There are two fundamental stages, socialism and com-
munism, in the development of a Marxist society.
munism, in the development of a Marxist society.
Soviet Union - 1952 - Soviet Civilization
As America's
greatest philosopher, the late John Dewey, repeatedly
pointed out, the intelligent and efficient functioning of
political democracy requires a fairly high development
of popular education. But as we have seen, the popula-
tion of Russia was only about 30 percent literate in 1917;
most of them, therefore, did not possess the elementary
cultural prerequisites for proper participation in the
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? OH EVALUATIHG SOVIET RUSSIA
complicated processes of democratic government. They
did not even know what a ballot was or how to mark it.
In the second place, the Soviet Communists have
frankly put into effect the Marxist theory that a tempo-
rary dictatorship of the proletariat is necessary during
the transition from capitalism to socialism, with that
dictatorship having strong elements of democracy within
it. Again in line with Marxist doctrine, the Communists
claim that the dictatorship will sink into the past entirely
as the need for it passes with the disappearance of press-
ing dangers both internal and external. They insist,
above all, that the enduring economic foundations of
democracy must be securely established in the new social-
ist system; and that democratic institutions in capitalist
countries remain weak, unstable and in danger of com-
plete overthrow by fascist movements precisely because
capitalist economies are constantly floundering about in
the quicksand of financial crisis, economic depression and
mass unemployment.
To explain is not always to excuse. The Soviet Gov-
ernment has from time to time used unnecessarily harsh
measures to maintain itself. Yet we should not lose sight
of the ultimate democratic aims of the Soviet Republic.
In my opinion the Soviet people and their leaders have
never relinquished those objectives. In the nature of
the case, however, since the Communists both in theory
and in practice give priority to the economic base of
their socialist society, and believe that democracy can
grow and expand only if this fundamental substructure
is sound, it is not surprising that the full flourishing of
democratic institutions in the Soviet Union should come
gradually and late. In this matter, taking the long view
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
of Soviet civilization is a helpful corrective to hasty con-
demnation and premature judgment.
In the light of the future, too, and of Soviet Russia's
many difficulties, the various compromises and shifts in
policy that occur in the U. S. S. R. become intelligible. It
was Lenin himself who enunciated the strategy of "one
step backward, if necessary, in order to take two steps
forward. " And the Soviets have frequently followed out
this common-sense procedure. In 1921, for instance,
toward the end of the trying Civil War period, the Soviet
Government, in order to expedite recovery and give the
population a breathing spell, introduced the New Eco-
nomic Policy (N. E. P. ), which encouraged certain com-
promises toward capitalist principles. Practically the
entire foreign press interpreted the N. E. P. as heralding
the final abandonment of socialism in Russia. Of course,
as the Soviet regime had planned all along, it constituted
only a temporary episode and in due course was discarded
altogether.
Another instance of the same sort of thing occurred
during the 1932-33 food crisis when, in the drive to col-
lectivize agriculture, the Communists went too fast and
provoked dangerous opposition among the peasants by
extremist policies. Joseph Stalin himself finally inter-
vened and pointed out that some of the comrades had
become over-zealous, "dizzy with success," as he put it.
The Government proceeded to make certain concessions
to the individualistic tendencies of the peasants.
Commenting on these compromise measures, the
New York Herald Tribune, in an editorial published in
November of 1932, stated that the Soviet agrarian prob-
lem could be solved "only by such a swift retreat from
Marxian first principles as will leave no doubt in any
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? OH EVALUATIHG SOVIET RUSSIA
Russian or foreign mind of the collapse of the Commun-
ist experiment under the relentless pressure of faulty but
unalterable human nature. "12 Actually "a swift retreat"
did take place, but the final result was a record-breaking
harvest in 1933 and the successful completion of the
collectivization program, which meant the extension of
socialism to the vital sphere of agriculture.
The statement from the Herald Tribune, which over
the years has run much first-rate material about the Soviet
Union, is one which I always like to quote. For it shows
how even one of the more restrained and reliable Amer-
ican newspapers is ever ready to seize upon the slightest
sign of Soviet weakness and draw from it the most exag-
gerated implications. To this day most foreign observers
of the U. S. S. R. have failed to learn that occasional steps
backward in Soviet Russia do not necessarily spell failure,
but usually indicate a willingness on the part of a radical
government with all the responsibilities of political power
to face the facts and to exercise intelligent flexibility in
the conduct of affairs. The Communists always remem-
ber their great goal of a full-fledged socialist and Com-
munist system and do not mind too much if they have to
pursue a zigzag course to get there.
In more recent years the greatest compromise which
circumstances compelled the Russians to adopt was the
extensive retreat of the Soviet armies during the high-
tide of the Nazi invasion in 1941 and 1942. During this
critical period the Soviet forces fell back almost to the
gates of Moscow and yielded most of the city of Stalin-
grad. With blood, territory and scorched earth tactics
they bought time and opportunity for preparing a mighty
counter-offensive that finally broke the back of German
military power. Yet, as we know, foreign observers
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
everywhere misread the signs. Just as earlier swift retreats
(of a non-military nature) had led them to forecast the
failure of the whole drive toward socialism in Soviet
Russia, so Soviet military defeats and withdrawals dur-
ing the Second World War caused them to pronounce a
premature sentence of doom on the Soviet war effort.
Sheer ignorance plus neglect of future prospects brought
them unenviable reputations as discredited prophets.
Professor John Dewey was one of the typical Ameri-
can intellectuals who, at first sympathetic toward the
Soviet Union, later turned against it in disillusionment
that was also typical. Yet he provides an answer to him-
self in an excellent passage on the sort of ethical stand-
ards that intelligence requires in the modern world: "No
individual or group will be judged by whether they
come up to or fall short of some fixed result, but by
the direction in which they are moving. The bad man
is the man who no matter how good he has been is be-
ginning to deteriorate, to grow less good. The good man
is the man who no matter how morally unworthy he has
been is moving to become better. Such a conception
makes one severe in judging himself and humane in
judging others. "13 It is my claim, of course, that the
large group of people who make up the population of
Soviet Russia have been steadily moving in an upward
direction.
