Abstract: education in the USSR. Theory and practice of the Bolshevik national policy. education of the USSR As well as other works that may interest you

Prerequisites for the formation of the USSR

Before being torn apart by the consequences civil war The problem of creating a unified administrative-territorial system became acute for the young state. At that time, the RSFSR accounted for 92% of the country's area, whose population later accounted for 70% of the newly formed USSR. The remaining 8% was shared among the Soviet republics: Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Federation, which united Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in 1922. Also in the east of the country, the Far Eastern Republic was created, which was administered from Chita. Central Asia at that time consisted of two people's republics - Khorezm and Bukhara.

In order to strengthen the centralization of control and concentration of resources on the fronts of the civil war, the RSFSR, Belarus and Ukraine united into an alliance in June 1919. This made it possible to unite the armed forces, with the introduction of a centralized command (the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR and the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army). Representatives from each republic were delegated to government bodies. The agreement also provided for the resubordination of some republican branches of industry, transport and finance to the corresponding People's Commissariats of the RSFSR. This new state formation went down in history under the name “contractual federation.” Its peculiarity was that Russian authorities departments were given the opportunity to function as the only representatives of the supreme power of the state. At the same time, the communist parties of the republics became part of the RCP (b) only as regional party organizations.
The emergence and escalation of confrontation.
All this soon led to disagreements between the republics and the control center in Moscow. After all, having delegated their main powers, the republics lost the opportunity to make decisions independently. At the same time, the independence of the republics in the sphere of governance was officially declared.
Uncertainty in defining the boundaries of the powers of the center and the republics contributed to the emergence of conflicts and confusion. Sometimes state authorities looked ridiculous, trying to bring to a common denominator nationalities whose traditions and culture they knew nothing about. For example, the need for the existence of a subject on the study of the Koran in the schools of Turkestan gave rise in October 1922 to an acute confrontation between the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the People's Commissariat for Nationalities Affairs.
Creation of a commission on relations between the RSFSR and independent republics.
The decisions of the central bodies in the economic sphere did not find proper understanding among the republican authorities and often led to sabotage. In August 1922, in order to radically change the current situation, the Politburo and the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) considered the issue “On the relationship between the RSFSR and the independent republics”, creating a commission that included republican representatives. V.V. Kuibyshev was appointed chairman of the commission.
The commission instructed I.V. Stalin to develop a project for the “autonomization” of the republics. The presented decision proposed to include Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in the RSFSR, with the rights of republican autonomy. The draft was sent to the Republican Central Committee of the party for consideration. However, this was done only to obtain formal approval of the decision. Considering the significant infringements on the rights of the republics provided for by this decision, J.V. Stalin insisted on not using the usual practice of publishing the decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) if it was adopted. But he demanded that the Republican Central Committees of parties be obliged to strictly implement it.
Creation by V.I. Lenin of the concept of a state based on the Federation.
Ignoring the independence and self-government of the country's constituent entities, while simultaneously tightening the role of the central authorities, was perceived by Lenin as a violation of the principle of proletarian internationalism. In September 1922, he proposed the idea of creating a state on the principles of a federation. Initially, the name was proposed - the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia, but was later changed to the USSR. Joining the union was supposed to be a conscious choice of each sovereign republic, based on the principle of equality and independence, with the general authorities of the federation. V.I. Lenin believed that a multinational state must be built based on the principles of good neighborliness, parity, openness, respect and mutual assistance.

"Georgian conflict". Strengthening separatism.
At the same time, in some republics there is a shift towards the isolation of autonomies, and separatist sentiments intensify. For example, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia flatly refused to remain part of the Transcaucasian Federation, demanding that the republic be accepted into the union as an independent entity. Fierce polemics on this issue between representatives of the Central Committee of the Georgian Party and the Chairman of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee G.K. Ordzhonikidze ended in mutual insults and even assault on the part of Ordzhonikidze. The result of the policy of strict centralization on the part of the central authorities was the voluntary resignation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia in its entirety.
To investigate this conflict, a commission was created in Moscow, the chairman of which was F. E. Dzerzhinsky. The commission took the side of G.K. Ordzhonikidze and severely criticized the Central Committee of Georgia. This fact outraged V.I. Lenin. He repeatedly tried to condemn the perpetrators of the clash in order to exclude the possibility of infringement on the independence of the republics. However, progressive illness and civil strife in the Central Committee of the country's party did not allow him to complete the job.

Year of formation of the USSR

Officially date of formation of the USSR– this is December 30, 1922. On this day, at the first Congress of Soviets, the Declaration on the Creation of the USSR and the Union Treaty were signed. The Union included the RSFSR, the Ukrainian and Belarusian socialist republics, as well as the Transcaucasian Federation. The Declaration formulated the reasons and defined the principles for the unification of the republics. The agreement delimited the functions of republican and central government bodies. The state bodies of the Union were entrusted with foreign policy and trade, routes of communication, communications, as well as issues of organizing and controlling finance and defense.
Everything else belonged to the sphere of government of the republics.
The All-Union Congress of Soviets was proclaimed the highest body of the state. In the period between congresses, the leading role was assigned to the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, organized on the principle of bicameralism - the Union Council and the Council of Nationalities. M.I. Kalinin was elected chairman of the Central Election Commission, co-chairmen were G.I. Petrovsky, N.N. Narimanov, A.G. Chervyakov. The Government of the Union (Council of People's Commissars of the USSR) was headed by V.I. Lenin.

Financial and economic development
The unification of the republics into the Union made it possible to accumulate and direct all resources to eliminate the consequences of the civil war. This contributed to the development of the economy, cultural relations and made it possible to begin to get rid of distortions in the development of individual republics. Characteristic feature The formation of a nationally oriented state became the government's efforts in matters of harmonious development of the republics. It was for this purpose that some industries were moved from the territory of the RSFSR to the republics of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, providing them with highly qualified labor resources. Funding was provided for work to provide the regions with communications, electricity, and water resources for irrigation in agriculture. The budgets of the remaining republics received subsidies from the state.
Social and cultural significance
The principle of building a multinational state based on uniform standards had a positive impact on the development of such spheres of life in the republics as culture, education and healthcare. In the 20-30s, schools were built throughout the republics, theaters were opened, and the media and literature were developed. Scientists have developed writing for some peoples. Healthcare emphasizes system development medical institutions. For example, if in 1917 there were 12 clinics and only 32 doctors in the entire North Caucasus, then in 1939 there were 335 doctors in Dagestan alone. Moreover, 14% of them were from the original nationality.

Reasons for the formation of the USSR

It happened not only thanks to the initiative of the leadership of the Communist Party. Over the course of many centuries, the prerequisites for the unification of peoples into a single state were formed. The harmony of the unification has deep historical, economic, military-political and cultural roots. The former Russian Empire united 185 nationalities and nationalities. They all went through a common historical path. During this time, a system of economic and economic ties was formed. They defended their freedom, absorbed the best of cultural heritage each other. And, naturally, they did not feel hostility towards each other.
It is worth considering that at that time the entire territory of the country was surrounded by hostile states. This also had no less influence on the unification of peoples.

FEDERAL PENALTY SERVICE
FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION VORONEZH INSTITUTE OF THE FSIN OF RUSSIA

Department of Theory and History of State and Law

TEST

in the discipline “history of the national state and law”

Topic: “Education of the USSR: projects and reality”

correspondence student

Chashkov S.G.

teacher of the department

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Lieutenant of Internal Service

Stukalov P.B.

VORONEZH 2010

Content

Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 3
Prerequisites for the formation of the USSR……………………………………………………………. 4 - 5
Education projects of the USSR………………………………………………………………. 5 - 8
Stages of the formation of the USSR……………………………………………………………. 8
Education of the USSR……………………………………………………… 9 - 10
Nation-state building (1920s - 1930s)……. 10 - 25
Conclusion…………………………………………………… ……………. 26
References…………………………………………………… …… 27

Introduction

After the revolution, a number of autonomous and independent national republics arose on the territory of the former Russian Empire. Strong ties were established between the Soviet republics. To establish a union of nations, the necessary conditions were present: the peoples made a revolution in close unity, they had one goal - socialism. An important factor of unity was the existence of a common Communist Party - the RCP (b). The communist parties of the republics acted under her leadership and enjoyed the rights of regional committees.
Defending the gains of the revolution, including their national independence, the RSFSR and other Soviet republics, even during the years of the civil war, concluded a number of bilateral treaties with each other, thus creating a close military-political alliance. Ties between the republics grew stronger year by year. Thus, according to an agreement signed in November 1920, a number of state bodies of the RSFSR and Azerbaijan were united in the fields of defense, economics, foreign trade, food, transport, finance and communications. Subsequently, at the end of 1920 - beginning of 1921, similar bilateral agreements with the RSFSR were also concluded by Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia and Georgia. This was an important stage in nation-state building.
One of the alternative forms of unification of the republics was provided by the experience of Transcaucasia. In the spring of 1922, a plenipotentiary conference of representatives of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR, the Central Executive Committee of the Armenian SSR and the Central Executive Committee of the Georgian SSR approved an agreement on the creation of the Federative Union of Socialist Soviet Republics of Transcaucasia. A confederal union was formed, the highest body of which was the Plenipotentiary Conference of Representatives elected in equal numbers by the governments of the republics, and the joint executive body was the Union Council elected by the conference.
In December 1922, the First Transcaucasian Congress of Soviets transformed the Federal Assembly of the USSR into a single Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR), while maintaining the independence of the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Georgian SSRs that were part of it. The Constitution of the TSFSR was also approved.
Thus, by the beginning of the twenties, three main forms of socialist federation emerged: one was based on autonomy (the RSFSR), the other was expressed in bilateral agreements of the RSFSR with other independent Soviet republics, the third was based on a new (compared to the RSFSR) form of federation, in which its constituent republics had broader rights than the autonomous ones in the RSFSR.

