The first congresses of people's deputies of the USSR. Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR and the Supreme Council of the USSR

Meeting room address Grand Kremlin Palace
The Tenth (Extraordinary) Congress was held in the House of Soviets

Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation(until December 25, 1991 - Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR) - the highest body of state power in Russia from May 16 to October 4. He was elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot for a period of 5 years.

The first and only composition of people's deputies of the Russian Federation was elected on March 4, 1990; according to the election results, not a single faction had an absolute majority of votes. By the Presidential Decree “On Phased Constitutional Reform,” the activities of the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Council were interrupted, but the Congress itself (the majority of its deputies) did not obey the decree, and the Decree itself was recognized as contrary to the Constitution by the Constitutional Court.

Powers of the Congress

The Constitution assigned the Congress the right to resolve any issue within the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation (Article 104, Part 2). The exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress of People's Deputies included:

Adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, introduction of amendments and additions to it; - determination of the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian Federation; - ratification and denunciation of international treaties entailing changes and additions to the Constitution of the Russian Federation; - making decisions on issues of national government structure within the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation; - determination of the procedure for resolving issues of the administrative-territorial structure of the Russian Federation; - resolving issues regarding changes in the borders of the Russian Federation; - approval of long-term state plans and the most important republican programs for the economic and social development of the Russian Federation, its military construction; - formation of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation; - election of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation; - election of the First Deputy and three Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation; - approval of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation; - approval of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation; - election of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; - making a decision on the removal of the President of the Russian Federation from office; - repeal of acts adopted by the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, as well as decrees and orders of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation decided to hold a national vote (referendum).

Meetings of the Congress of People's Deputies were usually chaired by the Chairman of the Supreme Council. The activities of the congress were regulated by temporary regulations; there were no permanent ones.

A total of 1,068 people's deputies of the RSFSR were elected to the congress:

900 - by territorial districts: proportional to the population;
168 - for national-territorial districts: 4 from 16 autonomous republics (64), 2 from 5 autonomous regions (10), 1 from 10 autonomous districts (10), 84 from territories, regions, cities of Moscow and Leningrad.

Story

In the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, no single faction had an absolute majority; the largest factions were “Communists of Russia”, “Democratic Russia” (liberals), “Radical Democrats” (liberals), “Social Democratic Party of Russia/Republican Party of the Russian Federation” (social democrats and left democrats respectively). In August 1991, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, as well as the President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin, opposed the State Emergency Committee. In October 1991, the majority of the Congress of People's Deputies introduced free trade and also approved price liberalization, but in December 1992 declared no confidence in the cabinet of Yegor Gaidar, which became the basis for the appointment by the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin of a referendum on confidence in the parliament and the president and the beginning of the development of a new constitution, which should have reduced the powers of the congress to one degree or another. At the referendum on April 21, 1993, confidence in parliament was denied by a slight majority, but the proposal to hold early elections to Parliament was rejected. On September 21, 1993, Boris Yeltsin issued a decree according to which the current convocation of parliament was dissolved, elections to a new parliament and a referendum were scheduled on the adoption of the constitution proposed by the Constitutional Conference, according to which the President received the right to dissolve parliament not only in the event of a declaration of no confidence in the cabinet of ministers, but also in the event of its non-approval appointment of the Prime Minister. The Congress of People's Deputies did not recognize this decree and removed Boris Yeltsin from the post of President of the Russian Federation. Of the parties, this decree was recognized by almost all liberal and moderate conservative parties, left-wing democrats and social democrats did not recognize this decree, and nationalists and moderate communists did not recognize this decree, while moderate communists, social democrats and left-wing democrats supported the creation of a government proposed by parliament national harmony. Radical communist organizations ("Labor Russia") opposed the creation of a government of national accord and advocated the transfer of power to the "Soviet government" elected by the Congress of Councils of Workers, Peasants, Specialists and Employees, which in essence also meant the actual dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and People's Councils deputies. A cordon was built around the parliament building. On October 3, 1993, a demonstration in which radical communists mainly took part broke through the cordon and unblocked the parliament building, after which demonstrators stormed the Moscow City Hall building. After which this demonstration moved to the building of the Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Ostankino" demanding the provision of part of the airtime to the opposition. The majority of the Board of the RGTRK Ostankino decided to refuse to provide airtime, after which there was an attempt to storm the television company building, which was repulsed. On October 4, 1993, the parliament building was stormed by government troops and most of the deputies were arrested.

Factions and blocs

The composition and number of factions and blocs were constantly changing. But constantly, at each congress, 10-12 factions were registered.

Reform Coalition

Radical Democrats
United faction of Social Democrats and Republicans

Democratic Center

Consent for progress
Left center-cooperation
Free Russia (Communists for Democracy)
Sovereignty and equality
Non-party deputies

Outside the blocks

Rodina (SND faction)

Creative forces

Industrial Union
Workers' Union - Reforms without shock
Change - New Policy

Russian unity

Communists of Russia (faction formed on May 19, 1990, ceased to exist on October 4, 1993; faction chairmen - Ivan Kuzmich Polozkov (19.5.1990 - 6.7.1991), Ivan Petrovich Rybkin (6.7.1991 - 4.10.1993))
Agrarian Union (faction formed on May 17, 1990, ceased to exist on October 4, 1993; chairman of the faction - Mikhail Ivanovich Lapshin (17.5.1990 - 4.10.1993)).
Russia
Fatherland
Russian Union
Civil society

Congresses of People's Deputies

The Congress of People's Deputies was convened 2-3 times a year (there were 10 congresses in total, the Tenth - after the decree of dissolution).

I Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR: May 16 - June 22, 1990

Factions

Communists of Russia: in May 1990 - 355 deputies, in June 1990 - 367 deputies
Food and health: in May 1990 - 183 deputies, in June 1990 - 215 deputies
Workers' and Peasants' Union: 72 deputies
Non-party deputies: 72 deputies
Democratic platform in the CPSU: 61 deputies
Left center: 57 deputies
Shift: 50 deputies

Groups

Group from republics, autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 142 deputies
Group "Central Russia": 126 deputies
Group on education, education and science: 71 deputies
Group of medical workers: 97 deputies
Group of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of the RSFSR: 89 deputies
Group "North": 83 deputies
Group of armed forces, KGB, reserve officers: 55 deputies
Ecology group: 83 deputies
Chernobyl group: 69 deputies
Group of legal workers: 65 deputies
Ural group of people's deputies: 65 deputies
Moscow group of people's deputies: 64 deputies
Group “Far East and Transbaikalia”: 62 deputies
Group of specialists in economics and management: 61 deputies
Group of transport, communications and information workers: 51 deputies
Group on refugee problems and protection of the rights of Russian compatriots: 51 deputies
Group of journalists "Glasnost": 51 deputies
Group “For the return of citizenship to A. I. Solzhenitsin”: 53 deputies
Democratic Autonomy Group: 23 deputies

On May 29, with 535 votes with a quorum of 531 votes, B. N. Yeltsin was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. On June 12, the Declaration of State Sovereignty was adopted. On June 15, B. N. Yeltsin, as Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, proposed three alternative candidates for the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers: People's Deputy of the USSR M. A. Bocharov; People's Deputy, Chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on Science, Education and Culture Yu. A. Ryzhov; Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR I. S. Silaev. As a result of secret voting, neither I. Silaev nor M. Bocharov received the required number of votes. Yeltsin decided not to nominate any more candidates, but to support I. Silaev, who received the majority of votes. 163 deputies voted for this decision. On June 18, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR approved Silaev's candidacy.

People's Deputy, member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the first convocation Artyom Tarasov in his book “Millionaire” described what happened at the congress:

The first Congress of People's Deputies of Russia, held in the Kremlin, was an absolutely uncontrollable mass of motley people. The deputies tried to get to the podium at any cost, while they did not listen to the speakers at all: everyone shouted, waved their hands and shouted some slogans and calls directly from the hall.

II Congress: November 27 - December 15, 1990

Factions

Food and health: 216 MPs
Communists of Russia: 215 deputies
Democratic Center - Russia: 87 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia: 66 deputies
Non-party deputies: 59 deputies
Left center: 57 deputies
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR: 54 deputies
Organizers of the national economy: 52 deputies
Russian Union: 52 deputies
Shift: 51 deputies

Deputy groups

Group from the republics and autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 139 deputies

Amendments to the Constitution were adopted, including: giving constitutional status to the Declaration of State Sovereignty, introducing private property in the RSFSR, establishing a Constitutional Court (elected in 1991), de-ideologizing articles on the political rights of citizens.

III Congress (extraordinary): March 28 - April 5, 1991

Factions

Communists of Russia: 216 deputies
Food and health: 215 MPs
Democratic Russia: 205 deputies
Organizers of the national economy: 158 deputies
Communists for Democracy: 103 deputies
Russia: 102 deputies
Left center: 80 deputies
Non-party deputies: 61 deputies
Radical Democrats: 54 MPs
Russian Union: 51 deputies
Shift: 51 deputies

Deputy groups

Group from the republics and autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 83 deputies

IV Congress: May 21 - 25, 1991

Factions

Communists of Russia: 205 deputies
Food and health: 205 MPs
Fatherland: 140 deputies
Communists for Democracy: 100 deputies
Russia: 96 deputies
Left center: 80 deputies
Democratic Russia: 69 deputies
Organizers of the national economy: 67 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia: 64 deputies
Radical Democrats: 55 MPs
Shift: 55 deputies
Non-party deputies: 54 deputies
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR: 53 deputies
Russian Union: 52 deputies

Deputy groups

Group from the republics and autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 143 deputies

Amendments to the Constitution of the RSFSR, the establishment of the post of President of the RSFSR, according to the results of the referendum.

V Congress: July 10 - 17, October 28 - November 2, 1991

The congress took place in two stages:

Agrarian Union of Russia: 113 deputies
Communists for Democracy: 96 deputies
Russia: 74 deputies
Fatherland: 70 deputies
Democratic Russia: 69 deputies
Left center: 65 deputies
Radical Democrats: 55 MPs
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR: 52 deputies
Russian Union: 51 deputies
Shift: 51 deputies

Deputy groups

Group from the republics and autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 50 deputies

Stage 2 (October 28 - November 2): Factions

Communists of Russia: 198 deputies
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR - Left Center: 117 deputies
Agrarian Union of Russia: 111 deputies
Free Russia: 96 deputies
Russia: 74 deputies
Fatherland: 70 deputies
Democratic Russia: 69 deputies
Industrial Union: 67 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia: 62 deputies
Non-party deputies: 55 deputies
Radical Democrats: 55 MPs
Russian Union: 51 deputies
Shift: 51 deputies

Deputy groups

Taking the oath of the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin, electing a new Chairman R.I. Khasbulatov, introducing a number of changes to the Constitution (including the establishment of the tricolor state flag of the RSFSR).

VI Congress: April 6 - 21, 1992

Factions

Agrarian Union of Russia: 121 deputies
Industrial Union: 73 deputies
Democratic Russia: 72 deputies
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR - Left Center: 69 deputies
Free Russia: 66 deputies
Communists of Russia: 59 deputies
Fatherland: 54 deputies
Russia: 54 deputies
Civil society: 52 deputies
Radical Democrats: 48 MPs
Non-party deputies: 43 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia - reforms without shock: 41 deputies
Russian Union: 19 deputies

Deputy groups

Sovereignty and equality: 56 deputies

Unsatisfactory assessment of the work of Gaidar's government, granting additional powers to the President. Refusal to ratify the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR and to exclude mention of the constitution and laws of the USSR from the text of the constitution of the RSFSR. Until its dispersal, the congress did not ratify the agreement.