The Utopian liberals and the infantile leftists have
violated Dewey's proposed criterion by judging the
U. S. S. R. in terms of whether it comes up to or falls short
of "some fixed result" held inflexibly in their minds.
Evidently expecting that Soviet Russia would set up in
the twinkling of an eye the brave new world of all their
dreams, they have been most neglectful in considering
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? OH EVALUATIHG SOVIET RUSSIA
the future of the U. S. S. R. Impetuous, impatient souls,
they could not wait for history to catch up with their
beautiful ideals and were ever ready to consign the Soviet
Republic to limbo for its tactics of compromise and delay,
for shifting gears and reducing speed in order to over-
come mountains of trouble.
Many of them sincere idealists and humanitarians,
they apparently thought that the most tremendous social
upheaval on record, telescoping into itself the sort of
revolutions which had occurred in America, England
and France during the seventeenth or eighteenth centur-
ies, could take place with the relative restraint of a New
Deal movement in the United States. These naive Utop-
ians were offended to their depths by the rough-and-
tumble aspects of the Russian Revolution and finally
adopted a policy of resolving every doubt in a manner
hostile to the Soviet regime.
The Soviet Revolution, like the great Western Rev-
olutions long before it, constituted an irrepressible move-
ment of liberation that swept like an avalanche over
whatever opposed or threatened it. Released at last from
the tyranny and oppression of ages, the Russian workers
and peasants, led by a stern and determined Communist
minority, took destiny into their own hands and rode
roughshod over the enemies of the new order. Internally
the immense scope and rapid tempo of economic develop-
ment, especially the speedy industrialization of the coun-
try, demanded a discipline in work far removed from the
easy-going psychology of Tsarist days when "Nichevo! "
(No matter! ) was such a common response to difficulties.
Such discipline only too often had to be imposed from
above on lagging or unwilling elements of the population
during the arduous era of the initial Five-Year Plans.
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
Due to the continuing danger and frequent actuality
of foreign aggression, the Government and the people
developed understandable nervous tensions and a dis-
tinct crisis psychology. The Soviet Republic, with its
back to the wall in the early years and once more in the
later years during World War II, lashed out savagely to
preserve itself. Many of its actions were crude and cruel;
blood flowed throughout the Russian land; purges and
political persecutions took place; sometimes the innocent
suffered along with the guilty. But the first socialist
society in history survived, persevered and moved for-
ward into the future.
# *#
In this introductory chapter I have outlined some
elementary principles that should be helpful, I feel, in
the understanding of Soviet Russia. Having assumed at
the start the importance of the Soviet Union as a topic
of discussion and study, having laid down the proposi-
tion that much reliable information has been and is avail-
able about the U. S. S. R. , and having insisted that the
method of reason must be followed in our inquiries con-
cerning it, I have presented five standards of judgment,
often overlooked, for aid in the evaluation of Soviet
affairs.
These are, to summarize, first, that Soviet Russia is
neither a heaven nor a hell; second, that we should
realize the extraordinary complexity of the Soviet Union;
third, that we should bear in mind the historical and
cultural background of Soviet Russia; fourth, that in
comparing the U. S. S. R. with other countries, we must
make allowances for historical relativity; and fifth, that
if we are to assess Soviet civilization as a whole, we ought
to consider not only the past and present, but also future
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? OH EVALUATIHG SOVIET RUSSIA
prospects and eventual goals. Actually, these suggested
standards of judgment are applicable today not only to
the Soviet Union, but also to most other countries and
particularly to those which are emerging out of a dark
past under the leadership of new and radical regimes.
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? - r~T~F
CHAPTER II THE SOVIET CONSTITUTION
1. Background of the Constitution
Of all the primary documents from original Soviet
sources most conducive to an understanding of the U. S.
S. R. the Soviet Constitution ranks first. Usually printed
in pamphlet form and totaling only about forty pages,
it is also the briefest single document I know that pre-
sents an over-all survey of Soviet institutions and aims.
For it goes beyond a description of the machinery of
government, with which most state constitutions are
primarily concerned, to define the fundamental eco-
nomic, social and political principles upon which the
Soviet commonwealth is based.
It was adopted late in 1936. Instead of going through
the cumbrous process of drastically amending and bring-
ing up to date the previous Constitution of 1924, the
Soviets followed the sensible procedure of drawing up
a new Constitution altogether. The first tentative draft
of it was published in June, 1936. This text was issued
in 60,000,000 pamphlet copies and printed repeatedly
in the Soviet press. During some six months of public
discussion of the proposed Constitution 527,000 meet-
ings were held with a total attendance of 36,500,000
people. Individuals, meetings or organizations sent into
the Constitutional Commission 154,000 amendments, of
which forty-three were finally accepted. The supreme
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? THE SOVIET COHSTITUTIOH
legislative body of the U. S. S. R. , corresponding to the
Congress of the United States, ratified the Constitution
on December 5, 1936, and decreed that December 5
should thereafter be a public holiday, "Constitution
Day. "
The rapid development of Soviet Russia between
1924 and 1936 necessitated the framing of a new Consti-
tution that would reflect the changed conditions. The
first two Five-Year Plans, particularly, had brought
about such progress in both industry and agriculture that
Stalin was able to say: "The complete victory of the
socialist system in all spheres of national economy is now
a fact. "1 Hence the 1936 document, advancing beyond
the Constitutions of 1918* and 1924, which had pro-
claimed socialism as an object of aspiration, formalized
the new situation by treating socialism in the Soviet
Union as an achieved actuality.
