Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Soviet Democracy by Pat Sloan (OCR)
Soviet Democracy by Pat Sloan (OCR)
Soviet Democracy by Pat Sloan (OCR)
Scanned / Transcribed by
The Socialist Truth in Cyprus – London Bureaux
http://www.st‐cyprus.co.uk/intro.htm
http://www.st‐cyprus.co.uk/english/home/index.php
Elektronik Tarama ve Düzenleme;
Kıbrıs’ta Sosyalist Gerçek –Londra Bürosu
http://www.st‐cyprus.co.uk/intro.htm
http://www.st‐cyprus.co.uk/webgazette_tr/index.php
AOVYDOWAC LAIAOS
SOVIET DEMOCRACY
by
PAT SLOAN
LONDON
}
VECTOR GOLLANGZ LTD
1937
|
CONTENTS
ship oe page Q:
Introduction: Democracy and Dictator
243
| 256
XX. Defending and Extending Democracy 274
INTRODUCTION
‘ political economy,’ nearly the whole wealth produc- circle. I was, of course, one of those who longed.to:se
tion the country ” (Soviet Communism, p. 450). the Russian public, as a whole, make its way into
If this description is correct, then the Soviet Union precincts of government, and in 1917 for a short-ti:
would appear to conform to the commonly accepted I had that satisfaction. But even then there was: th
definition of democracy. But Sidney and Beatrice Webb much less definable barrier, though a very real..on
are well-known Socialists, and therefore their descrip- which separated the Russian intelligentsia from: th
tion and conclusions might be prejudiced. It is, there- great mass of the Russian public... . I have to say that
fore, all the more significant that another writer, who in Moscow to-day this frontier seems to have dis-
has never had any sympathy with Socialism, but who appeared altogether, and in my visits to public offices
knew Tsarist Russia, has recently confirmed the and great institutions Government and people were
impression given by the Webbs. This is Sir Bernard of the same stock ”’ (ibid., p. 35).
Pares. The contention of the Webbs, then, that“ the
‘Sir Bernard Pares lived in Tsarist Russia: After the U.S.S.R. is a Government instrumented by all the |
setting up of the Soviet Government in November 1917 adult inhabitants ’? is confirmed by the observations of.
he worked in Russia for the British Government, which Sir Bernard Pares. Both these authorities agree that the ©
spent at that time about £100,000,000 on armed Government of the U.S.S.R. is a Government of the
intervention in the hope of suppressing the Soviets. people. Both agree, then, that the Government of the |
In 1919 Sir Bernard returned to England and set him- U.S.S.R. contains features which we associate, not
self ‘‘ to counter the propaganda for an application of with dictatorship, but with democracy.
the Bolshevist principles and programme in this We are sometimes inclined, I think unwisely, to-
country” by giving “ public lectures in almost every treat democracy and dictatorship as two mutually
county of England” (Moscow Admits a Critic, p. 10). exclusive terms, when in actual fact they may often
Only at the end of 1935 did Sir Bernard Pares again represent two aspects of the same system of govern-
visit Russia, now the largest unit in a Union of Soviet ment. For example, if we turn to the Encyclopedia
Socialist Republics. On his return home he wrote a Britannica, to the article dealing with ‘‘ Democracy,”
little book on his impressions, and in it he asked: “‘ To we read: “ Democracy is that form of government in -
what extent was the Government a foreigner to the which the people rules itself, either directly, as in the
people ? ” small city-states of Greece, or through representatives.”
This is his answer: But the same writer goes on to say this: “ All the |
“In the times of Tsardom I never failed to feel its people in the city-state did not have the right to par-
almost complete isolation. The Ministers of those ticipate in government, but only those who were
times, and more especially in the last days of Tsardom, citizens, in the legal and original sense. Outside this ~
were for the most part obviously haphazard choices charmed circle of the privileged were the slaves, who
from a very narrow and by no means distinguished had no voice whatever in the making of the laws under’.
SOVIET DEMOCRACY DEMOCRACY AND DICTATORSHIP 13
12
which they toiled. They had no political and hardly generally associate with democracy. Can it be that
any civil rights; they were not ‘people.’ Thus the here, too, there is democracy for one section of the
democracy of the Greek city-state was in the strict community, but dictatorship over another ? :
_ sense no democracy at all.” The answer to this question is found in the first Soviet.
The Greek city-state has been cited time and again Constitution of 1918. In this Constitution the purpose.
by historians as the birthplace of democracy. And yet, of the Soviet State was described as being “the _
on reading the Encyclopedia Britannica, we find that in establishment (in the form of a strong Soviet Govern-
fact this -was a democracy only for a “ charmed circle ment) of the dictatorship of the urban and. rural,
of the privileged,” while the slaves, who did the work workers, combined with the poorer peasantry, to.
of the community, “had no voice whatever in the secure ... the abolition of the exploitation of man by.
making of the laws under which they toiled.” man, and the establishment of Socialism.”
The classical example of democracy was, then, a The urban and rural workers, together with the
democracy only for certain people. For others, for those poorer peasantry, made up over 95 per cent of the
who: did. the hard work of the community, it was a population of Russia. So that this “‘ dictatorship ” was
dictatorship. At the very birthplace of democracy itself to be a government by the vast majority of the people
we find that democracy and dictatorship went hand in —those who worked. In this way the Soviet State was
hand as two aspects of the same political system. To the exact opposite of the Greek city-state, in which
refer to the “ democracy ” of the Greek city-state with- those who worked had no say in the government.
out saying for whom this democracy existed is mis- The Soviet State introduced universal suffrage for
leading. To describe the democracy of the Greek city- working citizens, without property or residential quali-
state: without pointing out that it could only exist as a fications, and irrespective of sex, nationality, or religion.
result of the toil of the slaves who “‘ had no political The right to vote and to stand for election was made
and hardly any civil rights ” falsifies the real history available to all such citizens from the age of eighteen
of the origin of democracy. upwards. But those who employed labour for profit were
Democracy, then, from its origin, has not precluded deprived of electoral rights. The Soviet State in this
the simultaneous existence of dictatorship. The essen- way provided a degree of democracy for the working
tial question which must be asked, when social systems people such as they do not enjoy in any other country
appear to include elements both of democracy and even at the present time; but over the employers this
dictatorship, is, “‘ For whom is there democracy ? ” and democratic power. exercised a dictatorship. The small
“Over whom is there a dictatorship ?” circle of the employers of labour had no voice whatever
Let us turn to the modern world. The Soviet Union, in the making of the laws to which they were subject.
we have said, is often described as a dictatorship. Yet From its origin the Soviet State consciously embodied
eminent authorities, describing the Soviet system of features of democracy and features of dictatorship. But
government, ascribe to it characteristics which we the democracy was enjoyed by the vast majority ofthe ae
DICTATORSHIP 15. /
DEMOGRACY AND
DEMOGRACY
come from democratic Britain,
14 SOVIET
impresses those who
population, and the dictatorship was over a small there may be something deficient, perhaps,
in our own » f.
minority. At present I do not wish to go into the whys conceptions of democracy. For to us in Brita
in to-day -
and wherefores of this, or into its rights and wrongs, it is hard to reconcile the idea of demo crac y with a.
but I just want to make one point absolutely clear : it is dictatorship against any class, howe ver small such a.
that democracy and dictatorship have never necessarily d
class may be. But perhaps our attit ude to demo cracy
been mutually exclusive terms. To’ speak of ‘* democ- ps we overe stima te the ~~ -
is a little old-fashioned ! Perha
be misleading. in to-day. .°
racy ” without saying for whom may
extent to which democracy exists in Brita
And to refer to dictatorship without specifying who Let us see in Part IIL !.
dictates to whom is also liable to cause misunderstand- But, first of all, let us visit the Soviet
Union as it
building.
ing. exists to-day and see the new life that they are
The Soviet State, set up in October 1917, professed Then let us examine the fram ewor k withi n whic h this.
to give full democratic rights to the vast majority
of ewor k whic h itself has to
new life is developing, a fram :
the people. Did it do this ? In Part I of this book I shall be altered as life demands. Then, when we know the - me
give my answer to this question by describing the country, ee
Soviet Union, let us come back to our own
organisation of Soviet life as I have lived it, from 1931 to make comparisons, and to draw conc lusi ons !
to 1936. Soviet life, to one who has been brought up in
a country where the factories and the land, the mines
and the shops, are private property, is a new life, a
life which differs in a vast number of ways from that
find
of-other countries. And; having lived this life, I
I can only agree with the Webbs and with Sir Bernard
Pares, and refer to it as essentially democratic. :
it
~ But-df this life is so different, what is it that makes
differ? In what way is the Soviet State organised so
that it can give, to visitors from democratic Britain, this
impression of unity between Government and people,
of real democracy? In Part II we shall see how the
Soviet State came into existence, we shall analyse its
structure, and note how it has developed together with
changes in social relationships within the country.
The new life described in Part I is the essential product
of the new State described in Part II.
But if the Soviet State has provided democracy for
the whole people, and democracy of a kind which even
TAIT MON V
I Lauvd
CHAPTER J]
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY ©
deal with the first of these features of Soviet education. I reme mber how,”
without the greatest difficulties.
In the next chapter we shall consider the second. and 1934, there was the most© acute
between 1931
Soviet Government, tional in--
A first decree of the Russian shortage of accommodation for all educa
adopted shortly after the seizure of power in I9!7, ving age was being..
stitutions. In the towns the school-lea
dealt with education: “‘ Every genuinely democratic rapidly raised to seventeen and eight een. But there
power must, in the domain of education, in a country were not enough schools: so the schoo l build ings were”
and illiteracy reign supreme, make ger ones in the .
where ignorance used by two shifis of children, the youn sa
it And.
its first aim the struggle against this darkness .. . first half of the day, the older ones in the later half. US EES:
ns were con-
as far as the higher educational institutio
tuition
must introduce universal, obligatory, and free
R. office s of 0
cerned, I have taught university classes in the
for all.” And, in the new Constitution of the U.S.S.
the Right to in the evening
adopted in December 1936, we find
by State departments from six o’clock
Education being guaranteed to every citizen atio n avail-
of onwards because there was DO accommod ne BES
‘© universal compulsory elementary educat ion, free
able earlier in the day.
charge, including higher education, by a system of State Moscow. 7
But that difficulty was temporary. In 1935 oe
ts in 1936.
stipends for the overwhelming majority of studen built over 7o new schools, and another
120 in
higher schools, instruction in schools in the native Similar
The shift system has now been abolished.
language, and organisation of free vocational, technical, programmes of school-building in other centr es have
es, y
and agronomic education for the toilers of the factori put an end to the shift system there also. And to-da
State farms, machine and tractor stations, and
collec- ling from the
in the Soviet towns every child has a schoo
een, while
tive farms.” . age of seven to the age of seventeen or eight
The significance of these two declarations of Soviet kinde rgartens
an increasing number. are attending
educational policy can only be appreciated when the unive rsity or
before they go to school, and attending
certain basic facts are known. In pre-revolutionary they finish.
other higher educational institutions when
Russia well over 80 per cent of the adult population The Soviet educational system is not yet
complete.
could not read or write. To-day the percentage of adult At present every town child has compulso
ry educa tion
In This is
‘lliterates has been reduced to less than to per cent. from the age of seven to the age of seventeen.
the years before the Revolution the number
of children In the villa ges
an achievement of the past few years.
fourt een,
attending school was round about 8 million, of whom
the school-leaving age is still round about
only half a million received any secondary education. but certain villages have already advanced
ahead of
By 1934 the number of children attending school
had ime home of |
of this. In Yasnaya Polyana, the one-t
reached 25 million—more than half the popula tion in his memo ry.
on- Tolstoi, a school has been established
the pre-re voluti children up
Great Britain, and over three times which provides secondary education for the
ary figure. By the end of 1937 the number of childr
en in the Ukraine, .
to the age of seventeen. In Chapaevka,
attending school is planned to reach 30 million.
, SOVIET DEMOGRAQY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY ‘23
22
the collective farm has provided the necessary funds for reading that, in certain. villages where the school-.
the raising of the school-leaving age to seventeen. In leaving age was being raised, those who had left school... ~
the latter case all the children of the village continue at fourteen, three or four years before, were wanting to
their schooling to seventeen, and some children from continue their education and to obtain the secondary
education ‘which had just been introduced. So the...
neighbouring villages also obtain a secondary education
schools readmitted these students, who were now... _
there. J mention these two villages because I happen to — .
have visited them. There is a continually growing able to benefit from the raising of the schoo
number of such village secondary schools. leaving age, though they had left school séveral years
From a Soviet secondary school any pupil who has previously. In these particular villages certain in-
achieved the necessary standard can enter a university. dividuals who had left school at fourteen returned at
And, as a university student, he or she receives a the age of seventeen and eighteen for another. three .
or four years’ study ! :
maintenance allowance from the State while studying.
The Soviet student is paid, and higher education is But that is not all. For the system of adult education
open to all without being a financial burden. All in the U.S.S.R. is to-day so widespread that it is
students who finish a Soviet secondary education have possible for almost every working citizen to qualify, by »
the opportunity, according to their abilities, to proceed means of free evening classes, for entry to the university.
to a higher educational institution. In the cases of older workers, who finished school at
But. all children in the U.S.S.R. do not yet enjoy a fourteen and then had a purely industrial training, itis.
compulsory secondary education. If they finish a village possible to obtain a secondary education free of charge
school at fourteen, they may then go to some industrial at evening classes at their place of work, and then to —
training school in the town, or start to work in the become full-time. university students, drawing the
collective farms. Also, in industry itself, there are many usual State allowance while studying.
workers, many of them still in their twenties, who have I found that many of the students of English whom I
never hada schooling after the age of fourteen. The was teaching in Moscow in 1932 had been recruited in
school-leaving age has been raised very rapidly in the this way. Young peasants from the villages, and young
workers from the factories, who had left school at
past few years, and certain children have finished school
at fourteen only to find that if they had been born two fourteen, had then continued to.study in evening _
years later they would have had the opportunity to classes, had qualified for entrance to technical schools. _
continue until the age. of seventeen. Have they missed and universities, and were now full-time. students,
training to become teachers. a of
their chance ?
In no country of the world are so many facilities I say that it is possible for “ almost ” every working
available for those who have, for some reason or other, citizen to qualify for a higher education in the U.S.S.R.
missed the opportunity for a secondary school educa- to-day. The word “ almost ” is used because there still .
tion. Some time before I left Moscow I remember are, in certain exceptional cases, technical difficulties
DEMOCRAGY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY
24 SOVIET
which may prevent certain individuals from obtaining ample since the working day averages less than se
the kind of training that they would like. I have in hours throughout Soviet industry—is spent on amat
mind one particular example. This was a young activities such as dramatics, literature, sport, phot
dining-car attendant on the Trans-Siberian Railway. graphy, art, and so on. But these amateur activities a
He was particularly interested in the theatre, and not, as is usual i in other countries, left to the: care:
wanted to become an actor. But since his work was on the local enthusiasts, without professional assistanc
a dining-car, and he was travelling for ten days at a For, in all Soviet amateur activities, the professional
time, and then having several days off, he was not in a people in that particular sphere render organised assi
position to attend regular evening classes. He had left tance, so that the general level of the amateurs is raised
school at fourteen, and therefore could not, without so as rapidly to approach a professional standard. ~
such. classes, qualify for entrance to one of the dramatic A typical example of this is theatrical work. Practic+:
institutes or universities. Actually, he considered himself ally every industrial enterprise in the U.S.S.R. has its
to be an unfortunate exception to the general Soviet workers’ dramatics circle. Agreements are made
rule that every working person can enter the university. through the trade unions with professional theatres,
So far we have been considering equality of oppor- and these promise to give assistance to such circles in
tunity in the purely educational sphere. But equality .the form of voluntary or paid help by trained actors and
of opportunity in the U.S.S.R. extends far beyond the producers. The result is that the amateur group has
realms of education. the benefit of professional assistance, and can raise its
Perhaps another of the most interesting features of standard of excellence considerably above that which
Soviet life to a foreign visitor is the close link which in this country we term “ amateur,” meaning inferior
exists between all kinds of amateur and professional o “* professional.”
activities. This starts in the school, in the form of an Such an “amateur” dramatics group in the
intimate connection between the children’s studies and US.S.R. may at any time, having reached a certain.
their hobbies. The Soviet schoolchild. has the oppor- standard, be offered by. the authorities the opportunity
tunity, in the school buildings, or in other institutions of taking over a professional theatre as a full-time job.
specially created for the. purpose, of being a young I have been present at a competition of village theatres
naturalist or photographer, scientist, engineer, or in Moscow and seen a performance by a young
inventor, in his or her spare time. Equipment is theatrical group which was certainly up to the best
supplied free of charge, and instructors are available. British repertory standard. The whole company
Many Soviet children to-day go on to the university consisted of young working men and women who: had
to specialise in that very subject which they found to be previously been members of the dramatics club of the
their most interesting hobby when at school. automobile plant in Gorky. They had received profes
In the Soviet factories and collective farms much of sional guidance from the Vachtangov Theatre in
the leisure time of the people—and this leisure time is Moscow, and, at a certain stage, had been. offered -
SOVIET DEMOCRACY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY 27
26
become
facilities by the Commissariat of Education to
; It is not every worker in the Soviet factory or collec-
They now had their tive farm who wants either to go to a university, or to
a full-time theatrical company.
workers convert some amateur activity into a full-time
own theatre in a Russian village. In this way pro-
al actors and fession. There are hundreds of thousands of workers
in the factory had become profession
actresses, through their amateur theatricals.
greatly interested in the particular jobs which they are
- at present doing, but who want advancement to more
Just as in the sphere of the theatre there is an oppor
a profe ssion al, skilled or more responsible branches of the same work
tunity for the ordinary amateur to become
in science. Such advancement is possible in all Soviet enterprises.
so, too, in painting and writing, in sport and
raise a A characteristic
‘A reference to sport in this connection may of every Soviet institution is the
this mean stress which is laid on the desirability for every working
query in the minds of certain readers. Does
sport >? The man and woman
that there is professionalism in Soviet to raise their qualifications at their
facili ties for work. Whether it is a case of teachers in an elementary
answer is that in the U.S.S.R. to-day the
New sports school or university, or workers at machines in a
sportare rapidly growing all over the country.
ctive - factory, or typists in an office, there are always avail-
grounds are being laid out, and factories and colle
com- able the means of further education, through evenin
farms, towns, and villages, have their teams, which
e classes free of charge. And in all this a leading part i
pete against each other in separate matches and leagu
rs. And the played by the best workers in the enterprise, who often
competitions. But these teams require traine
. undertake voluntarily to train other workers ‘up to their
trainers are the “ professionals ” in the Soviet Union
free of own level.
Any Soviet worker can participate in sport
play in their When, in 1935, the coal-miner Stakhanov became
charge. Those who are good enough to
famous all over the world as the young man who in a
town or factory teams have their expenses paid when
wages six-hour shift had doubled output and had at the same
away from home, and draw the equivalent oftheir
train ing. time received a tremendous rise in earnings as a result
from the sports club when away for matches or
beco me many people outside the U.S.S.R. asked the question :
Those who are outstanding at any sport
to other Does this not mean that a new privileged category of
eligible for the whole-tume work of instructor
ur workers will arise, having a monopoly of the jobs which
teams. In this way the road is open for the amate Qt
From the point of view of the ordinary worker this that in the U.S.S.R. to-day there no longer exists that
means that, in every sphere of work, the most highly distinction between “ civil service’ and other occupa-
skilled are willing helpers and trainers. Every working tions which is typical of every other country. The
man and woman has the opportunity to learn to reason for ,this is that since all industry and trade are
improve technique at the job, with the expert assistance in the hands of the State, the relation of the manager
of those who are best at that kind of work. Obviously, of a factory to a factory worker is no different in
such a system is itself dependent on certain economic essentials from that of a director of a State clinic to a
conditions. Leading workers in the U.S.S.R. would not doctor working there, or of a headmaster of a State
be so willing to train others up to their own level of school to one of the teachers. All Soviet citizens are,
efficiency if, as in Britain to-day, they thought they in a sense, civil servants. And it follows from this that
might be replaced by these other workers as soon as the opportunity to rise in any particular occupation to
they had trained them. Full co-operation on the part of the most skilled and most responsible posts means, in
all the skilled workers in a community in training effect, the possibility to rise to the highest posts in the
others to their own level of skill can only be obtained public administration of the country. -
in a society in which there is no unemployment, and . There is a further feature of Soviet administration
where every sort of skilled work is in demand. In the which must here be mentioned. While we have con-
U.S.S.R. there has been no unemployment since 1931, sidered the case of the amateur actor, we have not yet
and there is a demand for every kind of qualified the ‘“‘ amateur’
mentioned: administrator, the volun-
worker. It is in such circumstances that the skilled tary worker in various municipal and State depart-
worker knows that by training others he is not endan-
em
ments, who is an essential part of the Soviet apparatus
gering his own security, and that the community as a of State. Not only is it customary in Soviet elections to re-
cee
whole, and he as a member of it, will gain from a greater turn members to the Soviets, or Councils, in whose hands
supply ofskilled workers and the products of their labour. lies the authority to govern the country ; but, in addition
There still remains one sphere of equality of oppor- to this, itis the usual thing for the electors to nominate
tunity in the U.S.S.R. which has not yet been discussed. further additional representatives to work for the Soviets,
This is public administration. , in their various departments, voluntarily in their spare
In the first Soviet Constitution of 1918 the vast time. In this way voluntary public workers play a con-
majority of the population obtained electora l rights on siderable part in the Soviet health, housing, educational,
a wider scale than have existed at any previous time in and other services; as also in the work of the militia.
Russia or, with the exception of Soviet China, in any In this sphere, as in the sphere of amateur activities
other country to this day. But it would be a great mis- in the factories, such voluntary work is a recruiting-
take to think that, under Soviet conditions, participa- ground for able administrators. The factory workers,
tion in public administration depended simply on the men and women, who in their spare time do good work
electoral rights of the population. It must be realised for the Soviet in one of its departments, may at any
DEMOCRACY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY 31
30 SOVIET
time be called upon to turn such work into a perma- of nationality. In 1918, in the first Soviet Constitution,
nent job, and to transfer from their factory to some it was declared ‘‘ contrary to the fundamental laws of
administrative position in the Soviet for which they the-Republic to institute or tolerate privileges, or any
have shown their aptitude as voluntary workers. prerogative whatever, founded on such grounds, or to
Equality of opportunity in the U.S.S.R., then, may repress national minorities, or in any way to limit their
be said to: exist in education, and in the opportunities rights.”” And, in the new Constitution of 1936, the same.
available both to youth and to adults for obtaining point is stated with even more emphasis: “‘ The equality
education. It-may be said to exist in every profession, of the rights of citizens of the U.S.S.R., irrespective of
through the availability of the necessary training their nationality or race; in all fields of economic, State,
facilities for all citizens to improve their skill. In the cultural, social, and political life, is an irrevocable law.
sphere of administration there are paths to the leading. “‘ Any direct or indirect restriction of these rights, or
administrative positions, through election, through conversely, the establishment of direct or indirect
promotion, and by way of voluntary work in the var- privileges for citizens on account of the race or nation-
ious administrative bodies of the State. And, in cases . ality to which they belong, as well as any propagation
where’ working people show ability at some amateur of racial or national exceptionalism or hatred and con-
activity, there is the opportunity to turn their amateur ' tempt, is punishable by law.”
activity into a profession. — a, Citizens of every nationality are treated as equals.
Such a system not only gives every citizen an oppor- A Tartar may live and work in his own republic, or he
tunity to qualify for every occupation, but the “ square may choose to live and work in one or other of the
pegs in the round holes” can re-qualify for some other national republics of the Union, but wherever he goes
occupation if an earlier choice has proved unsuitable. he will have the same treatment as everyone else.
This: system, the result of nineteen years’ develop- Further, as far as education is concerned, every citizen.
ment, is still far from complete. There are still a few - has the right to education in his own language, pro-
dining-car attendants who would like to become actors vided only that there are sufficient fellow-nationals in
but who, because of the mobile location of their present the locality to make such education practicable in an
jobs; cannot immediately qualify for the other occupa- organised way. In the U.S.S.R. no student is forced, as oe
tion. But already the inequalities of opportunity are the students are compelled, for example, in Wales to-day, = s -
exceptions, whereas elsewhere they are still the rule. to sit for examinations in their own national universities
In conclusion, a word must be said on two kinds of in a: language which is strange to them. The advantage,
equality which have existed since the Soviet State of this'may not easily be appreciated by Englishmen,
was set up, and which further contribute to make but I:-have known plenty of students in North Wales, — oo = :
equality of opportunity effective for all citizens. many of whom found the English language extremely.
‘First, it must be realised that in the U.S.S.R. to-day difficult, who will appreciate what this means to the
every citizen enjoys the rights of citizenship irrespective . students:of all the nations of the Soviet Union.
SOVIET DEMOGRAGY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY 33
32
The effect of the Soviet attitude to nationality has is just a German or Hungarian, American or English-
been ‘a vast increase in. national pride throughout man, like everybody else. It is only in the U.S.S.R.
that this feeling no longer exists. Low portrays the
Soviet territory at the same time as national antagon-
ism has been eliminated. Particularly does this show elimination, of the Jewish problem as the negation of
itself among the Jewish population, who were as ruth- nationality, whereas in fact it lies in the full expression
lessly persecuted under Tsarism as they are in Nazi of national consciousness and the most extensive
Germany to-day. In Tsarist Russia they did not have development of national pride.
their own territory. To-day, to give them complete Finally, equality of opportunity between the. sexes
equality with other nationalities, the Soviet Govern- in the U.S.S.R. must be mentioned. You do not hear in
ment has put Birobidjan at their disposal, and Jews, the U.S.S.R. references to ‘‘ women’s jobs ” as opposed
like citizens of all other nationalities of the Union, may to the jobs of men. Admission to all occupations is
settle in their own national territory or elsewhere, based on merit, irrespective of sex, and payment in all
according to choice.
occupations is also based on merit, irrespective of sex.
In his Russian Sketchbook, David Low has a cartoon And, in so far as the réle of women in society is com-
plicated by their functions as mothers, this side of
which is supposed ‘to illustrate the Soviet solution of the
Jewish problem. A foreigner, obviously Mr. Low him- their lives is being increasingly cared for by the rapid
self, is. interviewing a group of men with very large development of social insurance and communai services.
noses. Their nationality cannot be doubted. The For-. Equality of opportunity in the U.S.S.R., then, exists
irrespective of the nationality or the sex of citizens. It
eign Enquirer asks : “‘ How do the Jews get on?” and
exists in education, in every occupation, and in oppor-
a Comrade replies: “Well, you see, there aren’t Jews
here any more. Jews is just Russians like ourthelvth.”
tunities to change from one occupation to another. To
I quote this because as a rule Low showed very say that exceptions do not occur would be fantastic,
great insight into Soviet life. But this cartoon is an ex- but the really significant feature of equality of oppor-
ception, for in this portrayal of the Soviet solution of tunity in the U.S.S.R. to-day is that these words no
the Jewish problem Low shows precisely the reverse of longer express something to be vaguely attained at
the truth. Contrary to Low’s conception, the U.S.S.R.
some future date, but a fact of Soviet life at the present
time. In the U.S.S.R. every case of absence of equality
is the one country in the world to-day where no Jew
of opportunity is now regarded as an exception, and as
will be found who will not proudly state that he is a
a serious fault in the working of the system. As faults, .
Jew. The Soviet Jew is a Jew and is proud of it, just as
the people combat the existence of such exceptions.
the Soviet Russian is Russian and proud of it. It is not
And so we come to another aspect of Soviet
the Soviet Jew, but the German and the Hungarian,
democracy, the combatfng of faults in the system. How
the American and the English, the Jew of every other
is this done ? We begin to answer this question in the
country of the world outside the U.S.S.R..who, at some"
next chapter.
time or another, feels. it is in his interest to pretend he
Bp
Bs
ES
EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP
while at the same time, as in the earlier decree, the care. Every factory manager was responsible for seeing
unions were still responsible—together with the that the workers had decent living-quarters.
administration, which now represented the State— Some readers, possibly, may think that such an.
for the preservation of labour discipline and the pro- example is ill chosen, only serving to show. the back- _
tection of property. In this way the trade. union com- wardness of Soviet housing. I would draw the attention .
mittee became the officially recognised representative of such readers to a report which appeared in The
body of the workers in a Soviet factory, and, as such, Times of June 24th, 1936, in which the following state~
had the right to participate with the management in ment is made: “ It is estimated that 4,000,000 people
all discussions of policy affecting the lives of the suffer from the bed-bug in London alone”; but the
workers. fact is little known owing to “ the public’s reticence in .
A foreigner, starting to work for the first time in the the matter, and their refusal to admit that bugs were
U.S.S.R., is at once struck by the relations between the in their homes even when they knew of their presence.”
managerial staff and the rank-and-file workers. The So it is not the existence of bed-bugs in the workers’
most significant fact that faces him is that the manager dwellings that distinguishes the U.S.S.R. from Britain,
of a Soviet factory, as part of his duties, is under the or Moscow from London; it is the fact that the Soviet
obligation to improve the general living conditions of factory manager is under a definite obligation to help
the workers, to increase the social amenities attached to exterminate the pest, thus improving the living
to the factory, to provide satisfactory service in the conditions of the workers under his leadership—a duty
restaurant and medical centre, and to see that good not shared by the factory managers of Great Britain, ©
care is given to the workers’ children in nursery and whose responsibility is only to the owners of the
kindergarten. The Soviet factory manager is responsible factories and not to the workers. ,
to the State, not only for raising the output of the This is one example of the responsibility of the Soviet
factory in his charge, and for lowering its costs of factory administration for the welfare of its workers.
production, but for raising the welfare of the workers Here is another. In the autumn of 1932 I travelled in
in his factory, and devoting a considerable amount of the Caucasus with a group of workers on holiday. In
time and energy to this work. the group there were two girls, workers in a chemical
I well remember how, a year or two ago, there took _ factory. At their jobs they had a six-hour day, as their
place in Moscow a conference of “ industrial leaders ” ‘work was considered arduous. They received six
—managers of Soviet factories. One of the subjects of weeks’ holiday on full pay. I was then amazed to hear
discussion was the question of housing. And in this that, in addition to this, they had each received a grant
conference of factory managers it was emphatically from the administration of their factory to help them
stated that it was the duty of every factory manager to to travel during their holiday. Later on, after more =;
take steps to put an end to the existence of bed-bugs in experience, I found that every Soviet organisation has
the dwellings of the workers in the factory under his considerable funds which are used exclusively for the :
48 SOVIET DEMOCRACY THE RIGHTS OF THE WAGE-EARNER 49..°
welfare of the workers, and contributions for holiday product goes to the employer as profit, the workers in
purposes may be made out of such funds. any single enterprise, or in a whole industry, can force
A matter which has some bearing on the relationship the employers to raise their wages or otherwise to im- .
between the workers in a Soviet enterprise and the prove their conditions by direct action. If strikes are. oe TESS
administrative staff is the fact that, on such an admin- successful; wages rise at the expense of profits, which is
istrative staff to-day, the vast majority of people are satisfactory to the workers though unsatisfactory to the OE
themselves workers who have been promoted. A visit employers. When, however, as in the U.S.S.R. to-day;
to any Soviet factory shows that in almost every case the whole of the means of production are owned and
the manager of that factory was once an ordinary controlled by public bodies in the public interest, a.
manual worker, and, very often, was a worker in that strike by the workers in any factory or industry for
same factory. The fact that the personnel of the mana- higher wages can only react to the disadvantage of the
gerial staff is drawn from the rank and file of the workers working population itself. For, by a strike, production
themselves prevents that difference in attitude which is restricted. And this is contrary to the public interest ~~
- arises: when managers and workers are drawn from in a community in which every extra product is re-
different classes in society, each with its own traditions quired and is utilised. A strike, therefore, is to the dis-
and. conventions, and even with separate educational advantage of the workers of the Soviet community as 2 -
systems, as is the case in Britain. a whole.
Just as, under Soviet conditions, factory managers The method of fixing wages by means of strikes ina — 7 - “
are obliged to pay attention to the welfare of the Socialist country is highly undesirable, for it is no
workers as well as to problems of production and costs, longer possible for any workers to raise their wages at ~ ee
it must be pointed out that the Soviet workers are in- the expense of employers’ profits. If, as a result of a.
terested in raising production as well as in increasing strike, higher wages are won, then they are won at the
their immediate welfare. Since 1928 the whole of Soviet expense of the general fund which goes to paying the .
industry has been publicly owned and controlled, and wages of all citizens. If the coal-miners of the U.S.S.R.° oo - _
production has been subject to a general plan for the strike to-day for more wages, they are in fact fighting 0
purpose of meeting the growing needs of the com- to force the Government to give to them what other-
munity. In 1931 unemployment was completely wise it would be dividing up among other workers.) os 7
eliminated, and it has not recurred since. Strikes, then, in such conditions, can only represent.
