Constituent Assembly- a representative body in Russia, elected in November 1917 and convened in January 1918 to determine the state structure of Russia.
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✪ Why did the Bolsheviks disperse the constituent assembly?
✪ Lecture by A. Zubov "All-Russian Constituent Assembly of 1917: preparation, elections and results"
✪ Intelligence poll: Yegor Yakovlev on the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly
✪ Intelligence poll: Boris Yulin on the dispersal of the constituent assembly
Subtitles
Elections
The convocation of the Constituent Assembly was one of the primary tasks of the Provisional Government (the very name came from the idea of the “unresolved” arrangement of power in Russia before the Constituent Assembly was held), but it hesitated with it. After the overthrow of the Provisional Government in October 1917, the question of the Constituent Assembly became of paramount importance for all parties. The Bolsheviks, fearing the discontent of the people, since the idea of convening the Constituent Assembly was very popular, accelerated the elections to it planned by the Provisional Government. On October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars adopted and published, signed by V. I. Lenin, a resolution on holding, on the appointed date, November 12, 1917, general elections to the Constituent Assembly.
On the whole, the internal party discussion ended with Lenin's victory. On December 11, he achieved the re-election of the bureau of the Bolshevik faction in the Constituent Assembly, some of whose members spoke out against the dispersal. On December 12, 1917, Lenin drew up the "Theses on the Constituent Assembly", in which he stated that "... Any attempt, direct or indirect, to consider the question of the Constituent Assembly from the formal legal point of view, 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 the point of view of the bourgeoisie.", and the slogan "All power to the Constituent Assembly" was declared the slogan of the "Kaledinites". On December 22, Zinoviev announced that under this slogan "lies the slogan 'Down with the Soviets'."
On December 20, the Council of People's Commissars decided to open the meeting on January 5. On December 22, the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars was approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In opposition to the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries were preparing to convene the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918. On December 23, martial law was introduced in Petrograd.
Already on January 1, 1918, the first unsuccessful attempt on Lenin's life took place, in which Fritz Platten was wounded. A few years later, who was in exile, Prince I. D. Shakhovskoy announced that he was the organizer of the assassination attempt and allocated half a million rubles for this purpose. Researcher Richard Pipes also points out that one of the former ministers of the Provisional Government, the cadet N.V. Nekrasov, was involved in this assassination attempt, but he was "forgiven" and subsequently went over to the side of the Bolsheviks under the name "Golgotha".
In mid-January, the second attempt on Lenin's life was thwarted: the soldier Spiridonov came to see MD Bonch-Bruyevich, declaring that he was participating in the conspiracy of the Union of St. George's Cavaliers and was ordered to eliminate Lenin. On the night of January 22, the Cheka arrested the conspirators at 14 Zakharyevskaya Street, in the apartment of “citizen Salova,” but then they were all sent to the front at their personal request. At least two of the conspirators, Zinkevich and Nekrasov, subsequently joined the "white" armies.
Boris Petrov and I visited the regiment to report to its leaders that the armed demonstration was canceled and that they were asked to "come to the demonstration unarmed, so that blood would not be shed."
The second half of the sentence aroused a storm of indignation among them ... “Why are you, comrades, really laughing at us? Or are you kidding me? .. We are not little children, and if we went to fight the Bolsheviks, we would do it quite deliberately ... And blood ... blood, perhaps, would not have spilled if we had left with a whole regiment armed. "
For a long time we talked with the Semyonovites, and the more we talked, the clearer it became that our rejection of armed action had erected a blank wall of mutual misunderstanding between them and us.
“Intellectuals ... They are wise, not knowing what. Now it is clear that there are no military men between them. "
L. D. Trotsky later sarcastically remarked about the Socialist-Revolutionary deputies the following:
They did, however, elaborate the ritual of the first meeting. They brought candles with them in case the Bolsheviks put out the electricity, and plenty of sandwiches in case they were deprived of food. Thus, democracy came to the battle with the dictatorship - fully armed with sandwiches and candles.
