ABSTRACT
The road from Lenin to M. Gorbachev, prior to late 1990, was long and marked by promulgation of several clusters of constitutions. Lenin’s evident expectation that class affinity would eventually overcome ages old ethnic rivalry and conflict was demonstrated by his federal plan, adopted by the Third Congress in January 1918. The only constitutional restraint was provided by the Procuracy, but its competency was limited to “protesting” administrative orders issuing from the administrative commissariats and their subordinate institutions. The legislature was to be constituted as it had been under the valid constitution, as a Supreme Soviet with two chambers, but with an altered structure and changed duties. The lower chamber, the Council of the Union, was to contain representatives from republics based on the republic’s population. This paralleled the practice under the prior constitutional provisions. The constitutional evolution of seven decades was marked with frequent change, reaching a crescendo in 1988–1990.
