The Constitution of the RSFSR was adopted (1925)

On May 11, 1925, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants', Cossacks' and Red Army deputies approved the revised text of the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic, formalizing the new state-legal status of Russia as a union republic within the USSR.

This was due to the adoption of amendments to the Constitution of the RSFSR on July 10, 1918, by the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The amendments were introduced in response to the formation of the USSR on December 30, 1922, and the need to align the legislation of the RSFSR with that of the Union.

Article 5 of the USSR Constitution of 1924 stated that "the union republics shall, in accordance with this constitution, amend their own constitutions".

The Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) of 1925 built on the previous experience of state-building and internal and external changes that had taken place from 1918 to 1924. One of the most significant events during this period was the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in which the RSFSR played a crucial role.

The RSFSR Constitution of 1925 was largely based on the model of the Union Constitution. At the same time, the fundamental principles of state-building that formed the basis for the RSFSR's Constitution in 1925 were also reflected in the constitutions of other Union republics, such as Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and others.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted in 1925, reflected the softening of the political and economic situation in the country after the end of the Civil War. The provisions of the Declaration of Rights of Workers and Exploited People were removed from the text. Although it remained the constitution of the dictatorship of the proletariat, it significantly softened many of the ideological programmatic formulations on a global scale, such as those concerning the destruction of parasitic classes and the world revolution.

If the Constitution of the RSFSR, adopted in 1918, set the goal of "establishing a socialist organization of society and the triumph of socialism in all countries," then the Constitution of 1925 set the goal as "the realization of communism," without mentioning other countries.

The Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) of 1925 legally established the federal structure of Russia and detailed the structure of Soviet government: the powers of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Central Executive Committee, and the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs; the system of government for autonomous socialist republics and local governments; electoral procedures; budget rights of the RSFSR; and state symbols. These provisions remained in effect until January 21, 1937, when the XVII All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted a new Constitution for the RSFSR that declared the completion of building the foundations of socialism. The political system created by the 1937 RSFSR Constitution, with minor amendments made in 1978, remained in place until 1990.

Lit.: Абакумов Д. А. К вопросу о двадцатилетии Конституции РФ: завоевания и перспективы // Актуальные проблемы современности: наука и общество. 2013. № 1 (1) [Электронный ресурс] URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/k-voprosu-o-dvadtsatiletii-konstitutsii-rf-zavoevaniya-i-perspektivy; Подерега С. В. Законодательное регулирование института выборов депутатов местных советов после принятия Конституции РСФСР 1925 года // Вестник КРУ МВД России. 2017. № 2 (36) [Электронный ресурс] URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/zakonodatelnoe-regulirovanie-instituta-vyborov-deputatov-mestnyh-sovetov-posle-prinyatiya-konstitutsii-rsfsr-1925-goda; Тикеев Ф. С. Исторический опыт разработки и принятия конституции РСФСР 1925 г.: дис. ... канд. ист. наук. М., 2004; Он же. Автореф. дис. [Электронный ресурс] URL: https://www.dissercat.com/content/istoricheskii-opyt-razrabotki-i-prinyatiya-konstitutsii-rsfsr-1925-g; Шульженко Ю. Л. Конституция – основа советского конституционализма периода государства диктатуры пролетариата // Социально-политические науки. 2018. № 5 [Электронный ресурс] URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/konstitutsiya-osnova-sovetskogo-konstitutsionalizma-perioda-gosudarstva-diktatury-proletariata.

Based on the materials of the Presidential Library:

Constitution – Basic law: [digital collection];

Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: [digital collection].