According to the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Republic, adopted in the heat of the struggle of the Russian people for liberty, the fundamental aim of the Republic was stated to be “suppressing all exploitation of man by man, abolishing forever the division of society into classes, bringing about the Socialist organization of society.” With this end in view, “work useful to the community is made compulsory upon all,” and “now, at the decisive moment in the struggle between the workers and their exploiters, there can be no place for the latter on any organ of government.” There follow, as we have already seen, a number of concrete measures, increasing the freedom of the vast majority of the population and giving them democratic rights that they had never previously enjoyed; but, on the other hand, the employers of labour, the property-owners, were deprived of all political rights, of the ownership of the meeting halls and the printing presses, and, as the State was able to take them over, of all other means of production.
These essential features of the Russian Soviet Constitution were later made part of the Constitutions of other Soviet republics: both those which later joined the Union, and those which were formed in Hungary, in China, and in Bavaria. When, in 1922, the Union was formed, each of the constituent republics included the same fundamental ideas in its Constitution.
Now it is clear that if the Constitution of any State, or of any other kind of organization, includes a statement of aims, and measures directed towards the achievement of these aims, a time may come when, the aims having been fulfilled, the old Constitution is out of date. When, therefore, from about 1933 onwards, it has been possible in the U.S.S.R. to say that capitalism no longer exists, and that there are no longer employers of labour; when it has become possible to refer to the U.S.S.R. as a society in which everyone either works for himself or for the community, and nobody works for the profit of an employer—under these conditions it can be said that the main aims expressed in the earlier Constitutions have been accomplished, and a revised Constitution is required to establish this fact.
That is why, at the Seventh Congress of Soviets in 1935, it was decided to introduce a new Constitution for the U.S.S.R. On December 5th, 1936, this Constitution was adopted in its final form at the Eighth All-Union Congress of Soviets. What are the essential features of this new Constitution of the U.S.S.R.?
First, the Soviets remain, as before, the supreme authority in the country. But the Soviet State is now described as a “Socialist State of workers and peasants,” whereas, in the original Constitution of 1918, we only read of the “fundamental aim” of establishing Socialism. Second, there follows a definition of public and of private property, all the means of production being now publicly owned; but citizens are allowed the private ownership of their earnings, savings, and the necessities of human comfort. The small independent producer, working on his own, but not employing others for profit, is allowed to possess his necessary materials and means of production. Third, reference is made to the existence of an economic plan, whereas, in the first Constitution of the Union of 1924, reference was only made to the future establishment of such a plan by the Government of the Union. According to the Constitution of 1936, “The economic life of the U.S.S.R. is determined and directed by the national economic State plan for the purpose of increasing public wealth, of a steady rise in the material and cultural level of the toilers, of strengthening the independence of the U.S.S.R. and its defence capacity.” An important part of the new Constitution deals with the structure of the State, in which certain major changes are made. Finally, a section is included which deals with the Rights and Obligations of Citizens.
The main changes in the structure of the State which have been adopted in the Constitution of 1936 are: the making of suffrage universal without any exceptions; the introduction of equality of representation of town and village; the introduction of secret ballot in place of voting by show of hands; and the provision that henceforth every governing authority, not only the local one, shall be directly elected by the people. These changes, it will be noted, all introduce features, hitherto absent, which are generally accepted as democratic in character. They ensure still closer contact between the higher organs of Government and the ranks of the people. And they make the whole apparatus of the State considerably less complicated, by wiping out the intricate system of election by steps or stages.