At the same time the 1936 Constitution sets up new
and specific goals of aspiration within the framework of
socialism, especially in the Chapter entitled "Funda-
mental Rights and Duties of Citizens. " There, for ex-
ample, the present Constitution makes provision for a
system of civil liberties which has obviously not yet been
put fully into effect. This fact has led critics to claim
that the Soviets have been trying to fool the world with
a mere paper constitution. Of course all state constitu-
tions are paper constitutions and their actualization is
seldom speedy or complete. For example, the Bill of
Rights has been part of the United States Constitution
for almost 160 years, but is still constantly, flagrantly and
widely violated by government officials as well as non-
* The 1918 Constitution applied only to the Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic.
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATIOH
governmental groups. We need not, then, accuse Soviet
Russia of hypocrisy simply because some of the ideals
written into its Constitution have not been fulfilled a
short sixteen years after the adoption of that document.
The truth, as we shall see, is that most of the Soviet Cons-
titution is in effect because it describes to such a large
extent the concrete functioning of the Soviet state.
2. The Structure of Soviet Society and State
In the introductory Chapter of the Soviet Constitu-
tion entitled "The Organization of Society," Article 1
reads: "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a
socialist state of workers and peasants. " First to be noted
in this opening statement is that, as throughout the Con-
stitution, the word socialist and not the word Communist
is used to describe Soviet society.
There are two fundamental stages, socialism and com-
munism, in the development of a Marxist society. Social-
ism is the initial stage in which the wage return is still
quite unequal and based on the principle, "From each
according to his ability, to each according to his work. "
Under socialism, also, the amount and quality of pro-
duction still falls considerably short of the ideal, and
political dictatorship may still be considered necessary.
Communism is the far-off eventual stage in which wages
become more nearly equal and are regulated on the prin-
ciple, "From each according to his ability, to each accord-
ing to his needs. " The actualization of this principle is
to be made possible by an overflowing economy of abun-
dance such as the world has never seen. Under commun-
ism, too, there is to be a complete abrogation of the dic-
tatorship.
It is essential to correct the common misunderstand-
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? THE SOVIET COHSTITUTIOH
ing that socialism and communism mean an absolute
equality in remuneration and living standards. Stalin
has taken pains to clarify this matter: "By equality, Marx-
ism means, not equalization of individual requirements
and individual life, but the abolition of classes, i. e. , (a)
the equal emancipation of all working people from ex-
ploitation after the capitalists have been overthrown and
expropriated; (b) the equal abolition for all of private
property in the means of production after they have
been converted into the property of the whole of society;
(c) the equal duty of all to work according to their
ability, and the equal right of all working people to re-
ceive remuneration according to the amount of work
performed (a socialist society); (d) the equal duty of
all to work according to their ability, and the equal
right of all working people to receive remuneration
according to their needs (a communist society).
"Furthermore, Marxism proceeds from the assump-
tion that people's tastes and requirements are not, and
cannot be, identical, equal, in quality or in quantity,
either in the period of socialism or in the period of com-
munism. That is the Marxian conception of equality.
Marxism has never recognized, nor does it recognize,
any other equality. To draw from this the conclusion
that socialism calls for equalization, for the leveling of
the requirements of the members of society, for the
leveling of their tastes and of their individual lives --
that according to the plans of the Marxists all should
wear the same clothes and eat the same dishes in the same
quantity -- is to deal in vulgarities and to slander Marx-
ism. "2
In any event real communism, as Marxism under-
stands it, has at no time existed in the Soviet Union,
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
either in an economic or political sense. The Soviet
system, however, is often called "communism" because
of its ultimate goals and because the Communist Party
is so extremely important in the life of the country. Actu-
ally, the Socialist Parties in various nations have much
the same economic aims as the Communist Parties, but
differ radically in the methods used to reach those ends,
particularly in their strict adherence to legal and demo-
cratic forms.
The second important point in Article 1 is the use
of the word Soviet, which means council in Russian
and therefore carries with it a democratic connotation.
The Soviet is the pervading governmental pattern in the
Soviet Republic, from the Supreme Soviet of the U. S. S. R.
at the top to the village Soviets at the other end of the
scale. Thus Article 3 asserts: "In the U. S. S. R. all power
belongs to the working people of town and country as
represented by the Soviets of Working People's Depu-
ties. "
Article 4 states: "The socialist system of economy and
the socialist ownership of the means and instruments
of production firmly established as a result of the aboli-
tion of the capitalist system of economy, the abrogation
of private ownership of the means and instruments of
production and the abolition of the exploitation of man
by man, constitute the economic foundation of the U. S.
S. R. " Article 5 defines socialist property as existing
"either in the form of state property (the possession of
the whole people), or in the form of cooperative and col-
lective-farm property (property of a collective farm or
property of a cooperative association). "
Yet not all property in the Soviet Union has been
1
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? THE SOVIET CONSTITUTION
nationalized or socialized, since, according to Article 9,
"the law permits the small private economy of individual
peasants and handicraftsmen based on their personal
labor and precluding the exploitation of the labor of
others. " Such exploitation occurs, in Marxist theory,
as soon as you hire someone else to work for you and
make a profit out of his services. Employing household
or domestic workers does not come under the heading
of exploitation.
Furthermore, as Article 10 makes clear: "The right
of citizens to personal ownership of their incomes from
work and of their savings, of their dwelling houses and
subsidiary household economy, their household furni-
ture and utensils and articles of personal use and con-
venience, as well as the right of inheritance of personal
property of citizens, is protected by law. " This state-
ment corrects the widespread misconception that collec-
tive ownership under socialism covers literally everything.
The chief economic goal of socialism is to keep on raising
the standard of living in terms of personal consumer
goods such as just described. Collective ownership is of
the main means of production and distribution like
mineral deposits, the land, forests, factories, railroads,
banks, communications and so on.
