Chernov // Centaur. Historical and political magazine. – M.: Phoenix, 1993. - No. 3. P. 116-160

Special literature

1. Azovtsev N.N. Civil war and military intervention in the USSR. Encyclopedia / N.N. Azovtsev et al. – M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1983. – 789 p.

2. Boffa J. History of the Soviet Union. From the revolution to the second world war. Lenin and Stalin 1917-1941 / translation by I.V. Levina. – M.: International Relations, 1990. - 632 p.

3. Vvedensky B.A. USSR 1917-1967 Encyclopedic reference/ B.A. Vvedensky and others - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1967 - 684 p.

4. Dumanova N.G. History of political parties in Russia / N.G. Dumanova, Erofeev N.D., S.V. Tyutyukin et al. - M.: Higher School, 1994 - 447 p.

5. Kiseleva A.F. Recent history of the fatherland in the 20th century. / A.F. Kiseleva, E.M. Shchagina. – T. 1. – M.: Vlados. – 469 p.

6. Kozlov V.A. History of the Fatherland: people, ideas, decisions. Essays on the history of the Soviet state / V.A. Kozlov. – M.: Politizdat, 1991 – 366 p.

Kozlov V.A. History of the Fatherland: people, ideas, decisions. Essays on the history of the Soviet state / V.A. Kozlov. – M.: Politizdat, 1991 – 366 p.

Novitskaya T.E. Constituent Assembly. Russia. 1918 / Transcript and other documents. Comp. T.V. Novitskaya. – M.: Russian Open University, 1991. – 160 p.

Kiseleva A.F. Recent history of the fatherland in the 20th century. / A.F. Kiseleva, E.M. Shchagina. – T. 1. – M.: Vlados. – 469 p.

Dumanova N.G. History of political parties in Russia / N.G. Dumanova, Erofeev N.D., S.V. Tyutyukin et al. - M.: Higher School, 1994 - 447 p.

Boffa J. History of the Soviet Union. From the revolution to the second world war. Lenin and Stalin 1917-1941 / translation by I.V. Levina. – M.: International Relations, 1990. - 632 p.

Azovtsev N.N. Civil war and military intervention in the USSR. Encyclopedia / N.N. Azovtsev et al. – M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1983. – 789 p.

Chernov M.V. The struggle for the Constituent Assembly and its dispersal / M.V. Chernov // Centaur. Historical and political magazine. – M.: Phoenix, 1993. - No. 3. - 160

Chernov M.V. The struggle for the Constituent Assembly and its dispersal / M.V. Chernov // Centaur. Historical and political magazine. – M.: Phoenix, 1993. - No. 3. - P. 116-160.

Novitskaya T.E. Constituent Assembly. Russia. 1918 / Transcript and other documents. Comp. T.V. Novitskaya. – M.: Russian Open University, 1991. - P. 13–160.

Novitskaya T.E. Constituent Assembly. Russia. 1918 / Transcript and other documents. Comp. T.V. Novitskaya. – M.: Russian Open University, 1991. - P. 14–160.

Boffa J. History of the Soviet Union. From the revolution to the second world war. Lenin and Stalin 1917-1941 / translation by I.V. Levina. – M.: International Relations, 1990. - P. 256-632.

Novitskaya T.E. Constituent Assembly. Russia. 1918 / Transcript and other documents. Comp. T.V. Novitskaya. – M.: Russian Open University, 1991. - P. 18–160.

Constituent Assembly in Russia (1917-1918). Convocation and reasons for dissolution

The convening of the Constituent Assembly as the body of the supreme democratic power was the demand of all socialist parties in pre-revolutionary Russia - from the people's socialists to the Bolsheviks. Elections to the Constituent Assembly took place at the end of 1917. The overwhelming majority of voters participating in the elections, about 90%, voted for socialist parties, socialists made up 90% of all deputies (the Bolsheviks received only 24% of the votes).

But the Bolsheviks came to power under the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” They could maintain their autocracy, obtained at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, only by relying on the Soviets, opposing them to the Constituent Assembly. At the Second Congress of Soviets, the Bolsheviks promised to convene a Constituent Assembly and recognize it as the authority on which “the solution of all major issues depends,” but they were not going to fulfill this promise. The Bolsheviks considered the Constituent Assembly their main rival in the struggle for power. Immediately after the elections, Lenin warned that the Constituent Assembly would “doom itself to political death” if it opposed Soviet power.

Lenin took advantage of the fierce struggle within the Socialist Revolutionary Party and formed a political bloc with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. Despite differences with them on issues of a multi-party system and the dictatorship of the proletariat, a separate world, and freedom of the press, the Bolsheviks received the support they needed to stay in power. The Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionaries, believing in the unconditional prestige and invulnerability of the Constituent Assembly, did not take real steps to protect it.

The Constituent Assembly was convened on January 5, 1918. The Socialist Revolutionary Chernov was elected Chairman of the Constituent Assembly. Of the three main groups of political parties, the majority was received by the socialists (Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries - about 60% of the votes), the Bolsheviks - 25%, and the bourgeois parties - 15%. Thus, under a parliamentary system, the Socialist Revolutionary Party could form a government. In general, the elections reflected a nationwide turn towards socialism. However, the bulk of the population (peasants) understood socialism not like the Bolsheviks (from private property and the market), but in their own way - as a fair system that would give them peace and land.