Accelerating a demonstration in support of a meeting
According to Bonch-Bruyevich, the instructions for dispersing the protesters read: “To return unarmed people back. Armed people showing hostile intentions should not be allowed close, persuade to disperse and not interfere with the guard to carry out the order given to him. In case of failure to comply with the order, disarm and arrest. To respond to armed resistance with a merciless armed rebuff. If any workers appear at the demonstration, convince them to the last extreme, as lost comrades going against their comrades and the people's power ”[ ]. At the same time, Bolshevik agitators at the most important factories (Obukhov, Baltic, etc.) tried to enlist the support of the workers, but were unsuccessful. The workers remained neutral.
The death toll was estimated with a range of 8 to 21 people. The figure was officially named 21 people (Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, January 6, 1918), hundreds of wounded. Among the dead were the Social Revolutionaries E. S. Gorbachevskaya, G. I. Logvinov and A. Efimov. A few days later, the victims were buried at the Preobrazhensky cemetery.
On January 5, a demonstration in support of the Constituent Assembly was dispersed in Moscow. According to official data (Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. 1918, January 11), the number of those killed is more than 50, and the number of wounded is more than 200. The skirmishes lasted all day, the building of the Dorogomilovsky Soviet was blown up, in this case the chief of staff of the Red Guard of the Dorogomilovsky District P.G. Tyapkin and several Red Guards were killed.
First and last meeting
The meeting of the Constituent Assembly opened on January 5 (18) in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd. It was attended by 410 deputies; the majority belonged to the centrist Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks and left-wing Socialist-Revolutionaries had 155 mandates (38.5%). The meeting was opened on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee by its chairman Y. Sverdlov, who expressed hope for "full recognition by the Constituent Assembly of all decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars" and proposed to adopt the draft "Declaration of the rights of a working and exploited people" written by V. I. Lenin. the clause of which declared Russia "the Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies." The declaration repeated the resolution of the Congress of Soviets on agrarian reform, workers' control and peace. However, the Assembly, by a majority of 237 votes against 146, refused to even discuss the Bolshevik Declaration.
Viktor Mikhailovich Chernov was elected Chairman of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, for whom 244 votes were cast. The second contender was the leader of the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party, Maria Alexandrovna Spiridonova, supported by the Bolsheviks; 153 deputies voted for it.
Following the Bolsheviks at four o'clock in the morning, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary faction left the Assembly, which announced through its representative Karelin that "The Constituent Assembly is by no means a reflection of the mood and will of the working masses ... We are leaving, leaving this Assembly ... We are going in order to bring our forces, our energy to Soviet institutions, to the Central Executive Committee."
The remaining deputies, chaired by the leader of the Socialist-Revolutionaries Viktor Chernov, continued their work and adopted the following documents:
Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly
Servants of bankers, capitalists and landowners, allies of Kaledin, Dutov, slaves of the American dollar, murderers from around the corner, the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries are demanding in the department. the collection of all power for himself and his masters - the enemies of the people.
In words, as if they were joining the people's demands for land, peace and control, in deeds they are trying to overwhelm the noose around the neck of socialist power and revolution.But the workers, peasants and soldiers will not fall for 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 of its obvious and hidden murderers.
On January 18, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree ordering to remove from the existing laws all references to the Constituent Assembly. On January 18 (31), the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets approved the decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and made a decision to remove from the legislation indications of its temporary nature ("until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly").
"The sentry is tired"
"The sentry is tired"- a historical phrase allegedly uttered by the sailor A. G. Zheleznyakov ("Zheleznyak") (who was the head of the guard of the Tauride Palace, where the All-Russian Constituent Assembly met) at the closing of the meeting of the Constituent Assembly on January 6 (19), 1918 at 4:20 am.
According to the Soviet biography of A.G. Zheleznyakov, the situation was as follows:
At 4.20 in the morning Zheleznyakov ... with a firm gait entered the huge, brightly lit hall of the palace, walked past the rows, went up to the podium. He went up to Chernov, put his strong hand on his shoulder and said loudly:
- Please stop the meeting! The guard is tired and wants to sleep ...
The Left SR Fundaminsky, who was uttering his speech with great pathos at that time, froze in mid-sentence, staring frightened eyes at the armed sailor.