It is under these conditions that the Soviet workers sectional demands against the whole community, and
find no reason whatever to restrict production. Further, in themselves are contrary to the general. interest
they have definite reasons for increasing production as because they restrict production.
In a diary of a visit of a few weeks’ duration: to 5 the o a - :
rapidly as possible, for this is the only way of raising the
general standard of life. U.S.S.R., Sir Walter Citrine has said that “it was'too
Under capitalism, where part of the value of every much to assume a complete identity ofinterest between. =
50 SOVIET DEMOGRAGQY THE RIGHTS OF THE WAGE-EARNER™.
the director and the workers. The director was. con- increased to 11 million, and was 18 million in: 1934
cerned with efficiency and output, and the worker with No other country can show such figures, and it is absur
the amount he could earn, and the conditions under to suggest that the U.S.S.R. has ever done anythin;
which it was earned” (I Search for Truth in Russia,, but encourage, to the greatest possible extent. th
p- 129). And, in a later passage, he says that “ liberty organisation of the workers in trade unions.
of association: and the right to strike are the essential At the same time, however, as a result of the change
features of legitimate trade unionism ™ (p. 361). in the relations between worker and administratio
It is clear, from’ what has been said here, that Sir. . which have followed the socialisation of industry,.th
Walter’s estimation of the relations between director. position of the trade unions in the Soviet State’ is
and worker in the Soviet factory is based on a lack of certainly different from their position under capitalism,
understanding of the situation. Sir Walter ignores the This matter will concern us more deeply in the follow-
unique fact that the Soviet director, as part of his job, ing chapter.
is responsible for increasing the welfare of the workers. A question which will be in the mind of many readers ES
He ignores the fact that the workers, no longer working is this: If, in the U.S.S.R., production is organised to- ~
for an employer who takes part of their product in the day in the common interest, so that strikes are con-
form of profit, know that everything: they produce is trary to the general interest and so that the aims of s
distributed to the community—that is, to. themselves. factory managers and workers coincide, how do these
Finally, he ignores the also important fact ‘that, under changes show themselves in the organisation of the =
such conditions as these, a strike isan attack by a small _ factory? Is there not a danger that the workers may
minority on the economic resources. of the whole be even worse exploited by the State than they pre-
community; and at the same time, - by holding up. ‘viously were by their private employers } ?
production, reacts to the disadvantage of all\citizens. The answer to this question lies in the organisation
As. to the other matter—freedom of association—no _ of the Soviet factory, and, indeed, of every Soviet i in-
other State ini the world has ever given the: encourage . stitution. And this organisation is very different from
ment to ‘trade unionism which has been given in the the factory under capitalism.
U.S.S.R::We have already seen how the young Soviet No worker in a Soviet factory can go long without
State, in its’first months of existence, made the trade becoming aware of the existence of what is known as._
union committees the official representative bodies of | the “ Triangle,” and he will find that decisions of the
“the workers in all industrial enterprises, with powers of Triangle are made on all kinds of matters which, under
control over the management, This was a tremendous capitalism, would lie within the realm of the employer. oS
stimulus to trade union development, as is shown by and manager and nobody else. What is this “Tri- eee
the figures of trade union membership. In October angle” ?
1917, at the time when the Soviets seized power, there’ — We have already seen how, when the factories of a
were 2 million trade unionists. By 1928 this figure had : Russia were taken over by the Soviet State, their... -
52 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
THE RIGHTS OF THE WAGE-EARNER 53
managers became responsible to the State for the now, to
XV. It is important, however, here and
organisation of production and for improving the wel- taking up a
fare of the workers. We have also seen how the trade state the impression of a foreign worker,
union committee became the official body entitled to position in the Soviet Union for the first time, on this
question. i
represent the workers, and to fight “ bureaucratic per-
versions ” on the part of the management. At.a very In every Soviet enterprise I found that the relation-
early stage in the history of Soviet industry the device ship between fellow workers was a friendly one. The
was evolved of joint discussion between manager and status of the manager was that of a human being like
trade union representative on all important matters every other worker. It was the status of the leading
affecting the welfare of the factory and of its workers. personality in the institution, a fellow-worker but 2
Decisions would be issued over the signature of manager good one, the person most equipped to take the re-
and trade union representative together, showing that sponsibility for running it. In the average Soviet enter-
they had been discussed, both from the point of view prise to-day over 80 per cent of the workers are mem-
of the State and of the workers in the enterprise itself, bers of a trade union. Those who are not members are
before a decision had been reached. usually new arrivals, or people who have lapsed from
But a triangle has three angles, not two. Where is the membership, or in a small minority of cases, individuals
third angie to our triangle ? who have been actually expelled for some offence
_It may surprise British readers to know that, in the against union discipline. The elected representative of
is the supreme authority in every the trade unionists, then, can be taken as being the
Triangle, which
Soviet enterprise, the third angle is the representative most popular figure among the workers of those con-
of a political party. In the Soviet factory the body sidered. suitable effectively to represent their interests.
Now, quite apart from their official position, their
which discusses all questions affecting the interests of
the workers is the Triangle; consisting of the manager, job, or their status as members of the trade union com-
appointed by a State department and responsible to mittee, a certain number of persons are “ Party mem-
it; the representative of the trade union, elected by the bers.” These people are members of the Party, which
workers in the factory, and responsible to them; and a is a voluntary political organisation. In general, I
representative of the ‘‘ Party ”—that is, of the organisa- always found that the Party members tended to be the
tion in the factory of the Bolshevik or Communist most respected workers, whatever their skill or position,
Party of the U.S.S.R. and the Party organisation was looked upon as being a
While it may be clear that the manager represents kind of organised group of leading personalities, of
the State, and that the trade unionist represents the people who were more devoted than the average to
workers in the factory, it may well not be clear to the work of social usefulness. The workers as a whole looked
reader exactly whose interests are represented by the to the Party members for leadership, and, in the
Party. This question will occupy us in detail in Chapter majority of cases, when asked why they were not
themselves “‘in the Party,” the answer was that they
54 SOVIET DEMOCRACY THE RIGHTS OF THE WAGE-EARNER 55
had enough to do already, without taking on extra the U.S.S.R. may take up the matter with the Govern- | : e
responsibilities ! ment, if the dispute reaches that length without a.
I say this now because it is important to realise that settlement being reached. However, under present-
in the Soviet factory the representation of the Party, day , conditions the relations between employing - E
along with administration and trade union, on the organisations and the trade unions are so amicable that
Triangle, is looked upon as something absolutely disputes are not likely to get so far before some sort of |
natural. The Party is considered as a sort of organisa- reasonable settlement is reached.
tion of the best and most responsible citizens, and the When it is realised that both the elected representa a
Triangle thus becomes a body representing the State, tives of the workers and the appointed representatives
the rank-and-file worker, and the organised leadership of the State have the same common aims—to raise the
of the working people as expressed in the Party. general standard of life by increasing production and
It would entirely misrepresent the situation if the the welfare of the workers concerned as rapidly as
impression were given that control by this Triangle was possible—it is clear that major industrial disputes are
the only feature which distinguished the Soviet enter- extremely unlikely to arise.
prise from similar enterprises in other countries. There are disputes of another kind, however, which .
Actually, while the presence of the elected representa- cannot be settled by simple processes of negotiation.
tive of the trade union causes all important decisions to These are disputes in connection with the infringement
be made with the co-operation of the workers’ repre- of the law, as, for example, in cases where factory
sentative, it is possible for disputes to arise between the managers do not enforce the safety measures laid down
different persons composing the Triangle, and differ- by law, or do not pay the correct wages to a discharged
ences may arise between the workers and the ad- worker, and so on. In the case of legal disputes, the
ministration. question can either be referred to a higher authority—
Tn such cases of “ industrial disputes ” in the U.S.S.R. in which case the latter may bring pressure to bear on.
there is an elaborate machinery of negotiation and the factory manager to fulfil his obligations—or, if the
arbitration. Actually, if there is disagreement in the case is in doubt, then it may be taken to the courts for
factory itself, it is usual for the trade union or Party a decision. These courts, as will be shown in Chapter
representatives to take the question to a higher autho- VII, also represent the working people of the country,
rity. If the factory trade union committee cannot and administer the law with a good measure of
obtain satisfaction from the administration, then the working-class common. sense.
matter may be carried to the district committee of the So far we have considered what we may call the
union, which will then negotiate with the. State “ formal ” structure of the administration of a Soviet.
organisation which controls the factory concerned. As factory. But, quite apart from this, there is a wide.
a rwe such matters are settled in this way. But, if range of questions which are decided by the Triangle
necessary, the Central Council of the Trade Unions of not in isolation from the rest of the workers, but:
THE RIGHTS OF THE WAGE-EARNER 57
56 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
Commission, subject to instructions given by the
public discussion with these workers. For example, Government.
every year the manager of a Soviet factory addresses The plan submitted to each separate factory is based
a general meeting of the workers, just as the chairman ~ on the estimated resources and needs of the community
of a British joint-stock company addresses a general as seen by the State Planning Commission. But it may
meeting of the shareholders. At such a meeting the neglect certain local characteristics, or features of the
Soviet manager reports on the past year, and on the particular factory. Therefore a discussion of all such
fulfilment of the plan of production, and of the plan for plans by all the workers in a Soviet factory is considered
improving the general living conditions of the workers. essential. For this purpose there are not only general
This report is followed by a general discussion, in meetings of all workers, but in each workshop discus-
which: every worker can participate, and in which sions take place, and suggestions are made for improving
serious criticisms may be made of the work of indi- the details of the plan.
viduals and groups of individuals, the members of the It may happen; for example, that a certain shop in
administrative staff being not immune from criticism a certain factory has been held up for raw materials
by the rank and file. As a result of such discussions during the past year. When the workers of such a shop
certain workers may be moved to other posts, either point this out in the meeting, they may suggest that, if
upwards or downwards in the scale of responsibilities. only the supply of materials is guaranteed, they will be
The manager of a Soviet factory, in order to fulfil his able to increase output by twice the amount suggested
tasks satisfactorily, must be able, in such meetings, to in the plan. Or, to take another example, the workers
prove his leadership of those working under him. If, of a particular workshop may state that if they could
at such meetings, the workers show that they have no have one more machine of a particular kind, they
faith in their manager, the organisation in charge of would be able to perform a certain process, now per-
the factory will replace him. For a Soviet factory formed by six men, with the use of only one worker.
director must be able to lead; he must be recognised as The remaining five would then be available for work
the best representative of all the workers in the factory, where there is at present a shortage of labour, and thus
or the rank and file will be against him, and there will output would be considerably raised.
be continual friction, resulting in inefficiency. Such general discussions, in which the plan is con-
The manager’s report on past activity is followed by sidered in detail by all those whose work it is to carry it
an outline of the plan for the coming year. This plan is . out, are a feature of all Soviet industry. But discussion
submitted to the manager of the factory from above, of this kind is not all, for throughout the year meetings
fromthe: trust or the local authority to which the are held, often.monthly, to check. up how the plan,
factory.is responsible. This plan forms part of a general once adopted, is being fulfilled.
plan for:the industry concerned, and for the locality There are many working people who, though not
where the factory is placed, and such plans are vociferous at meetings, have opinions to which they
drawn up: from year to year by the State Planning
58 SOVIET DEMOCRAGY THE RIGHTS OF THE WAGE-EARNER 59
want to give expression. Such workers might say in We are beginning to find that, in the Soviet factory,
writing what they would not say in meetings. And we in whatever direction we turn, we cannot discuss the
find that in every Soviet enterprise there exists a rights of the workers without coming up against the
“* Press,” in order that such people may air their views. activities of the trade union committee. The trade
Few visitors to the Soviet Union return without union representative sits with the manager; the trade
mentioning the wall-newspaper, prominent in every union committee organises mass meetings to discuss the
Soviet organisation, from the Government offices on work of the factory ; it controls the Press. The conditions
the Red Square to the workshop in the factory, the of the Soviet wage-earner cannot be considered without,
classroom in the school, and the cow-shed in the all the time, references being made to the trade unions.
collective farm. The wall-newspaper has already For this reason any further discussion of the rights of the
been mentioned in our discussion of education. The Soviet wage-earner brings us to a consideration of the
young worker leaves school, having written in the wall- activities of the trade unions in the U.S.S.R.
newspaper there, to work in a Soviet enterprise, where Norsg.—-Since going to press a meeting of the Central Committee of
again the wall-newspaper is a means of expression. the Communist Party of the U.8.8.R. has been held, at which questions
were discussed arising out of the new Constitution. At this meeting the
And from week to week, and month to month, the work of the factory Triangles was severely criticised as limiting demo-
newspaper on the wall of the Soviet factory’s workshops cracy at the present time. Zhdanov referred to them as tending to
become a “‘ family compact, a conspiracy to make it more difficult to
is a thermometer of public opinion, in which the — criticise. And once these three are in agreement, just go and try to
workers express their views of their own work, of the criticise them}”
While, from the standpoint of the worker under capitalism, a situa-
work of other people, and in which they do not neglect tion in which the elected trade union representative participates in
to criticise managers and administrators if they feel running the factory is a giant stride forward, already in the U.S.S.R.
they are looking for more effective means of democratic control and
that their administration is at fault. criticism. We may expect modifications in the future which will lead to
Now who, it may be asked, edits these wall-newspapers greater independence of administration, party, and trade union leader-
ship, combined with still greater discussion of policy throughout. the
in the Soviet factory? Is it the manager ? Or perhaps rank and file of the party and trade union organisations.
the Communist Party ? Or is it just an ordinary working
man or woman?
The answer is that the editor of the wall-newspaper
in a Soviet factory is appointed by the elected trade
union committee, and is responsible to that committee.
The wall-newspaper is an organ of the workers, through
their trade union. Similarly, it may be asked who
organises these meetings of the workers, to discuss the
plans of production, and to watch over their fulfilment.
Again the answer is: The trade union committee is
responsible for organising these meetings.
L
THE POWER OF THE TRADE UNIONS Or...
wages then rose considerably above those of the underlying such wage-scales are determined by the
technical and’ managerial staff |! This attitude was also central committees of the unions in the various in-
attacked in the Press, and the Stakhanov movement dustries, in co-operation with the corresponding
has spread throughout the country. administrative State organisation. The details, with
The Stakhanov movement, and the. publicity and adjustments for local conditions, are worked out in
encouragement given. to Stakhanov and his followers, each enterprise separately. In this way, once a year at
stimulates every worker, however unskilled, to become least, every working man or woman, on every job, has
a rationaliser, an organiser of his or her own labour. the chance to participate in a general discussion of
In this way every worker feels encouraged to utilise the existing wage-rates. These are reviewed from
brain. as well as hand. Large numbers of workers be- top to bottom, and every worker has the oppor-~
come more skilled and earn higher wages. There is a tunity to discuss the wage he is getting. At such dis-
general rise in both material and cultural standards as cussions every anomaly is considered, so that the workers
a result. Further, the leading Stakhanov workers come to a general agreement as to what rate of wages
themselves are asked to become teachers of their is fair. The collective agreement is drawn up on the
methods. Stakhanov has been invited back to his basis of such discussions. The result. is that, while
native village, to use his organising power to raise wages vary considerably, everyone knows the reason for
production in the collective farm. He also spends much each particular wage. They know, therefore, how they
time visiting different coal-mines, teaching the workers can raise their own earnings; and in our discussion of
there how to reorganise their work for greater efficiency. equality of opportunity we have already seen that there
A rank-and-file miner has become a technical expert is a chance for practically all workers to raise their
and an engineer. And this is happening all the time in ' qualifications if they wish to do so.
the Soviet Union to-day, affecting hundreds of thou- But if earnings are unequal, some must live better
sands of workers. : than others. Is this Socialism ? And, again, itis said that
It has been mentioned that the Stakhanov ite workers in the U.S.S.R. people may save, and that interest is
raised their wages as a result of their greater output. actually paid by the State on savings, is this so? and
How are wages paid in the U.S.S.R. ? The answer is: may not a leisured class arise in the future as a result ?
Democratically, on the general principle, “To each As far as saving is concerned, to take the latter
according to his work.” question first, the Soviet Government actually paid
' Every year, in every Soviet enterprise, a * collective interest on savings, at the rate of 7 and 8 per cent until
agreement ” is signed between the trade union and the 936. This was done during a period when every effort
administration. This agreement states the obligations was being made throughout the country to build up
of the administration towards the workers in the form the means of production. During such a period every
of cultural and other services, and also includes detailed oluntary. economy in consumption was of value to the
wage-scales for the enterprise. The general principles community, for it enabled more resources to. be
68 SOVIET DEMOCRACY THE POWER OF THE TRADE UNIONS 69
devoted to production. During the year 1936, however, certain skilled workers were paid less than unskilled,
by Government decree, the rate of interest was halved and good workers received no encouragement for their
overnight. Savings had been increasing, and the urgency efforts. For that reason, during the first Five Year
to encourage economy in consumption was declining. Plan, stress was laid on the need to work out rational
Tn the future, when the urgency to expand the means wage-scales in all industries.
of production has fallen still further as compared with Is this Socialism? Karl Marx, the founder of the
consumers’ goods, a further decree will abolish interest Communist Movement, considered that unequal earn-
entirely, ings would be an essential feature of the first stage of
Interest, in the Soviet State, is a purely temporary Communist society. In 1875 he wrote that “as i
phenomenon. In no way do the people who receive emerges from capitalist society, which is thus tainted eco-
interest. thereby control the general planning of the nomically, morally, and intellectually with the heredi-
economic life of the country. They are not employers, tary diseases of the old society from whose womb it is
and-they cannot decide what shall be produced or who emerging,” individuals will have to receive from society
shall:.work, and under what conditions. They do not shares in the total product according to their work.
participate in planning the economic life of the country “But one man will excel another physically or
except as workers and wage-earners. And, as will be intellectually, and so contributes in the same time more
seen later; they have no political rights whatever, labour, or can labour for a longer time.” Already,
except as workers. Further, it is the law of the U.S.S.R. however, this first stage of Communism “ recognises
that. “work is an obligation on all citizens.” So it is no class differences, because every worker ranks as a
illegal. for them to become a leisured section of the worker like his fellows, but it tacitly recognises unequal
community. individual endowment, and thus capacity for produc-
- And-now as to the question of unequal earnings. tion, as natural privileges.” As soon as the means of
This inequality is a feature of Soviet society which has production have been taken out of the hands of private
a definite and immediate purpose. This purpose is to employers, and are socially controlled by public
achieve the greatest possible development of the forces organisations, whether the State, local authorities, or
of production as the only means of raising the general co-operatives, we have Socialism. Under this Socialist
standard: of life. And, right from the time of the system all are workers, whether factory managers or
Revolution, unequal wages have been paid in order to unskilled labourers. But each earns according to his
give the greatest stimulus to the best work. It is some- work, the rates of wages being fixed by the people
times stated that the Soviet Union has “‘ returned to” themselves in the collective agreements between their
unequal wages comparatively recently. This is not true. trade unions and the employing organisations.
Piece-wages have been paid since the Revolution; but, The fact that wages are not equal in the Soviet
especially during the first Five Year Plan, there were a Union to-day must on no account be taken to imply
number of serious anomalies in wage-rates, so that that the workers do not receive more according to their
70 SOVIET DEMOCRACY THE POWER OF THE TRADE UNIONS 71
needs than anywhere else. For, as compared with other work of assisting those who are ill, it is also the work of
countries in the world, the Soviet worker already such a delegate, representing the trade union, to pre-
receives many things according to his need. For ex- | vent malingering. If a worker is off work through a
ample, in the case of housing, rent is charged at street accident, and the insurance delegate finds that
approximately 10 per cent of earnings, so that he who drunkenness was the cause, then that case will not
earns most pays most. Similarly, when a worker is: receive great sympathy, and part of the insurance
away from work owing to sickness, or because it is money may, in such a case, be withheld. Such a worker,
necessary to care for another sick person in the family, of course, may appeal to the general meeting of the
wages are paid out of the social insurance fund. Wages union, but his claim in such a case will probably not
are paid: to women for two months before and two receive much sympathy.
months after childbirth, though they are not called The first decree of the Soviet Government dealing
upon to work during this period. And if, by doctor’s with social insurance was passed in 1917. All contribu-
orders, they must cease work sooner or return later, tions to the social insurance fund were to be paid by
then. they are relieved of work on full pay for a still the employers, and no contributions were to be levied
longer period. Accommodation for children in nurseries from the workers. Where the State was the employer,
and kindergartens, and meals for children at schools, it was responsible for making the necessary contribu-
are provided at prices which vary according to the tions. Benefit for absence from work through sickness or
means of the parents. Again, at holiday time, workers involuntary unemployment was to be at approximately
are given assistance, both by the factory administra- average wages. The decree provided for “complete —
. tions and by the trade unions, to enable them to have workers’ self-government of all insurance institutions.”
the best kind of holiday, both as recreation and for the The control of social insurance until 1933 was in the
benefit of their health. hands of the Commissariat of Labour, the department
The administering of social insurance, a vast task of State most able to deal with it. Then, in 1933, it was
which affects the lives of over 20 million wage-earners, handed over completely to the trade unions, together
is completely in the hands of the Soviet trade unions. with the work of factory inspection and the enforcing
In every factory, and in every workshop, a member of of the laws relating to the protection of labour. Sir
the union has the “social work” of “insurance Walter Citrine, commenting on this growth in the
delegate,” and is responsible for visiting those who are power of the trade unions, remarks that they “ were
ill, for seeing that they receive their insurance money, not comparable to any other trade unions in the world.
and, wherever necessary, for ensuring that extra help They were;so far as I could see, entrusted with func-
is obtained from the administration and from the social tions which in other countries were carried out by the
insurance funds. In needy cases it is the duty of this State itself. They were, in fact, State organisations, and
comrade to obtain passes for rest-homes and sanatoria. I could not see that they had really any separate
While such an insurance delegate is charged with the existence” (op. cit., P. 185).
72 SOVIET DEMOCRACY POWER OF THE TRADE UNIONS 73
THE
Sidney and Beatrice Webb, on the other hand, after and not the State, should control such matters ? Would
an exhaustive study of the internal administration of | it be to the benefit of the workers—75 per cent of the
the U.S.S.R. such as Sir Walter Citrine could not begin population—or to their disadvantage, if their elected
to attempt in his tour of a few weeks, write as follows trade union representatives administered the social
on this matter: “‘ This vast addition to the work and insurance system in Britain ?
influence of the Soviet trade unions has been curiously The experience of the U.S.5.R. has shown that, even
misunderstood in some quarters, as a degradation of in a Socialist State, the official administrator of social
their position to nothing more than friendly societies ! insurances may become bureaucratic, and not pay
But the trade unions retain and continue to exercise all sufficient attention to the individual needs of each case
the influence and authority in the administration of the that comes before him. It was to prevent this that the
factory and in the settlement of wages that they have administration of social insurance was turned over to
possessed for the past fifteen years. The new control the trade unions, so that to-day in the U.S.S.R. it is
over social insurance, and the entire administration of the directly elected representatives of the workers, and
funds and services of such magnitude, can hardly fail not employees of State departments, who administer
to strengthen the trade unions in their work of raising the funds which the factories provide for the insurance
the standard of life of the workers, and even to knit of the workers against illness, disability, and old age;
more closely. together their far-flung membership.” and in the case of women; pregnancy and childbirth.
However, “ the constitutional change, important as Similarly with regard to the protection of labour. At
it is, will not make so much difference in the admin- one time, in the U.S.S.R., the inspection of factories
istration of social insurance as might be imagined by was controlled by a State department—the Commis-
those conversant only with the constitutions of western sariat of Labour. The trade unions, if dissatisfied with
Europe or America. It is not, for instance, in any way conditions in any particular place of work, were
comparable to the abolition in the United Kingdom of obliged to call in the expert from the Commissariat.
the Minister of Labour, and the transfer of his func- To-day, however, a member of the trade union, elected
tions, with regard to unemployment insurance and at a meeting of the members, performs the social work of
wages boards, to the British Trades Union Congress factory inspection. This “ labour protection delegate ”
and its General Council!” (op. cit., p. 203). For, is: responsible for seeing that the laws are observed
as the Webbs point out, the Commissar of Labour and that workers shall receive their full rights.
had always been appointed in the U.S.S.R. from a “When I was working in a Soviet office, one of the
panel submitted by the trade unions themselves ! Sir typists complained that her table was too high. At that
Walter Citrine refers to the trade unions as State time I was trade union organiser. On investigation, I
organisations, because they control factory inspection found that the height of tables for typists in the U.S.S.R.
and social insurance. But the question is: Is it not a is fixed by law. I called upon the labour protection
feature of a democratic State, that the trade unions, delegate, and she insisted that the administration
UNIONS 75
OF THE TRADE
THE POWER
cam-
DEMOGRACY s. Thus, during 1934
union members themselve
SOVIET
ris es for
sses 10 all Soviet enterp
74.
e
new tables. This was don paign was started for cla
provide the typists with ications of workers.
The cos t of
within a few days. the raising of the qualif ati on, and
how the factory adminis- ne by the administr
It has already been seen the classes was to be bor and half
the welfare of its worker
s. half in their own time,
tration is responsible for students were to study g of the
evety organisation mus t pro - The actual organisin
According to Soviet law, in their working time. sho uld be
g facilities for its wor ker s, n of what subjects
vide meeting and feedin classes, the determinatio wer e in the
trade union office, and
nur- uld be the teachers,
accommodation for the studied, and who sho by the
for the children. It is for the organisers ” appointed
series and kindergartens me nt hands of the “ cultural
to see that the manage trade union committees. trade
trade union committee for thi s s, responsible to the
in these respects, and Such cultural organiser
carries out its obligations l wit h le for all forms of lei sur e-t ime
are elected, to dea union, are also responsib Fun ds
purpose special delegates and so dramatics and spo rts .
communal feeding, with
the care of children,
soc ial activity, such as amateur partly from the budget of the
h delegates, out of the for such activities come
on. It is the work of suc h “ cultural fund ” of the
admin~
istance to large families wit unions, partly from the
insurance funds, to give ass fam ili es n part ofits income is dev oted.
low wages, to arrange
for the children of such
and istration, to which a certai are strictly adjusted year by
in camps free of charge, In this way, while wag
es
to spend their holidays ed hou s- that each worker sha
ll earn
blems as overcrowd er to ens ure
also to deal with such pro sib le for year in ord
the social insurance fun d, and
kers are also respon according to his work,
ing conditions. Such wor in the the various State org ani sat ions
of service provided other funds to which
supervising the quality t resources to be dis tri but ed
nurseries, kindergartens,
and camps. contribute, provide vas mec t tho se
worker with a family will trade unions, to
In this way a low-paid almost entirely by the iently
services, provided out of
State that cannot be conven
receive considerable free needs of the workers nee ds of large
by elected trade union offi cial s. In this way the
funds, and administered met out.of their wages. cul tur al life,
es 10 overcrowded con dit ion s higher education,
In this way, too, famili families, the need for qui te out of
odation, the trade uni on’ s on a scale which is
may be found other accomm and sport are satisfied
taken into considera tio n by money Wages.
recommendations being n proportion to the actual trade union activity whi
ch
never Rew accommodatio Another feature of Soviet leads to the linking up of
the administration whe ce it
must be mentioned, sin ers of
becomes available.
te here about education. the U.S.S.R. with memb
A further word is appropria the trade unionists of erp ris es, and
cribed how the workers
in kers in other ent
Tt has already been des opportunity for free train- other unions, with wor ht not mee t at.
erwise, they mig
Soviet institutions have the with citizens whom, oth na ge .” It has :
remains to be added here
that own as “patro
ing in various spheres. It of see ing all, is the institution kn , when a group of worke
task how
ining, and the
the supervision of such tra ed, rests with the trade been described already
vid
that it is universally pro
76 SOVIET DEMOGQGRACY THE POWER OF THE TRADE UNIONS 77
in Socialist competition happen to surpass another theatrical workers. This, as a rule, is also arranged
group, or a factory beats another factory, the winner by the trade union. Sometimes they pay professional
frequently in an organised way gives assistance to the instructors, but on other occasions a “ patronage”
loser. Such assistance is sometimes termed “ patronage.” agreement is concluded with some theatre. In such a
But such“‘ patronage ”’ also exists as a form of social case as this the theatre workers undertake to give
co-operation between organisations of the most varied assistance to the factory dramatic group in their spare
types. A factory trade union committee may conclude time, and the workers, in return, may undertake
a “‘ patronage agreement ” with a regiment in the Red certain technical services for the theatre. Similarly, a
Army, or with a collective farm. By such an agreement well-known writer may. take patronage over one or two
the factory will send help to the collective farm during workers’ literary circles. He will instruct them in their
the harvest, and will supply it with certain industrial work. And he may try out his new books on them, and
products throughout the year. The collective farm, in they will make their criticisms. In such a way the “ in-
its turn, will supply the factory with agricultural pro- tellectual” is brought into contact with the working
ducts. In- addition, social contact will be preserved masses of the population. How many first-class British
between the parties to the agreement, and groups of writers to-day know the effect of their writings on the
workers and collective farmers will visit each other majority of the people—the 75 per cent of wage-
socially. Similarly, in the case of the Red Army, the earners? Do they even imagine that the majority of
regiment concerned will, among other things, teach the the people—the wage-earners—might one day read
workers: and collective farmers to use a rifle, the art of their books ?
parachute jumping, and so on. In addition, it will come This brings us to another aspect of ‘ patronage ”—
to the assistance of the factory in case of a breakdown, the connection between trade union and State. So far,
and: to-the assistance of the farm at harvest time. The in considering the trade union as representing the
members of the Red Army will attend social functions working people, as distinct from the administration
at the factory or farm, and workers and collective appointed by the State, we have not dealt at all with
farmers will attend the functions of the Red Army. The the positive part played by the trade unions in adminis-
workers in the factory will undertake certain technical tering the Soviet State itself. Actually, this question will
jobs for their regiment; the collective farmers will send be dealt with more fully in Chapter XIII, after we have
it agricultural produce. In this way the main sections described the basic structure of the Soviet State.
of the Soviet population, workers, peasants, and However, it is important here to record the fact that
soldiers, are brought into close social and practical the Soviet trade union organises patronage, not only
contact with one another. between collective farms and factories, factories: and
Again, we have referred to arrangements by which, Red Army regiments, but also between factories and
under Soviet conditions, the amateur dramatics club Government departments, such as the Commissariats
at the factory obtains the assistance of professional of Finance, of Health, of Education, and even over the
bya
78 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
Liliane
office of the President of the U.S.S.R. himself, Comrade
Kalinin. Thus, when working hours are over, a number
bss
of workers from the most important Moscow factories
proceed to the offices of the Government, there to do CHAPTER V
’
important administrative work. And, locally, thousands
of workers, when working hours are over, proceed to CO-OPERATIVES IN A
the offices of their local Soviet, there to work in its CO-OPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH
various departments. But this subject deserves almost a
whole chapter to itself, and it shall have it.
The Soviet enterprise, we find, is a complex com- Iw rue Soviet Unton the land and the factories,
munity in which the organisation of the working the mines and the dwelling-houses, are owned either by
people, the trade union, plays a leading part. Personal the State or by co-operative societies. And the State, as
responsibility on the part of everyone for his own job, we shall see in detail in Part II, represents the people
together with collective responsibility for the work as a who work. It seems fair, then, to give to the Soviet State
whole, is the characteristic of the Soviet enterprise. the title of “‘ Co-operative Commonwealth.” But, once
And collective responsibility means collective discussion the State itself is a co-operative organisation of the
and criticism; it means that the people must run their people, there is no longer a conflict in principle between
own affairs. Under such conditions, with a reasonable State organisations and co-operative societies. In some
working day and reasonable holidays, the worker even spheres the State may perform functions more effectively ;
on a conveyor retrieves something of the joy of the in others, the co-operatives. It is in this light that we _
craftsman. The factory is his, and he and his fellows must approach the problem of co-operation in the
benefit from more efficient and increasing production. U.S.S.R. at the present time.
He can always plan improvements in the productive Consumers’ co-operation was encouraged in Tsarist
processes, and knows that they will be adopted. Even Russia as one of the few working-class activities which
on what, in itself, is the least interesting work, a certain the police considered “ safe.” The people who ran the
standard of excellence can be obtained, and Socialist co-operatives under such conditions were not the type
competition introduces even into the sweeping of a that, in 1917, were likely to support the Revolution.
floor some of the thrill of a game of football. Under However, as co-operation was an extremely important
these conditions the Soviet worker feels that he is means of combating the private trader in the interests of
working for himself and for all, and he takes a pride in the working-class consumers, the Soviet State gave
even the simplest work, a pride which it is hard to feel every encouragement to the development of co-opera-.
when the result is entirely to the benefit of somebody tive societies of consumers. These did not pay dividends,
else, and when the greater the result, the nearer is but supplied goods at lower prices than the private
brought the spectre of unemployment in the future. traders. When the private traders put a new
80 SOVIET DEMOCGCRAQY CO-OPERATIVES 81
product on the market, the co-operatives sold it the former importance of co-operatives as a means of
cheaper, and the community gained as a result. By carrying on trade in the interests of the consumer, in
1934 there were about 73 million members of consumers’ competition with private traders who traded. for.
co-operative societies in the U.S.S.R. profit, had more or less dwindled to nothing. Since:
The Soviet co-operators elect their management there weré no longer private traders, it was possible to.
committees. The various committees hold congresses, purchase rationed goods at low prices in the co-.
and a federal union of all consumers’ co-operative operatives, or unrationed goods in co-operative or.
organisations, Centrosoyuz, co-ordinates all the co- other shops at high prices. The quantity of the rations.
operative trading in the U.S.S.R. allowed, and the general level of prices, were already.
