II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets

Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets

2.1. The composition of the congress. The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was attended by 1,046 delegates from the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies of the country, as well as representatives of the army, navy and national outskirts. The Bolsheviks, in contrast to 10% of the votes at the First Congress in June, at the Second Congress, at the end of October, were already represented by about half of the delegates.

At the opening of the congress

At the end of the first meeting, after the departure of the Right Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bundists, the arrival of latecomers, 625 representatives from 402 (out of 974) Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies remained at the congress. The number of supporters of the Bolsheviks at the same time increased to 390 (including those who had gone over to them from other factions), the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries - to 179.

2.2. Political struggle at the congress. L. Martov proposed the formation of a single democratic government, for which purpose to elect a congress delegation and start negotiations with all socialist parties. The proposal was accepted unanimously, including by the Bolsheviks, but then one of the groups of Social Democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries and representatives of the Bund issued a declaration in which they regarded the events of October 25 as a military conspiracy carried out by the Bolshevik Party in the name of the Soviet behind the back of all other parties and factions. Most of the delegates from the moderate socialist parties, who did not recognize the results of the uprising, left the congress, thereby abandoning the role of the legal opposition and finally placing the initiative in the hands of the Bolsheviks. The development of a realistic position of the moderates was hampered by the lack of unity in their party ranks, as well as the personal ambitions of the leaders and their underestimation of the Bolsheviks.

After the left of the right, Martov tried to find a compromise and achieve the formation of a government in proportion to the party composition of the congress. But this proposal was not put to a vote, and soon Martov and his supporters left the congress.

After the break and the news of the arrest of the Provisional Government, the overwhelming majority of those who remained, including the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Menshevik-Internationalists, etc., supported the appeal to the Workers, Soldiers and Peasants! on the transfer of power to the Congress of Soviets.

2.3. Results of the Congress. The Second Congress of Soviets recognized the results of the revolution and

Proclaimed the establishment of the power of the Soviets;

accepted Peace Decree(approved unanimously) with a proposal to the warring peoples and their governments to conclude a just democratic peace - without annexations and indemnities;

accepted Land Decree with demands for the abolition of private ownership of land), prohibition of the sale and purchase of land, equalizing land use, the prevention of hired labor, etc., which corresponded to the Socialist-Revolutionary agrarian program for the socialization of land.

The congress also adopted decrees on the abolition of the death penalty at the front, on the release of arrested members of Zemstvo committees, on the arrest of A.F. Kerensky and about the possibility of replenishing the All-Russian Central Executive Committee with representatives of parties and groups that left the congress, as well as peasants.

In addition, the congress announced the need for the earliest possible convocation of the Constituent Assembly.

5. II All-Russian Congress of Soviets: composition, political struggle at the Congress, results of the Congress. Formation of new authorities. Decrees.

The composition of the congress. The congress was attended by 1,046 delegates from the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies of the country, as well as representatives of the army, navy, and national border regions. The Bolsheviks, who had 10% of the votes at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets in June, were already represented by about half of the delegates at the Second Congress at the end of October.

– At the opening of the congress On the evening of October 25, 739 delegates took part, including 338 Bolsheviks, 211 Right and Left Social Revolutionaries, and 69 Mensheviks.

– At the end of the first meeting, after the departure of the Right Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bundists, the arrival of latecomers, 625 representatives from 402 (out of 974) Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies remained at the congress. The number of supporters of the Bolsheviks at the same time increased to 390 (including those who had gone over to them from other factions), the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries - to 179.

Political struggle at the congress. After the approval of the agenda, the left wing of the Mensheviks, headed by Martov proposed to form a "single democratic government", for which purpose to elect a congress delegation and start negotiations with all socialist parties. The proposal was accepted unanimously, including by the Bolsheviks.

But then one of the groups, which included part of the Social Democrats (Mensheviks), Right Socialist Revolutionaries and representatives of the Bund, issued a declaration in which they regarded the events of October 25 as a "military conspiracy" carried out by the "Bolshevik Party in the name of the Soviet behind the back of all other parties and factions ". Most of the delegates from the moderate socialists, who did not recognize the results of the uprising, left the congress, thereby abandoning the role of the legal opposition and finally placing the initiative in the hands of the Bolsheviks. The development of a realistic position of the moderates was hampered by the lack of unity in their party ranks, the personal ambitions of the leaders, and their underestimation of the Bolsheviks.

After the left of the right, Martov tried to find a compromise and achieve the formation of a government in proportion to the party composition of the congress. But now the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries found themselves in a large majority, the proposal was not put to a vote, and Martov and his supporters also left the congress.

After the break and the news of the arrest of the Provisional Government, the overwhelming majority of those who remained, including the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Menshevik-Internationalists and others, supported Appeal to the "Workers, Soldiers and Peasants!" on the transfer of power to the Congress of Soviets.

In accordance with the decision of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (June 1917), the next congress was to meet in three months - in September. But the Bolshevization of the Soviets, which began in the spring of 1917, acquired a mass character in the autumn. The slogan "All power to the Soviets" became the universal demand of the working people. In such a situation, the Menshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary Central Executive Committee, elected in June, takes measures to disrupt, or at least postpone, the next Congress of Soviets. In September 1917, the so-called Democratic Conference was convened, consisting of representatives of zemstvos, city governments, a certain part of the Soviets and other organizations led by the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. These parties hoped to replace the forthcoming Congress of Soviets with a conference and to achieve a strengthening of the coalition with the bourgeoisie. However, even at the meeting itself, some of the delegates strongly opposed such a bloc. Demands for the transfer of power to the Soviets and the convening of a congress intensified among the masses.

