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Russian Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of 12 April 1978 was formally its supreme law.
The Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of 12 April 1978 was formally its supreme law.
At its Extraordinary Session of 12 April 1978, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR adopted a new republican Constitution, to replace the old Russian Constitution of 1937, including its subsequent amendments. The new Constitution initially consisted of a Preamble and 185 articles, and was prepared as part of the whole process of bringing all 15 republican Constitutions in line with new Constitution of the Soviet Union of October 1977.
It was the fourth Constitution of the Russian SFSR. Following a turbulent period of democratization, dissolution of the Soviet Union and subsequent economic reform the Constitution was amended several times. It lost its legal force by the referendum of 12 December 1993, which was preceded by a power struggle between the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin and Russia's legislative institutions – the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of Russia.
| Amendment | date | New institutions/additions | Eliminated institutions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR" | 27 October 1989 |
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| Law "on modification of article 104 of the Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR" | 31 May 1990 | Congress now elects chairman and three (instead of one) of deputy chairmen of the Supreme Soviet | None |
| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR" | 16 June 1990 | ||
| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR" | 15 December 1990 |
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| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR" | 24 May 1991 |
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| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR because of reform of the local self-government" | 24 May 1991 | ||
| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR because of transformation of Autonomous oblasts into Soviet Socialist Republics within RSFSR" | 3 July 1991 | Three new republics established | Three autonomous oblasts dissolved |
| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR" | 1 November 1991 |
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| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR" | 21 April 1992 |
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| Law "On Modifications and Additions to Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian Federation" | 9 December 1992 |
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| Law "on modification of article 71 of the Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian Federation" | 10 December 1992 | Chechen-Ingush ASSR |
The last Soviet Union (USSR)-era flag was adopted by the Russian SFSR in 1954 and used until 1991. The flag of the Russian SFSR was a defacement of the flag of the Soviet Union. The constitution stipulated:
The state flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR) presents itself as a red, rectangular sheet with a light-blue stripe at the pole extending all the width [read height] which constitutes one eighth length of the flag.
The 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union, also known as the Stalin Constitution, was the constitution of the Soviet Union adopted on 5 December 1936.
The 1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union, officially the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was the constitution of the Soviet Union adopted on 7 October 1977.
The Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. Russia's constitution came into force on 25 December 1993, at the moment of its official publication, and abolished the Soviet system of government. The current Constitution is the second most long-lived in the history of Russia, behind the Constitution of 1936.
The Soviet of the Union was the lower chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot in accordance with the principles of Soviet democracy, and with the rule that there be one deputy for every 300,000 people. Although the party gave general guidelines on nominations, such as the ratio of the social composition of the nominees, much of the work was left to local bodies and people's representatives. As opposed to the upper chamber, the Soviet of Nationalities, the Soviet of the Union represented the interests of all of the people of the Soviet Union no matter what their nationality was.
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the ultimate law of Belarus. The Constitution is composed of a preamble and nine sections divided into 146 articles.
The Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR, succeeding the Mari Autonomous Oblast. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Mari ASSR became the Mari El Republic, a federal subject of the Russian Federation.
The flag of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (Yakut: Саха Өрөспүүбүлүкэтин былааҕа Saqa Öröspüübülüketin Bılaağa; Russian: Флаг Республики Саха (Якутия)), in the Russian Federation, is one of the official symbols of the Sakha Republic, alongside the coat of arms and the national anthem of the Sakha Republic. The flag has four horizontal stripes. From top to bottom, the stripes are light blue (3/4 of the flag's width), white (1/16), red (1/16), and green (1/8). The flag has been used officially as the flag of the Sakha Republic since 14 October 1992. The light blue stripe is charged with a white disc in the center. The diameter of the disc is 2/5 of the flag's width.
The transfer of the Crimean oblast in the Soviet Union in 1954 was an administrative action of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet that transferred the government of Crimea from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.
Constitution of Estonia is the fundamental law of the Republic of Estonia and establishes the state order as that of a democratic republic where the supreme power is vested in its citizens. The first Constitution was adopted by the freely elected Estonian Constituent Assembly on 15 June 1920 and came into force on 21 December 1920. Heavily amended on 24 January 1934, following a referendum in 1933, it was in force until the second Constitution was enacted on 1 January 1938. It remained in force, de facto, until 16 June 1940, when the Soviet Union occupied Estonia and, de jure, until 28 June 1992, when the third and current Constitution of the Republic of Estonia was adopted by referendum.
The Constitution of Latvia is the fundamental law of the Republic of Latvia. Satversme is the oldest Eastern or Central European constitution still in force and the sixth oldest still-functioning republican basic law in the world. It was adopted, as it states itself in the text, by the people of Latvia, as represented in the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia, on 15 February 1922 and came into force on 7 November 1922. It was heavily influenced by Germany's Weimar Constitution and the Swiss Federal Constitution. The constitution establishes the main bodies of government ; it consists of 116 articles arranged in eight chapters.
The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR and since 1991 Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation was the supreme government institution in the Russian SFSR and in the Russian Federation from 16 May 1990 to 21 September 1993. Elected on 4 March 1990 for a period of five years, it was dissolved by presidential decree during the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993 and ended de facto when the Russian White House was attacked on 4 October 1993. The Congress played an important role in some of the most important events in the history of Russia during this period, such as the declaration of independence of Russia from the USSR, the rise of Boris Yeltsin, and economic reforms.
The Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR was a political act of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, then part of the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of constitutional reform in Russia. The Declaration was adopted by the First Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR on 12 June 1990. It proclaimed the sovereignty of the Russian SFSR and the intention to establish a democratic constitutional state within a liberalized Soviet Union. The declaration also states the following:
The Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, later Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation was the supreme government institution of the Russian SFSR in 1938–1990; in 1990–1993 it was a permanent legislature (parliament), elected by the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation.
The Constitution of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic of 15 April 1978 was the fundamental law of the Moldovan SSR, adopted in 1978.
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR, previously known as the Russian Soviet Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic as well as being unofficially known as Soviet Russia, the Russian Federation or simply Russia, was an independent federal socialist state from 1917 to 1922, and afterwards the largest and most populous Soviet socialist republic of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1922 to 1991, until becoming a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with priority of Russian laws over Union-level legislation in 1990 and 1991, the last two years of the existence of the USSR. The Russian SFSR was composed of sixteen smaller constituent units of autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group. The capital of the Russian SFSR and the USSR as a whole was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad, Stalingrad, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Gorky and Kuybyshev. It was the first Marxist-Leninist state in the world.
The Government of the Soviet Union, formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly abbreviated to Soviet Government, was the executive and administrative organ of state in the former Soviet Union. It had four different names throughout its existence; Council of People's Commissars (1923–1946), Council of Ministers (1946–1991), Cabinet of Ministers and Committee on the Operational Management of the National Economy. It also was known as Workers-Peasants Government of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era.
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union, had four successive constitutions during its existence. The first (1919) was in Russian and the final three were in Ukrainian.
The Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics officially created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union. It de jure legalised a political union of several Soviet republics that had existed since 1919 and created a new federal government whose key functions were centralised in Moscow. Its legislative branch consisted of the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union and the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union (TsIK), while the Council of People's Commissars composed the executive.