VII Congress: December 1 - 14, 1992

Factions

Agrarian Union of Russia: 148 deputies
Communists of Russia: 80 deputies
Democratic Russia: 75 deputies
Free Russia: 58 deputies
Fatherland: 54 deputies
Industrial Union: 54 deputies
Left Center - Cooperation: 53 deputies (created 12/14/1992 during the congress)
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR - Left Center: 53 deputies (dissolved on December 14, 1992 during the congress)
Change - new politics: 53 deputies
Homeland: 52 deputies
Consent for progress: 51 deputies
Cooperation: 50 deputies (dissolved on 12/14/1992 during the congress)
Russia: 46 deputies
Non-party deputies: 36 deputies (dissolved on 12/14/1992 during the congress)
Civil society: 28 deputies (dissolved on 12/14/1992 during the congress)

Deputy groups

Sovereignty and equality: 50 deputies

Criticism of the Gaidar government, sharp speech by President B. N. Yeltsin, confirmation of V. S. Chernomyrdin as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Amendments to the Constitution were adopted to limit the powers of the President. Appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding the illegal ratification of the Belovezhskaya Agreement by the Supreme Council on December 12, 1991.

VIII Congress: March 1993

Factions

Agrarian Union of Russia: 130 deputies
Communists of Russia: 67 deputies
Left Center - Cooperation: 62 deputies
Homeland: 57 deputies
Free Russia: 55 deputies
Consent for progress: 54 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia - reforms without shock: 53 deputies
Change - new politics: 53 deputies
Fatherland: 51 deputies
Radical Democrats: 50 deputies
Russia: 43 deputies

Deputy groups

Sovereignty and equality: 50 deputies

Amendments to the Constitution limiting the powers of the Government and the President have been introduced in full.

IX (Extraordinary) Congress: March 1993

Factions

Agrarian Union of Russia: 129 deputies
Communists of Russia: 65 deputies
Left Center - Cooperation: 61 deputies
Free Russia: 56 deputies
Russia: 55 deputies
Industrial Union: 52 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia - reforms without shock: 52 deputies
Fatherland: 51 deputies
Change - new politics: 50 deputies
Radical Democrats: 50 deputies
Democratic Russia: 49 deputies

Deputy groups

Sovereignty and equality: 50 deputies

The congress was convened in connection with a televised address by President B.N. Yeltsin, in which he announced the introduction of a “special order of government” for the country. The Constitutional Court declared Yeltsin's actions related to the televised address unconstitutional, however, as it turned out later, the unconstitutional decree announced by the President was never signed. The Congress attempted to remove B. N. Yeltsin from the post of President. At the same time, a vote was taken on the resignation of the Chairman of the Supreme Council R.I. Khasbulatov. Neither proposal passed. A nationwide referendum was scheduled for April 25 on early re-elections of the President and the Congress and on confidence in the socio-economic policy of the President.

X (Extraordinary) Congress: September 23 - October 4, 1993

689 deputies were present (with a quorum of 628). The congress approved the decisions of the Supreme Council to terminate the presidential powers of B. N. Yeltsin and transfer them to the vice president. He declared Yeltsin's actions a coup d'etat. He appointed early elections of the President and people's deputies for March 1994. It was dispersed on October 4 with the use of weapons and armored vehicles. After this, the system of Soviets, the supreme body of which was the Congress, was completely eliminated. The majority of the people's deputies who did not resign on October 4, 1993 announced the end of the work of the X Congress.

NEW POLITICAL CONFIGURATION

Under the conditions of “perestroika” (the reform program carried out by the leader of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev since 1985), a partial modernization of the structure of government bodies of the USSR was carried out, which, according to the initiators, was supposed to strengthen the union state and prevent its collapse. Changes made to the constitution in November 1988 declared the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR to be the highest body of state power. He could consider and resolve any issue within the jurisdiction of the Union. The exclusive competence of the Congress included the adoption of the constitution and amendments (by a two-thirds majority), regulation of the state structure and relations between the republics, determination of the main directions of domestic and foreign policy, approval of state plans and programs, election of the Supreme Council and its chairman, approval of the chairmen of the Council ministers, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, making decisions on holding a referendum, etc. The Congress could approve or repeal the laws of the Supreme Council and government decisions.

The congress consisted of 2,250 deputies elected by universal suffrage for a 5-year term. Of these, 750 were elected from territorial districts with equal population, 750 from national-territorial districts (32 from each union republic, 11 from each autonomous republic, 5 from each autonomous region and 1 from each autonomous okrug) and 750 - from all-Union public organizations (100 each from the Communist Party, trade unions and cooperative organizations, 75 each from the Communist Youth League, women's councils, veterans, scientific, etc. organizations, creative unions, etc.). Regular meetings of the Congress were convened once a year.

The Congress of People's Deputies elected a permanent legislative, administrative and control body - the Supreme Council (analogous to parliament). He determined the structure of the government, appointed its head and, on his behalf, ministers, made appointments to senior military and judicial posts, established the foundations of union legislation and carried out economic regulation, ratified international treaties and agreements, etc. The Supreme Council consisted of two equal chambers - the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities, both of which were elected at the Congress of People's Deputies by secret ballot of all deputies. Since 1989, each chamber has had 271 members. The Council of the Union was elected from among the deputies elected from territorial districts and public organizations, and the Council of Nationalities was elected from deputies elected from national-territorial districts and public organizations (according to the norm: 11 each from the union, 4 each from the autonomous republic, 2 each – from the autonomous region, 1 – from the autonomous okrug). The Congress annually renewed one-fifth of the members of both houses. Disagreements between the chambers were submitted to a conciliation commission, and if no agreement was reached, to the Congress of People's Deputies.

The functions of the head of state essentially transferred to the chairman of the Supreme Council as the highest official of the state. He represented the USSR at home and abroad, supervised the preparation of legislative acts and signed acts of the Congress and the Supreme Council, presented reports on the situation in the country and the world and on candidates for senior positions. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council in 1989.

Encyclopedia “Around the World”

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OPENING OF THE CONGRESS

The chairman is the Chairman of the Central Election Commission for the Election of People's Deputies of the USSR V.P. Orlov.

Chairman.

Dear comrades people's deputies of the USSR! It was a great honor for me. In accordance with the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, I, as Chairman of the Central Election Commission, will have to open the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.

The elections and preparations for them took place in conditions of widespread, unprecedented publicity and openness, and a rapid growth in the political activity of the working people. This was especially convincingly confirmed on Sunday, March 26, when more than 172 million Soviet people - almost 90 percent of all voters included in the lists - went to the polls to express all shades of public opinion to support perestroika.

The elections confirmed that the people see in Lenin’s party a force capable of uniting Soviet society, ensuring its consolidation, and finding effective ways to solve pressing problems and overcome difficulties. We have never had a more powerful, nationwide referendum in favor of the Communist Party and its course for renewal.

Today, 2,155 people's deputies of the USSR out of 2,249 elected are present at the Congress. Detailed data on the election results and the composition of deputies will be reported by the Credentials Commission, which will be elected by the Congress and to which the Central Election Commission will transfer all the documentation necessary to verify the powers of the deputies.

It should be said that in this hall today there are workers, collective farmers, production commanders, scientists, cultural figures, military personnel - people of different professions, different generations, representatives of the people with great political and intellectual potential.

The composition of the deputies reflects the multinational character of our country. Among them are representatives of 65 nations and nationalities.

INTERREGIONAL DEPUTY GROUP

The core of the future Interregional Group actually took shape already in the first days of the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR around the democratic part of the Moscow delegation, thanks to which these deputies immediately received the name “Moscow group”, although it included Leningraders and representatives of many other regions of the Union. The most notable speeches of the “Moscow group” at the Congress were those of academician Andrei Sakharov, historian Yuri Afanasyev, Moscow economist Gavriil Popov, Leningrad economist Anatoly Sobchak and former world champion weightlifter Yuri Vlasov.

The Interregional Group took shape at its first meeting on June 7, 1989 in the conference hall of the Moscow Hotel; on July 29-30, the 1st general conference of the Interregional Group was held, at which it was determined how many people's deputies and who exactly were included in the MDG. The “Theses for the program of practical activities to deepen and implement perestroika” were adopted and a Coordination Council of 25 people and 5 co-chairs was elected. The conference was attended by 316 deputies, of whom 268 were identified as members of the MDG. Taking into account those who had previously signed up for the group but were unable to arrive at the conference, the number of the Interregional Deputy Group as of July 30, 1989 was 388 people.

Academician Andrei Sakharov, Boris Yeltsin, Yuri Afanasyev, Gavriil Popov, Anatoly Sobchak (Leningrad), Nikolai Travkin, Arkady Murashev, Yuri Chernichenko, Alexander Obolensky (Apatity), Gennady Burbulis (Sverdlovsk), Yuri Karyakin, Milen Martirosyan were elected to the MDG CC (Ukraine), Sergey Stankevich, Evdokia Gaer (Vladivostok), Vladimir Volkov (Sverdlovsk), academician VASKhNIL Vladimir Tikhonov, Victor Palm (Estonia), Valentin Logunov, Alla Yaroshinskaya-Zgerskaya (Ukraine), Mikhail Bocharov, Telman Gdlyan, Victor Goncharov ( Ukraine), Mikhail Poltoranin, Alexey Emelyanov, corresponding member. USSR Academy of Sciences Alexey Yablokov. The co-chairs of the Constitutional Court were B. Yeltsin, Yu. Afanasyev, G. Popov, V. Palm and A. Sakharov, and the secretary was Arkady Murashev.

Among the deputies - members of the MDG there were several people directly associated with the informal movement: leader of the Popular Front of Karelia Sergei Belozertsev, member of the Coordination Council of the Moscow Popular Front Sergei Stankevich, representative of the Yaroslavl Popular Front Igor Shamshev, one of the founders of the Apatity Voluntary Society for Assistance to Perestroika (DOSP) Alexander Obolensky. However, the majority of MDG members belonged to the ranks of the Soviet intelligentsia and held far from radical views. Only 49% of participants in the 1st MDG conference clearly spoke in favor of a multi-party system, another 40% were in favor of a discussion on the introduction of a multi-party system (5% were in favor of maintaining a one-party system). To a large number of deputies from the MDG, the views of Academician A.D. Sakharov seemed overly radical, and it was Sakharov who received the smallest number of votes among the 5 co-chairs (69; Yeltsin - 144).

At the 2nd MDG conference, which took place in the Moscow House of Cinema on September 23-24, 1989, the MDG Platform was adopted. The platform included the demand for the abolition of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution on the “leading role of the CPSU”, democratization of the electoral system, a democratic Law on the Press, laws on land and property, and a new Union Treaty. A significant part of the demands of the MDG was actually adopted during 1989-90, including the abolition of Article 6 - despite the fact that, in proportion, the MDG never accounted for more than 12% of the total number of people's deputies of the USSR.

