146. THE BOLSHEVIST CONSTITUTION: RESTRICTED SUFFRAGE.—These liberal provisions were offset, however, by a number of important restrictions upon the voting rights of the people. Article IV of the bolshevist constitution declared that the right to vote should not be extended to the following groups: all persons employing hired laborers for profit, including farmers who have even a single part-time helper; all persons receiving incomes from interest, rent, or profits; all persons engaged in private trade, even to the smallest shop-keeper; all ministers of religion of any kind; all persons engaged in work which was not specifically defined by the proper authorities as "productive and useful to society"; members of the old royal family; and individuals formerly employed in the imperial police service. The constitution further provided that representation in the various deliberative assemblies (called soviets, or councils) should be arranged so that one urban bolshevist would be equal, in voting strength, to five non- bolshevist peasants. Lastly, the constitution significantly neglected to provide any machinery whereby the voters, either as individuals or in groups, could make nominations for any governmental office. The power of nomination was assumed by various bolshevist officials.
147. THE BOLSHEVIST CONSTITUTION: PROVISION FOR A DESPOTISM.—The bolshevist constitution frankly provided for a despotism. "For the purpose of securing the working class in the possession of complete power," reads the concluding section of chapter two of the constitution, "and in order to eliminate all possibility of restoring the power of the exploiters, (the capitalist or employing class), it is decreed that all workers be armed, and that a socialist Red Army be organized and the propertied class disarmed." These steps, the constitution goes on to state, were to be taken for the express purpose of introducing nation-wide socialism into Russia.
148. "DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT."—Shortly after the publication of the constitution, Lenin and Trotzky, the two bolshevist leaders, established what was called the "dictatorship of the proletariat." The word proletariat refers vaguely to the working classes, but the bolshevists interpreted the term to cover only that portion of the workers which was pledged to the support of socialist doctrine. Lenin admitted that a small number of bolshevized workingmen, the proletariat, was maintaining, by force of arms, a despotic control over the masses of the people. "Just as 150,000 lordly landowners under Czarism dominated the 130,000,000 of Russian peasants," he once declared, "so 200,000 members of the bolshevist party are imposing their will on the masses." According to these figures, the controlling element in Russia included less than one sixth of one per cent of the people.
From the first, the great majority of the peasants stolidly resisted the socialization of the country, but this did not discourage the bolshevist leaders. "We have never spoken of liberty," said Lenin early in 1921. "We are exercising the dictatorship of the proletariat in the name of the minority because the peasant class in Russia is not yet with us. We shall continue to exercise it until they submit. I estimate the dictatorship will last about forty years."
149. SUPPRESSION OF DEMOCRACY.—The democratic tendencies evidenced under the Kerensky regime, and apparently encouraged by some of the provisions of the bolshevist constitution, were quickly checked by the dictatorship. It became the policy of the government to deprive "all individuals and groups of rights which could be utilized by them to the detriment of the socialist revolution." The semblance of a representative system was retained, but voting power was so distributed as to allow an oligarchic group to control the government's policies. This group had the power to disallow elections which went against it, as well as the power to force the dismissal from local Soviets of anti-bolshevist members. The right to vote could be arbitrarily withdrawn by order of the central authorities. Free speech and the right to enjoy a free press were suppressed. Lenin admitted that bolshevism "does not represent the toiling masses," and declared that "the word democracy cannot be scientifically applied to the bolshevist party." Both Lenin and Trotzky declared that they had no fixed policy except to do whatever at the moment seemed expedient, regardless of previous statements or promises.
150. ABOLITION OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM.—Socialism, so long a theory, became a practical concern at the moment that the bolshevists secured control of the government. Private property in land was abolished, the arable land of Russia being apportioned among agriculturists without compensation to the former owners. All mines, forests, and waterways of national importance were taken over by the central government, while the smaller woods, rivers, and lakes became the property of the local Soviets. Banking establishments were seized and looted by bolshevist forces. Factories, railroads, and other means of production and transport were taken over. Inheritance was abolished. Private initiative in business was forbidden. Members of the capitalist or employing classes were imprisoned, murdered, or driven from the country. In a word, the capitalistic system was destroyed, and the economic and political machinery of the country came under the full control of a small socialist group, maintained in power by armed force.
151. PARALYSIS OF INDUSTRY UNDER SOCIALISM.—The substitution of socialism for capitalism in Russia was followed by disaster. The workers were unable to carry on the industries which had been handed over to them. Discouraged by repeated errors in administration, and demoralized by their sudden rise to power, they neglected their work and pillaged the factories and shops in which they had formerly been employed. The elimination of the managing employers resulted in a decrease in output, and to aggravate the situation the laborers continued to insist upon a shorter and shorter working day. In desperation the government attempted to keep the people at their tasks by force. The workers were exploited to a degree previously unknown, even in Russia. They worked longer hours and for less pay than formerly. In many places they were attached to their tasks like medieval serfs, and even harnessed to carts like beasts of burden. The trade unions were abolished, and the workers were forbidden to strike, on pain of imprisonment or death. Yet despite these measures the output of factories, mills, and mines steadily decreased. Industry stagnated, and business fell away. The millions of Russia were starving in a land of plenty.
152. RETURN TO CAPITALISTIC METHODS.—To save the country from economic ruin, Lenin turned to capitalism. Free initiative and open competition in trade were again allowed. The socialization of railroads, mills, and natural resources was halted. The arable land, which under socialism had not grown enough food to support even the peasants living upon it, was again cultivated under the wage system. The capitalists and managing employers who were alive and still in Russia, were gathered together and placed in charge of industry. The laborers, who had been promised an eight- or six-hour day and complete control of industry, were now forced by the bolshevist government to work long hours under their former employers for practically no pay. By 1919 the essential features of the capitalistic system had been accepted by Lenin and Trotzky, the bolshevists continuing in power as a despotic group which maintained authority over the laborers and the employers by armed force. The theory that all except the laborers are parasites had been exploded.
153. WAS SOCIALISM GIVEN A FAIR TRAIL IN RUSSIA?—To point out that an experiment has failed is one thing; to prove that it has been attempted under fair conditions is quite another. We cannot, therefore, condemn the bolshevist experiment without some regard for the conditions under which it was conducted.
Undoubtedly, the bolshevists had to contend against several important difficulties. The majority of the Russian people are illiterate peasants, who had had, at the time of the overthrow of the Czar in 1917, little or no training in self-government. In 1917, Russia was, moreover, in a state of political demoralization, the result of three years of war, concluded by a military debacle and a disorderly peace. The suddenness with which socialism was introduced was also a factor which handicapped the bolshevists.