[2] President David Toro had called for the National Convention in 1937, but by the time it was held he had been forced to resign in a coup d'état which brought the young lieutenant colonel Germán Busch to power on 13 July 1937.

His successor Germán Busch, however, was politically enigmatic with both the left and the right alike assuming he would reverse course from the leftist Toro back to the traditional conservatism of the pre-Chaco War establishment.

[5] Faced with a unified left-wing coalition, the traditional parties withdrew from the elections, save for the Socialist Republicans who joined with the FUS and certain dissident Liberals who chose to collaborate with the new regime.

[7] The convention dominated the political scene nationwide, becoming the debate grounds of ideologues and thinkers of the entire left-wing spectrum, from moderate socialists to economic nationalists and hard line Marxist labor leaders.

[9] With its dominant position in the assembly, the left-wing quickly overpowered more conservative elements, rejecting liberal concepts of limited government and laissez-faire which had shaped the entire constitutional history of Bolivia.

At the same time, the concept of private property was reworded, limiting it from a natural right to a government-given right which was granted only so long as it fulfilled a "social function".

From there, the different factions of the left remained in a state of instability, forming and breaking apart from one another in their attempts to create a viable political coalition.

For these reasons it was described by its critics as both "regionalist" and "racist" and was condemned by various social and cultural institutions, regional centers, trade union organizations, veterans, journalists, and even the Liberal Party.

Just a month later on 22 March, the Liberals and both Republican parties broke with their previous policy of interacting with the fringes of the moderate left and formed the Concordance coalition in direct opposition to the government.

The May legislative elections were cancelled and the assembly was permanently adjourned, bringing an end to the only legislature of the military socialist era.