The interregional deputy group had a strong influence on the formation of the general program of the democratic movement in Russia, including the process of eliminating the ideology of “true socialism” that prevailed in the movement of 1987-88. To a large extent, on the basis of the MDG platform, the program documents of the PEOPLE'S FRONT OF THE RSFSR (confederation of democratic movements of Russia) and the Interregional Association of Democratic Organizations (MADO - coalition of democratic movements of the USSR), proclaimed in October 1989, as well as the electoral bloc "DEMOCRATIC RUSSIA" in January 1990

During the work of the Second Congress of People's Deputies, the Interregional Deputy Group experienced a serious crisis. A. Sakharov and Y. Afanasyev called on the MDG to openly declare itself a parliamentary opposition that does not take responsibility for the actions of the CPSU government. S. Stankevich and A. Sobchak opposed this point of view. The death of Academician Sakharov suspended the sharp polemics within the MDG. After the funeral of A. Sakharov, a compromise solution was found: some of the MDG members signed a collective statement that they consider themselves “opposition”, some did not sign, but both of them retained their organizational unity within the group. About 200 members of the MDG joined the “opposition”.

V. Pribylovsky. Interregional Deputy Group (MDG)

“AGGRESSIVE-OBEDIENT MAJORITY”

Chairman. Comrades! We have a backlog of urgent requests from deputies here. Deputy Afanasiev asks to allow him to speak during the Congress. Please.

Afanasyev Yu. N., rector of the Moscow State Historical and Archival Institute (Noginsk territorial constituency, Moscow region). Dear comrade deputies! We are all called upon to critically evaluate the situation in the country. I think we must and must also critically evaluate our own activities at the Congress. And in this sense, for a number of reasons, which I came out to talk about, yesterday’s work at your Congress made a depressing impression on me.

Firstly, around midnight we did not hear the voice of the Karabakh delegation, or, more precisely, we did not react to it in any way. And in the end he was left without any reaction from us. A little earlier, we all together essentially left the Lithuanian delegation in a state of political isolation, which came up with a proposal formulated, as it seems to me, in a completely unsuccessful way, but nevertheless with a proposal that has a basis. And we set into motion the familiar machine. Several moralizing and stigmatizing speeches, including speeches by Zalygin and Medvedev, whom I respect, which were followed by a stultifying vote by the majority. (Applause).

Even earlier, we were in a hurry to form the composition of the Supreme Council. In a hurry, in which we did not hear a number of sensible proposals, from my point of view. In particular, the proposal of Rodion Shchedrin. And as a result, Rodion Shchedrin’s voice disappeared, and along with it, the deputy Travkin, whom we were talking about, sank into oblivion. Further, I was present, like many here, at a meeting of the Russian delegation that essentially did not lead to any normal conclusions, which was held in a hurry and which was unable to properly discuss very many issues. Comrades, I think everyone is free to express their opinion here, including me, and that’s why I’m speaking.

I once again carefully looked at the composition of our Supreme Council. I have to say this because I think it and I am convinced of it: if we bear in mind the level of qualifications of the deputies against the background of the tasks that this Supreme Council has to solve, if we bear in mind the level of their professionalism that is required in these difficult for our country conditions, then we formed the Stalin-Brezhnev Supreme Council... (Noise in the hall, applause). Now about the majority that has formed...

Chairman. Yuri Nikolaevich, three minutes have expired.

Afanasyev Yu. N. I’m already finishing. This is also the depressing thing I wanted to say. And I am appealing specifically to you, to this, I would say, aggressively obedient majority, which yesterday defeated all those decisions of the Congress that the people expect from us... (Noise in the hall).

Chairman. Quiet, comrades. I think we are having a serious conversation.

Afanasyev Yu. N. I’m finishing. But I just ask you not to clap or shout, because that’s exactly what I came here to say. So, dear aggressively obedient majority, and you, Mikhail Sergeevich, either carefully listen to this majority, or skillfully influence it. We can continue to work like this. We can be obedient, not line up, and carefully hand in notes. We can be gracious, as Father Pitirim called us to do. But let us not for a minute forget about those who sent us to this Congress. They sent us here not so that we would behave kindly, but so that we would decisively change the state of affairs in the country. (Applause).

Reader on the history of Russia. From the USSR to the Russian Federation. 1985-2001

Russia - 2000. Modern political history (1985-1999), vol. 1, Chronicle and analytics.

But at the VI Congress of People's Deputies, in April 1992, the main topic was not the Constitution, but the attitude towards the government. Although the program of radical reforms was outlined by Boris Yeltsin, everyone knew that its authors were the leading ministers of the Russian government: E.

Gaidar, A. Shokhin, A. Chubais and others. It was the fourth month of radical reform, prices had skyrocketed, so criticizing Gaidar became politically advantageous. The deputies passionately accused the “monetarists” who had ruined, sold and destroyed Russia...

Chairman of the Supreme Council R.I. Khasbulatov openly said that the Supreme Council “in a sense led the movement in opposition to the implementation of economic reforms.” A feature of the political struggle at this stage was that the main object of criticism was the government and its deputy prime ministers - E.T. Gaidar, G.E. Burbulis, M.N. Poltoranin. Among the government's strongest critics was Vice President A.B. Rutskoy. However, both he and the Chairman of the Supreme Council R.I. Khasbulatov was “excluded from criticism” by the president himself. In turn, B.N. Yeltsin resolutely stood up at the Congress in defense of the “government of reforms.”

To maintain the government's course, B. Yeltsin's support was crucial. In his speech at the Congress on April 7 (B. Yeltsin wanted E. Gaidar, the first deputy prime minister of the government, to make a report, but the Congress demanded that Yeltsin report) the President admitted that not everything is fine, the disruption of the social protection program is of particular concern population and financing of budgetary spheres, that medicine found itself in a critical situation. Nevertheless, the President was confident that he and the government had chosen the right course of economic transformation. “I am deeply convinced that at the V Congress of People’s Deputies and after it, the right decisions were made, including on additional powers and on the head of government.<...>In three months, the government has shown that it can work, it is capable, without panicking, of consistently pursuing the chosen course, withstanding the blows of harsh and not always fair criticism,” Yeltsin said in his report1.

The next day, after B. Yeltsin’s speech at the Congress, the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” wrote: “after B. Yeltsin’s speech, the future course of economic reform does not cause any particular disagreement among the deputies. In fact, the meaning of the dispute is much deeper: the issue is about power. Closely adjacent to it is the future subject of battle - the new Constitution. Yeltsin and the bloc of democratic factions are for a presidential republic. The president needs to remain as prime minister in order to rid the government of the influence of the parliament that is subject to change. In their opinion, it is impossible for the republic to get out today without a strong executive power.

The logic of legislators is also clear: they consider their assembly no less responsible for the success of the reform and therefore want to control everything and everyone.”2

Sixth Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. Verbatim report. M., 1992

T. 1 pp. 120-121.

This clash of two opposing opinions about the nature of state power in Russia, about what the country’s new Constitution should be, took place against the backdrop of heated debate in the country about the progress of economic reforms.

It should be noted that with his support for Gaidar’s reforms, B.

Yeltsin squandered a considerable part of his political authority, because the unpopular government was perceived as the Yeltsin-Gaidar government. Yeltsin, accustomed to popularity, found himself not only in a politically, but also psychologically difficult situation, and he felt this at the VI Congress of People's Deputies of Russia. At this Congress, B. Yeltsin faced severe rejection of his policies; accusations rained down on him from the rostrum of the Congress as if from a cornucopia. Yeltsin was even accused of having undermined the birth rate in the country and Russia was facing a demographic catastrophe.

Already at the very beginning of the VI Congress of People's Deputies, the opposition decided to deal a decisive blow to Gaidar and his course. At the Congress, a draft resolution on the activities of the government was approved, which stated: “Recognize the progress of economic reform as unsatisfactory.” The President was asked to submit to the Supreme Council a draft law on the government and a new candidacy for its leader within a month. In response to this, members of the government led by Gaidar submitted a collective resignation, accusing the legislative branch of “irresponsible populism.” Nobody expected this, even Yeltsin did not know about it169. And the Congress retreated - voted for the “Declaration of Support for Economic Reform in the Russian Federation.”

The resignation of Gaidar and his ministers has not been accepted.

In this situation, the President managed to save his political course by making some concessions to legislators. “So, using military terminology,” writes E. Gaidar, “we can say that in May-August 1992, the government, under pressure from superior forces, retreated, waging rearguard battles and trying, as far as possible, to hold the most important directions, and in some areas continued the offensive"170. Later, in his memoirs, Boris Yeltsin wrote that he was not disappointed in Gaidar, “and I am sure that his team would have worked for another year - and the economy would have moved forward, normal processes in industry would have begun, those same Western investments would have started 0

which any of our governments dreamed of.”171

Despite the disagreements, at the VI Congress of People's Deputies the Supreme Council was not yet ready for direct confrontation with the President; the main blow fell on the government. The President also continued to seek ways of agreement and compromise. In his speech at the Congress on April 10, 1992, Boris Yeltsin said: “I personally, of course, did not want, and do not want, and do not intend to enter into confrontation with the Congress, especially since both the Congress and you as deputies were elected by the entire the people and I was elected by all the people, so we need to find solutions that we implement together in concert, without, of course, abdicating any responsibility for those program statements that were made before the election of the President of the Russian Federation”172.

In order to preserve the political foundations of the state, it was decided to change the structure of power and return it to “Leninist ideals.” In June-July 1988, a decision was made to create a two-tier system of power:

1) Congress of People's Deputies of 2250 people;

2) elected by the Congress and renewed every year by 1/5 of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (554 people). (

1st People's Congress dep. USSR– May-June 1989 (Elected President of the USSR Supreme Council – M.S. Gorbachev; President of the Council of Min. – N.I. Ryzhkov; for the first time, the official opposition of “interregionalists” arose, for the first time daily broadcast of all meetings).

2 People's Congress dep. USSR– November 1989 (political propaganda decisions: there was an open skirmish between Ak. Sakharov and M.S. Gorbachev, the 1939 pact with Germany was condemned, the XIII Five-Year Plan plan was discussed but never adopted, the entry of troops into Afghanistan was condemned) .

3rd Extraordinary Congress of the People. dep. USSR– March 1990 (abandoned Article 6 of the Constitution, elected M.S. Gobachev as the first President of the USSR, refused to recognize Lithuania’s secession from the USSR).

4 People's Congress dep. USSR– December 1990. At the congress, the question of M.S. Gorbachev’s resignation was raised for the first time. It is noteworthy that this question was formulated by a representative of the CPSU. However, soon the Supreme Council granted M.S. Gorbachev emergency powers.

The last Congress of the CPSU - XXVIII, July 1990. At the congress, Yeltsin, Popov, and Sobchak left the party. By the end of 1990, the CPSU had shrunk by a third. The number of party members dropped to 15 million. M.S. Gorbachev proposed creating a Union of Northern States.

Parade of sovereignties.

The process of collapse of the USSR began with the beginning of the process of collapse of the CPSU. In 1989, the Lithuanian Communist Party left the CPSU. During these same years, from May 1988 to January 1991, declarations of independence or sovereignty were adopted in all union and autonomous republics. But the Baltics went further. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania adopted the Act on the Restoration of State Independence. Soon, on June 12, 1990, at the First Congress of the People. dep. The RSFSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. Bilateral treaties were concluded with the Baltic republics. Soon, four days later, the same Declaration was adopted by Ukraine. In October 1990, Yeltsin announced the non-subordination of the RSFSR to the allied authorities and the beginning of his own course of reforms. This decision was enshrined in law.

