The Soviet Plan of Government in Theory.[[307]]—Among the various countries, Russia has gone the farthest, of course, in the radical demolition of the old political and economic order. The overthrow of the Czarist empire was presently followed by the establishment of soviet government and a system of economic communism. This action naturally attracted world-wide attention and it has exerted, during the past few years, a profound influence upon the attitude of men toward political and economic problems everywhere. |Why should Americans care to know anything about it?| It has given new inspiration to radicalism in the United States. We ought, therefore, to know something about this extraordinary overturning of the old political and economic structure in Russia; otherwise we cannot grasp the far-reaching significance of radical movements in our own country.
What is the soviet form of government and what is meant by communism as applied to industry?
The soviet form of government is a repudiation of the entire scheme of government which has been described in this book. |Why the Bolshevists object to democracy.| Its supporters regard democracy as a mere weapon of the capitalist by means of which he exploits the worker. The only way in which the workers can obtain their rights, they declare, is by establishing a “dictatorship of the proletariat”, in other words, a government absolutely dominated by themselves to the exclusion of all others. This, in the first instance, must be done by violence; but, eventually, they hold, the people will accept it peaceably.
The difference between soviet and democratic government.
Soviet government differs from democratic government in two all-important respects. In a democracy all adult citizens, whatever their occupation, are equally entitled to a share in the control of the government. Democracy stands on the principle of universal, direct, and secret suffrage. The soviet form of government repudiates the doctrine of political equality. It asserts that all power must be vested in the hands of the peasants and workers, and that the bourgeoisie (by which they mean capitalists, storekeepers, employers of any kind, including even farmers who employ hired labor) are entitled to no share in the control of the government. Democracy and equal suffrage, the soviet apologists proclaim, are merely instruments by which the strong oppress the weak. For a system of government by the people, they would substitute government by a portion of the people. In Russia this has meant, as a matter of fact, government by a very small fraction of the people.
The soviet system also differs from democracy as respects the way in which the officials of government are chosen. Representation in democracies is based upon areas of territory. |The soviet basis of representation.| All the voters of a town, country, or district join in electing a single representative. The people who live in a given territorial area are assumed to have a common interest by reason of their living close together. Under the soviet system this is considerably changed. Occupation as well as territory is the basis of representation. Groups of voters unite in choosing delegates because they work at the same trade, not because they live in the same neighborhood. For example, all the workers in a particular factory, or all the farmers in a certain district begin by choosing one or more representatives. These representatives come together and form the city workers’ soviet or the township soviet. The city workers’ soviet is made up of one or more delegates from every factory. Each local soviet, moreover, appoints delegates to higher soviets and these, in turn, choose delegates to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which is the supreme governing body. As this congress is too large to do the routine work of government, it delegates this function to a cabinet or Council of Peoples’ Commissars.[[308]]
The Soviet Plan of Government in Practice.—This is the theory of soviet government. The supreme political authority is constituted by the workers alone, through a long process of indirect election. The national executive is several steps removed from the control of the people. He is not directly responsible to the people as in the United States. In actual fact, moreover, this elaborate plan of indirect representation has become, in Russia, little more than a scheme on paper. Many of the provincial Soviets have chosen no delegates at all. There is no assurance that those who now hold the reins of power in Russia are the real representatives of the masses of the people. To keep themselves in office the Commissars have throttled all opposition. |Some results of the soviet rule.| They have set at naught all the securities for personal liberty which exist in democratic countries. Arrests have been made without warrants, thousands of them; men and women have been held in prison and put to death without public trial; freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly have been denied. The soviet leaders admit all this but argue that these measures are necessary in order to prevent a counter-revolution.
The Economic Aspects of Communism.—The Russian revolution did not confine itself to political reconstruction alone. It was an economic revolution as well. |Relation of communism to industry.| All private trade, of whatever sort, was, in theory at least, abolished throughout Russia and all industries taken over by the government. The factories, shops, stores, and all other instrumentalities of business were placed in charge of officials to be managed for the benefit of the workers. These workers were assigned to the various industries by the soviet authorities, compulsory labor being decreed by law and a fixed standard of wages established. Trade unions and co-operative societies were put under the ban. Workers received their pay in the form of requisitions or orders on the government stores for food and other supplies. Strikes were forbidden on penalty of imprisonment. All land was declared to be owned by the state, but the peasant farmers were allowed to retain their farms upon giving the government a share in the produce.
Breakdown of communism in Russia.
Although the government did its best to carry through the foregoing program, economic communism in Russia broke down.[[309]] Factories and stores went out of business; the peasants could not be coerced into supplying food for cities; foreign trade stopped almost entirely; the railroads failed to function; everywhere there was misery and starvation. So the soviet authorities in 1921 decided upon a partial return to the system of privately-managed industry. Factories and shops, to some extent, have been reopened under individual ownership; the trade unions have been permitted to reorganize; the rules relating to compulsory labor have been relaxed; and differences in the rate of wages paid to different workers are once more permitted. The country has swung back to a modified form of individualism and capitalistic production.