Terms 

Reasons for the dissolution of the constituent assembly. Holding and dissolution of the Constituent Assembly

Meeting room address Tauride Palace

Constituent Assembly- a representative body in Russia, elected in November 1917 and convened in January 1918 to adopt a constitution. It nationalized the landlords' land, called for the conclusion of a peace treaty, proclaimed Russia a democratic republic, thereby abolishing the monarchy. It refused to consider the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, which endowed the Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies with state power. Dissolved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies, the dissolution was confirmed by the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies.

Elections

The convocation of the Constituent Assembly was one of the top priorities of the Provisional Government. The very name of the government "Provisional" came from the idea of ​​"leisure decision" on the structure of power in Russia before the Constituent Assembly. But it delayed him. After the overthrow of the Provisional Government in October 1917, the question of the Constituent Assembly became paramount for all parties. The Bolsheviks, fearing the discontent of the people, since the idea of ​​convening the Constituent Assembly was very popular, hastened the elections scheduled by the Provisional Government for it. On October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars adopted and published, signed by V. I. Lenin, a resolution on holding general elections to the Constituent Assembly on November 12, 1917, as scheduled.

The course of the Bolsheviks for radical transformation was under threat. In addition, the Social Revolutionaries were supporters of the continuation of the "war to a victorious end" ("revolutionary defencism"), which persuaded the vacillating soldiers and sailors to disperse the Assembly. The coalition of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries decides to disperse the meeting as "counter-revolutionary". Lenin was immediately sharply opposed to the Assembly. Sukhanov N. N. in his fundamental work “Notes on the Revolution” claims that Lenin, already after his arrival from exile in April 1917, considered the Constituent Assembly a “liberal undertaking”. Commissar for Propaganda, Press and Agitation of the Northern Region Volodarsky goes even further, and declares that "the masses in Russia have never suffered from parliamentary cretinism", and "if the masses make a mistake with the ballots, they will have to take up another weapon."

When discussing Kamenev, Rykov, Milyutin, they act from "pro-founder" positions. Narkomnats Stalin on November 20 proposes to postpone the convocation of the Assembly. People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs Trotsky and co-chairman of the Bolshevik faction in the Constituent Assembly Bukharin propose to convene a "revolutionary convention" of the Bolshevik and Left SR factions, by analogy with the events of the French Revolution. This point of view is also supported by the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Natanson.

According to Trotsky,

Shortly before the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, Mark Natanson, the oldest member of the Central Committee of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party, came to us and said from the first words: - after all, it will probably be necessary to disperse the Constituent Assembly by force ...

- Bravo! exclaimed Lenin. - That's right, that's right! Will yours go for it?

- We have some hesitation, but I think that in the end they will agree.

On November 23, 1917, the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Stalin and Petrovsky, occupy the Commission for the Elections to the Constituent Assembly, which has already completed its work, appointing M. S. Uritsky as the new commissar in it. 400 people, and according to the decree, the Assembly was to be opened by a person authorized by the Council of People's Commissars, that is, a Bolshevik. Thus, the Bolsheviks managed to delay the opening of the Assembly until the moment when its 400 delegates had gathered in Petrograd.

On November 28, 60 delegates gather in Petrograd, mostly Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, who are trying to start the work of the Assembly. On the same day of the Presovnarkom, Lenin outlawed the Cadets Party by issuing a decree "On the arrest of the leaders of the civil war against the revolution." Stalin comments on this decision with the words: "We must definitely finish off the Cadets, or they will finish us off." The Left SRs, while generally welcoming this step, express dissatisfaction with the fact that such a decision was made by the Bolsheviks without the consent of their allies. The Left Socialist-Revolutionary I. Z. Shteinberg, who, calling the Cadets “counter-revolutionaries”, spoke out sharply against the arrest in this case of the whole party without exception. The Cadet newspaper "Rech" is closed, and two weeks later it reopens under the name "Nash Vek".

On November 29, the Bolshevik Council of People's Commissars forbids "private meetings" of delegates to the Constituent Assembly. At the same time, the right SRs form the “Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly”.

On the whole, the inner-party discussion ends with Lenin's victory. On December 11, he seeks the re-election of the bureau of the Bolshevik faction in the Constituent Assembly, some of whose members spoke out against the dispersal. December 12, 1917 Lenin draws up the Theses on the Constituent Assembly, in which he declares that “... Any attempt, direct or indirect, to consider the question of the Constituent Assembly from a formal legal side, within the framework of ordinary bourgeois democracy, without taking into account the class struggle and civil war, is a betrayal of the cause of the proletariat and a transition to the point of view of the bourgeoisie”, and the slogan "All power to the Constituent Assembly" was declared the slogan of "Kaledintsy". On December 22, Zinoviev declares that under this slogan "is hidden the slogan 'Down with the Soviets'."

On December 20, the Council of People's Commissars decides to open the work of the Assembly on January 5. On December 22, the decision of the Council of People's Commissars is approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In opposition to the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries are preparing to convene the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918. On December 23 martial law is introduced in Petrograd.

