The 1918 Russian Constitution required that the All-Russian Central Executive Committee convene the All-Russian Congress of Soviets at least twice a year (Statute 26 of Article III).[1] Additional sessions could be called by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee or on the request of local Soviets. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee was elected by a full Congress, with no more than 200 individuals. It was completely subordinate to the Congress. The functions of the Collegiate or the Presidium were not declared in the Constitution, but presumably they were supposed to be purely supervisory or revisionary bodies.
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee gave a general direction for the policies of the Worker-Peasant government and all bodies of the Soviet power in the country. It united and coordinated activities for legislation and administration as well as supervised the endorsement of the Soviet Constitution, declarations of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets and central bodies of the Soviet power. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee reviewed and adopted the projects of decrees and other propositions introduced by the Council of People's Commissars and separate departments as well as issued its own decrees and instructions.
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee summoned the All-Russian Congress of Soviets to which it presented the reports on its activity, general policy, and other inquiries. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee formed the Council of People's Commissars for general administrative affairs of the republic and departments (called People's Commissariats) for the management of separate branches of administration. Deputies of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee worked in the departments or executed special assignments of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
State budgets (for the RSFSR as a whole and for each of the republic's administrative divisions) were decided jointly by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
On December 30, 1922, the Soviet Union was formed. It comprised the Russian SFSR and other communist-controlled Soviet republics. Mikhail Kalinin retained his position as chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets and became chairman of the newly formed Central Executive Committee of the All-Union Congress of Soviets as well. Both positions were mostly ceremonial, increasingly so in later years.