Supporting the Soviet rule and accepting the orders of the Council
of People's Commissars, the Constituent Assembly acknowledges its
duty to outline a form for the reorganization of society.
Striving at the same time to organize a free and voluntary, and
thereby also a complete and strong, union among the toiling
classes of all the Russian nations, the Constituent Assembly
limits itself to outlining the basis of the federation of Russian
Soviet Republics, leaving to the people, to the workers and
soldiers, to decide for themselves, in their own Soviet meetings,
if they are willing, and on what conditions they prefer, to join
the federated government and other federations of Soviet
enterprise. These general principles are to be published without
delay, and the official representatives of the Soviets are
required to read them at the opening of the Constituent Assembly.
The demand for the adoption of this declaration gave rise to a long and
stormy debate. The leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionists and the
Mensheviki stoutly contended that the adoption of the declaration would be
virtually an abdication of the task for which the Constituent Assembly had
been elected by the people, and, therefore, a betrayal of trust.
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