FIRST-WAVE RUSSIAN ÉMIGRÉS' PERCEPTION OF THE FIRST SOVIET CONSTITUTIONS.

This article is devoted to how the first Soviet constitutions were perceived by first-wave Russian émigrés. Despite the relatively large number of lawyers among them, their analysis of the constitutions was not based on the theory of law. Instead, émigrés measured them against their compliance with the historical development of Russia as well as their compatibility with other laws and by-laws. Russians abroad were primarily concerned about the constitutions' implementation. Any study of this topic will therefore discuss not only these Russians' perception of the documents, but also of the Soviet state and its policies in the 1920s. Especially interesting are the arguments about the role of the Soviets and the Soviet system. This paper examines and compares views held by representatives of different political circles, identifying similarities and differences. Most of the émigrés' analyses of the Soviet system in the 1920s resulted in the following assessments: formal legislation was not being observed in practice; management was being gradually centralized; a transition was taking place away from the dictatorship of the proletariat and towards the dictatorship of the party, the oligarchy, and the autocracy of Stalin; the functions of the Soviet organs were being duplicated and replaced by the Communist Party; and bureaucracy was burgeoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]