The Constituent Assembly opened on January 5, 1918 in the Tauride Palace. In his speech, Chernov stated the desirability of working with the Bolsheviks, but on the condition that they would not try to “push the Soviets against the Constituent Assembly.” The Soviets, as class organizations, “should not pretend to replace the Constituent Assembly,” Chernov emphasized. He declared his readiness to put all the main issues to a referendum in order to put an end to the undermining of the Constituent Assembly, and in his person - under democracy. The Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries perceived Chernov's speech as an open confrontation with the Soviets and demanded a break for factional meetings. They never returned to the meeting room.

The members of the Constituent Assembly nevertheless opened a debate and decided not to disperse until the discussion of the documents prepared by the Socialist Revolutionaries on land, the political system, and peace was completed. But the head of the guard, sailor Zheleznyak, demanded that the deputies leave the meeting room, saying that “the guard is tired.”

On January 6, the Council of People's Commissars adopted theses on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, and on the night of the 7th, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved the decrees.

Lenin's opponent in the struggle for power, Chernov, addressed him with an open letter, reminding him of his “solemn and oath promises to submit to the will of the Constituent Assembly,” and then dispersed it. He called Lenin a liar, “who stole the people’s trust with deceitful promises and then blasphemously trampled on his word, his promises.”

The Constituent Assembly was an important stage in the struggle of Lenin, the Bolsheviks and their political opponents in the socialist camp. They gradually cut off its most right-wing parts - first the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks in the days of the October Revolution of 1917, then the socialists in the Constituent Assembly, and finally, their allies - the left Socialist Revolutionaries.

Constituent Assembly Constituent Assembly

in Russia, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish the form of government and draw up a constitution. In 1917, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries and other parties. The convening of the Constituent Assembly was considered the main task of the Provisional Government, which it announced on March 2 (15). The elections took place from November 12 (25), 1917 to the beginning of 1918. About 59% of voters voted for the Socialist Revolutionaries, 25% for the Bolsheviks, 5% for the Cadets, about 3% for the Mensheviks, 715 deputies were elected. The meeting took place on January 5 (18), 1918 in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd, 410 deputies appeared. The centrist Socialist Revolutionaries predominated; Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries - 155 people (38.5%). It refused to accept the ultimatum of the Bolsheviks to recognize the decrees of the Congresses of Soviets and was dispersed at 5 o'clock in the morning on January 6 (19). The day before, demonstrations in support of the Constituent Assembly were shot. On the night of January 7 (20), the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly, which contributed to the aggravation of civil confrontation in the country.

