V.I. Lenin’s and I.V. Stalin’s ideas in discussions of the authors of the Constitution of the USSR 1977

Abstract

The article is devoted to the 40th anniversary of the USSR Constitution 1977. It concentrates on political, ideological and historical matters which were the basic values of the whole constitutional draft since the middle of the 1950's till 1977. The author determines how the creators of the Constitution took into account Lenin's ideological heritage and those conceptual provisions, which were the basis of the «Stalin Constitution» (by this phrase, contemporaries often meant the Constitution of the USSR in 1936). Those provisions were very important because the process of «destalinization» in the society and the state was associated with the name of N.S. Khrushchev, so, they were reflected in the draft of the constitution. It is also of vital importance because this serious question about the ruler's role in history of the country was controversial during L.I. Brezhnev's term of service, and this fact influenced the drafting of the basic law of the country. The work shows how Lenin's ideological heritage was taken into account when creating a constitutional draft. At the same time, despite taking into account both Lenin's and Stalin's ideas in the new Constitution, it was undoubtedly innovative for its time both conceptually and in some of its provisions.