But co-operative trade has certain disadvantages. being fixed by the State. It was no surprise tome, or to. .
‘The most important of these, particularly to the town others who were working in the Soviet Union when, in.
dweller, is the need to purchase in special shops, 1932, the co-operatives which were attached to the
often some way from home, In a village, where distances factories were transferred to the control of the factory
anyway are not great, such an inconvenience is reduced administration.
to a minimum. As a result of this change, the manager of the factory.
Soon after the beginning of the first Five Year Plan shop, instead of being appointed by a committee
in 1928 the opening of co-operative shops at factories elected by the customers, was appointed by the ad-
and other places of work began to take place on a large ministration of the factory. At first sight this suggests:
scale, At the same time, during the years 1926 'to 1920, that the control over the shop by the workers was. .
private trade was practically extinguished by heavy slackened, but this was not the case. For, as we have.
taxation on all private traders. The co-operatives were shown, the representatives of the trade union partici-.
left with an almost complete monopoly of trade. pate in the management of the Soviet factories.
During this period, owing to the rapid growth of the When, in 1932, the co-operatives were transferred. to.
town population, leading to a great increase in the the factory management, this simply meant the replac-
demand for all products consumed by the working ing of one form of workers’ control by another. Pre-
people, and owing to the reorganisation of agriculture viously, the co-operators had elected a special com-
on a co-operative basis, which caused a temporary fall mittee to run the shop. Now the trade union committee
in the supply of foodstuffs, rationing of all food products appointed a delegate to supervise the running of the. 0°
and many industrial products was introduced as a tem- shop in the interests of all the workers. But the director...
porary measure. Through the co-operatives, rationed of the factory was now responsible for seeing that the
quantities of goods could be obtained at comparatively shop obtained adequate supplies. In this way the shop
low prices. Extra quantities could be obtained at State like the dining-room and housing, became one of the. -
shops, but much higher prices were charged. responsibilities of the factory management, controlled...
When, in 1931, I started to work in the U.S.S.R., by the trade union committee. i ,
DEMOCRACY GO-OPERATIVES 83
82 SOVIET
Since there was no longer private trade, this question be devoted to the supplying of the needs of the villages.
of the status of co-operative trade and State trade no In the winter of 1935 and 1936 I visited certain
longer was a matter of principle, but of expediency. villages a considerable distance from Moscow. The
Whether the State controlled trade, or co-operative co-operative shops were well stocked with goods.
societies, in either case it was the people themselves. It Turnover had greatly increased since the decree had
was necessary simply to procure the best system of abolished co-operative trade in the towns. Nobody
organisation. And it proved that the director, together that I met looked upon the change as anything but an
with the trade union committee of a factory, was improvement, both in town and country. In the
more capable of controlling the work of the shop than country, the co-operatives supplied goods which had
a co-operative committee had been; for they repre- previously gone to the town shops. In the towns, the
sented the same people, but formed a more powerful Commissariat of Home Trade redecorated the shops
body. The factory administration, it was found, was of the co-operatives and re-stocked them with those
more able to supply the needs of the workers, for it was increasing supplies of goods which industry was making
more influential in getting supplies than a committee available. At the same time prices continued to fall,
whose only justification for existence was the running while the quality of goods improved.
of a single shop. . But such a change, it may be suggested, while it
Outside the factory, until 1935, the co-operatives may have improved supplies, was an attack on the
had their own shops. However, with the growth of self&government of consumers. The answer to this is
State trade the decisive factor in price-fixing became that, under Soviet conditions, it would be quite in-
the State. As a result, all difference between co- correct to suggest that the State shop is not subject to
operative prices and State prices disappeared. With the control of the consumer. As a State concern, there
the abolition of rationing, which rapidly followed the _is Socialist competition between the State shops, as
The workers in
record harvest of 1933, it became no longer expedient there is between the State factories.
for workers to be attached to particular shops where the shops are interested in giving good service, just as
they drew their rations. As a result, all shops were the workers in the factories are interested in turning
thrown open to the public, and all goods were sold at out good products. But, secondly, the consumer is
uniform prices. This led, in 1935, to a Government invited to participate in judging such Socialist com-
decree which transferred all the co-operatives in the petition, No Soviet shop is without a “ complaints
towns to the Commissariat of Home Trade. At the book,” in which customers write. their comments. Bad
same time it was pointed out that in the villages the service may be reported, not only to the Commissariat
main distributing apparatus was still in the hands of of Home Trade, or to the local Soviet, but to the Press,
the co-operatives, and that these were not adequately and, as will be shown in the next chapter, the Soviet
meeting the rising demands of the villagers. It was, there- Press is one of the main ways of ventilating criticism.
fore, decreed that all their resources should thenceforth Finally, the State shops organise from time to time
84. SOVIET DEMOCRACY CO-OPERATIVES 85
conferences of consumers, to discuss what goods should co-operative trade exceeds that of State trade, then the co-
be supplied, and how the shops should be run. operatives will remain supreme. Essentially, no matter of
Returning from Moscow to London in 1936, I dis- principle is now involved, for in the U.S.S.R. the State
covered that, whereas three years previously [ had itself is a vast co-operative commonwealth, and the exis-
found London bearing an aspect of a land of plenty in tence of co-operatives within co-operatives, a complex
comparison with Moscow, in 1936 no such contrast structure of wheels within wheels, is only justified in so
was visible. And when I went to buy some luscious far as better service is provided as a result.
fruit in a London shop and was given goods which were Another example of co-operation, of considerable
about half the size of those displayed in the window, I importance in the Soviet town, is the housing co-
realised what it was to be once more in a land of private operative. One of the first decrees of the Soviet Govern-
trade !| For in the U.S.S.R., both in the State shops in ment in 1917 transferred all existing housing accom-
the towns and in the co-operatives in the villages, the modation to the local Soviets, to be distributed accord-
goods supplied are the goods which are displayed. ing to the needs of the population. They were also
Since trade is not for profit, and since the plan of empowered to build houses. But at that time there were
every co-operative and State shop includes the supply vast demands on the resources of all Soviet authorities,
of given quantities of goods of given quality, there is no both local and national. The Soviet State, therefore,
motive for adulteration, or for the sale of inferior also encouraged the formation of housing co-opera-
goods. Of course, it still sometimes happens that a tives, societies of individuals who desired to obtain
worker in'a Soviet shop may try to make a small better accommodation and who subscribed to the co-
personal profit by selling inferior goods at the price of operative a certain portion of their income towards the
superior ones. But in the U.S.S.R. this is a criminal building of blocks of flats. Such co-operatives were run
offence, while in Britain it is good business ! _ by the members, who elected their boards of manage-
Consumers’ co-operation in the U.S.S.R. to-day ment and paid their own officials. At the present time
continues in the Soviet villages, where there are about a substantial portion of the housing accommodation in
40,000 co-operative shops. In the future, the question Soviet cities belongs to such co-operatives.
of whether the co-operative or the State shop will be In the Soviet housing:.co-operative an elected com-
the final centre of village trade will be decided, not as mittee of the members is responsible for supervising the
a matter of principle, but as a matter of expediency. If, building of the houses. As each building is completed,
with the growth of the production of consumers’ goods, the members. who: are first on: the: list move into the
the Commissariat of Home Trade opens shops in the flats.. For the administration: of the house they elect
villages, and if, as a result of its centralisation and vast their own- house: committee, .which- employs a paid
economic resources, it is able to give better service than manager to carry on. the work of administration. The
‘the co-operatives, then State trade will replace co- manager is responsible for: collecting. rent, which is
operative trade. If, on the other hand, the efficiency of fixed at about 10 per cent of the earnings of each
86 SOVIET DEMOGRACY CO-OPERATIVES 87
householder. This rent goes entirely to the upkeep of subject to the co-operation of the trade union, instead of
the house, central heating and water supply, repairs by the elected committee of the inhabitants. At the same
and the decoration of the flats. Out of this 10 per cent time, however, a house committee is also elected by the
the manager is paid, and the house committee is inhabitants in all State-owned houses, and the manager
responsible for seeing that the funds are wisely ex- must work in co-operation with this committee, spend-
pended. Sometimes, of course, there may be a gross ing the money collected in rents on repairs and renewals,
act of mismanagement. In a house where I lived for and in the general interest of the occupants.
over a year in Moscow the manager absconded, with a The elected house committee is the Soviet substitute
balance of 6,000 roubles ! An emergency meeting: of for the private landlord, the actual owner of Soviet |
the inhabitants was: called and a new. committee was houses is either the State or a co-operative of the .
elected, instructed to be more vigilant in their appoint- occupants. Ultimately, it is clear, as in the case of
ment. of a new manager. I do not know whether the consumers’ co-operation, the system of housing control
militia caught the thief, and whether the money was will develop according to expediency. If administration
recovered, as I left Moscow soon after. by the committees of co-operatives proves less efficient
I do not tell of this incident as being in. any way than administration by the State housing trusts, the
typical. But it-is essential for the reader always to latter will replace the former. If otherwise, the co-
remember that Soviet citizens are human beings like operative houses will develop in relation to the State
everybody else, with. their merits. and their frailties. houses. This is a matter which the future will decide.
So'long as there exist individualists in- Soviet society, So far we have been concerned with those forms of
putting their immediate private interests before those of co-operative organisation of which the ordinary wage-
the community, there will be cases of persons in positions earners are members. But not all producers in the
of trust. betraying this trust. Such cases are dealt with by U.S.S.R. are wage-earners; a vast number of them are
the: Soviet courts of law as criminal offences; they have members of producers’ co-operatives. In industry, a
not yet been completely stamped out. very small part of total production is carried on by
With regard to housing, then, we find a widespread co-operatives of producers. In agriculture by far the
system of co-operation, in which the dwellers in-blocks greatest part of the total output is produced in co-
of-flats govern their own affairs. In.cases where houses operatives of peasants, collective farms. Since, in
are owned by the local Soviet, as is the case with the principle, the organisation of an industrial co-operative
greater part of town housing, or by industrial enter- in no wise differs from that of agriculture, and since agri-.
prises, as occurs in certain cases, the system of manage- cultural co-operation is by far the most important form
ment is in general similar to that of the co-operatives. of producers’ co-operation in the U.S.8.R., we shall ex-
In these cases the house manager, however, is appointed amine in detail the organisation of the collective farms,
by the local housing trust, subject to the authority of bearing in mind that, in the towns, on a small scale,
the Soviet, or by the administration of the factory, similar organisations of industrial producers also exis
CO-OPERATIVES 89
88 SOVIET DEMOGRACY
of the Soviet State agriculture had to be a Socialist remedy, and must lie, as
From the very foundation
was given to the peasants, small Stalin pointed out in 1928, “in a transition from small,
encouragement
backward, and scattered peasant farming to concentra-
individual producers, to pool their land and instruments
ted, large-scale social farms, equipped with machinery,
of production, and to farm on a large scale. It was
armed with the knowledge of science, and capable of pro-
emphasised that the peasants themselves must organise
ducing the maximum quantity of marketable grain. The
such co-operative farms on their own initiative, and
solution lies in the transition in agriculture from indi-
that such a system, if enforced from above, would not
vidual peasant farming to collective and communal
work because it would not have the support of the
farming ” (Stalin, Leninism, Vol. I, p. 102).
people who, in the nature of things, had to run it. But was not easy. It was necessary to
This transition
so long as the actual method of cultivation was limited
persuade the peasants to undertake the new methods.
to the wooden plough there was little to be gained from
But that could only be done by making available for
cultivating the land in large areas rather than in small
them the modern machinery which is essential to
strips. Therefore collectivisation did not take place on a.
efficient large-scale production. Again, it was essential
large scale during the first decade of the Revolution.
to show them that this increased production would
But so long as agriculture continued to be carried on to obtain larger quantities of industrial
enable them
by the individual peasant households, each working on
products and to raise their standard of life. As Stalin
its own little strip of land, it was bound to be inefficient.
put it in 1928: “‘ We must maintain the present rate of
Therefore the supply of food to the people of the country
as a result of a development of industry, and, at the first opportunity,
was bound to be constantly menaced
still more accelerate it, in order to pour cheap goods into
bad harvest. For this reason alone it was essential to
the rural districts and obtain from them the maximum
introduce large-scale farming. And this could only be
amount of grain; in order to supply machines to agri-
done in one of two ways. On the one hand, the same
culture, particulasly to the collective and Soviet farms,
method could have been adopted as had been adopted
and in order to industrialise agriculture and increase its
everywhere else in the world—the subsidising of every
marketable surplus” {ibid., p. 108).
farmer who was better off than’ the majority, helping a widespread campaign was
From 1928 onwards
him to become.a large-scale‘ farmer with many posses- >
started to draw the peasants into collective farms. They
sions and many labourers. But this, it will be noted,
were offered agricultural machinery and modern
would have meant capitalism inthe village, and the
fertilisers, together with the assistance of trained experts,
employment of labour by private individuals for profit.
if they would. pool their land and their instruments of
This system was turned down by the Soviet Govern-
production, elect their own boards of management, and
ment, as giving rise to a new powerful capitalist class
farm the land co-operatively. For four years the
controlling the main food supplies of the country, and
countryside was in a state of turmoil. The peasants
thus a menace to the very existence of the Soviet State
remedy for the backwardness of Soviet had no experience of large-scale agriculture, or of
itself. The
go SOVIET DEMOCRACY CO-OPERATIVES gt
co-operative and disciplined large-scale production. All livestock, with the exception of a few animals for
Through the Soviets they had administered education household use, is also owned by the collective. :
and health services, and had built roads. But they had The management of the collective farm is in the
not had any experience at collectively managing the hands of an elected committee of the members. The
complicated processes of production, and they were management is allowed to appoint members to different
not acquainted. with modern methods. jobs throughout the collective. The work is done in
The newsystem was violently opposed in the village by “brigades,” each with its own responsibilities, and
those few peasants who had larger farms, and who were competing with each other for the best results, just
small employers. They knew that they would lose their like groups of factory workers. The members of the.
power in the new collectives, and used every method to collective farm do not draw wages, since they are not .
prevent the success of the new co-operative system, Asa employees but joint owners. Each year, after the
result, the level of agricultural production sharply fell, harvest, the total year’s income is calculated, in terms
and only began to recover with the record harvest of of revenue from the sale of products during the year
1933, a record for the whole of Russian history. together with all unsold produce in hand. After all
Naturally the details of the best form of organisation debts have been paid, a certain quota is set aside for the
for the collective farms had to be worked out as a following year’s seed fund, for the extension of the farm,
result of experience. Many changes were made as work and for social services to members. According to the
proceeded, and only in 1935 was a special congress model statutes, not more than ro per cent of the total
called, of the best collective farmers elected from all revenue goes to this latter purpose. The rest is divided
over the U.S.S.R., to adopt a “ model constitution ” among the inhabitants, “to each according to his work.”
for all the collective farms throughout the country. The unit by which work is measured in the collective
This congress discussed in detail a project submitted farm is the “ work-day.” This is roughly the amount of
by the Government, a number of alterations were made, work which an ordinary unskilled worker can do in an
and then the model constitution was finally adopted eight-hour day. More than eight hours of ordinary
by the congress. The Government accepted the draft unskilled work, or eight hours of skilled work, count
which the congress put forward, and this has since be- as more than one work-day. A tractor driver in eight
come the basic structure of every collective farm. hours may be credited with, say, two work-days, as a
In the collective farm all the land is cultivated skilled worker. The actual rates, like the actual rates of |
collectively with the exception of small plots surround- wages in the factory, are determined at general meetings...
ing the houses of the members, which may be used by- I remember, in a village near Moscow, listening to an
the peasant families for their own purposes as gardens indignant old peasant woman, very rheumatic, who. |.
and orchards and grazing-ground for small livestock. was furious because, during twelve hours’ work in the —
All instruments of cultivation, with the exception of fields, she had not earned credit for one work-day..
simple gardening tools, are owned by the collective. When I realised, however, that she was over sevent
92 SGCVIET DEMOCRACY GO-OPERATIVES 93
and was already in receipt of an invalid pension, this feeding establishments, nurseries and kindergartens,
fact hardly reacted to the discredit of the collective. and opportunities for higher education on the part of
If pensioned invalids of seventy were estimated to be its members. Part of its funds, according to the decisions
only go per cent less efficient than the healthy collective of general meetings, are devoted also te cultural and)
farmer, this would not say much either for the average sport activities, the building of clubs and theatres and ,
collective farmer or the system ! I calmed the old lady rest-homes for the members.
by telling her that she should bring up the matter at the It is common nowadays in the U.S.S.R. to meet
next meeting, and she showed signs of anticipating a peasant students in the universities, sent there by their
really good row when thenext general meeting was held ! collective farms. In such cases maintenance allowances .
In another collective farm, run by German peasants are often paid by the collective farms themselves to
in the Ukraine, a large notice-board in the office dis- their members who are studying. There are collective
played the names of all the members of the collective, farms which have their own theatres, built out of their
with their earnings in terms of work-days every month. own funds together with grants from the State, and
The manager received a regular 40 work-days a month, which have permanent repertory companies.
whereas the skilled workers, tractor drivers, milkmaids, And in the collective farm, as in the factory, Socialist
and so on, received up to 60 and 70 work-days. In this competition and the wall-newspaper are universal
~
farm, as a result of careful accounting, every member features. Even the Stakhanov Movement, originating
received an advance every month on the estimated year’s in a coal-mine, has spread through the collective farms
income. The manager told me with pride that neighbour- of the U.S.S.R. The cultivator of sugar-beet, Maria
ing farms were now going to copy this method. Demchenke, has won fame throughout the country for _
’ In the Soviet factory, as we have seen, and also in the the results which have been obtained under her leader-
State farms which cultivate a small proportion of the ship in a collective farm in the Ukraine. And not only ~
total area of the U.S.S.R., the administrative staff is do we read of Maria Demchenko on her farm, but also.
appointed by the public authorities, and the trade of how she, together with leading Stakhanov workers
union is the representative organisation of the work- from all over the U.S.S.R., has visited Moscow and.’
people. In the collective farm the managerial staff is attended conferences with the Government. At such:a
elected by the members, and must organise production conference Maria Demchenko promised Stalin that she
in the. general interest, and also supervise the social would obtain a certain yield of sugar-beets on: he:
services and the raising of the general cultural life of land, and fulfilled that promise. The Soviet Govern
the community. The collective farm, as a self-governing ~ ment frequently summons conferences of the leadi
organisation of citizens, is similar in status to a trade workers in all branches of Soviet life. Stakhana
union. Its functions include, however, the organisation Maria Demchenko meet Kalinin, Molotov, and: St:
of production, as well as the provision of insurance for discuss their problems, and their plans for the:
its members against sickness and old age, communal In this relationship with the working people. the:
94 SOVIET DEMOGRACY CO-OPERATIVES 95°
Government is simply repeating what every Govern- similar work on a State farm. Where a collective farm
ment has always done in relation to the ruling class: reaps a good harvest, the members perhaps receive
it holds conferences with them to dis¢uss policy. In the more than workers on the State farms doing similar
Soviet Constitution there is nothing to say. that the work for a regular wage. But if the harvest is poor, then
Government shall hold conferences of workers to discuss the collective farmers receive less than those who, on
policy with them, but, as a workers’ Government, it a State farm, are guaranteed a fixed wage for a given
.does hold such conferences. In Britain there is no amount of work, whatever the harvest may be like.
law stating that the Government shall discuss matters No, it is not the actual material standard which. deter-
behind the scenes with big business and the bankers, mines the attitude of the Soviet peasantry to collective
but we know that on the quiet it does hold such discus- farming. The peasant for centuries, however poor he
sions, and the opinions of these people go a very long has been, has cultivated his own land, and has owned
way towards determining the essentials of Government his own means of production, however primitive. Only
‘policy. In the U.S.S.R., however, such conferences when economic conditions became intolerable was.it
take place in the open, as part of the recognised work- usual for the peasants to leave their plots of land, and
ing of Soviet democracy, whereas, in the British system, to trek to the towns in search of work as wage-earners. —
conferences between Government and bankers are more Certainly, the rise in the status of the wage-earner
often than not held on the quiet, since it is not con- which has taken place since the Soviets seized power
sidered expedient to advertise the extent. to. which has made wage-earning more attractive to the peasan-
a small plutocracy influences policy in our kind of try, but they still like to exercise direct ownership over
democracy. their means of production, rather than indirect,
While co-operatives both of consumers and producers through the State.
in the Soviet town are to-day of comparatively small As a result of this attitude the peasants of the
importance, in the village they exist on a vast scale, U.S.S.R. have shown an enthusiasm for forming their
both for consumption. and production. The collective own producers’ co-operative organisations and running
farm is the main form of productive organisation in the them themselves, which they never showed for becom-
Soviet countryside, and will continue to be so as long ing wage-earners in State farms. It is as a result of this
as co-operative production proves to be more efficient preference of the. people for a particular form of
than State farming. organisation that this form has become widespread
And why, it may be asked, has collective farming throughout the countryside. In the future, according
proved more popular than working in State farms ? Is to the desires. of the people themselves, collective farms
it that the material conditions are superior ? may, or may not, change their form, and may, or may —
Certainly, up to’the present, it cannot be said that in not, become indistinguishable, as regards their organ-
general the material conditions of collective farmers isation, from the State farms and other enterprises. .
are necessarily better than those of workers doing which are run by the State at the present time.
A PEOPLE’S >
PRESS 97
of the Press upon capital; transfers to the working class
and to the peasants all technical and material re-
sources necessary. for the publication of newspapers,
pamphlets, books, and other printed matter: and
guarantees their unobstructed circulation throughout
CHAPTER VI
the country.”
The Soviet Government realised that freedom of the
A PEOPLE’S PRESS Press could only exist together with the ownership of
the printing presses and the other means for publishing
Iw Tsarist Russta, 80 per cent of the population newspapers. Therefore, so long as the printing presses
were unable to read or write. In the first decree of the and stocks of paper were in the hands of the well-to-do,
‘Commissar of Education, after October 1917, it was there was only freedom of the Press for the well-to-do.
stated, as has been already pointed out, that “ every Effective freedom of the Press for the working people
democratic Power must, in the domain of education, could only be guaranteed by giving the ownership of
in a country where illiteracy and ignorance reign the newspapers to these same working people. Hence
supreme, make its first aim the struggle against this the abolition of the private Press in the early days of
darkness. It must acquire in the shortest time universal the Revolution; its place being taken by the Press of
literacy.” The people, under the Soviets, began to learn the people themselves, from their wall-newspapers in
the factories to the newspapers of the Soviet State
to read and write, to read the newspapers and to write
in them. For, as we have also already seen, the news- itself.
paper has been introduced into every organisation in The policy of putting an end to illiteracy, together
with the transferring of the printing presses to the
the U.S.S.R.
The making of the Press really available to the people organisations of the working people, caused a tremen-
was not something which could be done without dous development of the Press. The percentage of adult
citizens who can read and write in the Soviet Union
procuring the necessary supplies of paper and ink, and
the printing presses with which newspapers are printed. to-day is about go. The daily circulation of newspapers
But in 1917, when the Soviets seized State power, these has increased from 2-7 million in 1913 to 36-4 million
things were practically all in the hands of the well-to- in 1934, and the planned circulation for 1937 is 66
do-—-of those who were rich enough to own news- million. The only limit to the circulation of a Soviet
newspaper to-day is the amount of paper available, so
papers, the employers of labour. Therefore it is not
surprising to find, in the first Soviet Constitution of that we see how such a cultural question as the avail-
1918, the following clause: “‘ To ensure for the workers ability of literature has its economic foundation. Any
effective liberty of opinion, the Russian Socialist
evening in Moscow to-day, queues are visible about
five o’clock, waiting for the evening paper. After an
Federal Soviet Republic puts an end to the dependence
Dp
98 SOVIET DEMOGRACY A PEOPLE’S PRESS 99
hour or so all copies may be sold out. But this is not due show signs of becoming out of hand, to terminate them
to a shortage of papers compared with old Russia, for abruptly with the short note in italics: “ This corre-
the circulation has greatly increased. It is due to the fact spondence 15 now closed.”
that the demand is now so great that limited resources The editorial committee of a Soviet newspaper,
of paper prevent enough being printed. whether of 4 factory wall-newspaper or of the Govern-
It would be a mistake to consider the large printed ment’s newspaper Izvestia, does not deal with its
papers, whose daily circulation has been stated, to be correspondence in this light-handed way. For on every
fully representative of the Press in the Soviet Union. Soviet newspaper, from the very smallest to the very
For, in addition to national and local papers, there are dargest, there are members of the editorial staff whose
the factory papers and news-sheets, and the wall- entire work is to deal with the complaints of readers,
newspapers which are everywhere. In considering the to investigate these complaints, and to see what can be
Press we must remember all these, from the wall- done to remedy their grievances, if any real grievances
newspaper in the factory to the greatest national exist.
newspapers, lzvestia, organ of the Government; Pravda, To the wall-newspaper, for example, a worker may
the newspaper of the Party; and Trud, the paper of the write to say that, after being off work owing to illness,
trade unions. he did not receive the full amount due to him. Another
For some months, while working in Moscow, I was may write to say that a certain foreman appeared at
the editor of a wall-newspaper. Compared with the work with the signs of drink on him, and such a writer
editorship of any kind of newspaper or magazine in may include a cartoon of the foreman concerned !
Britain, work on a Soviet publication is particularly Another may say that the safety devices on certain
onerous, for the editor, whether of the wall-newspaper machines are inadequate; and another may write that,
in a workshop or of one of the national papers, has in spite of continual complaints, the administration
certain obligations which do not exist for the newspaper continues to delay in the supplying of materials, and
editor under capitalism. as a result the workers are being held up at their job.
We all read, from time to time, the correspondence The editorial staff of the wall-newspaper, receiving
columns of our newspapers. We know how readers these topical comments on the life of the factory, is
express their views on every subject under the sun, under an obligation, not merely to publish them, but to
from the origin of the name of Smith to the question of investigate the complaints; and to publish the letters
whether the nightingale that Mr. Jones heard in with a statement of what has been done to redress the
Wimbledon was the first or the second to have been grievances expressed. In the case of the inadequate
heard this year by a reader of a certain well-known insurance money, the social. insurance delegate must
paper. And we know that, as far as the editor is con- be asked to investigate. If he considers that there has
cerned, his only job is to see that the most interesting been no injustice, he will be asked to write a short
letters are printed, and, when heated controversies reply. If there has been an injustice, then the editorial
100 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
A PEOPLE’S PRESS IOI
board will announce that the matter has been set
point out that ‘‘ these Russians *? would never learn to
right. In the case of the foreman, if the facts are as
stated, the article and cartoon will most certainly run machinery, and the whole Five Year Plan was
appear, with still more caustic remarks by the editorial therefore a giant fiasco.
But in spite of this adverse comment, and in spite of,
staff, and possibly an appeal to the administration to
take disciplinary measures. In the case of safety or perhaps because of, the fact that it was the Soviet
devices, this is a matter for the labour protection Press which gave full publicity to the difficulties of
delegate of the trade union, who will be asked to make Stalingrad and other vast new enterprises, they have
a statement on
pulled through. And when we look more closely at the
the matter. And, finally, where the
administration holds up the supplies of materials it is kind of facts which received such loud publicity at that
the job of the editorial board itself to move heaven and time we find that all these difficulties and disorders
earth to make
which accompanied the first Five Year Plan were not
the administration take the necessary
necessarily peculiar to Soviet conditions, but operate
steps to supply materials on time, and thus to avoid
in one form or another in every new large industrial
the delays.
The work of the editorial board of a wall-newspaper, enterprise anywhere. The fundamental difference be-
then, is not simply the publication of a newspaper. It
tween such enterprises in the U.S.S.R. and similar
is also the investigation of complaints and the removal ones in capitalist countries is that in the Soviet Union
of grievances; so that the Press becomes an effective their every difficulty was publicised in the Press,
weapon of the people in the fight for better conditions whereas, in the conditions of capitalism, the same
in every respect. The national Press of the U.S.S.R. in difficulties are completely hushed up !
no way differs from the local Press in this matter. Suppose that a new Ford plant, after it has started
working, for a few weeks turns out only half the
It will be remembered by many readers how, during
the years of the first Five Year Plan, the most harrow- planned output. Suppose that this story leaks into the
ing stories appeared in our Press in Britain about the Press. Down go the shares of Ford Ltd. ; the credit of the
failure of one: large
firm seriously suffers; panic results. Such a panic, in
Soviet factory after another to
achieve the planned output. And, to the confusion of certain cases, is all that is necessary to ruin a new firm
the British reader who was sympathetic to the Soviet which is just starting to operate its first factory.
Union, Soviet sources would usually be quoted as the But in the Soviet Union every one of those same
basis for these stories. We would read how at Stalingrad, difficulties, hushed up under capitalism because they
for example, two tractors would come off the con- damage the reputation of a firm, are given the fullest
veyor on one day, thirty the next, then a hundred, and publicity in the Press. For, by interesting the whole of
then down to two again as some process in the produc- the people in those things which are unsatisfactory as
tion went wrong and held up the whole job. And well as in those which are satisfactory, the Soviet Press
editorial comments in the British Press would ruthlessly stimulates citizens to improve matters, and as a result
the whole community is benefited.
