1924 Soviet Constitution
The 1924 Soviet Constitution legitimated the December 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR between the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In essence, it was but an expansion of the Treaty, as most of the key points were already outlined there. The Constitution contained the identical to the Treaty Declaration, reflecting the current world order, and the common good causes of such a Union, allowing for a potential expansion.
Whereas the original Treaty contained only 26 articles, the Constitution now encompassed 72, divided into eleven chapters. Ratified by the Second Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union 31 January 1924, it survived six editions, before being superseded by the 1936 constitution.
It established the Congress of Soviets to be the supreme body of state authority, with the Central Executive Committee holding this authority in the interim. The Central Executive Committee is divided into the Soviet of the Union, which would represent the constituent republics, and the Soviet of Nationalities, which would represent the interests of nationality groups. The Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union served as the collective presidency. Between sessions of the Central Executive Committee, the Presidium supervised the government administration. The Central Executive Committee also elected the Sovnarkom, which served as the executive arm of the government.
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/. - Soviet Union