“ONLY REAL DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM.”

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 June 1936, Page 5

“ONLY REAL DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM.”

SOVIET PRAISES ITS NEW CONSTITUTION. PARLIAMENT WITH TWO HOUSES (By Telegraph-Press Assn.-Copyright) Received Friday, 10 p.m. LONDON, Juno 12. The Daily Telegraph's Moscow correspondent says the text has been issued of the new Soviet Constitution, drafted by a commission over which M. Stalin presided. It claims to have established the world’s only real democratic system, though the monopoly of the Communist Party is maintained. Parliament will consist of two newlycreated chambers. The Lower House will be called the “Union Council” and will be directly elected by a secret Dallot, with one member for each 300,000 electors. The Upper House.will be called the “Council of Nationalities” and will be indirectly elected to represent the Soviet Republics and the autonomous national republics. The two bodies will meet in Moscow regularly twice a year. They will form a ‘‘Supreme Council” to elect one President for the entire Soviet Union.

Every citizen, male and female, will be expected to vote and will be able to stand for election. The so-called “class enemy” is now considered to have been “liquidated.” The civic* rights granted include equal pay for both sexes, pensions and holidays, while religious liberty, the right to hold political demonstrations, the freedom of the Press, free speech, and security from arbitrary arrest, are also estab lished.