It is impossible to understand the significance of the changes which have been introduced in the Soviet Constitution of 1936 without recalling the reason why, in the earlier Constitutions, the particular system then prevailing was adopted. We know that the Soviets were set up throughout Russia as fighting organizations of the workers, peasants, and soldiers against the employing classes and their Government. The Soviets, therefore, naturally excluded from participation in their activity persons and officials against whom they were fighting. It was natural that when the Soviets seized the reins of government, the “exploiters” were not allowed to participate in the running of the country. Universal suffrage was adopted, with exceptions. In 1936, when the employers of labour as a class were extinct in the Soviet Union, and when former employees and former officials of the Tsarist State were either dead, abroad, or peacefully working in Soviet institutions, the franchise had already become practically universal, with the exception of some 50,000 priests. As it is not considered likely that these 50,000 priests, given full political rights, will in any way be able to obstruct the progress of the Soviet Union, they are not any longer deprived of the right to vote. Universal suffrage for all citizens of the age of eighteen and over, with exceptions, has simply become universal suffrage for all citizens of the age of eighteen and over. The half-witted, it should be noted, are, however, still deprived of the right to vote; and the courts may deprive citizens of this right as a result of a misdemeanour.
The unequal representation of town and village arose as a result of the leading part which the town workers played in the organization of the Soviets and of the Soviet State. At the time of the drawing up of the first Constitution it was considered desirable that the workers, who were introducing Socialism in industry, should continue to play a leading part in the Soviet Government. But with the final wiping out of capitalist enterprise in the villages, and the triumph of collective farming, it can no longer be said that the leadership of the workers in the towns must be specially safeguarded in the interests of Socialism, or that any discrimination in their favour can now be justified. Therefore, by 1936, the inequalities between town and country have been removed, and there is now completely equal representation of all citizens.
Voting by show of hands, we have seen, took place in the factories and at village meetings, because it was the most simple way in which a vote could be taken. And this method of voting had also its very definite utility at a time when a fierce struggle was being carried on between the working people and their employers. For, though the employers were deprived of all voting rights, there was no means of preventing them, if they so wished, from persuading or bribing certain of those who had full political rights to put up and to support candidates who would be sympathetic to them. In the factories, the office staff had the right to participate in the elections. In outlook they were often close to the employers. If, when the vote was taken, those who were known to be close to the employer were seen to be supporting a particular candidate, this was a warning that the candidate was likely to be a “bosses’ man,” an undesirable candidate! And if this was true of the town, it was still more true of the village, where the petty employer, the local usurer, the “kulak,” often had many people over whom he could exert influence. The “kulak vote” could be detected at an open meeting, which meant that the rest of the people were warned where lay the interests of property.
In the U.S.S.R. to-day, now that there is no longer an employing class at all, the system of open voting by show of hands no longer has the positive value which it used to have. At the same time, it still retains those negative features which it has always had, and which centre on the fact that, if candidates know who votes for whom, the way is open for various methods of personal pressure and persuasion, even in the conditions of Socialist society. Even in the U.S.S.R. to-day there may be people who are not above cadging for votes. But these people are disarmed if there is secret ballot. So we find the introduction of secret ballot in the new Constitution.
We come now to the change which has perhaps aroused the greatest comment outside the Soviet Union. It has even been suggested that the replacing of indirect election by direct election means the end of all that was essential in the Soviet system! Up to the present the structure of the Soviet State has been modelled on the lines of a working-class organization. Now, it appears, it is to be reconstructed along the lines of a capitalist republic. Is not this a retreat from the essentials of the Soviet system?
It should first be said quite emphatically that never, at any time, has particular stress been laid, inside the U.S.S.R., on the structure of the Soviet State as being something permanent and unalterable. The point that has been emphasized, again and again, is the fact that power in the Soviet State is in the hands of the working population. And, as we have seen in Part I, there is no tendency at the present time to make this power of the workers any less effective than it has hitherto been. As far as the structure of the State is concerned, this has always been regarded as something which would be altered to suit changing circumstances, and so, as early, as 1917, we find Lenin writing these words: “The transition from capitalism to Communism will certainly bring a great variety and abundance of political forms, but the essence will inevitably be only one: the dictatorship of the proletariat.” And, as we saw in our short Introduction, these words simply mean that the Government shall be in the hands of the urban and rural workers, combined with the poorer peasantry; that is, to-day, the whole population of workers, collective farmers, and small individual producers.
