Draft constitution of the «thaw» period: public participation in the discussion

The events related to the new period of building a Communist society, taking place in the life of the Soviet people in the middle of the twentieth century, are analyzed. It was the period when the new program of Communist Party of the Soviet Union was adopted and active public participation was required, in particular in the constitutional regulation of public life. The features of the participation of representatives of Soviet society in the formation of the text of the Basic Law of the USSR during its entry into developed socialism were revealed in the work. The submitted material is the result of generalization of archival research and was previously not available to wide scientific community. On the basis of the analysis of the materials contained in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (Fund 7523. Inventory 131): a low level of legal awareness of citizens with high level of social activity was demonstrated. Citizens do not remain indifferent to the changes taking place in the country, make their proposals not only regarding the text of the Basic Law of the country, but also suggest possible directions for the development of legal regulation of certain areas of state and legal life. Also, in the article it was argued that in the consciousness of the public 1964 year had not become the moment of the completion of the first stage of the preparation of the draft text of the Basic Law of the country. The public, including representatives of the legal community, continue to send their proposals to the Constitutional Commission and after the actual completion of work on the draft Constitution of the USSR of 1964. Thus, the period from 1962 to 1964 was the first stages in the formation of the text of the Constitution of the USSR of 1977.