Individual property rights are further defined in
Article 7 regarding collective farms: "In addition to its
basic income from the public, collective-farm enterprise,
every household in a collective farm has for its personal
use a small plot of land attached to the dwelling and,
as its personal property, a subsidiary establishment on
the plot, a dwelling house, livestock, poultry and minor
agricultural implements. " This same Article tells us:
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
"Public enterprises in collective farms and cooperative
organizations, with their livestock and implements, the
products of the collective farms and cooperative organ-
izations, as well as their common buildings, constitute
the common, socialist property of the collective farms
and cooperative organizations. "
Not less than 60 percent of Soviet families own their
own homes today. Within city limits the size of the plot
permitted for a privately owned house is not more than
720 square yards; in the country it may be twice that
size. Persons building a house are entitled to a credit of
10,000 rubles to assist them in the venture. The credit
carries 2 percent interest and is to be paid back in seven
years. The owner-builder's personal investment must
not be less than 30 percent; but -- and this is a novel
feature -- it need not be in the form of cash, since the
labor put in by the builder and members of his family
is counted as part of his investment. Free timber is avail-
able for construction to war invalids and to ex-servicemen
and their families.
Article 11 gives the key, in my opinion, to the rapid
economic development of the Soviet Union and to its
general economic stability in war and peace: "The
economic life of the U. S. S. R. is determined and directed
by the state national economic plan with the aim of in-
creasing the public wealth, of steadily improving the
material conditions of the working people and raising
their cultural level, of consolidating the independence of
the U. S. S. R. and strengthening its defensive capacity. "
Country-wide social-economic planning in Soviet Russia,
upon the socialist foundations already outlined, is an
asset of inestimable value and definitely something new
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? THE SOVIET COHSTITUTIOH
undei the sun. I shall later include an entire section on
it. *
In article 12 we find the important statement: "In
the U. S. S. R. work is a duty and a matter of honor for
every able-bodied citizen, in accordance with the prin-
ciple: 'He who does not work, neither shall he eat. '"
This same thought was enunciated in the Bible by St.
Paul in the second book of Thessalonians, third chapter,
tenth verse: "For even when we were with you, this we
commanded you, that if any would not work, neither
shall he eat. " In the Soviet Union the principle of per-
forming useful work amounts to gospel. It naturally
conduces, through ever-increasing production, to the
general welfare and also to individual happiness, since the
average Soviet citizen is absorbed in a socially significant
job that brings meaning into his life.
There is no place for idlers in Soviet Russia. The
new Soviet morality looks upon all forms of socially
useful labor as ethically worth while and praiseworthy.
To win the award of "Hero of Socialist Labor" in the
Soviet Republic is an honor of highest repute. At the
same time the Soviet system makes wide provisions for
economic assistance to workers in case of accident or
illness, and during old age, giving them throughout adult-
hood a sense of security that encourages psychological
stability and devoted public service.
Chapters II-IX of the Soviet Constitution provide
most of the essential information on how the Soviet
state is organized. I shall merely make a few general
remarks on the formal governmental set-up, which is not
difficult to grasp and has many similarities with demo-
* See p. 165.
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATIOH
cratic institutions in the United States and Great Britain.
Like the U. S. A. , the U. S. S. R. is a federal republic. It
is made up of sixteen different Union or Soviet Socialist
Republics, organized on the basis of nationality and each
possessing a large degree of autonomy and "its own Con-
stitution, which takes account of the specific features of
the Republic and is drawn up in full conformity with
the Constitution of the U. S. S. R. " (Article 16). The
formal autonomy of the Union Republics goes further
than that of States in the U. S. A. in that they have "the
right freely to secede from the U. S. S. R. " (Article 17).
It is doubtful, however, whether in the last analysis any
of them would or could put this provision into effect.
In the U. S. S. R. , as in the United States and England,
the highest legislative body, known as the Supreme
Soviet, has two chambers. These are the Soviet of the
Union, with 678 deputies (1950) who are elected on the
basis of one for every 300,000 of the population; and the
Soviet of Nationalities, with 638 representatives (1950)
elected according to nationality from the Union Repub-
lics and from the national divisions of lesser size within
them. * Unlike the comparable American and British
bodies, the two Soviet chambers have equal rights. The
Soviet of Nationalities, a unique institution in the
history of parliamentary development at the time it was
set up, reflects the multi-national character of the Soviet
commonwealth and the particular interests of the various
national groups. The Constitution gives special recog-
nition throughout to the many different ethnic minorities
of the U. S. S. R. This theme is of great importance and
I shall devote the next chapter to it.
* In the national elections of 1946 and 1950 both Soviets added several
extra members, elected by military units serving outside of the country. In
1950 the number of additional Deputies chosen for each chamber was seven.
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? THE SOVIET COHSTITUTIOH
The term of office for each house in the Supreme
Soviet is four years. The Supreme Soviet meets twice
annually. It names the Supreme Court of the U. S. S. R.
for a term of five years. It likewise elects a Presidium or
Executive Committee of thirty-three members to carry
on its functions when it is not in session. Foreign corres-
pondents often refer to the Chairman of the Presidium,
at present Nikolai M. Shvernik, former head of the trade
union movement, as the Soviet "President. " He repre-
sents the Soviet Government at many official functions,
his duties and powers conforming in considerable degree
to those of the President of France.
The Supreme Soviet also chooses the Council of Min-
isters of the U. S. S. R. , which has about sixty members.
This Council corresponds to the Cabinet in America and
England and constitutes the Government of the U. S. S. R.
Its Chairman, at present Joseph Stalin, is Premier of the
Soviet Union, and it has more than twelve Deputy Chair-
men. The Council of Ministers is responsible and ac-
countable to the Presidium, which has the power to annul
its decisions and orders "in case they do not conform
to law" (Article 49f). And the Presidium is in its turn
accountable to the Supreme Soviet.