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY - in constitutional law (cm. LAW (system of norms)) the highest state representative body elected for the purpose of developing and adopting a constitution. Along with the constituent power, the constituent assembly usually also exercises the functions of a legislative body during its activities. The institution of a constituent assembly appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries. Synonymous with the constituent assembly are the terms “constitutional assembly” (from the English constituent assembly) and “constituent” (from the French assemblee constituante).
The Constituent Assembly in Russia was created after the overthrow of the autocracy on the basis of universal suffrage to establish a form of government and develop a constitution. The Constituent Assembly was supposed to establish the foundations government system Russia, principles of land use, decide national question and conclude a just peace, crown the victorious revolution with the triumph of law and order. All political parties in Russia supported the idea of ​​convening a Constituent Assembly. March 2 (15), 1917 Provisional Government (cm. PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT) proclaimed elections to the Constituent Assembly as its main political task.
The idea of ​​convening the Constituent Assembly had historical roots going back to the Zemsky Sobors (cm. Zemstvo Cathedrals), she was supported by the entire population of the country. “We do not at all deny the right of the Constituent Assembly to finally establish national ownership of land and the conditions for its use,” wrote V.I. Lenin (cm. LENIN Vladimir Ilyich) peasant congress in May 1917.
The meeting took place on January 5 (18), 1918 in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd, 410 deputies appeared. The centrist Socialist Revolutionaries predominated; Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries - 155 people (38.5%). It refused to accept the ultimatum of the Bolsheviks to recognize the decrees of the Congresses of Soviets and was dispersed at 5 o'clock in the morning on January 6 (19). On the night of January 6–7 (20), the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly, which contributed to the aggravation of civil confrontation in the country.
But the Provisional Government did not show persistence in convening the Constituent Assembly; the election dates were repeatedly postponed due to organizational difficulties. Elections to the Constituent Assembly took place from November 12 (25), 1917 until the beginning of 1918. About 59% of voters voted for the Socialist Revolutionaries, 25% for the Bolsheviks, 5% for the Cadets, and about 3% for the Mensheviks. A total of 715 deputies were elected: 412 Socialist Revolutionaries (of which 30 were Left Socialist Revolutionaries), 183 Bolsheviks, 17 Mensheviks, 81 from national groups, 16 Cadets, 2 People's Socialists, the party affiliation of four deputies is unknown.
Since the election process was delayed, those who came to power after the October Revolution (cm. OCTOBER REVOLUTION 1917) The Bolsheviks decided to take advantage of the current situation. The Constituent Assembly was supposed to begin its work in Petrograd on November 28, 1917. The day before, on November 26, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution according to which the quorum of the Constituent Assembly was set at four hundred deputies, citing the fact that railway transport was paralyzed and many deputies could not get to Petrograd on time. Then the “Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly” proposed devoting the first meetings mainly to organizational issues, and after the situation had stabilized, to engage in legislative activities.
However, the Bolsheviks did not intend to lose the initiative from their hands. Immediately before the supposed opening of the Constituent Assembly, members of the “Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly”, cadet deputies P.D., were arrested. Dolgorukov (cm. DOLGORUKOV Pavel Dmitrievich), F.F. Kokoshkin (cm. KOKOSHKIN Fedor Fedorovich (politician)), A.I. Shingarev (cm. SHINGAREV Andrey Ivanovich)(as members of the counter-revolutionary party) and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. “This is our answer to the peasants who chose without knowing who they chose,” V.I. explained the arrests. Lenin. After various delays, the opening of the Constituent Assembly was scheduled for January 5, 1918.
On the eve of this day, V.I.’s car Lenin was fired upon by unknown persons, no one was injured, but the reaction of the Bolsheviks was harsh, they deprived the Constituent Assembly of its legislative prerogatives (resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of January 3, 1918), predetermining its dispersal. On the morning of January 5, 1918, the Bolsheviks shot a demonstration under the slogan “All power to the Constituent Assembly.” At the meeting of the Constituent Assembly Y.M. Sverdlov (cm. SVERDLOV Yakov Mikhailovich) on behalf of the Bolshevik Party announced the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People” (cm. DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WORKING AND EXPLOITED PEOPLE)"and ultimatically demanded that the Constituent Assembly accede to this document, recognize Soviet power and approve all its decrees.
Representative of the majority, Socialist Revolutionary V.M. Chernov (cm. CHERNOV Viktor Mikhailovich), insisted on the status of the Constituent Assembly as the supreme power, the Menshevik representative I.G. Tsereteli (cm. TSERETELI Irakli Georgievich) called for the transfer of full power to the Constituent Assembly. In response, the Bolsheviks, led by V.I. Lenin, left the meeting room of the Tauride Palace. V.I. Lenin did not speak at the meeting of the Constituent Assembly. On the night of January 5-6, 1918, the Constituent Assembly adopted a resolution stating that the supreme power in the country belongs to the competent, legally elected Constituent Assembly, to which the “Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government until the Constituent Assembly” (as it was fully officially called) must obey Lenin's Council of People's Commissars). Then the members of the Constituent Assembly moved on to discuss the agrarian question.
Meanwhile, the situation in the hall became tense, armed soldiers and sailors, many of whom were drunk, expressed open intentions to deal with the “bourgeoisie”, aimed their rifles at Chernov, and defiantly cocked their bolts. At about five o'clock in the morning the chief of the guard, anarchist sailor A.G. Zheleznyakov (cm. ZHELEZNYAKOV Anatoly Grigorievich), declared to the presiding Chernov: “The guard is tired.” The meeting was closed. The next day, deputies were not allowed into the Tauride Palace.
On the night of January 6–7, drunken sailors stabbed Kokoshkin and Shingarev to death in their hospital beds in the infirmary of the Peter and Paul Fortress; that same night, according to the report of V.I. Lenin, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to dissolve the Constituent Assembly. Subsequently, many members of the Constituent Assembly took an active part in the fight against the Bolsheviks. Among them: E.F. Rogovsky in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Siberia; N.V. Tchaikovsky (cm. TCHAIKOVSKY Nikolai Vasilievich) in the north of Russia; S.L. Petlyura (cm. PETLYURA Simon Vasilievich) in Ukraine. Meetings of members of the Constituent Assembly were held in exile; the most representative one took place in Paris in 1921, where V.M. Chernov, P.N. Miliukov (cm. MILYUKOV Pavel Nikolaevich), A.F. Kerensky (cm. KERENSKY Alexander Fedorovich).

Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what the “Constituent Assembly” is in other dictionaries:

Constituent Assembly- Constituent Assembly, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish the form of government and draw up a constitution. After the February Revolution with the formation of the Provisional Government of 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 develop a constitution for Russia. In 1917, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks,... ... Russian history

Modern encyclopedia

A representative institution created by universal suffrage to establish a form of government and formulate 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 the 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 highest government agency, elected for the purpose of developing and (or) adopting a constitution. Along with this constituent power of the U.S. During the period of its activity, it usually also carries out the functions of a legislative body.... ... Legal Dictionary

ESTABLISH, hedgehog, eat; ezhedenny (yon, ena); Sov., that. Found, start, create. U. scientific society. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

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

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY- the institution of constitutional law is the highest state body elected for the purpose of developing and (or) adopting a constitution. U.S. During the period of its activity it usually carries out the same. functions of the legislative body. Institute of U.S. appeared during the period... Legal encyclopedia