Already on January 1, 1918, the first unsuccessful attempt on Lenin's life took place, in which Fritz Platten was wounded. A few years later, Prince I. D. Shakhovskoy, who was in exile, announced that he was the organizer of the assassination attempt and allocated half a million rubles for this purpose. Researcher Richard Pipes also points out that one of the former ministers of the Provisional Government, Cadet Nekrasov N.V., was involved in this attempt, but he was “forgiven” and subsequently went over to the side of the Bolsheviks under the name “Golgofsky”.

In mid-January, a second attempt on Lenin’s life was thwarted: a soldier Spiridonov came to Bonch-Bruevich’s reception, stating that he was participating in the conspiracy of the “Union of the Cavaliers of St. George” and was given the task of eliminating Lenin. On the night of January 22, the Cheka arrested the conspirators at 14 Zakharyevskaya Street, in the apartment of “citizen Salova”, but then they were all sent to the front at their personal request. At least two of the conspirators, Zinkevich and Nekrasov, subsequently join the "white" armies.

Boris Petrov and I visited the regiment to report to its leaders that the armed demonstration was canceled and that they were asked to "come to the demonstration unarmed so that blood would not be shed."

The second half of the proposal aroused a storm of indignation in them ... “Why are you, comrades, really laughing at us? Or are you kidding?.. We are not small children, and if we had gone to fight the Bolsheviks, we would have done it quite deliberately ... And blood ... blood, perhaps, would not have been shed if we had come out armed with a whole regiment.

We talked for a long time with the Semyonovites, and the more we talked, the clearer it became that our refusal to take armed action had erected between them and us a blank wall of mutual incomprehension.

“Intellectuals… They are wise, not knowing what they are. Now it is clear that there are no military people between them.

Trotsky L.D. subsequently sarcastically remarked the following about the Socialist-Revolutionary deputies:

But they carefully developed the ritual of the first meeting. They brought candles with them in case the Bolsheviks turned off the electricity, and a large number of sandwiches in case they were deprived of food. So democracy came to the battle with the dictatorship - fully armed with sandwiches and candles.

First meeting and dissolution

Shooting of a demonstration in support of the assembly

According to Bonch-Bruevich, the instructions for dispersing the demonstrators read: “Return the unarmed back. Armed people showing hostile intentions should not be allowed close, persuaded to disperse and not prevent the guard from fulfilling the order given to him. In case of failure to comply with the order - disarm and arrest. Respond to armed resistance with a merciless armed rebuff. If any workers appear at the demonstration, convince them to the last extreme, as erring comrades going against their comrades and the people's power. At the same time, Bolshevik agitators at the most important factories (Obukhov, Baltiysky, etc.) tried to enlist the support of the workers, but were unsuccessful. The workers remained neutral.

On January 5, 1918, as part of columns of demonstrators, workers, employees, and intelligentsia moved towards Tauride and were machine-gunned. From the testimony of the worker of the Obukhov plant D.N. Bogdanov dated January 29, 1918, a participant in a demonstration in support of the Constituent Assembly:

“I, as a participant in the procession as early as January 9, 1905, must state the fact that I did not see such a cruel reprisal there, what our“ comrades ”were doing, who still dare to call themselves such, and in conclusion I must say that after that I execution and the savagery that the Red Guards and sailors did with our comrades, and even more so after they began to pull out banners and break poles, and then burn them at the stake, I could not understand what country I was in: either in a socialist country, or in the country of savages who are capable of doing everything that the Nikolaev satraps could not do, Lenin's fellows have now done. ...

GA RF. F.1810. Op.1. D.514. L.79-80

The number of dead was estimated with a range of 8 to 21 people. The official figure was 21 people (Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, January 6, 1918), hundreds of wounded. Among the dead were the Social Revolutionaries E. S. Gorbachevskaya, G. I. Logvinov and A. Efimov. A few days later, the victims were buried at the Transfiguration Cemetery.

On January 5, a demonstration in support of the Constituent Assembly in Moscow was dispersed. According to official data (Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, 1918. January 11), the number of those killed was more than 50, and more than 200 were wounded. Skirmishes lasted all day, the building of the Dorogomilovsky Council was blown up, while the chief of staff of the Red Guard of the Dorogomilovsky district P.G. Tyapkin was killed. and a few Red Guards.

First and last meeting

The session of the Constituent Assembly opened on January 5 (18) at the Taurida Palace in Petrograd. It was attended by 410 deputies; the majority belonged to the centrist SRs, the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs had 155 mandates (38.5%). The meeting was opened on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, its chairman Yakov Sverdlov expressed hope for "full recognition by the Constituent Assembly of all decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars" and proposed to adopt the draft Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People written by V. I. Lenin, the 1st paragraph of which announced Russia "Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies". However, the Assembly, by a majority of 237 votes to 146, refuses even to discuss the Bolshevik Declaration.

Viktor Mikhailovich Chernov was elected Chairman of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, for whom 244 votes were cast. The second contender was the leader of the Left SR party, Maria Alexandrovna Spiridonova, supported by the Bolsheviks; 153 deputies cast their votes for it.

Lenin, through the Bolshevik Skvortsov-Stepanov, invites the Assembly to sing the "Internationale", which is done by all the socialists present, from the Bolsheviks to the right SRs, who are sharply opposed to them.