Prerequisites for the formation of the USSR
Ideological background. The October Revolution of 1917 led to the collapse of the Russian Empire. There was a disintegration of the former unified state space, which had existed for several centuries. However, the Bolshevik idea of world revolution and the creation in the future of the World Federative Republic of Soviets forced a new unification process. The RSFSR played an active role in the development of the unification movement, whose authorities were interested in restoring a unitary state on the territory of the former Russian Empire.
National policy of the Bolsheviks. The national policy of the Soviet state contributed to the growth of trust in the central government. It was based on the principle of equality of all nations and nationalities and the right of nations to self-determination, enshrined in the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia (November 2, 1917) and the Declaration of the Rights of Working and Exploited People (January 1918). The beliefs, customs, national and cultural institutions of the peoples of the Volga region and Crimea, Siberia and Turkestan, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia were declared free and inviolable, which caused an increase in confidence in the new government not only from foreigners in Russia (who made up 57% of the population), but also in European countries , Asia. The right to self-determination was exercised in 1917 by Poland and Finland.
The TSFSR played a major role in the formation of the USSR. The economic unification of all three Transcaucasian republics was important for all Russians. This association caused a heated debate. The main issue of the dispute was the principles of the NEP and the creation (unification) of states. The dispute was also about whether the principles of NEP were applicable to the unification of all republics. NEP demanded the restoration of state unity on the basis of a confederation. A unified management of the railways of Transcaucasia was organized. But the Bolsheviks underestimated the national question. A policy of forced rapprochement and unification of nationalities began. In July 1922, the FSSSRZ project was proposed. At the same time, the main powers remained in the hands of the republics. It was a union based on confederations. Ordzhonikidze was very dissatisfied with this. Stalin, like Ordzhonikidze, was a supporter of strict centralization. At the end of August, Stalin proposed a project in which he proposed “... to adapt the form of relations between the centers and the outskirts to the actual relationships, due to which the outskirts must, of course, obey the center in everything...”.
Throughout the rest of the territory of the former Russian Empire, national governments fought for national independence during the Civil War (including the Ukrainian Central Rada, the Belarusian Socialist Community, the Turkic Musavat party in Azerbaijan, the Kazakh Alash, etc.).
Political background. In connection with the victory of Soviet power on the main territory of the former Russian Empire, another prerequisite for the unification process arose - the unified nature of the political system (dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of Soviets), similar features of the organization state power and management. In most republics, power belonged to national communist parties. The instability of the international position of the young Soviet republics in the conditions of a capitalist encirclement also dictated the need for unification.
Economic and cultural prerequisites. The need for unification was also dictated by the historical common destinies of the peoples of a multinational state, and the presence of long-term economic and cultural ties. An economic division of labor has historically developed between individual regions of the country: the industry of the center supplied the regions of the southeast and north, receiving in return raw materials - cotton, timber, flax; the southern regions were the main suppliers of oil, coal, iron ore, etc. The significance of this division increased after the end of the Civil War, when the task arose of restoring the destroyed economy and overcoming the economic backwardness of the Soviet republics. Textile and wool factories, tanneries, printing houses were transferred to the national republics and regions from the central provinces, doctors and teachers were sent. The GOELRO (electrification of Russia) plan adopted in 1920 also provided for the development of the economy of all regions of the country.

USSR education projects

In the spring and summer of 1922, party organizations in Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia, discussing ways of closer unification with the RSFSR, turned to the Central Committee of the RCP (b) with a request to develop the principles and forms of a unified Soviet state. A commission of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) was created from representatives of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Central Committee of the communist parties of the republics. The chairman of the commission was J.V. Stalin, who, since the creation of the first Soviet government, headed the People's Commissariat for National Affairs.
During the work of the commission, I.V. Stalin put forward a plan for “autonomization,” which provided for the entry of the Soviet republics into the RSFSR with the rights of autonomous republics. At the same time, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars and the STO of the RSFSR remained the highest bodies of state power and administration.
Stalin's plan for "autonomization" was the natural outcome of the struggle between those who, under the communist flag, moved towards isolationism and separatism, and those who sought to achieve the unity of the republics under the auspices of the central Moscow government. As separatist sentiments among the National Communists intensified, the position of the centralist wing of the party strengthened significantly. The idea of uniting republics with the rights of autonomy within the RSFSR, which, in addition to I.V. Stalin, was defended by V.M. Molotov, G.K. Ordzhonikidze, G.Ya. Sokolnikov, G.V. Chicherin and others, matured not only in the highest echelons power, but was also nominated at lower levels state apparatus and had many supporters among the communists of the outskirts.
The project was approved by the party leadership of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the RCP (b).
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia opposed it, saying that unification in the form of autonomy was premature, the unification of economic and general policy necessary, but while maintaining all the attributes of independence. In fact, this meant the formation of a confederation of Soviet republics, based on the unity of military, political, diplomatic and partly economic activities.
In general, without objecting to the resolution, the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of Belarus expressed preference for contractual relations between independent union republics.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not discuss the project, but stated that it was based on the principle of Ukrainian independence.
The situation changed when, on September 23, 1922, representatives of the republics were summoned to a meeting of the commission of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the issue “On the relationship between the RSFSR and the independent republics.” Already on the first day, representatives of all republics voted for J.V. Stalin’s project, with the exception of the representative of Georgia who abstained. On September 24 everything was settled controversial issues– the center made some concessions. The republics were allowed to have their representatives in the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, coordinate the appointment of authorized all-Union People's Commissariats, and appoint their representatives to the foreign missions of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The People's Commissariat of Finance was transferred from the all-Union to the category of Union-Republican. The commission accepted the project as a basis and recommended it to the plenum of the Central Committee.
However, V.I. Lenin, who was ill and could not take part in the work of the commission, rejected the idea of autonomization. On September 26, 1922, he sent a letter to members of the Politburo in which he sharply criticized the “autonomization” project and formulated the idea of creating a union of equal Soviet republics. He proposed replacing the formula for the “entry” of the republics into the RSFSR with the principle of their “unification together with the RSFSR” in the union Soviet socialist state on the basis of complete equality. Lenin emphasized the need to create all-Union bodies that would stand over the RSFSR to the same extent as over other republics. Upholding the principle complete equality uniting Soviet national republics, he wrote: “...we recognize ourselves as equal in rights with the Ukrainian SSR and others, and together and on an equal basis with them we are entering a new union, a new federation, the “Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia” 1 . J.V. Stalin was forced to admit his plan for autonomization was erroneous.
On October 6, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee approved the position of V.I. Lenin and adopted a new resolution on its basis.
On December 18, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee adopted the draft Union Treaty.
During December 1922, the Congresses of Soviets of Belarus, Ukraine and the Trans-SFSR adopted resolutions on the formation of the USSR and elected delegations to the First All-Union Congress of Soviets.
The X All-Russian Congress of Soviets met on December 23, 1922. It was attended by over two thousand delegates with casting and advisory votes.
J.V. Stalin made a report on the formation of the USSR. He announced a draft resolution approved by the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and including those provisions that were adopted by the congresses of other republics: voluntariness and equality of republics with each of them retaining the right to freely secede from the Union.
On December 27, 1922, the X All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted the resolution on the formation of the USSR proposed by the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The congress ended with the excited words of M.I. Kalinin, met with prolonged applause: “I see the red banner with the five sacred letters of the RSFSR fluttering above us. And we, the delegates of the Tenth Congress of Soviets, plenipotentiary representatives of the entire Soviet Russian Federation, bow this dear, the banner of the Union of Soviet Republics, covered with battles and victories, strengthened by the sacrifices of workers and peasants. We see how the new red banner of the Union of Soviet Republics is already rising. I see, comrades, the banner of this banner in the hands of Comrade Lenin. 2 .
That's all preparatory work the formation of the Union was completed. The last word remained with the First All-Union Congress of Soviets.

Stages of formation of the USSR

Military-political union. The war and especially foreign intervention demonstrated the need for a defensive alliance. In the summer of 1919, a military-political union of Soviet republics was formed. On June 1, 1919, a decree was signed on the unification of the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus to fight world imperialism. A unified military command was approved, economic councils, transport, commissariats of finance and labor were united. It is clear that in those conditions, the management of the unified financial system was carried out from Moscow, just as national military formations were completely subordinate to the High Command of the Red Army. The military-political unity of the Soviet republics played a huge role in the defeat of the joint intervention forces.
Organizational and economic union. In 1920 - 1921 Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan have concluded military-economic agreements with each other. During this period, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR included representatives of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian republics, and the unification of some people's commissariats began. As a result, the Supreme Economic Council of the RSFSR actually turned into a management body for the industry of all republics. In February 1921, the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR was created, headed by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky, also called upon to lead the implementation of a unified economic plan. In August 1921, the Federal Committee for Land Affairs was created in the RSFSR, which regulated the development of agricultural production and land use throughout the country. Since the spring of 1921, in response to the instructions of V.I. Lenin on the economic unification of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan began the creation of the Transcaucasian Federation, which took shape organizationally in March 1922 (ZSFSR).
Diplomatic Union. In February 1922 in Moscow, a meeting of representatives of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Bukhara, Khorezm and the Far Eastern Republic instructed the delegation of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to represent at the international conference in Genoa on the economic restoration of Central and Eastern Europe (April 1922) interests of all Soviet republics, to conclude any treaties and agreements on their behalf. The delegation of the RSFSR was replenished with representatives of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.
Education USSR

First All-Union Congress of Soviets. The First Congress of Soviets of the USSR opened on December 30, 1922. 2,215 delegates took part in it. The numerical composition of delegations from the republics was determined in proportion to the size of their population. The Russian delegation was the largest - 1,727 people. I.V. made a report on the formation of the USSR. Stalin. The congress basically approved the Declaration and Treaty on the formation of the USSR as part of four republics - the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Trans-SFSR. The Declaration legislated the principles of the union state: voluntariness, equality and cooperation based on proletarian internationalism. Access to the union remained open to all Soviet republics. The treaty determined the procedure for individual republics to join the USSR, the right of free secession, and the competence of the highest bodies of state power. The Congress elected the Central Executive Committee USSR(CEC) is the supreme body of power during the period between congresses.
The Constitution of the USSR was adopted by the Second All-Union Congress of Soviets on January 31, 1924. It stipulated that “the Union republics, in accordance with this Constitution, make changes to their constitutions.” The Constitution consisted of two sections - the “Declaration on the Formation of the USSR” and the “Treaty on the Formation of the USSR”.
The Constitution of the USSR of 1924 is one of the most important documents on the history of the Russian state and law of the 20th century. In December 1922, the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR approved the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR. The treaty was signed by four republics: the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus and the ZSFSR (an alliance of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan). Each of the republics already had its own constitution. It was decided to develop an all-Union constitution, and in January 1923, the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee formed six commissions to prepare the most important parts of the future Basic Law. The Constitution of the USSR of 1924 was adopted by the Second All-Union Congress of Soviets in January 1924, becoming the successor to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918.
It stipulated that “the union republics, in accordance with this Constitution, make changes to their constitutions.” It consisted of two sections – the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR and the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR. Unlike the Basic Law of 1918, the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People” was not included in the new constitution, although it was specifically stated that it was based on its basic provisions. The Constitution of the USSR of 1924 and the republican constitutions actually complemented each other, constituting a single Soviet Constitution. It marked the constitutional consolidation of the formation of the USSR and the division of rights of the USSR Union and the union republics. A single union citizenship was established.
In accordance with the basic provisions of the constitution, the Congress of Soviets of the USSR was declared the supreme body of state power, for the duration of the congresses - the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the USSR, and for the duration of the sessions - the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. The Central Executive Committee was given the right to cancel and suspend acts of any government bodies on the territory of the Union, with the exception of the Congress of Soviets. The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee had the right to cancel and suspend decisions of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), individual people's commissariats of the USSR, as well as the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the union republics. However, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee could only suspend the acts of the Congresses of Soviets of the Union Republics by sending a request for their cancellation to the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.
The USSR Constitution of 1924 differs from Soviet constitutions adopted later. It does not contain characteristics of the social structure, there are no chapters on the rights and responsibilities of citizens, electoral law, local authorities power and management.