Soon, similar Declarations were adopted in the autonomous republics of the RSFSR (Yakutia, TASSR, Chechnya, Bashkiria).

Novo-Ogarevsky process.

On June 24, a draft of a new union treaty was published. However, the Baltic republics refused to discuss it. The western regions of Ukraine and Moldova expressed a negative attitude towards the agreement. Similar sentiments reign in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia.

On March 17, at a referendum on the existence of the USSR, support was expressed for the union state (76%). On April 24, a preliminary agreement “9+1” was signed in Novo-Ogaryovo. The signing of the new union treaty was scheduled for August 21. The new state was to become a confederation. Gorbachev was to become the new President, Nazarbayev was to become Prime Minister.

On the eve of the signing of the agreement, M.S. Gorbachev went on state vacation. Foros dacha in Crimea.

Collapse of the USSR.

State Emergency Committee.

On August 19, 1991, at 6 o’clock in the morning, the creation of the State Emergency Committee was announced. Vice-President of the USSR G.I. Yanaev announced the temporary assumption of the functions of head of state. This was explained by the illness of M.S. Gorbachev.

The Commission included Prime Minister V.S. Pavlov, min. Defense Marshal of the USSR D.T. Yazov, Chairman KGB V.A. Kryuchkov, min. ext. cases B.K. Pugo and others. The circumstances of the creation of the State Emergency Committee are poorly understood. Probably, all parties to this process were interested in this, both those who joined the Commission and those who were temporarily removed from power. The actions of the Commission were in accordance with the plan approved by M.S. Gorbachev back in the spring of 1991. At a meeting in Foros between the members of the Commission and the President of the USSR, Gorbachev did not oppose the measures of the State Emergency Committee, did not remove them from power and even shook their hands.

The members of the Commission motivated their actions by the inconsistency of the future treaty with the norms of the USSR Constitution, the danger of disrupting the events planned for August 21 (Ukraine, for example, hesitated), and the desire to prevent the collapse of the USSR. However, the Commission's actions were poorly coordinated. Troops were brought into Moscow, but they were not given clear orders, the reason for their presence was not explained, and they were not given ammunition. At the same time, the Armed Forces of the RSFSR began to reassign the army, but no one opposed this. The senior command staff and commanders of military units began to change their oath, recognizing B.N. Yeltsin as commander in chief. The supplies and activities of the government of the RSFSR continued. The commission mobilized the army, but did not dare to introduce into Moscow units loyal to the oath and formations based on military schools that supported the State Emergency Committee. Mass rallies began in Moscow and Leningrad. Barricades were spontaneously built. Free food, alcohol, and water were brought into improvised gathering places for opposition youth and townspeople.

On August 20, B.N. Yeltsin issued a Decree banning the activities of the CPSU. The Plenum scheduled for August 20-21 never took place.

By August 21, the opposition took the initiative into their own hands. On the night of 21–22, the President of the USSR returned to Moscow. On August 23, at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, M.S. Gorbachev confirmed the legality of all the Decrees of B.N. Yeltsin.

By August 26, all members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested and the party buildings were taken away. Mirshal Akhromeev, manager. affairs of the CPSU Central Committee Kruchin, min. ext. Del Pugo committed suicide. Yazov refused pardon and sought a trial. The court recognized the actions of the members of the State Emergency Committee as legal, and justified the actions of the members of the State Emergency Committee.

On September 2, M.S. Gorbachev announced the preparation of a new union treaty designed to create a Union of Sovereign States on a confederal basis. On these same days, the last Congress of the People took place. deputies of the USSR. A program for a new state system for the transition period was adopted and the State Council was created.

The first decision of the State. The Council recognized the independence of the Baltic republics. In August-September, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia and Turkmenistan declared independence. And on November 25, members of the State Council refused to sign the agreement written with their participation.

On December 1, Ukraine declared its complete independence, and 2 days later it was recognized by the RSFSR as an independent state. And already on December 8, in conditions of secrecy at the Belovezhskaya Pushcha dacha, the collapse of the USSR was recognized and an agreement on the creation of the CIS was signed. Within a few days, despite the statement of M.S. Gorbachev, the decisions of the Belovezhskaya Agreement were ratified by the Supreme Council of the republics. For some time Nazarbayev spoke out against the collapse of the USSR. On December 25, M.S. Gorbachev announced his resignation as President of the USSR. B.N. Yeltsin terminated the powers of deputies of the USSR Supreme Council, and the Russian flag was raised over the Kremlin.

The collapse of the Soviet system occurred later, in 1993, during the confrontation between the President of Russia and the Armed Forces of the RSFSR. The court found B.N. Yeltsin's actions illegal. However, the President won the political confrontation. The new constitution of the RSFSR created new authorities, completely eliminating the Soviet form of democracy.

Foreign policy of the USSR in the mid-60s - early 90s of the XX century.

Social countries Commonwealth.

After the dismissal of N.S. Khrushchov, the new government began a course to eliminate the problems that arose during the previous period of government. It was necessary to normalize relations with Romania and China, restore relations with the United States and with the countries of the “third world”. It was necessary to cope with the threat of the collapse of the socialist camp.

The most important events of this period were

1) entry of ATS troops into Czechoslavakia (1968);

2) military clash with China on the island. Damansky (1969);

3) participation in military conflicts in Vietnam (60s), India, the Middle East, Lebanon and Syria (70s), Egypt (1948-1949, 60s);

4) participation in the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1973-1975);

5) expansion of the CMEA at the expense of Vietnam and Cuba, agreements were concluded with Yugoslavia, Finland, Iran, Mexico, Nicaragua

6) signing of the ABM treaties, SALT 1 and SALT 2 (1972) with the United States;

7) participation in Polish politics. the crisis of the first half of the 80s (general V. Jaruzelski);

After a two-week standoff in the center of Moscow, the Congress and the Supreme Soviet were dispersed by troops using weapons and armored vehicles.

On December 12, 1993, a new one, which also abolished the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, replacing these bodies.

Powers of the Congress

The Constitution of the RSFSR (Russian Federation) assigned to the Congress the right to resolve any issue within the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation (Article 104, Part 2). The exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress of People's Deputies included:

Adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, introduction of amendments and additions to it; - determination of the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian Federation; - ratification and denunciation of international treaties entailing changes and additions to the Constitution of the Russian Federation; - making decisions on issues of national government structure within the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation; - determination of the procedure for resolving issues of the administrative-territorial structure of the Russian Federation; - resolving issues regarding changes in the borders of the Russian Federation; - approval of long-term state plans and the most important republican programs for the economic and social development of the Russian Federation, its military construction; - formation of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation; - election of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation; - election of the first deputy and three deputy chairmen of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation; - approval of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation; - approval of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation; - election of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; - making a decision on the removal of the President of the Russian Federation from office; - repeal of acts adopted by the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, as well as decrees and orders of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation adopted laws of the Russian Federation and resolutions by a majority vote of the total number of people's deputies of the Russian Federation, except for cases when otherwise established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Resolutions of the Congress of People's Deputies, adopted by a simple majority of votes, had supreme legal force in relation to laws adopted by the Supreme Council, and often redistributed the powers of government bodies in derogation from the norms of the Constitution adopted by a two-thirds vote.

The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation decided to hold a national vote (referendum).

Meetings of the Congress of People's Deputies were, as a rule, chaired by the Chairman of the Supreme Council. The activities of the Congress were regulated by temporary regulations; there were no permanent ones.

According to the Constitution, meetings of the Congress were to be held annually, but in fact they were held 2-3 times a year. A total of 10 congresses were held (I-II - 1990, III-V - 1991, VI-VII - 1992, VIII-X - 1993).

A total of 1,068 people's deputies of the RSFSR were elected to the congress:

By the beginning of the First Congress, 1059 deputies were elected. The number of deputies by September 21, 1993 was 1037, by October 4, 1993 - 938.

Story

1989
- October 29 - The Supreme Council of the RSFSR adopted amendments to the Constitution of the RSFSR, which established the Congress of People's Deputies.
1990
1991
- March 17 - at an all-Russian referendum, a decision was made to introduce the post of President of the RSFSR, elected by popular vote (for - 54% of the total number of voters).
- March 28 - April 5 - III (extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR.
- May 21 - 25 - IV Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR.
- June 12 - B. N. Yeltsin was elected the first president of the RSFSR in the popular elections (57% in the first round). He ran in the elections together with vice-presidential candidate A.V. Rutsky.
- July 10 - Yeltsin took office as president.
- July 10 - 17 - V (extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies. Based on the results of six rounds of elections for the new chairman of the Supreme Council (the main candidates are S. N. Baburin, R. I. Khasbulatov, S. M. Shakhrai, V. P. Lukin), the chairman was not elected. The first deputy chairman of the Supreme Council, Khasbulatov, becomes the acting chairman of the Supreme Council.
- August 19 - 21 - putsch of the State Emergency Committee.
- October 28 - November 2 - V (extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies (stage 2).
- October 29 - Khasbulatov was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council.
- November 1 - The Congress grants President Yeltsin additional powers for a period of 13 months and allows him to personally head the government.
- December 12 - The Supreme Council ratified the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR.
- December 25 - The Supreme Council adopted a law renaming the RSFSR into Russian Federation (Russia).
1992
- April 6 - 21 - VI Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR.
- December 1 - 14 - VII Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation.
- In response to the refusal to extend the additional powers of the president and to approve the appointment of E. T. Gaidar as chairman of the government, President Yeltsin for the first time threatens the Congress with a nationwide referendum on the issue of confidence. As a result of a compromise reached through the mediation of the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, the Congress appoints a referendum on April 11, 1993 on the main provisions of the new Constitution and freezes part of the newly adopted amendments to the Constitution that limit the powers of the president. V. S. Chernomyrdin is elected Chairman of the Government. A constitutional crisis begins, which lasted until the end of 1993.
1993
- March 10 - 13 - VIII (extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. The Congress enacts amendments to the Constitution in full and cancels the referendum. Chairman of the Supreme Council Ruslan Khasbulatov characterizes the December compromise with the words “ the devil confused».
- March 20 - Yeltsin announces the introduction of a “special order of governing the country” and the appointment of a referendum on self-confidence, declaring that he will interpret this as a lack of confidence in the Congress.
- March 26 - 29 - IX (extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. Voting on the issue of removing President Yeltsin from office, the congress does not gain the required majority of 2/3 votes (for - 617 out of 1033 votes, 60%). After this, the congress calls a referendum on 4 issues: on confidence in the president, his economic policy, on early elections of the president and people's deputies.
- April 25 - in the referendum on all four questions, more votes were cast “for” than “against”, but less than half of the total number of voters. Decisions were made to trust the president (59%) and approve his economic policy (53%), requiring a majority of the participants. No decisions have been made on early elections of the president (32%) and deputies (43%) requiring a majority from the list.
- June 5 - The Constitutional Conference begins its work - a body formed by presidential decree to develop the text of the new Constitution.
- September 18 - the leaders of the executive and legislative branches of the constituent entities of the Federation, convened by the president, refuse to proclaim themselves the Federation Council and assume the powers of the upper house of the new parliament.
- September 21 - President Yeltsin issues decree No. 1400 “On step-by-step constitutional reform in the Russian Federation,” ordering the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Council to cease their activities, approves the “Regulations on federal authorities in the transition period” and schedules elections for December 12 by decree a new parliament - the Federal Assembly. The Presidium of the Supreme Council notes the automatic termination of Yeltsin's presidential powers due to a violation of the Constitution. On the same day, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognizes Decree No. 1400 as contrary to the Constitution.
- September 22 - The Supreme Council adopts a resolution on the termination of the powers of President Yeltsin from the moment of the publication of Decree No. 1400 and their transfer to Vice President Rutskoi, announces the convening of the X Extraordinary (Extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies.
- On September 24, the Congress of People's Deputies, upon reaching the required quorum, approves the resolution of the Supreme Council to terminate the presidential powers of Boris Yeltsin and transfer them to Vice President Alexander Rutskoy, and qualifies Yeltsin's actions as a coup d'etat. Alexander Rutskoi takes the presidential oath. The congress decides to hold simultaneous early elections of the president and people's deputies no later than March 1994, approves alternative ministers of defense, security and internal affairs, and turns into the headquarters of the resistance. The approaches to the House of Soviets of Russia are blocked by the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
- On October 3, demonstrators gathered near the building break through the blockade from the outside, after which armed supporters of the Supreme Council storm the Moscow City Hall building on Novy Arbat and try to seize the Ostankino television center. Boris Yeltsin signs a decree introducing a state of emergency in Moscow.
- On October 4, troops brought into the center of Moscow subject the House of Soviets to shelling from tank guns and storm the building, which, coupled with the lack of coordination between the troops, leads to numerous casualties. Rutskoy, Khasbulatov and a number of other leaders of the Supreme Council were detained and placed in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center (see Events of September - October 1993 in Moscow.
- The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation was finally abolished due to the adoption on December 12 of the new Constitution of the Russian Federation, which also abolished the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, replacing these bodies with the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