During the second part of the meeting, at three o'clock in the morning, the representative of the Bolsheviks, Fyodor Raskolnikov, declares that the Bolsheviks (in protest against the non-acceptance of the Declaration) are leaving the meeting. On behalf of the Bolsheviks, he declares that “not wanting to cover up the crimes of the enemies of the people for a single minute, we declare that we are leaving the Constituent Assembly in order to transfer the final decision on the question of attitude towards the counter-revolutionary part of the Constituent Assembly to the Soviet power of the deputies.”

According to the testimony of the Bolshevik Meshcheryakov, after the departure of the faction, many soldiers guarding the Assembly "took their rifles at the ready", one even "took aim at the crowd of delegates - Socialist-Revolutionaries", and Lenin personally declared that the departure of the Bolshevik faction of the Assembly "would have such an effect on the soldiers and sailors holding the guard, that they would immediately shoot down all the remaining Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.” One of his contemporaries, Vishnyak M.V., comments on the situation in the meeting room as follows:

Following the Bolsheviks at four o'clock in the morning, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary faction left the Assembly, declaring through its representative Karelin that " The Constituent Assembly is by no means a reflection of the mood and will of the working masses ... we are leaving, moving away from this Assembly ... we are going in order to bring our strength, our energy to Soviet institutions, to the Central Executive Committee».

The remaining deputies, chaired by the Socialist-Revolutionary leader Viktor Chernov, continued their work and adopted the following resolutions:

Servants of the bankers, capitalists and landowners, allies of Kaledin, Dutov, serfs of the American dollar, murderers from around the corner, the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries demand in the institutional. the assembly of all power to themselves and their masters - enemies of the people.

In words, as if joining the people's demands: land, peace and control, in reality they are trying to whip the noose around the neck of socialist power and revolution.

But the workers, peasants and soldiers will not fall for the bait of the false words of the worst enemies of socialism, in the name of the socialist revolution and the socialist Soviet republic they will sweep away all its open and covert killers.

On January 18, the Council of People's Commissars adopts a decree prescribing that all references to the Constituent Assembly be removed from existing laws. On January 18 (31), the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets approved the decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and decided to remove from the legislation indications of its temporary nature ("until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly").

The murder of Shingarev and Kokoshkin

By the time the meeting was convened, one of the leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party (Party of People's Freedom) and a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, Shingarev, was arrested by the Bolshevik authorities on November 28 (the day the Constituent Assembly was supposed to open), on January 5 (18) he was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On January 6 (19) he was transferred to the Mariinsky prison hospital, where on the night of January 7 (20) he was killed by sailors along with another leader of the cadets, Kokoshkin.

Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly

Although the right-wing parties suffered a crushing defeat in the elections, since some of them were banned and campaigning for them was banned by the Bolsheviks, the defense of the Constituent Assembly became one of the slogans of the White movement.

The so-called Congress of members of the Constituent Assembly, located in Yekaterinburg since October 1918, tried to protest against the coup, as a result, an order was issued "to take measures for the immediate arrest of Chernov and other active members of the Constituent Assembly who were in Yekaterinburg." Deported from Ekaterinburg, either under guard or under escort of Czech soldiers, the deputies gathered in Ufa, where they tried to campaign against Kolchak. On November 30, 1918, he ordered that the former members of the Constituent Assembly be brought to court-martial "for attempting to raise an uprising and conduct destructive agitation among the troops." On December 2, a special detachment under the command of Colonel Kruglevsky, some of the members of the Congress of the Constituent Assembly (25 people) were arrested, delivered to Omsk in freight cars and imprisoned. After an unsuccessful attempt at release on December 22, 1918, many of them were shot.

Timeline of the 1917 Revolution in Russia
Before:

  • Local Council: enthronement of Patriarch Tikhon on November 21 (December 4), 1917;

The first steps of the new government:

  • Beginning of negotiations on the Brest Peace on December 9 (22), 1917;

The first steps of the new government:

Unfolding of the Civil War:

  • January uprising in Kyiv(second attempt at Bolshevization)
 After:
Unfolding of the Civil War:
  • Occupation of Kyiv by the troops of the Left SR Muravyov M.A. February 9;

Peace question:

see also

Notes

  1. Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly, draft order on the application of this provision, explanatory notes of a special meeting on the development of a draft regulation on elections to the Constituent Assembly, on the issue of the number and distribution of deputy seats by electoral districts. - 1917 .- 192 sheets. .- (Chancery of the Provisional Government: 1917)
  2. L. Trotsky. On the history of the Russian revolution. - M. Politizdat. 1990
  3. Encyclopedia of St. Petersburg
  4. All-Russian Constituent Assembly- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
  5. Constituent Assembly and Russian reality. The Birth of the Constituent. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  6. Arguments and facts No. 11 (47) of 06/03/2004 At gunpoint - forever alive. archived
  7. Boris Sopelnyak In the slot of the sight - the head of government. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  8. Nikolai Zenkovich Assassination attempts and staging: From Lenin to Yeltsin. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  9. N. D. Erofeev. DEPARTURE FROM THE POLITICAL ARENA OF THE SRs
  10. From the memoirs of a member of the Military Commission of the AKP B. Sokolov
  11. Yu.G.Felshtinsky. Bolsheviks and Left SRs. October 1917 - July 1918
  12. Sokolov B. Protection of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly // Archive of the Russian Revolution. M., 1992.
  13. Yu.G.Felshtinsky. Bolsheviks and Left SRs. October 1917 - July 1918.
  14. Sokolov B. Protection of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly // Archive of the Russian Revolution. M. T. XIII. pp.38-48. 1992.
  15. "New Life" No. 6 (220), 9 (22) January 1918
  16. Party of Socialists - Revolutionaries after the October Revolution of 1917. Documents from the RPS Archive. Amsterdam. 1989. S.16-17.
  17. All-Russian Constituent Assembly in documents and materials
  18. On the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly: Decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, adopted at the meeting of the Center. Use K-ta January 6, 1918. Published in No. 5 of the Newspaper of the Provisional Worker and Peasant Government of January 9, 1918. // Collection of legalizations and orders of the workers' and peasants' government of 1918, No. 15, Art. 216
  19. G. Ioffe. Between two guards. Literary newspaper. 2003, No. 14

