Conducting and dissolving the Constituent Assembly. All-Russian Constituent Assembly
The Constituent Assembly is an elected body in some countries, which is usually convened to determine and establish. It also determines the forms of administrative-territorial power and rules of government, and participates in the adoption of laws.
History of creation
In 1917, the All-Russian Constituent Assembly was elected. It was convened the following year on January 5, the reason for this was the overthrow of the monarchy. But soon the All-Russian Executive Central Committee of Soviets dissolved it, and subsequent attempts to reconvene this body of power were unsuccessful. This event further aggravated the civil strife that was observed in the country.
What is a constituent assembly?
Such an assembly is a representative institution, which is based on the general principle of developing a body of laws (the Constitution) and establishing the form of government of the country. The slogan of this institution in 1917 was supported by the Bolsheviks, the Cadets, the Mensheviks, the Socialist Revolutionaries, and representatives of many other state parties. For the Provisional Government, its convocation was the main task.
How did the convocation take place?
The Constituent Assembly was created by representatives of various parties. The voting results were as follows: only 25% of voters cast their votes for the Bolsheviks, and the Social Revolutionaries became the clear leaders - 59% of the votes. 5% of citizens voted for the Cadets, and about 3% for the Mensheviks. A meeting took place in Petrograd, in which 410 deputies were present.
Why is a constituent assembly needed?
The main tasks of the constituent assembly include establishing the state system, determining administrative-territorial authority, developing new laws, and creating a Constitution. The Constituent Assembly in Russia is a type of temporary acting government. The source of his ideas was the legal quest of medieval sages. The ancient authorities, which were similar to the constituent assembly, resolved many important issues, such as the election of kings or other members of government, the creation and implementation of sets of laws, and the solution of emerging problems of the state, as well as its individual regions and regions.
Dissolution
After the dissolution of the constituent assembly, the idea of its creation began to be discussed during the end of perestroika. Deputy M.E. Salya believed that the Democratic Union party had the palm in raising the issue of the need to create a constituent assembly. It, in her opinion, was the only possibility of creating a legitimate one in Russia. And in Leningrad in 1991, on November 7, during a demonstration, a banner even appeared: “All power to the Soviets!”
As is known, when a constituent assembly is convened, the power of the country partially passes to the legitimate Duma. Deputies are obliged to immediately dismiss the current government and elect a new one from among other members of the State Duma.
The i’s on the issue of the “Constituent Assembly” have been dotted, and have been dotted for a long time.
You just need to be periodically reminded of this so as not to succumb to speculation on this topic by liberals, neo-Blys and pseudo-monarchists.
The brief and succinct material will remind some, and for others will reveal long-known facts about the short life of the “Constituent Assembly”.
V. Karpets."Initiator": truth and lies.
Today, not only the media, but also the Russian authorities are actively raising the issue of the Constituent Assembly, the dissolution of which they are trying to present as a crime of the Bolsheviks and a violation of the “natural”, “normal” historical path of Russia. But is it?
The very idea of the Constituent Assembly as a form of government similar to the Zemsky Sobor (which elected the king on February 21, 1613 Mikhail Romanov), put forward by the Decembrists in 1825, then, in the 1860s, it was supported by the organizations “Land and Freedom” and “People’s Will”, and in 1903 the demand for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly was included in its program of the 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 giant leap - a leap from tsarism to the Soviets. This is an irrefutable and unprecedented fact.”(V. Lenin, vol. 35, p. 239). After the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government, which overthrew the Tsar, did not resolve a single sore point until October 1917 and in every possible way delayed the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, the election of delegates of which began only after the overthrow of the Provisional Government, on November 12 (25), 1917 and continued until January 1918. On October 25 (November 7), 1917, the October Socialist Revolution took place under the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” Before her, a split occurred in the Socialist Revolutionary Party into left and right; the left followed the Bolsheviks, who led this revolution (i.e., the balance of political forces changed). On 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 the most pressing issues: a decree on peace; on the nationalization of land, banks, factories; about the eight-hour working day and others.
First meeting of the Constituent Assembly opened on January 5 (18), 1918 in the Tauride Palace of Petrograd, where 410 delegates from 715 elected gathered (i.e. 57.3% -arctus). The Presidium, consisting of right-wing Socialist 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 Socialist Revolutionaries (another 150). Only 140 delegates left out of 410 (34% of participants or 19.6% of selected -arctus). It is clear that in this composition of the decision of the Constituent Assembly and it itself could not be considered legitimate,
therefore, the meeting was interrupted at five o'clock in the morning on January 6 (19), 1918 by a guard of revolutionary sailors. January 6 (19), 1918 Council of People's Commissars decided to dissolve the Constituent Assembly, and on the same day this decision was formalized by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, which, in particular, said : “The Constituent Assembly severed all connections between itself and the Soviet Republic of Russia. The departure from such a Constituent Assembly of the Bolshevik and Left Socialist-Revolutionary factions, which now constitute obviously a huge majority in the Soviets and enjoy the confidence of the workers and the majority of peasants, was inevitable... It is clear that the remainder of the Constituent Assembly can therefore only play the role of covering up the struggle of the bourgeois counter-revolution for the overthrow of Soviet power. Therefore, the Central Executive Committee decides: The Constituent Assembly is dissolved.”
This decree was approved on January 19 (31), 1918 by the delegates of the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets - 1647 with a casting vote and 210 with an advisory vote. In the same Tauride Palace in Petrograd. (By the way, the speakers were Bolsheviks: according to the Report - Lenin, Sverdlov; according to the formation of the RSFSR - Stalin).
