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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.

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.

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.

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.

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