102 SOVIET DEMOCRACY A PEOPLE’S PRESS 103
It is as a result of this policy that, in the Soviet Press, he has spoken, the authorities concerned will take
the most appalling stories of all kinds of public abuses action to see that the grievance is dealt with.
are given publicity. I remember how, a few years ago, When I say that similar people, in other countries,
a certain anti-Soviet propagandist organisation in this cannot give public expression to the kind of very vital
country issued a leaflet containing parallel quotations complaints which find their way in thousands into the
from the British publication Russia To-day and from the Soviet Press, I have in mind the fact that, in Britain
Soviet Trade Union newspaper Trud (Labour). In to-day, if I wish to express dissatisfaction about the
Russia To-day it was stated, for example, that 1,000 new service rendered by a firm or by an organisation, or
nurseries had been opened for the working-class with the work of an individual, I have no right to call
mothers. And, from Trud, there was quoted a horrifying the attention of public opinion to the matter. For, in
story of how, in the town of, say, Minsk, at the Britain, the airing of any grievance, however justifiable,
“Hammer and Sickle’? Factory, a new créche had against a person, or against an organisation, if it is
been opened where the floors were damp, and where, likely to damage their business or their reputation, is
in the near neighbourhood, there was a pig-sty, the libellous, and the person airing such a grievance may
smell of which infected the whole establishment. By be sued for it. Not only do private firms hush up the
taking a whole series of such monstrosities, quoted in kind of difficulties to which the Soviet Press gave
Trud as examples of disgraceful work on the part of publicity in the case of Stalingrad, but ordinary
one or another trade union organisation, or on the part citizens, with grievances against all kinds of organisa-
of the administration of one or another factory, the tions and officials, are not permitted to direct public
leaflet was able to offset each statement from Russia opinion to such grievances through the Press. The
To-day about vast developments affecting the lives of only form of action which is possible is litigation, and
170 million people with a story of one fiasco, affecting the cost of this is such that only major grievances
the lives of some 1,000 people at the most, quoted in of the well-to-do can be adequately settled in this
the Soviet Press in order to reduce such disorders to a way.
minimum. The Soviet Press, then, gives voice to two kinds of
The Sovie citizen, writing to a newspaper in the criticism which are more or less non-existent in the
Soviet Union, is aware of the fact that in expressing his Press of Britain: criticism of the working of all kinds
opinion he is starting a sequence of actions which will, of public institutions; and criticism of the working of
if his complaints are justified, lead to the removal of responsible persons. Both these kinds of criticism, in a
the grievance. In this way the Soviet citizen enjoys country of private enterprise, would be damaging to
effective expression of opinion of a twofold nature. the firms concerned, also to the authority of employers
First, he can complain in the Press about things which, over workers, and are therefore taboo. +
in other countries, it is impossible for the ordinary In discussing the wall-newspaper in the factory, at an -
worker to criticise at all. Second, he knows that, when earlier stage, we raised the question of control and
ai
104, A PEOPLE’S
SOVIET DEMOCRACY PRESS 105
editorship. And we saw that the editor of the wail- There is a vast variety of publications, published by
newspaper was appointed by the trade union com- different organisations. But all these organisations have
mittee elected by, and responsible to, the workers. How one feature in common—they are organisations respon-
are the national newspapers controlled? sible to the people, and not private firms owned by
There is no difference in principle between the con- well-to-do individuals and working for profit.
trol of the wall-newspaper in the factory, which is the It is only when the nature of the control of the
organ of the trade union in that factory, and the con- Soviet Press is understood that we see that there is an
trol of Izvestia, Pravda, or Trud, the three main absolutely fundamental difference between the “ free-
news-
papers of the U.S.S.R. For in the Soviet Union all the dom of the Press? which is guaranteed in the Soviet
Press is in the hands of the organisations of the working Constitutions—and always has been—and the “freedom
people, from their factory trade union committee on of the Press” which exists in Britain at the present
the one hand, to their national Trade Union General time. If we look at the circulation of newspapers in
Council, their Government, and the Central Committee Britain to-day, we find that an overwhelming majority
of their Party on the other. In the factory, the editor of the daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers and
of the wall-newspaper is appointed by and responsible magazines are private property, run for profit, and
to the trade union in that factory. On an All-Union ‘owned by those who are sufficiently wealthy to own
scale, the editor of Trud, the central organ of the Soviet newspapers. ‘The Daily Herald, incidentally, in which a
trade unions, is appointed by and responsible to the majority of the shares is owned by a joint-stock com-
General Council of the Trade Unions. The Moscow pany, must be included in this category. In contrast
evening paper is edited by a person appointed by with this there stand out the Daily Worker, the publica-
and responsible to the Moscow Soviet. The All-Union tion of the Communist Party, and Reynolds’s Newspaper,
Government newspaper, Izvestia, is edited by someo published by the Co-operative Movement, as the only
ne
who is appointed by and responsible to the Govern- national newspapers in the country which can even
ment of the U.S.S.R. Pravda, the newspaper of the profess to represent working-class organisations. And
Central Committee of the Communist Party of ‘the yet 75 per cent of the people of Britain are wage-
U.S.S.R., is edited by someone appointed by and earners. Then there are the various smaller weeklies
responsible to the Central Committee of the Party. and monthlies, among which the trade union and
In addition to the myriads of publications of the co-operative journals amount to a small proportion
trade unions, the local Soviets and the All-Onion of the total. And, if we look at any bookstall in
Government, together with the various State depart- any railway station, or go into any newsagent’s,.
ments and the Party, there are a number of further we again find that the overwhelming majority of the-_
publications—weekly and monthly magazines—which publications for sale are those, not of. organisations of .
are issued by the State Publishing House, and children’s the working people, who are 75 per cent of the popu-.:
periodicals, issued by the Children’s Publishing House. lation, but of the small minority, amounting to about
106 SOVIET DEMOCRACY A PEOPLE’S PRESS 107
i per cent of the population of Britain, who in effect Certain readers may, at this point, interject with
own the Press of the country. the words: ‘‘ Ah, but is this democratic, so long as
It is absolutely true, of course, that in Britain, as there is no opposition Press in the U.S.S.R.?” The
compared with a Fascist country, working-class or- answer to this is another question: “ What is ‘ opposi-
ganisations have the right to publish their own news- tion’? ?” If, by opposition, you mean the public
papers and magazines, on condition that they have the exposure of every kind of injustice, abuse, and ineffi-
necessary funds to do so. To this extent they are better ciency, and of individuals who fail to fulfil their duties,
off than they would be under Fascism. But a glance at then we see that such criticism exists in the Soviet
the average bookstall, or at a list of the newspapers Press to an extent unequalled anywhere else in the
published in this country to-day, is sufficient to show world. But if, on the other hand, you mean the right
that the freedom of the Press that actually does exist to express in a Soviet newspaper anti-Soviet ideas, or
to-day operates in favour of the owners of property and in a Soviet trade union newspaper anti-trade union
against the organisations of the majority of the popu- views, then such opposition is not allowed by the
lation, the wage-earners. editors of the Press of the U.S.S.R. But such “ opposi-
In Soviet Russia, “in the interests of effective free- tion’ is not allowed in the official organs of any
dom. of expression for‘the working people,’’ the Press ‘democratic body anywhere. No newspaper which is the
was transferred from private hands to the organisations organ of a particular social organisation is going to be
of the workers, peasants, and soldiers. We have sur-_ allowed by its owners to pursue a policy contrary to the
‘veyed the results of this transfer of the ownership of the interests of the organisation that runs it; just as no
Press. And we have seen that the working citizen of the privately owned paper can go contrary to the will of its
U.S.S.R. enjoys an effective freedom of expression, in proprietor. The Press lord will not allow his paper to
two ways, which is not enjoyed by him in other oppose his policy, and the trade union journal in
countries. First, the material in the newspapers is what Britain will voice the views of the organisation that
he writes, and not what a privileged few write for his publishes it, not oppose them. To ask that the Soviet
consumption. Secondly, what he writes is effective in Press should oppose the policy of the Soviets is to ask
the sense that it leads to concrete action being taken something that is never asked anywhere, of any news-
against abuses, bad practices, inefficiency, and in- paper, whether privately or democratically owned. It is
justice. Compared with other countries, freedom of the absurd request to oppose the policy of its owners
expression for the Soviet working citizen is a doubly instead of expressing that policy. The only serious
effective weapon, a two-edged sword against all those. question is: Who, in the U.S.S.R., are the owners?
who, through malice or laziness, negligence or simple And the answer is: The people of the U.S.S.R.
inefficiency, obstruct the rapid raising of the general themselves, through their own organisations.
material and cultural level of the people. The Soviet YS
Press can truly claim to be democratic.
JUSTICE AMONG GOMRADES 109
The fact that the administration of justice has become
one of the ordinary activities of the working people in
the Soviet Union has led to the breaking down of the
CHAPTER VII barriers between what we may call “ formal” justice
on the one hand, and informal justice on the other. I
JUSTICE AMONG COMRADES remember one night in Moscow returning home about
ten o'clock and finding an enormous gathering on
the staircase, with people arguing in loud voices.
Ir ts rrequentiy sarp thata system of society can “What is it?’? I asked. “ A comradely court,” was
be judged by the way in which it looks after its children. the reply. “‘ What has happened ? ” was my next rather
The Soviet Union passes an examination on this mat- obvious question. And I was at once told the whole
ter with high honours. But it would probably be just story by a woman neighbour who seemed just as in-_
as true to say that a social system can be judged by the terested in relating the whole scandalous affair to me
way in which it treats its criminals, those who offend as she was in listening to the proceedings themselves.
against its laws. The man in the flat below had assaulted a neigh-
A visitor to a Soviet court of law, accustomed to the “‘bour when drunk. The neighbour had complained to
courts of Britain, receives a general impression of in- the house committee. There were witnesses. The house
formality. Such a room and such a gathering might be committee decided to hold a “ comradely court” to
a trade union meeting, or just a small public lecture, try the case, and here on the stairs, at Io p.m., the case
to judge by the appearance of the people sitting in the was being tried. The judge was a member of the house
body of the hall and on the platform. At one end of the committee; the jury was made up of the other inhabi-
room, on a raised dais, sit three people. The hall is tants of the block of flats. The accused was proved
fairly crowded. A discussion is going on between one of guilty. The sentence was a public reprimand in
the people on the platform and someone on the floor. front of all the neighbours. And at that the matter
It appears to be a heated argument. The person on the ended.
platform i is one of the judges; the speaker from the floor Is such a method of dealing with petty acts of assault,
is a criminal facing judgment! of negligence at work, of drunkenness, effective ?
The informality, the heated discussion between Soviet experience shows that, in many cases which
criminal and judge, the essentially human atmosphere might take a person to the courts in Britain, such a
of the whole proceedings—these are characteristic of comradely court, with a public reprimand, is quite an
working-class meetings all over the world. And the effective deterrent. If, however, the comradely court
Soviet court is, in fact, a working-class meeting for a comes to the decision that a misdemeanour has been ©
particular purpose—the passing of judgment on a committed which merits more than a public reprimand,
comrade who has committed an offence. then it turns the case over to the People’s Court, the
110 SOVIET DEMOCRACY JUSTICE AMONG COMRADES Tii
lowest rung in the ladder of “ formal” justice in the against hooliganism. The young man was sentenced to
U.S.S.R. several months “ forced labour.”
The People’s Court would correspond to the magis- Sentences in Soviet courts are usually to terms of
trate’s court in Britain. Hitherto, until the new Con- ** forced labour ”’ or to imprisonment. Forced labour,
stitution of 1936, the judges were appointed from a terrifying as it may sound, is the lighter sentence, and
panel submitted by the trade unions of the locality. in fact is the imposition of a fine, on the instalment
Each judge then had a short legal training, lasting system. The person who is sentenced to forced labour
about six months, before taking up his position. Now, continues to work at his job, but every month there is a
under the new Constitution, the judges will be elected deduction from his pay which goes to the local author-
by universal secret ballot, nominations being made by ity. At the same time the fact that he is serving a term
the trade unions, the Party, and other organisations of of forced labour is made known to the employing
the working people. Together with the judge there sit authority and to his trade union, and the latter is
two assistant judges, without any legal training, also expected to pay special attention to that person, to see
appointed from panels drawn up by the trade unions that he improves his ways and becomes a more satis-
in the district under the old system. They now will also factory and conscientious citizen. The criminal, serv-
be elected directly by the population. ing his sentence of forced labour, will not be immune
The hearing of cases takes place in an atmosphere of . from comment in the wall-newspaper of his place of
the greatest informality. Criminal cases may alternate work and general social disapproval, as well as
with applications for alimony against fathers who refuse exhortation to better work and citizenship in the future.
to recognise their paternity, or, having recognised it, In more serious cases, the People’s Court imposes
refuse to meet the financial obligations which follow. sentences of imprisonment. But here too, as compared
In every case the accused and the judges carry on with the significance of that term in Britain, Soviet
lively back-chat, as there is no such “crime” as imprisonment stands out as an almost enjoyable ex-
contempt of court. I remember a case where a perience. For the essence of Soviet imprisonment is
young man was up on a charge of drunkenness. isolation from the rest of the community, together
Late at night he had apparently demanded money with other persons similarly isolated, with the possi-
while drunk from a passer-by. The judge, a woman, bility to do useful work at the place of isolation, te
summed up the case with a reference to the “ campaign earn a wage for this work, and to participate in
against hooliganism,” and referred to the disgraceful running the isolation settlement or “‘ prison ” in the
behaviour of the young man in creating a disturbance same way as the children participate in running their
in the middle of the night. The young man interjected : school, or the workers their factory. The essential
** It wasn’t the middle of the night; it was only twelve difference between Soviet imprisonment and freedom
o’clock |!” “ Yes, it was the middle of the night,” said lies in: (a) The fact that the prisoners are bound to live.
the judge, and continued with her homily on the fight where they are sent; (8) The fact that they. get
112 SOVIET DEMOCRACY JUSTICE AMONG COMRADES II3
considerably lower wages than when free. Both these ‘* only sew mailbags ” as proof that their prison labour
features are a sufficient deterrent to the ordinary is not keeping others out of employment. But if they
citizen, but they make prison life comfortable as did not sew these mailbags gratis, then unemployed
compared to the conditions normally prevailing workers would be employed sewing them for a living, so
elsewhere. thatin Britain to-day the existing system of prison labour,
Soviet penal settlements are now usually situated in and any system other than one in which prisoners
places where large-scale construction work is in pro- receive trade union conditions, does contribute towards
gress. The Baltic-White Sea Canal was built to a great unemployment. This was also true in the U.S.S.R. till
extent by penal labour, and the building of the Moscow 1931, and till then the prisoners received trade union
~Volga canal is being undertaken in a similar way. An wages. To-day it is no longer the case, and therefore,
essential feature of such large construction enterprises though paid, they do not receive as good pay as if they
is that they provide work for people of all specialities. were free. ;
Therefore it is unusual, when serving a sentence in the The extent of self-government in the Soviet penal
U.S.S.R., for people not to be able to practise their settlement is very considerable. The wall-newspaper is
own speciality. And since, on such construction jobs, a means of expression for those serving time, just as it is
as on construction jobs all over the U.S.S.R., there is a a means of expression for those at liberty. Amateur
continual need for skilled personnel, the unskilled social activities are carried on in various spheres, and
prisoner may learn a trade during his sentence, and be the good workers receive rapid promotion to jobs of
finally released with considerably higher qualifications responsibility. The accountant who has embezzled
than he had when arrested ! funds while at liberty may become accountant to the
Within the penal settlements themselves the prisoners penal settlement if he works well, and the leader of a
earn wages according to their work. But these wages gang of thieves may become the leader of a brigade
are considerably below trade union rates. Those who, of workers on a construction job.
in recent years, have been disappointed to find a change The settlement near Moscow—Bolshevo—has re-
made in this direction (for at one time trade union ceived fame throughout the world. This settlement was
rates were paid. to all those serving sentences) must started for the homeless children who, after the war
realise that in the U.S.S.R. since 1931 there has been which was forced on the Soviets from 1918 to 1922,
no unemployment. Until that year, so long as there and on which Britain spent £100,000,000, were
were workers out of work, it was correctly held that if wandering about the country living by crime. At
prisoners of any kind did any form of work, this would Bolshevo they were encouraged to govern themselves
be keeping other workers out of jobs, unless the in a commune, with their own elected committee of
prisoners received trade union conditions. This argu- management. They built factories and learnt a trade.
ment, incidentally, applies also to Britain to-day. It is To-day, long after the sentences of the original in-
often stated that prisoners in His Majesty’s prisons habitants are completed, many of them remain living
lig SOVIET DEMOCRACY JUSTIGE AMONG COMRADES iI5
in the village of Bolshevo, working in its factories, and régime in the U.S.S.R. to-day. I think these people
assisting new arrivals to become useful citiziens also. forget that open armed warfare against the Soviets
The head of the commune is one of the original was only finally defeated in 1922. Since then more than
homeless children. one attempt has been made to provoke cause for a new
If we are to make a comparison between the Soviet attack. And at the present time the avowed policy of
penal system and any other aspect of Soviet life, we the leading Fascist States is to launch an attack on the
must consider it as a form of education. The régime in Soviet Union.
the Soviet school, giving the maximum incentive to the In preparation for that war Hitler is not going to
child to develop its sense of citizenship, is copied in the refrain from attempting to inject agents into the
treatment of criminals, to give them, too, the greatest U.S.S.R., just as he is injecting them into other
sense of social responsibility through the experience of countries. If he finds it to his advantage to have agents
constructive labour and the democratic running of their in Spain and France, in North and South America, he
own affairs. will find it more necessary, not less so, to place them
And, just as in the factory Socialist competition is also in the U.S.S.R., the country an attack against
combined with the material incentive of wages, so, too, which he has openly stated to be his main objective.
in the penal settlement there is Socialist competition; And, when we consider the internal position of the
the prisoners are paid, and the best workers are given U.S.S.R. itself, it would be wildly Utopian to assume
reductions in their sentences which usually amount to that to-day there are not still some persons who, for
the lopping of one-third off their time if they work some reason or other, may have some grudge against
-well: In this way, if we can call Soviet education “‘educ- the Soviet Government, and want to overthrow it. If
ation for citizenship,” then the Soviet penal system these circumstances are recognised, then we see that
can only be termed “ re-education for citizenship.” there are definite reasons why the discovery of anii-_
A word must be said, in conclusion, of that side of Soviet plots in co-operation with Fascist States is likely
the Soviet penal system which gets so much dark to take place in the U.S.S.R. im the future just as it has
publicity in the world Press, that aspect of it which occurred in the past.
concerns the treatment, not of comrades who have gone Whereas, among comrades, justice in the U.S.S.R.
wrong, but of those who act in a way which shows is administered as a means of re-education for citizen-
deliberate hostility to Soviet society. For there are ship, the Soviet State treats those crimes which are
individuals even to-day who are ready to take violent in fact acts of war by the law of war. In the U.S.S.R-
measures, and to co-operate with foreign Powers to to-day the side of the system of justice which represent:
overthrow the existing Soviet system. the future is the justice among comrades which has
There are many sympathisers of the Soviet régime been described in detail. The law of war, applied to~
who cannot understand how, twenty years after the political enemies of the system—spies, saboteurs, and:
Russian Revolution, there can really be enemies of the terrorists—will only continue so long as there are States © :
116 SOVIET DEMOCRACY JUSTICE AMONG GOMRADES 117
in the world interested in fomenting war against the Comradely justice, and the law of war, are applied
U.S.S.R. and in stirring up internal difficulties. side by side and simultaneously in the U.S.S.R. to-day.
In the great Moscow trials which have taken place They must on no account be confused, for they repre-
in 1936 and 1937 considerable confusion has been sent two opposing tendencies—the struggle for security
caused by the suggestion that these trials showed the necessitated by the existing world situation, and the
undemocratic nature of the Soviet system. ‘‘ If men like ordinary means operated by friends to regulate their
Radek and Zinoviev have to resort to armed terror,” relationships to the mutual interest of all. The law of
it is said, ‘“‘ this can only be because they had no war must still be applied in the U.S.S.R. to-day because
other means of expressing their views.” That statement, of the external forces, identifying themselves with the
in essence, is true. But there are two possible reasons medieval past, which threaten the security of the
for this situation. First, it might be that the State Soviets. The other—the law of comrades, the law of
authorities allowed no criticism or discussion whatever, future human society—is being applied more and more
and simply prevented the men concerned from expres- as an everyday activity of the working people them-
sing legitimate criticisms of policy. Secondly, it might selves, for the purpose of preserving law and order for
be that these individuals had already, time and again, their own mutual benefit.
expressed their views until the whole of the democratic
institutions of the country had finally decided by a vast
majority that the propagation of such views was not in
accordance with the interests of the community. In
the latter case, the fact that these people could no
longer speak their views would be because the people
no longer wanted to hear them. In which case this fact
illustrates, not the undemocratic, but the democratic
character of such a prohibition.
So long as the threat of war hangs over the U.S.S.R.
the laws of war will be enforced in those cases where,
objectively speaking, citizens are in collaboration with
the avowed enemies of the Soviet State. It is in these
spheres that we may still find the death-penalty—“ the
highest measure of social defence ’’—being imposed on
““ enemies of the Republic.” At the same time, how-
ever, comradely justice, for the re-education of erring
citizens, is applied to the overwhelming majority of
cases tried in the Soviet courts.
IS WOMAN’S PLACE IN THE HOME? 119
and child, granting pregnancy leave with pay, and
the provision of a wide network of maternity homes,
nurseries, and kindergartens.”
As a teacher in a Soviet university I have had some
CHAPTER VIII opportunity ‘of observing this equality of the sexes at
first hand. As a graduate of Cambridge, I could make
IS WOMAN’S PLACE IN THE comparisons between the complete equality in the
HOME? Soviet university lecture-room and the procedure in.
Cambridge by which, whenever the women students
enter a room, it is the convention for the men to stamp,
. Kircus, Ktcuer, unp Kinper ”—* Church, as if something out of the ordinary was occurring. At
Kitchen, and Children *’—so runs a German saying least, that was the convention eight years ago. I pre-
which has received great official popularity since the sume it still is, as things move slowly in our older
coming of Hitler to power in 1933. These are the three universities. I also had the opportunity of seeing the
spheres of social life to which women are allotted in the amusement of Soviet women students, when I said that
Third Reich. And in the English language, too, there their counterpart in England would probably accept
’
is the old saying, “ Woman’s place is in the home,” a job until marriage, and then retire from such employ-
which still finds currency in many quarters, particularly ment. The idea that a job was an alternative to
so long as the country is racked by unemployment, marriage was looked upon as some sort of archaic
and able-bodied men are out of work or in constant survival by these young Soviet women, who considered
fear of being so. In the Russian language there are a it absolutely practicable to have a career, a husband,
host of old proverbs degrading woman to the level of and a family into the bargain.
something subhuman, and it is therefore all the more Among the students themselves, on the teaching
striking that in the U.S.S.R. to-day there is no occupa- staff, and throughout the Soviet organisations that I
tion and no position which women may not occupy on have visited during the past five years, I have hardly.
the basis of complete equality with men. ever seen or heard anything which suggests that
_ in the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. adopted in’ 1936 woman is considered either an inferior or weaker sex.
it Is written: “Women in the U.S.S.R. are accorded In one case, on the construction of the Moscow
equal rights with men in all fields of economic, State underground, when a certain job was made avail-
cultural, social, and political life. able only to the male workers for reasons of health,
“ The realisation of these rights of women is ensured a group of young women insisted that they should also
by affording women equally with men the right to do the work, formed a woman’s brigade, and com-
work, payment for work, rest, social insurance and peted with the men for the best results. If, at any time
education. State protection of the interests of mother or in any place in the U.S.S.R. to-day, it is suggested
120 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
IS WOMAN’S PLACE IN THE HOME? 121
that any job is not suitable for women, that is all that is
necessary to ensure that within a short time women health conditions are adequate to permit of women’s
will be proving that such a job can be done by them as work,
efficiently as by men, and that’s that. But, on the other hand, capitalism has reduced
I think we in Britain find it hard to realise the extent women to the position of a cheap reserve of labour by
to which the idea of woman as a “‘ weaker sex ” is a means of low wages. In this way the employment of
product of industrial capitalism. In any country of the women has been increasingly concentrated on the worst
world where there is a large peasant population, what- paid jobs, which are often the most unhealthy and the
ever may be said of the social inferiority of women, the most degrading. This, too, has caused a deterioration
term “weaker sex” in women’s physique as compared with that of men.
is unknown, because it is so
patently untrue. We in Britain tend to assume that the Finally, by combining household drudgery with
physical inferiority of women in our own country to-day every other occupation that a woman might undertake,
is considerably greater than it actually is. And, where capitalism has added one further burden to its women-
such physical inferiority does exist, we are inclined to folk, with disastrous effects on the physique of the
neglect the degree to which this is due to social causes. women as compared with the men. As a result of these
It is unlikely that the women of feudal Britain were factors, the term ‘‘ weaker sex” is not a misnomer in
any weaker physically than the men; and it seems to Britain to-day, though it must have been as unreal in
be to a great extent the responsibility of capitalist the Britain of two hundred years ago as it is to-day in
industrialism that their physique has deteriorated. every country of the world where there is a large
A comparison of the physique of British townswomen peasant population and where women do a more than
to-day with that of peasant women in all countries full share in the general physical labour of the com-
bears this out. munity. It is the aim of a Socialist country to preserve
Capitalist industrialism has made labour such a this physical equality, and to prevent the deterioration
strain on the physique that on the one hand women of women into the position of a “ weaker sex.” At the
have had to be excluded from many occupations same time, however, real equality demands that
because of their function as mothers. Socialist industry, woman should be relieved of all the extra burdens im-
by organising all occupations in such a way as to posed upon her in more primitive societies. This means
develop the health and strength of the workers, makes that while, economically, she must receive equal. pay
it no longer necessary, except in rare cases, to exclude and equal opportunities with man, she must be'spe-_
women from occupations on the grounds of health. cially cared for socially in so far as she has additional -
An this way jobs which definitely develop the physique social functions to perform. oe
of the worker are available to women as well as to men Economic equality between women and. men: must”
in the U.S.S.R. In Britain, the woman’s “ inferiority ” be provided in two main ways. First, equality. of oppor-
is now used as a reason for exclusion, even where tunity and of wages must be provided. Secondly, women |
must be equally able with men to have a career. But
122 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
IS WOMAN’S PLACE IN THE HOME? 193
this means that they must be relieved of certain burdens of the utter failure of the British community to cope
which they have to bear in capitalist countries, such as with the problems of the working-class mother. Such
housework and the care of children. And, since only problems in the U.S.S.R. are already solved in
women can fulfil the function of bearing children, and principle, and the detailed solution is being further
since this necessitates an interruption of every woman’s worked out in practice from year to year.
work, special provision must be made for women in this It is sometimes suggested that the vast development
respect. Once children have been born, it is essential of nurseries and kindergartens is likely to break down
to ensure that any economic burden connected with family affections. Such a view, in my experience, is
the upbringing of such children shall be as far as absolutely unjustified. Is a working mother going to
possible equally shared by the two parents. be less affectionate towards her child if she can have it
In order to make equality of opportunity effective in fed and washed in a well-run nursery while she is:
the U.S.S.R., a great deal has already been done to occupied on other things ? Is she going to love her child .
provide socially those services which, in other countries, less if she has it with her only during those hours when
women must perform themselves as their regular she is free from other activities ? It is an ironic fact,
household duties. Most important is the matter of but well worthy of mention, that those who are most
feeding, and in the U.S.S.R. to-day a vast network of insistent in this country on the joys of family life are
restaurants makes it possible for the people to feed at usually those who, owing to their fortunate economic
or near their places of work, and the communal position, can afford to pay trained nurses to look after
kitchen replaces the work of the housewife. their children for twenty-three hours out of the twenty-
But, in addition to cooking meals, the housewife four, and who, during the remaining hour, are able to
under capitalism spends endless time on the care of her enjoy to the full the blessing of parentage without its
children. In this respect the Soviet Union has provided labour !
various means of relief. By a vast development of While it is possible for society to relieve women of
nurseries and kindergartens, by providing playgrounds housework, and of the burden of the care of children,
for children in every public square or park, by pro- it-is physically impossible to relieve women of the
viding out-of-school activities for children in the school function of bearing children. Therefore, in this respect,
buildings and children’s rooms in blocks of flats, the equality of the sexes necessitates special privileges for
‘Soviet authorities have already to a great extent re- the women. In the U.S.S.R. to-day the woman who is
moved the burden of the care of children from the having a child is relieved from work on full pay for a
shoulders of the mothers. Recently, returning to period of four months. If the doctor considers it ad-
London from Moscow, I was impressed by the number visable, she may be put on lighter work, or completely
of dirty children playing in the streets, and by the relieved of work, without reduction of pay, at any time — 2
number of infants seen in the care of children just a few during pregnancy. The nursing mother, after returning...
years older than themselves. These sights are symptoms to work, is allowed a special reduction in her working
IS WOMAN’S PLAGE IN THE HOME? 125
124 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
are not forced to live together if they have no longer
day. All medical attention and a layette for the child
any further natural affection for one another.
are provided free of charge.
The question of family relations arises in a particu- A matter which has raised considerable doubts in the
minds of many protagonists of sex-equality in this
larly acute form in the case of responsibility for children.
country is the law, passed in 1936, making abortion
Right from the early years of the Revolution the State
illegal except in cases where it is justified by considera-
put an end to all distinction between the married and
the unmarried mother. In this way the age-long dis-
tion for a woman’s health or the danger of hereditary
disease. This change in the law has been treated as an
tinction between ethical standards for men and for
attack on sex-equality.
women was brought to an end. Also, no child started
out in life with the social stigma of illegitimacy.
It is of the greatest importance, in this connection, to
refer back to the text of the original law which legalised
The Soviet State took further steps to ensure that
abortion in Soviet Russia in 1921. It is important to
marriage should be a voluntary contract, and the
note that in this law not a word was said about sex-
family a voluntary social unit. Whereas a marriage and
equality, and the right to have an abortion was never
a family based on mutual love and respect has always
put forward as a fundamental right of the Soviet
been encouraged in the U.S.S.R., the holding of people
-woman. On the contrary, abortion. was treated as a
unwillingly together, by force of law or by economic
social evil, but an evil which was likely to be less
compulsion, has always been opposed. Divorce has
harmful when practised legally than when carried out
been made easy, subject to one condition—that there
is equal parental responsibility for the upbringing of under conditions of secrecy. Here is part of the text of
every child. Whether marriage is registered or not,
the original law permitting abortion:
according to Soviet law every parent has an economic
“ During the past decades the number of women
responsibility for his or her children. As a rule it is the resorting to artificial discontinuation of pregnancy has
grown both in the West and in this country. The
mother who brings up a child if parents are living
separately, and therefore, as a rule, it is the father who
legislation of all countries combats this evil by punish-
ing the woman who chooses to have an abortion and
is bound to meet his responsibilities financially. And
these responsibilities are not small. For, to ensure that the doctor who performs it. Without leading to favour-
able results, this method of combating abortion has
a Soviet woman shall not have to bear the economic
burden of bringing up children alone, every father, if driven the operation underground and made the
not living with the mother of his children, must pay to
woman a victim of mercenary and often ignorant
her 30 per cent of his earnings for one, 40 per cent for
quacks who make a profession of secret operations. As
a result, up to 50 per cent of such women are infected
two, and 50 per cent for three children or more until
in the course of the operation, and up to 4 per cent of oS
they are of working age. In this way real economic
them die. oS
equality of the sexes is established with regard to
“* The Workers’ and Peasants’ Governmentis conscious: '.
parental responsibility, while, at the same time, people
x
Ep
3
IX
CHAPTER
population. When, after the Second Congress, the: Soviets, to Congresses, and members of Executive
peasants joined the workers and soldiers in the Central - Committees were made subject to recall if their electors
Executive Committee, the. dual system. of election were dissatisfied with their work. In this way the per-
was continued. manency of every official’s post depended on the agree-
It also happened that the most active section of the ment. of his electors. Secondly, every elected delegate
people in building up the Soviets was the working class to any Soviet body was bound, not only to sit on the
of the towns. This led to a large representation of the Soviet as a committee member, but also to participate .
town workers at the early Congresses. Similarly, in the in the day-to-day work of the Soviet. In this way every
provincial Congresses the workers played an active member not only passed laws, but was one of those
part. And in this way there evolved the system of dual responsible for carrying them out. There was thus
representation which has been mentioned. : no divorce between legislature and executive, between
Now it would have been possible, at the Fifth Con- those who made.the laws and those who enforced
gress of Soviets, when the Constitution was adopted, to them. «
have eliminated the inequality in representation Thirdly, a word must be said as to the nature of the
between town and country, but this was not done, and elections: In. the Soviet State, as in working-class
quite consciously. The reason was that the working ‘organisations in this country to-day, the system of
class of Russia had so far played a leading part in the election was based on the desire to return to the organs
building up of the Soviets, and it was because of this of government those who were best suited to represent
practical leadership that its representation was large in their fellows. At every election meeting a discussion
proportion to its numbers: Was it. desirable that the took place on the work of the Soviet authorities, and
most active section of the community in the new State general instructions were adopted as to the policy to be
should be deprived of part of its representation in the pursued in the future. Each delegate who was elected
name of an abstract “Equality” ?.Or, alternatively, was instructed to pursue the policy agreed upon at the
was it desirable that. the:class: which: had ‘shown. the meeting. And at intervals he had to report back to the
initiative in setting up the Soviet State should for the electors on how he was carrying out this policy on the
time being.continue to: enjoy greater. representation Soviet. Members of the Soviets were delegates with a
than the other main class in society, which had proved mandate from their electors, and subject to recall if
less active? The. Congress decided to preserve the they did not carry out this mandate to the satisfaction
predominance of working-class representation, of that of their supporters. This system stands in sharp con-
leadership which had given rise to the Soviet State, the trast to the parliamentary system, where candidates
leadership of the class which had shown the greatest come forward with a cut-and-dried statement of policy;.
energy in defending the Soviets against attack. the electors choose the programme which they think
Three outstanding features of the Soviet elections they prefer, and the candidate who is returned then |
should here be mentioned. First, all delegates to the proceeds to carry it out or not, as the spirit moves him.
152 SOVIET DEMOCRACY A WORKERS’ STATE 153
The system of election in the Soviet Union is only intricate combination of election and appointment,
comparable with that which prevails in democratic responsibility to the rank and file and responsibility to
working-class organisations in the capitalist world, a higher authority, the election and recall of repre-
with the right of recall making it even more democratic. sentatives by the electors, and the appointment and
The All-Russian Congress of Soviets elected a Central dismissal of workers by the authorities. Every Soviet
Executive Committee. This Executive Committee was organisation is controlled by representatives of the
the supreme authority between Congresses. The people. The factory manager is responsible to some
Executive Committee was responsible for appointing trust, which is responsible to one of the State Com-
the ‘‘ Government,” or Council of People’s Commissars, missariats. The Commissar is responsible to the Central
which consisted of the heads of all the different State Executive Committee, which, indirectly, is responsible
departments. The People’s Commissars were respon- to the electors. The trade union representative is re- .
sible to the Central Executive Committee for their sponsible to the workers, who are also electors to the
work. ‘The Council of People’s Commissars could meet Soviets. It is this complex system of government, com-
together and issue decrees, and each Commissar, bining the maximum of rank-and-file responsibility
individually, could issue decrees in his own department. with the elective principle, and with appointment
‘Any such decrees were subject to the approval of. the by higher authorities of lower officials, that is respon-
Central Executive Committee. : sible for the status of all Soviet citizens as masters as
In this way we see that the structure of the Soviet well as servants, as described in. Part J.