Only on June 8, 1918 in Samara, “liberated” from Soviet power as a result of the uprising of the Czechoslovak corps, five delegates from among the right Socialist Revolutionaries (I. Brushvit, V. Volsky - chairman, P. Klimushkin, I. Nesterov and B. Fortunatov) a Committee of Members of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly (Komuch) was formed, which played a truly “outstanding” role in inciting the civil war in Russia. But even during the peak period of Komuch, in the early autumn of 1918, it included only 97 out of 715 delegates ( 13,6% - arctus). Subsequently, the “opposition” delegates of the Constituent Assembly from among the right Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks did not play any independent role in the “white” movement, since they were considered, if not “red”, then “pink”, and some of them were shot by Kolchak’s men for “revolutionary propaganda” "
These are historical facts. From which it follows that the real logic of the revolutionary and political struggle in general is very far from the logic of the “crocodile tears” of domestic liberals, who are ready to mourn the “death of Russian democracy” in January 1918, successfully and without any damage to themselves “digesting” the results of the “victory of the Russian democracy" in October 1993, although the sailor Zheleznyak and his comrades did not shoot their political opponents with machine guns (we are not even talking about tank guns here).
In conclusion, we can only repeat Lenin’s famous words: “The people’s assimilation of the October Revolution has not ended to this day” (V.I. Lenin, vol. 35, p. 241). They are still very relevant today.
constituent Assembly Constituent Assembly
in Russia, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish the form of government and draw up a constitution. In 1917, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries and other parties. The convening of the Constituent Assembly was considered the main task of the Provisional Government, which it announced on March 2 (15). Elections took place from November 12 (25), 1917 to the beginning of 1918. About 59% of voters voted for the Socialist Revolutionaries, 25% for the Bolsheviks, 5% for the Cadets, about 3% for the Mensheviks, 715 deputies were elected. The meeting took place on January 5 (18), 1918 in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd, 410 deputies appeared. The centrist Socialist Revolutionaries predominated; Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries - 155 people (38.5%). It refused to accept the ultimatum of the Bolsheviks to recognize the decrees of the Congresses of Soviets and was dispersed at 5 o'clock in the morning on January 6 (19). The day before, demonstrations in support of the Constituent Assembly were shot. On the night of January 7 (20), the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly, which contributed to the aggravation of civil confrontation in the country.
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLYCONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY - in constitutional law (cm. LAW (system of norms)) the highest state representative body elected for the purpose of developing and adopting a constitution. Along with the constituent power, the constituent assembly usually also exercises the functions of a legislative body during its activities. The institution of a constituent assembly appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries. Synonymous with the constituent assembly are the terms “constitutional assembly” (from the English constituent assembly) and “constituent” (from the French assemblee constituante).
The Constituent Assembly in Russia was created after the overthrow of the autocracy on the basis of universal suffrage to establish a form of government and develop a constitution. The Constituent Assembly was supposed to establish the foundations of the state structure of Russia, the principles of land use, resolve the national question and conclude a just peace, crown the victorious revolution with the triumph of law and order. All political parties in Russia supported the idea of convening a Constituent Assembly. March 2 (15), 1917 Provisional Government (cm. PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT) proclaimed elections to the Constituent Assembly as its main political task.
The idea of convening the Constituent Assembly had historical roots going back to the Zemsky Sobors (cm. ZEMSKY Cathedrals), she was supported by the entire population of the country. “We do not at all deny the right of the Constituent Assembly to finally establish national ownership of land and the conditions for its use,” wrote V.I. Lenin (cm. LENIN Vladimir Ilyich) Peasant Congress in May 1917.
The meeting took place on January 5 (18), 1918 in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd, 410 deputies appeared. The centrist Socialist Revolutionaries predominated; Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries - 155 people (38.5%). It refused to accept the ultimatum of the Bolsheviks to recognize the decrees of the Congresses of Soviets and was dispersed at 5 o'clock in the morning on January 6 (19). On the night of January 6–7 (20), the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly, which contributed to the aggravation of civil confrontation in the country.
But the Provisional Government did not show persistence in convening the Constituent Assembly; the election dates were repeatedly postponed due to organizational difficulties. Elections to the Constituent Assembly took place from November 12 (25), 1917 until the beginning of 1918. About 59% of voters voted for the Socialist Revolutionaries, 25% for the Bolsheviks, 5% for the Cadets, and about 3% for the Mensheviks. A total of 715 deputies were elected: 412 Socialist Revolutionaries (of which 30 were Left Socialist Revolutionaries), 183 Bolsheviks, 17 Mensheviks, 81 from national groups, 16 Cadets, 2 People's Socialists, the party affiliation of four deputies is unknown.
Since the election process was delayed, those who came to power after the October Revolution (cm. OCTOBER REVOLUTION 1917) The Bolsheviks decided to take advantage of the current situation. The Constituent Assembly was supposed to begin its work in Petrograd on November 28, 1917. The day before, on November 26, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution according to which the quorum of the Constituent Assembly was set at four hundred deputies, citing the fact that railway transport was paralyzed and many deputies could not get to Petrograd on time. Then the “Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly” proposed devoting the first meetings mainly to organizational issues, and after the situation had stabilized, to engage in legislative activities.
However, the Bolsheviks did not intend to lose the initiative from their hands. Immediately before the supposed opening of the Constituent Assembly, members of the “Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly”, cadet deputies P.D., were arrested. Dolgorukov (cm. DOLGORUKOV Pavel Dmitrievich), F.F. Kokoshkin (cm. KOKOSHKIN Fedor Fedorovich (politician)), A.I. Shingarev (cm. SHINGAREV Andrey Ivanovich)(as members of the counter-revolutionary party) and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. “This is our answer to the peasants who chose without knowing who they chose,” V.I. explained the arrests. Lenin. After various delays, the opening of the Constituent Assembly was scheduled for January 5, 1918.