Nation-state building (1920s - 1930s)

During the Soviet period, the processes of nation-state building in 1920 - 1930. Due to the dogmatization of science and the dominance of the ideology of Stalinism, they were depicted mainly as a procession from one success to another. In post-Soviet times, the situation has changed dramatically, and now historians openly write about mistakes made in the past related to the establishment of boundaries between autonomies, infringement of the rights of the Russian people, etc.
Of the 136.9 million people who inhabited our country by 1922, about 65 million were non-Russians, many of whom had previously been subjected to national oppression in one form or another. After 1917, the Soviet government set a course to eliminate mutual mistrust of different peoples and overcome their political, socio-economic and cultural backwardness. The reaction of the masses of the national outskirts to the processes that took place after the revolution was, however, far from unambiguous. The positive perception of the new government and the order it introduced was combined with a negative one, and the communists had to take this into account, especially since the economic backwardness of the country and the inability to quickly improve the situation of the population did not contribute to increasing the authority of the Soviet government. According to the reports of the OGPU to Stalin, there were also openly anti-Soviet protests. On the national outskirts it was very difficult to take and maintain power. “Our entire policy in Dagestan,” said a letter from one of the leaders of local communists to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) V. M. Molotov dated July 13, 1921, “can be defined in this way: imagine a man balancing on a rope over an abyss. This person is us and our politics in the conditions of the terrible impoverishment of the country, the scarcity of our resources and the political darkness of the population...". The report of the authorized representative of the Adygea-Cherkessian political department of the GPU (December 1922) reported that the poorest population of the region believed: “Why do we need autonomy, that it gives us nothing good, and more than enough bad... Only the rich are included in the Soviets.” And in some places, some zealous Russian members of the Bolshevik Party, as noted in a closed letter from the secretary of the South-Eastern Bureau of the Central Committee A. I. Mikoyan (September 1923), started a fight against “nascent capital” in the form of indemnities imposed on the “bourgeoisie” , but actually on ordinary people.
From October 1917 to April 1924, the People's Commissariat for Nationalities Affairs operated, playing a leading role in the implementation of the state nationalities policy. His activities were analyzed in detail by V. G. Chebotareva. After the dissolution of the People's Commissariat of National Affairs due to national problems in 1925 - 1938. The department of nationalities and the Council of Nationalities of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR were in charge. At the same time, some of the communists who worked there sincerely sought to reorganize society on revolutionary principles, but, not having the necessary material resources, and often under the influence of internationalist dogmas, they forced the processes taking place in national regions, or mechanically repeated in the republics what was happening in the industrialized Center of Russia. But there were also Soviet-party bureaucrats who defended their narrow departmental bureaucratic interests and did not take into account the interests of the masses, which caused great damage to the establishment of peaceful coexistence of the peoples of the country.
On December 30, 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed as part of the RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, ZSFSR, and already on January 4, 1923, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee formed a commission to develop the first Constitution of the USSR, which separated a number of subcommittees from its composition. Then the fundamental principles of the constitutional order were given by the XII Congress of the RCP (b), which met on April 17 - 23, 1923. Finally, on April 27, 1923, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR created an expanded commission to develop the Constitution of the USSR under the chairmanship of M. I. Kalinin. It included: from the RSFSR 14, from the Ukrainian SSR - 5, from the ZSFSR - 3, from the BSSR - 5 members. Moreover, the RSFSR delegation included 5 representatives of autonomous national republics. This Expanded Commission included representatives of the Central Electoral Commission of all union republics and the former Central Electoral Commission for the development of the Constitution. The commission met until June 1924, and was liquidated by a resolution of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR on April 6, 1925. Along with this, the commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) for the development of the Constitution of the USSR, consisting of 13 people, functioned with representatives along the party line from all the union republics. The Expanded Commission for the Development of the Constitution of the USSR selected a subcommission from its composition, which, on the basis of the Treaty adopted at the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR, developed the text of the Constitution and presented it on June 8, 1923 for discussion by the Expanded Commission. Previously, the draft Constitution was discussed at congresses of Soviets of union republics or sessions of republican Central Election Commissions. The project prepared at the meeting of the Expanded Commission was submitted for consideration to the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), which took place on June 26 - 27, 1923. The Plenum made some additions to strengthen the guarantees of the sovereignty of the union republics, clarifying what was under their jurisdiction. The 2nd session of the USSR Central Executive Committee, which opened on July 6, 1923, decided: “The Basic Law (Constitution) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics should be approved and immediately put into effect.” But the text was finally approved at the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR on January 31, 1924.
The discussion of the text of the Constitution in the Expanded Commission, as evidenced by the transcripts of its meetings, was usually quite heated. Representatives of the Ukrainian delegation were seriously afraid of relapses of Great Russian chauvinism, and already at the first meeting on June 8, 1923, the representative of the Ukrainian delegation D. Z. Manuilsky said: “...I think that we need to read the Constitution point by point. If there is anything there from the unique creativity of Comrade Sapronov, who represents Great Russian nationality, then we can fight back against this.” I will add that disputes constantly broke out in the commission between T.V. Sapronov and the Ukrainian delegation, which did not trust him. It is important to emphasize that parallel draft Constitutions from Belarus, Ukraine and the RSFSR were submitted to the Expanded Commission for consideration. There were also amendments to the official project from the Transcaucasian Federation. As a result, some chapters of the Union Constitution were based on clauses from parallel republican projects.
etc.............

The history of the USSR is a very important period in the history of one sixth of our planet. In addition, this is also an important period in the history of our Motherland. Like any history of great powers, this is a story of great victories and great defeats, it is a story of happiness and hopes for millions of people and a story of tragedies for many. The ideas with which the USSR was created still fascinate huge amount people of different nationalities. There are also those for whom the USSR is associated with the “Evil Empire”. In any case, a person who is proud of the victory in the war that we call the Great Patriotic War, the first manned flight into space, one of the best, is proud of the successes of the USSR. Thus, the history of the USSR is dear to everyone who cherishes the history of Russia.

Education USSR

It is impossible to understand the history of any state without studying the history of the formation of this state. Therefore, it is important to know the history of the formation of the USSR. History takes us back to 1922, when representatives of four Soviet republics signed a document on the formation of a union state. On December 29, this agreement was signed, and the next day the agreement was approved at the All-Union Congress of Soviets. This day, December 30, is the day on which the history of the USSR begins, the formation of which we are considering. The following republics took part in the signing of the agreement in those days: Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Federative Republic, Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus, Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic is a state that included Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The formation of the USSR is associated with the signing of the treaty by the four republics. And it was destroyed in December 1991 by representatives of only three republics, which is one of the reasons for the absolute illegality of the destruction of a single state.
preceded by the February Revolution, the fall of the monarchy, the collapse of the Russian Empire, and a bloody civil war. Under these conditions, the Bolsheviks were able to recreate a unified state. What are the reasons that a large and strong state was again formed on the territory of the collapsed empire?

Education of the USSR: reasons

Long-standing historical connections of the territories that became part of the state. The formation of the USSR did not take place in a vacuum - these territories had long-standing economic, social, and cultural ties, which necessitated the creation of a single state.
Ideological similarity of the political regimes that have developed in the republics. The main ideas that guided the governments of the republics were socialism, internationalism, universal equality, and an imminent world revolution. This pushed for the formation of the USSR.
The hostility of the surrounding states towards the danger rallied the republics among themselves.
Cooperation between the republics began from the very establishment in the republics. During 1920 - 22, various agreements were signed between the republics. The need to create a single state became more and more obvious. There were disputes among the leadership of the RSFSR about how to build a unified state. The autonomists, led by Stalin, assumed that the republics would become part of the RSFSR and would gain autonomy. Opponents of this path, led by Lenin, proposed the unification of equal republics into a federation. As a result, the Leninist version won, and the federal state of the USSR was created.

Introduction

1 The internal political situation after the end of the Civil War

2 Prerequisites for the creation of the USSR

3 Stalin and Lenin projects of the USSR

1 Preparatory work for the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR

2 Adoption of the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR

3 Adoption of the USSR Constitution of 1924

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The relevance of the problem of the formation of the USSR for our time does not become less, the fact is that modern Russia has not completely passed the stage of disintegration. Just look at the events in the North Caucasus and it will become clear that the situation is not at all cloudless. Therefore, for such a multinational state as Russia, the question of state structure is not an abstract topic for conversation. And the example of the collapse of the USSR has not lost its poignancy to this day, because literally at the end of the eighties of the twentieth century, it seemed to many that the superpower was eternal and indestructible. But only a few knew for sure that the last months of the existence of this state had passed.

The appearance of the USSR on the political map of the world was not the emergence of a completely new state; even then they said that it was the Russian Empire in a new form. The novelty was that it was a state with a new type of socio-economic relations. But one should not assume that the USSR was a unique phenomenon at that time, because in Europe after the First World War all significant monarchies disappeared - German, Austrian, Russian and Turkish. But if Austria and Turkey were relegated to the level of states with insignificant political influence, then Russia and Germany, even with territorial losses, remained states with great economic and political potential. And both states eventually evolved from parliamentary states into authoritarian regimes with a socialist ideology. Only in Russia did such an evolution occur earlier and as a result of the Civil War; in Germany the process was peaceful and lasted for fifteen years. And if we add to these two countries Italy, with its fascist regime of Mussolini, as well as a number of totalitarian regimes in small countries, such as Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, as well as France, balancing on the brink of totalitarianism, then it follows admit that the USSR, with its totalitarian regime, was not at all an exception in Europe, and even more so in Asia.

The formation of the USSR was also a natural result of the development of society over the previous sixty years, because Many, not without reason, consider the October Revolution to be a peasant uprising with the goal of redistributing land. It was the peasant reform of 1861, during which the peasants received freedom, but did not receive land, that provoked peasant discontent, which ultimately resulted in a civil war.

The Bolsheviks, who won the war, gave land to the peasants, but the renewed state had to be equipped and streamlined. None of the top leadership of the USSR wanted to lose the lands of Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. But it was necessary to create a new one government organization, which would meet the requirements of the time and public sentiment. A unitary state was no longer suitable, because literally all the peoples inhabiting the territory of the former Russian Empire took an active part in the civil war. After all, one of the slogans that raised the masses to war was the slogan of national self-determination. For this reason alone, it was impossible to build a unitary state.

But the USSR, which managed to defeat Hitler’s Germany, collapsed in peacetime, and the reasons for its collapse lay not in the economic sphere or in the initial mistakes in the project. After all, the economy of the USSR and the standard of living were at a fairly high level; for most republics, leaving the USSR was unprofitable. In addition, internally the USSR was constantly evolving from Stalinist totalitarianism to Gorbachev’s liberalism, and the transformation of the USSR into a liberal, democratic state was only a matter of time. But no one gave the USSR this time.

Therefore, in the early nineties of the twentieth century, there was a lively debate in the media about what was initially flawed in the USSR project and what could be corrected. These disputes are still important today, because it is no secret that the customs and economic union between Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan actually means the beginning of the creation of a new USSR. Therefore, the debate among scientists about the reasons for the creation of the USSR, its disadvantages and advantages, also means that active work is underway towards the construction of a new state entity.

The purpose of this course work there will be a consideration of the issue of creating the USSR and modern approaches to this problem.