State combined the elective principle, through the It was this new kind of State, too, which inspired
Soviets, with, at the same time, leadership and appoint- Lenin, in reply to Kautsky’s accusation that the Soviet
ment, through the State departments. The Central Government was undemocratic, enthusiastically to
Executive Committee was responsible to the Congress; exclaim:
the Congress consisted of delegates from the local ** Ts there a single country in the world, even among
. Soviets, and these were responsible to the people. On the most democratic bourgeois countries, in which the
_ the other hand, the Executive Committee appointed average rank-and-file worker, the average rank-and-file
the People’s Commissars, who appointed their various village labourer . . . enjoys anything approaching such
departmental officials, who were responsible for liberty to hold meetings in the best buildings, such
appointing the workers in the various State organisa- liberty to use the best printing works and the largest
tions right down to the smallest State factory or work- stocks of paper, to express his ideas and to protect his
shop. But here again, side by side with the managers interests, such liberty to promote men and women of
appointed from above, and who are ultimately respon- his own class to administer and to ‘ run’ the State as
sible to the Commissar, sit the representatives of the in Soviet Russia?” (Proletarian Revolution, p. 31). °.«
workers, in the person of elected trade union officials.
So that throughout the Soviet system: there is a most
DEMOCRATIC DEFENCE—THE RED ARMY 155
Britain, where the breadwinners of some 75 per
cent of the population earn their living, where there
are Officers’ Training Corps, so that the people may
become skilled in the art of defence. By contrast, it
=. CHAPTER XI just happens in the U.S.S.R. to be in the factories and
in the collective farms, as well as in the universities and
DEMOGRRATIC DEFENCE— ~THE. scientific institutions, that citizens may receive the
RED ARMY elements of military knowledge, and are thus trained
to defend themselves against any enemy. In this way
the military training which in Britain is confined to a
Iw 1931, when I first went to the U.S.S.R., I had small section of the population is at the disposal of the
certain pacifist sympathies. It was not encouraging, whole community. Every Soviet citizen has the oppor-
therefore, to see factory workers sometimes marching tunity to be trained as a military leader.
through the streets carrying rifles, and to find that This relationship between the people of the U.S.S. R.
military trainingof some kind was available in practic- and the army is nothing new. It has existed since the
ally every Soviet institution. Since then, however, my sétting up of the Soviet State in 1917. In January 1918 |
personal experiences while living in ‘the USSR, it was declared by the Third Congress of Soviets that
together with certain events that have taken place in “in order to secure the supremacy of the labouring
the rest of the world, have convinced me that effective masses, and to guard against any possibility of the
democracy is something which must be defended by exploiters regaining power, the Congress decrees the
arms against those who, at the present time, are doing arming of the workers, the formation of a Socialist ”
their utmost to smash it by force. Red Army of workers and peasants, and the complete
And, once this need to defend the achievements of disarmament of the propertied classes.” At the same
the Revolution by force against armed intervention is time it was declared “‘ the duty of all citizens to defend
realised, then the extent to which the people of the the Socialist fatherland ” and “ the honour of bearing.
U.S.S.R. receive military training is to be appreciated arms in defence of the Revolution is granted only to the
as one of the greatest proofs of real democracy. To workers. The leisured section of the population will
make a comparison with Britain I would put it this fulfil other military duties.” In this way the “ public
way: In Britain, in the “ public schools.” where the school class” of Russia was deprived of the right to
sons of the well-to-do receive their expensive education, participate in defence, because the working people
the “ Officers’Training Corps” is a voluntary organ- distrusted this class in the defence of the Revolution;
isation of which practically 100 per cent of the boys while the military training of the people, whichin Britain _ S
are members. In the universities such corps also flourish. is confined within the walls of the“ public schools:”’.
But I have yet to find the industrial enterprises in and universities, was extended to the whole population.»
156 SOVIET DEMOCRACY DEMOCRATIC DEFENCE—THE RED ARMY 157
In the early days of the Revolution the Soviet action, whatever might be the relationship of the men
Government issued a decree for the arming of the whole in the ranks to the commanders when off duty. 7
people. The arsenals of the State were thrown open to The experience of Soviet Russia in fighting against
the workers and peasants, and the authorities were the armed intervention of ten foreign Powers was that
instructed that the people were to be allowed arms for the arming of the people must be followed at once by
the defence of the Revolution. When, in 1918, a war the organising of a strong people’s army, with a
broke out which was to last for four years, the exigencies centralised command, and well disciplined. While the
of war taught the same lesson as Spain has learned old relationship between soldier and officer was com-
during 1936. This was that the “ armed people ” were pletely abandoned, and all ranks mixed together as
defenceless against a well-organised trained army equals when off duty, the behaviour of every soldier
unless they, too, achieved first-class organisation and when on duty had to conform to the necessary military
discipline. And a disciplined and well-organised army discipline. The fact, however, that in the new army
is impossible without centralised command: which was being built up the commanders themselves
As a result of the necessities of the war itself, the were drawn from the best elements in the ranks
unorganised arming of the people and the defence of meant that the old antagonism between officer and
the Revolution by. badly trained groups of armed soldier, reflecting the class relationships in society, no
workers could not be allowed to continue: The neces- longer existed. In this way the Red Army was built
sary steps were therefore taken by the Soviet Govern- up, an army which to-day is officered to the extent of
ment to build up a regular army, with a centralised some 95 per cent by men drawn from the working _
command and the enforcement of the necessary class and the collective farm peasantry.
discipline, even though this meant the elimination of The structure of the Red Army and its administration
certain features which were defended by some as being is in general similar to that of other organisations of the
necessary to a democratic army. It must not be imagined Soviet State: The supreme authority is vested in the
that such a reorganisation was easy, for the Revolution Commissar of Defence, who is appointed by the
itself had been made possible only as a result of the supreme authority of the State. Officers are appointed
complete breakdown of the old army discipline, the from above, but at the same time committees of the
seizure of power by the rank-and-file soldiers and their rank and file play a large part in the management of ~
elected committees, and the replacing of the old army the barracks and in all matters immediately affecting
officers by elected commanders. It took time to per- the welfare of the soldiers, their social and political life,
suade the rank-and-file soldiers, once the commanders their education, feeding, housing conditions, and so on.
were really drawn from the ranks and there was In this way the Soviet barracks has its wall-newspaper
an equal opportunity for all to rise to the highest like the factory, and the commander who does not
positions of command, that a disciplined subordina- treat the men with the necessary politeness may be
tion to the commanders was still essential while in criticised for his uncomradely attitude in the same way
156 SOVIET DEMOGRACY DEMOCRATIC DEFENCE—THE RED ARMY 159 :
as a factory foreman may be criticised by the rank and of every factory manager included, in addition: to
file. responsibility for production, the work of caring for the
Just as, in the factory, there are opportunities for welfare of the workers employed. So, too, in the Red.
every worker to study and to obtain promotion, so, Army, the duty of the commander, not only to his
too, in the Red Army, every facility is available for superior staff but to the men under him, is stressed in
free study and so for promotion. Any rank-and-file the official fieldregulations which state: “ Care for the
soldier may apply for admission to one of the military Red Army man is the first obligation of the commander,
academies, and will be accepted as soon as: he has. and is his direct duty.”
the necessary qualifications. An interesting feature of the field regulations of the
Military service in the U.S.S.R. is an obligation on Red Army is a paragraph which deals with the treat-
all citizens. So long, however, as there was an employ- ment of prisoners of war. We have already seen how, in
ing class, it was expressly stated that the employing general, prisoners in the Soviet Union are treated as
class was not to be given military work for the defence deserving of education rather than punishment.
of the country. To-day, however, now that the em- However, with regard to deliberate enemies of the
ployers no longer exist as a class of the Soviet popula- State, the law is applied as between enemies and not as
tion, the new Constitution simply states: ‘‘ Universal. ‘between comrades. In preparing the Red Army for
military service is the law. Military service in the action, however, we find the following paragraph in the
Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army represents the field regulations: “‘ The troops of the Workers’ and
honourable duty of the citizens of the U.S.S.R.” Peasants’ Red Army are generous to prisoners of war,
It has already been shown, when we were considering and render them all kind of help for the purpose of
trade unions in the Soviet State, how the regiments of preserving their lives.” This, at a time when the
the Red Army freely mix with the workers and peasants aeroplanes of Hitler and Mussolini were bombing the
in social and cultural activities of various kinds, as well defenceless women and children fleeing from Malaga,
as giving them active assistance in production in times was one of the field regulations issued by the Soviet
of emergency. Similarly, when we discussed the setting Government.
up of the Soviet State, we saw that the soldiers, like the I remember how, when working in Moscow, I
other citizens, had the full right to vote and to par- happened to see a letter sent to the U.S.S.R. from an
ticipate in elections. In the army of the U.S.S.R.—and: English worker. During the period of British interven-
this is a feature of every really democratic army—~ tion he had: been sent to the north of Russia, and had
politics have always played an important part, for the been taken prisoner. In his letter he recalled his
Soviet Government has nothing to hide from its he
experiences—how had been given work to do, was
soldiers, and it is to the greatest advantage that they paid for this work, and allowed to spend his free time
should know for what they are fighting. wandering about the town in the evenings just as he
In discussing the Soviet factory we saw how the work. wished. This was no accidental treatment; it was
160 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRATIC DEFENCE—THE RED ARMY 161
typical of the treatment of prisoners during the
last more flagrant acts of Fascist aggression, stands out as a
war against the U.S.S.R.; and, from the field
regula- bulwark of democracy, as a political as well as a military
tions quoted, we see that it will probably be
true of organisation, rooted in, and recruited from, the rank
the next.
What is the explanation of this leniency, and file of the people, a people’s army which will
of this respect the people of any territory which it may ever
friendliness, to the prospective prisoners of
the Red have cause to enter.
Army in a war? The answer is that the leaders
of the Such an army, however, representing a people so
Red Army look upon it, not simply as a milit
ary organised that they have no unemployment—-and
machine, but as a political organisation capab
le of there are among them no. citizens who can gain any-
winning to its side the workers and peasants,
¥
the vast thing from war—is not likely to enter foreign territory
majority of the people, in any territory which
it may unless absolutely compelled to do so by an act of
enter. For this reason the regulations definitely state:
“The winning over to the side of the prole aggression, either against the Soviet State itself, or
tarian against a State with which it has a pact of mutual
revolution of the working and peasant masse
s of the assistance. In 1917 one of the main slogans of the
enemy army as well as the population of the field
of Congress of Soviets was “‘ Peace.” To-day, twenty years
action is the principal condition for victory.”
The Fascists, in their attack on Spain, bomb later, no citizen of the U.S.S.R. wants war. Therefore
defence- we find that Voroshilov, Commissar for Defence of the
less women and children who are fleeing from
a U.S.S.R., recently made the following public state-
captured town. The Red Army, when there
was a ment:
serious dispute with the Chinese in Manchuri
a a “We are proud of our army, its organisation, its
few years ago, entered Manchurian territory. When military training, its splendid equipment, but without
it entered a town or village the first thing it did
was to hand over all stores.of food and clothi hesitation we would send this army back to the factories
ng to the es and the collective farm fields, we would disarm it
most impoverished of the population, thus endea
ring 7 completely if the capitalist countries would accept our
itself to the women and children instead of murde
SEU
vote geographically, since they did not work together The election of delegates to the local Soviet is not the
in one organisation. This was the housewives, As only function of voters in the Soviet Union. It is not a
a
result, the housewives met separately in each district question here of various parties presenting candidates
had their own constituencies, and elected their own to the electorate, each with his own policy to offer. The
representatives to the Soviet. Here, too, vital interest Soviet electorate has to select a personality from its
has always been shown in the personality of every can- midst to represent it, and instruct this person in the
didate. Why should this woman be elected ? What policy which is to be followed when elected. At a
right had she to represent her fellow housewives on the Soviet election meeting, therefore, as much or more
local Soviet ? In the district next to my own at the time may be spent on discussion of the instructions to
last
election the housewife who was elected was well known the delegate as is spent on discussing the personality of
as an organiser of a communal dining-room in the the candidates.
district. This was the kind of person that the housewives At the last election to the Soviets, in which I person-
wanted to represent them on the Soviet. Another ally participated, we must have spent three or four
candidate, a Communist, proposed by the local organ- times as much time on the working out of instructions .
isation of the Party, was turned down in her favour. as we did onthe selection of our candidate. About three
Tt will be clear from this. description that a Soviet weeks before the election was to take place the trade
election has, up to the present, been a most simple union secretary in every department of our organisation
and
informal affair, for the purpose of sending forward was told by the committee that it was time to start to
the
best representatives of the people to sit on the local and prepare our instructions to the delegate. Every worker
national organs of government. Organisations was asked to make suggestions concerning policy which
and
individuals have both been able to put forward candi. he felt should be brought to the notice of the new
dates, and in cases where the Communist Party has personnel of the Moscow Soviet. As a result, about
supported candidates they have not always necessarily forty proposals concerning the general government of
been members of the Party itself, and, whether Moscow were handed in from a group of about twenty
they
have been members or not, there has never been people. We then held a meeting in our department at
any
guarantee of their election, other than their which we discussed the proposals, and adopted some
desira-
bility as candidates to a majority of those present at and rejected others. We then handed our list of pro-
the
meeting. If since November 1917 the Communist Party posals to a commission, appointed by the trade union
in the U.S.S.R. has continued to have its members as committee, and representing all the workers in our
a majority of the delegates to the Congresses of Soviets. organisation. This Commission co-ordinated the pro-
this is purely due to the fact that the Communist posals received, placed them in order according to the
Party has put up for election those very people that the various departments of the Soviet, and this.co-ordinated
electors were likely to respect, and has not as a rule list was read at the election meeting itself, again dis-
put
up people whom the electors were likely to reject. cussed, and adopted in its final form. OTA aces
174 SOVIET DEMOGRAGY
ELECTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS 175
The proposals which were made were of an extremely
numbers of houses each year. But we did have very
practical character. For when we set out as citizens to suggesting that the | new Soviet
strong comments
make constructive proposals for our local authority to should be particularly careful not to build any more
carry out, the general atmosphere of practicability is large blocks without having a universal store included,
very much greater than it can ever possibly be in an that hot water should always be laid on, and that in
election carried out on the basis of party antagonism,
future the approach to new blocks should be com~
where each side will throw exorbitant challenges at the
pleted together with the houses, instead of having an
other, hoping to make electoral capital as a result, but
approach of mud for three months or more after the
having no illusions as to the ultimate practicability
houses themselves were already inhabited. The question
of the suggested policy.
of housing was raised in the Moscow election as well as
To take a concrete example, let us compare the in the London one, but in the former it took the shape
L.C.C. elections of March 1937 with the elections to
of citizens’ definite instructions; in the latter, it was a
the Moscow Soviet which took place: in 1935, and in
propaganda weapon which could easily be made a
which I participated personally. Inthe former we
luxurious cloak for a policy that could not command
notice that the Labour Party made great and justifiable been fully
support among the voters at all if it had
play with the increase in housing construction since it
revealed.
came to power. On the other hand, the “* moderate ”
Since, in the U.S.S.R., practically the whole of trade
and other candidates tended to centre their anti-Labour
is now controlled by public authorities, a number of
propaganda on the so-called “ extravagance,” not of instructions dealt with the shops. Those who lived in
building so many more houses, but in spending in outlying areas stated the sites where they felt that the
certain isolated cases of more on individual buildings
Soviet should place shops in the immediate future, and
than was necessary. In this way the issue was put to the
so on. Then there was a question dealing with the
electorate as: Labour—More Houses; Anti-Labour— manners of the militia ! Several years ago the Moscow
Less Extravagance. The accusation of extravagance
Soviet opened a series of enquiry bureaux scattered
might quite. well cause people who wanted more
about the city. Since these were opened several of us
houses to vote “ anti-Labour,” to discover afterwards
had found that the militia, instead of answering
that the real meaning of less extravagance was to cut various places were, would
enquiries as to where
down the housing programme to what it had been always refer the questioner to the nearest enquiry
before Labour was elected ! And, in elections on a party
office. We recommended that this be stopped, and Iam
basis, such a false contrasting of issues is bound to arise glad to find that before I left this had been done.
continuously, to the utter confusion of electors.
It is not only questions of local importance, however,
But let us return to the election in Moscow. Here we which are discussed by Soviet citizens. The Central
found no spectacular demands for more houses, since
Executive Committee, in considering legislation of major
the Moscow Soviet was already building increasing importance, has often called conferences or congresses
rear
176 SOVIET DEMOCRACY ELECTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS 177
of those particularly concerned, for consultative pur-
discussion took place for a whole year before the law
poses, before such legislation is adopted. Or, in cases
was altered. And again, in 1936, when the Government
where it is considered that the proposed legislation
considered that the time had come when legal abortion
affects the personal interests of the whole population,
was no longer justified by circumstances, there was a
then it may be submitted to the whole country for
general discussion in factories and collective farms,
consideration.
and in the pages of the Press, before the altered law
As an example of the former, we may mention the
was finally adopted. Again, in 1936, after the Seventh
model statutes for the collective farm, which were
Congress of Soviets had decided to bring up to date the
adopted in 1935. The Central Executive Committee,
Constitution of the U.S.S.R., a special committee
two years after the record harvest of 1933 had con- elected at the Congress drew up the draft, and it was
clusively proved the effectiveness of collective farming,
then submitted to the whole population for almost six
decided that the time had come when an official model
months’ discussion before it was finally amended and
set of statutes for the collective farms should be adopted. ratified at the Eighth Congress. As a result of this
Jt therefore drew up a project, based on the experience discussion, and of the discussion in the Congresses of
of the most successful collectives. It then called a Soviets in each of the constituent republics, the final
Congress of Collective Farm shock-workers. This draft contained over forty amendments to that which
meant that the collective farmers were asked to appoint had been originally submitted.
their best shock-workers as delegates, and these elected Just as, in the sphere of discussion, the elected
delegates came to Moscow to discuss the new statutes.
authorities of the U.S.S.R. refer to the general public
Then, after the congress had adopted what it con- for their opinion, so, too, in the sphere of action, they
sidered the ideal statutes, the Central Executive Com-
draw into the administration of the State large numbers
mittee endorsed these statutes and they became law. of ordinary citizens. The meetings of workers. in: the
In this way a new law was passed only after the fullest factories, and villagers in the country, not only: elect
consultation with those whom it intimately affected. their delegates to the Soviets, but also put forward.
Examples of the other procedure, of submitting laws thousands of voluntary workers who are then attached:
to the whole. population’ for discussion, are more to the different sections of the Soviets. These-form:the
frequent in the case of matters which relate to the third category mentioned at the beginning: of this
personai lives of the population. Thus, between 1g17 chapter—workers who voluntarily: participate in. the
and 1920 there were’. conferences» and. discussions various administrative bodies, both-local‘and national:
throughout Soviet Russia’on the subject of abortion. Already, in discussing equality:.ofopportunity, we
Finally, in spite of considerable opposition, the law pointed out how, in this. way,-many.‘ amateur ”
was passed, which has already been quoted, making administrators find their way into. the State apparatus
abortion legal in State clinics. In 1925, when a number as permanent. workers. we
of changes were proposed in the marriage law, a The work of every Soviet is divided into departments,
178 SOVIET DEMOCRACY ELECTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS 179
such as health, housing, transport, industry, trade, work in the department of the militia, dealing with
education, and so on. In each of these sections there is cases of drunkenness, theft, or other disorders, when a
ample scope for voluntary workers, as inspectors of uniformed militiaman is not in sight!
existing conditions, to see that laws are enforced, and The work of volunteers in the Soviet State is not,
to report where improvements should be made and however, limited to local government. It also extends
money should be spent. In Moscow alone, hundreds of upwards throughout the Soviet State, right to the
volunteers do work for the housing department, offices of the Central Executive Committee itself. Here,
inspecting dwellings and recommending improve- for example, in the Complaints Bureau of the President,
ments or demolition; finding suitable building sites; Kalinin, there work a number of volunteers from
and discovering suitable positions for the creation of Moscow’s largest factories, sent there by their trade
open spaces and playgrounds. unions, and dealing with letters addressed to the
Workers for the health department organise cam- President from all parts of the U.S.S.R. For the Soviet
paigns against epidemics, and run meetings and citizen not only has his Press to which to write, but
lectures on all subjects of importance to health. Such also his President; and letters to Kalinin play an
workers may become professional lecturers if they show important part in. exposing abuses by local authorities
ability, thus joining the ever-growing health service of and the administration of factories when the complain-
the U.S.S.R. In the case of the education department, ant is unable locally to obtain redress.
section workers become acquainted with the work of It is only when the Soviet State is considered in
the schools, get to know the children personally, and detail, with its elected deputies, its voluntary workers,
attend the meetings of teachers and of students. By and its paid workers promoted according to merit
going from school to school they are able to make from the rank and file of the population, that we see
suggestions for better work, on each occasion describing how, in the words of Sir Bernard Pares, “‘ Government
how the best school in each particular sphere organises and people are of the same stock.”? This has happened
its activities. The experience of all such voluntary because it is the people who have built up the Govern-
workers, reported back to the Soviet, is a basis for new ment of the U.S.S.R., republic by republic, institution
legislation. by. institution, as the demands of the welfare of the
But voluntary work for the Soviets does not stop community have necessitated. The working people
at such matters as health, housing, and education. themselves participate in running the State; there are
The militia, the organisation-for preserving law and no. longer, as the Webbs put it, “ a Government and a
order, is also assisted by: voluntary workers, usually people confronting each other.” .-.
young enthusiasts from the big factories. We may say,
in fact, if the comparison is permissible, that the Soviet
_ “Special” is the young man who, at a trade union
meeting, is selected as one who is suited to do voluntary
-A SOCIALIST CONSTITUTION t8r
far as the structure of the State is concerned, this has year. As far as concerns the U.S.S.R., we find that the
always been regarded as something which would be first and second Congresses met in 1922 and 1924, three
altered to suit changing circumstances, and so, as early more were held before the end of 1929, the sixth in
as 1917, we find Lenin writing these words: “‘ The 1931, the seventh in 1935, and the eighth, to deal
transition from capitalism to Communism will certainly exclusively with the amendment of the Constitution, in
bring a great variety and abundance of political forms, 1936. Thus there has been a tendency, with the
but the essence will inevitably be only one: the dictator- passage of time, for rather greater periods to elapse
ship of the proletariat.” And, as we saw in our short between the Congresses, and for more time to be
Introduction, these words simply mean that the spent between them on carrying out the policy which
Government shall be in the hands of the urban and they have decided upon.
rural workers, combined with the poorer peasantry; This tendency, at first sight, might seem alarming to
that is, to-day, the whole population of workers, col- the democrat. But it is in fact an inevitable tendency in
lective farmers, and small individual producers. a community in which the problems of Government are
When we examined the formation of the Soviet becoming increasingly bound up with the day-to-day
State we saw that it was never built up according to a management of affairs, and less and less a matter
preconceived plan, but grew up in the way in which, “of deciding general principles. In all working-class
in their struggle for better conditions, the working organisations the function of a congress is to establish
people happened to build it. It naturally took the form the general principles on which the organisation is to
of an ordinary working-class organisation, with autho- work. The principles having been decided, the dele-
rity centred in a Congress, and an Executive Committee gates return to their localities, and it is for the executive
between Congresses. Such a system, as has already been committee to see that they are carried out. Congresses,
pointed out, is economical; because many people can because of their very nature, are unable to exercise a
attend a Congress that lasts a few days who, because detailed control of day-to-day work, for they only meet
they are working as producers, could not sit for a great for short periods, whereas the work of any organisation
part of the year on a more permanent body. On the or government goes on continuously. It follows from
other hand, however, every organisation which is this that the more the work of government becomes the
governed by periodical congresses, and by an executive detailed carrying out of a generally agreed policy, the
committee between these congresses, is in danger of less work is there for a congress to do; and the greater
an isolation of the executive committee at the top from the need for some more permanent executive body
the membership at the bottom. directly controlling the activities of the various organs
If we examine the development of the Congresses of of administration.
Soviets of the Russian Soviet Republic, we find that at That is why, in the history of the Soviet State, we find
first they were called very often, four being held in that at first the Congresses of Soviets met frequently,
1918 alone; whereas they were later held only once a and, later on, less often. At first there were numerous
188 “SOVIET DEMOGRAGY
A SOCIALIST CONSTITUTION 189
questions of principle to be settled—the rights of the In these words Sidney and Beatrice Webb make
working people as against those of the employers, the
organisation of defence by arming the people, crystal clear, at the present stage of Soviet development,
the when the basic questions of principle are to-day
position of the Soviet State as regards the rights of
nationalities;
settled and lightning Congresses to discuss matters of
all these matters had to be decided in
principle. After 1922, with the defeat of the armed principle are no longer required, the need for some
more permanent body, having a “ corporate life,” and
intervention, the question of economic development
dealing with the day-to-day details of legislation and
became the main problem. When, in 1928 and 1929,
administration. What is required is a representative
it was decided finally to eliminate capitalism from the
body which sits for longer périods, and which has direct
countryside and to launch a general plan of economic
development to cover the whole life of the country, a contact with those people whose interests it represents.
final question of principle was decided. It now had to This is the new form of supreme authority which has
been set up by the Constitution of 1936.
be worked out.
Instead of a Congress of delegates electing an Execu-
The weakness of the Congress of Soviets as a means
of effectively controlling the day-to-day activity of the tive Committee, the supreme authority of every
territory in the U.S.S.R. will now be a directly elected
many organs of Government has been well. expressed
Supreme Soviet or Council. The citizens will directly
by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in Soviet Communism.
elect their deputies not only to the locai Soviet, but to
They describe the All-Union Congress of Soviets in
these terms: ‘‘ This huge assembly, made up of dele- the provincial and district Soviets, to the Supreme
Council of their Republic, and to the Supreme Council
gates of scores of races speaking different tongues, who
of the U.S.S.R., which will replace the Congress of
meet only for a week or so and:.then ‘ surrender their
Soviets and the Central Executive Committee.
mandates,’ and do not even:know in advance each
At the same time, in the Government of the U.S.S.R.
other’s names, cannot, of course, develop the corporate
the two Councils, formerly parts of the Central Execu-
life of a Parliament, or deal adequately with the details
tive Committee, will remain. The Council of the Union
of legislation or administration. The Congress has been
will consist of delegates, each of whom represents
described, in fact, as little better than a picturesque
300,000 inhabitants, from all over the U.S.S.R. The
“biennial picnic ’ in Moscow for locally:-elected visitors
from all parts of the U.S.S.R., whose expenses are Council of Nationalities will consist of the same number
of delegates as the Council of the Union, directly
provided from U.S.S.R. funds. Even if this were true,
elected by the population in such a way that there will
it would not imply that the Congress is of no political
importance. . . . The mere fact that no delegate is be an equal number of delegates from each main
national republic of the Union, and smaller numbers
* denied the floor,’ even if there is no effective voting,
makes so representative a gathering of real political
of delegates from each of the smaller republics within
them and other smaller national territories. In this way
importance ” (p. 83).
there is a “two-chamber” system, in which each
190 SOVIET DEMOGRACY A SOCIALIST GONSTITUTION Igt
chamber has absolutely equal powers in every respect, Soviet Republic, or in the smaller republics of the
one chamber representing the people as a whole, the Union? Or a budgetary question might arise: the
other representing the people organised as equal Russians in the Council of the Union, representing a.
nations. - majority of the population of the U.S.S.R., might want
According to the new Constitution, then, the more centralisation of funds in the Commissariat of
supreme authority of the U.S.S.R. will be directly Finance of the U.S.S.R. The smaller republics might
responsible to the people as individuals, and to the oppose this, and turn down such a proposition in the
people as nations. The Supreme Council will sit for Council of Nationalities. But could such a dispute prove
about four months each year, and, between sessions, its to be irreconcilable without a new election? This seems
elected Presidium will exercise very limited powers in unlikely, so that the provisions for such a dispute, while
its absence. Such a matter of importance to the people necessary on paper, may never actually have to be
as the declaration of war, a matter which is usually in applied. mer
the hands of the “ cabinets” of other countries, can The last section of the new Constitution which is of
now only be decided by the directly elected Supreme interest here is that which deals with the Rights and
Council of the U.S.S.R. However, an exception is made Obligations of Citizens. The striking feature of this
in the case of honouring treaties of mutual assistance, ‘chapter is the small number of obligations, and the
which the Presidium may fulfil without calling a large number of rights, of the Soviet citizen.
session of the Supreme Council. “Work in the U.S.S.R. is the obligation of each
Should a situation arise in which the two chambers citizen capable of working, according to the principle:
of the Soviet Government cannot agree, there is ‘He who does not work shall not eat.’ In the U.S.S.R.
provision for the setting up of a joint conciliation com- the principle of Socialism is being realised: ‘ From each
mittee. If this is ineffective, then the matter can only according to his ability, to each according to his
be referred to the whole country for decision, by means work.’ ” Further, every Soviet citizen must abide by
of new elections. If, after that, a majority in the Council the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. and obey its laws.
of Nationalities and a majority in the Council of the Finally, every citizen is under the obligation to defend
Union disagreed, the contentious piece of legislation the U.S.S.R.
would have to be buried:! It is hard: to imagine, how- To the working man and woman in other countries
ever, at the present time, so serious a dispute arising these obligations of citizens will not seem unduly
between the two Councils of the Soviet Government. arduous. To those who live on rent and interest, how-
On what could the representatives of the nations of the ever, who spend their lives on the Lido and the Riviera,
Union so disagree with the representatives of the people and appear regularly each year at Ascot and spend
as a whole as to necessitate a new election? Perhaps thousands of pounds during each “ season ’”’ in London
small disagreements may arise as to the placing of new —to these, and to poorer people who imitate them in a
industries: shall they be on the territory of the Russian smaller way, the idea that work should be an obligation
192 SOVIET DEMOCRAGY
A SOCIALIST CONSTITUTION I93
on all may well seem an unjustifiable inter
ference with and education. All these things, guaranteed in the new
individual liberty. But to such people, for
this very Constitution of the U.S.S.R., are not promises for some
reason, the dictatorship of - the. proletariat.
.. must distant future, but accomplished facts.
inevitably be distasteful. pe
The Soviet State imposes the obligation to In the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. as adopted in
work. 1924 a special chapter was devoted to the United State
But it makes it possible to fulfil this obligation
by grant- Political Department, or O.G.P.U., an organisation
ing the right to work to all citizens. This right,
until which was created “ for the purpose of combining the
1931, could not have appeared in the Constituti
on of revolutionary efforts of the United Republics to combat
the U.S.S.R., for, until then, the Soviet State
to face the problem of unemployment.
had still political and economic counter-revolution, espionage,
To-day, as a and banditry.” In the new Constitution no mention is
result of the replacing of capitalist by Socia
list pro- made of this organisation, now incorporated in the
duction, economic crises have been made impos
sible in Commissariat of Home Affairs. On the other hand,
the U.S.S.R. Production is planned for use,
and the provisions are included which provide for the inviol-
only brake on increasing production is the
number of ability of the person and the home, and for the secrecy
“people available for work. It can never be to the
interest of correspondence. This does not mean, of course, that
of the Soviet State to allow people to be out of work,
for at a time when certain of the most aggressively in-
by employing them: the general welfare
must neces- clined Fascist States are openly preparing for an attack
sarily be increased.
, on the U.S.S.R., and are undoubtedly sending their
Work without leisure is a doubtful blessing.
So, by agents there to prepare the way for armies at a later
the guarantee of leisure, the new Soviet
Constitution date, they will meet with no resistance. But whereas
ensures that work shall not be excessive. The
seven- in 1924 one of the primary tasks of the united Govern-
hour day in practically the whole of industry,
and paid ment was to defend the Union against capitalist
holidays for all workers, make this right a reality
at the influences, both inside and outside the country, to-day
present time. But. work and leisure are not enoug
h. In the internal struggle is no longer of such importance.
addition, the worker--wants security. And
this, too, is On the other hand, however, defence against foreign
guaranteed in the new Soviet Constitution by
a social aggression is even more important than before. Hence a
insurance system which pays wages during illnes
s, and Commissariat of Defence Industries has been set up in
pensions at sixty for men, fifty-five for women, and
at the new Constitution of 1936.
an earlier age in dangerous occupations or in
cases of In concluding this chapter, two general points
invalidity. The control of the social insurance funds should be mentioned. First, it has been said in many
as we have seen, is in the hands of the people’s own,
quarters that the new Constitution of the USSR.
elected representatives in the trade unions. Further
rights, the enjoyment of which has been fully
represents a ‘‘ weakening” of the dictatorship of the
described proletariat; that this dictatorship is now coming to
in earlier chapters, are national equality, sex equal
ity, an end. Such a view can only arise as a result of a
Gp
Ig4. SOVIET DEMOCRACY A SOCIALIST CONSTITUTION I95
misunderstanding of the term “dictatorship of the pro- the constitution of the U.S.S.R. provides for the active
letariat.” In our Introduction we showed how the participation of the people in the work of government
Soviet State was set up to ensure the power of the in more than one way” (p. 3).
working people of town and village—that is, the power The fact that the Soviet Constitution does not cover
of the vast majority of the population. This power every aspect of the work of government is not a feature
was guaranteed by giving unprecedented democratic that distinguishes it from the Constitutions of other
rights to the vast majority, while the rights of the countries. In no capitalist country does the Constitu-
small minority of employers were ruthlessly curtailed. ‘tion express the relationship between the Treasury and
It is this form of government which is termed the the big bankers, or the War Ministry and the arma-
“ dictatorship of the proletariat.” But if this is what the ment firms; and yet we know that the latter play an
term means, then the new Constitution, which reflects important part in moulding Government decisions.
the complete extinction of the employing class, can only Similarly, in Britain, an ordinary text-book description
be termed a strengthening of this “ dictatorship,” not of the system of government does not usually explain
its weakening. For to strengthen the democracy of the how it is that only “ public schoolboys ” find their way
working people, now the whole population, is synony- to the higher posts in the Civil Service. In every country
mous with strengthening the “dictatorship of the ‘there are. facts about the control of the Government
proletariat ”’*—democracy for the whole working popu- which are not described in detail in the Constitution
lation. or in text-books of political science. The facts in the
And the second point is this. Throughout Part I U.S.S.R. have been explored by us in detail, and we
there were described institutions and customs, methods can only conclude in this case that if, on paper, the
of discussion and of government, which are hardly Soviet system provides for the representation of the
referred to at all in the Constitution, either before 1936 people in all organs of government, in practice this
or after. Similarly, when we discussed the system of representation is far greater than any written Con-
election, the part played by section workers in the stitution could ever show.
