Nature of the phenomenon
Propiska — a state system for controlling population migration, developed in the USSR and still in existence in a number of states on its former territory, including Russia, based on the principle of tying citizens rigidly to their permanent place of residence.
Historical background
Immediately after the establishment of Soviet power, the passport system that had existed in pre-revolutionary Russia was abolished. The position of Lenin, expressed in his article "To the Rural Poor" (1903), began to be put into practice:
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"The Social Democrats demand for the people complete freedom of movement and of occupation. What does freedom of movement mean?.. It means that passports should be abolished in Russia too (in other countries passports have long since ceased to exist), that no rural police officer, no land captain should dare to prevent any peasant from settling and working where he pleases. The Russian peasant is still so much a serf in relation to the official that he cannot freely move to the town or freely go to new lands. The Minister issues orders that governors shall not permit unauthorized resettlement: the governor knows better than the peasant where the peasant should go! The peasant is a little child — he dare not move without the authorities! Is that not serfdom? Is that not an outrage against the people?.."
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In the Small Soviet Encyclopedia of 1930, the article on "Passport" stated with complete justification:
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"PASSPORT — a special document for establishing the identity of the holder and his right to be absent from his permanent place of residence. The passport system was the most important instrument of police control and taxation policy in the so-called police state… Soviet law knows no passport system." |
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Universal passportization
In 1932, a unified passport system was introduced in the Soviet Union and the Passport and Visa Service (PVS) was established, incorporated into the structure of the internal affairs agencies (NKVD). The PVS was charged with "registering the population of cities, workers' settlements, and new construction sites, relieving these places of persons not engaged in socially useful labor, and also cleansing them of concealed kulak, criminal, and other antisocial elements, in order to strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat" (Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of 27.12.1932 "On the Establishment of a Unified Passport System throughout the USSR and on Compulsory Registration of Passports"). The PVS was also assigned responsibility for regulating the registration of the population. Many categories of urban residents (for example, members of the nobility and NEP-era private traders) were not issued passports and were expelled from major cities.
Between 1933 and 1935, the character of the propiska institution gradually changed and became permissive in nature, transforming into one of the instruments of state administration.
Benefits
Despite the obvious similarities with serfdom, within the Soviet state the possession of a passport and propiska placed the holder in a privileged position, especially if the person lived in a locality with a special registration regime. A person who lacked a passport or propiska was deprived of most of the rights that the Soviet state provided. During certain periods of Soviet history, peasants' passports were held centrally under the pretext of safekeeping, or peasants had no passports at all, which prevented them from leaving the countryside even if they wished to. In particular, it was extremely difficult to find employment without a propiska, and one of the conditions for obtaining a propiska could be documented proof of a place of employment.
In Moscow, Leningrad, and other developed and desirable localities, obtaining a propiska was especially difficult. One legal way for ordinary people to obtain a Moscow propiska was to work in blue-collar trades for several years under unattractive conditions through the so-called limitchik (quota worker) system.
The proportion of the population subject to passportization gradually expanded, and in 1974 it was extended to all citizens of the Soviet Union.
Classic form
The USSR Passport System Regulations of 1974 established a procedure under which a citizen who had changed his place of residence or had departed to another locality for temporary residence for a period exceeding one and a half months was required to deregister before departure (confirming the availability of living space at the new location), and upon arrival at the new location to submit an application accompanied by the consent of the person providing the living space. Exceptions were made for business trips, holidays, trips to a dacha, rest, or medical treatment.
The citizen was allotted 3 days for all deregistration and registration actions, including personal visits to government offices.
At the same time, the authorities had the right to refuse propiska at the new location without giving reasons, whereupon the citizen was required to leave the relevant locality within 7 days.
It was prohibited to reside without a propiska anywhere in the territory of the USSR.
Current status
In June 1993, shortly before its dissolution, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation passed the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Freedom of Movement and Choice of Place of Temporary Stay and Residence within the Russian Federation," in which propiska was replaced by registration at place of residence; at the same time the concept of registration at place of temporary stay was introduced.
The Law established that "registration or the absence thereof cannot serve as grounds for restricting or as a condition for the exercise of the rights and freedoms of citizens provided for by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the laws of the Russian Federation, and the Constitutions and laws of the republics within the Russian Federation."
An important distinction of the newly introduced system is that registration is tied to a specific dwelling, rather than to a locality as was the case with propiska under the 1974 Regulations.
Registration at place of temporary stay
Citizens who have arrived for temporary residence in dwellings that are not their place of permanent residence for a period exceeding 90 days are required, upon the expiry of that period, to contact the officials responsible for registration and to submit:
— an identity document;
— an application in the prescribed form for registration at the place of temporary stay;
— a document serving as the basis for the citizen's temporary residence in the said dwelling (rental agreements (subleases), a social tenancy agreement for the dwelling, or a statement from the person providing the citizen with the dwelling).
The officials responsible for registration shall, within 3 days of the citizens' application, forward the above-mentioned documents to the registration authorities.
The registration authorities shall, within 3 days of receiving the documents, register citizens in the prescribed manner at their place of temporary stay in dwellings that are not their permanent residence, and shall issue them a certificate of registration at place of temporary stay.
Registration of citizens at their place of temporary stay in a hotel, sanatorium, rest home, boarding house, campsite, hospital, tourist facility, or any other similar institution shall be carried out upon their arrival by the administration of those institutions on the basis of identity documents.
Registration of citizens at their place of temporary stay is carried out without removing them from registration at their place of permanent residence.
Registration at place of permanent residence
A citizen who has changed his place of permanent residence is required, no later than 7 days from the date of arrival at the new place of residence, to contact the officials responsible for registration and to submit:
— an identity document;
— an application in the prescribed form for registration at the place of permanent residence;
— a document which, in accordance with the housing legislation of the Russian Federation, serves as the basis for moving into the dwelling.
The officials responsible for registration shall, within 3 days of the citizens' application, forward the above-mentioned documents to the registration authorities.
The registration authorities shall, within 3 days of receiving the documents, register citizens at their place of permanent residence and affix a registration stamp to their passports. Citizens whose registration is carried out on the basis of other identity documents shall be issued a certificate of registration at place of permanent residence.
Liability for violation of registration rules
Liability for violation of registration rules for citizens required to register at their place of temporary stay and place of permanent residence is established by Clause 1 of Article 19.15 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation:
Residence at the place of permanent or temporary residence of a citizen of the Russian Federation who is required to hold a citizen's identity document (passport), without a citizen's identity document (passport) or with an invalid citizen's identity document (passport), or without registration at the place of temporary stay or place of permanent residence —
shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of one thousand five hundred to two thousand five hundred rubles.
The wording of the offence is formulated in such a way that it constitutes a continuing offence, and the two-month limitation period for bringing an administrative action begins not from the date the registration rules were violated, but from the date the violation of the registration rules was discovered (Article 4.5 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation). The continuing nature of this offence is confirmed, in particular, by the answer to Question 16 of the Review of Judicial Practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation for the Fourth Quarter of 2005, approved by Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 1 March 2006.
The following are authorized to hear cases concerning administrative offences under Article 19.15 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation:
- senior district police inspectors and district police inspectors;
- heads and deputy heads of the Federal Migration Service of Russia, territorial bodies of the Federal Migration Service of Russia, and heads of structural subdivisions of territorial bodies of the Federal Migration Service of Russia.
At the same time, practically all militia officers are authorized to draw up reports on administrative offences under Article 19.15 of the Code of Administrative Offences (with subsequent transfer of the reports to persons authorized to hear cases on administrative offences) (Appendix No. 1 to Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia No. 444 of 02.06.2005).