On the eve of this day, V.I.’s car Lenin was fired upon by unknown persons, no one was injured, but the reaction of the Bolsheviks was harsh, they deprived the Constituent Assembly of its legislative prerogatives (resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of January 3, 1918), predetermining its dispersal. On the morning of January 5, 1918, the Bolsheviks shot a demonstration under the slogan “All power to the Constituent Assembly.” At the meeting of the Constituent Assembly Y.M. Sverdlov (cm. SVERDLOV Yakov Mikhailovich) on behalf of the Bolshevik Party announced the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People” (cm. DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WORKING AND EXPLOITED PEOPLE)"and ultimatically demanded that the Constituent Assembly accede to this document, recognize Soviet power and approve all its decrees.
Representative of the majority, Socialist Revolutionary V.M. Chernov (cm. CHERNOV Viktor Mikhailovich), insisted on the status of the Constituent Assembly as the supreme power, the Menshevik representative I.G. Tsereteli (cm. TSERETELI Irakli Georgievich) called for the transfer of full power to the Constituent Assembly. In response, the Bolsheviks, led by V.I. Lenin, left the meeting room of the Tauride Palace. IN AND. Lenin did not speak at the meeting of the Constituent Assembly. On the night of January 5-6, 1918, the Constituent Assembly adopted a resolution stating that the supreme power in the country belongs to the competent, legally elected Constituent Assembly, to which the “Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government until the Constituent Assembly” (as it was fully officially called) must obey Lenin's Council of People's Commissars). Then the members of the Constituent Assembly moved on to discuss the agrarian question.
Meanwhile, the situation in the hall became tense, armed soldiers and sailors, many of whom were drunk, expressed open intentions to deal with the “bourgeoisie”, aimed their rifles at Chernov, and defiantly cocked their bolts. At about five o'clock in the morning the chief of the guard, anarchist sailor A.G. Zheleznyakov (cm. ZHELEZNYAKOV Anatoly Grigorievich), declared to the presiding Chernov: “The guard is tired.” The meeting was closed. The next day, deputies were not allowed into the Tauride Palace.
On the night of January 6–7, drunken sailors stabbed Kokoshkin and Shingarev to death in their hospital beds in the infirmary of the Peter and Paul Fortress; that same night, according to the report of V.I. Lenin, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to dissolve the Constituent Assembly. Subsequently, many members of the Constituent Assembly took an active part in the fight against the Bolsheviks. Among them: E.F. Rogovsky in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Siberia; N.V. Chaikovsky (cm. TCHAIKOVSKY Nikolai Vasilievich) on the North of Russia; S.L. Petliura (cm. PETLYURA Simon Vasilievich) in Ukraine. Meetings of members of the Constituent Assembly were held in exile; the most representative one took place in Paris in 1921, where V.M. Chernov, P.N. Miliukov (cm. MILYUKOV Pavel Nikolaevich), A.F. Kerensky (cm. KERENSKY Alexander Fedorovich).
encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .
See what the “Constituent Assembly” is in other dictionaries:
constituent Assembly- Constituent Assembly, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish the form of government and draw up a constitution. After the February Revolution with the formation of the Provisional Government of its main... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish the form of government and develop a constitution for Russia. In 1917, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks,... ... Russian history
Modern encyclopedia
A representative institution created by universal suffrage to establish a form of government and frame a constitution. After the February Revolution with the formation of the Provisional Government, its main task was considered... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)
constituent Assembly- in Russia, a representative institution. Elected by general election to establish the form of government in Russia and draft a constitution. In 1917, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries and other parties. Convocation... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
In constitutional law, the highest government body elected for the purpose of developing and (or) adopting a constitution. Along with this constituent power of the U.S. During the period of its activity, it usually also carries out the functions of a legislative body.... ... Legal Dictionary
ESTABLISH, hedgehog, eat; ezhedenny (yon, ena); Sov., that. Found, start, create. U. scientific society. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
In Russia, a representative institution created on the basis of universal suffrage to establish the form of government and develop a constitution. In 1917, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly was supported by the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries and others... Political science. Dictionary.
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY- the institution of constitutional law is the highest state body elected for the purpose of developing and (or) adopting a constitution. U.S. During the period of its activity it usually carries out the same. functions of the legislative body. Institute of U.S. appeared during the period... Legal encyclopedia
100 years ago, on January 6 (19), 1918, an event occurred that can be considered the day of the establishment of Soviet power with no less reason than October 25. This was the second act of the coup staged by the Bolsheviks with the support of the left Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists. On January 6, the Constituent Assembly, whose meetings had opened with pomp the day before in Petrograd, in the Tauride Palace, was dissolved and ceased to exist.
"Liberal idea"
At the level of slogan phraseology, the Constituent Assembly was revered as a sacred cow by everyone who was involved in the political battles of 1917 - from the Octobrists to the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. Even Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich postponed the execution of the will of Emperor Nicholas, who transferred the supreme power to him, until the convening of the Assembly, making his decision dependent on the will of this institution, thereby legally abolishing not the monarchy, but the autocracy, which his holy brother did not want and could not do.
One of the main articles of accusation that the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries brought against the Provisional Government was the postponement of elections to the Constituent Assembly. Before the premiership of A.F. Kerensky's accusation was groundless. Such enterprises take time, and besides, Russia was at war and part of its territory was occupied by the enemy. But Kerensky, who felt comfortable in the position of ruler of a dying state and seriously dreamed of the role of the Russian Bonaparte saving the Fatherland from ultimate destruction, can easily be suspected of deliberately slowing down the election process. The decision of the Provisional Government to declare Russia a republic, taken on his initiative, clearly speaks of its real attitude towards the expression of the will of the people through the Constituent Assembly, because it was precisely supposed to be convened to establish the form of government. And after this act it turned out that, just as the Bolsheviks confronted the Constituent Assembly with the fact of the existence of the power of the soviets, which they demanded to recognize and approve, so Kerensky and his comrades wanted the Constituent Assembly to simply vote for the usurpation they had already carried out earlier - the unauthorized replacement of the state building.