On September 23, 1917, the question of convening a congress was raised for discussion by the Central Executive Committee. Out of fear that the congress might be convened without their participation, the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries agreed to its opening on October 20th. However, even after that they tried to push back the undesirable event.

In such circumstances, the Bolsheviks took steps to ensure that from below, at the expense of the initiative of the local Soviets, to ensure the convocation of the congress. On September 24, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party held a meeting with local party workers, which approved the directive of the Central Committee to local organizations on the preparation of the convocation of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets and the immediate organization of regional congresses. The directive has been successfully implemented. Since the end of September, regional, provincial and other local congresses of Soviets have been held throughout the country. The absolute majority of them adopted Bolshevik resolutions on the transfer of all power to the Soviets and on the convening of the All-Russian Congress at the appointed time.

On October 17, the CEC bureau again postponed the opening of the congress, appointing it for October 25. The agenda included three issues: 1) the current moment, 2) preparations for the Constituent Assembly, 3) the election of the CEC.

On October 21, the issue of the Congress of Soviets was considered by the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. It was decided to prepare reports for the congress on the main questions of the revolution - land, war, power, workers' control. The first three reports were entrusted to V.I. Lenin. In addition, Ya.M. Sverdlov was supposed to propose a regulation. Thus, the Bolsheviks did not intend to discuss the problems put forward by the leaders of the Central Executive Committee - the congress was, in the opinion of the Bolshevik Party, to solve the fundamental tasks of the revolution.

However, there was no complete unity in the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) on this issue. L.D. Trotsky (Lev Bronstein), who became chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in September and actively worked in the leadership of the Military Revolutionary Committee, nevertheless proposed to postpone the uprising until the congress decided on the transfer of power to the Soviets, in the hope that, perhaps, then there would be no need for an uprising at all. It was a course towards a parliamentary solution of the question of the revolution, the path of constitutional illusions.

IN AND. Lenin, on the other hand, insisted that the congress should consolidate the power of the Soviets, seized as a result of an armed uprising, "to miss such a moment and 'wait' for the Congress of Soviets is complete idiocy or complete treason." The party followed Lenin.

On the afternoon of October 24, a meeting of the Bolshevik faction of the Second Congress of Soviets was convened. A report on the political situation was made by a member of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) I.V. Stalin (Joseph Dzhugashvili)<*>. At the second meeting of the faction on October 25, Lenin was already present, Ya.M. Sverdlov, who stated that the Bolsheviks received a majority at the congress.

The II Congress of Soviets opened on the evening of October 25, 1917 at the Smolny Institute, where the Petrograd Soviet and the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party were located.

More than 400 local Soviets were represented, with the largest number of delegates sent by the largest industrial and political centers of the country - Petrograd, Moscow, Kyiv, Odessa, Revel. The congress was attended by delegates from almost all national regions of the country - Ukraine, the Baltic States, Transcaucasia, the North Caucasus, Central Asia, Bessarabia. Of the 649 congress delegates who declared their party membership, there were 390 Bolsheviks, 160 Socialist-Revolutionaries, and 72 Mensheviks.

The absolute majority of the Soviets represented at the congress demanded the abolition of the power of the landowners and capitalists and its transfer into the hands of the Soviets. An agenda was adopted, drawn up by the Bolshevik faction, which included questions about the organization of power, about war and peace, about land.

A group of leaders of the Mensheviks and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, who objected to an armed uprising, demanded that the work of the congress be suspended, but, having received a decisive rebuff from the absolute majority of the delegates, left it, hoping thereby to disrupt the work of the congress.

Some domestic historians speak of the non-representativeness of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and thus of the illegality of its decisions. This thesis is enthusiastically but just as unsubstantiatedly supported by anti-Soviet foreign authors, such as R. Pipes.<*>. Meanwhile, the facts show that the entire Russia of that time was represented at the congress, including its national regions. Representatives of both working classes participated - not only workers, but also peasants, both directly and in the person of soldiers, 4/5 of whom were peasants. AND I. Froyanov rightly notes that the October Revolution can be considered a worker-peasant revolution. Not even all the rank-and-file members of the Menshevik and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries left the congress. The leaders of these parties were followed by no more than half of the members of their factions. Information about the number of those who left the Congress sessions is different according to different sources. However, if we take even the largest of the named numbers, it turns out that the congress left no more than 10% of the deputies, i.e. there is no mention of a quorum at all. In this regard, one can hardly agree with the authors who assert that after the departure of the parties named, the congress became a mere formality.

Of course, the representation at the congress was not entirely class, but rather corresponded to the social stratification of society, and the workers in Russia, even together with the soldiers, by no means constituted the majority of the population. But the congress was the organ of the revolution, and not a peaceful parliament.

In our time, the assertion about the illegality (a fashionable word - "illegitimacy") of the Second Congress of Soviets is also spreading in the literature, which cannot be assessed otherwise than as naive: any revolution, of course, is illegal. If she wins, she forcibly breaks the old state and law, creating new ones.

The congress opened in conditions when all of Petrograd was in the hands of the insurgents, but the Provisional Government was still sitting in the Winter Palace under the protection of troops loyal to it. At 2 am on October 26, the rebels entered the palace and arrested this government, sending its members to the Peter and Paul Fortress. And at 5 o'clock in the morning, before the closing of the first meeting of the Congress of Soviets, the fact of the overthrow of the former government was legally confirmed by the adoption of the appeal "To the workers, soldiers and peasants!", Which simultaneously proclaimed the establishment of Soviet power in the country, i.e. formation of the Soviet state. It also contained the first norms of Soviet law.

