Constitutional Theory in the USSR 1917-1936: An Intersection of History and Progress

The Soviet Union viewed itself as the culmination of European revolutionary tradition and the correct evolutionary branch on the tree of democracy. However, Soviet democracy has long been thought to be a prop to legitimize a totalitarian regime, devoid of theoretical depth and separate from European concepts of constitutionalism. This work contends, however, that though they viewed democracy as a tool for socialist construction, not an end in itself, Soviet leaders and ideologues did not reject western European enlightenment ideas on the formation of the state, the basis of sovereignty and the importance of democracy.  Rather they embraced them and portrayed the 1936 Soviet constitution as the ‘correct’ manifestation of enlightenment ideas.  

In formulating and promoting the Stalinist constitution, state leaders paid much homage to the European roots of democracy. They consulted multiple bourgeois constitutions and ensconced many of the ideals of universal suffrage, popular participation and the responsiveness of the state to its constituency in the draft constitution. In press releases and pamphlets published during the all-Union discussion of the draft, leaders such as Stalin and Molotov and judicial authorities emphasized that the constitution was the culmination of enlightenment ideas, taking the imperfect bourgeois models to their superior proletarian conclusion. Stalin concluded that the 1936 constitution was the most democratic in the world as it represented a government of the majority, rather than a wealthy minority as in bourgeois states.  In this manner the Soviet Union portrayed itself as the heir of the enlightenment and European democratic traditions.