When we examined the formation of the Soviet State we saw that it was never built up according to a preconceived plan, but grew up in the way in which, in their struggle for better conditions, the working people happened to build it. It naturally took the form of an ordinary working-class organization, with authority centred in a Congress, and an Executive Committee between Congresses. Such a system, as has already been pointed out, is economical; because many people can attend a Congress that lasts a few days who, because they are working as producers, could not sit for a great part of the year on a more permanent body. On the other hand, however, every organization which is governed by periodical congresses, and by an executive committee between these congresses, is in danger of an isolation of the executive committee at the top from the membership at the bottom.
If we examine the development of the Congresses of Soviets of the Russian Soviet Republic, we find that at first they were called very often, four being held in 1918 alone; whereas they were later held only once a year. As far as concerns the U.S.S.R., we find that the first and second Congresses met in 1922 and 1924, three more were held before the end of 1929, the sixth in 1931, the seventh in 1935, and the eighth, to deal exclusively with the amendment of the Constitution, in 1936. Thus there has been a tendency, with the passage of time, for rather greater periods to elapse between the Congresses, and for more time to be spent between them on carrying out the policy which they have decided upon.
This tendency, at first sight, might seem alarming to the democrat. But it is in fact an inevitable tendency in a community in which the problems of Government are becoming increasingly bound up with the day-to-day management of affairs, and less and less a matter of deciding general principles. In all working-class organizations the function of a congress is to establish the general principles on which the organization is to work. The principles having been decided, the delegates return to their localities, and it is for the executive committee to see that they are carried out. Congresses, because of their very nature, are unable to exercise a detailed control of day-to-day work, for they only meet for short periods, whereas the work of any organization or government goes on continuously. It follows from this that the more the work of government becomes the detailed carrying out of a generally agreed policy, the less work is there for a congress to do; and the greater the need for some more permanent executive body directly controlling the activities of the various organs of administration.
That is why, in the history of the Soviet State, we find that at first the Congresses of Soviets met frequently, and, later on, less often. At first there were numerous questions of principle to be settled—the rights of the working people as against those of the employers, the organization of defense by arming the people, the position of the Soviet State as regards the rights of nationalities ; all these matters had to be decided in principle. After 1922, with the defeat of the armed intervention, the question of economic development became the main problem. When, in 1928 and 1929, it was decided finally to eliminate capitalism from the countryside and to launch a general plan of economic development to cover the whole life of the country, a final question of principle was decided. It now had to be worked out.
The weakness of the Congress of Soviets as a means of effectively controlling the day-to-day activity of the many organs of Government has been well expressed by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in Soviet Communism. They describe the All-Union Congress of Soviets in these terms: “This huge assembly, made up of delegates of scores of races speaking different tongues, might meet only for a week or so and then ‘surrender their mandates,’ and do not even know in advance each other’s names, cannot, of course, develop the corporate life of a Parliament, or deal adequately with the details of legislation or administration. The Congress has been described, in fact, as little better than a picturesque ‘biennial picnic’ in Moscow for locally elected visitors from all parts of the U.S.S.R., whose expenses are provided from U.S.S.R. funds. Even if this were true, it would not imply that the Congress is of no political importance. . . . The mere fact that no delegate is ’denied the floor,’ even if there is no effective voting, makes so representative a gathering of real political importance” (p. 83).
In these words Sidney and Beatrice Webb make crystal clear, at the present stage of Soviet development, when the basic questions of principle are to-day settled and opening Congresses to discuss matters of principle are no longer required, the need for some more permanent body, having a “corporate life,” and dealing with the day-to-day details of legislation and administration. What is required is a representative body which sits for longer periods, and which has direct contact with those people whose interests it represents. This is the new form of supreme authority which has been set up by the Constitution of 1936.
Instead of a Congress of delegates electing an Executive Committee, the supreme authority of every territory in the U.S.S.R. will now be a directly elected Supreme Soviet or Council. The citizens will directly elect their deputies not only to the local Soviet, but to the provincial and district Soviets, to the Supreme Council of their Republic, and to the Supreme Council of the U.S.S.R., which will replace the Congress of Soviets and the Central Executive Committee.
