ABSTRACT
The formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the first Constitution helped to consolidate the process that had begun in November 1917, while allowing the Russian Federation to take on some of the responsibilities of the former empire. The Constitution made good reading, but it hardly conveyed the reality of power in Moscow, and the innate tendency of the post-Lenin party leadership to amass power in its own hands, initially in the form of a triumvirate, but ultimately in the single dictatorship of Stalin. Stalin's view was a more traditional Russia-dominated structure that would pursue ultimately Russian national interests. The Congress was packed with Stalin's supporters, who heckled Zinoviev and Kamenev as they tried to air their views. By the late 1920s, restrictions on Soviet literature were becoming more apparent, though the Stalin leadership was inclined to focus first on literary developments in non-Russian republics, which were perceived as more threatening.