Soviets and by public discussion, we were describing
features of Soviet procedure which are not includéd 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,
STATE AND PARTY 197
In the year 1905, when the first Soviets were set up by
the workers of Russia, some of the most active members
of these Soviets were “‘ Bolsheviks’’—~that is, members of
CHAPTER XV the section of, the Social Democratic Party of Russia that
followed the leadership of Lenin, and that obtained a
STATE AND PARTY majority at the Second Congress of the Social Demo-
cratic Party in 1903. The Russian word bolshinstve means
majority, and, when the minority at this Congress split
‘Tue new Soviet GoNnsTITUTION is really off from the majority, the two fractions became known
not democratic at all, for in the U.S.S.R. there is only as “ Bolshevik’ and “‘ Menshevik”’ respectively, the
one political party.” How often, in speeches and majority and minority groups. The “ Bolsheviks,” led
articles in this country, have such phrases been used by by Lenin, were the majority at this Congress.
those who wished to prove that the new Constitution The Bolsheviks in Russia based their political activity
of the U.S.S.R. was not really democratic ! But a vital on the teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
question in this connection is never asked: Do the They worked for the continual improvement of the
people of the U.S.S.R. want more than one political ’ conditions of the working class, for the transfer of the
party ? Is it by the will of the vast majority, or against landed estates to the peasants, and for the self-deter-
their will, that a situation has arisen in which there is mination of all the nations which formed the Russian
only one lawful political party in the Soviet: Union ? Empire. Their ultimate aim was the revolutionary over-
It ison the answer to this question that the reality of throw, not only of Tsarism, but of capitalist production,
Soviet Democracy stands or falls. and the social ownership and control of the productive
How did it come about that in Soviet Russia and in forces of the country.
the Soviet Union there is only one political party ? Writing in 1903, in a book which became the basic
That is the first question to be answered. Secondly, statement of Bolshevik policy at that time, Lenin
what is the relationship between this one political party wrote: “‘ It would be a grievous error indeed to build
and the people of the country? That is the second up the party organisation in the expectation only of
question. Thirdly, what is the part played by this outbreaks of street fighting, or only upon the ‘ forward
particular party in the running of the Soviet State; the march of the drab, everyday struggle.’ We must always
position of its leader Stalin, for example, in relation to carry on our everyday work, and always be prepared
the government of the country ? And, finally, is there for everything. And the Revolution itself must not. by
nota danger to democracy in the fact that in the Soviet any means be regarded as a single act . . . but as a
Union to-day only one political party is allowed by series of more or. less powerful outbreaks rapidly
law? This last question will occupy us in the next alternating with more or less intense calm. For that
chapter; the first three we shall examine here. reason the principal content of the activity of our party
198 SOVIET DEMOCRACY STATE AND PARTY 199
organisation . . . should be, to carry on work that is prominent part, particularly in the towns and in the
possible and necessary both in the period of the army, in leading strikes and demonstrations, and in
most
powerful outbreaks as well as in periods of complete carrying on propaganda for peace among the soldiers.
calm; that is to say: work of political agitation linked When, in February 1917, as a result of strikes, mass
up over the whole of Russia, that will enlighten all demonstrations, and the refusal of the ranks in the
aspects of life and will be carried on among the broadest army to continue to obey the orders of officers whom
possible strata of the masses. But this work cannot they did not respect, the Bolsheviks played a leading
possibly be carried on in contemporary Russia without part in directing this unrest into channels which would
an
All-Russian newspaper, issued very frequently. An force the Tsarist Government to resign. _Immediately
organisation that is built up round this newspaper... after the abdication, when the workers set up Soviets
will be ready for everything, from protecting the honour, in one town after another, the Bolsheviks were among
the prestige, and continuity of the party im our periods the most active participants in these Soviets. At the end
of acute revolutionary ‘ depression’ to preparing for, of March, returning to Petrograd from exile in Siberia,
commencing, and carrying out the national Stalin wrote: “ The more compact these Soviets, and
armed
insurrection’ (What Is To Be Done? p- 131). the more strongly they are organised, the more
The main feature of such a political party lay in the ‘ genuinely do they express the revolutionary power of
fact that it was to lead the working people in every one the revolutionary people, and the more certain is the .
of their activities for improving their conditions of guarantee provided against counter-revolution..
life.
It was to be a leader and organiser of the working ** Revolutionary Social Democrats must work to
people and peasants in a fight for improved conditions. strengthen these Soviets, to make them universal, to
Therefore, such a party must demand that every one establish contact between them under a Central Soviet
of its members play an active part in the organisation of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies as the organ of the
;
and, while the leading bodies were elected at congresses revolutionary power of the people.”
of delegates from the branches, ‘between congresses And when, in April, Lenin returned from exile in
there must be a disciplined carrying out of their deci- Switzerland, he at once put forward the slogan, “ Ail
sions, and disciplined obedience to the instructions Power to the Soviets,” and the Party proceeded every-
of
the leading bodies in the party. The election of leader where to carry on propaganda for the Soviets to seize
s
must be accompanied by an “ almost military disci- State power, to put an end to the war, to confiscate the
pline ” in the execution of instructions, for the strugg landlords’ estates, and to nationalise the main indus-
le
that this party had to lead would be, in certain cir- trial enterprises. In June 1917 there took place the first
cumstances, a military struggle. Congress of Soviets. The Bolsheviks had 100 delegates
Towards the end of 1916, when the people of Russia out of a total of 781. Their demands were turned down
were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the policy by the Congress. They continued their propaganda
of the Tsarist Government, the Bolsheviks played among the people; they continued to organise the
a
200 SOVIET DEMOGRAGY STATE AND PARTY 201
workers in trade unions and to mobilise to the peasantry, the main item in the Social Revolu-
the peasants
round the village Soviets. They continue tionary. programme was fulfilled, and from then on the
d their propa-
ganda against the war.
Social Revolutionaries had no really important matters
Between April and October 1 917 a numb of policy on which they could appeal to the mass of the
er of leading
Bolsheviks were arrested by the Provisional Gove
rn- people against the Bolsheviks. As a result, a large
ment. But, in spite of this, their influence grew section of the Social Revolutionaries joined the Central
by leaps
and bounds. When, at the beginning of November, it Executive Committee and worked in co-operation with
was clear that at any time the Government
might set up the Bolsheviks. And, as the prestige of the Bolshevik Party
a military dictatorship and suppress all grew, many of the members from the ranks of the other
organisations
of the workers and peasants, the Bolsheviks
in Petrograd parties came over to them and joined the Party.
organised an armed uprising. On the followin
g day the Once the new Soviet Government was in existence it
‘second Congress of Soviets met in was possible to support it and be represented in it, or to
Petrograd. A
majority of the delegates were Bolsheviks,
there being work against it and try to overthrow it. The landlords
390 Bolsheviksout of a total of 649 delegates. Now
that deprived of their estates, the big financiers and em-
they were in a majority in the Congress ployers of labour, and all those who, in principle,
of Soviets the
Bolshevi
ks proceeded to put their policy into
practice, were opposed to a workers’ State organised like any
At once a manifesto was issued on peace
, the land was other working-class organisation, prepared to unite their
socialised and the big estates handed: forces for an armed attack on the Soviet State. It so
over to the
peasants’ Soviets, and the workers in the came about that the Mensheviks lined up with the
factories were
given those powers of control over the
employers which employers, and proceeded to armed action against the
have been described earlier in this book, Soviets. And, at a later stage, the core of that part of
At this stage there were two other polit the Social Revolutionary Party that still preserved its
ical parties
represented in the Soviets. One, the Mens independence, and which was ready to oppose the
hevik Party,
had opposed the seizure of power by
the Soviets and Bolshevik majority in the Soviets by every means.
demanded the calling of a “ Constituent within its power,
Assembly ” democratic or otherwise, attempted
or All-Russian Parliament. But this dema
nd received to organise an armed uprising against the Soviet
but little support from the population, who Government. Recognising the impossibility of being
already had
power in their own hands through the returned to the Soviets in a majority by the democratic
Soviets, and
found that the Soviet Government was votes of the people, these parties attempted toseize power.
pursuing a
policy which was completely in their
interests, The by armed force. The State, therefore, used armed force
other party was that of the Social Revoluti against them, and they were deprived of their legality.
onaries, a
party of the peasantry, whose main dema It so came about that the party which had a majority
nd had been
the socialisation of the land. As soon
as the Second of delegates in the Soviets became the only political
Congress had declared the transfer of the landed
estates party. Of the other parties, some of the members joined
202 SOVIET DEMOCRACY STATE AND PARTY 203
the Bolsheviks, and others tried: to organise an armed time we opened wide the doors of the Party for work-
uprising against the Soviet State. The former went to men and peasants only was ... when the Soviet
increase the membership of the Party, which already. Republic was in mortal danger, and when the adven-
was supported by the vast majority of the population, turers, place-seekers, charlatans, and unreliable persons
and the others joined the armed counter-revolutionary generally could in no way rely upon making a profitable
forces, and were suppressed as a result. career (in fact could sooner expect the gallows and
In this way, as a result of the fact that their policy torture) by joining the Communists” (Left-Wing
appealed to a majority of the whole people, the Bolshe- Communism). In fact the Party, in order effectively. to
viks won control of the Soviets between F. ebruary and represent the very best elements in the working popula-
October 1917. And, when they already had a majority tion, must restrict its membership. Party membership
and their prestige was increasing from day to day, they must not become cheap !
were still ready to work together with any other party And how, it may be asked, was it to be ensured that
that supported the Soviet State and was ready to work those who were in the Party should not become
peacefully within it. As, however, the other parties divorced from the rest of the population? Were there
split into those who supported the Soviets and came not dangers that a small political organisation, holding
increasingly close to the Bolsheviks, and those who great power in its hands, might become isolated from
opposed the Soviets and tried to overthrow them by _ the people whom it professed to represent? It was
force, the latter were suppressed by force by the Soviet precisely in order to combat this danger that Lenin
State, which had the support of the vast majority of took the initiative in organising what has come to_be
the people. The Bolshevik Party, which had caused the known as the “ Party Cleansing,” which consists! of
Soviets to seize power, was in the end left as the only public meetings, in town, village, and the army,
party faithful to the Soviet State that it had brought where, every few years, Party members must in public
into being, but it was now an organisation with great justify their membership of this Party which claims to
prestige throughout the country. be the “ organised vanguard of the working people.”
As soon as the Bolshevik Party was left as the only At such cleansings, which I have personally attended,
political party in the Soviet State, a danger arose that every Party member must give an account of his or her
this organisation, because it was in power, might draw life, of the part they have played in the struggle for
to itself careerists, unscrupulous individualists, and improved conditions of the working people, and of the
individuals who had not the welfare of the people at work they are doing to-day. Any person present may
heart, but merely their own personal advancement. put questions, Any person present may speak. And so
In 1920, in face of this danger, Lenin wrote: “ We are the merits of each Party member are fully discussed.
afraid of too wide a growth of the Party, as place- If, at such meetings, certain people prove not to
seekers and adventurers, who deserve only to be shot, command the respect of their fellows, not to be con-
do their utmost to get into the ruling Party. The last sidered worthy of membership of an organisation made
204 SOVIET DEMOGRACY
STATE AND PARTY 205
up of the best elements in the population, they are
expelled from the Party. It is thus a fact, in a way which It is this particular relationship between the Party in
can be said of no other political party in the world, the U.S.S.R. and the people which causes the people to
that there is democratic control by the people over the look upon the Party members, in general, as their best
membership of the Bolshevik Party of the Soviet Union. representatives. For they themselves play a part in
And, with this control actually in force, it may be seeing that only their best representatives shall be
truly said that this Party will represent the best elements members of the Party ! Under such conditions it is not
of the working people. : oO surprising that, more often than not, at elections to the
Sir Walter Citrine, in his Search for Truth in Russia, Soviets, to the committees of trade unions, and to the
describes the process of the Party Cleansing in these boards of management of collective farms, members of
words: “A Commission is sent to the factory. The the Party are elected ! It is in this way, and in this way
members.of the Party are called up before them in only, that the Bolshevik Party dominates the Soviet
front of the workers, both Party and non-Party. He is Union at the present time. But, since it has the status.
required to tell his life’s history, especially what he has of the recognised leadership of the whole people, the
Bolshevik Party dominates the policy of the country.
done and is doing for the Revolution. Anyone can
question him regarding both private and public In Left-Wing Communism, written as early as 1920,
matters, and, after he has been turned insidé out, the | “Lenin said : “ Not a single important political or organ-
Commission makes its decision. isational question is decided by any State institution
“J remarked that this system made a spy of every in our Republic without the guiding instructions of the
man on his neighbour, and my companion again Central Committee of the Party.” But this power of the
admitted that it was the duty of every worker to keep Party, Lenin goes on to show, rests on the will of the
an eye on the actions and words of his fellows, and to working people themselves: “ In carrying out its work,
report anything which seemed hostile to the interests of the Party rests directly on the trade unions. . . . With-
the working class” (p. 255). out the closest connection with the trade unions, with-
Sir Walter called it “spying” if every worker out their hearty support and self-sacrificing work, not
watched his comrade in the Party to see that his words only in the economic, but also in military organisation,
and actions were never hostile to the interests of the it would have been, of course, impossible to govern the
working class! And yet what could be more in the country and to maintain the dictatorship for two and a
interests of the working people, and of democracy for half years, or even for two and a half months.”
the working people, than that every member of the Actually, the formal relationship between the Party
Party which professed to represent them should -be and the State in the Soviet Union is not fundamentally
subject to such supervision, and to public criticism if different from that of, say, the Conservative Party in
he did not fulfil all the conditions generally considered Britain to-day and the British State. The policy of the .
necessary to a member of the “ organised vanguard *° ? party which has a majority in the British Parliament be-
comes the policy of the Government. So, in the U.S:S:R:;
206 SOVIET DEMOCRACY STATE AND PARTY 207
the decisions of the Central Committee of the Bolsh and. elected leader of the ruling party. On the other
evik
Party, since the Bolsheviks are an absolute majority hand, there is this difference—that whereas Mr.
in
the Government, become decisions of the Gover Baldwin chooses, as is the British convention, to be
nment.
But under the conditions of Socialism every member Prime Minister as well, Stalin prefers, as leader of his
of the ruling Party is also usually a worker in some party, not to accept an important Government position
State
or other collective organisation. Therefore he as well, since he has enough to do already. In actual
receives
instructions as a Party member from the practice, whereas Mr. Baldwin can only claim to
Central
Committee at the same time as he receiv represent a certain section of the population of Britain,
es State
instructions as a State employee. When in the U.S.S.R: Stalin can claim that he and his party have the support
to-day the. Central Committee of the Party decide of the overwhelming majority of the people of the
s that
a new decree is necessary, it circularises its decision country. Therefore, in the
to U.S.S.R., Stalin, as the
its members; and those who are in the Government leader of a very popular ruling party, is acclaimed as the
see
that it becomes law; those that are working throughout leader of the whole people, a thing which even the most
the U.S.S.R. in every kind of occupation see sycophantic Press would hardly try to claim for Mr.
that,
locally, this Party decision and State law is carried Baldwin in Britain to-day !
out,
Purely as a matter of convenience, the informing Tn connection with the status of Stalin in the U.S.S.R.
of
Party members of decisions of their Central Committee I feel I must refer to one point of criticism which is
which are also made law by the Government, raised in common by the Webbs, by André Gide, and
and the
publication of the law itself, are often telescoped by Sir Walter Citrine. This is the phenomenon des-
to-
gether into one act. It happens that a new decree cribed by the Webbs in their book as “ the adulation
of the
Soviet Government may appear signed by the repre- of Stalin.” Any reader of the Soviet Press, with an eye
sentative of the Government, and byJ. Stalin, and ear trained to the English language, is likely to be
Secretary
of the Central Committee of the Party. Actually sometimes shocked by references to “our dearly be-
this
simply means that a certain decision of the Party, loved Stalin,” “ our glorious leader,” and so on. This
signed
by Stalin, has been adopted as a decree of the Gover matter has often struck foreign observers, and is cited
n-
ment, signed by the representative of the Gover time and again as evidence of a servile attitude on
nment.
Publication over the two signatures simultaneously, the part of the population towards Stalin, and thus as
for
the two organisations, merely saves time and symptomatic of a lack of democracy.
space. It |
does not mean that Stalin or the Party have Personally, I must frankly admit that for at least
any right
to sign Government documents, or vice versa. three years in the U.S.S.R. I was often unfavourably
It is often asked : What is the position of Stalin in the impressed by the lavish way in which love and praise |
Soviet State ? Constitutionally, the answer of Stalin was expressed in public utterances of all types
is that
Stalin’s position in the U.S.S.R. is smiliar to that of Soviet citizens. To the English ear such words seemed
of
Mr. Baldwin in Britain to-day. He is the recognised to be more appropriate to religion than'-to modern
208 SOVIET DEMOCRAQY STATE AND PARTY 209
politics, and there is no doubt that I, too, was at first loyalty to their recognised leader they can only do it in -
affected in the same way as the Webbs by this. But my their own language. Actually, the language of the |
feelings on this matter were completely changed when oriental peoples of the U.S.S.R. is even more flowery |
I happened one day to see a letter from a young worker than Russian. If the Russian worker writes to his |
to his brother. It began: “ Honoured Beloved brother as “ dearly beloved,’’ we must not consider |
Brother!” These were the same words, or words these words to be servile when coming from a group of |
closely similar to, those which had been thoroughly collective farmers and addressed to Stalin. On the |
unpleasing to me when addressed to Stalin, because in contrary, they are fraternal words, brotherly words, .
English they suggested degradation and servility ! and not servile words. When these facts are taken into |
But the young Russian used them to his brother. And account I think it is true to say that not one example of |
when I suggested that he should simply write ‘‘ Dear the “adulation of Stalin” which the Webbs give
Brother ” he was literally shocked. The English have a contains any example of adulation greater than the |
reputation for being a cold-blooded nation !. words expressed by millions of British workers about |
When André Gide began a letter to Stalin in the same . Dimitrov at the time of the Leipzig trial.
words which he would have used in French, his guide All people when in foreign countries tend to assume |
suggested that a little verbal embroidery was necessary. that they understand the language better than they do,
Gide was shocked. But if I wrote to André Gide in and are happy if they can translate sentences phrase —
French to-morrow, and finished up “ yours sincerely,” by phrase without a dictionary. Both the Webbs and .
Gide would certainly consider that I did not know André Gide, cultured people as they are, have not |
French, or that I was being rude. The French, you see, absorbed the idiom of the Russian language; By
happen to conclude their letters with a rigmarole which, mechanical translation they have made errors of inter-
to the English, seems artificial and somewhat servile. pretation which can have serious political repercus-
When the Webbs discover a “ deliberate exploitation. sions; for the question of whether the Russian workers
by the governing junta of the emotion of hero-worship, address Stalin in the way that Lady Houston wrote
of the traditional reverence of the Russian people for a about the late King or as the Archbishop of Canterbury
personal autocrat,” they substantiate this view by addresses God, or as one workman addresses his brother,
examples of an apparent extravagance of language such is a question of vital importance in considering the
as we have mentioned, which in English appears degree of democracy which exists to-day in the U.S.S.R.
utterly ridiculous. And, while it is obviously not going Actually, as I discovered after three years, the workers
to be the policy of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R. of the U.S.S.R. use the same words in writing to
to try to stimulate hatred of its leaders, but the opposite, Stalin as in writing to a much admired brother.
I feel that the translation of the language used gives an The relations between the Soviet State and the
utterly unreal picture of the situation. Communist International have also aroused curiosity. _
~ When the people of the U.S.S.R. wish to express their But there should be no mystery about this matter..In’
210 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
STATE AND PARTY 2ir
Brussels there is located the Labour and Socialist
International. If, in Belgium, the people return the their best political representatives. As such, the Party
Socialist Party holds the respect of the people, and they are absolutely
to power, a situation would exist in
which the ruling party was a member of the willing that this organisation of theirs should be repre-
Socialist International located on Belgian territory. sented on such bodies as the Triangle in the factory.
But that would not make the Belgian Government and The democratic importance of political representa-
tion of the working people, as distinct from their mass
the International synonymous organisations. Now it
unfortunately happens that only a country where the representation through the State and trade unions, is
Communist Party is in power will allow the Com- being clearly demonstrated at the present time in Spain.
munist International the right to be located on its As soon as the armed struggle began between the
territory. Therefore the Communist International is Fascist rebels and the elected Government, the parties
situated of the Workers’ Alliance, which together formed the
in Moscow, on Soviet territory. But the
connection goes no further than this. It is true, of recognised leadership of the people, just as the Com-
course, munist Party does in the U.S.S.R. to-day, began. to
that Stalin is a member of the Executive
Committee of the Communist International: But so is undertake all kinds of activities which previously had
Harry Pollitt. And, in Belgium, the leader of the been activities of the State. They undertook these
Socialist Party is a member of the Executive of the activities because the people supported such action, and
Labour and
the Workers’ Alliance continued to be, not merely a
Socialist International.
There is one final aspect of the status of the Com- parliamentary combination of forces, but a leader and
munist Party of the U.S.S.R. which may raise questions organiser of the working people in their fight for democ-
in the minds of many readers. We have already men- racy. As a result of this, it is reported from Spain that, ©
tioned, in dealing with factory management in the attached to every regiment, there are “ political com-
U.S.S.R., that on the Triangle, which virtually missars,” representing the parties of the. Workers’
controls the affairs of a Soviet factory, there sits a Alliance. So, alongside the organisations of State, such
representative of the Party organisation in the factory. as the army and the organs of administration, there: .. 7
To those who look upon political parties as parliamentary
is a political leadership, consisting of. “political.
parties, such. a state of affairs suggests something commissars,” representatives of those parties who form: ~
abnormal—that a political party should enjoy the same the organised vanguard of the people in their struggle.
status as the appointed representative of the State, the Such political leadership no doubt also exists: to-day: in
manager; or the elected representative of the workers,
all the factories that have been taken over:
by the State.
the trade union organiser. In the Soviet Union, in the course. ofthe transfer of
the factories from private hands to. the State, this same
But it should now be clear that the Party in the
U.S.S.R. is not a parliamentary party. It is the organised political leadership became necessary; just as it did in
the army during the fight against foreign intervention.
political leadershipof the people; the organisation of
The Party began in this way to-play a leading part in
212 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
the Soviet Government, not on its merits, but because procedure which the people of the U.S.S.R., with the
it is a measure passed by the Government; and others exception of the types already mentioned, are unani-
like them—who may be “ agin’ the Government,” mous in preventing.
though having no alternative positive programme to We come to the conclusion that in the Soviet Union
propose. Such types of citizen exist in the Soviet Union to-day a party system would be as incongruous as a
to-day. It is only they who have anything in common party system within, say, a British trade union. In a
that would bring them together continually as a community or an organisation where the members have
permanent opposition party. common interests there is no place for a party system.
But such elements are well known to the working- In so far as, in the British trade unions, something
class movement, and to every democratic organisation approaching party disputes has developed, this is a
throughout the world. They are the people who, in weakness of the movement, and not its strength. Any-
every democratic organisation, do not command thing approaching conflicting parties in the trade
respect, and therefore resort to every form of obsttuc- unions can only arise as a result of serious conflicts
tion in order to draw attention to themselves or to within the working class. Not much investigation is
avenge themselves for being ignored. Is the Soviet necessary to discover that such disputes invariably
“State to encourage such people to form a political centre round one question: Shall the trade unions be
party, to carry on purely negative propaganda on fighting organisations against the employers or not?
every issue, attacking each measure of the Government, The faction that answers “* No ” to this question can be
not on its merits, but on principle? The people of the looked upon as an employers’ “‘ party” within the
U.S.S.R. do not want such a party, and they support trade unions, the existence of which causes the trade
the Government in seeing that such disruptive organi- unions to be less effective as a democratic organisation
sations shall not come into existence. of the workers against the employers. Really effective
For what would the effect of such a party be under trade unionism would include no employers’ “ party,”
existing conditions in the U.S.S.R.? It would. be a and would be united on the basis of militant struggle.
resort of every remnant of opposition to the working- But the case against the existence of a “ party
class movement of the Soviet Union. Ex-employers system”? is not necessarily a justification for the con-
and ex-opponents of the system, agents of foreign tinued existence of a single political party. Therefore
Powers and people who were under their influence—all we must now consider further the réle of the single party
the social undesirables would flock round such an in the U.S.S.R. to-day, and whether its existence is
organisation in order to discredit the Soviet Govern- consistent with democracy or not. :
ment and to impede the progress which it is making. vet us imagine that at some future date, ini Britain, a
Thus, an‘ “ opposition party” would be the means by Labour Party was returned to power, pledged to a
which all that is hostile to the Soviet system would find rae programme of change in the interests of the
expression and a means of organising itself. This is a hand-and-brain workers of Britain, who amount to
220 SOVIET DEMOCRACY Is A ‘“PARTY SYSTEM’
3
NECESSARY? 221
over go per cent of the population of the country. view to eliminating all that did not loyally represent the
Suppose that, to meet the opposition of the property- working people: would not the introduction of such
owners, emergency measures had to be taken, which features strengthen this one party, so that the people
received the support of the vast majority of the people would become determined to improve its personnel
of the country, who organised strikes and demonstra- more and more, but never to let this party, as such, be
tions of support. Suppose that the property-owners put out of office again ?
then organised armed opposition, and that the people It is by regarding the question of a single party in
took up arms on behalf of their own Government. this light—as a possible line of future development in
Suppose that, in the course of the struggle, all that our own country—that I think the question can be
was best in the other political organisations of the most clearly seen in its correct perspective. We can see
country came over to the support of the Government, that in certain conditions, the people might demo-
as representing the will of the democracy of Britain. cratically support a “‘ one-party ” system. They would
And suppose that what remained of other political do this in conditions similar to the experience of the
organisations, representing the interests of private Russian Revolution, when a serious conflict occurred
property at all costs, supported the taking up of arms between the people and their party on the one hand
against the State. In such conditions would not the ‘and the property-owners on the other, and when the
prestige of the party in power grow? Would not the party of the people in such circumstances led their
people, as they fought for the Government of this party struggle for democratic rights against the attempts of
which represented their interests, come to the con- property to suppress them. A party that led the people
clusion that this party, which represented them against in such a struggle would gain enormously in prestige.
the attacks of the property-owners, should never again When, at the victorious conclusion of the struggle, a
go out of office ? : situation arose in which this one party now combined
Suppose, moreover, that this party of the working all the most active fighters for the liberty of the people,
people, finding itself in a position in which it was is it likely that the people would ask that the other
called upon to lead its supporters, not only by appealing parties, the parties of their enemies, should once more
to them at elections, but in organising their struggle be given an opportunity to rule? Is it likely that the
against the counter-attack of the employers. in every people would want the political organisations that had
locality and in every factory, decided only to admit as taken up arms against them to.be again afforded legal
members those who played an active part in its work, rights as soon as they had been defeated in the military
and abolished such offices as that of “ subscribing struggle ? Obviously the reverse is the case. At the end
member.” Suppose, too, that in order to prevent of such a struggle the people would not ask that the
careerists creeping into its ranks, it started to hold other parties be allowed to operate again, but, on the
public cleansings, in which all workers would report on contrary, they would do everything to strengthen the
the actions and speeches of the party members, with a one wi that had shown itself to be their leader in the
|
222 SOVIET DEMOCRACY Is A ‘‘PARTY SYSTEM’’ ?
NEGESSARY? 223
struggle. The people would choose in future to have a must be strengthened, in order to ensure that the real
one-party system, since now the one party would be the democracy achieved should not again be overthrown
only one that they could absolutely trust. by the armed forces of the property-owners. And in
But might they not ask that this party be disbanded, dealing with this one party Lenin stresses the essential
and that a system without any political party be intro- need for discipline in a period of historic struggle
duced? Here, I think, the answer is in the negative, between the working people on the one hand and the
For, in the course of the struggle, the party would have owners of property on the other. In the next chapter
established itself, not as a parliamentary party of the we shall discuss this question of discipline further, for it
old type, but as the organised leadership of the people. is the greatest of errors to assume, as is sometimes done,
And it is as such, not as a parliamentary organisation, that democracy and discipline are mutually exclusive
that they would want it to continue to exist. Lenin, terms. Actually, the only effective democracy of the
writing in 1920, made the following illuminating com- people must be.a disciplined democracy, for “ democ-
ment on the position of the party after the workers have racy ” of the people without discipline is sheer anarchy,
established a system of real democracy: and no anarchy has ever been able to preserve its
“ Classes remain, and will remain for years, every- independence against the opposition.of an organised
where after the proletarian conquest of power. Perhaps * enemy.
in England, where there is no peasantry, the period will And now, in conclusion, a few words must be said
be shorter, but even there the small proprietors, holders about one more problem. Criticism is often raised that
of property, exist. . .. The dictatorship of the proletariat in the U.S.S.R. to-day the ruling party consists of only
is a resolute persistent struggle, sanguinary and blood- about 2 million members out of a total population of
less, violent and peaceful, military and economic, 170 millions. It is maintained that this organisation is
educational and administrative, against the forces and so small that its domination in the State cannot be
traditions of the old society. . .. Without an iron party, anything but undemocratic. First, as a matter of
hardened in fight, without a-party possessing the con- information, it is worth pointing out that not only are
fidence of all that is honest in the given class, without a there 2 million members of the Communist Party in
party capable of observing the disposition of the masses the U.S.S.R., but an additional 5 or 6 million:members
and of influencing it successfully, to conduct such a of the Communist Youth, from which the best repre-
struggle is impossible... . Whoever in the least weakens sentatives later join the Party. However, this isa minor
the iron discipline of the party of the proletariat (espe- point, and the actual criticism can be faced even if we
cially during its dictatorship) aids in reality the bour- take the critic’s minimum figure of 2-million Party
geoisie against the proletariat ” (Left-Wing Communism). members in the U.S.S.R. oO vee
In the view of Lenin, the party, as the organised Two facts must be borne in mind. about the Com-
leadership of the mass of the people, must not be dis- munist Party of the U.S.S.R. First, it is a party of active
banded after the seizure of power, but, on the contrary, workers; there are no “ paying members ” who do no
224 | SOVIET DEMOCRACY
Is a ‘“PARTY SYSTEM’ NECESSARY? 295
work, Every member is an active member. Secondly,
as stressed by Lenin, the Party must not be allowed to being umnrepresentative because one in every 85
grow too rapidly, for that would mean a deterioration citizens is an active member !
in quality, and a deterioration in the quality of a But the argument does not finish here. For, if it is
true that the Labour Party in Britain can claim one in
body which forms the “ organised leadership ” of the
every 2,000 or 3,000 inhabitants as its active members,
community would have disastrous results. Finally, in
order to appreciate the size of the Communist Party of the other political parties certainly each have less
the U.S.S.R. in comparison with the political parties active members than the Labour Party. Therefore,
of Britain we must have our facts clear, and not mis-
taking all the political parties in Britain together, their
represent them.
combined active membership cannot amount to more
The individual membership of the Labour Party in than one in every 1,000 of the population. So that,
Britain to-day amounts to between 300,000 and 400,000. taking the whole of our parliamentary system, the
But it would probably not be going too far to estimate political parties that are the only organisations putting
up candidates at elections comprise about one active
that less than one in 20 of these are active members. So
member for every thousand of the people of the
that the proportion of the Labour Party membership
which is strictly comparable to the membership of the country. Dictatorship by a small minority ? Yes, indeed,
Communist Party of the U.S.S.R.—all of which is whereas in the U.S.S.R. the Communist Party claims
active—is about 5 per cent. The membership of the one in every 85 of the population, and can thus claim
British Labour Party that is active in doing the party’ to be comparatively representative ! ;
s Lastly, let me again remind you of the Party
work among the people of Britain can be put at about
15,000 or 20,000. This is about one in every 3,200
Cleansing in the U.S.S.R., by which the ordinary
of citizen exercises control over the membership of his
population at the minimum, and at the most about one
in every 2,400 of the population. And yet, if a Labour Party. What control have we poor British citizens over
Government were returned to power, I cannot imagine the one thousandth of our population that makes
anyone complaining that the party did not represent itself active in politics? If I do not like the type of
the people * because it is so small.’ Yet, as compared people who become politicians in this country, I have
with the U-S.S.R., a ruling party that comprised only no opportunity of seeing that others take their place.
one person: in every 2,000 or 3,000 of the population
We have no cleansing of our political parties at public
would meetings to ensure that they shall only represent the
be regarded as a very small party. For the -
Communist Party of the U.S.S.R. includes 2 millio very best elements of the people ! No wonder, then,
n that in disgust many British citizens never exercise their
members—one in every 85 citizens! So, while the
Labour Party in Britain may boast of its size, and claim right to vote at all, disliking all the politicians who are
one active worker for every 2,000 or 3,000 of the people thrust at them by the one-thousandth of the population
, organised as active members of our great political
in the U.S.S.R. the Communist Party is criticised
as parties !