Thus the Soviet Constitution follows the British pat-
tern, in form at least, in setting up direct parliamentary
responsibility for the central government instead of giv-
ing a chief executive the power, as does the American
Constitution, to continue his administration even after
the highest legislative body has repudiated him. Like-
wise it resembles the British model in doing without a
popularly elected chief executive. Again, the Soviet sys-
tem is like the British rather than the American in that
the Supreme Court does not have the power to declare
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greatest philosopher, the late John Dewey, repeatedly
pointed out, the intelligent and efficient functioning of
political democracy requires a fairly high development
of popular education. But as we have seen, the popula-
tion of Russia was only about 30 percent literate in 1917;
most of them, therefore, did not possess the elementary
cultural prerequisites for proper participation in the
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? OH EVALUATIHG SOVIET RUSSIA
complicated processes of democratic government. They
did not even know what a ballot was or how to mark it.
In the second place, the Soviet Communists have
frankly put into effect the Marxist theory that a tempo-
rary dictatorship of the proletariat is necessary during
the transition from capitalism to socialism, with that
dictatorship having strong elements of democracy within
it. Again in line with Marxist doctrine, the Communists
claim that the dictatorship will sink into the past entirely
as the need for it passes with the disappearance of press-
ing dangers both internal and external. They insist,
above all, that the enduring economic foundations of
democracy must be securely established in the new social-
ist system; and that democratic institutions in capitalist
countries remain weak, unstable and in danger of com-
plete overthrow by fascist movements precisely because
capitalist economies are constantly floundering about in
the quicksand of financial crisis, economic depression and
mass unemployment.
To explain is not always to excuse. The Soviet Gov-
ernment has from time to time used unnecessarily harsh
measures to maintain itself. Yet we should not lose sight
of the ultimate democratic aims of the Soviet Republic.
In my opinion the Soviet people and their leaders have
never relinquished those objectives. In the nature of
the case, however, since the Communists both in theory
and in practice give priority to the economic base of
their socialist society, and believe that democracy can
grow and expand only if this fundamental substructure
is sound, it is not surprising that the full flourishing of
democratic institutions in the Soviet Union should come
gradually and late. In this matter, taking the long view
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
of Soviet civilization is a helpful corrective to hasty con-
demnation and premature judgment.
In the light of the future, too, and of Soviet Russia's
many difficulties, the various compromises and shifts in
policy that occur in the U. S. S. R. become intelligible. It
was Lenin himself who enunciated the strategy of "one
step backward, if necessary, in order to take two steps
forward. " And the Soviets have frequently followed out
this common-sense procedure. In 1921, for instance,
toward the end of the trying Civil War period, the Soviet
Government, in order to expedite recovery and give the
population a breathing spell, introduced the New Eco-
nomic Policy (N. E. P. ), which encouraged certain com-
promises toward capitalist principles. Practically the
entire foreign press interpreted the N. E. P. as heralding
the final abandonment of socialism in Russia. Of course,
as the Soviet regime had planned all along, it constituted
only a temporary episode and in due course was discarded
altogether.
Another instance of the same sort of thing occurred
during the 1932-33 food crisis when, in the drive to col-
lectivize agriculture, the Communists went too fast and
provoked dangerous opposition among the peasants by
extremist policies. Joseph Stalin himself finally inter-
vened and pointed out that some of the comrades had
become over-zealous, "dizzy with success," as he put it.
The Government proceeded to make certain concessions
to the individualistic tendencies of the peasants.
Commenting on these compromise measures, the
New York Herald Tribune, in an editorial published in
November of 1932, stated that the Soviet agrarian prob-
lem could be solved "only by such a swift retreat from
Marxian first principles as will leave no doubt in any
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? OH EVALUATIHG SOVIET RUSSIA
Russian or foreign mind of the collapse of the Commun-
ist experiment under the relentless pressure of faulty but
unalterable human nature. "12 Actually "a swift retreat"
did take place, but the final result was a record-breaking
harvest in 1933 and the successful completion of the
collectivization program, which meant the extension of
socialism to the vital sphere of agriculture.
The statement from the Herald Tribune, which over
the years has run much first-rate material about the Soviet
Union, is one which I always like to quote. For it shows
how even one of the more restrained and reliable Amer-
ican newspapers is ever ready to seize upon the slightest
sign of Soviet weakness and draw from it the most exag-
gerated implications. To this day most foreign observers
of the U. S. S. R. have failed to learn that occasional steps
backward in Soviet Russia do not necessarily spell failure,
but usually indicate a willingness on the part of a radical
government with all the responsibilities of political power
to face the facts and to exercise intelligent flexibility in
the conduct of affairs. The Communists always remem-
ber their great goal of a full-fledged socialist and Com-
munist system and do not mind too much if they have to
pursue a zigzag course to get there.
In more recent years the greatest compromise which
circumstances compelled the Russians to adopt was the
extensive retreat of the Soviet armies during the high-
tide of the Nazi invasion in 1941 and 1942. During this
critical period the Soviet forces fell back almost to the
gates of Moscow and yielded most of the city of Stalin-
grad. With blood, territory and scorched earth tactics
they bought time and opportunity for preparing a mighty
counter-offensive that finally broke the back of German
military power. Yet, as we know, foreign observers
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
everywhere misread the signs. Just as earlier swift retreats
(of a non-military nature) had led them to forecast the
failure of the whole drive toward socialism in Soviet
Russia, so Soviet military defeats and withdrawals dur-
ing the Second World War caused them to pronounce a
premature sentence of doom on the Soviet war effort.
Sheer ignorance plus neglect of future prospects brought
them unenviable reputations as discredited prophets.
Professor John Dewey was one of the typical Ameri-
can intellectuals who, at first sympathetic toward the
Soviet Union, later turned against it in disillusionment
that was also typical. Yet he provides an answer to him-
self in an excellent passage on the sort of ethical stand-
ards that intelligence requires in the modern world: "No
individual or group will be judged by whether they
come up to or fall short of some fixed result, but by
the direction in which they are moving. The bad man
is the man who no matter how good he has been is be-
ginning to deteriorate, to grow less good. The good man
is the man who no matter how morally unworthy he has
been is moving to become better. Such a conception
makes one severe in judging himself and humane in
judging others. "13 It is my claim, of course, that the
large group of people who make up the population of
Soviet Russia have been steadily moving in an upward
direction.
