General Provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic

J. V. Stalin

Draft Approved by the Commission Appointed by the All-Russian C.E.C. for Drafting the Constitution of the Soviet Republic 

April 25, 1918

Works, Vol. 4, November, 1917 - 1920

The main objective of the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic adapted to the present transitional period is to establish a dictatorship of the urban and rural proletariat and the poor peasantry, in the form of a strong all-Russian Soviet power, for the purpose of completely suppressing the bourgeoisie, abolishing the exploitation of man by man, and introducing socialism, under which there will be neither division into classes nor a state power.

1. The Russian Republic is a free socialist society of all the working people of Russia, united in urban and rural Soviets of Deputies.

2. The Soviets of Deputies of regions distinguished by a specific manner of life and national composition are combined into autonomous regional unions, headed by regional Congresses of Soviets and their executive bodies.

3. The Soviet regional unions are combined on a federal basis into a Russian Socialist Republic, at the head of which is the All-Russian Congress of Soviets and, in the intervals between congresses, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Izvestia, No. 82, April 25, 1918

Notes

1.The Commission of the All-Russian C.E.C. for drafting the Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R. was set up on April 1, 1918, and was headed by J. V. Stalin and Y. M. Sverdlov. It took as the basis for its work the "Declaration of the Rights of the Toiling and Exploited Peoples" and the resolution on "Federal Institutions of the Russian Republic" adopted, on J. V. Stalin's report, by the Third Congress of Soviets. J. V. Stalin's draft of "General Provisions of the Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R." was discussed and adopted by the Commission on April 19, 1918.