Hy
226 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
No; the criticism that the Communist Party of the
U.S.S.R. is too small to represent the people is non-
sense, It is the greatest political party in any country of
the world. It is also the greatest in proportion to popu-
lation. It is greater in proportion to the total population
that it represents than all the active members of poli- CHAPTER XVII
tical parties in Britain put together. And it is subject to
democratic control by the people themselves in the DEMOCRATIC DISCIPLINE AND
institution of the Party Cleansing. It is not incompre- FREEDOM OF OPPOSITION
hensible that such an organisation commands the
respect of the whole population, and that Soviet demo-
crats demand that this form of leadership shall be pre- WE come now to a question which has been very
served, and that rival organisations aiming at disuniting frequently raised during the past year, a matter which
the people shall not be permitted. has been brought once more into the limelight by the
mo trials of opposition groups which have taken place in
Moscow. This is the question of “ freedom of opposi-
tion” under Soviet conditions, and the extent to which
such freedom is justifiably limited in the interests. of
democratic discipline.
Now, if we consider any kind of democratic organisa-
tion in any part of the world, we find that it has to be
concerned, not only with preserving its members’
freedom of individual expression, but also with preserv-
ing the majority 6f members from individuals and
minorities who occupy hours of valuable time with
unpopular speeches, and who thus obstruct action in the
interests of the majority. If we take a business men’s
club with its proverbial bore, a shareholders’ meeting
with the usual shareholder with a grievance, or the
trade union branch with the member who is consis-
tently a nuisance; we find that every organisation,
professing to be run in the interests of the majority,
must take\steps to protect this majority against un-
disciplined) minorities. Democracy, therefore, does not
mean sinply giving individuals the opportunity...to
228. SOVIET DEMOCRACY DISCIPLINE AND FREEDOM 229
voice their personal views, but also it means that the simply because they are not acceptable to the rulers of
people shall have the opportunity to refuse to hear the territory outside the U.S.S.R. Further, the expulsion
those whose views are antagonistic to them, and the of people who are enemies of the majority of the people
expression of which is an obstruction to the carrying out of the U.S.S.R. would be in general unwise, for it
of a generally accepted policy. In democratic societies would be giving them an opportunity to carry on their
functioning within the capitalist State, such persons activity from outside, thus strengthening the enemies
may be simply expelled from their organisations. But of the U.S.S.R.
the Soviet State cannot simply expel recalcitrant Some readers may be a little disturbed at this some-
“members,” for two principal reasons. First, the sur- what brutal statement of the case, under Soviet condi-
rounding States might not accept the persons expelled; tions, for exiling political opponents. But nobody must
and secondly, such persons, once expelled, might be far be misled by what I have said into thinking that anyone
more use to the enemies of the community than if kept who disagrees with any person in authority is exiled in
within its frontiers. Trotsky was simply expelled from the U.S.S.R. On the contrary, there is a phenomenal
the Workers’ State—and his activities since have amount of discussion in the U.S.S.R. by the general
confirmed the view that less harm would have been public on all vital issues. The Soviet citizen who is
done if he had been isolated in Siberia. exiled is not a person who has simply disagreed. It is
Once the problems of a democratic organisation the person who, having made proposals and having
become those of a State as well, and of a State sur- been defeated, continues to obstruct all constructive.
rounded by hostile States, simple expulsion of minorities business by repeatedly putting forward again and
that obstruct the common business is no longer prac- again the rejected point of view, and who thus becomes
ticable. In dealing with such cases the Soviet State is a thorn in the flesh of the whole of society. Such was
forced by circumstances to remove such persons from Trotsky, who for years was putting forward his minority
society, while keeping them within its frontiers. This is views at every popular gathering in opposition to the
why, in the U.S.S.R., certain offenders against the will leaders of the Soviet Government, and who was finally
of the majority may be sent into exile. exiled because he was organising secret groups to
It is only when this question of political exile is seen oppose the policy democratically adopted by the. whole
as the Soviet equivalent of expulsion, as practised by people. He was thus obstructing the further develop-
‘democratic organisations elsewhere, that it can be ment of the country in the direction decided: upon by
fully understood. The Soviet State is a workers’ the people, and was expelled.
organisation. Workers’ organisations expel obstruc- The extent to which the Soviet Government must be
tionists, and, however democratic they are, they will vigilant on such questions as discipline. is: determined,
still have to face the problem of so dealing with such not by the structure of the Soviet State alone, but by
people. The Soviet State has the same problem, but it the fact that it is surrounded: by a hostile world. It 4s
cannot expel these people from its territory as a rule, quite \impossible to: realise the: full: implications of
fi
!
230 SOVIET DEMOCRACY DISCIPLINE AND FREEDOM 231
discipline in the U.S.S.R. by simply comparing, as we to the picketing of factories, and so‘on. The employers
have so far done, the Soviet State with democratic will undoubtedly call in the police on the side of them-
organisations elsewhere. In order to obtain a true selves to “ protect their property.’? What is the attitude
picture we must make our comparison with other of the workers in such circumstances to recalcitrant
democratic organisations at a time when they are minorities ?
waging a struggle for their existence, when they are In every strike the employer usually finds some
carrying on some great militant campaign in the individual or group of individuals among the workers
interests of their members and are being subjected to who, out of a desire for immediate personal gain, or
every kind of attack. The Soviet State surrounded by a simply through a lack of knowledge of the issues at
capitalist and partly Fascist world cannot be com- stake, is ready to go on working or to persuade fellow
pared with a trade union in a period of industrial workers to accept the bosses’ terms. The employer can
peace. It must be compared with a trade union during find allies among such people, against their own com- .
an industrial dispute. And we all know that, in an rades. In every strike the workers picket such deserters,
industrial dispute, a union will exercise disciplinary and “ peaceful picketing’’ may be carried, relatively
pressure on its members of a kind that will not be speaking, quite as far as “‘ exile to Siberia,” if we look at
considered necessary in time of peace. ‘the two types of struggle in perspective.
Since it was first created, the Soviet State has been The truth of the matter is that under all conditions
waging a struggle against enemies both inside and a struggle by a democratic organisation for its freedom
outside its territory. Being a democratic State of the is a limitation on the democratic rights of the oppo-
working people, it came into conflict with the land- nents of that freedom. And once, in a critical situation,
owners and employers from the very beginning of its a minority continues to oppose the interests of the
existence. These enemies, with foreign help, took up majority, such a minority becomes, consciously or not,
arms against the Soviet State. The State had to wage a weapon of the enemy against the democracy con-
a war for its freedom. Later it had to wage a war cerned, Here again we only repeat what was said in
against the small capitalist minority in the villages, our Introduction—that democracy and dictatorship
and, all along, it has had to build up its defences and are not mutually exclusive.
consolidate itself against a possible further attack from In the Soviet Union the application of all decisions
outside repeating the experiences of 1918 to 1922. by the Soviet authorities is the direct responsibility of
During a strike the members of a trade union have to every citizen, for every citizen is a worker in some State -
fight a battle with the employers. Force is used on organisation, and every member of a Soviet does work
both sides—the workers try to force the employers to in one of the departments of that Soviet. In Britain;
capitulate for fear of loss of profits, and the employers with its-parliamentary system, there is no reason why,
try to coerce the workers from sheer hunger. The within certain limits, continual opposition in Parlia-
workers may resort to putting machinery out of order, ment to the’ policy of the Government should obstruct
232 SOVIET DEMOCRACY DISGIPLINE AND FREEDOM 233
the carrying out of that policy. If a majority in the out of these decisions, and thus play directly into the
British Parliament passes a certain law to-morrow, the hands of the enemies of the U.S.S.R. whose main re-
opponents of the law may continue verbally to oppose quirement is to obstruct its internal development.
it. But the Civil Service will have to carry it out ail the The recognition of the need for discipline in a
same, and will have no right of criticism. democratic organisation does not necessarily mean,
In the U.S.S.R. the Civil Service includes the people however, any curtailment of the freedom of the
who oppose the policy decided upon as well as those ordinary citizen. For, if the ordinary citizen considers
who support it. In such circumstances it is clear that to such discipline necessary to the common interest, he
continue actively to oppose a decision arrived at by a will personally be an enforcer of such discipline, not
majority would, in practice, mean sabotaging its a violator, and the discipline will thus be an expression
execution. So, from a purely organisational. stand- and a defence of his freedom, not a violation of it. This
point, we see the absolute necessity for the disciplined point is of particular importance in discussing such a
execution of democratic decisions in the U.S.S.R. question as freedom of speech in the U.S.S.R. to-day.
The idea that majority decisions should be binding on I have often been asked, since returning from the
minorities is generally accepted in Britain as far as the Soviet Union, whether a citizen in Moscow can get
practical execution of these decisions is concerned. up in a park and attack the Government as he can in
But there often remains the idea that while the minority Hyde Park in this country. My first reply usually is,
should carry out the decision in practice, it should have “ God forbid that he should want to ! ’—for it is hard
the right to oppose its execution in theory at the same to imagine a more ineffective freedom than the
time. Such a view, however, is invariably abandoned ability to address a handful of regular Hyde Park
whenever there is some urgent problem on hand, such listeners on a Sunday afternoon; that is, if one is
as a war, involving the country as a whole, or a strike, interested in effective speech that influences people to
involving a trade union. For even in Britain it has been act, and not simply in exercising one’s lungs, which
found that concerted. action can be obstructed, not can be equally well done in a bedroom with the
only by people refusing to act, but by their encouraging window open.
others not to act: Propaganda against carrying out a Secondly, it is worth mentioning that the Soviet
majority decision may be an even more effective form workers, able to hold their meetings in the assembly
of sabotage of that decision than a direct refusal to rooms of the country free of charge,.and being able to
carry it out personally. meet in their factories to discuss all matters of interest
In the U.S.S.R., where the whole community is in to them, do not need to go to a park to air their views.
constant action for the general improvement of condi- But a far more important point than these is the
tions and for strengthening itself against attack, it is question: Do Soviet workers want to get up and attack
clear that minority opposition to majority decisions their Government in public meetings ? And, if certain
might well become a serious obstruction to the carrying individuals do want to do this, do the majority of ©
3
SO
234 SOVIET DEMOGRAGY DISOIPLINE AND FREEDOM 235
workers want to listen to such speakers ? The whole
_ freedom to every member to put forward indefinitely an
question of freedom of speech: is fundamental]
- unpopular point of view. For obviously such a person at
answered in the reply to these two questions.
.a certain point obstructs the whole work of his demo-
First, it is only a supposition of the Britisher, two
' cratic organisation. .
thousand miles away, that the workers in the U.S.S.R.
For example, during the period from 1924 to 1928,
want to get up and attack the Government. Actually,
after the death of Lenin, and when Trotsky was repeat-
they are no more likely to want to attack the Soviet
edly challenging the policy of the Goverment, opposi-
Government than trade unionists in Britain are likely
tion was openly expressed by Trotsky and his followers.
to attack trade unionism. The Soviet State has been
But at last, exasperated by the continued attempts of
built up by the organised activity of the people them-
small minorities of Trotskyists to obstruct all business in
selves; it is their State, and as such they are interested
order to popularise a thoroughly unpopular point of
in defending, not attacking it. Of course, a small
view, the State finally took the step of suppressing this.
minority of people might want to attack the Soviet
opposition. And this suppression received the general
State, and this was particularly true in the early days
approval of the people, because this form of opposition
when the property-owning class still held considerable
had become a public nuisance.
influence, and still could command a limited number of
In the Soviet Union to-day the freedom of workers
spokesmen among the workers and peasants them-
to criticise their superiors and Government institu-
selves. But these people were a small minority, and
tions does not extend to freedom to attack the Govern-
cannot be described typical.
ment as such, because the people as a whole support
During five years in the U.S.S.R. I have invariably
this Government and to not oppose it. If a foreigner
had the impression that the people have no desire to
visiting the U.S.S.R. tries, as sometimes happens,
attack the Government, because they look upon it as
to criticise the Soviet Government in the Moscow
their own, and as serving their own interests. Of course,
Park of Culture and Rest—the nearest thing to,
I do not wish to say that there are no persons at all who
though very far from, our Hyde Park—he will have
would like to criticise the Government. There obviously
a whole mass of people arguing with him in defence of
are‘such people. But if these people are exceptions, and
what they call “ our Government.” They will defend
not the rule, then we must take it that there is freedom
this Government by argument, while probably res-
for the vast majority of the people to express themselves,
pecting his person as a foreigner to a sufficient extent
but that a small minority does not enjoy such freedom. not to take violent measures. But if the enemy of the
But there is a second aspect to the matter. Freedom
Government were a Soviet citizen, the people concerned
does not only consist in the freedom of the individual
in the argument might well call the militia to arrest
to harangue the masses, but in the freedom of the this counter-revolutionary, just as, in Spain to-day, the
masses to choose who shall harangue them. No demo-
~
people in Government territory would ‘act towards a
cratic organisation in the world claims to give absolute person who was chalking the walls with swastikas, - oe
!
236 SOVIET DEMOCRACY DISCIPLINE AND FREEDOM 237
or carrying on still more pernicious activity in the ~. But if the Moscow trials do not denote the existence
interests of Hitler and Franco, enemies of Spanish
of: mass discontent, they do denote the existence of a
democracy.
-number of cases of individual discontent so great as to
The essential fact which must be appreciated is ‘lead to the most dastardly conspiracies against the
that in the U.S.S.R. to-day citizens are not interested
community. What is the explanation of such cases of
in attacking the State or the Government; what
personal discontent? Is their existence a serious flaw
concerns them is to improve its work. And every kind
in the Soviet system of democracy ?
of discussion, and of criticism, calculated to improve
It is the experience of the working-class movement
the working of the Soviet State in the interests of the in all countries that persons who, at one time or another
population is, as we have seen, not only allowed, but
have played a leading part, have at other times had to
actively encouraged. be expelled from the movement in which they once
When the trials of Zinoviev and Kamenev, Radek
fought, and have become its avowed enemies. Sir
and Sokolnikov, took place in Moscow, reference was
Oswald Mosley can claim to be an old member of the
made in many British newspapers to the significance
Labour Party, and Mussolini of the Socialist Party
of these trials as evidence of widespread opposition of Italy. J. H. Thomas and Ramsay MacDonald were
to the “Stalin régime,” and the impossibility of once admired Labour leaders, and Doriot, now one of
expressing this opposition by legal means. This in- the most active pro-Fascists in France, was in the
terpretation of the facts is the reverse of the truth. Communist Party. Why, in this respect, should the
If, in the U.S.S.R. to-day, there were widespread U.S.S.R. differ from all other countries ?
Opposition to the Government, there would be the In the U.S.S.R., as I have shown, the “ expulsion **
same symptoms as in Fascist Germany: illegally printed of members means, in fact, exile. It is therefore more
leaflets would circulate in the factories, there would usual than elsewhere that any leading personality
be organised discontent among the people throughout rather than accept “ expulsion’ and retire from
the country, occasionally showing itself in some light-
activity into exile, will accept majority decisions against
ning strike or demonstration against the authorities,
himself, and promise henceforth to carry out these
and batches of workers would be arrested in groups of. decisions as a loyal worker in the Soviet State. But. if
thirty and forty. But none of these things happen.
such loyalty is not genuine, and if the individual con~
And since, in Tsarist Russia, such things did occur, cerned is not ready whole-heartedly to accept a decision
it cannot be said to be for lack of experience that they against himself, he may continue his opposition. How
do not occur to-day. Therefore we can only conclude can this be done? OTe svi na
that such widespread opposition to the Government Once a majority decision has been arrived at in the
does not exist, and, whatever the trials do denote, U.S.S.R. the people are not going to tolerate continual
it is not this widespread discontent that some news- propaganda against this, decision. Therefore, any.
paper editors would welcome. sponsor of an unpopular policy knows that, after
i
/
f
238 SOVIET DEMOCRACY DISCIPLINE AND FREEDOM 239
democratic defeat, he will have to cease publicly to its enemy minorities and to use means of putting an
propagate his policy. Having no mass support, such a end to their anti-working-class activities. The U.S.S.R.
person may start loyally to work for the accepted to-day stands out in the world as a country where
policy or, determined to put his own leadership and people and Government are at one with each other;
policy across, whether the people want it or not, he this is the great strength of the U.S.S.R.; but it is one
may resort to underground means of trying to displace of the things hardest to understand in a country torn
the existing leadership, and thus altering policy. by class antagonisms, and in a labour movement into
In this way underground opposition activity by which the influence of the possessing class has crept
rejected leading personalities, people whom the de- and dug itself well in. -
mocracy has turned down, is as possible in the U.S.S.R. Democracy, contrary to many illusory views, does
as such open opposition is possible under capitalism not mean freedom of every kind. It means the rule of
by the expelled Socialists or Communists who become the people, and this means the suppression of the
Fascist. It is also clear, I think, that any really demo- enemies of the people. Democracy, therefore, is also
cratic State must be ruthless in its treatment of such dictatorship, as far as concerns those who reject the
opposition by people who are rejected by the democ- decisions of the people and combat these decisions
racy, and therefore resort to other means of obtaining by every possible means. Soviet democracy, without
power in spite of the will of the people which has discipline, would have led to the complete defeat of
rejected them. the Soviet State in 1918 to 1922. Democracy without
The vital fact which many people are unable to discipline would have made the building up of the
grasp about the U.S.S.R. to-day, whether they are Red Army impossible. Democracy without discipline
spokesmen of the Press, the Government, or well-known would have made the Five Year Plan an impossibility,
trade union leaders like Sir Walter Citrine, is that for no great industrial progress could have been under-
in the U.S.S.R. the Government has the full support taken in conditions of anarchy. The U.S.S.R. to-day
of the people. In capitalist countries the idea of combines the features of real democracy for the people.
a Government. with the whole people behind it with the disciplined enforcement by the people of the
seems so. strange that people are inclined to believe decisions of this democracy. To the minority of pro-
that such a thing is impossible. In the British trade perty-owners such a system has always been a ruthless
union movement to-day, also, we can understand Sir dictatorship, but this dictatorship has been in’ the.”
Walter Citrine imagining that such a thing as a Labour interests of the vast majority of the people. It has, me
movement in which leaders and rank and file are therefore, been essentially democratic. oe
united is impossible. But let us have no Ulusions on this * You say that in order to build our Socialist society. wa [
score. So long as the trade union movement is divided, we sacrificed personal liberty and suffered privation,”
it will be weak. And, once it is united on the basis said Stalin to the American correspondent Roy
| of a real working-class policy, it too will have to fight neo we did not build this society in order to’
240 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
concerned only the running of the for economic democracy: to be really effective, the
State, without
referring to the very important other activities in which whole of the economic concerns of the country would
the overwhelming majority of the people spend the have to be taken over by the democratic State or
greater part of their lives. In Britain the breadwinners by co-operatives. In such circumstances it could be
of 90 per cent of the population make their livelihood ensured that’ the people who worked in a concern
by working for somebody else in institutions and firms would be directly represented on its management
owned by somebody else. In such places of work the as workers, while, at the same time, responsibility
employee is subject to the dictates of the employer for general administration would rest with a manager
from morning to night, and even the question of whether appointed by. the State, and responsible to the demo-
he shall continue in the same job to-morrow is some- cratic Government of the people themselves. Only in
thing which the employer may decide without any this way could democracy be introduced in economic
reference whatever to the will of the worker con- life, and without democracy in economic life any talk
cerned. of real democracy is to a great extent illusory.
Therefore, in the economic life of this country to-day J think that most readers will agree that the essential
there is not the slightest pretence at democracy. Every characteristics of a real democracy which are described
employer has the right to run his own concern as he - here do not exist in Britain to-day..I think that, if they
wishes, to take on and to discharge workers, and to have read Parts I and II and not skipped to this
impose such conditions of work as prove profitable to part first, they will agree with me that such a demo-
him. In his own factory every employer is boss, and the cratic system does already exist in the U.S.S.R. But
people who print the newspapers and run the railways, how does it come about that people who refer to Britain
who work in the factories and toil in the mines, have as a democracy often refer to the U.S.S.R. as a dicta-
torship, when we find that the real essentials of
not the slightest say in the way in which these organisa-
tions shall be run, or the workers treated. In their democracy exist in the U.S.S.R. and not in Britain.
daily lives the vast majority of our people spend their It is true, of course, that in Britain to-day we enjoy
time under the dictatorship of an employer, of a man very valuable democratic rights as compared with the
who«happens to possess the means of production with peoples of Fascist countries. We may make speeches
which others must work in order to make a living. in any meeting-halls that we can afford to hire and
Any real democracy, quite apart from the control of that the owners will let us have, or in any streets where
the State itself,: would have to give to the people the the police do not decide that we are causing an obstruc-
tioh—other, that is, than outside a labour exchange,
right to run all. those. organisations in which they
spend their time and earn their living. This would where, such meetings have been banned by Lord
mean that, so long as there were privately owned Trenchard; we may publish literature if we can afford
factories, the workers would have to be represented as a printing press, so long as the police and the courts .
well as the owner on the board of management; and, do not consider such matter to be obscene or seditious,
248 SOVIET DEMOGRAGY WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? 249
libellous or blasphemous; and we may form organisa-
office itself, the people themselves are taking part in
tions as wage-earners, to force the employers to improve
government, and yet such a system is condemned from
the conditions of their employees, though we may also
2,000 miles away as a dictatorship only rivalled in its
get the sack for doing so. Further, when political
viciousness by Fascism?
parties whose active membership comprises about one-
The answer lies. in the existence of different concep-
thousandth part of the population of the country offer
tions of democracy itself. One conception, defining
us candidates at elections, we may choose between
democracy in terms of certain traditional institutions
them or not choose at all. And, if we can persuade one
which exist to-day, attacks all other systems as contrary
of these political parties to put us up as a candidate at to democratic principles. This is the orthodox defence
an election, and to finance our campaign for us, or if
of the British system at the present time. The other
we are rich enough to finance ourselves and stand as
conception starts out with a study of the actual econ-
“* independents,” we may stand for election to Parlia- omic and social position of the people in society, and
ment or local government. If, when elected, we decide
then asks to what extent they can or cannot be said to
not to fulfil the policy for which we were elected, be governing themselves. And it must be adinitted that,
this matter is our own affair until the next election ! when the British system is approached in this way,
All these rights, it will be noted, include an element of
though much preferable to a Fascist dictatorship, it
democracy, and a non-democratic element. In so far
appears to be anything but a system of effective democ-
as they represent democracy, such rights are to be racy when compared with the situation existing in the
defended and extended; in so far as they are limited,
Soviet Union. To take the economic life of the people
they fall short of the really effective democracy which alone, in Britain they play no part in running the
we have outlined.. The U.S.S.R. has introduced some- concerns in which they spend a major part of their
thing new into democracy, because it has made lives. They have to work under the dictates of a master,
democracy really effective in one respect after another and the masters taken together only amount to a
in which, in other countries, it is still narrowly limited. minute proportion of the total population.
How does it come about that so many of the most Why, then, if in the economic life of the country
loud-voiced supporters of democracy in Britain to-day, there is such a dictatorship, do the people tolerate this
quite irrespective of their political affiliations, can state of affairs, having, as they do, a variety of demo-
denounce the U.S.S.R. and the Fascist States in one cratic means of expressing opposition at their disposal ?
breath, while Britain alone, it would seem, stands
If the British-State is democratic, then the people must
proudly as the standard-bearer of democracy in a have chosen to work daily for other people for wages and -
distracted world ? How can we explain the fact that under conditions over which they have no control.
when examining the U.S.S.R. we found that from Or is it, perhaps, that the extent of democracy is
bottom to top, from the management of a factory or a really so limited that the people have no opportunity: »
block of flats to the administration of the President’s through the State of effectively limiting the power.of
i
/
1|
1
i
250 SOVIET DEMOCRACY WHAT I8 DEMOCRACY? 251
the owners of the means of production ? Certainly, so and the property-owners retain their power, we
long as they believe that a highly limited democracy find that the workers and peasants who form the
is really an effective system of democracy, they will
majority of the population are not allowed to combine
not try to extend their democratic rights, but will be their forces at all in order to fight for better conditions;
passive victims to every kind of encroachment. There- they are forbidden to have their own newspapers or to
fore it is essential that the people appreciate the réle of
hold their own meetings. The workers play absolutely
the property-owners in British democracy, a matter no part in the running of the concerns in which they
which we shal} discuss in detail in the next chapter.
are employed, and they cannot even organise them-
In general, so long as the factories and the mines, selves in order to ensure that they will be paid a living
the newspapers and the meeting-hails, are privately minimum wage..To express their opinion, either of the
owned, to such an extent also are the working people employer or of the State, in a way which offends either
subject to a certain degree of dictatorship. The work- of these, is a crime. Fascism thus completely destroys
man is told by the employer when he may earn a all vestiges of democracy. The democratic organisations
living, and under what conditions, And the working of the people for improving their conditions of life are
people as a whole, who cannot afford to own large driven into illegality, and forced to take on a revolu-
newspapers and meeting-halls, are at the mercy of the tionary form.
continual propaganda of those who can. The extent of Fascist States combine an open dictatorship with the
democracy is in this way limited in every community
existence of private ownership of property concentrated
by the degree to which there exists the private owner- in a few bands. In contrast to these countries, we have
ship of the means of production, thus subjecting the the democratic States in which, though the means of
working citizen to the dictatorship of an employer ; production are in private hands, and the means of
and by the extent to which there is private ownership propaganda are mainly so, the working people have
of the means of propaganda, thus subjecting the or- the right to organise in trade unions, to hold meetings,
dinary citizen to a perpetual bombardment of those and to publish their own newspapers in so far as they.
ideas which the property-owners desire to propagate. can afford to do so. If, in such countries, the workers
Finally, as will be shown in the next chapter, in a can sufficiently well organise themselves, they can
a democratic State in which the means of production force the employers and the State to grant them better
and propaganda are still in private hands, the State, conditions of life. While such a system as’ this:1s. vastly
too, is subject to the control of these property-owners superior to Fascism, it still suffers very: great. short-
to an overwhelming degree. comings, for there is still nothing approaching: real
When we.survey the world to-day we find that the equality of rights for all citizens. Even -under conditions
extent to which effective democracy is enjoyed by the of democratic government, so long as:the:means of
people varies from couniry to country. In Fascist production and propaganda are’ privately-owned, the —
countries, where there is an open terroristic dictatorship, owners have always: reserves’ of property’ which the
252 SOVIET DEMOCRACY WHAT IS DEMOGRACGY? 253
workers have not, and these reserves give an economic State may also curtail democracy, as, for example,
power in bargaining with the workers and a political in Britain, when Lord Trenchard banned the holding
power in propaganda, education, and in running the of meetings outside labour exchanges, or when, after
State, that can hardly be over-estimated. the General Strike in 1926, the Government placed
Only when, as in the U.S.S.R. to-day, the means of a number of restrictions on the rights of the working
production and propaganda are socially owned and people to organise themselves and to unite their forces
controlled, is there no longer the domination of society in a struggle for better conditions against the dictates of
by a small class that owns the property. In the U.S.S.R. private property.
no man owns a factory, and therefore no man can Every Fascist State includes in its population a
dictate to another man at will whether or not he shall majority of people who live by their own labour, and
have a job, and, if so, on what conditions. And, who will use every opportunity to wring better condi-
together with this, the socialisation of the meeting-halls tions of life from the property-owners. Because Fascism
and the newspapers has made the means of expression cannot kill the people who work, it cannot pluck out
equally available to all,. instead of being only at the from its State those forces which continually demand
disposal of private owners. In addition, in the running expression—the democratic forces of the working
of the Soviet State the ordinary citizens are drawn into people. The organisations of the people may be forced
the work of administration, while universal suffrage is underground by a Fascist dictatorship, but they cannot
enjoyed by all without such things as property and be wiped out, for the people who make such a move-
residential qualifications which elsewhere favour the ment are the vast majority of the population, and the
owners of property. employers cannot live without them.
Democracy is not something absolute. A Fascist In the democratic State in which the power of the
State may, in particular circumstances, make some property-owners remains intact, tendencies towards
concession to public opinion which gives an oppor- greater or lesser democracy are both possible, according
tunity for the people to express their views on some to the organised strength of the majority of the people
matter which intimately affects them. Such a measure on the one hand, and of the property-owning minority
would be of value to the people as a step in the direc- on the other. To the great property-owners the ideal
tion of democracy. It would be to their interest to use State would be one in which the political rights of the
such a concession as a means for obtaining further workers were no more than their economic’ rights
concessions and further democratic rights. A demo- when working in the factory. For in such a State the
cratic capitalist State may impose limitations of certain property-owners could pursue whatever policy they
kinds on the power of the property-owners by laying desired: without fear of opposition. ‘Therefore: the in-
down legislation for the protection of the working terests of the great property-owners are always bound
people, by setting limits to the amount of money which up with the curtailment of democratic rights and with a a
may be spent in elections, and so on. But a democratic. tendency towards Fascism. |
254 SOVIET DEMOGRACY WHAT IS DEMOGRAGY? 255
On the other hand, to the working people in every democratic means of controlling the operations of the
capitalist democracy any curtailment of the rights of great property-owners. As a result, the small capitalists
the property-owners in favour of the workers: repre- find themselves lining up with the democratic forces,
sents a growth in democratic freedom. The extension with the working people, against the great monopolies
of the right to hold street meetings and demonstrations and Fascism. In this fact of the present day lies the
can only benefit the working people, those who are economic basis for a Popular Front, for Democracy
least able to hire meeting-halls. The limitation of the’ and the small man, against Fascism and monopoly.
rights of private individuals to use their newspapers for ‘Perhaps the greatest danger, in Britain to-day, which
political purposes by greater working-class control faces the democratic forces, the vast majority of the
over the Press can only benefit the working people— population of the country, lies in the fact that the power
the majority of the population—and is, therefore, of property in the British democratic system is grossly
democratic. The replacing of property-owners by under-estimated in practically all public utterances on
working men and women in the Civil Service, army, the matter. Therefore, bearing in mind all that we
and law courts leads to a greater representation of the now know about the democracy of the U.S.S.R. let
working people in the running of the State, and is a us turn to a short study of democracy in Britain to-day.
democratic measure. So, from the standpoint of the Nowhere in the world could a better example be found
working people, the prospects of increasing their of the power of property to utilise democracy for its
democratic rights are always present. The extent to own ends, thus rendering it almost ineffective as a
which these opportunities are utilised depends on the weapon of the people of the country. Moreover, the
degree to which the working people are aware of their ineffectiveness of democracy creates an acute danger of
position and organised to improve it. In the last analysis open dictatorship. For the less the people of the country
it is the relative strength of these two sections of the realise the extent to which their democratic rights are
population that decides whether Fascism or democracy already seriously limited, and threatened with still
shall triumph, and, if democracy, the extent to which further imitations in the future, the more easily they
this democracy shall be made real by the limitation, may be induced to believe that democracy itself, rather
and finally the complete annihilation, of the powers of than the imperfections of that democracy, is at fault
property, economically and politically. when the system does not work satisfactorily for their
It would be a great error, however, to assume that
any capitalist country consists only of workers and big
employers. Actually; there is in most countries a
considerable ‘middle-class, consisting of small em-
ployers. These small. employers, under present-day’
conditions, are continually menaced by the growth of
monopoly, and are increasingly desirous of utilising all
DEMOCRACY AND PROPERTY 257
terms which satisfy them. In so far as the workers
organise in trade unions they can to some extent build
up reserves and bargain for better conditions, but
always, fundamentally, the owner of property has the
CHAPTER XIX advantage over the man who lives by his labour; for
he has reserves of property on which to live, while the
DEMOCRACY worker has very little on which to live unless he is
AND PROPERTY - drawing an income from selling his labour.