“If the masses get the ballots wrong, they will have to take up another weapon.”
Be that as it may, on June 14, 1917, elections were scheduled for the 17th, and the convening of the Constituent Assembly on September 30, but on August 9, the Provisional Government, on the initiative of Kerensky, decided to postpone the elections to November 12, and the convening of the Assembly to November 28 1917. The postponement of the elections gave the Bolsheviks a reason to once again criticize the Provisional Government. How sincere the Bolshevik leaders were in their demands for the speedy convening of the Assembly should be judged more by their deeds than by their propaganda and polemical statements, but also by some statements. Thus, one of the prominent Bolsheviks, V. Volodarsky, publicly stated 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.” And the leader of the Bolsheviks V.I. Lenin, according to the chronicler of the revolution N.N. Sukhanova, after his return to Russia from emigration in April 1917, called the Constituent Assembly a “liberal undertaking.”
Church and Constituent Assembly
The question of the Church’s attitude to the elections to the Constituent Assembly on September 27 was discussed at the Local Council, which was then meeting in Moscow. Some members of the Council, fearing that the Church's self-removal from politics would strengthen the position of extreme radicals, called for the direct participation of church authorities in the election campaign. So, A.V. Vasilyev, chairman of the “Cathedral Russia” society, said: “So that the Constituent Assembly does not turn out to be non-Russian and non-Christian in its composition, it is necessary to draw up lists of persons proposed for election... in dioceses, and in parishes... tirelessly invite the believing people not to shy away from elections and vote for the mentioned list." His proposal was supported by Count P.N. Apraksin. Professor B.V. Titlinov, later a renovationist, opposed the participation of the Council in the elections, arguing that political speeches violated the church charter of the Council. Prince E.N. Trubetskoy advocated finding a “middle royal path.” He suggested that the Council “appeal to the people, without relying on any political party, and definitely say that people should be elected who are devoted to the Church and the Motherland.”
We stopped at this decision. On October 4, the Local Council addressed the All-Russian flock with the message:
“This is not the first time in our history that the temple... of state life is collapsing, and disastrous turmoil befalls the Motherland... The intransigence of parties and class discord does not build up the power of the state, the wounds from a grave war and all-destroying discord are not healed... A kingdom divided into all will be exhausted (Matthew 12:25)… Let our people overcome the spirit of wickedness and hatred that overwhelms them, and then, with a united effort, they will easily and brightly accomplish their state work. Dry bones will gather and be clothed with flesh and come to life at the behest of the Spirit... In the Motherland the eye sees a holy land... Let the bearers of the faith be called upon to heal its illnesses.”
Elections and their result
After the fall of the Provisional Government, opponents of the Bolsheviks pinned their hopes on the Constituent Assembly removing them from power, so there were demands from various political parties for the immediate holding of elections. On the one hand, there seemed to be no reason to worry about this. A day after the proclamation of the power of the soviets, on October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars issued a resolution to hold elections on the date previously set by the Provisional Government - November 12, 1917, but on the other hand, since the peasants, who made up 80 percent of the country's population, mainly followed the Social Revolutionaries, The Bolshevik leaders were concerned about the prospect of defeat in these elections. On November 20, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b), I.V. Stalin proposed postponing the convening of the Constituent Assembly to a later date. A more radical initiative was made by L.D. Trotsky and N.I. Bukharin. They spoke out in favor of convening a revolutionary convention from the Bolshevik and Left Socialist-Revolutionary factions of the Assembly, so that this convention would replace the Constituent Assembly itself. But more moderate members of the Bolshevik Central Committee L.B. Kamenev, A.I. Rykov, V.P. Milyutin opposed the plan of such usurpation, and at that time their position prevailed.
The fundamental difference between the elections to the Constituent Assembly and the procedure for the formation of the State Duma and councils abolished by the Kerensky government was their universality: deputies of the State Duma were elected in the order of class representation, so that the votes of voters were not equivalent, and deputies of the councils were elected, as can be seen, from the very their names, from the workers', soldiers' and peasants' curiae, with the non-participation in the elections of persons belonging to the propertied classes, or, as they were then called, the qualifying classes, which, of course, did not interfere with people from the nobility, such as Kerensky, Tsereteli, Bukharin, Lunacharsky, Kollontai, or from the bourgeoisie, like Trotsky or Uritsky, became the elected representatives of the workers; for this, however, it was necessary to join parties that declared their commitment to protecting the interests of workers or peasants.
All adult citizens of Russia had the right to elect deputies to the Constituent Assembly. But voting was carried out according to party lists, and right-wing parties were banned by the Provisional Government, so their supporters for the most part did not want to participate in the elections, only a few of them decided to vote for the “lesser evil”, which they saw as the Cadets, who by that time found themselves on the right flank of the legal political spectrum.
Less than half of the citizens who had the right to vote took part in the elections, which were held as scheduled. Basically, their results were as expected. 715 deputies were elected. The Socialist Revolutionaries won, receiving 370 mandates. 40 deputies made up the faction of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, led by Spiridonova and Natanson, who finally formalized their break with the party of Savinkov, Kerensky and Chernov on the very eve of the elections and therefore faced difficulties in forming their electoral list, which is why their election results were inferior to the popularity of the party in peasant and soldier environment.
The Social Revolutionaries won the elections to the Constituent Assembly, receiving 370 seats; the Bolsheviks had 175 seats
The Bolsheviks received 175 seats in the Constituent Assembly, constituting the second largest faction in it. The Cadets, who received 17 mandates, and the Mensheviks with their faction of 15 people, mainly representing voters from Georgia, suffered a catastrophic defeat in the elections. Only the exotic Party of People's Socialists got fewer seats - 2 deputies. 86 mandates were received by deputies from national and regional parties.