Deputy groups, factions and blocs

At the First Congress of People's Deputies (May 1990), groups of at least 50 deputies were subject to registration (groups created to protect the national interests of small peoples were subject to registration regardless of their size). By May 25, 24 deputy groups numbering from 51 to 355 deputies had registered, mostly of a professional and regional nature, with membership in several groups allowed. The most numerous blocs were “Democratic Russia” (about 300 deputies) and “Communists of Russia” (355).

The fundamental decision to create a system of factions without dual membership was made by the IV Congress (May 1991). The faction had to consist of at least 50 deputies, and the bloc had to include at least three factions.

People's Deputy, member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the first convocation Artyom Tarasov in his book “Millionaire” described what happened at the congress:

The first Congress of People's Deputies of Russia, held in the Kremlin, was an absolutely uncontrollable mass of motley people. The deputies tried to get to the podium at any cost, while they did not listen to the speakers at all: everyone shouted, waved their hands and shouted some slogans and calls directly from the hall.

II Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR (Extraordinary)

Factions

Food and health: 216 MPs
Communists of Russia: 215 deputies
Democratic Center - Russia: 87 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia: 66 deputies
Non-party deputies: 59 deputies
Left center: 57 deputies
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR: 54 deputies
Organizers of the national economy: 52 deputies
Russian Union: 52 deputies
Shift: 51 deputies

Deputy groups

Group from the autonomous republics and autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 139 deputies

The Congress adopted amendments to the Constitution of the RSFSR, including: giving constitutional status to the Declaration of State Sovereignty, introducing private property in the RSFSR, establishing a Constitutional Court (elected in 1991), de-ideologizing the articles of the Constitution on the political rights of citizens.

III Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR (Extraordinary)

Factions

Communists of Russia: 216 deputies
Food and health: 215 MPs
Democratic Russia: 205 deputies
Organizers of the national economy: 158 deputies
Communists for Democracy: 103 deputies
Russia: 102 deputies
Left center: 80 deputies
Non-party deputies: 61 deputies
Radical Democrats: 54 MPs
Russian Union: 51 deputies
Shift: 51 deputies

Deputy groups

Group from the autonomous republics and autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 83 deputies

IV Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR

Factions

Communists of Russia: 205 deputies
Food and health: 205 MPs
Fatherland: 140 deputies
Communists for Democracy: 100 deputies
Russia: 96 deputies
Left center: 80 deputies
Democratic Russia: 69 deputies
Organizers of the national economy: 67 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia: 64 deputies
Shift: 55 deputies
Non-party deputies: 54 deputies
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR: 53 deputies
Russian Union: 52 deputies

Deputy groups

Group from the republics and autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 143 deputies

The Congress adopted amendments to the Constitution of the RSFSR:

establishment of the post of President of the RSFSR according to the results of the All-Russian referendum;
renaming the autonomous Soviet socialist republics into Soviet socialist republics within the RSFSR (this renaming was not consistent with Article 85 of the USSR Constitution).

V Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR (Extraordinary)

The congress took place in two stages:

Agrarian Union of Russia: 113 deputies
Communists for Democracy: 96 deputies
Russia: 74 deputies
Fatherland: 70 deputies
Democratic Russia: 69 deputies
Left center: 65 deputies
Radical Democrats: 55 MPs
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR: 52 deputies
Russian Union: 51 deputies
Shift: 51 deputies

Deputy groups

Group from the republics and autonomous regions of the RSFSR: 50 deputies

Stage 2 (October 28 - November 2): Factions

Communists of Russia: 198 deputies
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR - Left Center: 117 deputies
Agrarian Union of Russia: 111 deputies
Free Russia: 96 deputies
Russia: 74 deputies
Fatherland: 70 deputies
Democratic Russia: 69 deputies
Industrial Union: 67 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia: 62 deputies
Non-party deputies: 55 deputies
Radical Democrats: 55 MPs
Russian Union: 51 deputies
Shift: 51 deputies

Deputy groups

At the first stage, the Congress took the oath of President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin and unsuccessfully tried to elect a new chairman of the Supreme Council. First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council R.I. Khasbulatov was appointed acting Chairman of the Supreme Council.

In the fall, the Congress elected a new chairman of the Supreme Council, R.I. Khasbulatov, and made a number of changes to the Constitution (including the installation of a tricolor state flag of the RSFSR).

The congress granted President Yeltsin additional powers for a period of 13 months and allowed him to personally head the government.

VI Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR

Factions

Agrarian Union of Russia: 121 deputies
Industrial Union: 73 deputies
Democratic Russia: 72 deputies
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR - Left Center: 69 deputies
Free Russia: 66 deputies
Communists of Russia: 59 deputies
Fatherland: 54 deputies
Russia: 54 deputies
Civil society: 52 deputies
Radical Democrats: 48 MPs
Non-party deputies: 43 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia - reforms without shock: 41 deputies
Russian Union: 19 deputies

Deputy groups

Sovereignty and equality: 56 deputies

The congress made an unsatisfactory assessment of the work of Gaidar's government and granted additional powers to President Yeltsin. The Congress refused to ratify the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR and to exclude references to the Constitution and laws of the USSR from the text of the Constitution of the RSFSR.

Amendments were made to the Constitution to change the name of the state “Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR)” to the name “Russian Federation - Russia”. An amendment was made to the Constitution, transforming the Adygei, Gorno-Altai, Karachay-Cherkess and Khakass Autonomous Regions into republics within the Russian Federation (RSFSR). An amendment was also made that renamed a number of regions: Leningrad was renamed St. Petersburg, Gorky region - Nizhny Novgorod, Kalinin - Tver, Kuibyshev - Samara.

VII Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation

Factions

Agrarian Union of Russia: 148 deputies
Communists of Russia: 80 deputies
Democratic Russia: 75 deputies
Free Russia: 58 deputies
Fatherland: 54 deputies
Industrial Union: 54 deputies
Left Center - Cooperation: 53 deputies (created 12/14/1992 during the congress)
United faction of the RPRF-SDPR - Left Center: 53 deputies (dissolved on December 14, 1992 during the congress)
Change - new politics: 53 deputies
Workers' Union of Russia - reforms without shock: 52 deputies
Homeland: 52 deputies
Consent for progress: 51 deputies
Radical Democrats: 50 deputies
Cooperation: 50 deputies (dissolved on 12/14/1992 during the congress)
Russia: 46 deputies
Non-party deputies: 36 deputies (dissolved on 12/14/1992 during the congress)
Civil society: 28 deputies (dissolved on 12/14/1992 during the congress)

Deputy groups

Sovereignty and equality: 50 deputies

On March 9, 1994, the head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation S. A. Filatov approved a list of 151 deputies who participated in the work of parliament until October 3, 1993 and were deprived of presidential social benefits for this (on April 22, 1994, by presidential decree, benefits were extended to all deputies - thus, the “black list” was cancelled).

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Notes

Until May 16, 1992 - Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR. The Supreme Council of the RSFSR adopted the RSFSR Law of December 25, 1991 No. 2094-I “On changing the name of the state “Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic””. The Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR on April 21, 1992 approved the renaming of the RSFSR into the Russian Federation, amending the Constitution of the RSFSR (Law of the Russian Federation of April 21, 1992 No. 2708-I “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic." This law came into force upon publication in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta on May 16, 1992).
Until May 16, 1992 - Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). See Law of the Russian Federation of April 21, 1992 No. 2708-I “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic”). This law came into force upon publication in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta on May 16, 1992.
Art. 107 of the Constitution (Basic Law) of the RSFSR 1978 as amended on October 27, 1989
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//
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On December 25, 1991, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR adopted the RSFSR Law No. 2094-I “On changing the name of the state “Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic””. On April 21, 1992, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR approved the renaming of the RSFSR into the Russian Federation, amending the Constitution of the RSFSR (Law of the Russian Federation of April 21, 1992 No. 2708-I “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic." This law came into force upon publication in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta on May 16, 1992).
// “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, No. 184(800), September 23, 1993, p.2
// “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, No. 184(800), September 23, 1993, p.2
// “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, No. 184(800), September 23, 1993, p.2
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People's Deputy of the RSFSR, member of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation Ilya Konstantinov about the events of October 1993
// “Soviet Russia”, December 16, 2010

Literature

People's Deputies of Russia. 1990-1993. - M.: Publication of the State Duma, 1998.
Chairman of the Editorial Board Baburin S.N. Tenth (Extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. September 23 - October 4, 1993. Verbatim report. - M.: Russian State Trade and Economic University, 2008. - ISBN 5-878-335-1.