During the course work the following tasks will be set:

consider the internal political situation after the end of the Civil War;

study the prerequisites for the creation of the USSR;

identify the differences between the Stalinist and Leninist projects of the USSR;

consider the preparatory work for the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR;

show the adoption of the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR and the Constitution of the USSR of 1924.

Stalinist Leninist Soviet Union

Chapter I. The formation of the USSR in 1922 as a natural process to create a centralized state

1. The internal political situation after the end of the Civil War

The end of the Civil War on the territory of the former Russian Empire marked not only the victory of the radical party that adhered to communist views. The war ended with enormous devastation in the economy, enterprises did not work, agriculture was also undermined, despite the distribution of land to the peasants. But the state of transport communications and communication systems was especially alarming for the new government. After all, everyone understood that the Russian Empire was connected by railways and telegraphs, and the absence of these connecting elements of infrastructure threatened the real collapse of the state. And the leaders of the Bolshevik party did not delude themselves with the fact that in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine or Belarus, Bolsheviks like themselves were in power. Lenin, Trotsky and other Bolshevik leaders studied in schools and universities and were well aware of history, which taught that states fell apart when the central government ceased to control local authorities. And without the punishing right hand of the central government, the degeneration of local authorities occurs very quickly. Moscow's fears were confirmed by the dynamics of the activity of the republican authorities, who began to independently pursue foreign policy in their republics. Thus, the mentioned republics established full-fledged diplomatic relations with Germany, Poland, Turkey and other European countries. Although these steps were approved by Moscow, it was obvious that in the future the republics would consider conducting an independent foreign policy their inalienable right. And, as for domestic politics, by this time the independence of the republics was already quite high. This was especially true of Ukraine, whose leadership did not hesitate to defend the economic interests of its republic. Lenin and Stalin understood that if the process continued like this, then the final collapse of the new Russia would be a matter of time. Therefore, their work on the creation of a union state was aimed precisely at suppressing separatist tendencies in the republics. But both leaders had different views on the design of the future state; if Lenin believed that the republics needed to be given a certain set of freedoms, then Stalin gave his preferences to a strictly centralized state.

Preferences I.V. Stalin had good reasons also because he understood that society after the civil war was like a raging sea, which, even without wind, would not calm down soon. Therefore, this society must be placed within a certain framework, otherwise a new round of civil war cannot be avoided. In addition, I.V. Stalin, by upbringing and inclinations, was an authoritarian person and did not tolerate manifestations of disobedience. Stalin's entire life took place in structures where discipline and diligence were valued above all else, and it did not matter whether it was a theological seminary or a group of militants preparing to rob the Tiflis bank.

2. Prerequisites for the creation of the USSR

But the creation of the USSR in 1922 did not begin out of nowhere; in the summer of 1919, a military-political union of Soviet republics was formed. On June 1, 1919, the decree “On the unification of the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus to fight world imperialism” was signed. The military-political unity of the Soviet republics played a huge role in the defeat of the combined forces of intervention and the White Army. The Soviet republics entered into contractual relations with the RSFSR. In 1920 - 1921 Bilateral agreements were concluded on a military-economic union between Russia and Azerbaijan, a military and economic union between Russia and Belarus, alliance agreements between Russia and Ukraine, Russia and Georgia. During this period, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR included representatives of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian republics, and the unification of some people's commissariats began. As a result, the Supreme Economic Council of the RSFSR actually turned into a management body for the industry of all republics. In February 1921, the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR was created, headed by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky, called upon to lead the implementation of a unified economic plan. Since the spring of 1921, in response to the instructions of V.I. Lenin on the economic unification of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan began the creation of the Transcaucasian Federation (TCFSR), which took shape in March 1922. In February 1922, in Moscow, a meeting of representatives of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Bukhara, Khorezm and the Far Eastern The republic instructed the delegation of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to represent the interests of all Soviet republics at the international conference in Genoa on the economic restoration of Central and Eastern Europe (April 1922), and to conclude any treaties and agreements on their behalf. The delegation of the RSFSR was replenished with representatives of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

The practice of the first years of Soviet power was to create autonomies in Russian Federation on a national, territorial, economic basis. In 1918-1922. peoples, predominantly small and compactly living surrounded by Great Russian lands, received two levels of autonomy within the RSFSR: republican - 11 autonomous republics (Turkestan, Bashkir, Karelian, Buryat, Yakut, Tatar, Dagestan, Mountain, etc.) and regional - 10 regions (Kalmyk, Chuvash, Komi-Zyryan, Adygei, Kabardino-Balkarian, etc.) and 1 autonomous Karelian labor commune (autonomous republic since 1923). The Federation was considered by the Bolsheviks as a transitional stage on the eve of the world revolution.

3. Stalinist and Leninist projects of the USSR

One should not think that the political line of V.I. Lenin and I.V. Stalin was constant throughout their lives, this is completely wrong. The fact is that these people, first of all, were politicians who were fully aware that “one must speak correctly and act as necessary.” In other words, you can proclaim any slogans to the public, make any promises, but in real politics only carefully verified actions should be taken. This was especially clearly manifested in the position of V.I. Lenin regarding the choice of government structure for the future USSR. Even on the eve of the Second Congress of the RSDLP, Lenin specifically dwelled on the national question in several of his articles in the Iskra newspaper. In the article “On the Manifesto of the Union of Armenian Social Democrats,” he, supporting the slogan of self-determination of nations, categorically opposes federalism and focuses on the rapprochement of peoples. At that time, Lenin was an opponent of the federation, considered it a bourgeois institution and recognized territorial-national autonomy only as an exception. After the congress, the Bolsheviks and, above all, Lenin, had to fight against federalism in the Social Democratic Party and at the same time against the principle of cultural-national autonomy. And ten years after the Second Congress, Lenin remained a principled opponent of the federal structure. In this regard, his letter to S.G. deserves attention. Shaumyan dated December 6, 1913, which has repeatedly attracted the attention of specialists in national relations. In this remarkable letter, Lenin considered it necessary to write the following words: “We are for democratic centralism, of course. We are for the Jacobins against the Girondins... We are, in principle, against the federation - it weakens economic ties, it is an unfit type of one state. Do you want to separate? Go to hell if you can break the economic connection. Autonomy is our plan for creating a democratic state.” At the same time, what has long been noted in the research literature, in articles devoted to the Balkan wars of 1912-1913. Lenin emphasized that specific historical conditions may dictate the need for a federation for the purpose of a democratic solution to the national question.

And already during the Civil War there was a final change in V.I.’s views. Lenin on the essence of federation as a method of government. After all, it was clear that it would be very difficult to keep the republics within unitary Russia, and it would be much better to give them the status of republics, even if this status would be largely fictitious. But there will always be an opportunity in the future to increase the independence of the republics in economic and foreign policy issues. Therefore, the project V.I. Lenin on the structure of the USSR reflects his views.

But there was more than one Leninist project; at the same time there was also a project developed by I.V.’s group. Stalin, reflecting his ideas about the state structure.

During the work of the commission, I.V. Stalin put forward an “autonomization” plan, which provided for the entry of the Soviet republics into the RSFSR with the rights of autonomous republics. At the same time, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars and the STO of the RSFSR remained the highest bodies of state power and administration.

Stalin's plan for “autonomization” was the natural outcome of the struggle between those who, under the communist flag, moved toward isolationism and separatism, and those who sought to achieve the unity of the republics under the auspices of the central Moscow government. As separatist sentiments among the National Communists intensified, the position of the centralist wing of the party strengthened significantly. The idea of uniting the republics on the basis of autonomy within the RSFSR, which, in addition to I.V. Stalin was defended by V.M. Molotov, G.K. Ordzhonikidze, G.Ya. Sokolnikov, G.V. Chicherin and others, matured not only in the highest echelons of power, but also advanced to the lower levels of the state apparatus and had many supporters among the communists of the outskirts.

The project was approved by the party leadership of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the RCP (b).

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia opposed it, stating that unification in the form of autonomization was premature, the unification of economic and general policies was necessary, but with the preservation of all the attributes of independence. In fact, this meant the formalization of a confederation of Soviet republics, based on the unity of the military, political, diplomatic and partly - economic activity.

In general, without objecting to the resolution, the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of Belarus expressed preference for contractual relations between independent union republics.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not discuss the project, but stated that it was based on the principle of Ukrainian independence.

The situation changed when, on September 23, 1922, representatives of the republics were summoned to a meeting of the commission of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the issue “On the relationship between the RSFSR and the independent republics.” Already on the first day of the project I.V. Representatives of all republics voted for Stalin, with the exception of the representative of Georgia who abstained. On September 24, all controversial issues were settled - the center made some concessions. The republics were allowed to have their representatives in the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, coordinate the appointment of authorized all-Union People's Commissariats, and appoint their representatives to the foreign missions of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The People's Commissariat of Finance was transferred from the all-Union to the category of Union-Republican. The commission accepted the project as a basis and recommended it to the plenum of the Central Committee.

However, V.I. Lenin, who was ill and could not take part in the work of the commission, rejected the idea of autonomization. On September 26, 1922, he sent a letter to members of the Politburo in which he sharply criticized the “autonomization” project and formulated the idea of creating a union of equal Soviet republics. He proposed replacing the formula for the “entry” of the republics into the RSFSR with the principle of their “unification together with the RSFSR” in the union Soviet socialist state on the basis of complete equality. Lenin emphasized the need to create all-Union bodies that would stand over the RSFSR to the same extent as over other republics. Defending the principle of complete equality of the uniting Soviet national republics, he wrote: “... we recognize ourselves as equal in rights with the Ukrainian SSR and others, and together and on an equal basis with them we are entering a new union, a new federation, the “Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia.” I.V. Stalin was forced to admit his plan for autonomy was erroneous.

October 1922 The Plenum of the Central Committee approved the position of V.I. Lenin and adopted a new resolution on its basis.

Chapter 2. Education of the USSR and nation-state building

1. Preparatory work for the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR

Instructions V.I. Lenin were taken into account by the Central Committee commission. The resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the form of unification of independent Soviet republics (dated October 6, 1922) recognized the need to conclude an agreement between Ukraine, Belarus, the Federation of Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, reserving for each of them the right free secession from the Union. By November 30, the commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) developed the Main Points of the USSR Constitution, which were sent to the communist parties of the republics for discussion. On December 18, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) discussed the draft Treaty on the Formation of the USSR and proposed convening a Congress of Soviets of the USSR.

The resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) said:

"1. Recognize necessary conclusion agreement between Ukraine, Belarus, the Federation of Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the “Union of Socialist Soviet Republics”, reserving for each of them the right to freely secede from the “Union”.

The executive body of the "Union Central Executive Committee" is considered to be the "Union Council of People's Commissars", appointed by the "Union Central Executive Committee".

The decision of the October (1922) Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), drawn up on the basis of the instructions of V.I. Lenin, was the basis for all subsequent work on the organization of the USSR. During November - December 1922, the Communist Party, its Central Committee, as well as party organizations of the republics, in accordance with the instructions of V.I. Lenin, a lot of work was done to prepare the formation of the USSR and develop its constitutional foundations. The main focus was on resolution practical issues, determining the structure of state bodies of the USSR and preparing relevant state acts.

