$OH[DQGHU6DOHQNR adoption of the 1936 Constitution of the USSR (also known as the Stalin constitution) that remained in force until 1977.15 The 1936 Soviet Constitution (art.21) repeated several provisions from the previous normative acts, in particular that in the USSR a single Union citizenship was established for all Soviet citizens; and that every citizen of a Union Republic was a citizen of the USSR. The 1936 Constitution was considered by the Soviet leaders as a symbol for the successful attainment of socialism in the USSR. According to these new constitutional provisions, class character was no longer a salient feature of Soviet citizenship. The 1938 Soviet Citizenship Law (art.2) provided Soviet citizenship to the following people: 1) all persons who possessed the allegiance / subjecthood (poddanstvo) of the Russian Empire at the time of the establishment of the Soviet state (i.e. 7 November 1917) and who did not lose Soviet citizenship; 2) all persons who obtained the Soviet citizenship in the manner prescribed by law (Trainin 1938: 51). The 1938 Soviet Citizenship Law abrogated the principle of automatic acquisition of Soviet citizenship. The new citizenship law (art.8) introduced the more specific regulation that all persons permanently residing on the territory of the USSR, who were not Soviet citizens and who did not possess any proofs of foreign citizenship, were considered as stateless persons. The citizenship law (art.7) also kept the regulations regarding deprivation of USSR citizenship: 1) due to the court judgement; 2) in special cases due to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. A shining example of the application of article 7 of the citizenship law was given by the Soviet authorities in 1967, when people of Jewish nationality leaving the Soviet Union as migrants to the State of Israel were deprived of their Soviet citizenship.16 3.2.3 The Brezhnev Era The third and last Constitution of the USSR (also known as the "Brezhnev" constitution, adopted on 7 October 1977) marked the next-to-last stage in the development of Soviet citizenship legislation.17 The regulations of the 1977 Constitution were long and detailed. A separate chapter of the Soviet Fundamental Law was devoted to Soviet citizenship (chapter 6). The "Brezhnev" constitution confirmed the standard construction of the Soviet citizenship: ‘every citizen of a Union Republic is a citizen of the USSR’ (art.33). The constitutional regulations also formally established a new principle of Soviet citizenship: all citizens of the USSR that were abroad were to enjoy the protection and assistance of the Soviet state. Based on the 1977 Constitution, the new Soviet Citizenship Law was adopted on 1 December 1978 (and came into force after 1 July 1979).18 This legislation remained applicable until the end of the Soviet Union on 31 December 1991. In general, the 1978 Citizenship Law retained all standard provisions enshrined in the Soviet law tradition inherited from the previous Soviet legislation. Additionally the Citizenship Law (art.7) explicitly prohibited the extradition of Soviet citizens to foreign states. Moreover, the Soviet law de jure established the principle of nontoleration of dual citizenship. According to article 8 of the 1978 Citizenship Law ‘the person, who is the citizen of the Soviet Union, cannot be regarded as the foreign citizen’. This legislative provision can be considered as prohibiting Soviet citizens from possessing foreign citizenship. Thus, under the provisions of the Soviet law, the citizenship was considered to be a unique relation 15 English translation of the 1936 Constitution of the USSR http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1936toc.html 16 Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 17 February 1967 «About the Exit from Soviet Citizenship of persons emigrating from USSR to Israel». This decree was a restricted (secret) document and was published only after Perestroika in 1990. 17 English translation of the 1977 Constitution of the USSR http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1977toc.html 18 The Law of the USSR from 1 December 1978 N 8497-IX ‘About the Citizenship of the USSR’. Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR.1978. ! 49. art.816.  56&$6(8'2&,7&5‹$XWKRU