Socialist idea and methods of constitutional implementation in 1918

Abstract

This article demonstrates that socialism was the key political concept for the nascent Soviet constitutionalism. The matter is that the political-legal ideas of V. I. Lenin underlied the ideology of Bolshevism, which became the basis of the entire legal system of the Soviet state. The author traces the evolution of socialist ideas and their reception by the Russian social democracy. In the Bolshevik party, the idea of a socialist society has acquired rather utopian and radical forms than the initial European model. This was associated with the fact that socioeconomic, political and cultural conditions dictated certain framework for the implementation of socialism. The Communist Party had to establish the socialist principles and fundamentals of the Soviet society on the constitutional level. This led to robust debates on the issue in the constitutional commission. The discourse that emerged due to the adoption of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 is poorly reflected in the scientific publications; therefore, the author provides brief biographical data of the key members of the constitutional commission. This allows correlating the political-legal ideas with the historical and personal contexts. It is worth noting that such concepts as “socialist society”, “association” and “union” underlie the comprehension of the essence of state and law. This served as the basis for further discussion of the goals and objectives of the councils, first steps, as well as rights and responsibilities of citizens.