On November 1922, the commission elected by the October Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) discussed the issue “On the procedure for carrying out questions about the unification of Soviet republics into the Union of Republics.” To develop draft Fundamentals of the Constitution and the Treaty on the Unification of the Republics, the commission formed a subcommittee chaired by G.V. Chicherina. At the same meeting, the proposal put forward by V.I. was unanimously adopted. Lenin’s proposal “to create an institution of several chairmen of the Union Central Executive Committee (according to the number of units being united) with their alternate chairmanship,” as well as the proposal of M.I. Kalinin on the structure of the highest bodies of state power and administration of the USSR.

November 1922, the subcommittee decided to take as a basis the draft theses on the Union Constitution proposed by G.V. Chicherin and D.I. Kursky. The subcommission approved the name of the union state - “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, recorded the right of union republics to secede from the Union and a single union citizenship. On November 28, the Central Committee commission approved the subcommittee's draft. On November 30, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) generally approved the Main Points of the USSR Constitution presented by the commission. After this, at meetings of the commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on December 5 and 16, a number of practical issues related to preparations for the Congress of Soviets of the USSR were resolved, and the draft Treaty and Declaration on the Formation of the USSR were approved. The commission decided that these documents would form the Basic Law of the USSR. On December 18, a number of issues related to the work of the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR were considered by the Politburo of the Central Committee. On the same day, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (Bolsheviks), having discussed the same issues, decided that the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR would only basically approve the Declaration and the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, after which they would be discussed and ratified by the Central Executive Committee of the union republics, and then finally approved by the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR. To lead the preparations for the Congress of Soviets, the Plenum of the Central Committee formed a commission. At a meeting of this commission on December 20, it was finally decided to name the union state “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” On December 28, the subcommittee approved the edited text of the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, as well as the draft resolution of the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR, presented by D.I. Kursky. At this point, the preparatory work for the formation of the USSR was largely completed.

2. Adoption of the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR

The First Congress of Soviets of the USSR began its work on December 30, 1922 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Very detailed materials have been preserved about the composition of the congress in many respects. A total of 2,214 delegates arrived at the congress, of which 1,673 had a casting vote and 541 had an advisory vote. There were only 77 women, representing 3.5% of the delegates. In terms of age composition, the congress, of course, was young. Only 2% of the delegates were over 50 years old, 1.2% were younger than 20, and the main group - 45% were delegates from 21 to 30 years old. Next came the age group from 31 to 40 years old, and from 41 to 50 years old there were 7.9%. That is, less than 10% of the delegates at the congress were over 40 years old. A young delegate corps created a young country.

The national composition of the congress was as follows. Russians made up 62.5%, Ukrainians - 8%, Belarusians - 1.1%, Jews - 10.8%, Caucasian peoples - 4.5%, Turkic peoples - 5.7%, Latvians and Estonians - 3.4% and other nationalities - 4%. It turned out that Soviet Union created, first of all, by the Russians and this, of course, corresponded to reality. The social composition of the congress delegates was also taken into account, which is also of significant interest. The share of workers was 44.4%, peasants - 26.8%, intellectuals - 28.8%. In terms of the number of delegates, workers were in first place, significantly surpassing both peasants and intellectuals individually. It is also interesting that there were more intellectuals than peasants, the largest category of the country's population, accounting for approximately 85% of the total population of the country.

Naturally, the party affiliation of the delegates was also taken into account. 94.1% of all delegates belonged to Communist Party, there were 5.7% non-party members and 0.2% of the delegates belonged to other parties, which was only 5 people. Two delegates represented the Jewish Social Democratic Party of Poalei Zion, 1 an individualist anarchist and 2 left-wing socialist federalists of the Caucasus. It can be said without exaggeration that the overwhelming number of participants at the congress were promoters of October, this particular revolution. This is the general picture that gives an idea of those people who had to legislatively decide the issue of creating the Soviet Union.

The agenda consisted of only three issues - a separate consideration of the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR and the elections of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR Union. On the first two points, and in general, the main report of the congress was made by I.V. Stalin. According to him, the old period was ending when the Soviet republics, despite all their joint actions, still walked apart, dealing with issues of their existence, and now, according to him, a new period begins - the period of unification of the republics into a single union state. At the same time, he emphasized that this new period testifies to the desire of the Soviet government to develop into a serious international force capable of changing the international situation in the interests of workers all over the world. Stalin described the opening day of the congress as “the day of triumph of the new Russia over the old, over Russia - the gendarme of Europe, over Russia - the executioner of Asia.”

The international aspect of the creation of the USSR, in general, was emphasized at the congress great value. This emphasized the possibility of other republics joining the USSR, including those where Soviet power had not yet been established. Modern researchers largely adhere to the same opinion that the creation of the USSR was an act of international significance. As B.N Topornin points out. “The answer to this question is not as simple as it might seem at first. Based on the fact that it was concluded by independent Soviet republics, it can be characterized as an international legal act. This assessment dominates today in Soviet legal science.” I.I. Lukashuk also notes: “The Treaty on the Formation of the USSR of 1922 is an international legal treaty, because it was concluded by states that are not members of any state-legal entity.”

But this view of the problem of the formation of the USSR is not the only one, as some researchers believe that relations between the Soviet republics on the eve of the formation of the USSR were of a federal nature. In developing this idea, O.I. Chistyakov points out: “by federal it is customary to understand such relations when individual state entities, having a certain independence, are at the same time connected by the unity of the highest bodies of power, citizenship, army, finance.” Later, O.I. Chistyakov came to a more definite conclusion: “The signing of the Agreement took place on December 30 and took place before the opening of the First All-Union Congress of Soviets. In this regard, the question is: what event should be considered a legal fact?... Another thing became important: what character did the Treaty take after its approval by the supreme authority of the Union? Since the Treaty was adopted by the legislative body of the country, then, in essence, it ceased to be a Treaty, but became law.”

But a completely reasonable argument, which is confirmed precisely by the international legal nature formation of the USSR is the opinion of some legal scholars who point to the following circumstance. Relations between the RSFSR and other republics were of an international nature, because in fact the Russian Empire did not exist; completely new states arose from its ruins after the end of the Civil War. The following fact can be cited as an example. In February 1919, the First All-Belarusian Congress of Soviets even adopted a Declaration on the establishment of federal ties with the fraternal RSFSR. However, no unified federal legislative and executive bodies were created. The existence of a Military Alliance between the republics is pointed out as one of the main evidence of the federal nature of relations. Meanwhile, these authors themselves admit that this union was not enshrined in the corresponding agreement - “Union treaties and other agreements of the RSFSR with independent republics of 1920-21. were not multilateral, but bilateral.”

The most important documents Congress, which can be called historical, was the Declaration and the Treaty. The Declaration spoke of the split of the world into two camps - the camp of capitalism and the camp of socialism. In the camp of capitalism, national enmity, colonialism, national oppression, the tangle of national contradictions becomes more and more entangled there, and the bourgeoisie turns out to be powerless to establish cooperation among peoples. Only the camp of the Soviets under the dictatorship of the proletariat can completely destroy national oppression. Only in this way was it possible to repel attacks by imperialists around the world, both internal and external. But the instability of the international situation creates the danger of new attacks and therefore a united front of the Soviet republics is necessary in the face of capitalist encirclement. But unification into one socialist family is also encouraged by the very structure of Soviet power, international in its class nature. Further, they emphasized both the voluntary nature of the unification, the equality of peoples, and the possibility of access to the Union for other socialist republics, including those that may arise in the future. Each republic was also guaranteed the right to freely secede from the Union. The creation of the Union was seen as an important step towards uniting the workers of all countries into the World Socialist Soviet Republic.

The text of the Declaration differed little from its draft developed by the Commission on October 6 and approved by the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on December 18, 1922. But there were still some differences. In addition to minor stylistic amendments, the phrase “the new union state will be a worthy crowning of the foundations of peaceful coexistence and fraternal cooperation of peoples laid back in October 1917” was included. In the project, this phrase sounded slightly different. The draft also said nothing about the World Socialist Soviet Republic. Another difference, and undoubtedly an important one, was that instead of indicating the need to sign an agreement on the formation of the Union of Socialist Republics of Europe and Asia, as was the case in the draft, it provided for the signing of an agreement on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Thus, the Declaration emphasized both international and internal factors in the unification of the republics, and, first of all, the emphasis was placed on the structure of Soviet power, which was international in its class nature. The Declaration upheld all three main principles of the national policy of the Communist Party, which were clearly visible even on the eve of October Revolution- the principle of internationalism, the principle of the right of nations to self-determination up to the point of secession and the principle of federalism, Soviet federalism, which provided for the radical destruction of national oppression, the creation of an environment of mutual trust and the laying of the foundations for fraternal cooperation of peoples. These principles were actually stated in the Declaration and, among other things, it demonstrated the continuity of the foundations of the new policy laid down in October 1917. The mention of October 1917 was not accidental, and in this regard the new formulation was clearer than that present in the draft , which spoke about the foundations “that were laid five years ago,” that is, when they did not directly talk about October 1917.

The next fundamental document discussed by the First Congress of Soviets was called the “Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” It, in fact, bore the character of the Constitution. Like the draft approved by the party authorities, it consisted of 26 articles. The differences from the project on individual points were not very significant. For example, some details appeared, for example, the number of members of the Central Executive Committee was previously planned at 300 members, and now - 371. A notable innovation was Article 14, where the following resolution was written: “Decrees and resolutions of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Union are printed in the languages commonly used in the Union republics (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian, Turkic).” This was the result of local discussions about the project. The VII All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets, as noted, even used the term “state languages”. In the Constitution of Georgia of March 2, 1922, the Georgian language was declared the state language, but there was also a note about ensuring national minorities the right to free development and use of their native language, not only in their national-cultural, but also in national institutions. The term “state language” does not appear in the Treaty and instead they preferred to write about commonly used languages, listing only six languages. It is curious that the term “Turkic language” appears, by which one can understand the languages of all Turkic peoples, not only Azerbaijani.

The Treaty clearly delineated the functions of the supreme bodies of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars, and the union republics. In particular, the republics were supposed to have their own budgets, which would be components of the all-Union budget, while the list of incomes and amounts of revenue deductions going to the formation of the budgets of the Union republics was to be determined by the Central Executive Committee of the Union.

The Treaty established a single union citizenship for citizens of all union republics, established a flag, coat of arms and state seal The USSR and Moscow was declared the capital. The right of free secession of the union republics and the need to amend the constitutions of the republics in accordance with the Treaty were recognized.

The Congress adopted a resolution approving the Declaration and the Treaty, by virtue of which they were basically approved. But, recognizing the extreme importance of these documents, the Congress decided on the need to listen to the final opinions of all the republics included in the Union, for which they were sent to the Central Executive Committees of the union republics and their reviews were to be presented to the Central Executive Committee of the USSR at its next session. It was decided to approve the final text of the Declaration and Treaty at the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR.