An excerpt characterizing the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia

“But I just want to tell you, in order to avoid misunderstandings, that you will be very mistaken if you count me and my mother among these people.” We are very poor, but I, at least, speak for myself: precisely because your father is rich, I do not consider myself his relative, and neither I nor my mother will ever ask or accept anything from him.
Pierre could not understand for a long time, but when he understood, he jumped up from the sofa, grabbed Boris’s hand from below with his characteristic speed and awkwardness and, flushed much more than Boris, began to speak with a mixed feeling of shame and annoyance.
- This is strange! I really... and who could have thought... I know very well...
But Boris interrupted him again:
“I’m glad I expressed everything.” Maybe it’s unpleasant for you, excuse me,” he said, reassuring Pierre, instead of being reassured by him, “but I hope I didn’t offend you.” I have a rule of saying everything directly... How can I convey it? Will you come to dinner with the Rostovs?
And Boris, apparently having relieved himself of a heavy duty, getting out of an awkward situation himself and putting someone else in it, became completely pleasant again.
“No, listen,” Pierre said, calming down. – You are an amazing person. What you just said is very good, very good. Of course you don't know me. We haven’t seen each other for so long... since we were children... You can assume in me... I understand you, I understand you very much. I wouldn't do it, I wouldn't have the guts, but it's wonderful. I am very glad that I met you. It’s strange,” he added, after a pause and smiling, “what you assumed in me!” - He laughed. - Well, so what? We'll get to know you better. Please. – He shook hands with Boris. – You know, I have never been to the count. He didn’t call me... I feel sorry for him as a person... But what to do?
– And you think that Napoleon will have time to transport the army? – Boris asked, smiling.
Pierre realized that Boris wanted to change the conversation, and, agreeing with him, began to outline the advantages and disadvantages of the Boulogne enterprise.
The footman came to summon Boris to the princess. The princess was leaving. Pierre promised to come for dinner in order to get closer to Boris, firmly shook his hand, looking affectionately into his eyes through his glasses... After he left, Pierre walked around the room for a long time, no longer piercing the invisible enemy with his sword, but smiling at the memory of this dear, smart and strong young man.
As happens in early youth and especially in a lonely situation, he felt an unreasonable tenderness for this young man and promised himself to make friends with him.
Prince Vasily saw off the princess. The princess held a handkerchief to her eyes, and her face was in tears.
- It's horrible! terrible! - she said, - but no matter what it costs me, I will do my duty. I'll come over for the night. He can't be left like that. Every minute is precious. I don’t understand why the princesses are delaying. Maybe God will help me find a way to prepare it!... Adieu, mon prince, que le bon Dieu vous soutienne... [Farewell, prince, may God support you.]
“Adieu, ma bonne, [Farewell, my dear,” answered Prince Vasily, turning away from her.
“Oh, he’s in a terrible situation,” the mother said to her son as they got back into the carriage. “He hardly recognizes anyone.”
“I don’t understand, mamma, what is his relationship with Pierre?” - asked the son.
“The will will say everything, my friend; Our fate depends on him...
- But why do you think that he will leave anything to us?
- Ah, my friend! He is so rich and we are so poor!
“Well, that’s not a good enough reason, mummy.”
- Oh my god! My God! How bad he is! - exclaimed the mother.

When Anna Mikhailovna left with her son to visit Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhy, Countess Rostova sat alone for a long time, putting a handkerchief to her eyes. Finally, she called.
“What are you talking about, dear,” she said angrily to the girl, who made herself wait for several minutes. – Don’t you want to serve, or what? So I'll find a place for you.
The Countess was upset by the grief and humiliating poverty of her friend and therefore was out of sorts, which she always expressed by calling the maid “dear” and “you.”
“It’s your fault,” said the maid.
- Ask the Count to come to me.
The Count, waddled, approached his wife with a somewhat guilty look, as always.
- Well, countess! What a saute au madere [sauté in Madeira] will be from hazel grouse, ma chere! I tried; It’s not for nothing that I gave a thousand rubles for Taraska. Costs!
He sat down next to his wife, resting his arms bravely on his knees and ruffling his gray hair.
- What do you order, Countess?
- So, my friend, what is it that you have dirty here? - she said, pointing to the vest. “It’s sote, that’s right,” she added, smiling. - That's it, Count: I need money.
Her face became sad.
- Oh, Countess!...
And the count began to fuss, taking out his wallet.
“I need a lot, Count, I need five hundred rubles.”
And she, taking out a cambric handkerchief, rubbed her husband’s vest with it.
- Now. Hey, who's there? - he shouted in a voice that only people shout when they are sure that those they are calling will rush headlong to their call. - Send Mitenka to me!
Mitenka, that noble son raised by the count, who was now in charge of all his affairs, entered the room with quiet steps.
“That’s it, my dear,” said the count to the respectful young man who entered. “Bring me…” he thought. - Yes, 700 rubles, yes. But look, don’t bring anything torn and dirty like that time, but good ones for the countess.
“Yes, Mitenka, please, keep them clean,” said the countess, sighing sadly.
- Your Excellency, when will you order it to be delivered? - said Mitenka. “If you please know that... However, please don’t worry,” he added, noticing how the count had already begun to breathe heavily and quickly, which was always a sign of beginning anger. - I forgot... Will you order it to be delivered this minute?
- Yes, yes, then, bring it. Give it to the Countess.
“This Mitenka is such gold,” the count added, smiling, when the young man left. - No, it’s not possible. I can't stand this. Everything is possible.
- Oh, money, count, money, how much grief it causes in the world! - said the countess. - And I really need this money.
“You, countess, are a well-known reel,” said the count and, kissing his wife’s hand, he went back into the office.
When Anna Mikhailovna returned again from Bezukhoy, the countess already had money, all in brand new pieces of paper, under a scarf on the table, and Anna Mikhailovna noticed that the countess was disturbed by something.
- Well, what, my friend? – asked the Countess.
- Oh, what a terrible situation he is in! It is impossible to recognize him, he is so bad, so bad; I stayed for a minute and didn’t say two words...
“Annette, for God’s sake, don’t refuse me,” the countess suddenly said, blushing, which was so strange considering her middle-aged, thin and important face, taking money out from under her scarf.
Anna Mikhailovna instantly understood what was happening, and already bent down to deftly hug the countess at the right moment.
- Here's to Boris from me, to sew a uniform...
Anna Mikhailovna was already hugging her and crying. The Countess cried too. They cried that they were friends; and that they are good; and that they, friends of youth, are busy with such a low subject - money; and that their youth had passed... But the tears of both were pleasant...

Countess Rostova with her daughters and already a large number of guests was sitting in the living room. The Count led the male guests into his office, offering them his hunting collection of Turkish pipes. Occasionally he would go out and ask: has she arrived? They were waiting for Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, nicknamed in society le terrible dragon, [a terrible dragon,] a lady famous not for wealth, not for honors, but for her directness of mind and frank simplicity of manner. Marya Dmitrievna was known by the royal family, all of Moscow and all of St. Petersburg knew her, and both cities, surprised by her, secretly laughed at her rudeness and told jokes about her; nevertheless, everyone without exception respected and feared her.
In the office, full of smoke, there was a conversation about the war, which was declared by the manifesto, about recruitment. No one had read the manifesto yet, but everyone knew about its appearance. The Count was sitting on an ottoman between two neighbors who were smoking and talking. The count himself did not smoke or speak, but tilting his head, now to one side, now to the other, looked with visible pleasure at those smoking and listened to the conversation of his two neighbors, whom he pitted against each other.
One of the speakers was a civilian, with a wrinkled, bilious and shaved thin face, a man already approaching old age, although dressed like the most fashionable young man; he sat with his feet on the ottoman with the air of a domestic man and, throwing amber far into his mouth from the side, impulsively inhaled the smoke and squinted. It was the old bachelor Shinshin, the countess's cousin, an evil tongue, as they said about him in Moscow drawing rooms. He seemed to condescend to his interlocutor. Another, fresh, pink, guards officer, impeccably washed, buttoned up and combed, held amber in the middle of his mouth and lightly pulled out smoke with his pink lips, releasing it in ringlets from his beautiful mouth. This was Lieutenant Berg, an officer of the Semenovsky regiment, with whom Boris rode together in the regiment and with whom Natasha teased Vera, the senior countess, calling Berg her fiancé. The Count sat between them and listened attentively. The most enjoyable activity for the Count, with the exception of the game of Boston, which he loved very much, was the position of listening, especially when he managed to pit two talkative interlocutors against each other.
“Well, of course, father, mon tres honorable [most venerable] Alfons Karlych,” said Shinshin, laughing and combining (which was the peculiarity of his speech) the most popular Russian expressions with refined French phrases. - Vous comptez vous faire des rentes sur l "etat, [You expect to have income from the treasury,] do you want to receive income from the company?
- No, Pyotr Nikolaich, I just want to show that cavalry has much less benefits against infantry. Now figure out, Pyotr Nikolaich, my situation...
Berg always spoke very precisely, calmly and courteously. His conversation always concerned himself alone; he always remained calmly silent while they were talking about something that had nothing directly to do with him. And he could remain silent in this way for several hours without experiencing or causing the slightest confusion in others. But as soon as the conversation concerned him personally, he began to speak at length and with visible pleasure.
- Consider my position, Pyotr Nikolaich: if I were in the cavalry, I would receive no more than two hundred rubles a third, even with the rank of lieutenant; and now I get two hundred and thirty,” he said with a joyful, pleasant smile, looking at Shinshin and the count, as if it was obvious to him that his success would always be the main goal of the desires of all other people.
“Besides, Pyotr Nikolaich, having joined the guard, I am visible,” Berg continued, “and vacancies in the guards infantry are much more frequent.” Then, figure out for yourself how I could make a living out of two hundred and thirty rubles. “And I’m putting it aside and sending it to my father,” he continued, starting the ring.
“La balance y est... [The balance is established...] A German is threshing a loaf of bread on the butt, comme dit le proverbe, [as the proverb says],” Shinshin said, shifting the amber to the other side of his mouth and winked at the count.
The Count burst out laughing. Other guests, seeing that Shinshin was talking, came up to listen. Berg, not noticing either ridicule or indifference, continued to talk about how by transferring to the guard he had already won a rank in front of his comrades in the corps, how in wartime a company commander can be killed, and he, remaining senior in the company, can very easily be company commander, and how everyone in the regiment loves him, and how his daddy is pleased with him. Berg apparently enjoyed telling all this, and did not seem to suspect that other people might also have their own interests. But everything he told was so sweetly sedate, the naivety of his young egoism was so obvious that he disarmed his listeners.
- Well, father, you will be in action in both the infantry and the cavalry; “This is what I predict for you,” said Shinshin, patting him on the shoulder and lowering his legs from the ottoman.
Berg smiled happily. The Count, followed by the guests, went into the living room.