Recovering from the momentary confusion that gripped him at the words of Zheleznyakov, Chernov shouted:
- How dare you! Who gave you the right to do this ?!
Zheleznyakov said calmly:
- Your chatter is not needed by the working people. I repeat: the guard is tired!
Someone from the ranks of the Mensheviks shouted:
- We don't need a guard!
The frightened Chernov began to hastily say something to Vishnyakov, the secretary of the Constituent Assembly.
There was a noise in the hall. Voices rang out from the choirs:
- Right! Down with the bourgeoisie!
- Enough!
According to another documentary official biography of A.G. Zheleznyakov, the situation was similar, but less conflicting and more plausible (considering that the Left SRs left the Assembly after the Bolsheviks, and there were practically no spectators left in the choirs):
At about five o'clock in the morning, of the Bolshevik deputies, only Dybenko and several other people were in the palace. Zheleznyakov turned to Dybenko again:
“The sailors are tired, and there is no end in sight. What if we stop this chatter?
Dybenko thought and waved his hand:
- Stop, and tomorrow we'll figure it out!
Zheleznyakov entered the hall through the left side entrance, slowly climbed into the presidium, walked around the table behind and touched Chernov on the shoulder. Loudly, to the whole room, in an unobjectionable tone he said:
- The guard is tired. I ask you to stop the meeting and go home.
Chernov muttered something in a lost voice. The deputies began to make their way to the exit. Nobody even asked if there would be a next meeting.
Effects
Although the right-wing parties suffered a crushing defeat in the elections, since some of them were banned and agitation for them was prohibited by the Bolsheviks, the defense of the Constituent Assembly became one of the slogans of the White movement.
The so-called Congress of Members of the Constituent Assembly, which had been in Yekaterinburg since October 1918, tried to protest against the coup; as a result, an order was issued "to take measures for the immediate arrest of Chernov and other active members of the Constituent Assembly who were in Yekaterinburg." Evicted from Yekaterinburg, either under guard or under the escort of Czech soldiers, the deputies gathered in Ufa, where they tried to campaign against Kolchak. On November 30, 1918, he ordered the former members of the Constituent Assembly to be handed over to a military court "for attempting to raise an uprising and conduct destructive agitation among the troops." On December 2, by a special detachment under the command of Colonel Kruglevsky, part of the members of the Congress of the Constituent Assembly (25 people) were arrested, transported in boxcars to Omsk and imprisoned. After an unsuccessful attempt at liberation on December 22, 1918, many of them were shot.
Attitude towards the Constituent Assembly at the beginning of the XXI century
In 2011, the head of the Yabloko party, Grigory Yavlinsky, came out with an article "Lies and legitimacy", in which he called the state power in Russia illegitimate, and the way to solve this problem was to convene the Constituent Assembly.
In 2015, activist Vladimir Shpitalev wrote a statement addressed to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika with a demand to verify the legality of the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly in 1918. In June of the same year, Shpitalov went to a one-man picket on Red Square with a poster "Bring back the Constituent Assembly." He was detained and taken to the police station. The trial was scheduled for September, but in August Shpitalov left Russia because of the persecution by the Center for Combating Extremism for an Internet recording in which he spoke in favor of the release of Oleg Sentsov and the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine. In 2016, Shpitalev received political asylum in the Czech Republic.
