Soviet citizens’ ideas about the constitution in the 1960s as a reflection of the core Soviet values

The article analyzes letters addressed to the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union. In their letters written in the 1960s, Soviet citizens shared their ideas about the new edition of the Constitution. The authors of the article analyze Soviet citizens’ core values and their ideas about the political regime, civil rights and civil liberties. This analysis is essential for the assessment of the role of civil values (such as democracy, guarantees of civil rights and civil liberties) in the Soviet public mind. The article maintains that Soviet citizens of the said period shared a set of mental attitudes to civil and economic issues. The authors conclude that these mental attitudes reflected people’s ideas about democracy and freedoms and were based on a combination of both democratic and totalitarian principles. Soviet citizens actively supported democracy as a key element of civil society and promoted an improvement in the electoral system. However, they were against a multi-party system, they maintained that party organs should be endowed with greater authorities, and the Constitution should grant power to the Communist party. Soviet people highly valued civil liberties and civil rights. However, they believed that it was natural to oppress those who committed crimes or those who didn’t share the generally accepted ideals. The authors conclude that Soviet mental attitudes were only partially based on civil values, which naturally tells on the process of civil society formation in the modern world.