Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union


The Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union, was the supreme governing body in the Soviet Union since the formation of the USSR and until adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution.

Election

The Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union was composed of representatives from the councils of all the Soviet republics on the following basis: from the City Council - 1 member from 25 thousand voters, from provincial and Republican congresses - 1 member from the 125 thousand residents. Delegates to the All-Union Congress were elected at the provincial autonomous republican congresses of the Soviets, or - directly at the Congress of Soviets of the union republic.

Powers

The exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress of Soviets consists of:
Congress of the Soviets shall determine the general direction of all public bodies, elect a Central Executive Committee of the USSR, responsible to Congress accountable to it.
The only chairman of the Presidium of the Congress was Mikhail Kalinin.

Congresses

First All-Union Congress of Soviets

The first congress was held on 30 December 1922 in Moscow with delegates from Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Congress approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, the basis of the 1924 Soviet Constitution, and thus formally created the Soviet Union with the four as founding Union Republics.

Second Congress of the Soviets of the USSR

The Second Congress of the Soviets of the USSR was held in January 1924 to ratify the 1924 Constitution of the Soviet Union.