In accordance with the resolution of the Second Congress of Soviets, the government formed by him was of a temporary nature - until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. It was it that should have finally and legally decided the issue of state power in Russia and the future development of the country. Under pressure from broad strata of society, the Bolsheviks were forced to allow nationwide elections to the Constituent Assembly and, as we know, lost them: over 60% of the seats were won by socialist parties (of which 55% were Socialist Revolutionaries of all shades), 17% were bourgeois parties. Immediately after this, the Bolsheviks undertook a number of preventive measures designed to, if not completely eliminate, then at least mitigate the political defeat they had suffered. At the end of November 1917, the Council of People's Commissars approved a decree declaring the party of the Cadets "the party of the enemies of the people." Thus, the mandates obtained in the elections to the Constituent Assembly by this influential party among the propertied strata of the population, the intelligentsia, and the student body were virtually annulled. A number of prominent cadets were arrested. The Left SRs tried to intercede for the liberals, but the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars was adamant: “You cannot separate the class struggle from the political enemy. The Cadet Central Committee is the political headquarters of the bourgeois class. The Cadets have absorbed all the possessing classes ... They all support the Cadet Party. " Even earlier, by a decree of October 27, press organs that “poison the minds and bring confusion into the minds of the masses” (about 150 leading opposition newspapers and magazines) were “temporarily” closed. In mid-December 1917, the Pravda newspaper published Lenin's Theses on the Constituent Assembly. They contained an undisguised threat: if the Constituent Assembly does not make "an unconditional statement on the recognition of Soviet power," then the constitutional crisis that has arisen "can only be resolved in a revolutionary way." The All-Russian Constituent Assembly was opened in Petrograd in the Tauride Palace on January 5, 1918. By the will of the majority of the deputies, the leader of the Right SRs, V.M. Chernov, became its chairman. The central place in the many hours of heated discussion was occupied by the question of who should own the power in the country. In the very first minutes of the meeting, the Bolsheviks proposed to adopt the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, prepared by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and thereby authorize the October coup and Soviet decrees. “At this moment, when the blaze of a revolutionary fire will ignite, if not today, then tomorrow the whole world,” the leader of the RSDLP (b) faction N. I. Bukharin - from this chair we proclaim a deadly war on the bourgeois-parliamentary republic. We communists, the workers' party, strive to create, first and foremost, in Russia a great Soviet republic of working people. We proclaim the slogan which was put forward half a century ago by Marx. Let the ruling classes and their henchmen tremble before the communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose in it, except their chains, they will gain the whole world! " Moderate socialists, in turn, vigorously advocated "the restoration of the unity of the forces of Russian democracy," split by "the selfish actions of extremists from the revolution." Only in this way, in their opinion, it was possible to save the country from anarchy and civil war. In other words, they tried to breathe a second life into the idea of a "homogeneous socialist government", this time reflecting the alignment of party forces in the Constituent Assembly. The socio-political base of the projected government should have been prepared in advance by a package of bills on land, peace and the state structure of Russia. It must be said that their content largely echoed the decrees of the Second Congress of Soviets and the Declaration of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. They provided for: gratuitous circulation of all land in the public domain on the basis of equalizing distribution and labor use; the immediate start of negotiations to "determine the exact conditions of a democratic peace, acceptable to all the belligerent peoples"; the proclamation of "the Russian Democratic Federal Republic, uniting in an indissoluble alliance peoples and regions, within the limits established by the federal constitution sovereign." But this time the Bolsheviks felt confident and did not even need the semblance of wordsmongering over the question of a "socialist government." After the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik majority refused to discuss the Declaration of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee as a top-priority document, they left the Tauride Palace. A little later the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries followed them. The Constituent Assembly, having lost its quorum, nevertheless approved the draft laws, read out in haste by VM Chernov. On the morning of January 6, the deputies dispersed, urged on by the head of the palace guard, anarchist A.G. Zheleznyakov, whose words went down in history: "I ask you to leave the hall immediately, the guard is tired!" On the afternoon of January 6, a decree from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee came up to dissolve the Constituent Assembly, accused of being "incompatible with the tasks of realizing socialism." The few demonstrations in his defense in Petrograd and some other cities were dispersed with weapons.
The Constituent Assembly is an elected institution similar to the Constituent Assembly in France after the Great Revolution. It was supposed to designate the form of government for Russia and its constitution after the February Revolution.
The organization of the Constituent Assembly was the first task of the Provisional Government. However, it was in no hurry with its decision. In 1917, he was overthrown, and all parties made this issue of paramount importance. The Bolsheviks feared the discontent of the people, among whom the Constituent Assembly was very popular. On October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars decided to speed up the elections and scheduled them for November 12. The provisional government did not indicate the exact number of its members. The Council of People's Commissars had to determine a quorum of more than 400 members. This is about half of all members of the Constituent Assembly.