The appeal also announced a program of priority measures for the Soviet state: the establishment of peace for all peoples, the transfer of land to the peasantry free of charge, the democratization of the army, workers' control over production, and so on. This program found its consistent embodiment in the very first decrees of the Soviet government, adopted at the second session of the congress, which opened on the evening of October 26.

The Decree on Peace, being at the same time a declaration addressed to all peoples, proclaimed the foundations of the foreign policy of the Soviet state. He offered to immediately begin peace negotiations, condemned secret diplomacy and put forward the principle of open negotiations and international relations. This document contained an appeal to all peoples, and first of all to the working people of England, France and Germany, with an appeal to free mankind from the horrors of war and to complete the cause of peace and the liberation of working people from slavery and exploitation. The decree proposed to conclude a fair democratic, i.e. without annexations and indemnities, peace. Moreover, annexation meant not only the seizure, but also the retention of foreign lands, carried out both during the war and before it, both in Europe and on other continents. A world without annexations meant, in essence, the proclamation of the right of nations to self-determination. In order to achieve an agreement on the issue of peace as soon as possible, the Soviet government did not consider the terms of peace specified in the Decree to be an ultimatum, agreeing to consider any other proposals.

The program of the struggle for peace, outlined by V.I. Lenin in the Decree on Peace and unanimously adopted by the Congress of Soviets, for the first time in history, on behalf of the state, condemned the war as a means of resolving disputes, proclaimed new principles in relations between peoples and countries.

A note was sent to diplomatic representatives of all the powers allied with Russia suggesting that the Decree on Peace be considered as a formal proposal for an immediate truce on all fronts and the immediate opening of peace negotiations. The Decree on Peace is the first official diplomatic document of Soviet Russia, addressed to the governments of the allied countries and containing a proposal to jointly start peace negotiations. Having received no response from them, on December 2, Soviet Russia signed an armistice agreement with Germany and its allies.

At the beginning of March 1918, implementing the Decree, Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Concluded in an unfavorable international situation, in the conditions of the collapse of the Russian army, its spontaneous demobilization, the agreement turned out to be very difficult for the Soviet country. He aroused the natural discontent of the former allies of Russia, their ruling circles.

Another important decree of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets, adopted at its second meeting, was the Decree on Land. The Decree and the Peasant Mandate included in it declared the land to be the property of the whole people and, accordingly, abolished private ownership of it. Landlord, appanage, monastic and church lands with manor buildings and all living and dead inventory were transferred to the disposal of volost land committees and district Soviets of peasant deputies. In fact, this meant the nationalization of the land.

One way or another, but the peasants received more than 150 million hectares of land, were exempted from burdensome rent, from the cost of buying new land, from debts to the Peasant Land Bank, which amounted to about 3 billion rubles. The cost of the landlord's inventory, transferred to the peasants, was estimated at 300 million rubles.

According to the Decree on Land, all citizens of Russia who wanted to cultivate the land with their labor received it on the right to use it. The principle of egalitarian land use was proclaimed, which the peasants understood primarily as the seizure of land from the landowners, the division of the landlords and communal lands appropriated by the kulaks, the distribution of land among the peasants depending on local conditions - according to labor or consumer (by consumers) norm. The essence of this principle lies in the idea of dividing the land among the peasants, and, consequently, in the organization of individual farms. The Bolsheviks were supporters of a more progressive, large-scale land tenure. However, they understood that it was impossible to introduce such forms immediately. The peasant has been dreaming of his own piece of land for centuries, and it was necessary to give him time to think and to be convinced from his own experience of the futility of individual farming, to lead him to voluntarily go for unification, collectivization.

It should be noted that the Decree on Land provided for the possibility of the existence of various forms of land use, chosen by the peasants themselves voluntarily. Along with the household and farmstead, collective forms of farming were also envisaged - artel, comradely cultivation of the land. Land plots with highly cultivated farms (gardens, nurseries, nurseries, etc.) were not subject to division, but were turned into the exclusive use of the state or communities, depending on the size and significance of the plot. Stud farms, pedigree livestock, poultry and other large specialized farms also passed into the exclusive use of the state or community. Thus, the foundation was laid for socialist transformations in the countryside, which proved to be the most complex and difficult task after the conquest of power by the proletariat.

The Decree on Land in a revolutionary way resolved the centuries-old dispute between peasants and landlords. The working peasantry suffered from landlessness - and the government of the Soviets liquidated landownership, transferring the land to the peasants, which decisively attracted the village to its side.

The Soviet government, the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), was formed to govern the country. The Menshevik-internationalists who remained at the congress, the representative of the All-Russian Executive Committee of the Railway Trade Union (Vikzhel) and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries opposed the Decree on the creation of the Council of People's Commissars. The latter refused the Bolsheviks' offer to join the government and supported the demand for an organization of power based on "an alliance of all the forces of revolutionary democracy." By an overwhelming majority, the congress adopted a draft resolution of the Bolshevik faction on the formation of a Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government headed by V.I. Lenin. The decree also provided for the creation of sectoral government bodies - people's commissariats (commissions) for military and naval affairs, for trade and industry, public education, finance, foreign affairs, justice, post and telegraph, food, railway affairs, nationalities and others

A new Central Executive Committee was elected. Formed on the basis of proportional representation from each party faction of the congress, it consisted mainly of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. His election was uneventful. According to the congress participants, only the list of members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from the Bolshevik Party and, possibly, from the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, was read out at it. Representatives from other parties were introduced after the congress.