Literature

  • All-Russian Constituent Assembly (1917 in documents and materials). - M. - L., 1930.
  • Rubinshtein, N. L. On the history of the Constituent Assembly. - M. - L., 1931.
  • Protasov, L. G. All-Russian Constituent Assembly: History of birth and death. - M .: ROSSPEN, 1997. - 368 p. -

The convocation and dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on January 5-6 (18-19), 1918 is one of the turning points in the development of the Great Russian Revolution. The forceful actions of the supporters of the Soviet government thwarted the possibility of forming a parliamentary democracy in Russia and carrying out social transformations based on the will of the majority of voters. The dispersal of the assembly was another step towards a large-scale civil war.
All participants in the February Revolution, including the Bolsheviks, recognized the Constituent Assembly as the final judge of party disputes. This was also believed by millions of Russian citizens, who believed that it was the will of the nationwide “gathering”, the people’s representatives, that could guarantee both the right to the Earth and the rules of political life by which the country would have to live. Forceful revision of the decisions of the Assembly at that moment was considered blasphemy, and that is why the subordination of all party leaders to the will of the Assembly could exclude a civil war and guarantee the democratic end of the revolution, the peaceful multi-party future of the country. However, preparations for the elections to the Constituent Assembly were delayed. A special meeting for the preparation of the draft Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly began work only on May 25. Work on the draft Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly was completed in August 1917. It was decided that it would be elected in general, equal, direct elections by secret ballot according to party lists nominated in the territorial districts.
On June 14, the Provisional Government scheduled the elections for September 17, and the convocation of the Constituent Assembly for September 30. However, due to the belated preparation of the regulation on elections and voter lists, on August 9, the Provisional Government decided to call the elections for November 12, and the convocation of the Constituent Assembly - for November 28, 1917.

But by this time, power was already in the hands of the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks promised that they would submit to the will of the Assembly and hoped to win by convincing the majority that they were right with the help of the first populist measures of the Council of People's Commissars. The elections to the Constituent Assembly, which were officially held on November 12 (individual deputies were elected in October-February), brought disappointment to the Bolsheviks - they gained 23.5% of the vote and 180 deputy mandates out of 767. And the parties of supporters of democratic socialism (SRs, Social Democrats, Mensheviks and others) received 58.1%. The peasantry gave their votes to the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and they formed the largest faction of 352 deputies. Another 128 seats were won by other socialist parties. In large cities and at the front, the Bolsheviks achieved great success, but Russia was predominantly a peasant country. The allies of the Bolsheviks, the Left SRs who broke away from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and passed through the lists of the AKP, received only about 40 mandates, that is, about 5%, and could not turn the tide. In those districts where the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries decided to go on their own, in most cases they were defeated.

The composition of the Constituent Assembly following the results of the elections of 1917

In large cities, the Kadets, who were irreconcilable opponents of the Bolsheviks, also achieved success, who got 14 seats. Another 95 seats were received by national parties (except socialists) and Cossacks. By the time the assembly opened, 715 deputies had been elected.
On November 26, the Council of People's Commissars decided that for the opening of the Constituent Assembly it was necessary that 400 deputies arrive in Petrograd, and before that the convocation of the Assembly was postponed.

The Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries together had about a third of the votes, and the Socialist-Revolutionaries were to become the leading center of the Assembly. The assembly could remove the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs from power.
The Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly held mass demonstrations in support of the speedy convocation of parliament, which was postponed by the Council of People's Commissars.
On November 28, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the arrest of the leaders of the civil war (meaning anti-Bolshevik uprisings), on the basis of which several Kadets deputies were arrested, since their party supported the fight against Bolshevism. Along with the Cadets, some Socialist-Revolutionary deputies were also arrested. The principle of parliamentary immunity did not work. The arrival in the capital of deputies-opponents of the Bolsheviks was difficult.
On December 20, the Council of People's Commissars decided to open the work of the Assembly on January 5. On December 22, the decision of the Council of People's Commissars was approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. But in opposition to the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs were preparing the convocation of the Third Congress of Soviets.
After consultations with the Left SRs, the Bolshevik leadership decided to disperse the Constituent Assembly shortly after its convocation. The military superiority in Petrograd was on the side of the Bolsheviks, although many units were rather neutral. The Social Revolutionaries tried to organize military support for the Assembly, but, according to the convincing conclusion of the historian L.G. Protasov, "Socialist-Revolutionary conspiracies were clearly not enough to organize an armed counter-coup - they did not go beyond the necessary defense of the Constituent Assembly." But if this work had been done better, the Assembly could have been defended. However, the Bolsheviks again showed that in the matter of military conspiracies they were more efficient and resourceful. The armored cars prepared by the Social Revolutionaries were put out of action. The Socialist-Revolutionaries were afraid of marring the holiday of democracy by shooting, and abandoned the idea of ​​an armed demonstration in support of the Assembly. His supporters were to take to the streets unarmed.
On January 5, the opening day of the Assembly, Bolshevik troops shot down a demonstration of workers and intellectuals in support of it. More than 20 people died.
By the opening of the meeting, 410 deputies arrived at the Tauride Palace. The quorum has been reached. The Bolsheviks and the Left SRs had 155 votes.
At the beginning of the meeting, there was a scuffle at the podium - the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviks claimed the right to open the meeting, the Socialist-Revolutionaries insisted that this should be done by the oldest deputy (he was a Socialist-Revolutionary). The representative of the Bolsheviks, Y. Sverdlov, made his way to the podium and read out a draft declaration written by Lenin, which said: “Supporting Soviet power and the decrees of the Council of People’s Commissars, the Constituent Assembly considers that its task is limited to establishing the fundamental foundations for the socialist reorganization of society.” In essence, these were terms of surrender, which would turn the Assembly into an appendage of the Soviet regime. No wonder the Constituent Assembly refused even to discuss such a declaration.
The Socialist-Revolutionary leader V. Chernov, who was elected Chairman of the Parliament, delivered a conceptual speech in which he outlined the Socialist-Revolutionary vision of the country's most important problems. Chernov considered it necessary to formalize the transfer of land to the peasants "into a concrete reality precisely formalized by law." The chaotic land redistribution begun by the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs is not capable of providing the peasants with a lasting right to land: “the general transfer of land use ... is not done with one stroke of the pen ... The working village does not want the lease of state property, it wants labor access to the land itself was not subject to any tribute ... "
The agrarian reform was to become the foundation for the gradual construction of socialism with the help of trade unions, cooperatives and strong local self-government.
The policy of the Bolsheviks was criticized by the majority of speakers. The supporters of the Bolsheviks answered not only from the podium, but also from the gallery, which was packed with their supporters. Democrats were not allowed into the building. The crowd gathered at the top shouted and hooted. Armed men aimed from the gallery at the speakers. It took a lot of courage to work in such conditions. Seeing that the majority of the Assembly was not going to give up, the Bolsheviks, and then the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, left the Parliament. Formally, the quorum also disappeared with them. However, Parliament continued to work. In most of the world's parliaments, a quorum is necessary for the opening of parliament, and not for its current work. In the coming days, the arrival of deputies from the hinterland was expected.
The remaining deputies discussed and adopted 10 points of the Basic Land Law, which corresponded to the ideas of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Having abolished the right of ownership of land without redemption, the law transferred it to the disposal of local self-government bodies.
The debate ended early in the morning on 6 January. The head of the guard, anarchist V. Zheleznyakov, referring to the member of the Council of People's Commissars P. Dybenko, told Chernov that "the guard was tired," and it was time to end the meeting. There was nothing special about this, but the speaker reacted irritably: we will disperse only if we are dispersed by force. In the end, they decided that the deputies would continue to work today until the main bills were adopted at least in an accelerated manner. Zheleznyakov no longer interfered in the work of the Assembly.
The deputies adopted the basis of the law on land, a resolution declaring Russia a democratic federal republic and a peace declaration condemning the separate negotiations of the Bolsheviks and demanding a general democratic peace. Then, at twenty to five in the morning, the chairman of the meeting, V. Chernov, closed the meeting, scheduling the next one for five in the evening. When, having slept a little, the deputies again gathered at the Tauride Palace, they found the doors closed - the Bolsheviks announced the dissolution of the Assembly and took away the premises from the supreme authority. This was the act of dispersing the Constituent Assembly.
Outraged by yesterday's execution of a peaceful demonstration, the workers of the Semyannikovsky plant supported the elected representatives of Russia and invited the deputies to sit on the territory of their enterprise. The strike grew in the city, soon involving more than 50 enterprises.
Despite the fact that V. Chernov suggested accepting the proposal of the workers, the majority of the socialist deputies opposed the continuation of the meetings, fearing that the Bolsheviks might shell the plant from ships. It is not known what would have happened if the Bolsheviks had ordered the sailors to shoot at the factory - in 1921, the very fact of a strike in Petrograd caused the Kronstadt sailors to act against the Bolsheviks. But in January 1918, the Socialist-Revolutionary leaders stopped before the specter of civil war. The deputies were leaving the capital, fearing arrests. On January 10, 1918, the Third Congress of Workers', Soldiers', Peasants' and Cossacks' Deputies met and proclaimed itself the highest authority in the country.
Russia's first freely elected parliament was dispersed. Democracy has failed. Now the contradictions between the various social strata of Russia could no longer be resolved through peaceful discussions in parliament. The Bolsheviks took another step towards civil war.

Convocation and dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.

1) The idea of ​​the Constituent Assembly (US) arose as early as 1905. U.S. - a parliamentary institution elected by all the people on party lists. Universal, equal, direct, secret ballot.