The distribution of votes cast for different parties was, however, different in the capitals and in the active army. About 1 million people voted in Petrograd - significantly more than half of the voters - and 45% of them gave their votes to the Bolsheviks, the Socialist Revolutionaries took only third place there with 17%, losing second to the Cadets, who received 27% of the votes in the imperial capital, unlike the picture of his crushing defeat in peasant Russia. In Moscow, the Bolsheviks also came in first place, receiving almost half of the votes. More than a third of the votes were cast for the Cadets there, so the Socialist-Revolutionaries lost in the capital as well. Thus, the polarization of political sentiment in the capitals was more acute than in the country: the moderate element there consolidated around the Cadet Party, which in the civil war that soon broke out represented the political face of the White armies. The Bolsheviks emerged victorious from the elections on the Western and Northern fronts and in the Baltic Fleet.
In a "clash of wills and interests"
The ongoing war, disorganization of transport and other difficulties inevitable in a country gripped by turmoil did not allow all deputies to arrive in the capital on time. By a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of November 26, it was decided to consider the quorum necessary for the opening of the Constituent Assembly to be the presence of at least 400 elected deputies.
Anticipating the likely obstruction on the part of the Constituent Assembly of the decrees of the Second Congress of Soviets, the Bolshevik Council of People's Commissars took preventive measures against the likely event of a clash with the Constituent Assembly. On November 29, he banned “private meetings” of deputies of the Constituent Assembly. In response to this action, the Socialist Revolutionaries formed the “Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly.”
IN AND. Lenin: “The interests of the revolution stand above the formal rights of the Constituent Assembly”
At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, a new bureau of the Bolshevik faction of the Constituent Assembly was formed. Opponents of his dispersal were removed from it. The next day, Lenin compiled “Theses on the Constituent Assembly,” which stated that “convened according to the lists of parties that existed before the proletarian-peasant revolution, in an environment of bourgeois rule,” it “inevitably comes into conflict with the will and interests of the working and exploited classes who started the socialist revolution against the bourgeoisie on October 25. Naturally, the interests of this revolution stand above the formal rights of the Constituent Assembly... Any attempt, direct or indirect, to consider the question of the Constituent Assembly from the 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 point of view of the bourgeoisie." The Social Revolutionaries energetically campaigned for the slogan “All power to the Constituent Assembly,” and one of the Bolshevik leaders G.E. Zinoviev stated then that “this slogan means “Down with the Soviets.”
The situation in the country was heating up. On December 23, martial law was declared in Petrograd. In Socialist Revolutionary circles, the possibility of physically eliminating the Bolshevik leaders Lenin and Trotsky was discussed. But the prospect of an inevitable civil war in this case with negligible chances of success frightened the Socialist Revolutionary leadership, and the idea of resorting to the practice of terror so familiar to the Socialist Revolutionaries was rejected.
On January 1, 1918, the first and unsuccessful attempt was made on Lenin, but its probable organizer was not the Social Revolutionaries, but cadet N.V. Nekrasov, who, however, subsequently collaborated with the Soviet government. On January 3, a meeting of the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party took place. It raised the question of an armed overthrow of the power of the soviets, but such a proposal was not accepted: in the capital there were units that supported the Socialist Revolutionaries, and among them the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments, but the soldier’s councils of other regiments of the Petrograd garrison followed the Bolsheviks. The reason for this was that after the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, the soldiers no longer saw the point in continuing the war. The slogan proclaimed by Lenin, “Let us turn the war of peoples into a civil war,” was addressed to European social democracy and was not widely known among soldiers, but his call for an immediate conclusion of peace, which was the quintessence of Bolshevik propaganda, was more attractive to soldiers than “revolutionary defencism.” » SRs. Realizing this, the Socialist Revolutionary Central Committee limited itself to making a decision on the opening day of the Constituent Assembly on January 5 to hold a peaceful demonstration in its support.
In response, on the same day, the Bolshevik Pravda published a resolution of the Cheka, signed by a member of the board of this institution, Uritsky, which prohibited demonstrations and rallies in the territory adjacent to the Tauride Palace. Fulfilling this decree, a regiment of Latvian riflemen and a Lithuanian regiment occupied the approaches to the palace. On January 5, in Petrograd, supporters of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Cadets staged demonstrations in support of the Constituent Assembly. There is extremely conflicting information about the number of their participants: from 10 to 100 thousand people. These demonstrations were dispersed by Latvian riflemen and soldiers of the Lithuanian regiment. At the same time, according to information published the next day in Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, 21 people died. On the same day, a similar demonstration took place in Moscow, but there, as in the November days during the seizure of power by the Bolshevik Soviet, this event entailed great bloodshed. The Social Revolutionaries and Cadets offered armed resistance to the soldiers who dispersed them. The firefight continued throughout the day, and the number of casualties on both sides was 50 people, more than 200 were wounded.
First day of meetings
On the morning of January 5 (18), 410 deputies arrived at the Tauride Palace. At the suggestion of the Bolshevik Skvortsov-Stepanov, the deputies sang “The Internationale”. Only the Cadets and some representatives of national factions refrained from singing, so that a significant majority of the Assembly - Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, right and left Socialist Revolutionaries - with this singing announced to the country and the world both the “boil” of their “indignant mind” and their decisive intention to “tear up” (this is exactly what the first edition of the Russian translation was, instead of the later “we will destroy”) “to the ground” the old world of “violence” and build a “new world”, in which “he who was nothing will become everything.” The only dispute was about who was to destroy the old world and build a new one - the party of revolutionary terrorists (Socialist Revolutionaries) or the Bolsheviks.
The meeting of the Constituent Assembly was opened by the Bolshevik Ya.M. Sverdlov, who served as chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In his speech, he expressed hope for “full recognition by the Constituent Assembly of all decrees and resolutions of the Council of People’s Commissars” and proposed to accept what V.I. Lenin drafted the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People,” in which the form of government in Russia was designated as “a republic of councils of workers, soldiers and peasants’ deputies.” The draft also reproduced the main provisions of the resolution on peace, agrarian reform and workers' control in enterprises adopted by the Second Congress of Soviets.