Thus, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets legally formalized the overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie and landlords and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. He proclaimed the most general principles of the organization of the Soviet state, laid the foundation for the demolition of the old and the creation of a new state apparatus, i.e. solved the most important constitutional questions. The acts of the congress became the basis for various branches of Soviet law. Consequently, the history of the Soviet state and law begins with the Second Congress of Soviets.

Note that there are other views in science at the time of the emergence of the Soviet state. E.N. Gorodetsky considers the first act of Soviet power to be Lenin's appeal to the citizens of Russia, published on the morning of October 25 on behalf of the Military Revolutionary Committee (WRC). Other authors see the beginning of the history of the Soviet state in the resolution of the Petrograd Soviet, adopted in the middle of the same day, also on the initiative of V.I. Lenin, which spoke about the victory of the revolution and the future Soviet government. Both of these concepts raise at least two objections - factual and legal. First, neither in the morning nor in the afternoon of October 25, the armed uprising had yet to be completely defeated. The Winter Palace had not yet been taken, and the Provisional Government continued to sit in it. Secondly, the Petrograd Soviet and its Military Revolutionary Committee, which played a large role in the uprising, were, nevertheless, city bodies, and not all-Russian ones. They did not have the right to make decisions binding on the entire vast Russian Republic. Only the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets could and actually carried out such a task.

Creation of structures of the Soviet power on the ground

Congresses of Soviets

The demolition of the old apparatus and the construction of the new apparatus in the center took place relatively simultaneously; the situation in the localities was more complicated. The government granted local bodies complete independence, moreover, it required them to be active in solving local issues. The demolition of the old apparatus did not mean a simple dissolution or closing of old institutions, especially such as city dumas, zemstvos, courts, and so on. . In the appeal of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets on November 8 (October 26), 1917, it was proclaimed that all power from now on belongs to the Soviets Lenin V.I. Full coll. op.- T.35. - M., 1969. S. 2 ..

The congresses of Soviets were announced as the highest authorities within each administrative unit.

Since the local Soviets did not create their own economic management apparatus, the city dumas and zemstvo councils continued to work, especially since they considered themselves a democratic institution and enjoyed the support of part of the population. So, for example, in Petrograd on November 27-29, elections to the city duma were held by T.P. Korzhikhin. The Soviet state and its institutions. - M., - November 1917. - December 1991 - M., 1994. S.51. Until July 1918, they coexisted in parallel with the bodies of zemstvo, city self-government.

On January 3, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People. It stated that “1) Russia is declared a Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. All power in the center and locally belongs to these Soviets…” Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People // First Decrees of Soviet Power: Sat. documents. - M., 1987 ..

By the appeal of the NKVD of January 4, 1918 "On the organization of local self-government" Andreev A.M. Local Soviets and bodies of bourgeois power (1917). M., 1983. S. 276. and the circular of the same name dated February 6, 1918, all the former local governments were abolished. He pointed out that all the former bodies of local government should be replaced by regional, provincial, district, district and volost Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', Peasants' and Laborers' Deputies. The whole country must be covered with a whole network of Soviet organizations, which will be in close organizational dependence among themselves. Each of these organizations, down to the smallest, is completely autonomous in matters of a local nature, but conforms its activity to the general decrees and resolutions of the central government and to the resolutions of those larger Soviet organizations of which it is a member. In this way, a homogeneous organism, connected in all its parts, was created - the Republic of Soviets, and the Soviets were proclaimed particles of "a single state power in the localities."

The Soviets were additionally entrusted with the tasks of managing and servicing all aspects of local life - administrative, economic, financial, cultural and educational, the duty to implement decrees and resolutions of the central government. They were given the right to issue binding decrees, to make requisitions and confiscations, to impose fines, to close counter-revolutionary press organs, to make arrests, to dissolve public organizations calling for active opposition or the overthrow of Soviet power.

During the first period of dispersal of local soviets, especially rural and volost soviets, congresses of soviets played an enormous role in gathering the soviets and uniting them into a single state entity. In most places, after two, three, four months, sometimes even earlier, the city council, on its own initiative, convenes provincial and district congresses of Soviets, and at the beginning there was no definite fixed term for convocation, and in practice it is then established that the congresses of Soviets meet once a year. Decrees of the Soviet power. T.I.S. 251. - M., 1960 ..

The county congresses are attended by representatives of all Soviets existing in the given county, and according to this resolution, the village councils send one delegate to two thousand inhabitants, and the councils of cities and factory towns elect one to two hundred voters. The provincial congresses of councils are composed of representatives from city councils and factory settlements, one delegate for every two thousand voters and from villages, according to the calculation, one deputy for ten thousand inhabitants Kaganovich L.M. Local Soviet self-government. - M., 1923. P.44 ..

Thus, in the city, elections are made from voters, and in the countryside from residents.

City Councils arose earlier than others. The historical situation developed in such a way that by the time of the October Revolution, all power was concentrated in the hands of the city Soviets and extended to the entire territory of the province or county. In the future, the power of city councils was gradually limited to the city. During the elections to city councils, both in 1905 and in 1917-1918. deputies were elected from factories and factories or from trade unions; one deputy was elected from a certain number of workers, and never, in any city, was the entire population of the city taken as the basis for determining the number of deputies. On the contrary, in villages and villages, the number of deputies was determined not by the number of workers who alone have the right to participate in the elections of councils, but by the number of the entire population. Kaganovich L.M. Local Soviet self-government. - M., 1923. S. 45 ..

