The 1946 Yugoslav Constitution, officially titled as the Constitution of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia ( sr, Устав Федеративне Народне Републике Југославије; hr, Ustav Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije), was the first

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

of the

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

. It was adopted by the

Constitutional Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

of Yugoslavia, elected on 11 November 1945. Constitution came into effect at its promulgation, on 31 January 1946.

Background

Elections for the

of Yugoslavia were held 11 November 1945. Electoral process was dominated by the People's Front of Yugoslavia (PFY), a political coalition led by the ruling

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

(CPY). Since opposition parties were suppressed, electoral list of PFY won an overwhelming electoral victory, thus allowing CPY to proceed with its plans for definite abolition of the already weakened monarchy. On November 29 (1945), by a declaration of the Constitutional Assembly, Yugoslavia was officially proclaimed as people's republic, and

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

, under the name:

(FPRY). In the same time, drafting of the new constitution was initiated. On 31 January 1946, Constitution was adopted and promulgated. Solemn proclamation of the new Constitution was officiated by Ivan Ribar, President of the Presidency of the Constitutional Assembly of Yugoslavia.

Constitutional provisions

Tito podpisuje deklaracijo o razglasitvi FLRJ

Constitution has defined

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

as a people's republic, and a

(Article 1), thus finalizing two main political goals of the People's Front of Yugoslavia (PFY), and the ruling

(CPY), led by

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his death ...

, at that time President of the Yugoslav Government. Under the Article 2 of the Constitution, federal state was defined as union of six federated states, in following constitutional order: the People's Republic of Serbia, the People's Republic of Croatia, the

People's Republic of Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

, the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the People's Republic of Macedonia, and the

People's Republic of Montenegro The Socialist Republic of Montenegro ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Crna Gora, Социјалистичка Република Црна Гора), commonly referred to as Socialist Montenegro or simply Montenegro, was ...

. Two existing autonomous units were also confirmed, within the People's Republic of Serbia: first being the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, and second being the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija. Under the Article 44, creation of new autonomous provinces and new autonomous regions was also allowed. Equality of all citizens and all groups was proclaimed and guarantied, but not a single

nationality Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of t ...

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

was mentioned by name in the entire text of the Constitution. The

official languages An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

was not defined. One of the most important characteristics of the Constitution was that it resembled the

Constitution of the Soviet Union During its existence, the Soviet Union had three different constitutions in force individually at different times between 31 January 1924 to 26 December 1991. Chronology of Soviet constitutions These three constitutions were: * 1924 Constitu ...

(1936). Yugoslav constitution promoted dominant position of state property, organization of authority on the principle of unity of authority and dichotomous division of all state authority on state authorities and state administration. The division of jurisdiction existed between the

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

, and six federated states. Distribution of power was based on the principle of "

democratic centralism Democratic centralism is a practice in which political decisions reached by voting processes are binding upon all members of the political party. It is mainly associated with Leninism, wherein the party's political vanguard of professional revo ...

", which was defined by the leading Yugoslav constitutional ideologue of that time:

Edvard Kardelj Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II ...

. That actually meant the introduction of the etatistic social models and centralist state regulations, side by side with the nominal

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments ( provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single ...

. Ideological, political and other forms of pluralism were excluded. This Constitution enabled further consolidation of the communist regime in the country. After the conflict with 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 nationa ...

broke out in 1948, Yugoslav authorities decided to find their own way to

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...

. Legislative reform began with partial changes, in 1950 and 1952, but crucial change will be made by the Yugoslav Constitutional law of 1953.

Commentaries

In his address to the Fifth Congress (1948) of the

, general secretary

referred to several articles of the Constitution to demonstrate its ''liberal'' nature.

Let us take only Article 1 of the Constitution, which says: "The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is a federal national state of republican structure, a community of peoples enjoying equal rights, who on the basis of the right to self-determination, including the right to secede, have expressed their will to live together in a federated state."
There, that is how national equality is settled here, that is how it is codified and put fully into practice.
Further, how is the question of power settled in the Constitution and in practice in this country?
In Article 6 it is stated: "In the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia all power derives from the people and belongs to the people. The people exercise their power through the freely elected representative bodies of state authority, from the people's committees which, from the local people's committees up to the assemblies of the people's republics and the People's Assembly of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia originated and developed in the People's Liberation War against Fascism and reaction and which are the basic achievements of that struggle."
Consequently, the Constitution has only confirmed, or rather codified, what was won during the war, that is to say the power of the people, the power of a real people's democracy.Christman, Henry M., ed. ''The Essential Tito''. St. Martin's Press, 1970, p. 56

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links

World Statesmen: Constitution of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1946): English translation
{{Yugoslavia topics