For the earlier portion of its life, the Congress was a democratic body. Over Russia there were hundreds of soviets, democratic local governing bodies in which the surrounding population could participate. The soviets elected the delegates to the Congress, and then in turn the Congress held the national authority, making the highest decisions. There were several political parties represented in the various sessions of the Congress, each of which fought for increasing their own influence in the soviets. However, as the civil war progressed, the soviets' authority was progressively reduced,[clarification needed] with the rise of Stalinism effectively cementing this situation[3] and decisively turning the Congress into a rubber stamp. The Congress was formed of representatives of city councils (1 delegate per 25,000 voters) and the congresses of the provincial (oblast) and autonomous republican councils (1 deputy for every 125,000 inhabitants).
The exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress consisted of the election of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, adoption of the Constitution of the Russian SFSR and amendments to it, approval of amendments proposed by the Central Executive Committee, and approval of the autonomous republics' constitutions. On the other issues, the Congress and the Central Executive Committee had the same authority. The Congress ceased to exist at the end of the constitutional reform of 1936–1937, when first on the union and then at the republican levels indirect election to Soviets were replaced by direct elections at all levels with the Supreme Soviet as the highest legislative body.
The first soviets appeared during the 1905 Russian Revolution as councils (soviets) of workers in those cities that were captured by mass strikes (strike action).[4] Enterprises that were participating in those strikes had delegated to those councils their delegates to coordinate joint actions. In various locations those councils carried different names such as "Soviet of workers deputies", "Delegate assembly", "Assembly of deputies", "Commission of elected", and others.[4] By October 1905 the "Soviet of workers deputies" became more common.[4] Following the example of Soviets of workers deputies in other locations were appearing Soviets of workers, sailors, and soldiers deputies, Soviets of workers and peasants deputies, Soviet of peasants deputies.
Originally, those soviets were mass political organizations.[4]
For socialist parties the appearance of soviets was unexpected, yet each made an effort to delegate to them their representatives.[4]Mensheviks and SRs view those soviets as strike committees or local authorities of self-government.[4]Bolsheviks have seen in them the authority with help of which they could install in the country their dictatorship.[4] In 1905 Vladimir Lenin noted that in political relations the Soviet of workers deputies should be viewed as the kernel (germ) of provisional revolutionary government.[4]
In 1917 Vladimir Lenin in his April theses came up with the famous slogan "All power to the Soviets!".[5] Following the February Revolution, Lenin considered that in Russia dual power existed as an interweaving of bourgeoisie power (Provisional Government) and the powers of the revolutionary masses (soviets).[5] All other Russian political parties considered soviets as temporary public organizations and dual power did not exist for them as they were preparing for elections to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly.[5]
The embedding of the Bolsheviks into the Soviets (Bolshevization of the Soviets) established the Communist-Soviet system of state power in the USSR which existed until the 1988 constitutional reform.[5] It was a political regime that had combined in itself the dictatorship of the Communist Party and the power of soviets (councils).[5] The mechanism of such combination was theoretically designed by Vladimir Lenin and put into practice by the Bolshevik party.[clarification needed][5] In the communist-soviet system of power, the dictatorship of one party (professional revolutionaries) was concealed by the popular sovereignty (people's rule) of the soviets and therefore officially, the political regime was called Soviet power.[5]
Main meetings
Conference
Following the February Revolution, on 11–16 April 1917 in Petrograd the All-Russian conference of Soviets of workers and soldiers deputies was held.[6]
At the conference, 480 delegates out of 139 Soviets, 13 military rear area garrisons, 7 of regular army, and 26 separate frontline councils attended.
Majority was composed of Mensheviks and SRs. The Bolshevik group introduced its own resolution drafts on key issues of agenda.
In its resolution on war that was rather defensive, presented by Menshevik-SR Petrograd Soviet Executive Committee, the conference approved the declaration of the Provisional Government about the war (of 28 March) as if it abandoned aggressive goals. The Bolshevik group, on behalf of which Lev Kamenev had been speaking, took "a wrong position" by taking off own resolution draft and voting for the Menshevik-SR resolution after it was added with resolutions about "control and impact" of revolutionary democracy on the Provisional Government and its local authorities. Recognizing the need for a legislative establishment of 8 hour workday, the conference did not call the workers upon its immediate establishment by revolutionary means. On peasant and land issues, the conference adopted its resolution about support in the Constituent Assembly for gratuitous alienation from all privately owned lands and transferring them to working people, but spoke against "arbitrary resolution of land issue at local level", leaving, thus, the land in hands of landowners.