On the evening of October 25, 1917, the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets opened in Smolny. Of the 649 deputies who had registered by the beginning of the congress, there were 390 Bolsheviks, 160 Socialist-Revolutionaries and 72 Mensheviks. At the first meeting of the congress it was proclaimed that the congress was taking power into its own hands, and that all power in the country would pass to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. This decision was formulated in Lenin's appeal "To the Workers, Soldiers and Peasants!" adopted by the Congress. At the second meeting, on October 26, V. I. Lenin twice made presentations on the first decrees of Soviet power.

The first decree was the Decree on Peace, written by V. I. Lenin and adopted on his report. The Peace Decree expressed the Party's general line in the field of international relations. War was declared the greatest crime against humanity. The congress appealed to the governments of the belligerent countries with an appeal to immediately stop hostilities and start negotiations on concluding a just, democratic peace without annexations and indemnities.

The second decree adopted by the congress on the report of V. I. Lenin was the Decree on Land, drawn up on the basis of the "Instruction" of the Peasant Congress of Soviets. In accordance with the demand of the peasants, landlord ownership of land was abolished without any redemption. All specific, landlord, monastery, church lands with all living and dead inventory, as well as outbuildings, were transferred to the disposal of volost land committees and county Soviets of peasant deputies for their equal distribution among the peasants. More than 150 million acres of land passed into the hands of the people. A three-billion-dollar debt to the Peasants' Land Bank was liquidated. Peasants were exempted from annual rent payments and from expenses for the purchase of new lands, the amount of which was equal to 700 million rubles. gold. In addition, the landlords' agricultural implements worth approximately 300 million rubles passed into the hands of the landowners. The Decree noted that the lands of the working peasants and Cossacks remained in their use and were not subject to confiscation.

The decree was not a consistent reflection of the Bolshevik agrarian program, it was drawn up taking into account the mood of the peasants, expressed in the "Instruction". He allowed the vast majority of the peasantry to be convinced that the Bolsheviks were the true friends of the working people. This helped to strengthen the alliance of the working class with the working peasantry of Russia. The transfer of land to the people in a revolutionary way resolved the centuries-old struggle between the peasantry and the landlords, was the actual nationalization of the land.

The congress elected the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) and formed the first Soviet government - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK). Elected Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, October 25-27 (November 7-9), 1917, Smolny, Petrograd. The congress opened on October 25 (November 7) at 10:40 pm, at the height of the October Revolution; it was attended by many delegates who arrived from the field. Speaking at the Second Congress of Soviets, Lenin proclaimed: "The socialist revolution, about the necessity of which the Bolsheviks spoke so much, has been accomplished." The Second Congress of Soviets approved the overthrow of the Provisional Government by the Bolsheviks and announced the taking of Russian power into their own hands. The II Congress of Soviets formed a government - the Council of People's Commissars headed by Lenin, which, due to the refusal of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, included only the Bolsheviks. The congress transferred local power to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies.

Control over the activities of the new government and the right to remove people's commissars were given to the Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee elected by it. Among the 100 members of the new All-Russian Central Executive Committee were 62 Bolsheviks and 29 Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. L. B. Kamenev became the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Congress adopted:

1) an appeal to "Workers, Soldiers and Peasants!", which stated that the congress takes power into its own hands, and in the localities all power passes to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, which should ensure genuine revolutionary order.

5) Decree on the abolition of the death penalty (June 13, 1918, the death penalty in Russia was officially restored) and other resolutions and appeals.

9. State Duma in 1905 - 1914: composition and main activities.

The State Duma of the Russian Empire is a legislative, later legislative, institution of the Russian Empire. The Duma was the lower house of parliament, the upper house was the State Council of the Russian Empire. In total there were 4 convocations of the State Duma.

Until 1905, there was no representative legislative body in the Russian Empire. Its appearance was the result of the 1905 revolution.

On August 6, 1905, the State Duma was established by the Manifesto of Nicholas II as "a special legislative institution, which is provided with the preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals and consideration of the list of state revenues and expenditures"

Clause 3 of the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which established "as an unshakable rule that no law could take force without the approval of the State Duma," became the new basis for the legislative competence of the State Duma. From an advisory body, as established by the Manifesto * of August 6, 1905, the Duma became a legislative body.

The first meeting of the State Duma was held on April 27, 1906 in the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Convened in accordance with the electoral law of December 11, 1905, according to which 49% of all electors belonged to peasants. Elections to the First State Duma were held from March 26 to April 20, 1906.

The elections of the Duma Deputies did not take place directly, but through the election of electors separately for four curiae - landowning, urban, peasant and workers. For the first two, the elections were two-stage, for the third - three-stage, for the fourth - four-stage. The RSDLP, the national social-democratic parties, the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries and the All-Russian Peasant Union declared a boycott on the elections to the Duma of the first convocation.

Cadet S. A. Muromtsev was elected chairman. The First Duma worked for 72 days:

1) 2 drafts on the agrarian question were discussed: from the Cadets (42 signatures) and from the deputies of the labor group of the Duma (104 signatures).

2) They proposed the creation of a state land fund to allocate land to the peasantry. 3) They advocated the preservation of exemplary landlord farms and the alienation for the market price of the land that they rent out.

4) The Trudoviks demanded, in order to provide for the peasants, to allocate plots to them according to the labor norm at the expense of state, appanage, monastic and privately owned lands exceeding the labor norm, the introduction of equal labor land use, the announcement of a political amnesty, the liquidation of the State Council, and the expansion of the legislative rights of the Duma.