Closing the congress, Kalinin summed up the results of its work, calling it “an event of world importance.” On the same day, December 30, 1922, the First Session of the USSR Central Executive Committee took place, chaired by G.I. Petrovsky.

3. Adoption of the USSR Constitution of 1924

April 1923 The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a resolution on the completion of the activities of all previously formed commissions for the development of individual chapters of the Union Constitution and, in order to prepare the final draft of the Constitution, formed another, the so-called Expanded Commission, which included 25 people representing the Union republics. There were 14 people from the RSFSR, of which 5 were representatives from the autonomous republics, 5 from the Ukrainian SSR, and 3 people each from the BSSR and TSFSR. M.I. Kalinin was placed at the head of the Commission. The activities of this Commission were based on a draft draft of the USSR Constitution drawn up back in February of the same year. In May, a discussion of the draft Constitution took place in special commissions of the Central Executive Committee of the union republics. The expanded commission began its work in the second half of May. An important stage in its work were the meetings of June 8 -16, 1923. On June 13, a resolution was adopted so that before the session of the USSR Central Executive Committee in the Commission, only the draft Constitution (Treaty) should be discussed, first of all, starting to discuss the issue of the all-Union budget, the Supreme Court , about the union coat of arms and flag. Next, it was decided to turn to the consideration of the general provisions on the People's Commissariats and then submit all these issues to the next session of the USSR Central Executive Committee.

It was decided to postpone the provisions on individual People's Commissariats until the next session of the USSR Central Executive Committee. In the meantime, the People's Commissariats were ordered to work on the basis of the previous provisions regarding them. By a special decision of this Commission dated June 16, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR was instructed to “develop the issue of equality of languages in all government and judicial institutions.” Of great interest are not only the specific resolutions of the Expanded Commission, but also the substantive discussion of certain issues. At the very first meeting of the Commission on June 8, an exchange of views took place on the question of whether to call the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR the Constitution of the USSR. H.G. Rakovsky, in general, opposed the use of the term “constitution,” but M.I. Kalinin, D.Z. Manuilsky, M.V. Frunze insisted on the adoption of the constitution. At this meeting, however, it was decided not to prejudge the question of what to call the all-Union fundamental law - the Treaty or the Constitution. This decision was made only at the last meeting, where it was considered appropriate to call the basic law the Constitution of the USSR.

June, the subject of lively discussion was a very important constitutional provision on changing the territory of each of the Soviet republics. N.A. Skrypnik saw a huge difference between the wording of the draft presented by the Central Committee Commission, which stated that “the territory of each of the Soviet republics cannot be changed without consent” and the wording “can be changed only with consent.” The discussion of the item on union citizenship was equally lively, in which a number of members of the Commission took part, including Stalin, with whom Rakovsky again polemicized, however, on a private issue. On June 16, the Commission adopted a resolution to request the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Union to develop the issue of equality of languages in all government and judicial institutions of the USSR. On the same day, a number of other decisions were made on the relationship between the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Union and the Council of People's Commissars and commissariats, on symbolism, etc. In general, on June 16, the Expanded Commission completed an article-by-article consideration of the draft Constitution, adopting the text of the draft.

However, this project was not final either. It was transferred to the constitutional commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and there it was again considered article by article by introducing clarifications into a number of formulations, and then transferred to the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), which met on June 26, 1923. The Plenum heard the report of I.V. Stalin on the Constitution of the USSR and generally approved the presented draft. The project was then discussed at sessions of the Central Executive Committee of the union republics.

The second session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the 10th convocation began its work on June 29, 1923. After listening to the report of T.V. Sapronova, unanimously ratified the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR and the Treaty adopted at the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR, taking into account the amendments made by the Expanded Commission of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. The draft Constitution was also approved by the third session of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee, the third session of the Central Executive Committee of Belarus and the second session of the Central Executive Committee of Transcaucasia. The next important step towards the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR was the Second Session of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, which opened on July 6, 1923. Information about the work of the Constitutional Commission was heard and the draft Constitution was again discussed chapter by chapter. On the same day, the session adopted a resolution on the Constitution of the USSR. The very first paragraph of this resolution proclaimed: “The Basic Law (Constitution) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shall be approved and immediately put into effect.” The same resolution provided for the Constitution to be submitted for final approval by the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR, and also before the formation of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, all powers by virtue of Chapters 4 and 5 of the Constitution of the USSR were to be assigned to the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, elected at the 1st session of the Central Executive Committee of the Union SSR on December 30, 1922, consisting of 19 members.

July 1923, a resolution of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR was also adopted, which emphasized that in accordance with the powers given to it by the second session of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the Presidium “began work as the highest authority of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, according to Chapter. fifth Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." On the same day, the Presidium also decided to approve and publish all decrees and resolutions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and its Presidium, so that they would have force throughout the entire territory of the USSR, and also invited the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to immediately begin its activities by virtue of the sixth chapter of the Constitution USSR. It was also proposed that the People's Commissariats of the Union begin their activities, form the Council of Labor and Defense, establish the Central Statistical Directorate of the USSR, transform the State Bank of the RSFSR into the State Bank of the USSR, appoint collegiums of people's commissariats of the USSR, form the State Planning Committee of the USSR and other union institutions. In parallel, it was prescribed to form commissions to develop relevant regulations on the People's Commissariats, the Supreme Court and the OGPU of the USSR, as well as on the budget of the USSR.

By virtue of these resolutions, corresponding commissions were created. So, then on July 13, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR created a Commission of 10 people headed by Kalinin, which was tasked with developing regulations on the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, general position about the People's Commissariats and about each People's Commissariat separately. At the same time, a Commission was created to develop regulations on the budget of the USSR and the already existing Commission for the preparation of regulations on the Supreme Court of the USSR and the OGPU of the USSR was approved. But the direct management of the activities of all these commissions was carried out by the Commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b).

At a meeting of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR on August 3, 1923, a resolution was adopted to celebrate the day of adoption of the Constitution of the USSR throughout the entire territory of the USSR on the sixth of July. Thus, on July 6, 1923, the Constitution of the USSR was not only put into effect, but this day was declared a holiday throughout the country. In parallel, the process of creating union government institutions was going on.

The first Constitution of the USSR included the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which stated that “This Union is a voluntary association of equal peoples, and that each republic is guaranteed the right to freely secede from the Union.” A special chapter was devoted to the sovereign rights of the Union republics and Union citizenship, and it was written in it: “The sovereignty of the Union republics is limited only within the limits specified in this Constitution, and only in subjects within the competence of the Union. Outside these limits, each union republic exercises its state power independently. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics protects the sovereign rights of the union of republics." In addition, there was a special chapter entitled “On the Union Republics,” which talked about their supreme and executive bodies and the relationship between the republican authorities and the all-Union ones. The Constitution also had chapters on the supreme and executive bodies of the Union, the Supreme Court of the Union, the United State Political Administration, coat of arms, flag and capital of the USSR. The Constitution provided for the publication of decrees and resolutions of the Central Executive Committee, its Presidium and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the languages of the union republics - Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian and Turkic-Tatar.

According to this Constitution, all decrees, resolutions and orders of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR were binding for direct execution throughout the entire territory of the USSR, just as the Central Executive Committee of the USSR had the right to suspend and cancel decrees, resolutions and orders of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, as well as congresses of councils and Central Executive Committees of the union republics and others authorities on the territory of the USSR. The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and Supreme Court USSR. In turn, in case of violation of the Constitution of the USSR, the legislation of the Union or the legislation of the union republic, the orders of the people's commissariats of the USSR could be suspended by the Central Election Commission or the presidiums of the republics. The Central Executive Committees of the Union republics and their presidiums also received the right to protest the decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, without suspending their execution.

The term “federation” is never used in the Constitution, but from its content it could be understood that the USSR is a federal state of the Soviet type, and the inviolability of the foundations of Soviet power was already proclaimed in the preamble of the Constitution. The Constitution also never mentions the word “party” and says nothing about its role, and this immediately raised the question of the relationship between formal guidelines and the actual state of affairs. In fact, after the adoption of the USSR Constitution, the role of the party not only did not decrease, but even intensified. But in general, the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR completed the process of creating the USSR as a single federal state. It is no coincidence that in 1924 the so-called “first wave of recognition of the USSR” would follow. This year, diplomatic relations are being established with Austria, Albania, Great Britain, Greece, Denmark, Italy, China, Mexico, Norway, France, Hejaz, and Sweden.

This, by no means, meant that further union construction ceased completely. In 1924, the Uzbek SSR was formed, in 1925 - the Turkmen SSR, in 1929 - the Tajik SSR, etc. But these were changes within the framework of the already created Soviet Union. With all the difficulties of the 20s-30s. after all, interethnic relations were largely regulated and there was no need to talk about the national question in the USSR as an antagonistic issue at that time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the course work should be concluded that the creation of the USSR was not a one-time act, but was the result of a rather long-term, multi-stage path, which showed how complex and, at the same time, important the creation of a new type of state was. Its formation was the result of an intensive exchange of opinions, sometimes heated discussions, during which various proposals and approaches emerged. The most powerful national movements of that time demanded that all political parties take a close look at the national issue and develop their own recipe for resolving it. There was clearly a struggle between these political parties to gain the support of the so-called Nationals.

At the Seventh (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (b) V.I. Lenin first put forward the idea of creating a union of Soviet republics and, essentially, from that time on, the Bolshevik Party, which previously professed the principle of centralism and built its national program primarily on the principles of internationalism and the right of nations to self-determination, includes the principle of federalism in its program. In 1917, it was the federalists who were in the majority on the national outskirts and outnumbered both the unifiers and the secessionists. The creation of a federation made it possible to preserve a single country and at the same time take into account the wishes of its many peoples.

One of the most important stages on the path to unification was the military union of the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus on June 1, 1919, which provided for close unification not only in the military field, but also in the field of economic, financial and communications upon recognition of independence , freedom and self-determination of national republics. In general, a number of Soviet republics retained their sovereignty and pursued their own not only domestic but also foreign policy, maintaining diplomatic ties with foreign countries. The end of the bloody Civil War and the difficult foreign policy situation required the establishment of not only a unified military and economic policy, but also coordination and then the implementation of a unified foreign policy.

In the first half of 1922, the so-called autonomization plan was developed, which provided for the inclusion of the remaining independent Soviet republics in the RSFSR on the principles of national autonomy. This approach did not receive support in Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus and was replaced by V.I. Lenin proposes another plan - a plan for a union of republics, with the creation of a new upper management floor, a plan that a prominent specialist in national relations

However, the proclamation of a new state at the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR on December 30, 1922 still required a lot of subsequent work in order to put these ideas into practice. This work was completed at the next Congress of Soviets of the USSR, which approved the first Constitution of the USSR, already in force on July 6, 1923. The sovereignty of the Union republics under this Constitution, of course, was limited, it became noticeably less significant than it was by the end of 1922, but in general the USSR protected the sovereign rights of the Union republics, each of them had the right to freely secede from the Union, had its own constitutions, supreme and executive bodies, the right to use one’s own language and develop national culture.

In the numerous domestic literature published on the history of the formation of the USSR, one can find disagreement about what the Soviet Union really was as a state entity. In general, the literature was dominated by the statement about the USSR as a federal state.

