Supreme Soviet of the USSR

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The Supreme Soviet of the USSR ( Russian Верховный Совет СССР Verkhovnyy Soviet SSSR , German “Supreme Council” ) had been the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union since 1938 .

story

The Supreme Soviet of the USSR was established with the 1936 Constitution, replacing the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union .

The Supreme Soviet of the USSR met twice a year. In addition to the constitution-amending legislation, he was responsible for electing the Presidium , the Council of Ministers and the Public Prosecutor General of the USSR. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR consisted of 24 members and included ex officio the chairmen of the individual Supreme Soviets of the Union Republics. The Presidium acted as a permanent legislative body between the sessions of the Supreme Soviet. The Supreme Soviet therefore limited itself to formally confirming resolutions of the highest party organs ( Politburo , Central Committee ).

The chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR served as head of state of the Soviet Union until 1989 . As a result of the constitutional reforms under Gorbachev in 1989, the new office of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was created in place of the previous office of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR . In 1990 the post of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was finally separated from that of President.

On March 26, 1989 (second round on April 9, 1989), the first elections to the Supreme Soviet that were considered to be relatively democratic took place. It was also the last election at the state level before the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.

construction

The Supreme Soviet of the USSR was composed of two chambers with equal rights, namely the Nationality Soviet and the Union Soviet . Both chambers were elected every five years by the citizens of the USSR with the same session:

  • The nationality soviet was elected according to union republics (32 deputies each), autonomous republics (eleven deputies each), autonomous areas (five deputies each) and autonomous districts (one deputy each). The Nationality Soviet thus had 750 members as of the 1960s.
  • The Union Soviet was elected according to constituencies with 300,000 inhabitants each. The resulting slightly varying number of members was set in the constitution of 1977 on the number of seats in the nationality soviet, so in the Union soviet there were 750 deputies elected from constituencies with the same number of inhabitants.

Conference venues

State Kremlin Palace

From the 1930s onwards, the Great Kremlin Palace served as the meeting place for the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and after 1961 the State Kremlin Palace , where the CPSU party congresses were also held.

Chairperson

Office Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR

Office Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR

  • Mikhail Gorbachev (May 25, 1989 to March 15, 1990)
  • Anatoly Lukyanov (March 15, 1990 to August 22, 1991)

Footnotes

  1. ^ Constitutional reform of December 1, 1988, whereby the Presidium had also lost its long-term function as a substitute legislator. In addition Theodor Schweisfurth , Perestrojka through constitutional law. The first stage of the reform of the political system of Soviet society through the constitutional revision of December 1, 1988 , in: ZaöRV 49 (1989), pp. 711-774, here pp. 758 f.
  2. ↑ See also Soviet Union legislative election, 1989 .