On May 13, a government declaration appeared, which declared the expropriation of land unacceptable. Refusal to grant political amnesty and expand the prerogatives of the Duma and introduce the principle of ministerial responsibility to it. The Duma responded with a decision of no confidence in the government and replacing it with another. On June 6, an even more radical Esser "project of the 33" appeared. It provided for the immediate and complete destruction of private ownership of land and the declaration of it with all bowels and waters as the common property of the entire population of Russia.

In its composition, it was generally to the left of the first, since the Social Democrats and Socialist-Revolutionaries participated in the elections. Cadet F. A. Golovin was elected chairman. The Cadets continued to advocate the alienation of part of the landlords' land and its transfer to the peasants for a ransom. The peasant deputies insisted on the nationalization of the land.

On June 1, 1907, Prime Minister Stolypin accused 55 deputies of plotting against the royal family. The Duma was dissolved by decree of Nicholas II of June 3 (Third June Coup).

Simultaneously with the decree on the dissolution of the Duma of the II convocation, on June 3, 1907, a new Regulation on elections to the Duma was published. According to this law, a new Duma was convened. Elections took place in the autumn of 1907. The Duma was considerably more to the right than the previous two.

The Third Duma, the only one of the four, worked for the entire five-year period prescribed by the law on elections to the Duma - from November 1907 to June 1912.

The Octobrists, a party of large landowners and industrialists, controlled the work of the entire Duma. Violent disputes in the Duma arose on various occasions: on issues of reforming the army, on the peasant question, on the question of attitudes towards the "national outskirts", and also because of personal ambitions that tore apart the deputy corps. But even in these extremely difficult conditions, opposition-minded deputies found ways to express their opinion and criticize the autocratic system in the face of all of Russia. To this end, the deputies made extensive use of the request system. For any emergency, the deputies, having collected a certain number of signatures, could file an interpellation, that is, a requirement for the government to report on its actions, to which one or another minister had to answer.

A great deal of experience has been accumulated in the Duma in the discussion of various bills. In total, there were about 30 commissions in the Duma. Elections of members of the commission were made at the general meeting of the Duma by prior agreement of candidates in factions. In most commissions, all factions had their representatives.

The Duma's own legislative initiative was limited to the requirement that each proposal come from at least 30 deputies.

Preparations for the elections to the Fourth Duma began already in 1910: the government made great efforts to create the composition of the deputy corps it needed, as well as to involve the clergy as much as possible in the elections. It mobilized forces in order to prevent the aggravation of the internal political situation in connection with the elections, to conduct them “silently” and, with the help of “pressure” on the law, to maintain and even strengthen its positions in the Duma, and prevent its shift “to the left”. As a result, the government found itself even more isolated, since the Octobrists now firmly went over, along with the Cadets, into the legal opposition.

In terms of composition, it differed little from the third, in the ranks of deputies there were significantly more clergy.

Since 1915, the Progressive Bloc has played a leading role in the Duma. The Fourth Duma, both before the First World War and during it, was often in opposition to the government.

On February 25, 1917, Emperor Nicholas II signed a decree on the termination of the Duma until April of that year. The Duma refused to comply, meeting in private meetings.

Being one of the centers of opposition to Nicholas II, the Duma played a key role in the February Revolution: on February 27, its members formed the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, which de facto assumed the functions of supreme power, forming the Provisional Government of Russia.

After the fall of the monarchy, the Duma never met in its entirety, although regular meetings were held by the Provisional Committee of the State Duma.

On October 6, 1917, the Provisional Government dissolved the State Duma in connection with the preparation of elections to the Constituent Assembly, and on December 18, the decree of the Council of People's Commissars abolished the office of the Duma and its Provisional Committee.

[Appeal of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets] * (1)

The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies has opened. It represents the vast majority of the Soviets. A number of delegates from the Peasant Soviets are also present at the Congress. The powers of the compromising Ts.I.K.*(2) have ended. Relying on the will of the vast majority of the workers, soldiers and peasants, relying on the victorious uprising of the workers and garrison that took place near Petrograd, the Congress takes power into its own hands.
The provisional government is overthrown. Most of the members of the Provisional Government have already been arrested.
The Soviet government will offer immediate democratic peace to all peoples and an immediate truce on all fronts. It will ensure the free transfer of landlord, appanage and monastic lands to the disposal of the peasant committees, defend the rights of the soldier by carrying out the complete democratization of the army, establish workers' control over production, ensure the timely convocation of the Constituent Assembly, take care of the delivery of bread to the cities and necessities to the countryside, provide everyone nations inhabiting Russia, a genuine right to self-determination.
The congress decides: all power in the localities passes to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, which must ensure genuine revolutionary order.
The congress calls on the soldiers in the trenches to be vigilant and steadfast. The Congress of Soviets is confident that the revolutionary army will be able to defend the revolution against all encroachments of imperialism until the new government achieves the conclusion of a democratic peace, which it will directly offer to all peoples. The new government will take all measures to provide the revolutionary army with everything necessary through a resolute policy of requisitions and taxation of the propertied classes, and will also improve the condition of the soldiers' families.
The Kornilovites - Kerensky, Kaledin and others - are making attempts to lead troops to Petrograd. Several detachments, deceived by Kerensky, went over to the side of the insurgent people.
Soldiers, actively resist Kerensky, the Kornilovites! Be on the lookout!
Railway workers, stop all trains sent by Kerensky to Petrograd!
Soldiers, workers, employees - in your hands is the fate of the revolution and the fate of the democratic world!
Long live the revolution!
All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies

Delegates from the Peasants' Councils

.
"Worker and Soldier", November 9, 8 (October 26), 1917

______________________________

*(1) The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets took place in Petrograd on November 7-8 (October 25-26), 1917.
The congress was attended (according to the Bureau of Congress Fractions) by 640 delegates, including 390 Bolsheviks, 160 Socialist-Revolutionaries, 72 Mensheviks, 14 United Internationalists, 7 Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionaries, and 6 Menshevik-Internationalists.
The Right Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, who fought against the socialist revolution, left the very first meeting of the congress as soon as they saw that the overwhelming majority of its delegates were wholly in favor of establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat.
As a result of the victory of the armed uprising of the St. Petersburg proletariat and the garrison, by the time the congress opened, power in Petrograd had passed to the Military Revolutionary Committee.
An appeal written by V.I. Lenin to "Workers, Soldiers and Peasants" (see V.I. Lenin. Works, vol. 26, pp. 215-216) was adopted by the congress at a meeting on November 7 (October 25).
At its meeting on November 8 (October 26), the congress adopted the following decrees and resolutions: on the completeness of the power of the Soviets, on the establishment of the Council of People's Commissars, a decree on peace and a decree on land. The congress also adopted resolutions on the abolition of the death penalty at the front, on the arrest of ministers of the Provisional Government, and on the fight against the pogrom movement. The congress adopted appeals to the front, to the Cossacks and to all railwaymen.
The Congress elected the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to 101 members: 62 Bolsheviks, 29 "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries, 6 United Social Democrats Internationalists, 3 Ukrainian Socialists, 1 Maximalist Socialist-Revolutionaries.
*(2) The All-Russian Dental Executive Committee of the Soviets of the first convocation was elected at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which took place on June 16 (3) - July 7 (June 24), 1917.
In total, 256 members were elected to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, of which 107 Mensheviks, 101 Socialist-Revolutionaries, 35 Bolsheviks, 8 Mensheviks United, 4 Trudoviks and People's Socialists, 1 from the Jewish Socialist Workers' Party. The Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was the Menshevik Chkheidze. The conciliatory majority of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee supported the policy of the Provisional Government: "war to a victorious end," the preservation of private ownership of industrial enterprises and land, ruthless reprisals against the revolutionary workers and peasants, and so on.
During the period of preparation for the proletarian revolution, the compromising All-Russian Central Executive Committee fought against the transfer of power to the Soviets and the convening of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. After the election of the hollow All-Russian Central Executive Committee at the Second Congress of Soviets, the Menshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary leadership of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the first convocation tried to retain the powers of this body and to fight against the dictatorship of the proletariat.

SECOND ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF SOVIETS OF WORKERS' AND SOLDIERS' DEPUTIES

took place on October 25-27. (November 7-9), 1917. The congress began in the atmosphere of Oct. armed uprisings in Petrograd. Based on the victory of the uprising, the congress proclaimed the formation of the Republic of Soviets. The decision of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets to convene in the middle of Sept. 1917 The 2nd Congress of Soviets was sabotaged by the compromising leadership of the Central Executive Committee of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. The Central Executive Committee intended to replace the Congress of Soviets with a Democratic Conference. But at the insistence of the Bolshevik faction, the Central Executive Committee was forced on September 23. (Oct. 6) to decide on the opening of the congress on Oct. 20. (2 Nov.). At a meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) with the delegates of the Democratic Conference - the Bolsheviks - on September 24 (October 7), a resolution was adopted on the current situation and the tasks of the proletariat, demanding the immediate convocation of the region. congresses and All-Russian. Congress of Soviets. V. I. Lenin considered all issues related to the convocation of the congress, inextricably linked with the preparation of armaments. uprisings.

30 Sept. (October 13) an explanation of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) on the situation in the country was published with a call for a struggle for the power of the Soviets. In Sept.-Oct. region took place. and lips. congresses of Soviets, testifying to the further Bolshevization of the Soviets. Local Soviets demanded the convocation of the 2nd All-Russian. Congress of Soviets, protested against agreeing. policy of the Central Executive Committee, against the coalition with the bourgeoisie and insisted on an active struggle against the counter-revolution. Particularly characteristic in this respect is the Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region, which took place in Petrograd on October 11-13 (24-26). Seeing that to disrupt the convocation of the All-Russian. The congress still fails, the CEC bureau again postponed its opening date from 20 to 25 October. By this time, delegates began to arrive from their places, bringing with them orders for the transfer of power to the Soviets. At a meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) on October 21. (November 3) the issue of the agenda and leadership of the Bolshevik faction of the congress was considered.

The congress opened in Smolny on 25 October. (Nov 7) at 10 a.m. 40 min. evenings. According to the calculations of the owls. historian V. Averyev, 402 Soviets were represented at the congress: 195 of them were united Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies; 119 Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies with the participation of the cross. deputies; 46 Soviets of Workers' Deputies; 22 Soviets of Soldiers' and Sailors' Deputies; 19 Soviet cross. deputies and 1 Council of Cossack deputies.