Bibliography

1.Isaev I.A. History of state and law of Russia: textbook. - M.: Yurist, 2000.

2.Lukashuk I.I. Speech at an extended meeting of the Academic Council of the Institute of State and Law of the USSR Academy of Sciences in January 1991 // Soviet State and Law. 1991. No. 5.

.Manelis B.L., Lenin V.I. - organizer of the USSR // State and law. 1992. No. 12

.Mints I.I. Development of views of V.I. Lenin on the creation of a new type of multinational state // Communist. 1972, no. 10

.Contemporary history of the Fatherland: 20th century: Textbook. For students higher textbook institutions: In 2 vols. / Ed. A.F. Kiseleva, E.M. Shchagin. - M., 2002.

6.On the way to “socialist unitarianism”. (from new documents of 1922 on the history of the formation of the USSR) // Domestic history. - 1992. - № 4.

7.Tereshchenko Yu.Ya. History of Russia XX - early XXI centuries. / Tereshchenko Yu.Ya. - Philological Society “Slovo”; Rostov on/D.: Publishing house "Phoenix", 2004.- 448 p.

8.Topornin B.N. New union treaty: theoretical approaches.// New union treaty: search for solutions. - M., 1990.

.Chistyakov O.I. The Treaty on the Formation of the USSR and modernity. // Bulletin of Moscow University. 1995. No. 2.

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By Stories of Ukrainian culture

on the topic: " Education in the USSR »

Theory and practice new school in Soviet Russia they began to build on the principles of democracy. Key policy documents note that to achieve the desired progress, it is not enough to destroy class privileges. The main thing is to rebuild the entire education system “in the spirit of a truly popular school” so that it meets the needs of the people. Work should become the meaning and purpose of learning. Teach first of all what is needed most in life (agricultural and industrial labor).

Lenin's concept of a unified school did not imply its obligatory uniformity. The first documents talk about the democratization of management, limiting the role of the “central commissariat”, the creation of public education councils, which included representatives of all segments of the population, the initiative of groups, and the free education of youth. The first decrees are thus full of the noblest humanism, coming closest to the idea of a “harmonious school.” In them we come across thoughts about the need for “more complete individualization of education”, about “independent activity of the masses”, about “private initiative” in education, about the individual.

The Soviet government considered the main task to be raising the general average level of education and culture of the peoples. This problem could be solved by trying to “reduce, as much as possible, the number of backward people.” Lunacharsky therefore concludes his thought with the words: “Caring for the backward is the first concern of a democratic school.”

The lack of funds, material resources, and qualified teachers forced education to obediently follow the economy.

The people studied selflessly and furiously. In 1920 alone, about 2.7 million people overcame illiteracy. The broadest layers of working people rushed to knowledge.

Aircraft designer A.S. Yakovlev recalls that time as a time of “selfless revolutionary labor enthusiasm.” There is a real assault on the citadel of knowledge. Soviet people are mastering the skills of an engineer, designer, urban planner, and power engineer. They begin to conquer the sky, the atom, and space. In these first years of Soviet power, thousands and thousands of new talents actually appeared. Among them is the “hero of the Soviet land”, “Russian nugget” Valery Chkalov. In the winter of 1924 he spent his first research“conqueror of the atom” I.V. Kurchatov, who soon became, at the age of 27, the head of a large laboratory. S.P. Korolev, the future creator of satellites and space rockets, began to implement the ideas of Tsiolkovsky, Zander, and Chizhevsky.

The activities of Soviet teachers are intensifying. Perhaps this looks a little strange, but it is precisely in perhaps the most difficult years for our state that the most daring and innovative ideas in pedagogy appear. Ideas that have retained their value to this day. In 1919, S. T. Shatsky created an “experimental teaching station” - the world’s first scientific and production pedagogical association. Eleven of them will be created.

At the same time, the wonderful Soviet teacher A. S. Makarenko created his famous school-commune, amazing in all respects. Learning here is directly related to work. Previously unprecedented management principles based on self-government, discipline and democracy. Results? The commune exists on complete self-sufficiency, refusing government funding.

The Constitution enshrines the right of citizens to education. Primary school by 1936 almost the entire child population was covered. Workers' faculties arose. Reading huts, political literacy circles, and “red corners” are being created everywhere. People are starting to subscribe to newspapers and magazines.

The tasks of the education system are complex: to pass 3 million overage children (12-15 years old) through schools, to eliminate illiteracy among urban and rural, male and female populations (under the age of 40-50), to enroll all children aged 8 to 11 in school years.

The desire for enlightenment is also increasing among previously backward peoples. Particularly great difficulties have to be overcome in the East.

Industrialization required competent workers. For 1933-1937 Approximately three times as many graduates of schools, technical education institutions, vocational training courses, technical schools and universities entered the national economy of the country than in the first five-year plan. By 1940, the number of students compared to 1917 in educational schools The USSR grew 3.7 times, in secondary specialized educational institutions - 18 times, in universities - 6.5 times.

Since 1925, postgraduate schools have been established at universities. Scientific degrees and titles are being introduced. Only for 1939-1940. 1.5 thousand scientists received a doctorate degree and 8 thousand were awarded a candidate degree. Industrial academies arose in 6 cities of the USSR.

Schools, secondary technical institutions and universities have opened their doors to working youth. The enthusiasm for learning and knowledge was genuine. A lot of useful initiatives are emerging, many of which are directly related to education. So, in the 30s. The so-called socio-technical examination began to be held. During it, they found out who knows their machine better and who works more productively. The initiative started by the Urals was taken up by the whole country. In 1934, over half a million boys and girls had already passed this type of exam. This pushed many Komsomol members to receive secondary education without leaving work.

During these same years, many technical trips and agricultural trips were carried out, which expanded the range of special knowledge. The Komsomol Central Committee, together with the All-Union Association of Science and Technology Workers, made great efforts to publish scientific and technical literature. Steps were taken to organize factories and technical colleges in the country, etc. In 1918-1940. 166 thousand people received general and special secondary education per year. Although this is approximately 30 times less than in 1976-1985, in those conditions it meant significant progress.

Education USSR

Many artists were involved in the development of the coat of arms of the USSR.

The deepest political crisis in Russia over the past several centuries led in 1917 to its collapse into dozens of separate, nominally sovereign, state entities. In the process of strengthening their power, the Bolsheviks were looking for forms - practically useful to the new government and legally correct, attractive and convincing at least for part of the population - of the political unification of the lands of the former Russian Empire. Work on collecting lands (the Bolsheviks, having taken power, were now forced to become collectors of Russian lands) was carried out during the civil war. After its completion, legally correct forms became more important than military victories. Let's see what forms they were.

Even during the years of the Civil War, a military-political union of Soviet Republics was formed. What kind of union is this? 1919 The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR, with the participation of representatives of the Soviet republics, issued a decree “On the unification of the Soviet Republics: Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus to fight world imperialism.” Recognizing the independence and right of the republics to self-determination, it was decided to unite their military, economic, financial and railway organizations. In the difficult conditions of the war, it was possible to create a unified military organization of the republics. However, by the beginning of 1922 the situation had changed significantly.

Six Soviet socialist republics: RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR, Georgian SSR and two people's Soviet republics: Bukhara (formerly Bukhara Khanate) and Khorezm (former Khanate of Khiva) continued rapprochement already in peace. Economic and political ties were strengthened. Here are some facts:

At the end of 20-beginning of 21, the government of the RSFSR allocated a cash loan of 3 billion rubles to the Armenian SSR, sent a train with essential goods, 325 thousand poods. grain, 5 thousand poods. Sahara;

From Azerbaijan. The USSR sent 50 wagons of grain, 36 thousand poods, to Armenia. oil;

In 1920, autonomous republics were proclaimed within the RSFSR: Turkestan and Kyrgyzstan; in total, the RSFSR included 8 autonomous republics and II autonomous regions;

In 1920 - 21 agreements on a military-economic union were concluded between the RSFSR and other republics;

In 1922, at the Genoa Conference, the RSFSR delegation represented all Soviet republics;

In March 1922, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan concluded an agreement on the formation of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federation of Soviet Republics (TSFSR).

In August 1922, at the proposal of the Politburo of the Central Committee, a commission was created to prepare for the next Plenum of the Central Committee the issue of relations between the RSFSR and the independent national Soviet republics. The chairman of the commission was I. Stalin, who since the creation of the first Soviet government headed the People's Commissariat for National Affairs. Moreover, since pre-revolutionary times, Stalin had gained the authority of a specialist on the national question. The commission included: V. Kuibyshev, G. Ordzhonikidze, Kh. Rakovsky, G. Sokolnikov and representatives of the national republics - one from each. Stalin prepared a draft resolution that provided for the entry of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian republics into the RSFSR as autonomous republics. The question of the remaining republics remained open. Stalin's resolution was called the autonomization project. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR became the highest bodies of state power in the new state, and most of the people's commissariats of the republics were subordinate to the corresponding people's commissariats of the RSFSR. Stalin's draft was sent for discussion to the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the republics. It was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia spoke out against it, stating that unification in the form of autonomization was premature, the unification of economic and general policies was necessary, but with the preservation of all the attributes of independence. In fact, this meant the formation of a confederation of Soviet republics, based on the unity of military, political, diplomatic and partly economic activities.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus spoke in favor of maintaining the existing situation. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not discuss the project, but stated that it was based on the principle of Ukrainian independence.

At the commission meeting on September 23 and 24, 1922 (chaired by V. Molotov) the project is accepted Stalin. The Georgian project is rejected. The three republics are actually against autonomization, but Stalin’s proposal is accepted! At the same time, the commission intended that its decision, after its approval at the Plenum of the Central Committee, be passed on to the national Central Committees as a directive for execution without any discussion. The plenum was scheduled for October 5. The materials of the discussion were sent to Lenin in Gorki.

Having familiarized yourself with the materials of the commission, Lenin meets with Stalin, summoned to Gorki, and convinces him to change paragraph 1 of the draft. On the same day, Lenin writes a letter “On the Formation of the USSR” for members of the Politburo, in which he emphasizes that the RSFSR must recognize itself as equal with other republics and “together and on an equal basis with them” enter a new union. It must be assumed that such a formula, despite all the demagogic policies of the Bolsheviks, was the only acceptable one that could be implemented without a new civil war. At the end of September, Lenin talks with the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Georgia, P. Mdivani, and with members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. He, who considered the question “of utmost importance,” is convinced that Stalin has the desire to hurry. Therefore, Lenin advises showing maximum caution and tolerance in resolving the national issue in Transcaucasia.

However, Stalin was dissatisfied with Lenin's criticism. The painfully proud and touchy General Secretary said that Lenin’s position meant “national liberalism.” Stalin still believed that the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR should become the highest body in the new union. Nevertheless, realizing that as a result of Lenin’s intervention the commission would not accept his proposals, Stalin revised his draft and indicated that the new resolution was only a “slightly modified, more precise formulation” of the old one, which was “fundamentally correct and certainly acceptable.”