The Left Socialist Revolutionaries and Bolsheviks proposed electing M.A. as chairman of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly. Spiridonov. 153 deputies voted for her. By a majority of 244 votes, V.M. was elected Chairman of the Assembly. Chernov.
On the first and last day of the meetings of the Assembly, the Socialist-Revolutionaries V.M. spoke. Chernov, V.M. Zenzinov, I.I. Bunakov-Fondaminsky (who later converted to Orthodoxy, died in Auschwitz and canonized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople), left Socialist-Revolutionaries I.Z. Steinberg, V.A. Karelin, A.S. Severov-Odoevsky, Bolsheviks N.I. Bukharin, P.E. Dybenko, F.F. Raskolnikov, Menshevik I.G. Tsereteli.
The meeting did not end when night fell. At 3 o’clock on January 6, after the Socialist Revolutionary and Kadet factions of the Constituent Assembly, together with small factions, finally refused to consider the draft “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People” drawn up by Lenin, which transferred all power in the country to the soviets, Raskolnikov, on behalf of the Bolshevik faction, declared : “Not wanting for a minute to cover up the crimes of the enemies of the people, we... are leaving the Constituent Assembly,” and the Bolsheviks left the Tauride Palace. The Left Socialist Revolutionary faction followed their example at 4 a.m. Its representative Karelin, taking the floor, said: “The Constituent Assembly is in no way a reflection of the mood and will of the working masses... We are going to bring our strength, our energy to Soviet institutions.”
The Constituent Assembly proclaimed Russia a federal democratic republic
As a result of obstruction by two factions of the Constituent Assembly, its quorum (400 members) was lost. The deputies remaining in the Tauride Palace, chaired by V.M. Chernov decided, however, to continue the work and, almost without discussion, hastily voted for a number of decisions that were fundamental in content, but remained only on paper. The Constituent Assembly proclaimed Russia a federal democratic republic - two days earlier, the Soviet All-Russian Central Executive Committee had decided that the Russian Soviet Republic was a federation of Soviet national republics. The Constituent Assembly issued a law on land, in which it was declared public property; According to this law, private ownership of land was abolished and landowners' lands were subject to nationalization. This law had no fundamental differences from the decree of the Second Congress of Soviets “On Land,” since the main provisions of the decree followed not the Bolshevik, but the Socialist Revolutionary agrarian program, which the peasants sympathized with.
The Constituent Assembly also issued a peace proclamation calling on the warring powers to immediately begin negotiations to end the war. This appeal also did not have radical differences from the Bolshevik “Decree on Peace”: on the one hand, the Socialist Revolutionaries had long been in favor of concluding peace without annexations and indemnities, and on the other, the Bolsheviks, in their demand for immediate peace, did not directly speak out for capitulation, and, as this can be seen from the real course of events; the Red Army created by the Soviet government before the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty tried, although unsuccessfully, to resist the advance of German and Austro-Hungarian troops inland.
Moreover, the Constituent Assembly also advocated the introduction of workers' control in factories and factories, and in this, without disagreeing with the position of the Bolsheviks.
And what divided the Bolsheviks, who ruled the soviets, and the Socialist Revolutionaries, who dominated the Constituent Assembly, was not the doctrinal differences that still remained, but the question of power. For the Constituent Assembly, the confrontation between the Bolsheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries ended with the cessation of its meetings.
"The guard is tired"
At the beginning of 5 o'clock in the morning, the head of the security of the Constituent Assembly, anarchist A. Zheleznyakov, received an order from People's Commissar Dybenko (they were both sailors of the Baltic Fleet) to stop the meeting. Zheleznyakov approached the Chairman of the Assembly Chernov and told him: “I have received instructions to bring to your attention that all those present leave the meeting room because the guard is tired.” The deputies complied with this demand, deciding to meet again in the Tauride Palace in the evening of the same day, at 17:00.
When Lenin was informed about the closure of the Constituent Assembly, he suddenly... laughed. Laughed contagiously, to the point of tears
Bukharin recalled that when Lenin was informed about the closure of the Constituent Assembly, he “asked to repeat something from what was said about the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly and suddenly laughed. He laughed for a long time, repeated to himself the words of the narrator and laughed and laughed. Fun, infectious, to the point of tears. Laughed." Another Bolshevik leader, Trotsky, later ironically said: the Socialist Revolutionaries and Cadets “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 fight dictatorship - fully armed with sandwiches and candles.”
On the morning of January 6, the Bolshevik Pravda published an article in which the Constituent Assembly was given, to put it mildly, an overly temperamental characterization, in its bitingness bordering on public abuse, in the style of party propaganda of that era:
“The servants of bankers, capitalists and landowners... slaves of the American dollar, killers from around the corner, right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries demand all the power in the Constituent Assembly for themselves and their masters - the enemies of the people. In words they seem to join the people's demands: land, peace and control, but in reality they are trying to tighten 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 obvious and hidden killers.”
On the evening of January 6, deputies of the Constituent Assembly came to the Tauride Palace with the intention of continuing the debate and saw that its doors were locked, and a guard armed with machine guns was stationed near them. The deputies had to disperse to their apartments and hotels, where visiting members of the Assembly were accommodated. On January 9, 1918, the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, dated the 6th, was published on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.
On January 18 (31), the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree according to which all references to the upcoming Constituent Assembly and to the temporary nature of the Soviet government itself were eliminated from the acts it issued. On the same day, a similar decision was made by the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
Thus, the experiment with the Constituent Assembly, on which many politicians had relied, ended with a sudden death.