The task of U.S. determine the social and state system of Russia.

2) In its first declaration of March 2, 1917, the Provisional Government stated that it considered its main task to convene the US. On March 13, a special meeting was founded to create the "Regulations on Elections in the U.S." The elections have been postponed to 12.11, and the convocation to 28.11. 3) Selected 715 members of the U.S. 412 of them are Socialist-Revolutionaries, 183 Bolsheviks, 17 Mensheviks, 16 Cadets, 81 deputies from national groups. On December 12, the theses of the RSDLP(b) were published. The author is Lenin. “The interests of the revolution are above the formal rights of the US.” 28.11 interim chairman U.S. Chernov was elected. At the end of November, the U.S. Defense Union was created. On January 5, 1918, the U.S. under the chairmanship of Chernov. Sverdlov offered to support the Soviet government and all its decrees, or disperse. Since the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs who supported them were in the minority, this meant that they were in danger of losing power. In view of the fact that the majority of the delegates refused to recognize the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government and demanded the transfer of all power to the US, on the night of January 5 to January 6, 1918, Lenin, at a meeting of members of the Council of People's Commissars, suggested that the delegates be allowed to talk to the end, but in the morning do not let anyone into the meeting. On the orders of People's Commissar for Maritime Affairs Dybenko, the guard dispersed the US, and many of its members were arrested and then shot. On January 6, 1918, Sverdlov, as chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, signed a decree dissolving US.

Third Congress of Soviets

The disbanded "Constituent Assembly" was opposed by the III Congress of Soviets, which opened on January 10, 1918. It began work as a Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, but on the 13th it merged with the All-Russian Peasants' Congress. On January 13-18, the 3rd Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies is already running. 60% of the deputies were Bolsheviks.

Congress decisions:

1) The congress approved the Lenin "Declaration of the rights of the working and exploited people", in which Russia was defined as "the republic of Soviets of workers', soldiers' and peasants' deputies." This was the first constitutional act, which later formed the 1st section of the first Soviet Constitution.

2) The congress approved the measures of the Soviet government aimed at achieving universal democratic peace.

3) The congress adopted a resolution on the federal institutions of the Soviet Republic. The Russian Republic was established on the basis of a union of nations, as a federation of Soviet national republics.

4) Approval of the policy of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars.

5) The law on the socialization of land was adopted.

6) All decrees have been put into effect, i.e. no longer temporary. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets was declared to be the supreme body of power. In between congresses - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Today, the Russian authorities are raising the issue of the Constituent Assembly, which was allegedly dissolved by the Bolsheviks in violation of the historical path of Russia. Is not it?

The idea of ​​the Constituent Assembly, as a form of government, by analogy with the Zemsky Sobor (elected on February 21, 1613 as Tsar Mikhail Romanov - the first) was put forward in 1825. Decembrists, then in the 1860s supported the organizations "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya", and in 1903. included in its program RSDLP. But during the First Russian Revolution of 1905-07. the masses proposed a higher form of democracy - the soviets.

“The Russian people have made a gigantic leap - a leap from tsarism to the Soviets. This is an irrefutable and nowhere else unheard of fact.”. (V. Lenin, vol. 35, p. 239). During the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government (10 capitalist ministers), which overthrew the tsar, did not resolve a single painful issue until October 1917 and in every possible way delayed the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. And the Provisional Government was forced

early October 1917 compile a list of its delegates: 40% - Socialist-Revolutionaries, 24% - Bolsheviks, and the rest of the parties - from 4% and below. And October 25, 1917. The provisional government was overthrown - the October Socialist Revolution was accomplished under the slogan "All power to the Soviets." Before her, a split into left and right occurred in the Socialist-Revolutionary Party; the left followed the Bolsheviks who led this revolution. (That is, the balance of political forces has changed).

October 26, 1917 The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted the Declaration of the Working and Exploited People. Decrees of the Soviet government followed, resolving sensitive issues - a decree on peace; on the nationalization of land, banks, factories; about the 8-hour working day, etc. The Soviet government marched triumphantly across Russia.

The worried bourgeoisie created the "Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly" and organized it convocation January 5 (18), 1918. according to ... the list of the beginning of October 1917. 410 out of 715 delegates gathered in the Taurida Palace in Petrograd. The Presidium, which consisted of Right Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, refused to consider the Declaration and recognize the decrees of Soviet power. Then the Bolsheviks (120 delegates) left the hall. Behind them are the Left SRs (another 150). Remaining 140 out of 410 .

The meeting was adjourned at 5 o'clock in the morning January 6 (19), 1918. guard of revolutionary sailors. January 7 (20) 1918 The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets adopted a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly. This decree was approved January 19 (31) 1918 delegates of the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets - 1647 with a decisive vote and 210 with an advisory one. In the same Tauride Palace in Petrograd. (By the way, the speakers were the Bolsheviks: according to the Report - Lenin, Sverdlov; according to the formation of the RSFSR - Stalin).

These are the historical facts.

"The assimilation of the October Revolution by the people has not yet ended."
(V. Lenin, v.35, p.241)

“And therefore there is nothing more ridiculous when it is said that the further development of the revolution is caused by some particular party ... personality ... or the will of the "dictator".
(V. Lenin, vol. 35, p. 239).

