Supreme Soviet elections were held in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on 12 December 1937.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1642 It was the first election held under the

1936 Soviet Constitution The 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union, also known as the Stalin Constitution, was the constitution of the Soviet Union adopted on 5 December 1936. The 1936 Constitution was the second constitution of the Soviet Union and replaced the 1924 ...

, which had formed the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to replace the old legislature, the

Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union The All-Union Congress of Soviets () was formally the supreme governing body of the Soviet Union from its Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, formation (30 December 1922) until the adoption of its 1936 Soviet Constitution, second constitution in ...

Electoral system

The elections were originally announced as being multi-candidate; however, by halfway through the year the announcement was reversed due to the leadership worrying about the possible emergence of political opposition. However, during that early period a number of individuals attempted to hold the government to the multi-candidate promise, including members of the Russian Orthodox Church who attempted to field religious candidates as a result of Article 124 of the new constitution, which promised freedom of religion. Many of the early individuals attempting to run as alternate candidates were arrested after the decision for multiple candidates was reversed. Additionally, the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

conducted mass arrests shortly before the elections. Fitzpatrick, Sheila. 1999. ''Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s''. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 179–182.

Conduct

Despite the mass arrests and with the tone more subdued than with elections held in 1929, there were still minor waves of dissent and opposition to candidates, especially major political figures (including Mikhail Kalinin, Anastas Mikoyan, and even

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

himself) as well as celebrities (such as Aleksei Tolstoy) and candidates opposed on the basis of ethnicity (such as ethnic Russians running in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

Results

Soviet of the Union

Soviet of Nationalities

References

External sources

*"State and Society Under Stalin: Constitutions and Elections in the 1930s," article by J. Arch Getty in ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring, 1991). *''The Distinctiveness of Soviet Law''. Ferdinand Joseph Maria Feldbrugge, ed. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: Dordrecht (1987): 110–112. * Fitzpatrick, Sheila. 1999. ''Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s''. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 179–182.
Kalinin speech in elections to the Supreme Soviet 1937
{{Soviet elections Legislative elections in the Soviet Union Legislative One-party elections Single-candidate elections