It is interesting to compare the first two paragraphs of the Stalinist and Leninist project:

Autonomation

"1. Recognize the expediency of concluding an agreement between the Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and the RSFSR on the formal accession of the former to the RSFSR...

2. In accordance with this, the decisions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR are considered binding for the central institutions of the republics mentioned in paragraph 1, and the decisions of the Council of People's Commissars and the STO of the RSFSR - for the united commissariats of these republics...”

Union State

1. Recognize the necessity of concluding an agreement between Ukraine, Belarus, the Federation of Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, reserving for each of them the right to freely withdraw from the “Union”.

At the final stage of work on the coat of arms

On October 6, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee approved Lenin’s position and adopted a new resolution on its basis. P. Mdivani at the Plenum insisted that Georgia should join the USSR not through the Transcaucasian Federation, but directly.

On December 18, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee adopted the draft Union Treaty. It had to be approved by the Union Congress of Soviets, the opening of which was scheduled for December 30.

“It seems that I am very guilty before the workers of Russia for not intervening energetically and sharply enough in the notorious question of autonomization, officially called, it seems, the question of the union of Soviet socialist republics... neither at the October plenum... nor at the December I failed to be, and thus the question passed me by almost completely.” This is what Lenin wrote on December 30, 1922 (PSS, vol. 45, p. 356). More precisely, he dictated.

Vladimir Ilyich! Calm down, you don't have to worry! After all, today the Congress of Soviets opens, which will adopt your resolution. What does this have to do with the “notorious question of autonomy”, when did you resolve it? And why is there such a strange connotation - “called, it seems ...”, i.e. this is not a union? But then what? What happened?

In Tiflis, Sergo Ordzhonikidze, who headed the party organization of Transcaucasia, hit one of the former members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, a supporter of Mdivani. Sergo, who represented the Central Committee, Moscow, used his fists! They expected justice from him, but now people will say that the old tsarist policy continues, covered by the name “communism”...

Georgia has developed emergency. The majority of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia supported the direct entry of the republic into the USSR, thereby objecting to the decisions of the October Plenum of the Central Committee. The Transcaucasian regional committee of the party, led by Ordzhonikidze, condemned these actions as national deviationism. Stalin said that social-nationalism had built a nest in Georgia. In response, the Georgian Central Committee resigned.

In November, former members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia filed a complaint against Sergo’s actions to the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Lenin emphasized at this time that this was not about the struggle of parties against local nationalism, but about the methods of this struggle. Every nation requires a proletarian attitude. More gentleness, caution, compliance, the greatest delicacy, which does not exclude, of course, adherence to principles.

The Politburo of the Central Committee sent a commission headed by Dzerzhinsky to Georgia; on December 12, Lenin talks with the twitching Felix Edmundovich. The next day - a sharp deterioration in health. Leninch later said that “this matter” had a “very heavy influence” on him (PSS, vol. 45, p. 476). The commission, without even questioning those offended or checking the facts, recognized Ordzhonikidze’s actions as correct.

As soon as Lenin felt better, he dictated his notes “On the question of nationalities or “autonomization”. Lenin directly connects the Georgian incident with the policies of the Soviet bureaucratic state apparatus, “which, in fact, is still completely alien to us and is a bourgeois and tsarist hodgepodge, which in five years... there was no way to remake.”

“Under such conditions, it is very natural that the “freedom to leave the union” with which we justify ourselves will turn out to be an empty piece of paper, unable to protect Russian foreigners from the invasion of that truly Russian person, a Great Russian chauvinist, in essence, a scoundrel and a rapist, which is the typical Russian bureaucrat".

“I think that Stalin’s haste and administrative enthusiasm, as well as his anger against the notorious “social-nationalism,” played a fatal role here. In general, anger plays the worst role in politics.” Lenin demands that Ordzhonikidze be roughly punished, that the commission’s materials be further investigated or even re-investigated, and that political responsibility “for this entire truly Great-Russian nationalist” campaign be placed on Stalin and Dzerzhinsky.

At the same time, Lenin emphasizes that the Georgian who does not understand the need for a proletarian attitude to the national question “disdainfully hurls accusations of “social-nationalism” (while he himself is a real and true not only “social-nationalist”, but also a rude Great Russian keep his face, that Georgian, in essence, violates the interests of proletarian class solidarity” (PSS, vol. 45, ee. 357, 361, 360).

This is about the General Secretary, about the People's Commissar for National Affairs, about a specialist on the national question! Stalin did not forgive this. No one. Never.

Karl Marx believed that the consciousness of socialists should be tested on the national question. He called it “feeling a bad tooth.” It seems that after the Georgian check, Stalin could have been left without any teeth. Therefore, it is no coincidence that he delayed in every possible way the transfer of materials to Lenin, who instructed his secretaries to collect everything on this issue. Lenin was preparing to give a speech at the congress on the national question and write a pamphlet - “an issue of utmost importance” - but did not have time. Here is Lenin’s last note: P. Mdivani, F. Makharadze and others. “Dear comrades! I follow your business with all my heart. Outraged by the rudeness of Ordzhonikidze and the indulgences of Stalin and Dzerzhinsky. I am preparing notes and a speech for you. Sincerely. Lenin. March 6, 1923" (PSS, vol. 54, p. 330). This was the very last note... The path to the implementation of the “Union” was predetermined.

Lenin was a more flexible Bolshevik than Stalin. Desiring, apparently no less than Stalin, the creation of a unitary state, he tried to give it an attractive legal form. Apparently this should explain his statements: First of all, it is necessary to understand that “internationalism on the part of the oppressor or the so-called “great” nation ... must consist not only in observing the formal equality of nations, but also in such inequality that would compensate on the part of the oppressor nation, the nation is large, the inequality that actually develops in life.”

In addition, “we should not renounce in advance in any way that, as a result of all this work, we will go back at the next Congress of Soviets, that is, leave the union of Soviet socialist republics only in relation to the military and diplomatic, and in all other respects restore full independence individual people's commissariats" (PSS, vol. 45, pp. 359,361 - 362).

This letter was read out at the XII Party Congress (1923) by delegations (and was first published only in 1956).

The usual fog for December had not yet cleared when the delegates of the First Union Congress of Soviets began to gather at the Bolshoi Theater. Exotic figures in robes, outlandish clothes, white turbans, and fox fur earflaps floated out of the fog. The usual leather jackets and gray overcoats flashed by. The tailcoats and starched collars of the diplomats were unusual even among this motley sea.

At the first hour of the day, a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Pyotr Germogenovich Smidovich, took the stage. A participant in three Russian revolutions, a member of the party since 1898, he opened the congress and could not speak for a long time - applause interrupted the speech of the oldest delegate.

Finally, over the fading noise, Smidovich began: “The unanimous will of the working people of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Belarus to merge the isolated Soviet republics into a single whole, into a powerful state of the union of socialist Soviet republics was expressed at the Congresses of Soviets of Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Federation. This will was supported with indescribable enthusiasm by representatives of the working people of the RSFSR at a meeting of the X All-Russian Congress of Soviets... The resolution adopted at this congress confirmed as the basis of the union the principle of equality of republics, their voluntary entry into the union state while preserving for each the right of free exit from it.

These principles will form the basis of the agreement proposed to the delegations... we are uniting into a single state, forming a single political and economic organism. And every wound from the outside, every pain inside on some distant outskirts will resonate simultaneously in all parts of the state and cause a corresponding reaction in the entire body of the Union...”

I. Stalin made a report on the formation of the USSR, after reading the text Declarations and the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, Stalin proposed accepting them without discussion. The People's Commissar remained true to himself. But at the suggestion of M.V. Frunze, both documents were accepted in essence and sent for revision. Why should someone decide for the delegates? Let them also take part in the work, this is why the people sent them to Moscow. The final ratification of the documents was postponed until the Second Congress of Soviets. “This way,” said Frunze, - as if it seems longer, but we have to reckon with the fact that the work that you and I have just started is a matter of extreme importance, a work that is worth working on for more than one or two months, so that the results were the most perfect.”

The heads of delegations were the first to sign the Treaty and Declaration. From the RSFSR - M. I. Kalinin, from the Ukrainian SSR - M. V Frunze, G. I. Petrovsky, from the ZSFSR - M. G. Tskhakaya, from the BSSR - A. G. Chervyakov. The creation of the Union was formalized by law. The delegates elected the USSR Central Executive Committee consisting of 371 members and 138 candidates. Most did not need to be introduced. L. B. Krasin and G. M. Krzhizhanovsky stood at the origins of the party, as did N. K. Krupskaya. The first Soviet people's commissars were A. G. Shlikhter (agriculture), I. V. Stalin (for national affairs), N. A. Semashko (health care), F. E. Dzerzhinsky (president of the Cheka, people's commissar of railway transport), A. D. Tsyurupa (food). Generals and heroes of the civil war, scientists and artists. Elected and Bela Kun - one of the organizers of the Communist Party of Hungary.

The economic changes that took place in the country after the introduction of the NEP, the expansion of local initiative, and the democratization of social life had a beneficial effect on nation-state building. The Uzbek and Turkmen SSRs, which joined the USSR in 1925, and the Kirghiz ASSR as part of the RSFSR arose on the territory of Central Asia. There was a process of liquidation of the old national heritage. In 1924, a number of areas with a predominance of the Belarusian population were transferred from the RSFSR to the BSSR.

Autonomous relationships improved. In the first half of the 20s. As part of the RSFSR, autonomous republics were formed - the Germans of the Volga region, Buryat-Mongolian and others. The Adjarian and Abkhazian autonomous republics appeared in Georgia. In Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan (ASSR) and Nagorno-Karabakh (AOBL) received autonomy rights. The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed as part of the Ukrainian SSR.

However, many problems have not been resolved. This concerns, first of all, national demarcation in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia. During the first half of 1923, work was underway to develop Constitution of the USSR. It was conducted under the leadership of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Union Republics. Representatives of all union republics took an active part in the work of the constitutional commission. It was decided to create two equal chambers within the Central Election Commission: the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities.

In the summer of 1923, a session of the Central Executive Committee approved and put into effect the Constitution. The final approval was to take place at the Second Congress of Soviets in January 1924. The Congress of Soviets was proclaimed the supreme body of power. Delegates to it were elected at provincial or republican congresses. At the same time, the advantage for workers remained: from city councils, etc., 1 delegate from 25 thousand voters, and from provincial congresses 1 from 125 thousand. The restriction of political rights established by the Constitution of 1918 was preserved. In 1922 - 1925. From 2 to 9% of the population over 18 years of age were not allowed to vote.

Allied People's Commissariats were created in charge of foreign policy, defense issues, transport, communications, and planning. In addition, the issues of the borders of the USSR and the republics and admission to the Union were subject to the jurisdiction of the supreme authorities. The republics were sovereign in solving other problems.

On January 31, 1924, the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR approved the Constitution. In connection with the death of V.I. Lenin, A.I. Rykov was appointed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.

Chapters from the book were used: Materials for the study of the history of the USSR (1921 - 1941), Moscow, 1989 (compiled by Dolutsky I.I.).

According to the Constitution of 1936, the USSR consisted of 11 republics