The Utopian liberals and the infantile leftists have
violated Dewey's proposed criterion by judging the
U. S. S. R. in terms of whether it comes up to or falls short
of "some fixed result" held inflexibly in their minds.
Evidently expecting that Soviet Russia would set up in
the twinkling of an eye the brave new world of all their
dreams, they have been most neglectful in considering
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? OH EVALUATIHG SOVIET RUSSIA
the future of the U. S. S. R. Impetuous, impatient souls,
they could not wait for history to catch up with their
beautiful ideals and were ever ready to consign the Soviet
Republic to limbo for its tactics of compromise and delay,
for shifting gears and reducing speed in order to over-
come mountains of trouble.
Many of them sincere idealists and humanitarians,
they apparently thought that the most tremendous social
upheaval on record, telescoping into itself the sort of
revolutions which had occurred in America, England
and France during the seventeenth or eighteenth centur-
ies, could take place with the relative restraint of a New
Deal movement in the United States. These naive Utop-
ians were offended to their depths by the rough-and-
tumble aspects of the Russian Revolution and finally
adopted a policy of resolving every doubt in a manner
hostile to the Soviet regime.
The Soviet Revolution, like the great Western Rev-
olutions long before it, constituted an irrepressible move-
ment of liberation that swept like an avalanche over
whatever opposed or threatened it. Released at last from
the tyranny and oppression of ages, the Russian workers
and peasants, led by a stern and determined Communist
minority, took destiny into their own hands and rode
roughshod over the enemies of the new order. Internally
the immense scope and rapid tempo of economic develop-
ment, especially the speedy industrialization of the coun-
try, demanded a discipline in work far removed from the
easy-going psychology of Tsarist days when "Nichevo! "
(No matter! ) was such a common response to difficulties.
Such discipline only too often had to be imposed from
above on lagging or unwilling elements of the population
during the arduous era of the initial Five-Year Plans.
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
Due to the continuing danger and frequent actuality
of foreign aggression, the Government and the people
developed understandable nervous tensions and a dis-
tinct crisis psychology. The Soviet Republic, with its
back to the wall in the early years and once more in the
later years during World War II, lashed out savagely to
preserve itself. Many of its actions were crude and cruel;
blood flowed throughout the Russian land; purges and
political persecutions took place; sometimes the innocent
suffered along with the guilty. But the first socialist
society in history survived, persevered and moved for-
ward into the future.
# *#
In this introductory chapter I have outlined some
elementary principles that should be helpful, I feel, in
the understanding of Soviet Russia. Having assumed at
the start the importance of the Soviet Union as a topic
of discussion and study, having laid down the proposi-
tion that much reliable information has been and is avail-
able about the U. S. S. R. , and having insisted that the
method of reason must be followed in our inquiries con-
cerning it, I have presented five standards of judgment,
often overlooked, for aid in the evaluation of Soviet
affairs.
These are, to summarize, first, that Soviet Russia is
neither a heaven nor a hell; second, that we should
realize the extraordinary complexity of the Soviet Union;
third, that we should bear in mind the historical and
cultural background of Soviet Russia; fourth, that in
comparing the U. S. S. R. with other countries, we must
make allowances for historical relativity; and fifth, that
if we are to assess Soviet civilization as a whole, we ought
to consider not only the past and present, but also future
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? OH EVALUATIHG SOVIET RUSSIA
prospects and eventual goals. Actually, these suggested
standards of judgment are applicable today not only to
the Soviet Union, but also to most other countries and
particularly to those which are emerging out of a dark
past under the leadership of new and radical regimes.
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? - r~T~F
CHAPTER II THE SOVIET CONSTITUTION
1. Background of the Constitution
Of all the primary documents from original Soviet
sources most conducive to an understanding of the U. S.
S. R. the Soviet Constitution ranks first. Usually printed
in pamphlet form and totaling only about forty pages,
it is also the briefest single document I know that pre-
sents an over-all survey of Soviet institutions and aims.
For it goes beyond a description of the machinery of
government, with which most state constitutions are
primarily concerned, to define the fundamental eco-
nomic, social and political principles upon which the
Soviet commonwealth is based.
It was adopted late in 1936. Instead of going through
the cumbrous process of drastically amending and bring-
ing up to date the previous Constitution of 1924, the
Soviets followed the sensible procedure of drawing up
a new Constitution altogether. The first tentative draft
of it was published in June, 1936. This text was issued
in 60,000,000 pamphlet copies and printed repeatedly
in the Soviet press. During some six months of public
discussion of the proposed Constitution 527,000 meet-
ings were held with a total attendance of 36,500,000
people. Individuals, meetings or organizations sent into
the Constitutional Commission 154,000 amendments, of
which forty-three were finally accepted. The supreme
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? THE SOVIET COHSTITUTIOH
legislative body of the U. S. S. R. , corresponding to the
Congress of the United States, ratified the Constitution
on December 5, 1936, and decreed that December 5
should thereafter be a public holiday, "Constitution
Day. "
The rapid development of Soviet Russia between
1924 and 1936 necessitated the framing of a new Consti-
tution that would reflect the changed conditions. The
first two Five-Year Plans, particularly, had brought
about such progress in both industry and agriculture that
Stalin was able to say: "The complete victory of the
socialist system in all spheres of national economy is now
a fact. "1 Hence the 1936 document, advancing beyond
the Constitutions of 1918* and 1924, which had pro-
claimed socialism as an object of aspiration, formalized
the new situation by treating socialism in the Soviet
Union as an achieved actuality.
At the same time the 1936 Constitution sets up new
and specific goals of aspiration within the framework of
socialism, especially in the Chapter entitled "Funda-
mental Rights and Duties of Citizens. " There, for ex-
ample, the present Constitution makes provision for a
system of civil liberties which has obviously not yet been
put fully into effect. This fact has led critics to claim
that the Soviets have been trying to fool the world with
a mere paper constitution. Of course all state constitu-
tions are paper constitutions and their actualization is
seldom speedy or complete. For example, the Bill of
Rights has been part of the United States Constitution
for almost 160 years, but is still constantly, flagrantly and
widely violated by government officials as well as non-
* The 1918 Constitution applied only to the Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic.
