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Soviet Union [USSR] Early Soviet Constitutions
In the Civil War in France, 1848-1850, Karl Marx
maintained that constitutions ought to reflect existing class and
political relationships, not prescribe the nature of such
relations. Vladimir I. Lenin adopted Marx's understanding of the
role of constitutions in a state. Of certain provisions in the
first Soviet constitution, he wrote that they were embodied in it
"after they were already in actual practice." Joseph V.
Stalin rejected a prescriptive preamble for the 1936 constitution,
stating that the constitution should "register" the gains of
socialism rather than prescribe "future achievement." The four
Soviet constitutions thus have reflected the changes that
government and society have undergone over the course of Soviet
history.
Data as of May 1989
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