Less than 50% of the population came to the polls. Of the 715 elected deputies, 370 were centrists and right-wing SRs, 175 seats belonged to the Bolsheviks, 40 to the Left SRs, 17 and 15 to the Cadets and Mensheviks, respectively. The rest were members of national groups. The lists were drawn up before the October Revolution, when the Left and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries were united with the centrists. Until the end, it remained unclear who the voters voted for. In addition, different regions showed conflicting results.
The elections showed that the main composition of the Constituent Assembly would be Socialist-Revolutionary. The lists included the nationalist Petliura, the atamans Dutov, Kaledin, Kerensky.
The planned radical changes were in jeopardy. The Socialist-Revolutionaries wanted to wage the war until victory. Doubting soldiers and sailors were determined to disperse the meeting. The Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries called it counter-revolutionary. Lenin immediately turned against him. After his emigration, he called it a "liberal venture." Volodarsky said that the Russian masses are not characterized by "parliamentary cretinism." Mistakes with the ballot can lead to weapons.
People's Commissar Stalin proposed to postpone the convocation of the Assembly. Trotsky and Natanson proposed to assemble a "revolutionary convention" consisting of a faction of the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.
The election commission was headed by Commissioner M.S. Uritsky, appointed by Stalin and Petrovsky. On November 26, Lenin signed a decree on the opening of the Constituent Assembly. The conditions for its opening were: 400 people, and the Bolshevik, an authorized representative of the Council of People's Commissars, should open it. Gathering the required number of people postponed the beginning of the first meeting.
On November 28, only 60 delegates arrived in Petrograd. They failed to open the Meeting on their own. Simultaneously, the Presnarkom Lenin issued a decree on the illegality of the Cadet Party. The Bolsheviks decided to finish off the Cadets so that they would not harm the power of the Bolsheviks. The Left SRs supported such a decree, but expressed their displeasure with the fact that the decision was taken by the Bolsheviks alone without consulting other parties. The cadet newspaper Rech was closed, but two weeks later it was published under a different name, Our Century.
On November 29, the Council of People's Commissars issued a ban on private meetings of the Constituent Assembly. The Right SRs formed the "Union for the Defense of the US".
The turning point was on December 11, when Lenin achieved new elections for the Bolshevik faction in the US, which protested against the dispersal of the Assembly. On December 12, 1917, a thesis on the Constituent Assembly was drawn up, in which it was forbidden to try to consider any attempt to collect the Constituent Assembly: legal, democratic, civil, etc. "All the power of the US" was declared the slogan of the Kaledinites, and subsequently it was seen as a call for the overthrow of the Soviets. To counterbalance, the III Congress of Soviets was organized. On December 23, martial law was introduced in Petrograd.
On January 1, 1918, an attempt was organized on Lenin's life, which ended in failure.
On January 5, the newspaper Pravda published a decree banning rallies near the Tauride Palace. The threat was military force. Bolshevik agitators tried to get the support of the working class in large factories, but failed. The military force of the Bolsheviks surrounded the Tauride Palace. US supporters took part in a demonstration. Gathered up to 100 thousand people. All workers, intellectuals and office workers, who were sent to the palace without any weapons, were shot with a machine-gun burst from ambushes, fences and crevices. They were buried at the Preobrazhensky cemetery.
On January 9, a demonstration in support of the US took place in Moscow. There were also executions of civilians.
The first and last meeting took place on 5 January. It brought together 410 deputies: Socialist-Revolutionaries-centrists, Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. It was opened by J. Sverdlov. The declaration written by Lenin was rejected by the Right SRs, many Bolsheviks, Left SRs and representatives of the National Party left the meeting room. The remaining deputies continued their work. Lenin did not disperse the meeting immediately, but only after it was over - the next morning. In the evening, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved the decree on the dissolution of the CA.
The dots on the i in the question of the "Constituent Assembly" have been set, and have been set long ago.
You just need to periodically remind about this in order not to succumb to speculation on this topic by liberals, neoblykh and pseudo-monarchists.
The short and capacious material will remind someone, and for someone it will reveal long-known facts about the short life of the "Constituent Assembly".