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATIOH
governmental groups. We need not, then, accuse Soviet
Russia of hypocrisy simply because some of the ideals
written into its Constitution have not been fulfilled a
short sixteen years after the adoption of that document.
The truth, as we shall see, is that most of the Soviet Cons-
titution is in effect because it describes to such a large
extent the concrete functioning of the Soviet state.
2. The Structure of Soviet Society and State
In the introductory Chapter of the Soviet Constitu-
tion entitled "The Organization of Society," Article 1
reads: "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a
socialist state of workers and peasants. " First to be noted
in this opening statement is that, as throughout the Con-
stitution, the word socialist and not the word Communist
is used to describe Soviet society.
There are two fundamental stages, socialism and com-
munism, in the development of a Marxist society. Social-
ism is the initial stage in which the wage return is still
quite unequal and based on the principle, "From each
according to his ability, to each according to his work. "
Under socialism, also, the amount and quality of pro-
duction still falls considerably short of the ideal, and
political dictatorship may still be considered necessary.
Communism is the far-off eventual stage in which wages
become more nearly equal and are regulated on the prin-
ciple, "From each according to his ability, to each accord-
ing to his needs. " The actualization of this principle is
to be made possible by an overflowing economy of abun-
dance such as the world has never seen. Under commun-
ism, too, there is to be a complete abrogation of the dic-
tatorship.
It is essential to correct the common misunderstand-
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? THE SOVIET COHSTITUTIOH
ing that socialism and communism mean an absolute
equality in remuneration and living standards. Stalin
has taken pains to clarify this matter: "By equality, Marx-
ism means, not equalization of individual requirements
and individual life, but the abolition of classes, i. e. , (a)
the equal emancipation of all working people from ex-
ploitation after the capitalists have been overthrown and
expropriated; (b) the equal abolition for all of private
property in the means of production after they have
been converted into the property of the whole of society;
(c) the equal duty of all to work according to their
ability, and the equal right of all working people to re-
ceive remuneration according to the amount of work
performed (a socialist society); (d) the equal duty of
all to work according to their ability, and the equal
right of all working people to receive remuneration
according to their needs (a communist society).
"Furthermore, Marxism proceeds from the assump-
tion that people's tastes and requirements are not, and
cannot be, identical, equal, in quality or in quantity,
either in the period of socialism or in the period of com-
munism. That is the Marxian conception of equality.
Marxism has never recognized, nor does it recognize,
any other equality. To draw from this the conclusion
that socialism calls for equalization, for the leveling of
the requirements of the members of society, for the
leveling of their tastes and of their individual lives --
that according to the plans of the Marxists all should
wear the same clothes and eat the same dishes in the same
quantity -- is to deal in vulgarities and to slander Marx-
ism. "2
In any event real communism, as Marxism under-
stands it, has at no time existed in the Soviet Union,
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
either in an economic or political sense. The Soviet
system, however, is often called "communism" because
of its ultimate goals and because the Communist Party
is so extremely important in the life of the country. Actu-
ally, the Socialist Parties in various nations have much
the same economic aims as the Communist Parties, but
differ radically in the methods used to reach those ends,
particularly in their strict adherence to legal and demo-
cratic forms.
The second important point in Article 1 is the use
of the word Soviet, which means council in Russian
and therefore carries with it a democratic connotation.
The Soviet is the pervading governmental pattern in the
Soviet Republic, from the Supreme Soviet of the U. S. S. R.
at the top to the village Soviets at the other end of the
scale. Thus Article 3 asserts: "In the U. S. S. R. all power
belongs to the working people of town and country as
represented by the Soviets of Working People's Depu-
ties. "
Article 4 states: "The socialist system of economy and
the socialist ownership of the means and instruments
of production firmly established as a result of the aboli-
tion of the capitalist system of economy, the abrogation
of private ownership of the means and instruments of
production and the abolition of the exploitation of man
by man, constitute the economic foundation of the U. S.
S. R. " Article 5 defines socialist property as existing
"either in the form of state property (the possession of
the whole people), or in the form of cooperative and col-
lective-farm property (property of a collective farm or
property of a cooperative association). "
Yet not all property in the Soviet Union has been
1
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? THE SOVIET CONSTITUTION
nationalized or socialized, since, according to Article 9,
"the law permits the small private economy of individual
peasants and handicraftsmen based on their personal
labor and precluding the exploitation of the labor of
others. " Such exploitation occurs, in Marxist theory,
as soon as you hire someone else to work for you and
make a profit out of his services. Employing household
or domestic workers does not come under the heading
of exploitation.
Furthermore, as Article 10 makes clear: "The right
of citizens to personal ownership of their incomes from
work and of their savings, of their dwelling houses and
subsidiary household economy, their household furni-
ture and utensils and articles of personal use and con-
venience, as well as the right of inheritance of personal
property of citizens, is protected by law. " This state-
ment corrects the widespread misconception that collec-
tive ownership under socialism covers literally everything.
The chief economic goal of socialism is to keep on raising
the standard of living in terms of personal consumer
goods such as just described. Collective ownership is of
the main means of production and distribution like
mineral deposits, the land, forests, factories, railroads,
banks, communications and so on.
