Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
on 12 December 1937.
[ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1642 ] It was the first election held under the
1936 Soviet Constitution, which had formed the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to replace the old legislature, the
Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union.
Background
On 11 December, on the eve of the election,
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
gave a speech to voters in Moscow's
Bolshoi Theatre, greeted by a loud ovation lasting for several minutes with cries of "Long live great Stalin, Hurrah!" "Hurrah for Comrade Stalin, the creator of the Soviet Constitution, the most democratic in the world!" "Long live Comrade Stalin, leader of the oppressed throughout the world, Hurrah!" In his speech Stalin said that
Comrades, to tell you the truth, I had no intention of making a speech. But our respected Nikita Sergeyevich dragged me to this meeting by sheer force, so to speak...Of course, one can make a light sort of speech about everything and nothing...I have been nominated as candidate, and the Election Commission of the Stalin District of the Soviet capital has registered my candidature. This, comrades, is an expression of great confidence...For my part, I would like to assure you, comrades, that you may safely rely on Comrade Stalin...You may take it for granted that Comrade Stalin will be able to discharge his duty to the people (applause ), to the working class (applause ), to the peasantry (applause ) and to the intelligentsia. (Applause.)...The forthcoming elections are not merely elections, comrades, they are really a national holiday of our workers, our peasants and our intelligentsia. Never in the history of the world have there been such really free and really democratic elections -- never! History knows no other example like it...our universal elections will be carried out as the freest elections and the most democratic compared with elections in any other country in the world.
Universal elections exist and are also held in some capitalist countries, so-called democratic countries. But in what atmosphere are elections held there? In an atmosphere of class conflicts, in an atmosphere of class enmity...Here n the Soviet Unionelections are held in an atmosphere of collaboration between the workers, the peasants and the intelligentsia, in an atmosphere of mutual confidence between them, in an atmosphere, I would, say, of mutual friendship...our elections are the only really free and really democratic elections in the whole world...The work is directed by men and women of the people. That is what we call Socialism in practice. In our fields the tillers of the land work without landlords and without kulaks
Kulak (; russian: кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈlak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned ov ...
. The work is directed by men and women of the people. That is what we call Socialism in daily life, that is what we call a free, socialist life...I would like you, comrades, to exercise systematic influence on your deputies, to impress upon them that they must constantly keep before them the great image of the great Lenin and imitate Lenin in all things."
Electoral system
The elections were originally announced as being multi-candidate; however, by halfway through the year the announcement was reversed due to the leadership worrying about the possible emergence of political opposition. However, during that early period a number of individuals attempted to hold the government to the multi-candidate promise, including members of the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
who attempted to field religious candidates as a result of Article 134
of the new constitution, which promised freedom of religion. Many of the early individuals attempting to run as alternate candidates were arrested after the decision for multiple candidates was reversed. Additionally, the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
conducted mass arrests shortly before the elections.
[ Fitzpatrick, Sheila. 1999. ''Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s''. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 179–182.]
Conduct
Despite the mass arrests and with the tone more subdued than with
elections held in 1929, there were still minor waves of dissent and opposition to candidates, especially major political figures (including
Mikhail Kalinin
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (russian: link=no, Михаи́л Ива́нович Кали́нин ; 3 June 1946), known familiarly by Soviet citizens as "Kalinych", was a Soviet politician and Old Bolshevik revolutionary. He served as head of st ...
,
Anastas Mikoyan, and even
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
himself) as well as celebrities (such as
Aleksei Tolstoy
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (russian: link= no, Алексей Николаевич Толстой; – 23 February 1945) was a Russian writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels.
Despite having ...
) and candidates opposed on the basis of ethnicity (such as ethnic Russians running in the
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
).
Results
![Soviet Union Legislative election 1937](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Soviet_Union_Legislative_election_1937.png)
Soviet of the Union
Soviet of Nationalities
References
External sources
*"State and Society Under Stalin: Constitutions and Elections in the 1930s," article by
J. Arch Getty
John Archibald Getty III (born November 30, 1950) is an American historian and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), who specializes in the history of Russia and the history of the Soviet Union.
Life and career
Getty was ...
in ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring, 1991).
*''The Distinctiveness of Soviet Law''. Ferdinand Joseph Maria Feldbrugge, ed. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: Dordrecht (1987): 110-112.
*
Fitzpatrick, Sheila. 1999. ''Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s''. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 179–182.
Kalinin speech in elections to the Supreme Soviet 1937
{{Soviet elections
Legislative elections in the Soviet Union
1937 elections in the Soviet Union
One-party elections
Single-candidate elections
December 1937 events
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...