Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics


The Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics officially created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the Soviet Union. It de jure legalised a political union of several Soviet republics that had existed since 1919 and created a new federal government whose key functions were centralised in Moscow. Its legislative branch consisted of the Congress of Soviets and the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union, while the Council of People's Commissars composed the executive.
The Treaty, along with the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR was approved on 30 December 1922 by a conference of delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR. The Treaty and the Declaration were confirmed by the First All-Union Congress of Soviets and signed by heads of delegations Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Tskhakaya, and Grigory Petrovsky, Alexander Chervyakov respectively on December 30, 1922. The treaty provided flexibility to admit new members. Therefore, by 1940 the Soviet Union grew from the founding four republics to 16 republics.
On 8 December 1991, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian presidents signed the Belovezha Accords. The agreement declared the dissolution of the USSR by its remaining founder states and established the Commonwealth of Independent States. On 10 December, the accord was ratified by the Ukrainian and Belarusian parliaments. On 12 December, the agreement was ratified by the Russian Parliament; therefore, the Russian SFSR renounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and de facto declared Russia's independence from the USSR.
On 26 December 1991, the USSR was dissolved by the Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the upper house of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.

Background

The treaty's text was prepared by a commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
The treaty was a result of many internal political conflicts within the Bolshevik Party and governments inside the Union. Initially, Vladimir Lenin did not see that Russia's October Revolution would end all foreign borders as such. That view was supported by Leon Trotsky and his followers, who believed that Russia was only a first step in a future world revolution. However, as the Red Army approached the edges of the former Russian Empire and its borders, it needed an excuse to cross them. One such method was a creation of an alternative government, a Soviet Republic, which would then take over authority as the Red Army ousted the existing government. That was the case with Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and failed campaigns such as in the Baltic States and Poland. Alternatively, it would use the presence of a minority to undermine the standing army and, where there was no national minority, a government based on geographical locale – Far Eastern Republic, Turkestan.
However, the Red Army's ultimate failure in the Polish–Soviet War placed the Bolshevik world revolution plans on hold. Simultaneously, the growing figure of Joseph Stalin pursued a different agenda. Lenin himself saw the creation of national republics as a permanent feature in line with his korenizatsiya policies. In spring of 1922, Lenin suffered his first stroke, and Stalin, still being a People's Commissar for Nationalities, gained a new official chair as the General Secretary of the Communist Party.
Stalin argued that, because the Russian Civil War had now concluded and war communism had been replaced by the New Economic Policy, it was necessary to reorganise the Bolshevik state into a single sovereign entity, so that its legal de jure framework would match its de facto condition. That process would require the liquidation of the many splinter Soviet governments and the restoration of supreme rule to Moscow.
In January 1922, Georgy Chicherin, the then People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, sent an official inquiry to the authorities of the Russian SFSR about the possibility of representing the legal interests of other republics. Stalin took the position that the Russian SFSR should represent the other republics in the field of foreign policy, although there was no legal act that would grant it such powers. The first talks between the authorities of individual republics on the drafting of the treaty began in August 1922.
The line went directly in conflict with both proponents of korenizatsiya and some of the local governments, most notably in Ukraine and Georgia. Thus, the treaty can be viewed as a compromise between the different groups within the Bolshevik camp to satisfy the aspirations of large minorities and to allow for potential expansion. Byelorussia was the smallest republic, but its official languages included Polish and Yiddish in addition to Russian and Belarusian to undermine the authority of the neighbouring Second Polish Republic and to use its sizeable Jewish minority, as well as the Belarusians and Ukrainians in Poland as a future fifth column. At the same time, it created a new centralised federal government in which key functions would clearly be in the hands of Moscow.

List of preceding treaties

  • 30 September 1920, Military and Economical Union Treaty.
  • 28 December 1920, Workers-Peasant Union Treaty.
  • 16 January 1921, Workers-Peasant Union Treaty.