Individual property rights are further defined in
Article 7 regarding collective farms: "In addition to its
basic income from the public, collective-farm enterprise,
every household in a collective farm has for its personal
use a small plot of land attached to the dwelling and,
as its personal property, a subsidiary establishment on
the plot, a dwelling house, livestock, poultry and minor
agricultural implements. " This same Article tells us:
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATION
"Public enterprises in collective farms and cooperative
organizations, with their livestock and implements, the
products of the collective farms and cooperative organ-
izations, as well as their common buildings, constitute
the common, socialist property of the collective farms
and cooperative organizations. "
Not less than 60 percent of Soviet families own their
own homes today. Within city limits the size of the plot
permitted for a privately owned house is not more than
720 square yards; in the country it may be twice that
size. Persons building a house are entitled to a credit of
10,000 rubles to assist them in the venture. The credit
carries 2 percent interest and is to be paid back in seven
years. The owner-builder's personal investment must
not be less than 30 percent; but -- and this is a novel
feature -- it need not be in the form of cash, since the
labor put in by the builder and members of his family
is counted as part of his investment. Free timber is avail-
able for construction to war invalids and to ex-servicemen
and their families.
Article 11 gives the key, in my opinion, to the rapid
economic development of the Soviet Union and to its
general economic stability in war and peace: "The
economic life of the U. S. S. R. is determined and directed
by the state national economic plan with the aim of in-
creasing the public wealth, of steadily improving the
material conditions of the working people and raising
their cultural level, of consolidating the independence of
the U. S. S. R. and strengthening its defensive capacity. "
Country-wide social-economic planning in Soviet Russia,
upon the socialist foundations already outlined, is an
asset of inestimable value and definitely something new
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? THE SOVIET COHSTITUTIOH
undei the sun. I shall later include an entire section on
it. *
In article 12 we find the important statement: "In
the U. S. S. R. work is a duty and a matter of honor for
every able-bodied citizen, in accordance with the prin-
ciple: 'He who does not work, neither shall he eat. '"
This same thought was enunciated in the Bible by St.
Paul in the second book of Thessalonians, third chapter,
tenth verse: "For even when we were with you, this we
commanded you, that if any would not work, neither
shall he eat. " In the Soviet Union the principle of per-
forming useful work amounts to gospel. It naturally
conduces, through ever-increasing production, to the
general welfare and also to individual happiness, since the
average Soviet citizen is absorbed in a socially significant
job that brings meaning into his life.
There is no place for idlers in Soviet Russia. The
new Soviet morality looks upon all forms of socially
useful labor as ethically worth while and praiseworthy.
To win the award of "Hero of Socialist Labor" in the
Soviet Republic is an honor of highest repute. At the
same time the Soviet system makes wide provisions for
economic assistance to workers in case of accident or
illness, and during old age, giving them throughout adult-
hood a sense of security that encourages psychological
stability and devoted public service.
Chapters II-IX of the Soviet Constitution provide
most of the essential information on how the Soviet
state is organized. I shall merely make a few general
remarks on the formal governmental set-up, which is not
difficult to grasp and has many similarities with demo-
* See p. 165.
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? SOVIET CIVILIZATIOH
cratic institutions in the United States and Great Britain.
Like the U. S. A. , the U. S. S. R. is a federal republic. It
is made up of sixteen different Union or Soviet Socialist
Republics, organized on the basis of nationality and each
possessing a large degree of autonomy and "its own Con-
stitution, which takes account of the specific features of
the Republic and is drawn up in full conformity with
the Constitution of the U. S. S. R. " (Article 16). The
formal autonomy of the Union Republics goes further
than that of States in the U. S. A. in that they have "the
right freely to secede from the U. S. S. R. " (Article 17).
It is doubtful, however, whether in the last analysis any
of them would or could put this provision into effect.
In the U. S. S. R. , as in the United States and England,
the highest legislative body, known as the Supreme
Soviet, has two chambers. These are the Soviet of the
Union, with 678 deputies (1950) who are elected on the
basis of one for every 300,000 of the population; and the
Soviet of Nationalities, with 638 representatives (1950)
elected according to nationality from the Union Repub-
lics and from the national divisions of lesser size within
them. * Unlike the comparable American and British
bodies, the two Soviet chambers have equal rights. The
Soviet of Nationalities, a unique institution in the
history of parliamentary development at the time it was
set up, reflects the multi-national character of the Soviet
commonwealth and the particular interests of the various
national groups. The Constitution gives special recog-
nition throughout to the many different ethnic minorities
of the U. S. S. R. This theme is of great importance and
I shall devote the next chapter to it.
* In the national elections of 1946 and 1950 both Soviets added several
extra members, elected by military units serving outside of the country. In
1950 the number of additional Deputies chosen for each chamber was seven.
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? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015020686591 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? THE SOVIET COHSTITUTIOH
The term of office for each house in the Supreme
Soviet is four years. The Supreme Soviet meets twice
annually. It names the Supreme Court of the U. S. S. R.
for a term of five years. It likewise elects a Presidium or
Executive Committee of thirty-three members to carry
on its functions when it is not in session. Foreign corres-
pondents often refer to the Chairman of the Presidium,
at present Nikolai M. Shvernik, former head of the trade
union movement, as the Soviet "President. " He repre-
sents the Soviet Government at many official functions,
his duties and powers conforming in considerable degree
to those of the President of France.
The Supreme Soviet also chooses the Council of Min-
isters of the U. S. S. R. , which has about sixty members.
This Council corresponds to the Cabinet in America and
England and constitutes the Government of the U. S. S. R.
Its Chairman, at present Joseph Stalin, is Premier of the
Soviet Union, and it has more than twelve Deputy Chair-
men. The Council of Ministers is responsible and ac-
countable to the Presidium, which has the power to annul
its decisions and orders "in case they do not conform
to law" (Article 49f). And the Presidium is in its turn
accountable to the Supreme Soviet.
Thus the Soviet Constitution follows the British pat-
tern, in form at least, in setting up direct parliamentary
responsibility for the central government instead of giv-
ing a chief executive the power, as does the American
Constitution, to continue his administration even after
the highest legislative body has repudiated him. Like-
wise it resembles the British model in doing without a
popularly elected chief executive. Again, the Soviet sys-
tem is like the British rather than the American in that
the Supreme Court does not have the power to declare
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? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015020686591 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust.