According to the questionnaire commission of the congress, out of 670 delegates, 505 people spoke in favor of transferring all power to the Soviets, the remaining 165 - "for the power of democracy" and "for coalition power." About part. The exact composition of the congress has not been preserved. According to incomplete registration data, by the opening of the congress, out of 517 delegates, there were 250 Bolsheviks, 159 Social Revolutionaries, 60 Mensheviks, 22 non-party people, the rest belonged to small parties. groupings. According to the preliminary according to the questionnaire commission, 670 delegates were registered; of them: 300 Bolsheviks, 193 Social Revolutionaries, 68 Mensheviks, 36 non-party, the rest were distributed among small party groups. According to the faction's bureau, there were 649 delegates by the opening of the congress; of them: 390 Bolsheviks, 160 Socialist-Revolutionaries, 72 Mensheviks, 14 United Internationalists, 6 Menshevik Internationalists, 7 Ukrainian Socialists. At the end of the convention there were 625 delegates; of which: 390 Bolsheviks, 179 Lev. Socialist-Revolutionaries, 35 United Internationalists, 21 Ukrainian. socialist.

The Presidium of the Congress included 14 deputies from the RSDLP (b) - V. I. Lenin, V. A. Antonov-Ovseenko, G. E. Zinoviev, L. V. Kamenev, A. M. Kollontai, N. V. Krylenko, A. V. Lunacharsky, K. M. Muranov, V. P. Nogin, A. I. Rykov, D. B. Ryazanov, E. M. Sklyansky, P. I. Stuchka, L. D. Trotsky; from the Left SRs 7 deputies - M. A. Gutman, G. A. Zaks, B. D. Kamkov, V. A. Karelin, I. K. Kakhovskaya, S. D. Mstislavsky, M. A. Spiridonova; from Ukrainian Socialists 1 deputy - P. I. Kulinichenko. The first meeting began with a debate on the authority of the congress. The Mensheviks are right. The Socialist-Revolutionaries, having read out a declaration of protest "against a military conspiracy and the seizure of power," left the congress. They were joined by the Internationalist Mensheviks, Bundists and members of the Heb. the Poalei Zion party. The convention branded the move as a betrayal.

At 3 h. 10 min. In the morning, a telegram from Antonov-Ovseenko about the capture of the Winter Palace and the arrest of the Provisional Pr-va was delivered to Smolny and read to the congress. Starting to consider the question of power, the congress at 5 o'clock in the morning (by all delegates with 2 against and 12 abstentions) adopted an appeal written by V. I. Lenin and read out by A. V. Lunacharsky to "Workers, soldiers and peasants!" It said that the congress was taking power into its own hands, and in the localities all power would pass to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Crosses. deputies, to-rye and must ensure a genuine revolution. order. A lion. Socialist-Revolutionaries joined the appeal. Representatives of the factions of the Menshevik-Internationalists, the Bund, the Poalei Zion party, who returned to the congress, and the united internationalists abstained from voting. The first session closed at 5:15 a.m. morning.

The second session began on 26 Oct. at 9 pm. According to two main issues on the agenda - about the world and the land - were made by V. I. Lenin. He read out the Decree on Peace he had written. Owl's proposals the peace authorities supported P. I. Stuchka - from the Social-Democrats. party of Latvia, F. E. Dzerzhinsky - from the Social-Democratic Poland and Lithuania, V. S. Mickyavichus-Kapsukas - from S.-D. Lithuania. The decree was adopted unanimously by the congress (around 11 pm on 26 October). At 2 o'clock in the morning the congress adopted (by all delegates with 1 against and 8 abstaining) the Decree on Land, written and read out by V. I. Lenin.

On the question of the organization of the Soviet pr-va proposal was made by the Bolshevik faction. This proposal was opposed by the Menshevik Internationalists, Lev. socialist-revolutionaries, a delegate of Vikzhel, who demanded the creation of a "homogeneous socialist. production." By an overwhelming majority of votes at 4 o'clock in the morning, the congress adopted a resolution on the organization of power. The resolution stated that control over the activities of Nar. commissioners and the right to remove them belong to Vseross. Congress of Workers' Soviets, cross. and Soldiers' Deputies and its Center. perform. committee. The congress elected a new composition of the Central Executive Committee in the amount of 101 people, including 62 Bolsheviks and 29 Lev. Socialist-Revolutionaries. The congress entrusted the administration of the country to the Council of People's Commissars (SNK). Previous SNK was elected V. I. Lenin.

Resolutions were also adopted at the second meeting of the congress: on the transfer of local power to the Soviets; on the release of arrested members of the land. who in; on the abolition of the death penalty at the front; about the immediate arrest of Kerensky; about the fight against counter-revolution. performances; on education in the army of temporary revolutionaries. who in. Appeals were also made to the Cossacks with a call to go over to the side of the Owls. authorities and to all railroad workers - about maintaining order on the railway. e. At 5:15 a.m. am 27 Oct. the congress finished its work.

Lit .: Lenin V.I., Second All-Russian. Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies October 25-26. (November 7-8) 1917, Soch., 4th ed., vol. 26; Decrees of the Soviets. authorities, vol. 1, M., 1957; Oct. armed uprising in Petrograd. Documents and materials, M., 1957; Second All-Russian. Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, M.-L., 1928; Second All-Russian. Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, M., 1957; From orders to delegates II All-Russian. Congress of Soviets, "KA", 1937, No 3 (82); Second All-Russian. Congress of Soviets (Questionnaires of Bolshevik delegates to the II Congress of Soviets), ibid., No. 5(84); Averyev V., Soviets before Oct. socialist. revolution (Sept. - Oct. 1917), "Soviet State and Law", 1941, No 1; Gorodetsky E.N., From the history of Oct. armed uprisings and II All-Russian. Congress of Soviets, VI, 1957, No. 10. See also lit. to the article The Great October Socialist Revolution.

G. E. Reichberg. Moscow.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ed. E. M. Zhukova. 1973-1982 .

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