In films about the revolution made during the Soviet period, opponents of the Bolsheviks periodically shrillly shouted "All power to the Constituent Assembly!" The Soviet youth had difficulty understanding what it was about, but taking into account the one who was shouting, they guessed that it was something bad.

With the change of political orientations, part of the Russian youth guesses that the Constituent Assembly is, apparently, "something good if it is against the Bolsheviks." Although still hardly understands what is at stake.

How to live after renunciation?

The Russian Constituent Assembly really turned out to be a very strange phenomenon. Much was said and written about it, but it held only one meeting, which did not become life-changing for the country.

The question of convening a Constituent Assembly arose immediately after the abdication Emperor Nicholas II and his refusal brother Mikhail Alexandrovich take the crown. Under these conditions, the Constituent Assembly, which was a council of deputies elected by the people, had to answer the main questions - about the state system, about further participation in the war, about land, etc.

The provisional government of Russia first had to prepare a regulation on elections, which was supposed to determine those who would be included in the electoral process.

Ballot paper with a list of members of the RSDLP(b). Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Very democratic elections

A special meeting for the preparation of the draft Regulations on the elections to the Constituent Assembly was held only by May. Work on the Regulation was completed in August. The elections were declared universal, equal, direct by secret ballot. No property qualification was provided - all persons who had reached the age of 20 were allowed. Women also received voting rights, which was a revolutionary decision by the standards of that time.

Work on the documents was in full swing when the Provisional Government decided on the dates. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were to be held on September 17, and the first meeting was scheduled to be convened on September 30.

But the chaos in the country grew, the situation became more complicated, and it was not possible to resolve all organizational issues within the established time frame. On August 9, the Provisional Government changes its mind - now November 12, 1917 is announced as the new date for the elections, and the first meeting is scheduled for November 28.

A revolution is a revolution, but the voting is scheduled

On October 25, 1917, the October Revolution took place. The Bolsheviks who came to power, however, did not change anything. On October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars adopted and published signed Lenin the resolution on the holding at the appointed time - November 12.

At the same time, purely technically, it was impossible to hold elections simultaneously in all corners of the country. In a number of regions they were postponed to December and even to January 1918.

The victory of the socialist parties turned out to be unconditional. At the same time, the preponderance of the Social Revolutionaries was explained by the fact that they were oriented, first of all, to the peasantry - we must not forget that Russia was an agrarian country. The worker-oriented Bolsheviks won in the major cities. It is worth noting that a split occurred in the Socialist-Revolutionary Party - the left wing of the movement became allies of the Bolsheviks. The Left SRs received 40 mandates in the elections, which ensured their coalition with the Bolsheviks 215 seats in the Constituent Assembly. This moment will later play a decisive role.

Lenin establishes a quorum

The Bolsheviks, who took power, created the government and began to form new state bodies, were not going to cede the levers of state administration to anyone. At first, there was no final decision on how to proceed.

On November 26, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Lenin, signed a decree "For the opening of the Constituent Assembly", which required a quorum of 400 people to open it, and, according to the decree, the Assembly should have been opened by a person authorized by the Council of People's Commissars, that is, a Bolshevik, or, theoretically, a Left Social Revolutionary allied to the Bolsheviks.

The Provisional Government, as already mentioned, scheduled the convocation of the Constituent Assembly for November 28, and a number of deputies from among the Right Social Revolutionaries tried to open it on that very day. By that time, only about 300 deputies had been elected, slightly more than half of them registered, and less than a hundred arrived in Petrograd. Some of the deputies, as well as former tsarist officials who joined them, tried to hold an action in support of the Constituent Assembly, which some of the participants considered as the first meeting. As a result, the participants of the unsanctioned meeting were detained by representatives of the Military Revolutionary Committee.

"The interests of the revolution are above the rights of the Constituent Assembly"

On the same day, the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the arrest of the leaders of the civil war against the revolution" was issued, which outlawed the most right-wing party from among those that made it to the Constituent Assembly - the Cadets. At the same time, "private meetings" of deputies of the Constituent Assembly were banned.

By mid-December 1917, the Bolsheviks had decided on their position. Lenin wrote: “The Constituent Assembly, convened according to the lists of the parties that existed before the proletarian-peasant revolution, under the rule of the bourgeoisie, inevitably comes into conflict with the will and interests of the working and exploited classes, who on October 25 began the socialist revolution against the bourgeoisie. Naturally, the interests of this revolution are higher than the formal rights of the Constituent Assembly, even if these formal rights were not undermined by the lack of recognition in the law on the Constituent Assembly of the right of the people to re-elect their deputies at any time.

The Bolsheviks and the Left SRs were not going to transfer any power to the Constituent Assembly, and they intended to deprive it of legitimacy.

Shooting demonstrations

At the same time, on December 20, the Council of People's Commissars decided to open the work of the Constituent Assembly on January 5.

The Bolsheviks knew that their opponents were preparing to take political revenge. The Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party considered the option of an armed uprising in early January 1918. Few believed that the case could end in peace.

At the same time, some of the deputies believed that the main thing was to open a meeting of the Constituent Assembly, after which the support of the international community would force the Bolsheviks to retreat.

Leon Trotsky on this score, he spoke quite caustically: “They carefully developed the ritual of the first meeting. They brought candles with them in case the Bolsheviks turned off the electricity, and a large number of sandwiches in case they were deprived of food. So democracy came to the battle with the dictatorship - fully armed with sandwiches and candles.

