Russian Assembly Democratically Elected Constitutional Body

Russian Assembly is also known as the Russian Constituent Assembly. In 1917 after the October Revolution in Russia a constitutional body was elected through the principles of democracy which was named as the Russian Constituent Assembly. From January 5 to January 6, 1918 the assembly met for 13 hours and the Bolshevik government elected and dissolved it.

Prior to the Russian Revolution of 1905 the main demands of all the Russian revolutionary parties was the convocation of a body that would be elected democratically and one that would make Russias constitution. In 1906, a legislative body the State Duma was newly created by the Tsar and he also decided to grant basic civil liberties after the revolution. However no rights to write the constitution were given to the Duma and for that a Russian Assembly had to be created.

In July 1906 the Duma was dissolved as per the legal agreement. The Russian Provisional Government assumed the state power after Nicholas II was overthrown during the 1917 February Revolution. The liberal Duma leadership formed the Russian Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet which was socialist dominated supported it. It was said that elections should be held all over the country to choose a Russian Assembly according to the will of Grand Duke Michael.

This would help in determining the form of government according to the Grand Duke. The authority to modify the form of government in Russia lied only with the Russian Assembly according to the Grand Dukes initial plan. During the October Revolution a way was paved for the by the Kornilov Affair for the Bolsheviks to seize power. Throughout the year 1917 the position of the Bolsheviks were evolved in the Russian Constituent Assembly.

All Power to the Soviets was the slogan of the Bolsheviks in April 1917. The state power should be transferred to the soldiers council and the socialist dominated workers called as Soviets from the Provisional Government as according to the Bolsheviks and not to the ultimate power held by the Russian Assembly. The Provisional Government was overthrown on October 25, 1917 by the Bolsheviks with the support of the Military Revolutionary Committee and Petrograd Soviet.

Over most of the Russias ethnic areas control was established by the Bolsheviks over the next couple of weeks but not in the non-ethnic areas. Freedom of Press was limited by the newly formed government it gave the permission to carry forward the elections as scheduled by the former government for November 12, 1917. The will of the Russian Assembly was submitted by the new government.

Later when a new government over took the power from the Bolsheviks no real power was left with the Russian Assembly but it continued to be a part of the Congress of Members of the Constituent Assembly. Russian Constituent Assembly