Komuch and Kolchak
But this institution also had a kind of posthumous history. After the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, a full-scale civil war began in Russia, as Lenin predicted. The Czechoslovak Corps, formed from captured Austro-Hungarian soldiers of Czech and Slovak nationalities to participate in hostilities on the side of Russia and the Entente, was subject to disarmament under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. But the corps did not obey the corresponding order of the Council of People's Commissars and in the summer of 1918 overthrew the local bodies of Soviet power in the Volga region, the Southern Urals and Siberia - where its units were located. With his support, the so-called Komuch was formed in Samara - the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, headed by Chernov from those of its deputies who came to Samara. Similar institutions appeared in Omsk, Ufa and some other cities. These committees formed regional provisional governments.
A.V. Kolchak: “The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly is the merit of the Bolsheviks, this should be given them a plus”
In September, a State Meeting of representatives of regional governments was held in Ufa, at which the All-Russian Directory was established, headed by the Socialist-Revolutionary N.D. Avksentiev. The advance of the Red Army forced the Directory to move to Omsk. In October, Admiral A.V. arrived in Omsk. Kolchak. On November 4, at the insistence of the British General Knox and with the support of the cadets, he was appointed Minister of War and Navy in the government of the directory, and two weeks later, on the night of November 18, a military coup was carried out: the head of the directory Avksentiev and its members Zenzinov, Rogovsky and Argunov were arrested and then exiled abroad, and Admiral Kolchak issued an order by which he announced his appointment as Supreme Ruler of Russia. Several members of the Constituent Assembly, headed by V.M. Chernov, who gathered at the congress in Yekaterinburg, protested against the coup. In response to A.V. Kolchak issued an order for the immediate arrest of Chernov and other participants in the Yekaterinburg Congress.
The deputies who fled from Yekaterinburg moved to Ufa and there campaigned against the Kolchak dictatorship. On November 30, the Supreme Ruler of Russia ordered the members of the Constituent Assembly to be brought before a military court “for attempting to raise an uprising and conduct destructive agitation among the troops.” On December 2, a detachment under the command of Colonel Kruglevsky arrested 25 deputies of the Constituent Assembly. They were transported in a freight car to Omsk and thrown into prison there. When the attempt to free them failed, most of them were killed.
And already as an epilogue to the history of the Constituent Assembly, one can cite the words of Admiral A.V., who was arrested by the command of the Czechoslovak corps and then handed over to the Bolsheviks. Kolchak, said in January 1920 during interrogation: “I believed that if the Bolsheviks have few positive sides, then the dispersal of this Constituent Assembly is their merit, that this should be considered a plus for them.”
From this whole story it is extremely clear that the prospect of establishing a liberal regime in Russia in 1917 was absolutely not visible. Of course, the Bolsheviks were not guaranteed victory in the civil war, but the alternatives were either a military dictatorship or the collapse of the country with the establishment of various forms of government on its ruins. Even the best possible outcome of the turmoil - the restoration of autocratic rule, with its extremely low probability, although at the end of the civil war the masses, but not the politicians, yearned for the lost tsarist power - was still more realistic than the establishment of liberal democracy in the country .
There would seem to be no particular reason to retrospectively regret the defeat of the Social Revolutionaries in the battle with another revolutionary party - the Bolsheviks. But one extremely important sad consequence follows from this defeat of theirs. The party discipline of the Socialist Revolutionaries, unlike the Social Democrats, did not require them to adhere to Marxism with its atheistic component. Therefore, if we imagine the impossible - the assertion of the power of the Constituent Assembly and the Socialist Revolutionary government formed by it, then the separation of the Church from the state would not have been carried out as hastily as the Bolsheviks did, and the corresponding act would not have been as draconian in nature as the Soviet decree on separation issued immediately after the Third Congress of Soviets approved the decision of the Council of People's Commissars to close the Constituent Assembly.
Introduction
Russia, will represent the institution, intended in accordance with bourgeois state-legal views to establish a form of government and develop a constitution; its creation was supposed to be based on universal suffrage. The slogan of convening a Constituent Assembly was included in the program of the RSDLP in 1903. After the Feb. -democratic republic since the Constituent Assembly. With the victory of the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Party sought to help the petty-bourgeois masses, through their own experience, get rid of bourgeois illusions. On October 27 (November 9), Soviet production adopted a resolution on the Constituent Assembly on the appointed date. In November doc. 1917 (and in some remote places in January 1918) elections to the Constituent Assembly took place, taking place under conditions of sabotage by counter-revolutionaries, which actually began the Civil War. Of those who took part in the voting, about 1/2 of the voters voted for the Bolsheviks, 40% for the Socialist-Revolutionaries, 2.3% for the Mensheviks, 4.7% for the Cadets, and the rest for other bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties and groups. The majority of workers and almost half of the soldiers voted for the Bolsheviks (who achieved success in Petrograd, Moscow, on the Northern and Western fronts, the Baltic Fleet, in 20 districts of the North-West and Central Industrial Districts), which confirmed the pattern of victory of the October Revolution.
