How Russia Is Governed

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 59, 2 December 1933, Page 20

How Russia Is Governed

HE masses of the Russian people are not so conscious of I the heavy hand of dictatorship as we should be, for under i Tsardom they had been accustomed for generations to the X tyranny of the State,” writes Mr. Herbert Morrison, exMinister of Transport, in the “Daily Herald. “To understand how Russia is governed one must not only examine the official organisation of the State, but also the organisation and operations of the only political party allowed, namely, the Commui is. “It is claimed that the franchise is enjoyed by 90 per cent, of the population, the disfranchised people being such as the surviving former bourgeoisie landlords, Tsarist officials and the priests. “Elections generally are conducted by a show of hands at meetings and not by secret ballot; oppositionists (if any) may, therefore, be identified. . ... . “In a large proportion of cases such electoral meetings will no. contain a majority of members of the Communist Party. “But the Communist fraction and nucleus are everywhere; the Communists are the only people allowed a political organisation, undoubtedly their leadership is almost everywhere effective and decisive. “Local Soviets having been elected (functioning as local authorities), their members in turn elect the Soviets higher up for wider at eas. and finally the Ail-Russia Congress of the Soviets elects the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.K., and the Central Executive Committee elects the presidium. “The Council of People's' Commissars functions somewhat as a Cabinet. “Through the whole process, the disciplined control of the Communists is exerted. It must be assumed that no person could hold

either political or economic office if he were objectionable to the C ° ni “lt must not"be assumed from this that none but Communist members are permitted to participate in responsible work for this would be far from true, although as time goes on and a higher standard o ability is evolved in the Communist membership, it may become mor general. “It is probably the case that all the people in ‘key' positions are members of the Communist Party, and it is certainly the case that all person.-, in any position of responsibility are either Communists or sympathisers, or persons who can be relied upon not to act in opposition to the will oi the Communist Party. . . ” “The party also elects its central executive committee by indirect election from below in much the same way as the central executive committee of the State is evolved, but once elected the discipline ovei -he party is so effective that the people at the top are m a position to exercise a power of leadership which in its magnitude and effectiveness bears little relationship to the democratic limitations imposed upon the leaders of the British Labour Party. • c.. i“It is significant that the most powerful personality in Russia —btalin —holds the office of general secretary of the Communist Party. “Moreover, the power of the Communist Party is not only effective in the State and in local government;. it is really decisive in the trade unions and the co-operative organisations. “The broad lines of the State; economic, co-operative and trade union policy are, therefore, determined substantially by the Communist Partv of the Soviet Union. “It would appear that at the party conference the power ot the party leaders is substantially greater than at a British Labour Party Conference.” v X ■ I