Notes on sources

Most of the information in this work on both the implementation of the discussion and the popular response to the draft Constitution comes from regional and local Party and state documents. Many of these documents were designed to address certain questions and concerns raised by officials in Moscow. Mikhail Kalinin, the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee, was particularly upset with the lack of information coming from the regions during the early phases of the public discussion of the draft Constitution, as without such reports it was impossible for central authorities to monitor either the progress of the discussion or popular response. ¹ In response to this dearth of information, Ivan Akulov, the secretary of the Central Executive Committee (TsIK), sent out a directive in August 1936 with specific questions to be answered by the regional officials in their reports on the implementation of the popular discussion.