    Content

The original document included a cover sheet, the declaration, the treaty and the signatures of the delegations that signed it.
In the cover sheet, the title Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was typed in Russian, French, English and German, as well as the actual words Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics also in those four languages. It contained the original state emblem of the Soviet Union.
The declaration was written as a reflection on contemporary international relations and why the treaty was necessary. According to the narrative, there are now two distinct camps, an "exploiting" capitalist with colonialism, chauvinism and social and ethnic inequalities and a "free" socialist one with mutual trust, peace and international cooperation and solidarity. The former sought to destroy the latter, but because of the common good that the latter is based on, the former has failed.
The declaration goes on and lists three factors as to why this Union is a necessary step. First of all, the aftermath of the Civil War left many of the republics' economies destroyed, and rebuilding in the new socialist fashion is proving difficult without closer economic cooperation. Secondly, foreign threats continue to loom over the socialist camp, and its sovereignty requires an alliance for defence. Finally, the ideological factor, that the Soviet rule is internationalist in nature and pushes the working masses to unite in a single socialist family. These three factors justify in uniting in a single state that would guarantee prosperity, security and development.
Finally the declaration then specifies that the resultant Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is one that is created on free will of the peoples, that its purpose follows the ideals of the October Revolution, that each and every socialist republic has the right to join and leave the Union at its own will, and hinting at the Soviet foreign policy of socialist irredentism, finishes stating that the treaty ...will serve a decisive step on the path of unification of all workers into a "World Socialist Soviet Republic".
Following the declaration, is the treaty itself consisting of a preface and 26 articles.
  • In the preface it is fixed that the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, the Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic acting in free will, agree to form a single Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, that is governed on articles listed in the treaty.
  • Article 1 lists the competency of the responsibilities that the Union's authorities would contain. These include all foreign affairs; international treaties; change in external borders; expansion of the Union by accepting new republics; declaring war and agreeing to peace; foreign and domestic trade; authority over economic development; creating unified postal and transport services; the armed forces; internal migration; creation of single judiciary, education and healthcare services as well as unifying all units of measurement. All of the above would be thus explicitly controlled directly by the Union's authority. Moreover, the final clause explicitly listed, that the Union's authorities could now overturn acts of all Republics' authorities that were deemed in violation with regard to this Treaty.
  • Articles 2–10 determined the structure of supreme authorities of the Union. The legislative authority, according to the treaty, was the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union and between the congresses, this was to be carried out by the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union . The delegates to the Congress are to be elected by local Soviets represented by one elected representative from 25,000 voters in urban areas and one per 125,000 voters in rural areas. The Congress delegates would be elected by local Guberniya Soviets, rather than Republican ones. The congresses would be held annually or may be summoned by requests of at least two Republics' or the Union's TsIK. The TsIK would be the main body to carry out executive functions between the congresses. This TsiK was a 371-person body, whose members were proportionally represented to the population of the Union, and elected by the Congress. The Union TsIK would meet four times per annum on a regular basis, whilst irregular sessions can be summoned on demand by the Union government or by one of the constituent Republics. The Congress and the TsIK would be held in the capitals of the Union Republics in the order that would be decided by TsIK's Presidium. The latter was to be appointed by TsIK, that would be the supreme power organ between its sessions. This Presidium would consist of nineteen members, with four chairmen, each representing the four republics. The Presidium also had the authority to summon an irregular session of TsIK.
  • Article 11 appointed the executive authority, the Council of People's Commissars. The council's members were appointed by TsIK, and included ten portfolios as well as a chairmen and his deputies.
  • Article 12 specified the functions of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union and the secret police, the OGPU. The creation of these two bodies was justified as measures to overcome criminal and counter-revolutionary elements in that very article.
  • Articles 13–17 specified the framework on the legal proceedings between the Union's supreme bodies and those of each republic. All of the decrees by Union's SNK were effective in every republic. Also confirmed, was the multilingual aspect of the Union, specifying that all of the Union's decrees are to printed in the official language of each constituent republic . It was specified that the Union's SNK resolution may only be overruled by the Union's TsIK or its Presidium, and if a republican TsIK chooses to protest the resolution or a decree of the Union's TsIK, the protest itself does not halt the implementation of the document. The latter is only possible if there are obvious violations with existing laws, and in such cases, the republic must immediately notify the Union's SNK and the relevant commissariat.
  • Article 18 listed the authorities that would be retained by the Republics and specified their respective Councils of People's Commissars, each to have a chairman, his deputies, eleven portfolios and representatives with advisory votes of several Union-level commissariats, in particular foreign affairs, defence, foreign trade, transport and logistics.
  • At the same time article 19 specified that republican-level organs, the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy, the commissariats for food supply, finance and labour, as well as the Soviet inspection though subjugated to the Republican authorities, their activities were to be regulated by the Union's TsIK.
  • Article 20 discussed that the budgets of the Republics would form the Union's budget and that all expenses and spendings by the Republics would be determined by the Union's TsIK. Moreover, the latter would also determine the share of profits, if any, that each Republic would receive.
  • Articles 21–23 created a single Soviet citizenship, state symbolism, and specified the Union's capital in Moscow.
  • Article 24 demanded that the republics amended their constitutions with regard to the treaty.
  • Article 25 specified that any amendments, additions or changes to the treaty may be done only by the Union's Congress of Soviets.
  • Article 26 affirmed the clause in the declaration where each republic has the right to leave the Union.