Beshukova Z.M. Peculiarities of regulation of responsibility for extremism according to the 1926 RSFSR Criminal Code

Abstract: This article examines the provisions of the 1926 RSFSR Criminal Code that establish responsibility for actions, which in accordance with the currently existing legislation, qualify under the notion of extremism (extremist activity). Actions that fall within the legal definition of extremism are included into the various chapters and sections of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation. At the same time, the majority of them are referred to as crimes against the foundations of constitutional structure and state security, as well as public security and public order. The author conducts a comprehensive analysis of the norms of the 1926 RSFSR Criminal Code, which regulate the responsibility for state crimes. The conclusion is made that in the Criminal Code of RSFSR of 1926 the main changes pertaining to the counteraction against actions containing the signs of extremism in its modern understanding, were made due to the enactment of the “Position on propaganda or agitation involving a call for the overthrow, subversion, or weakening of Soviet authority or for the carrying out of other counterrevolutionary crimes” by the 25th Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union in February of 1927. The author claims that were no major differences with regards to crimes of extremism character during the comparison of the Criminal Codes of 1922 and 1926. The Criminal Code of 1926 maintained continuation of the Criminal Code of 1922, which is particularly expressed in equalization of responsibility for participation and organization of the counterrevolutionary crimes. In addition to that, in the Criminal Code of 1926 the propaganda and agitation aimed at instigation of national or religious animosity, which testifies about the gradual reflection in the criminal law of the formulated in the 1925 RSFSR Constitution ideas of racial and national equality.

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