On the eve of the opening of the Constituent Assembly, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and other oppositionists planned demonstrations in Petrograd and Moscow in support of it. It was clear that the actions would not be peaceful, since the opponents of the Bolsheviks had enough weapons in both capitals.

On January 3 in Petrograd and on January 5 in Moscow demonstrations took place. Both there and there they ended in shooting and casualties. About 20 people died in Petrograd, about 50 in Moscow, and there were casualties on both sides.

"Declaration" of discord

Despite this, on January 5, 1918, the Constituent Assembly began its work in the Tauride Palace of Petrograd. 410 deputies were present, so there was a quorum for making decisions. Of those who were at the meeting, 155 people represented the Bolsheviks and the Left Social Revolutionaries.

Opened the meeting on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Bolshevik Yakov Sverdlov. In his speech, he expressed his hope for "full recognition by the Constituent Assembly of all the decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars." The draft "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People" was submitted for approval by the Constituent Assembly.

Photo of a single session. VI Lenin in the box of the Tauride Palace at a meeting of the Constituent Assembly. 1918, 5 (18) January. Petrograd. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

This document was a constitutional act that proclaimed the basic principles of the socialist state according to the Bolsheviks. The "Declaration" had already been approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and its adoption by the Constituent Assembly would have meant recognition of the October Revolution and all subsequent steps of the Bolsheviks.

Elected Chairman of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly SR Viktor Chernov, for which 244 votes were cast.

"We're leaving"

But in fact, this was already only a formality - the Bolsheviks, after refusing to consider the "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People", switched to a different form of action.

Deputy Fyodor Raskolnikov announced that the Bolshevik faction was leaving the meeting in protest against the non-acceptance of the “Declaration”: “Not wanting to cover up the crimes of the enemies of the people for a minute, we declare that we are leaving the Constituent Assembly in order to transfer the final decision on the question of attitude towards the counter-revolutionary part of the Constituent Assembly.

About half an hour later Deputy from the Left Social Revolutionaries Vladimir Karelin announced that his faction was leaving after the allies: “The Constituent Assembly is by no means a reflection of the mood and will of the working masses ... We are leaving, we are leaving this Assembly ... We are going in order to bring our strength, our energy to Soviet institutions, to the Central Executive Committee.

The term "dispersal of the Constituent Assembly", given the departure of the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs, is inaccurate. 255 deputies remained in the hall, that is, 35.7 percent of the total number of the Constituent Assembly. Due to the lack of a quorum, the meeting lost its legitimacy, like all documents adopted by it.

Anatoly Zheleznyakov. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

"The guard is tired and wants to sleep..."

However, the Constituent Assembly continued to work. Lenin ordered not to interfere with the remaining deputies. But at five o'clock in the morning my patience ran out. head of security of the Tauride Palace Anatoly Zheleznyakov, better known as "Sailor Zheleznyak".

There are several versions of the birth of a historical phrase known to everyone today. According to one of them, Zheleznyakov went to the presiding Chernov and said: “I ask you to stop the meeting! The guard is tired and wants to sleep ... "

Bewildered, Chernov tried to object, and exclamations were heard from the hall: “We don’t need a guard!”

Zheleznyakov snapped: “Your chatter is not needed by the working people. I repeat: the guard is tired!”

However, there were no major conflicts. The deputies themselves were tired, so they gradually began to disperse.

The palace is closed, there will be no meeting

The next meeting was scheduled for 17:00 on January 6. However, the deputies, approaching the Tauride Palace, found armed guards near it, who announced that the meeting would not take place.

On January 9, the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly was published. By decision of the Council of People's Commissars, references to the Constituent Assembly were removed from all decrees and other official documents. On January 10, all in the same Tauride Palace of Petrograd, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets began its work, which became the Bolshevik alternative to the Constituent Assembly. The Congress of Soviets approved a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly.

The situation in the Tauride Palace after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. Photo: RIA Novosti / Steinberg

A short history of Komuch: the second time the members of the Constituent Assembly were dispersed by Kolchak

For some participants in the White movement, including those who were not elected to the Constituent Assembly, the demand for the resumption of its work became the slogan of armed struggle.

On June 8, 1918, the Komuch (Committee of Members of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly) was formed in Samara, declaring itself the All-Russian government in defiance of the Bolsheviks. The People's Army of Komuch was formed, one of the commanders of which was the notorious General Vladimir Kappel.

Komuch managed to take control of a significant territory of the country. On September 23, 1918, Komuch merged with the Provisional Siberian Government. This happened at the State Conference in Ufa, as a result of which the so-called "Ufa directory" was created.

It was difficult to call this government stable. The politicians who created Komuch were Social Revolutionaries, while the military, who constituted the main force of the Directory, professed much more right-wing views.

This union was put to an end by a military coup on the night of November 17-18, 1918, during which the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who were part of the government, were arrested, and Admiral Kolchak came to power.

In November, about 25 former deputies of the Constituent Assembly, on the orders of Kolchak, were court-martialed "for attempting to raise an uprising and conduct destructive agitation among the troops." They were imprisoned, and later some of them were killed by Black Hundred officers.