Russian Constituent Assembly

Russian Constituent Assembly
Билибин, Иван Яковлевич. Компьютерная обработка: Лобачев Владимир · Public domain · source
Name	Russian Constituent Assembly
Native name	Учредительное собрание
Elected	November 1917
Convened	5 January 1918
Dissolved	6 January 1918
Location	Petrograd, Russia
Key figures	Alexander Kerensky, Vladimir Lenin, Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Victor Chernov, Nikolai Chkheidze, Pavel Miliukov

Russian Constituent Assembly

The Russian Constituent Assembly was a constitutional convention elected after the February Revolution and during the Russian Revolution of 1917, convened in Petrograd in January 1918 and dissolved by the Bolsheviks after one day. Its election and suppression intersected with leaders and organizations such as Vladimir Lenin, Alexander Kerensky, Lev Kamenev, Leon Trotsky, Victor Chernov, Nikolai Chkheidze, Pavel Miliukov, and parties including the Russian Soviet organs, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, and the Constitutional Democratic Party.

Background and Formation

The Assembly emerged from the aftermath of the February Revolution that deposed Nicholas II and led to the establishment of the Russian Provisional Government headed by Alexander Kerensky, while parallel power accrued to Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies influenced by Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin. The muddled authority between the Provisional Government, the Petrograd Soviet, and parties such as the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Mensheviks, and the Constitutional Democratic Party prompted plans for a Constituent Assembly to write a constitution and settle disputes similar to other post-imperial settlements like the Paris Peace Conference aftermath and the constitutional processes in Weimar Republic. Debates involved figures from the Kadets like Pavel Miliukov, agrarian leaders like Victor Chernov, and nationalist groups such as Ukrainian Central Rada, Finnish and Baltic national movements, with the backdrop of World War I and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiations that would soon polarize positions.

Electoral Process and Campaigns

Electoral law and organization combined elements advocated by Victor Chernov and the Socialist Revolutionary Party with districting across guberniyas and electoral commissions resembling prior imperial electoral practices in Imperial Russia. Campaigning featured candidates from the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, the Kadets, the Trudoviks, and national lists from Ukrainian and Polish organizations, as well as ethnic lists from Latvia and Lithuania. Prominent campaigners included Pavel Miliukov, Victor Chernov, Nikolai Chkheidze, Vladimir Lenin, and regional figures tied to Ufa and Samara soviets. Voting in November 1917 reflected urban-rural cleavages: the Socialist Revolutionary Party dominated peasant lists, while the Bolsheviks led in industrial centers like Petrograd and Moscow; other lists included Mensheviks, Right SRs, Kadets, and national parties from Finland and Caucasus provinces. Electoral outcomes were contested at assemblies and commissions with interventions by military units such as the Petrograd garrison and political actors like Alexander Kerensky and regional soviets.

Opening and Proceedings

The Assembly convened on 5 January 1918 in Petrograd with a presidium including Victor Chernov as chairman; delegates represented the spectrum of parties from the Socialist Revolutionary Party and Bolsheviks to the Kadets and national minorities. Proceedings included debates over the All-Russian Congress of Soviets claims to authority, the legitimacy of the October Revolution, and the direction of agrarian reform championed by Victor Chernov and opposed in part by Pavel Miliukov and others. The Assembly's single session debated a draft constitution and motions for recognizing the Soviets as a parallel or subordinate authority. Observers included representatives from revolutionary and counter-revolutionary groupings, and documents referenced prior political instruments such as the Russian Provisional Government proclamations and international developments like Wilsonian principles advanced by Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference.

Bolshevik Dissolution and Aftermath

After the Assembly voted against recognizing Soviet supremacy, Vladimir Lenin and the Council of People's Commissars ordered its dissolution on 6 January 1918, assisted by Red Guard detachments and the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee; Leon Trotsky and Lev Kamenev played roles in consolidating Soviet power while opponents such as Pavel Miliukov and Konstantin Pobedonostsev-era conservatives reacted. The suppression precipitated the exile, arrest, or marginalization of many delegates and parties including segments of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Kadets, and Mensheviks, and intensified the Russian Civil War between the Red Army and anti-Bolshevik forces like the White movement, Volunteer Army, and regional anti-Bolshevik governments in Siberia and the Ural region. International responses came from Allied intervention participants and influenced later treaties like Treaty of Versailles debates and diplomatic recognition questions.

Political Significance and Legacy

The Assembly's brief life became a symbol in debates over legitimacy between constituent constitutionalism and revolutionary sovietism, influencing later constitutions of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and shaping historiography in works by Isaac Deutscher, Orlando Figes, Richard Pipes, and A. J. P. Taylor. Its dissolution justified Bolshevik claims to revolutionary necessity cited in party documents and decrees under leaders such as Vladimir Lenin and later Joseph Stalin, while opponents invoked the Assembly in émigré politics centered in Paris and Prague. The event affected national movements in Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, and Finland and resonated in constitutional debates across post-imperial Europe including the Weimar Republic and Ottoman successor states. Memorialization appears in scholarly debates, archival collections in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and literary and artistic works reflecting the trajectories of figures like Alexander Kerensky, Victor Chernov, Nikolai Chkheidze, and Vladimir Lenin.

Category:1917 in Russia