The Constitution of the former USSR declared ... what? ... to be the duty of all citizens of the republic?

In the ideological framework of the Soviet Union, contributing to the state was not merely a suggestion but a fundamental obligation. This principle was famously summarized by the maxim, "He who does not work, neither shall he eat." Both the 1936 "Stalin Constitution" and the later 1977 version explicitly defined socially useful labor as a sacred duty for every able-bodied citizen, making it the cornerstone of Soviet life.

This constitutional requirement was rooted in Marxist-Leninist ideology, which glorified the proletariat, or working class. In a state theoretically run by and for workers, labor was not just an economic necessity but a moral and political act. It was considered the primary measure of a person's value and their contribution to the collective project of building a communist society. The concept of earning a living without participating in state-approved work was seen as fundamentally anti-social.

The state enforced this duty through laws against "social parasitism," or *tuneyadstvo*. This charge could be leveled against anyone who was unemployed for an extended period without an officially approved reason. Those deemed parasites, from artists and poets to simple job-shirkers, could face punishment ranging from public shaming to internal exile and forced labor, famously happening to the future Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky. This turned the abstract constitutional duty into a powerful tool of social control.