V. Karpets."Queue": true and false.
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 on February 21, 1613 as tsar Mikhail Romanov), put forward in 1825 by the Decembrists, then, in the 1860s, it was supported by the organizations "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya", 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 — the leap from tsarism to the Soviets. This is an irrefutable and nowhere else unprecedented fact "(V. Lenin, vol. 35, p. 239). After the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government, which overthrew the Tsar, until October 1917 did not resolve a single sore issue and in every possible way delayed the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, the election of delegates to 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 (that is, 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 painful issues: the decree on peace; on the nationalization of land, banks, factories; about an 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 (i.e. 57.3% -arctus). The Presidium, which consisted of Right Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, refused to consider the Declaration and to recognize the decrees of the Soviet government. Then the Bolsheviks (120 delegates) left the hall. Behind them are the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (150 more). Only 140 out of 410 delegates left (34% of the participants or 19.6% of the elect -arctus). It is clear that in this composition, the decisions of the Constituent Assembly 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. On January 6 (19), 1918, the 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, stated : “The Constituent Assembly severed all ties between itself and the Soviet Republic of Russia. The withdrawal from such a Constituent Assembly of the Bolshevik and Left Socialist Revolutionary factions, which now constitute an admittedly overwhelming majority in the Soviets and enjoy the confidence of the workers and the majority of peasants, was inevitable ... for the overthrow of the power of the Soviets. 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 of Petrograd. (By the way, the speakers were the Bolsheviks: according to the Report - Lenin, Sverdlov; by education 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 Social Revolutionaries (I. Brushvit, V. Volsky - chairman, P. Klimushkin, I. Nesterov and B. Fortunatov), the Committee of Members of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly (Komuch) was formed, which played a truly "outstanding" role in inciting a civil war in Russia. But even during the heyday of Komuch, at the beginning of the fall of 1918, it included only 97 out of 715 delegates ( 13,6% - arctus). Subsequently, the "opposition" delegates to 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 the Kolchakites for "revolutionary propaganda ".
These are the 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 at all (we are not even talking about tank guns here).
In conclusion, we can only repeat the well-known Lenin's words: "The assimilation of the October Revolution by the people has not yet ended" (V. I. Lenin, vol. 35, p. 241). They are still very relevant today.
In films about the revolution filmed during the Soviet period, opponents of the Bolsheviks periodically shouted "All power to the Constituent Assembly!" Soviet youth hardly understood what they were talking about, but taking into account who was shouting, they guessed that this was something bad.
With the change in political orientations, part of the Russian youth realizes that the Constituent Assembly is, apparently, "something good, if against the Bolsheviks." Although he still has a hard time understanding what this is about.
How to live after renunciation?
The Russian Constituent Assembly really turned out to be a very strange phenomenon. They talked and wrote a lot about it, but it held only one meeting, which did not become fateful for the country.
The question of convening the Constituent Assembly arose immediately after the abdication Emperor Nicholas II and his refusal brother Mikhail Alexandrovich take the crown. Under these conditions, the Constituent Assembly, which is a council of deputies elected by the people, had to answer the main questions - about the state structure, about further participation in the war, about land, etc.
For a start, the provisional government of Russia had to prepare a regulation on the elections, which was to determine those who would be included in the electoral process.
Ballot paper with a list of members of the RSDLP (b). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Very democratic elections
A special meeting for the preparation of the draft Regulation on elections to the Constituent Assembly was convened only by May. The work on the Regulation was completed in August. The elections were declared general, equal, direct and secret ballot. No property qualification was envisaged - all persons over the age of 20 were allowed. Women also received voting rights, which was a revolutionary decision by the standards of that time.
Work on the documents was in full swing when the Provisional Government decided on the dates. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were to be held on September 17, and the first meeting was scheduled to be convened on September 30.
But the chaos in the country was growing, the situation was getting more complicated and it was not possible to resolve all organizational issues within the established time frame. On August 9, the Provisional Government changes its decision - now the new election date is announced on November 12, 1917, and the first meeting is scheduled for November 28.
Revolution is revolution, and voting is scheduled
The October Revolution took place on October 25, 1917. The Bolsheviks who came to power, however, did not change anything. On October 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars adopted and published signed Lenin resolution to hold it on the appointed date - November 12.
At the same time, it was technically impossible to hold elections simultaneously in all corners of the country. In a number of regions, they were postponed to December and even to January 1918.