There was that time before a dinner party when the assembled guests do not begin a long conversation in anticipation of the call for appetizers, but at the same time consider it necessary to move and not remain silent in order to show that they are not at all impatient to sit down at the table. The owners glance at the door and occasionally glance at each other. From these glances, guests try to guess who or what else they are waiting for: an important relative who is late, or food that is not yet ripe.
Pierre arrived just before dinner and sat awkwardly in the middle of the living room on the first available chair, blocking everyone's path. The Countess wanted to force him to speak, but he naively looked through his glasses around him, as if looking for someone, and answered all the Countess’s questions in monosyllables. He was shy and alone did not notice it. Most of the guests, who knew his story with the bear, looked curiously at this big, fat and humble man, wondering how such a hulk and modest man could do such a thing to a policeman.
-Have you arrived recently? - the countess asked him.
“Oui, madame,” he answered, looking around.
-Have you seen my husband?
- Non, madame. [No, madam.] - He smiled completely inappropriately.
– You, it seems, were recently in Paris? I think it's very interesting.
- Very interesting..
The Countess exchanged glances with Anna Mikhailovna. Anna Mikhailovna realized that she was being asked to occupy this young man, and, sitting down next to him, began to talk about her father; but just like the countess, he answered her only in monosyllables. The guests were all busy with each other. Les Razoumovsky... ca a ete charmant... Vous etes bien bonne... La comtesse Apraksine... [The Razoumovskys... It was amazing... You are very kind... Countess Apraksina...] was heard from all sides. The Countess got up and went into the hall.
- Marya Dmitrievna? – her voice was heard from the hall.
“She’s the one,” a rough female voice was heard in response, and after that Marya Dmitrievna entered the room.
All the young ladies and even the ladies, with the exception of the oldest ones, stood up. Marya Dmitrievna stopped at the door and, from the height of her corpulent body, holding high her fifty-year-old head with gray curls, looked around at the guests and, as if rolling up, slowly straightened the wide sleeves of her dress. Marya Dmitrievna always spoke Russian.
“Dear birthday girl with the children,” she said in her loud, thick voice, suppressing all other sounds. “What, you old sinner,” she turned to the count, who was kissing her hand, “tea, are you bored in Moscow?” Is there anywhere to run the dogs? What should we do, father, this is how these birds will grow up...” She pointed to the girls. - Whether you want it or not, you have to look for suitors.
- Well, what, my Cossack? (Marya Dmitrievna called Natasha a Cossack) - she said, caressing Natasha with her hand, who approached her hand without fear and cheerfully. – I know that the potion is a girl, but I love her.
She took out pear-shaped yakhon earrings from her huge reticule and, giving them to Natasha, who was beaming and blushing for her birthday, immediately turned away from her and turned to Pierre.
- Eh, eh! kind! “Come here,” she said in a feignedly quiet and thin voice. - Come on, my dear...
And she menacingly rolled up her sleeves even higher.
Pierre approached, naively looking at her through his glasses.
- Come, come, my dear! I was the only one who told your father the truth when he had a chance, but God commands it to you.
She paused. Everyone was silent, waiting for what would happen, and feeling that there was only a preface.
- Good, nothing to say! good boy!... The father is lying on his bed, and he is amusing himself, putting the policeman on a bear. It's a shame, father, it's a shame! It would be better to go to war.
She turned away and offered her hand to the count, who could hardly restrain himself from laughing.
- Well, come to the table, I have tea, is it time? - said Marya Dmitrievna.
The count walked ahead with Marya Dmitrievna; then the countess, who was led by a hussar colonel, the right person with whom Nikolai was supposed to catch up with the regiment. Anna Mikhailovna - with Shinshin. Berg shook hands with Vera. A smiling Julie Karagina went with Nikolai to the table. Behind them came other couples, stretching across the entire hall, and behind them, one by one, were children, tutors and governesses. The waiters began to stir, the chairs rattled, music began to play in the choir, and the guests took their seats. The sounds of the count's home music were replaced by the sounds of knives and forks, the chatter of guests, and the quiet steps of waiters.
At one end of the table the Countess sat at the head. On the right is Marya Dmitrievna, on the left is Anna Mikhailovna and other guests. At the other end sat the count, on the left the hussar colonel, on the right Shinshin and other male guests. On one side of the long table are older young people: Vera next to Berg, Pierre next to Boris; on the other hand - children, tutors and governesses. From behind the crystal, bottles and vases of fruit, the Count looked at his wife and her tall cap with blue ribbons and diligently poured wine for his neighbors, not forgetting himself. The countess also, from behind the pineapples, not forgetting her duties as a housewife, cast significant glances at her husband, whose bald head and face, it seemed to her, were more sharply different from his gray hair in their redness. There was a steady babble on the ladies' end; in the men's room, voices were heard louder and louder, especially the hussar colonel, who ate and drank so much, blushing more and more, that the count was already setting him up as an example to the other guests. Berg, with a gentle smile, spoke to Vera that love is not an earthly, but a heavenly feeling. Boris named his new friend Pierre the guests at the table and exchanged glances with Natasha, who was sitting opposite him. Pierre spoke little, looked at new faces and ate a lot. Starting from two soups, from which he chose a la tortue, [turtle,] and kulebyaki and to hazel grouse, he did not miss a single dish and not a single wine, which the butler mysteriously stuck out in a bottle wrapped in a napkin from behind his neighbor’s shoulder, saying or “drey Madeira", or "Hungarian", or "Rhine wine". He placed the first of the four crystal glasses with the count's monogram that stood in front of each device, and drank with pleasure, looking at the guests with an increasingly pleasant expression. Natasha, sitting opposite him, looked at Boris the way thirteen-year-old girls look at a boy with whom they had just kissed for the first time and with whom they are in love. This same look of hers sometimes turned to Pierre, and under the gaze of this funny, lively girl he wanted to laugh himself, not knowing why.
Nikolai sat far from Sonya, next to Julie Karagina, and again with the same involuntary smile he spoke to her. Sonya smiled grandly, but apparently was tormented by jealousy: she turned pale, then blushed and listened with all her might to what Nikolai and Julie were saying to each other. The governess looked around restlessly, as if preparing to fight back if anyone decided to offend the children. The German tutor tried to memorize all kinds of dishes, desserts and wines in order to describe everything in detail in a letter to his family in Germany, and was very offended by the fact that the butler, with a bottle wrapped in a napkin, carried him around. The German frowned, tried to show that he did not want to receive this wine, but was offended because no one wanted to understand that he needed the wine not to quench his thirst, not out of greed, but out of conscientious curiosity.

At the male end of the table the conversation became more and more animated. The colonel said that the manifesto declaring war had already been published in St. Petersburg and that the copy that he himself had seen had now been delivered by courier to the commander-in-chief.
- And why is it difficult for us to fight Bonaparte? - said Shinshin. – II a deja rabattu le caquet a l "Autriche. Je crins, que cette fois ce ne soit notre tour. [He has already knocked down the arrogance of Austria. I am afraid that our turn would not come now.]
The colonel was a stocky, tall and sanguine German, obviously a servant and a patriot. He was offended by Shinshin's words.
“And then, we are a good sovereign,” he said, pronouncing e instead of e and ъ instead of ь. “Then that the emperor knows this. He said in his manifesto that he can look indifferently at the dangers threatening Russia, and that the safety of the empire, its dignity and the sanctity of its alliances,” he said, for some reason especially emphasizing the word “unions”, as if this was the whole essence of the matter.
And with his characteristic infallible, official memory, he repeated the opening words of the manifesto... “and the desire, the sole and indispensable goal of the sovereign: to establish peace in Europe on solid foundations - they decided to now send part of the army abroad and make new efforts to achieve this intention “.
“That’s why, we are a good sovereign,” he concluded, edifyingly drinking a glass of wine and looking back at the count for encouragement.
– Connaissez vous le proverbe: [You know the proverb:] “Erema, Erema, you should sit at home, sharpen your spindles,” said Shinshin, wincing and smiling. – Cela nous convient a merveille. [This comes in handy for us.] Why Suvorov - they chopped him up, a plate couture, [on his head,] and where are our Suvorovs now? Je vous demande un peu, [I ask you,] - he said, constantly jumping from Russian to French.
“We must fight until the last drop of blood,” said the colonel, hitting the table, “and die for our emperor, and then everything will be fine.” And to argue as much as possible (he especially drew out his voice on the word “possible”), as little as possible,” he finished, again turning to the count. “That’s how we judge the old hussars, that’s all.” How do you judge, young man and young hussar? - he added, turning to Nikolai, who, having heard that it was about war, left his interlocutor and looked with all his eyes and listened with all his ears to the colonel.
“I completely agree with you,” answered Nikolai, all flushed, spinning the plate and rearranging the glasses with such a decisive and desperate look, as if at the moment he was exposed to great danger, “I am convinced that the Russians must die or win,” he said. feeling the same way as others, after the word had already been said, that it was too enthusiastic and pompous for the present occasion and therefore awkward.
“C"est bien beau ce que vous venez de dire, [Wonderful! What you said is wonderful],” said Julie, who was sitting next to him, sighing. Sonya trembled all over and blushed to the ears, behind the ears and to the neck and shoulders, in While Nikolai was speaking, Pierre listened to the colonel's speeches and nodded his head approvingly.
“That’s nice,” he said.
“A real hussar, young man,” shouted the colonel, hitting the table again.
-What are you making noise about there? – Marya Dmitrievna’s bass voice was suddenly heard across the table. -Why are you knocking on the table? - she turned to the hussar, - who are you getting excited about? right, you think that the French are in front of you?
“I’m telling the truth,” said the hussar, smiling.
“Everything about the war,” the count shouted across the table. - After all, my son is coming, Marya Dmitrievna, my son is coming.
- And I have four sons in the army, but I don’t bother. Everything is God’s will: you will die lying on the stove, and in battle God will have mercy,” Marya Dmitrievna’s thick voice sounded without any effort from the other end of the table.
- This is true.
And the conversation focused again - the ladies at their end of the table, the men at his.
“But you won’t ask,” said the little brother to Natasha, “but you won’t ask!”
“I’ll ask,” Natasha answered.
Her face suddenly flushed, expressing desperate and cheerful determination. She stood up, inviting Pierre, who was sitting opposite her, to listen, and turned to her mother:
- Mother! – her childish, chesty voice sounded across the table.
- What do you want? – the countess asked in fear, but, seeing from her daughter’s face that it was a prank, she sternly waved her hand, making a threatening and negative gesture with her head.
The conversation died down.
- Mother! what kind of cake will it be? – Natasha’s voice sounded even more decisively, without breaking down.
The Countess wanted to frown, but could not. Marya Dmitrievna shook her thick finger.
“Cossack,” she said threateningly.
Most of the guests looked at the elders, not knowing how to take this trick.
- Here I am! - said the countess.
- Mother! what kind of cake will there be? - Natasha shouted now boldly and capriciously cheerfully, confident in advance that her prank would be well received.
Sonya and fat Petya were hiding from laughter.
“That’s why I asked,” Natasha whispered to her little brother and Pierre, whom she looked at again.
“Ice cream, but they won’t give it to you,” said Marya Dmitrievna.
Natasha saw that there was nothing to be afraid of, and therefore she was not afraid of Marya Dmitrievna.
- Marya Dmitrievna? what ice cream! I don't like cream.
- Carrot.
- No, which one? Marya Dmitrievna, which one? – she almost shouted. - I want to know!
Marya Dmitrievna and the Countess laughed, and all the guests followed them. Everyone laughed not at Marya Dmitrievna’s answer, but at the incomprehensible courage and dexterity of this girl, who knew how and dared to treat Marya Dmitrievna like that.
Natasha fell behind only when she was told that there would be pineapple. Champagne was served before the ice cream. The music started playing again, the count kissed the countess, and the guests stood up and congratulated the countess, clinking glasses across the table with the count, the children, and each other. Waiters ran in again, chairs rattled, and in the same order, but with redder faces, the guests returned to the drawing room and the count's office.