The demand for the immediate convening of the Constituent Assembly and the “protection” of its rights and sovereignty from “usurpation” by the Soviets became the banner under which they united. All the forces of bourgeois and petty bourgeois counter-revolution. Considering the unpopularity of monarchist and bourgeois slogans and trying to mobilize forces to fight against Soviet power, the counter-revolution relied on a slogan that had not yet completely lost its popularity among the working masses. At the opening on 5(18) Jan. At the 1918 meeting of the Constituent Assembly of 715 deputies, approx. 410 (predominant: centrist Socialist Revolutionaries, led by V.M. Chernov; Bolsheviks and left Socialist Revolutionaries - 155 people, 38.5%). Counter-revolution the majority of the Constituent Assembly (president Chernov) refused to discuss the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People proposed by Ya. M. Sverdlov from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and did not recognize the decrees of the Soviets. authorities. The Bolshevik faction, and then the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and some other groups left the meeting. At 5 o'clock in the morning 6(19) Jan. The Constituent Assembly was closed. On the night of 7(20) January. Based on the report of V. I. Lenin, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, approved by the 3rd All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The remnants of the deputies of the Constituent Assembly gathered in Samara, where in June 1918 they formed a counter-revolutionary movement. Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly. During the Civil War, the slogan of the Constituent Assembly became the basis of the political program of the Mensheviks (withdrawn in December 1918), some of the leaders of the “White Cause” (they modified it into the slogan of the “legislative assembly” and used it for tactical purposes) and especially the Socialist Revolutionaries. The military defeat of the counter-revolution, the socialist transformations carried out by the Soviet government in the country deprived the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties of a social base, predetermined the collapse of the slogan of the Constituent Assembly.
The work used the literature of the following authors: Kozlov V.A. History of the Fatherland: people, ideas, decisions; Novitskaya T.E. Constituent Assembly. Russia. 1918; Kiseleva A.F. Recent history of the fatherland of the 20th century; Dumanova N.G. History of political parties in Russia; Boffa J. History of the Soviet Union. From the revolution to the second world war. Lenin and Stalin 1917-194; Azovtsev N.N. Civil war and military intervention in the USSR. Encyclopedia; Chernov M.V. The struggle for the Constituent Assembly and its dispersal.
Goal of the work - Study the organization of elections to the Constituent Assembly of 1917.
Tasks
Get acquainted with the convocation of the Constituent Assembly;
Study the election regulations;
Consider suffrage and electoral lists for the Constituent Assembly.
Elections to the Constituent Assembly. On the formation of a Special Meeting. Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly
On March 25, it was decided that it was necessary to form a Special Meeting to prepare a draft Regulation on the elections to the Constituent Assembly. The composition of this body took more than a month to form and began work on May 25.
The Special Meeting is the institution that directly prepared the elections for the preparation of the Draft Regulations on the elections to the Constituent Assembly chaired by Kokoshkin (created by decree of the Provisional Government on March 25, 1917). The focus of the work of the Special Meeting, as well as the practical work of the All-Russian Commission on Elections to the Constituent Assembly (All Elections), created in the summer of 1917, was the development of new electoral legislation and the administrative infrastructure for its implementation. The general direction in resolving this issue (despite the representation of different parties) was determined by the desire of the professional part of the authors of the “Regulations” to reflect the will of society as objectively as possible, on the one hand, and, on the other, to neutralize, as far as possible, the negative impact on the outcome of the elections of the least prepared part of society ( This explains, in particular, the discussion about the age limit, the desire to ensure the rights of minorities, the discussion of the control system and re-ballots). A special meeting was formed “to prepare a draft regulation on elections to the Constituent Assembly,” and it was decided to appoint specialists in state law, a representative of statistical science and other knowledgeable persons to its composition and invite political and public figures representing the main political and national political trends Russia 63. Qualified lawyers, members of the State Duma of the first convocation, Professor S.A., were appointed to the Special Meeting. Kotlyarevsky and F.F. Kokoshkin, member of the State Duma of the second convocation, Professor V.M. Gessen, members of the State Duma V.A. Maklakov and M.S. Adzhemov, academician A.S. Lappo-Danilevsky, Master of State Law N.I. Lazarevsky, Master of International Law Baron B.E., Nolde, Head of the Main Directorate for Local Economic Affairs N.N. Avinov, member of the consultation established under the Ministry of Justice A.Ya. Galpern and candidate of rights V.V. Vodovozov. Further, however, this institution is blurred: as has been shown, representatives from parties and nationalities are included in it, which could not but lead to the disorganization of all work and the transition from professionalism to populism.
In the Regulations “On the formation of the Committee under the Provisional Government for the adaptation of the building for the Constituent Assembly. Resolution of the Provisional Government of May 24, 1917" The Provisional Government decided: I To form under the Provisional Government a Committee for the adaptation of the building for the Constituent Assembly, chaired by the Commissioner of the Provisional Government for the Ministry of Trade and Industry Vasily Aleksandrovich Stepanov, consisting of the following persons: Comrade Chairman of the Committee engineer Yakov Yakovlerich Brusov and members: Chairman of the Special meeting for the preparation of a draft regulation on elections to the Constituent Assembly, Senator Fedor Fedorovich Kokoshkin, the producer of the work of the Committee, Academician Vladimir Alekseevich Shchuko, the Assistant Commissioner of the Provisional Government over the Ministry of the Court, engineer Pavel Mizhayalovich Makarov, architect Nikolai Evgenievich Lansere, two representatives from the said Meeting and one representative each from the Ministry of Finance and State Control, granting the Chairman of the Committee the right to invite Members and other persons whose participation will be considered useful in the work of the Committee.
“The expenses of the Committee are aimed at preparatory work to adapt the building for the Constituent Assembly...”
“On approval of section I of the regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly. Resolution of the Provisional Government of July 20, 1917." Recognizing the urgency of putting into effect those rules on the elections to the Constituent Assembly that are necessary for the immediate start of the election process among the civilian population of the Provisional Government, based on the report of the Special Meeting for the preparation of the draft Regulations on the elections to the Constituent Assembly:
Approve the first section (chapters 1-5) of the Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly...
Entrust the preparatory work for compiling electoral lists to existing state institutions and public organizations, indicated by special decrees of the Provisional Government.
Entrust the Ministry of Internal Affairs with direct executive actions necessary for the technical preparation of the elections to the Constituent Assembly in order to speed them up and successfully pass them.
The election of members of the Constituent Assembly from the province occupied by the enemy, with the exception of the territory intended to be included in the future Polish state. The indication of the number of members of the Constituent Assembly in each district is established by special decrees of the Provisional Government.