In the economic sphere in Britain to-day, 4 per cent
In ornpeR TO EXAMINE the relationship between of the population are masters or dictators, go per cent
democracy and property, no better example could be are servants. And the fact that the relationship of
taken than Great Britain. For in Britain we possess a master to servant is also the relationship of property
much-vaunted democratic system, and at the same time to poverty is Ulustrated by the figures of the distribu-
practically the whole of the property of the country is tion of the national income. The go per cent of the
in the hands of a few people who live by employing population. that is dependent on its wages receives
labour, whilst the vast majority of the population have . about 64 per cent of the national income. The 4 per
to work for someone else in order to make a livelihood. cent of property-owners, plus about 6 per cent of
According to census figures, about go per cent of the independent workers, absorb annually about 36 per
people of Britain work for somebody else. The question cent of the total national income. And, of these —
of whether they shall be allowed to work or not is property-owners, a very few receive a tremendous
decided by an employer. The question of the conditions income. It is estimated by Professor Bowley that just
under which they work is decided by an employer. over 1 per cent of the population, the richest property-
The rate of wages which they are paid is finally decided owners, received, in 1910, 30 per cent of the national
by an employer. And the employers in Britain to-day income. On the other hand, 943 per cent of the popula-
only amount to some 850,000 people. They and their tion received only 50 per cent of the national income.
families make up about 4 per cent of the population. The conclusion which we arrive at, after reading
So that, in their everyday working life, in everything these figures, is that the class of the population that
which determines the security of their livelihood and owns the factories, the coal-mines, the shops, and so on,
their standard of life, about go per cent of the popula- is a small minority—but a wealthy minority. The
tion of Britain are dependent on the will of about 4 majority of the population, on the other hand, work
per cent. Since the majority must work to live, they for this minority for a small income. The minority
must accept work when it is going. And, as the owners dictate to the majority when, where, and under what
of property have reserves at their disposal, they can conditions they shall make a living. How does this
always postpone taking on workers in order to obtain affect the whole system of government of the country ?
Ip
258 SOVIET DEMOCRACY DEMOCRACY AND PROPERTY 259
The supreme authority in Britain—which, by the ‘There has been no essential change in the last
way, unlike the U.S.S.R. has no written Constitution— twenty-five years. For the claim is still made that it
is Parliament. The British Parliament consists of two is the function of the House of Lords to safeguard the
Houses. ‘The so-called “ Upper House,” -the House of country against a Labour Government which should
Lords, is not an elected body. It consists of the Peers of seek to translate Socialist principles into terms of
the Realm, who are appointed by the Crown, or legislation; and all proposals made by the Conservative
happen to be the descendants of people who were at Party for the reform of the House of Lords have no
one time so appointed. It also includes the bishops. end in view but to hinder such a Government from
It represents, in fact, the wealthy section of the popula- legislating in the way that is open to its rivals ” (Laski,
tion, since working men do not become peers, while The State in Theory and Practice, pp. 275-6). The House
big landlords and employers do. The House of Lords is of Lords exists to defend property against the majority
drawn from thesmall section of the community that owns of the population. The House. of Lords, representing
property and employs labour, and not from the vast a small minority of the people, is.a non-democratic
majority who own nothing and work for somebody else. body; and its policy, because of the interests which it
The fact that the House of Lords is not a democratic represents, is anti-democratic.
institution is generally admitted. It is even a thing But let us now consider the “‘ Lower House,” or
which certain property-owners boast about. Professor House of Commons. This is the elected part of Parlia-
Laski shows how, for example, “‘ as early as 1906 Lord ment, and is often claimed to be.an effective means of
Balfour had told his supporters that it was their expressing the will of the people. Now, if the House
bounden duty to see that ‘the great Unionist Party of Commons is to express the will of the people effec-
should still control, whether in power or in opposition, tively, there must exist in the country an equal right
the destinies of this great Empire.’ What he meant he for all citizens to vote, to stand for election, to support
revealed to the House of Commons three months later, their candidates effectively, and an equal right for
when, on the third reading of the Liberal Government’s all citizens, on the basis of merit only, to-participate
abortive Educational Bill of 1906, he declared that in the work of administration, of carrying: out the
“the real discussion must be elsewhere.’ It was an decisions arrived at by the elected Parliament. Actually,
explicit claim for. the right of property to rule the as will be shown, not one of. these conditions for a
country whatever the will of the people, and no one really democratic parliamentary system exists 1in ‘Britain
who reads the utterances of eminent peers about that at the present time.
Budget can doubt that in their minds they felt entitled The right to be an elector in Britain to-day i is. enjoyed
to safeguard themselves against any measure they might by every man and woman over the age of twenty-one,
choose to regard as confiscatory. Mr. Asquith was right as contrasted with eighteen in the U.S.S.R., on.condi-
when he warned the electorate that implicit in the tion that they can claim residence ina constituency
claim of the Lords was the threat of revolution. . . ; for a period f not less than six months. If a.citizen
260 SOVIET DEMOGRACY
DEMOCRACY AND PROPERTY 261
can claim occupation of premises in two constituencies,
he can enjoy a vote in each. A property-owner, there- must deposit £150, which is forfeited if he does not
fore, has the right to two votes if he has property in obtain a certain number of votes. Secondly, to stand
two constituencies. Further, graduates of the Universi- for election necessitates an election campaign—that
ties, who are in the main drawn from the employing is, the effective supporting of candidates by propaganda.
class and highly paid salaried workers, have two votes The Labour Party, which is not likely to make extrava-
at elections. gant estimates on this score, considers that, in addition
There are a number of constituencies where the to the £150 deposit, which may be returned to the
majority of the inhabitants are wage-earners, and yet candidate, an additional expenditure of at least £500
a majority of the votes can be obtained by the property- is necessary to contest a parliamentary seat. A total
owners because they have factories and offices in those © of £650 must be laid out. It is clear that a small number
areas in sufficient numbers to out-vote the wage-earners of rich citizens are in a position to put up candidates
living there. In local government, registration as a in all the parliamentary seats in the country without any
voter goes with the ownership or renting of residential great material sacrifice. The vast majority of the
or office property, and there ts no limit to the number of population, however, consists of wage-earners, who
votes which one person may exercise in a series of constituencies. must pool their meagre resources at considerable
To be considered an occupier, for local government sacrifice in order to run candidates.
elections, persons must furnish the premises which There are about 600 seats in the House of Commons.
they occupy. As a result, those who live on premises There are about 100,000 super-tax payers in the
furnished by someone else have no vote. These people, country, with an income of over £2,000 a year. Each
in general, are wage-earners. one of these people could finance a candidate ‘out of
It is true, as far as numbers are concerned, that the his annual income, and still have £1,200 to live on.
total extra votes going to the propertied classes in Each of these individuals could afford, at his own
this way is not large, and cannot outweigh the working- expense, to contest a constituency. On the other hand,
class influence in the country as a whole. On the other of the 19 million wage-earners, the average wage is
hand, it is of significance as a matter of principle, for it not more than £2 5s. a week, or £117 a year. It would,
brings out vividly the fact that the existing system of therefore, take a working man—one of the 19 million
election is based, not on citizenship as in the U.S.S.R., wage-earners—the total earnings of four years to
but on the ownership of property. finance himself, or someone else, as a parliamentary
In theory, every person who has the right to vote candidate. So the right to stand for election, and to
also has the right to stand for election, if nominated carry out the necessary publicity. campaign for a-
by eight electors. The right of anybody to stand for candidate, is enjoyed by the smail class of property-
election, however, is deceptive, for two reasons. First, owners fo an enormous degree compared with the majority
in the case of parliamentary elections every candidate of the population, the wage-earners. .
But it must not for one moment be thought that the
262 SOVIET DEMOCRACY DEMOGRACY AND PROPERTY 263
work of moulding public opinion, and of preparing a they are permitted to do so, and do so to a small degree.
state of mind that is likely to support a particular type But shortage of capital, the fact that capitalist firms
of parliamentary or municipal candidate, is created are unwilling to support workers’ papers with advertise-
simply by means of an election campaign. The creation ments—the: main source of revenue to the ordinary
of this public opinion goes on, day by day, in every Press—and a boycott of the sale and distribution of
public expression of opinion that reaches the eyes and working-class literature, make the difficulties of the
ears of the people. workers’ Press extremely great as compared with the
In Britain we still enjoy freedom of speech. But Press of the well-to-do. Only in 1926, when the workers
freedom of speech, to mean anything, must be effective throughout the country practically ceased to print the
freedom—of speech that reaches the people. The degree of capitalist newspapers, and at the same time the Trades
freedom of effective speech in Britain to-day depends Councils and other workers’ organisations published
entirely on the possession of wealth. The most powerful their own bulletins, were there a few days when the
means of influencing public opinion is the Press. In Press of Britain was almost entirely a Press controlled
Britain, “ anyone” can start a newspaper, so long as by the organisations of the working class, the majority
it is. not “ obscene,” “‘ blasphemous,” “ seditious,” or of the population. But even then the radio remained
“libellous.” But the cost of printing and publishing in Government hands, and was fully utilised on the
a newspaper is vastly greater than the cost of running side of the employers.
an election campaign. It is so great that only the very As with the Press, so with the ownership of the great
richest individuals and groups of individuals as a rule ' meeting-halls of the country, and with the control of
can afford to own newspapers. It is so great that no ‘the radio. The trustees of the Albert Hall do not let it
ordinary daily paper could support itself without its to everyone who can pay the rent. Even if a workers’
revenue from advertisements, which are supplied by organisation is able to pay, it may not be allowed the
firms which have sufficient capital to be able to use of the hall if the owners do not approve of the pur-
advertise. Our freedom of the Press is, therefore, pose of the meeting. Sir Oswald Mosley could on one
mainly freedom of property-owners who are rich occasion obtain the use of the hall, while it was refused
enough to finance the newspapers, and in this way to to a working-class organisation shortly afterwards.
influence the thought of the whole population of the And now, having seen how the means of influencing
country. Taken as a whole, the Press represents the public opinion, the means of effective propaganda,
property-owners. are in the hands. of the minority of property-owners,
We must not, however, leave the matter at this point of an. elected
let us come to the further problem—that
without drawing the necessary distinction between Government which really represents. the will of the
British conditions to-day and those of a Fascist State. wage-earners, if all the other obstacles have:been over-
Ja a Fascist State the workers are not permitted to come and such a majority has been returned:io Parlia-
run newspapers even if they can afford it. In Britain ment.
264, SOVIET DEMOCRACY DEMOCRACY AND PROPERTY 265
It should be clear that, whatever the majority in “The evidence presented by Mr. Nightingale, who
Parliament may be, any decisions of Parliament under has made a statistical analysis of the social antecedents
the present system must be carried out by the Civil of the personnel of the Foreign Office and Diplomatic
Service. Unless, therefore, this Civil Service is organic- Service between 1851 and 1929, suggests that this
ally connected with the wage-earning majority of the © statement is true of a more recent period. Sixty
population,’ it may show reluctance, and actually be per cent of it, he shows, has been drawn from the
guilty of sabotage, in carrying out the decisions of eleven most exclusive public schools, while of the
such a parliamentary majority. remaining 40 per cent, well over one half attended the
But, before considering the Civil Service, one other lesser public schools, received a military or naval
point should be touched upon. This is the question education, or were educated privately or abroad.
of Education. For we have seen that a real equality ‘The unchallengeable conclusion that emerges . . .
between citizens, to vote and to be elected, to hold is that the British Foreign Office and Diplomatic
responsibility in every walk of life, and to rule them- Service have been a preserve for the sons of the aristo-
selves, depends on their having equal opportunities cratic, rentier, and professional classes *” (op. cit., pp.
to develop their abilities to the full. In Britain to-day, 93-4). And, though possibly not quite so marked, this
however, they have not got this equality. For, according selection for the Civil Service from the small minority of
to R. H. Tawney, “ the proportion of children leaving the population that owns property, those who can
the elementary schools, who enter what have hitherto afford an expensive “‘ public school” education, is
been known as secondary schools, is, in England and universal throughout. Remember that Lord Tren-
Wales as a whole, less than one-seventh, and in some: chard’s famous “ reform ” of the police force included
areas less than one-tenth, while some three-quarters of the recruiting of more ex-public-school boys for its
them have hitherto entered full-time wage-carning leading ranks. Similar efforts have been made to build
employment at the age of fourteen ” (Equality, p. 90). up a public-school air force in recent years; and the
About go-per cent of the workers have no schooling “* defence of the country’ (and possibly of the rights
of property against the people of the country) is also
over the age of fourteen. On the other hand, the child-
ren of the well-to-do do not go to the ordinary State in the hands, not of representatives of the people, but
elementary or secondary schools at all, but pass of the products of Wellington and Sandhurst, the sons
through an entirely different and very expensive system of those who can afford a “‘ public school” education.
of private education, known, ironically enough, as the The whole Civil Service is so recruited that we have
government, not by the people, but by the property-
** public schools.” And we find that it is this small
minority that passes through the “ public schools” owners and their relatives. In addition, all those
that commands practically all the leading positions professions which are of particular importance to the
in the social and economic life of the country and in security of property, we find, are recruited from the
the Civil Service. same small section of the population. “In the year
DEMOCRACY AND PROPERTY 267
266 SOVIET DEMOGRACGY
1926, 71 out of 80 bishops and deans for whom in- were enabled by their economic advantages and social
formation is available, 139 out of 181-members of the connections to step into the exercise of political power
judicial profession, 152 out of 210 highly placed with a facility impossible to ordinary men. Of 69
members of public departments, 63 out of 88 members Ministers who held office between 1885 and 1905, 40
of the Indian Civil Service and Governors of Dominions, were sons Of nobility, 52 were educated at Oxford and
and 99 out of 192 directors of banks and railways, had Cambridge, and 46 were educated at public schools;
been educated at public schools” (op. cit., pp. 94-5). while, even between 1906 and 1916, 25 out of 51
The Civil Service, which has to carry out the decisions Ministers were sons of nobility ” (op. cit., p. 92).
of Parliament; the bishops, who, like the Press, influence A further limitation of British democracy must now
the opinion of the public; the judges; the railway be mentioned. It has already been shown how a small
directors and bank directors, together with the members class of property-owners dominates elections, domin-
of the legal profession,—-are almost entirely drawn from ates Governments, and dominates the Civil Service.
one small class of the population. Not only, then, do Figures have also been cited to show how the directors
the owners of the factories and mines run their own of the banks, the railways, and, of course, the arma-
factories and mines, but they and their class may well ment firms, are also all drawn from the same small
be said to run the whole country as well. class of the community. Therefore, any Government
With the property-owners running the Civil Service that is ever elected under existing conditions is likely,
and the professions, having all the means at their as a result of all the political influence of property,
disposal for broadcasting their ideas to the whole to represent only to a comparatively smail degree the
population, and the wealth necessary to hire or own real interests of the majority of the population of the
the meeting-halls and newspapers, it is not surprising country, the working people. If, in any situation, such
to find that the work of Government itself remains a Government is returned to Parliament, pledged to a ©
in the hands of these people. R. H. Tawney writes: policy in the interests of the working people, of social-
“The association. of political leadership with birth ism, and real democracy, then numerically this
and wealth..is.a commonplace of English history; representation will not do justice to the real interests
but it is not always realised how litile that association which it represents, since all the propaganda and social
was weakened after the advent of what is usually influences are working for the under-representation
regarded as the age of democracy. Professor Laski, of such interests.
in his instructive analysis of British Cabinets between Once in power, such a Government would have to
1801 and 1924, has shown that, for nearly two gener- face up to the fact that the leading ranks. of the Civil
ations after the Act-of 1867 had enfranchised the urban Service were against it. And sabotage by the Civil
working classes, the greater part of the business of Service, even to the point of armed rebellion by the
government continued, nevertheless, to be conducted military leaders, as in Spain, is no: small: menace.
by a small group of owners of great properties, who But, in addition, such a Government would have to
268 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRACY AND PROPERTY 269
face the active opposition of the property-owning
class, as personified in the bank directors, railway as the King in Council had been clearly defined, and it
was possible to regard it as a reserve instrument to
directors, and factory-owners throughout the country.
of these people over any Government meet great occasions.
And the power.
is tremendous, because they can threaten completely
“‘ Of these, the greatest occasion was the outbreak
of war in 1914. The declaration of war was followed by
to hold up the economic life of the country if their
demands are not satisfied. The bankers in the world the passing of the Defence of the Realm Act, by the
to-day, though competing amongst themselves, can first clause of which power was given to His Majesty
combine their forces to bring pressure to bear upon the in Council to take the necessary measures to secure the
most important Governments. They can move funds
safety of the realm. These powers, primarily exercised
through the Privy Council in the shape of Orders in
from one country to another, and cause financial
They can force elected Governments to resign. Council, were transferable to each Government
crises.
In our discussion of the new Constitution of the
Department; which thus acquired the power to legislate
by the simple method of publishing its regulation
U.S.S.R. we saw that the Supreme Council, directly
elected by the people, is being given increased powers, in the London Gazette’? (p. 12).
After the war the Defence of the Realm Act was
whereas the powers of its Presidium are very strictly
limited. It should be noted here that in Britain precisely replaced by an Emergency Powers Act by which,
the opposite tendency is operating—a tendency for in a “state of emergency,” Orders in Council would
Parliament, dominated by the parties representing automatically become law. In this way any patrlia-
the property-interests, to delegate its authority to mentary majority can in fact institute an open dictator-
small groups who become directors in their own ship if it wishes to-do so—that is, if it ever finds it
sphere. In this respect “‘ Orders in Council” play an expedient to declare a “ state of emergency.” Such a
important part. state is likely to be declared primarily in connection
with labour difficulties.
In his General Strike, R. Page Arnot writes:
“ Let us turn to the.form of government known as It.is not often realised by the ordinary person that
in Britain laws can be made also by the judges. There
King in Council. Its origin and history are still a subject
are two kinds of law in Britain: Statute Law-—consist-
of investigation, but at one time the King in his Privy
ing of Acts of Parliament; and Case Law, consisting
Council appeared to be about to supplant the Parlia-
ment. . . . During the Napoleonic Wars, the Privy of all the decisions of the judges on the interpretation
of these laws in actual cases that have arisen. If, in a
Council was once more used as a formidable engine
of government, and, by the famous Orders in Council, particular case, a judge interprets the law in a par-
ticular way, this case then becomes a precedent, and
Pitt and his-successors were able to meet Napoleon
with swift and arbitrary decrees. After the Napoleonic the interpretation itself becomes law. Since the judges
are, as has been seen, drawn from the ranks of the small
Wars, the position of the form of government known
minority of property-owners, such “ interpretations ”
DEMOGRACY AND PROPERTY 27t
270 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
When, in early 1918, the Russian printing presses
of
of the law naturally tend to operate in the interests were transferred from the hands of their private owners
property in any circumstance that arises. to the organisations of the working people, this act
In concluding this examination of the power of symbolised all that the Soviet system stands for in
n
the property-owners in the British State—and Britai opposition to the democracy of capitalism. But even
those democ ratic States where the
is not untypical of under capitalism the limit to the enjoyment of demo-
and of
private ownership of the means of production cratic rights by the people is not rigidly fixed. In 1926
unche cked— it is worth pointi ng
propaganda remains for a few days during the General Strike the British
out that for the Britis h Empir e as a whole the degree
printing workers refused to issue the main newspapers
l.
of democracy existing in Britain is far from typica of the country, while the Trades Councils and other
Soviet State, we saw how every
In describing the workers’ organisations poured out news bulletins on a
and
nation enjoys the right to self-determination, scale never exceeded before or since. In those few
within
how there is complete equality of every nation days Britain had a Press which predominantly re-
h Empir e, on the contra ry,
the Union. In the Britis presented the working people, and which, for a short
in
the democratic rights of the inhabitants of Great Brita and exceptional period, did not represent the views of
of India.
are not shared by the far greater population a handful of rich Press lords.
got
Not only within the British Empire have we not In the year 1920, when the British Government was
the rule of the nation which has a majori ty of the
preparing to declare open war on the Soviet Govern-
is India; but we have the actual
population, which ment of Russia, the workers set up Councils of Action
no
subjection of that nation so that its people enjoy throughout the country with the slogan “ Hands off
Tsarist
greater democracy than did the people of Russia!” The democratic demands of the working
en
Russia. When, therefore, we draw comparisons betwe people were put forward so forcibly that the Govern-
rty in Britain and the new democ racy
the power of prope
es ment, though utterly unsympathetic, was forced to take
of the U.S.S.R., let us not forget that property behav notice, and armed intervention against the Soviets was
and the
comparatively democratically in Britain itself, brought to an end. In the same year, in a speech in
h
situation of the Indian and other peoples under Britis Russia, Lenin said: “‘ The whole of the English bour-
akin to the lot of the peoples of the
rule is far more geois Press wrote that the Councils of Action were
Tsarist Empire. Soviets. And it was right. They were not called Soviets,
on-
Enough has now been said to establish the relati but in actual fact they were.”
ship between private property and democracy. When In Britain, as in Russia, the workers have always the
we recall the situation existing in the U.S.S.R. at possibility, by uniting their forces and fighting for
see
the present time, and compare it with Britain, we better conditions, to restrict the disproportionate might
feature of the Soviet system
that every democratic of the property-owners, and thus to introduce more
that would be new to Britain is a derivative of one and more effective democracy. If we look back at the
fact—the abolition of the power of property.
SOVIET DEMOCRACY DEMOCRACY AND PROPERTY 273
272
Russian Revolution we find that the Soviets actually united struggle by the whole people. The new democ-
seized power only when they were faced with two > racy only survived because it had the united support
clear alternatives: either a military dictatorship, of the workers and peasants-of the various nationalities
instituted by the owners of the land, the factories, within the country, coupled with the support of the
and the mines; or the seizure of power by the most working people of other countries. The fact that it
powerful organisations of the people, the Soviets, and has survived for twenty years means that others can
the suppressing of the power of the property-owners learn from its example. To-day the actual experience
in the interests of real democracy. of the 170 million people that inhabit one-sixth of the
While, in Britain to-day, it is perfectly true that any earth has shown how real democracy can be, once the
elected Government of the people may be blackmailed power of private property is finally broken. The
by the bankers and sabotaged by the Civil Service if inhabitants of the U.S.S.R. are proving in practice
these representatives of the property-owners do not that the workers can rule themselves, and raise their
approve of its policy, it is equally true that any Govern- living standards, without the help of the employers,
ment which represents the interests of the property- whereas, on the other hand, the property-owners can
owners may be prevented from carrying out an anti- never live without the forces of the working people,
working-class policy by the direct action of the working the forces making for real democracy and liberty. In
people themselves. The fact that the bankers and Civil this lies the guarantee of the ultimate victory of
Servants operate to-day behind the scenes to ensure that democracy over property.
official policy shall be in the interests of property is
all the more reason. why the working people must act
in an organised way to force the Government and the
bankers and the Civil Servants to act more favourably
to the people. And, so soon as the working people of the
country are organised in such a way as to force their
will on a property-owners’ Government, or on property-
owners that oppose a people’s Government, they are
beginning to make democracy more real and more
effective.
In the Communist Manifesto Marx says: “The first
step in the workers’ revolution is to make the pro-
letariat the ruling class, to establish democracy.” This
was the task which the Soviet Revolution in Russia set
out to fulfil, and it has not been unsuccessful. But the
democracy of to-day has only been won as a result of a
DEFENDING AND EXTENDING DEMOCRACY 275
would want to appropriate more than was necessary to a state in which real democracy will be freed from
for a reasonable standard of life. the danger of aggression. In such circumstances we may
Once such conditions have been established inter- look towards a world democratic community, in which
nationally, the State as such—-as a means of guarantee- the people: who work shall rule, and in which, because
ing security to the people who have power against class all shall do their share of work, all shail do their share |
enemies within the community or warlike enemies of ruling.
outside—will no longer be necessary. For, once the In 1919 the workers of Hungary set up a Soviet State
people are governing their own institutions from top which survived for several months in the face of almost
to bottom, and there are no enemies of the people overwhelming opposition. But finally, as a result of
trying to destroy such a free self-governing community, armed intervention from outside, the Hungarian Soviet
there is no need to defend such a system by organised Republic was suppressed and Fascist terror took its
force, by the State. Under such conditions the whole place. The Republic had lasted for four months. The
apparatus of the State, with its armed forces, will, as Hungarian democratic writer, Jaszi, summing up the
Marx put it, “‘ wither away.” results of the experience of the Soviet Republic, wrote
The Soviet State as it exists to-day is, therefore, by no these words:
means the final form which democracy will take when “The most important effect of the proletarian
the power of property is once and for all abolished, dictatorship will certainly be found in the radical
not only in one great country, but throughout the world. change of outlook produced among the proletarian
So long as the Soviet State stands alone, and is con- masses. It had the character of a violent moral explo-
tinually threatened by Fascist States outside and agents sion in the Hungarian social order. It planted in the
of Fascism within—and the Soviet State cannot build minds of the great mass of semi-brutalised slaves
such a Chinese Wall of isolation to prevent some of perhaps the first seeds of faith and hope of liberation.
them getting in—it will continue to be a fighting organ- To this day there lives in the hearts of millions the sense
isation of the people, it will be armed, and it will have of the rights of the workers and of their superiority to
to use every means of securing its own defence. As a the drones and idlers. Above all, the dictatorship shook
democratic organisation that may at any time have out of their age-long apathy the unhappy helots of
to fight for its existence, the Soviet State must be highly Hungarian society, the agricultural workers.
disciplined, like a trade union in a strike, and the “No less important was the service of the Soviet
majority will use every necessary means of enforcing Revolution to the idea of internationalism, made
such a discipline. vivid and real in the minds of the people. by the
But as, in the rest of the world, the ‘forces of democ- memory of hard and bloody conflicts.
racy triumph over the concentrated power of the great “ Finally, through the spirit of the Soviet. constitution,
owners of property, the danger to Soviet democracy despite much childish naiveté and many violent
will be reduced and the whole world will move nearer outbursts, the Republic did pioneer work for the
a7 Duly
DEFENDING AND EXTENDING DEMOCRACY 285
284. SOVIET DEMOGRACGY
tions, ’ then the escape from this national accounting
ideals of more advanced types of democracy and self- and control: will inevitably become so increasingly
government. It did this by its exposure of the defective difficult, and such a rare exception, and will probably
organisation, the shortcomings and hypocrisies of be: accompanied by such swift and severe punishment
the bourgeois democracies of to-day, and its proclama- (for the armed workers are men of practical life, not
tion for all time of the ideal of the State, in which only sentimental intellectuals, and they will scarcely
those who work and produce shall have the right allow anyone to trifle with them), that very soon the
to control and govern society” (Revolution and Counter- necessity of observing the simple, fundamental rules of
Revolution in Hungary, p. 151). everyday social life in common will have become a
This epitaph was written of the Hungarian Soviet habit.
Republic by one who was a democrat but not a Com- “The door will then be open for the transition from
munist. It was written of the Hungarian Soviet Republic the first phase of Communist society to its higher phase,
that only lived for four months. How much greater, and along with it to the complete withering away of
then, is the significance to democracy of the Soviet the State... . The more complete the democracy, the
State that has lived for twenty years, and in which nearer the moment when it begins to be unnecessary.
the democratic rights of the people are constantly The more democratic the ‘ State’ consisting of armed
being extended. Finally, what a prospect for the world workers, which is ‘no longer a State in the proper
as a whole opens up before us, when the people of sense of the word,’ the more rapidly does every State
every country, as a result of an organised struggle for begin to wither away ” (State and Revolution).
democratic rights in countries where they are deprived In these words Lenin outlines the future of Soviet
of them to-day, and through the defence and extension democracy—a community of citizens, governing them-
of these rights where they are already to some extent selves in every branch of social activity, and using
enjoyed, have established in every country a society the necessary measures to preserve discipline in the ~
in which all citizens have equal rights as citizens, and common interest. Democracy and written Constitu-
economic and political power no longer to the slightest tions in such a society will probably be as unnecessary
extent depend on the possession of property. as in the ordinary family, and the citizens will run
The way to such a society, the world commonwealth their community peacefully and in the common in-
of the future, is indicated by the U.S.S.R. And in that terest, creating all the necessary means of livelihood
society the State itself, and even the word democracy, with their common labour, and having ever greater
will become historical terms with no longer any resources available for the arts and sciences, for the
significance. “‘ For,’ as Lenin puts it, ‘‘ when all have complete mastery of nature in the interests of humanity.
learned to manage, and independently are actually “Will this new civilisation,” write Sidney and
managing by themselves social production, keeping Beatrice Webb, of the U.S.S.R. to-day, ‘“ with its
accounts, controlling the idlers, the gentlefolk, the abandonment of the incentive of profit-making, its
swindlers, and similar ‘ guardians of capitalist tradi-
G AND EXTENDING DEMOGRAGY 287°. TES
286 SOVIET DEMOCRACY
its planned production eace, Bread, and Land” was the slogan of the
extinction of unemployment, issian Revolution; and a really democratic Govern-
community consumption, and the consequent
for
spread ent was the only way by which these aims could be
liquidation of the landlord and the capitalist, ieved. The Soviets were, in Russia, the democratic -
own reply is: ‘ Yes, it will.’
to other countries? Our gan of the people. When, in November 1917, the whole”
ications, and
But how, when, where, with what modif ee
revol ution or by peaceful the democratic liberties of the Russian people were _—
whether through violent reatened with suppression, and with the imposition
are.
penetration, or even by conscious imitation, p. rom above of a military dictatorship, the workers and
r ** (Soviet Commu nism,
questions we cannot answe easants of Russia seized complete power through |
1143). oe
not a their own organisations, the Soviets. Democracy was
But the answer to these final questions is “triumphant, and the military dictators and their
that the essen tial featu re of
difficult one. We have seen the foreign allies were driven: from the country. The
aboli tion of the powe r of
the Soviet system is the seizure of power by the Russian Soviets was a land-
the owne r of prope rty, to rule
landlord and capitalist, mark in the history of democracy, for it has proved
to domin-
the productive life of the country and thus for all time the practicability of the principle that only
but the exten sion of demo cracy
ate the State. But this is those who work and produce shall have the right to
leges of the great prope rty-
so as to wipe out all privi govern society. And it has shown that in a really
small pro-
owners as against the ordinary citizen, the democratic society it is possible to ensure that every
united
ducer, the ordinary working man or woman. The citizen shall work and produce.
in the world inter ested in de-
struggle of all the forces We began this book with a few remarks on the
libert ies again st encr oach ment , and
fending democratic nature of democracy and dictatorship. At that stage
ies beyo nd the limits set by the
in extending these libert we were interested in making clear one thing only—
at the prese nt time, is the ouly
great property-owners democracy and dictatorship are not mutually
can be that
way in which democracy and democratic peace exclusive terms. Any democracy for one group of
Fascism and
preserved in face of the growing danger of - people may simultaneously be a dictatorship over
of such a
Fascist aggression. The logical process -another. The shareholders’ meeting of a joint-stock
com-
struggle, at a certain point, will necessitate the company is democratic for the shareholders, but it is
of the prop erty -own ers and the
plete expropriation a dictatorship over the employees of the firm, who
of capitalism by Socialism, the only
replacement usually vastly outmumber the shareholders. So, too, in
forces of
final guarantee that the anti-democratic the capitalist State, the democratic rights which exist
. Whether or
property can never again rear their heads are in practice available to the few owners of property.
takes:
not, in Britain or France or Spain, such a struggle to a great extent as compared with the majority of the
of the setting up of Sovie ts, it is in
the actual form people—the people who work. Thus, as in the Greek
Russian
essence the same struggle as that which the city-state, though to a lesser degree, we may say that
people successfully fought in 1917.
288 ‘ SOVIET DEMOCRACY
even in Britain to-day the really effective part in the
running of the country is played by a “‘ charmed
circle of the privileged,” while the rest of the community
—the people who do the work—“have no voice
whatever in the making of the laws under which they
toil.”
Democracy and dictatorship are not mutually ex-
clusive. They are not absolutes. Therefore, in facing the
practical problems of the people of the world as a whole,
or of any single country, it is essential in every concrete
instance to consider the actual situation, not from
the standpoint of law only, but of everyday practice,
in order to know to what extent the people are govern- ©
ing themselves, and to what extent they are not. On
this basis, every measure which curtails the power of
the people must be fought by every means that they
can command, and every method of increasing their.
democratic rights, of making democracy more effective,
must be constantly utilised.
The defence of democracy against Fascism means the
extension of existing democratic rights against those
limitations imposed by the property relationships in
existing society. And every extension of democratic
rights for the people brings nearer the time when,
faced as the Spanish people are to-day, with the
alternatives of making democracy real or submitting
to military dictatorship, the people will be in a position
of such unity and organisational strength that they
will be able to defend their democracy and make it
ever more real, as the people succeeded in doing in
Russia some twenty years ago. .
THE END