At the same time, in the Government of the U.S.S.R. the two Councils, formerly parts of the Central Executive Committee, will remain. The Council of the Union will consist of delegates, each of whom represents 300,000 inhabitants, from all over the U.S.S.R. The Council of Nationalities will consist of the same number of delegates as the Council of the Union, directly elected by the population in such a way that there will be an equal number of delegates from each main national republic of the Union, and smaller numbers of delegates from each of the smaller republics within them and other smaller national territories. In this way there is a “two-chamber” system, in which each chamber has absolutely equal powers in every respect, one chamber representing the people as a whole, the other representing the people organized as equal nations.
According to the new Constitution, then, the supreme authority of the U.S.S.R. will be directly responsible to the people as individuals, and to the people as nations. The Supreme Council will sit for about four months each year, and, between sessions, its elected Presidium will exercise very limited powers in its absence. Such a matter of importance to the people as the declaration of war, a matter which is usually in the hands of the “cabinets” of other countries, can now only be decided by the directly elected Supreme Council of the U.S.S.R. However, an exception is made in the case of honoring treaties of mutual assistance, which the Presidium may fulfill without calling a session of the Supreme Council.
Should a situation arise in which the two chambers of the Soviet Government cannot agree, there is provision for the setting up of a joint conciliation committee. If this is ineffective, then the matter can only be referred to the whole country for decision, by means of new elections. If, after that, a majority in the Council of Nationalities and a majority in the Council of the Union disagreed, the contentious piece of legislation would have to be buried! It is hard to imagine, however, at the present time, so serious a dispute arising between the two Councils of the Soviet Government. On what could the representatives of the nations of the Union so disagree with the representatives of the people as a whole as to necessitate a new election? Perhaps small disagreements may arise as to the placing of new industries: shall they be on the territory of the Russian Soviet Republic, or in the smaller republics of the Union? Or a budgetary question might arise: the Russians in the Council of the Union, representing a majority of the population of the U.S.S.R., might want more centralization of funds in the Commissariat of Finance of the U.S.S.R. The smaller republics might oppose this, and turn down such a proposition in the Council of Nationalities. But could such a dispute prove to be irreconcilable without a new election? This seems unlikely, so that the provisions for such a dispute, while necessary on paper, may never actually have to be applied.
The last section of the new Constitution which is of interest here is that which deals with the Rights and Obligations of Citizens. The striking feature of this chapter is the small number of obligations, and the large number of rights, of the Soviet citizen.
“Work in the U.S.S.R. is the obligation of each citizen capable of working, according to the principle; ‘He who does not work shall not eat.’ In the U.S.S.R. the principle of Socialism is being realized: ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his work.’” Further, every Soviet citizen must abide by the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. and obey its laws. Finally, every citizen is under the obligation to defend the U.S.S.R.
To the working man and woman in other countries these obligations of citizens will not seem unduly arduous. To those who live on rent and interest, however, who spend their lives on the Lido and the Riviera, and appear regularly each year at Ascot and spend thousands of pounds during each “season” in London—to these, and to poorer people who imitate them in a smaller way, the idea that work should be an obligation on all may well seem an unjustifiable interference with individual liberty. But to such people, for this very reason, the dictatorship of the proletariat must inevitably be distasteful.
The Soviet State imposes the obligation to work. But it makes it possible to fulfill this obligation by granting the right to work to all citizens. This right, until 1931, could not have appeared in the Constitution of the U.S.S.R., for, until then, the Soviet State had still to face the problem of unemployment. To-day, as a result of the replacing of capitalist by Socialist production, economic crises have been made impossible in the U.S.S.R. Production is planned for use, and the only brake on increasing production is the number of people available for work. It can never be to the interest of the Soviet State to allow people to be out of work, for by employing them the general welfare must necessarily be increased.