The victory of the socialist parties was unconditional. At the same time, the preponderance of the Socialist-Revolutionaries was explained by the fact that they were guided, first of all, by the peasantry - one must not forget that Russia was an agrarian country. Worker-oriented Bolsheviks won in the big cities. It is worth noting that a split occurred in the Socialist-Revolutionary Party - the left wing of the movement became the allies of the Bolsheviks. The Left SRs received 40 mandates in the elections, which ensured their coalition with the Bolsheviks 215 seats in the Constituent Assembly. This moment will subsequently play a decisive role.
Lenin establishes a quorum
The Bolsheviks, who took power, created a government and began to form new state bodies, were not going to concede the levers of state administration to anyone. At first, there was no final decision on how to proceed.
On November 26, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Lenin, signed a decree "For the opening of the Constituent Assembly", which required a quorum of 400 people for its opening, and, according to the decree, the Assembly was to be opened by a person authorized by the Council of People's Commissars, that is, a Bolshevik, or, theoretically, a Left Socialist-Revolutionary allied to the Bolsheviks.
The Provisional Government, as already mentioned, set the convocation of the Constituent Assembly for November 28, and a number of deputies from among the Right Social Revolutionaries tried to open it on that very day. By that time, only about 300 deputies had been elected, slightly more than half of them were registered, and less than a hundred arrived in Petrograd. Some of the deputies, as well as the former tsarist officials who joined them, tried to hold a rally in support of the Constituent Assembly, which some of the participants viewed as the first meeting. As a result, the participants in the unsanctioned meeting were detained by representatives of the Military Revolutionary Committee.
"The interests of the revolution are above the rights of the Constituent Assembly"
On the same day, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree "On the arrest of the leaders of the civil war against the revolution", which outlawed the most right-wing party from among those that went to the Constituent Assembly - the Cadets. At the same time, "private meetings" of the deputies of the Constituent Assembly were prohibited.
By mid-December 1917, the Bolsheviks had decided on their position. Lenin wrote: “The Constituent Assembly, convened on the basis of the lists of parties that existed before the proletarian-peasant revolution, under the rule of the bourgeoisie, inevitably comes into conflict with the will and interests of the working people and the exploited classes, which began the socialist revolution against the bourgeoisie on October 25. Naturally, the interests of this revolution are above the formal rights of the Constituent Assembly, even if these formal rights were not undermined by the lack of recognition in the law on the Constituent Assembly of the right of the people to re-elect their deputies at any time. "
The Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries were not going to transfer any power to the Constituent Assembly, and they intended to deprive it of legitimacy.
Shooting demonstrations
At the same time, on December 20, the Council of People's Commissars decided to open the work of the Constituent Assembly on January 5.
The Bolsheviks knew that their opponents were preparing to take political revenge. The Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party considered the option of an armed uprising in early January 1918. Few believed that the case could end in peace.
At the same time, some of the deputies believed that the main thing was to open a meeting of the Constituent Assembly, after which the support of the international community would force the Bolsheviks to retreat.
Leon Trotsky in this regard, he spoke rather caustically: “They carefully worked out the ritual of the first meeting. They brought candles with them in case the Bolsheviks put out the electricity, and plenty of sandwiches in case they were deprived of food. So democracy came to fight the dictatorship - fully armed with sandwiches and candles. "
On the eve of the opening of the Constituent Assembly, the Social Revolutionaries and other oppositionists planned demonstrations in Petrograd and Moscow in support of it. It was clear that the actions would not be peaceful, since the opponents of the Bolsheviks had enough weapons in both capitals.
Demonstrations took place on January 3 in Petrograd and January 5 in Moscow. And there, and there they ended with shooting and casualties. In Petrograd, about 20 people died, in Moscow - about 50, and the victims were from both sides.
"Declaration" of discord
Despite this, on January 5, 1918, the Constituent Assembly began its work in the Tauride Palace of Petrograd. There were 410 deputies present, so there was a quorum for making decisions. Of those who attended the meeting, 155 people represented the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.
Opened the meeting on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Bolshevik Yakov Sverdlov... In his speech, he expressed hope for "the full recognition by the Constituent Assembly of all decrees and decisions of the Council of People's Commissars." The draft "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People" was presented to the Constituent Assembly for approval.
Photo of a single meeting. VI Lenin in the box of the Tauride Palace at a meeting of the Constituent Assembly. 1918, January 5 (18). Petrograd. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
This document was a constitutional act proclaiming the basic principles of a socialist state according to the Bolsheviks. The "Declaration" has already been approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and its adoption by the Constituent Assembly would mean recognition of the October Revolution and all subsequent steps of the Bolsheviks.
Was elected chairman of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly Socialist-Revolutionary Viktor Chernov, for which 244 votes were cast.
"We are leaving"
But in fact, this was already just a formality - the Bolsheviks, after refusing to consider the "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People", switched to a different form of action.
Deputy Fyodor Raskolnikov announced that the Bolshevik faction was leaving the meeting in protest against the rejection of the "Declaration": parts of the Constituent Assembly ".
After about half an hour Deputy from the Left Social Revolutionaries Vladimir Karelin announced that his faction was leaving after the allies: “The Constituent Assembly is by no means a reflection of the mood and will of the working masses ... We are leaving, we are leaving this Assembly ... We are going in order to bring our strength, our energy to Soviet institutions, to the Central Executive Committee. "
The term "dispersal of the Constituent Assembly" in view of the departure of the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries is inaccurate. 255 deputies remained in the hall, that is, 35.7 percent of the total number of the Constituent Assembly. Due to the lack of a quorum, the meeting lost its legitimacy, like all documents it adopted.
Anatoly Zheleznyakov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
"The guard is tired and wants to sleep ..."
Nevertheless, the Constituent Assembly continued its work. Lenin gave orders not to interfere with the remaining deputies. But at five o'clock in the morning, patience ran out. head of the security of the Tauride Palace Anatoly Zheleznyakov, better known as "Sailor Zheleznyak".
There are several versions of the birth of the historical phrase, known to everyone today. According to one of them, Zheleznyakov addressed the presiding officer Chernov and said: “I ask you to stop the meeting! The guard is tired and wants to sleep ... "
Confused, Chernov tried to object, and exclamations were heard from the audience: "We don't need a guard!"
Zheleznyakov snapped: “The working people do not need your chatter. I repeat: the guard is tired! "
However, there was no particular bickering. The deputies themselves were tired, therefore they began to gradually disperse.
The palace is closed, there will be no meeting
The next meeting was scheduled for 17:00 on January 6th. However, the deputies, approaching the Tauride Palace, found armed guards near it, who announced that the meeting would not take place.
On January 9, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly. By the decision of the Council of People's Commissars, references to the Constituent Assembly were removed from all decrees and other official documents. On January 10, in the same Tauride Palace of Petrograd, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets began its work, which became the Bolshevik alternative to the Constituent Assembly. At the Congress of Soviets, a decree on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly was approved.
Situation in the Tauride Palace after the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly. Photo: RIA Novosti / Steinberg
A short story of Komuch: Kolchak dispersed the members of the Constituent Assembly for the second time
For some of the participants in the White movement, including those who were not elected to the Constituent Assembly, the demand for the resumption of its work became the slogan of the armed struggle.
On June 8, 1918, the Komuch (Committee of Members of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly) was formed in Samara, which declared itself the All-Russian government in defiance of the Bolsheviks. The People's Army of Komuch was formed, one of the commanders of which was the notorious General Vladimir Kappel.
Komuch managed to take control of a significant territory of the country. On September 23, 1918, Komuch merged with the Provisional Siberian Government. This happened at the State meeting in Ufa, as a result of which the so-called "Ufa Directory" was created.
It was difficult to call this government stable. The politicians who created Komuch were Socialist-Revolutionaries, while the military who made up the main force of the Directory were far more right-wing.
An end to this alliance was put by a military coup on the night of November 17-18, 1918, during which the Social Revolutionaries who were part of the government were arrested, and Admiral Kolchak came to power.
In November, about 25 former deputies of the Constituent Assembly, by order of Kolchak, were put on trial by military court "for attempting to raise an uprising and conduct destructive agitation among the troops." They were imprisoned, and later some of them were killed by Black Hundred officers.