On 16 April 1917 the conference elected 10 delegates from oblasts and 6 from the Army and the Navy to the Petrograd Soviet Executive Committee turning it in this way in central authority of Soviets of the whole country until the opening of First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of workers and soldiers deputies. On 17 April 1917, Vladimir Lenin made a report about war and revolution in which he outlined his April theses to that conference. The same day he repeated his report at a joint conference of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks who took part.
The First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies (June 16 – July 7, 1917) was convened by the National Conference of the Soviets.[7] It was dominated by pro-government parties (Socialist-Revolutionaries, etc.) and confirmed the supremacy of the Russian Provisional Government.
There were 1090 delegates, 822 acting as voting delegates, representing 305 workers', soldiers' and peasant soviets, and 53 regional, provincial and district soviets. The breakdown of delegates by party was thus: 285 Socialist-Revolutionaries, 248 Mensheviks, 105 Bolsheviks, 32 Menshevik Internationalists, and others.[8][9][10] The right to vote was given to these soviets containing at least 25,000 persons, and each representative from 10,000 to 25,000 members was asked to speak on behalf of the Soviet of his locality or employment.
Second Congress
Breakdown of delegates at the Second Congress by party (includes estimation)
Following the overthrow of the Provisional Government of Russia in the October Revolution, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (November 7–9, 1917) ratified the revolutionary transfer of state power.[11] 649 delegates were elected to the Congress, representing 318 local soviets; 390 were Bolsheviks, about 100 left SRs, about 60 other SRs, 72 Mensheviks, 14 United Socialist Democrat-Internationalists, 6 Menshevik Internationalists and 7 of other factions.[12][13] On the first day of the Congress, the Socialist Revolutionaries split into two groups – the Left Social Revolutionaries and the Right Social Revolutionaries. Also on the first day, the Menshevik delegation and Right Socialist Revolutionary deputies walked out in protest. 505 delegates voted in favour of the transfer of power to the Soviets. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee and Council of People's Commissars was elected by the Congress, naming Vladimir Lenin the Chairman, and thus making him the head of government.[12] At the opening of the Congress, Lenin gave a speech saying that the "Soviet government will propose an immediate democratic peace to all the nations and an immediate armistice on all fronts" and declared "Long live the revolution!," uttering what are sometimes called the "Land Decree" and "Decree on Peace."[14][15][16]
The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies (January 23–31, 1918) was attended by delegates from 317 Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' with a further 110 delegates from army, corps and divisional committees.[17] The Bolsheviks comprised 441 of the 707 delegates.[18] On the fourth day January 13 (26), more delegates who had been at the Third All-Russia Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies arrived. By the end there were 1,587 delegates.
The Congress had a Presidium composed of ten Bolsheviks and three Left Socialist-Revolutionaries with a further delegate from each other group (Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, etc.).
The Swiss, Romanian, Swedish and Norwegian Social-Democratic parties, the British Socialist Party and the Socialist Party of America sent messages of solidarity.
Occurring shortly after the Constituent Assembly had been dissolved by order of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), the Congress resolved to expunge any references to the forthcoming Constituent Assembly from all new editions of decrees and laws of the Soviet Government. The Congress received:
The Mensheviks, Right Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Menshevik internationalists used the Congress to indicate their opposition to the domestic and foreign policy which the Bolsheviks passed.
The Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People was passed and this went on to become the basis of the Soviet Constitution. It was also agreed to establish the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on the basis of a free union of the peoples of Russia.[19]
The Congress also approved the Decree on Land which provided the basic provisions of the redistribution and nationalization of land.[20]
Fourth Congress
At the Fourth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets (March 14–16, 1918), the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was ratified.[21][22] This marked a rift between the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who voted against the treaty and whose ministers quit the Sovnarkom in protest.[23]
Fifth Congress
The Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ Peasants’, Soldiers’ and Red Army Deputies was held July 4–10, 1918. A decree that "linked citizenship to military service and obliged all healthy men aged 18–40 years to come forward" and fight for the Red Army in the Russian Civil War was passed.[24]
The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries had 352 delegates compared to 745 Bolsheviks out of 1132 total. The Left SRs raised disagreements on the suppression of rival parties, the death penalty, and mainly, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Left SR Uprising broke out on during this Congress. Its suppression marked the end of Left SR participation in the Congress of Soviets.
Sixth Congress
The Sixth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Cossacks’ and Red Army Deputies was held November 6–9, 1918.[25][26]
Seventh Congress
The Seventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Cossacks’ and Red Army Deputies was held December 5–9, 1919.[26] That year a report on the foreign policy of Soviet Russia was submitted to the Congress and Leon Trotsky read a report on Soviet military construction and fronts in the Russian Civil War.[27][28]
Eighth Congress
Officially called the Eighth All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Red Army and Cossack Deputies was held in Moscow on December 22–29, 1920.[26][29] It was at this Congress that Gleb Krzhizhanovsky presented his report on the GOELRO plan. This was the first economic plan which focused on significant electrification of Russian industry. Lenin criticised Trotsky's pamphlet, The Role and Tasks of the Trade Unions at the subsequent preliminary joint meeting of Bolshevik delegates.[30] The Congress also established the Sowing Committee (posevkomy).[31]
Ninth Congress
The Ninth All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Moscow from December 23–28, 1921. It was attended by 1,991 delegates, of whom 1,630 held voting status.[32]
The Eleventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Moscow from January 19–29, 1924. It was attended by 1,637 delegates, of whom 1,143 held voting status.[36]
Twelfth Congress
The Twelfth All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Moscow from May 7–16, 1925. It was attended by 1,634 delegates, of whom 1,084 held voting rights.[37]
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a far-left faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Bolshevik party, formally established in 1912, seized power in Russia in the October Revolution of 1917, and was later renamed the Russian Communist Party, All-Union Communist Party, and Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The party's ideology, based on Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist principles, is known as Bolshevism.
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution, October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917–1923. It was the second revolutionary change of government in Russia in 1917. It took place through an insurrection in Petrograd on 7 November 1917 [O.S. 25 October]. It was the precipitating event of the Russian Civil War. The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault on Petrograd occurred largely without any human casualties.
The ten years 1917–1927 saw a radical transformation of the Russian Empire into a socialist state, the Soviet Union. Soviet Russia covers 1917–1922 and Soviet Union covers the years 1922 to 1991. After the Russian Civil War (1917–1923), the Bolsheviks took control. They were dedicated to a version of Marxism developed by Vladimir Lenin. It promised the workers would rise, destroy capitalism, and create a socialist society under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The awkward problem, regarding Marxist revolutionary theory, was the small proletariat, in an overwhelmingly peasant society with limited industry and a very small middle class. Following the February Revolution in 1917 that deposed Nicholas II of Russia, a short-lived provisional government gave way to Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (RCP).
A soviet is a workers' council that follows a socialist ideology, particularly in the context of the Russian Revolution. Soviets were the main form of government in the Russian SFSR and the Makhnovshchina.
The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was generally perceived as covering that of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from which it evolved. In 1912, the party formally split, and the predecessor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union became a distinct entity. Its history since then can roughly be divided into the following periods:
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee was a permanent body formed by the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, then became the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in between sessions of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets from 1917 to 1937. In 1937, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was replaced with the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR.
Matvei Konstantinovich Muranov was a Ukrainian Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician and statesman.
Viktor Pavlovich Nogin was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician and statesman in Moscow, holding many high positions in the party and in government, including Chairman of the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the Executive Committee of Moscow Council of Workers' Deputies. He was a member of first Council of People's Commissars, i.e., the first Government of Soviet Russia, as People's Commissar for Commerce and Industry.
The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries-Internationalists was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revolution.