Work without leisure is a doubtful blessing. So, by the guarantee of leisure, the new Soviet Constitution ensures that work shall not be excessive. The seven-hour day in practically the whole of industry, and paid holidays for all workers, make this right a reality at the present time. But work and leisure are not enough. In addition, the worker wants security. And this, too, is guaranteed in the new Soviet Constitution by a social insurance system which pays wages during illness, and pensions at sixty for men, fifty-five for women, and at an earlier age in dangerous occupations or in cases of invalidity. The control of the social insurance funds, as we have seen, is in the hands of the people’s own elected representatives in the trade unions. Further rights, the enjoyment of which has been fully described in earlier chapters, are national equality, sex equality, and education. All these things, guaranteed in the new Constitution of the U.S.S.R., are not promises for some distant future, but accomplished facts.
In the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. as adopted in 1924 a special chapter was devoted to the United State Political Department, or O.G.P.U., an organization which was created “for the purpose of combining the revolutionary efforts of the United Republics to combat political and economic counter-revolution, espionage, and banditry.” In the new Constitution no mention is made of this organization, now incorporated in the Commissariat of Home Affairs. On the other hand, provisions are included which provide for the inviolability of the person and the home, and for the secrecy of correspondence. This does not mean, of course, that at a time when certain of the most aggressively inclined Fascist States are openly preparing for an attack on the U.S.S.R., and are undoubtedly sending their agents there to prepare the way for armies at a later date, they will meet with no resistance. But whereas in 1924 one of the primary tasks of the united Government was to defend the Union against capitalist influences, both inside and outside the country, to-day the internal struggle is no longer of such importance. On the other hand, however, defense against foreign aggression is even more important than before. Hence a Commissariat of Defense Industries has been set up in the new Constitution of 1936.
In concluding this chapter, two general points should be mentioned. First, it has been said in many quarters that the new Constitution of the U.S.S.R. represents a “weakening” of the dictatorship of the proletariat; that this dictatorship is now coming to an end. Such a view can only arise as a result of a misunderstanding of the term “dictatorship of the proletariat.” In our Introduction we showed how the Soviet State was set up to ensure the power of the working people of town and village—that is, the power of the vast majority of the population. This power was guaranteed by giving unprecedented democratic rights to the vast majority, while the rights of the small minority of employers were ruthlessly curtailed.
It is this form of government which is termed the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” But if this is what the term means, then the new Constitution, which reflects the complete extinction of the employing class, can only be termed a strengthening of this “dictatorship,” not its weakening. For to strengthen the democracy of the working people, now the whole population, is synonymous with strengthening the “dictatorship of the proletariat”—democracy for the whole working population.
And the second point is this. Throughout Part I there were described institutions and customs, methods of discussion and of government, which are hardly referred to at all in the Constitution, either before 1936 or after. Similarly, when we discussed the system of election, the part played by section workers in the Soviets and by public discussion, we were describing features of Soviet procedure which are not included in any Constitution. In all that we say and read about the Soviet Constitution, therefore, the following words of the Webbs must be seriously borne in mind: “In the Soviet Union, what the Western jurist is tempted to regard as the constitutional structure, namely, the pyramid of Soviets, is plainly only a fragment of it, and, as some may say, not the most important fragment. Whether by statutory enactment or accepted practice, the constitution of the U.S.S.R. provides for the active participation of the people in the work of government in more than one way” (p. 3).
The fact that the Soviet Constitution does not cover every aspect of the work of government is not a feature that distinguishes it from the Constitutions of other countries. In no capitalist country does the Constitution express the relationship between the Treasury and the big bankers, or the War Ministry and the armament firms; and yet we know that the latter play an important part in molding Government decisions. Similarly, in Britain, an ordinary text-book description of the system of government does not usually explain how it is that only “public schoolboys” find their way to the higher posts in the Civil Service. In every country there are facts about the control of the Government which are not described in detail in the Constitution or in text-books of political science. The facts in the U.S.S.R. have been explored by us in detail, and we can only conclude in this case that if, on paper, the Soviet system provides for the representation of the people in all organs of government, in practice this representation is far greater than any written Constitution could ever show.