The Soviet Union was governed by three versions of its Constitution, following the 1918 Soviet Constitution which established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the immediate predecessor of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The first Soviet Constitution, which governed the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, described the regime that assumed power in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. ...

These three constitutions were:

• 1924 Soviet Constitution
• 1936 Soviet Constitution
• 1977 Soviet Constitution

The political theory underlying the Soviet Constitution differed from the political theory underlying constitutions in the West. Democratic constitutions are fundamentally prescriptive; they define a set of political relations to which their governments and citizens aspire. By contrast, Soviet constitutions purported to describe a set of political relationships already in existence. Thus, as changes occurred in the socioeconomic and political systems, the government adopted new constitutions that conformed to the new sets of realities. The 1924 Soviet Constitution legitimated the December 1922 union of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian SSR, the Belarusian SSR, and the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. ... The 1936 Soviet constitution, adopted on December 5, 1936, and also known as the Stalin constitution, redesigned the government of the Soviet Union. ... At the Seventh (Special) Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the fourth and last Soviet Constitution, also known as the Brezhnev Constitution, was unanimously adopted. ... Niccolò Machiavelli, ca 1500, became the key figure in realistic political theory, crucial to political science Political Science is the systematic study of the allocation and transfer of power in decision making. ...

On the surface, the four constitutions resembled many constitutions adopted in the West. The differences between Soviet and Western constitutions, however, overshadow the similarities. Soviet constitutions guaranteed certain political rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. They also identified a series of economic and social rights, as well as a set of duties of all citizens. Nevertheless, Soviet constitutions did not contain provisions guaranteeing the inalienable rights of the citizenry, and they lacked the machinery to protect individual rights contained in many democratic constitutions. Thus, the population enjoyed political rights only to the extent that these rights did not conflict with the goal of building communism. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union alone reserved the authority to determine what lay in the interests of Communism. Finally, Soviet constitutions specified the form and content of state symbols, such as the arms, the flag, and the state anthem. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Group of women holding placards with political activist slogans: know your courts - study your politicians, Liberty in law, Law makers must not be law breakers, and character in candidates photo 1920 Freedom of assembly is the freedom to associate with, or organize any groups, gatherings, clubs, or organizations that one... The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen guarantees freedom of religion, as long as religious activities do not infringe on public order in ways detrimental to society. ... Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian... Soviet Flag: 1:4 ratio July 1923-November 13, 1923 The first official flag of the Soviet Union was adopted in December of 1922 at the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR. It was agreed that the red banner was transformed from the symbol of the Party to the... The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and its constituent republics each had a national anthem (generally referred as state anthem). ...

The four constitutions had provisions in common. These provisions expressed the theoretical sovereignty of the working class and, in the latter two, the leading role of the CPSU in government and society. All the constitutions upheld the forms of social property. Each of the constitutions called for a system of soviets, or councils, to exercise governmental authority. The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... A soviet (Russian: , IPA: , council[1]) originally was a workers local council in late Imperial Russia. ...

Reference

• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. - Soviet Union