The All Russian Constituent Assembly was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the February Revolution of 1917. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m., 18–19 January [O.S. 5–6 January] 1918, whereupon it was dissolved by the Bolshevik-led All-Russian Central Executive Committee, proclaiming the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets the new governing body of Russia.
The Mensheviks were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Mensheviks were led by Julius Martov and Pavel Axelrod.
Soviet democracy, also called council democracy, is a type of democracy in Marxism, in which the rule of a population is exercised by directly elected soviets. Soviets are directly responsible to their electors and bound by their instructions using a delegate model of representation. Such an imperative mandate is in contrast to a trustee model, in which elected delegates are exclusively responsible to their conscience. Delegates may accordingly be dismissed from their post at any time through recall elections. Soviet democracy forms the basis for the soviet republic system of government.
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was held on November 7–9, 1917, in Smolny, Petrograd. It was convened under the pressure of the Bolsheviks on the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the First Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was a permanent body formed by the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
The First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was held from 16 June to 7 July 1917 N.S. in Petrograd in the building of the First Cadet Corps on Vasilyevsky Island. The First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, at which the majority belonged to the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, rejected the resolutions proposed by the Bolsheviks to end the war and transfer all power to the Soviets and adopted Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik resolutions proclaiming the full support of the Socialist Ministers and the continuation of the "revolutionary war" on the basis of the rejection of annexations and indemnities.
The Third All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies' Soviets took place on 23-31 January 1918 [O.S. 10-18 January 1918] in Tauride Palace, Petrograd. It was the successor to the Second All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies' Soviets.
The Bolshevization of the soviets was the process of winning a majority in the soviets by the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) in the second half of 1917. The process was particularly active after the Kornilov Rebellion during September – October 1917 and was accompanied by the ousting from these bodies of power previously moderate socialists, primarily the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, who dominated them.
An index of articles related to the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War period (1905–1922). It covers articles on topics, events, and persons related to the revolutionary era, from the 1905 Russian Revolution until the end of the Russian Civil War. The See also section includes other lists related to Revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union, including an index of articles about the Soviet Union (1922–1991) which is the next article in this series, and Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War.
The Political parties of Russia in 1917 were the aggregate of the main political parties and organizations that existed in Russia in 1917. Immediately after the February Revolution, the defeat of the right–wing monarchist parties and political groups takes place, the struggle between the socialist parties and liberals on the one hand, and the struggle between moderate socialists and radicals.
Obliskomzap, short for Regional Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers, Soldiers and Peasants Deputies of the Western Region and Front, was an organ for Soviet power in the Western Region claiming governing authority in the Belarusian lands not under German or Austro-Hungarian occupation from late 1917 throughout 1918. It was to function as the highest body of legislative power, between the holding of congresses of soviets, in Vitebsk Governorate, Mogilev Governorate, Minsk Governorate, Vilna Governorate and Smolensk Governorate. A Regional Council of People's Commissars was formed as the corresponding executive branch of government.
↑ Jerry F. Hough, Merle Fainsod, How the Soviet Union is Governed, US: Harvard College, 1979, reprint, p. 50-51 61–63, 67–68, 73, 81–84.
↑ Models of Democracy, David Held, p. 225. "Stalinism destroyed the possibility of a radical workers' democracy, installed briefly in the Soviet Union in October 1917 under Lenin's leadership"
↑ Leonard Schapiro, The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State First Phase 1917–1922, Second Edition, New York: MacMillan Press, 1977, p. 41, 363.
↑ Leonard Schapiro, The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State First Phase 1917–1922, Second Edition, New York: MacMillan Press, 1977, p. 54, 58, 64, 363.
↑ Jonathan D. Smele, Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916–1926, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, p. xxii, 156, 287, 447, 591, 593, 848, 971, 1055, 1177.
↑ Leonard Schapiro, The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State First Phase 1917–1922, Second Edition, New York: MacMillan Press, 1977, p. 363.
↑ Jonathan D. Smele, Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916–1926, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, p. xxx, 39, 315, 670–671, 751.
↑ Jonathan D. Smele, Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916–1926, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, p. 933.
1 2 3 Leonard Schapiro, The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State First Phase 1917–1922, Second Edition, New York: MacMillan Press, 1977, p. 364.
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