The Boston tables were moved apart, the parties were drawn up, and the count's guests settled in two living rooms, a sofa room and a library.
The Count, fanning out his cards, could hardly resist the habit of an afternoon nap and laughed at everything. The youth, incited by the countess, gathered around the clavichord and harp. Julie was the first, at the request of everyone, to play a piece with variations on the harp and, together with other girls, began to ask Natasha and Nikolai, known for their musicality, to sing something. Natasha, who was addressed as a big girl, was apparently very proud of this, but at the same time she was timid.
- What are we going to sing? – she asked.
“The key,” answered Nikolai.
- Well, let's hurry up. Boris, come here,” Natasha said. - Where is Sonya?
She looked around and, seeing that her friend was not in the room, ran after her.
Running into Sonya’s room and not finding her friend there, Natasha ran into the nursery - and Sonya was not there. Natasha realized that Sonya was in the corridor on the chest. The chest in the corridor was the place of sorrows of the younger female generation of the Rostov house. Indeed, Sonya in her airy pink dress, crushing it, lay face down on her nanny’s dirty striped feather bed, on the chest and, covering her face with her fingers, cried bitterly, shaking her bare shoulders. Natasha's face, animated, with a birthday all day, suddenly changed: her eyes stopped, then her wide neck shuddered, the corners of her lips drooped.
- Sonya! what are you?... What, what's wrong with you? Wow wow!…
And Natasha, opening her big mouth and becoming completely stupid, began to roar like a child, not knowing the reason and only because Sonya was crying. Sonya wanted to raise her head, wanted to answer, but she couldn’t and hid even more. Natasha cried, sitting down on the blue feather bed and hugging her friend. Having gathered her strength, Sonya stood up, began to wipe away her tears and tell the story.
- Nikolenka is leaving in a week, his... paper... came out... he told me himself... Yes, I still wouldn’t cry... (she showed the piece of paper she was holding in her hand: it was poetry written by Nikolai) I still wouldn’t cry, but you didn’t you can... no one can understand... what kind of soul he has.
And she again began to cry because his soul was so good.
“You feel good... I don’t envy you... I love you, and Boris too,” she said, gathering a little strength, “he’s cute... there are no obstacles for you.” And Nikolai is my cousin... I need... the metropolitan himself... and that’s impossible. And then, if mamma... (Sonya considered the countess and called her mother), she will say that I am ruining Nikolai’s career, I have no heart, that I am ungrateful, but really... for God’s sake... (she crossed herself) I love her so much too , and all of you, only Vera... For what? What did I do to her? I am so grateful to you that I would be glad to sacrifice everything, but I have nothing...
Sonya could no longer speak and again hid her head in her hands and the feather bed. Natasha began to calm down, but her face showed that she understood the importance of her friend’s grief.
- Sonya! - she said suddenly, as if she had guessed the real reason for her cousin’s grief. – That’s right, Vera talked to you after dinner? Yes?
– Yes, Nikolai himself wrote these poems, and I copied others; She found them on my table and said that she would show them to mamma, and also said that I was ungrateful, that mamma would never allow him to marry me, and he would marry Julie. You see how he is with her all day... Natasha! For what?…
And again she cried more bitterly than before. Natasha lifted her up, hugged her and, smiling through her tears, began to calm her down.
- Sonya, don’t believe her, darling, don’t believe her. Do you remember how all three of us talked with Nikolenka in the sofa room; remember after dinner? After all, we decided everything how it would be. I don’t remember how, but you remember how everything was good and everything was possible. Uncle Shinshin’s brother is married to a cousin, and we are second cousins. And Boris said that this is very possible. You know, I told him everything. And he is so smart and so good,” Natasha said... “You, Sonya, don’t cry, my dear darling, Sonya.” - And she kissed her, laughing. - Faith is evil, God bless her! But everything will be fine, and she won’t tell mamma; Nikolenka will say it himself, and he didn’t even think about Julie.
And she kissed her on the head. Sonya stood up, and the kitten perked up, his eyes sparkled, and he seemed ready to wave his tail, jump on his soft paws and play with the ball again, as was proper for him.
- You think? Right? By God? – she said, quickly straightening her dress and hair.
- Really, by God! – Natasha answered, straightening a stray strand of coarse hair under her friend’s braid.
And they both laughed.
- Well, let's go sing "The Key."
- Let's go to.
“You know, this fat Pierre who was sitting opposite me is so funny!” – Natasha suddenly said, stopping. - I'm having a lot of fun!
And Natasha ran down the corridor.
Sonya, shaking off the fluff and hiding the poems in her bosom, to her neck with protruding chest bones, with light, cheerful steps, with a flushed face, ran after Natasha along the corridor to the sofa. At the request of the guests, the young people sang the “Key” quartet, which everyone really liked; then Nikolai sang the song he had learned again.
On a pleasant night, in the moonlight,
Imagine yourself happily
That there is still someone in the world,
Who thinks about you too!
As she, with her beautiful hand,
Walking along the golden harp,
With its passionate harmony
Calling to itself, calling you!
Another day or two, and heaven will come...
But ah! your friend won't live!
And he had not yet finished singing the last words when the young people in the hall were preparing to dance and the musicians in the choir began to knock their feet and cough.

Pierre was sitting in the living room, where Shinshin, as if with a visitor from abroad, began a political conversation with him that was boring for Pierre, to which others joined. When the music started playing, Natasha entered the living room and, going straight to Pierre, laughing and blushing, said:
- Mom told me to ask you to dance.
“I’m afraid of confusing the figures,” said Pierre, “but if you want to be my teacher...”
And he offered his thick hand, lowering it low, to the thin girl.
While the couples were settling down and the musicians were lining up, Pierre sat down with his little lady. Natasha was completely happy; she danced with a big one, with someone who came from abroad. She sat in front of everyone and talked to him like a big girl. She had a fan in her hand, which one young lady had given her to hold. And, assuming the most secular pose (God knows where and when she learned this), she, fanning herself and smiling through the fan, spoke to her gentleman.
- What is it, what is it? Look, look,” said the old countess, passing through the hall and pointing at Natasha.
Natasha blushed and laughed.
- Well, what about you, mom? Well, what kind of hunt are you looking for? What's surprising here?

In the middle of the third eco-session, the chairs in the living room, where the count and Marya Dmitrievna were playing, began to move, and most of the honored guests and old people, stretching after a long sitting and putting wallets and purses in their pockets, walked out the doors of the hall. Marya Dmitrievna walked ahead with the count - both with cheerful faces. The Count, with playful politeness, like a ballet, offered his rounded hand to Marya Dmitrievna. He straightened up, and his face lit up with a particularly brave, sly smile, and as soon as the last figure of the ecosaise was danced, he clapped his hands to the musicians and shouted to the choir, addressing the first violin:
- Semyon! Do you know Danila Kupor?
This was the count's favorite dance, danced by him in his youth. (Danilo Kupor was actually one figure of the Angles.)
“Look at dad,” Natasha shouted to the whole hall (completely forgetting that she was dancing with a big one), bending her curly head to her knees and bursting into her ringing laughter throughout the hall.
Indeed, everyone in the hall looked with a smile of joy at the cheerful old man, who, next to his dignified lady, Marya Dmitrievna, who was taller than him, rounded his arms, shaking them in time, straightened his shoulders, twisted his legs, slightly stamping his feet, and with a more and more blooming smile on his round face, he prepared the audience for what was to come. As soon as the cheerful, defiant sounds of Danila Kupor, similar to a cheerful chatterbox, were heard, all the doors of the hall were suddenly filled with men's faces on one side and women's smiling faces of servants on the other, who came out to look at the merry master.
- Father is ours! Eagle! – the nanny said loudly from one door.
The count danced well and knew it, but his lady did not know how and did not want to dance well. Her huge body stood upright with her powerful arms hanging down (she handed the reticule to the Countess); only her stern but beautiful face danced. What was expressed in the count's entire round figure, in Marya Dmitrievna was expressed only in an increasingly smiling face and a twitching nose. But if the count, becoming more and more dissatisfied, captivated the audience with the surprise of deft twists and light jumps of his soft legs, Marya Dmitrievna, with the slightest zeal in moving her shoulders or rounding her arms in turns and stamping, made no less an impression on merit, which everyone appreciated her obesity and ever-present severity. The dance became more and more animated. The counterparts could not attract attention to themselves for a minute and did not even try to do so. Everything was occupied by the count and Marya Dmitrievna. Natasha pulled the sleeves and dresses of all those present, who were already keeping their eyes on the dancers, and demanded that they look at daddy. During the intervals of the dance, the Count took a deep breath, waved and shouted to the musicians to play quickly. Quicker, quicker and quicker, faster and faster and faster, the count unfolded, now on tiptoes, now on heels, rushing around Marya Dmitrievna and, finally, turning his lady to her place, made the last step, raising his soft leg up from behind, bending his sweaty head with a smiling face and roundly waving his right hand amid the roar of applause and laughter, especially from Natasha. Both dancers stopped, panting heavily and wiping themselves with cambric handkerchiefs.
“This is how they danced in our time, ma chere,” said the count.
- Oh yes Danila Kupor! - Marya Dmitrievna said, letting out the spirit heavily and for a long time, rolling up her sleeves.

While the Rostovs were dancing the sixth anglaise in the hall to the sounds of tired musicians out of tune, and tired waiters and cooks were preparing dinner, the sixth blow struck Count Bezukhy. The doctors declared that there was no hope of recovery; the patient was given silent confession and communion; They were making preparations for the unction, and in the house there was the bustle and anxiety of expectation, common at such moments. Outside the house, behind the gates, undertakers crowded, hiding from the approaching carriages, awaiting a rich order for the count's funeral. The Commander-in-Chief of Moscow, who constantly sent adjutants to inquire about the Count’s position, that evening himself came to say goodbye to the famous Catherine’s nobleman, Count Bezukhim.
The magnificent reception room was full. Everyone stood up respectfully when the commander-in-chief, having been alone with the patient for about half an hour, came out of there, slightly returning the bows and trying as quickly as possible to pass by the gazes of doctors, clergy and relatives fixed on him. Prince Vasily, who had lost weight and turned pale during these days, saw off the commander-in-chief and quietly repeated something to him several times.
Having seen off the commander-in-chief, Prince Vasily sat down alone on a chair in the hall, crossing his legs high, resting his elbow on his knee and closing his eyes with his hand. After sitting like this for some time, he stood up and with unusually hasty steps, looking around with frightened eyes, walked through the long corridor to the back half of the house, to the eldest princess.
Those in the dimly lit room spoke in an uneven whisper to each other and fell silent each time and, with eyes full of question and expectation, looked back at the door that led to the dying man’s chambers and made a faint sound when someone came out of it or entered it.
“The human limit,” said the old man, a clergyman, to the lady who sat down next to him and naively listened to him, “the limit has been set, but you cannot pass it.”
“I’m wondering if it’s too late to perform unction?” - adding the spiritual title, the lady asked, as if she had no opinion of her own on this matter.
“It’s a great sacrament, mother,” answered the clergyman, running his hand over his bald spot, along which ran several strands of combed, half-gray hair.
-Who is this? was the commander in chief himself? - they asked at the other end of the room. - How youthful!...
- And the seventh decade! What, they say, the count won’t find out? Did you want to perform unction?
“I knew one thing: I had taken unction seven times.”
The second princess just left the patient’s room with tear-stained eyes and sat down next to Doctor Lorrain, who was sitting in a graceful pose under the portrait of Catherine, leaning his elbows on the table.
“Tres beau,” said the doctor, answering a question about the weather, “tres beau, princesse, et puis, a Moscou on se croit a la campagne.” [beautiful weather, princess, and then Moscow looks so much like a village.]

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Powers of the Congress

Story

Factions and blocs

Reform Coalition

Democratic Center

Outside the blocks

Creative forces

Russian unity

Congresses of People's Deputies

I Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR: May 16 - June 22, 1990

II Congress: November 27 - December 15, 1990

III Congress (extraordinary): March 28 - April 5, 1991

IV Congress: May 21 - 25, 1991

V Congress: July 10 - 17, October 28 - November 2, 1991

VI Congress: April 6 - 21, 1992

VII Congress: December 1 - 14, 1992

VIII Congress: March 1993

IX (Extraordinary) Congress: March 1993

X (Extraordinary) Congress: September 23 - October 4, 1993

Powers of the Congress

Story

Deputy groups, factions and blocs

II Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR (Extraordinary)

III Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR (Extraordinary)

IV Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR

V Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR (Extraordinary)

VI Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR

VII Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation

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An excerpt characterizing the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia