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p Another important means of extending socialist democracy, of drawing the people into the administration of the state, is to enhance the role played by mass organisations by giving them a steadily larger share of some of the functions of the government.

p The largest of these organisations are the trade unions, which have an aggregate membership of 80 millions. They are a school of administration and economic management.

p The trade unions are playing an ever larger role in helping to promote the economy, draw up state plans of economic development and manage production. They make sure that safety rules and labour legislation are observed, see to the fulfilment of housing programmes and 285 allocate housing, and enforce efficiency in trade and public catering. They run numerous cultural centres, health and holiday homes, holiday resorts, summer and winter recreation camps for children, sports centres, and so forth.

p A large network of public organisations and associations helping the state to administer the country’s economic, social and cultural life operate under their direction. These organisations include standing production conferences at industrial, transport and building enterprises which enable millions of people to participate directly in the management of production. Workers, employees, engineers, technicians, managerial staffs, Party and Y.C.L organisations and scientific and technical societies are represented in these standing conferences, of which 1,126,000 were in operation in the U.S.S.R. in 1962.

p Moreover, the trade unions operate public designing bureaus, public economic analysis groups, public technical rate setting bureaus, councils of innovators and other bodies that play an important role in organising and managing industry. The councils of innovators have public instructors, who demonstrate advanced methods of work directly at the work-benches.

p In the U.S.S.R. the mass organisations and institutions are a kind of school enabling people to learn to manage the economy.

p More and more of the social and cultural functions of state bodies are being transferred to mass organisations. For example, the Young Communist League, which has a membership of nearly 23 millions, is active in bringing up and educating young people. Physical culture and sports, holiday services (health and holiday homes) and the sponsoring of lectures are completely in the hands of mass organisations. People’s universities of culture,  [285•*  opened throughout the country, are making a large contribution towards raising the people’s cultural level and drawing them into production and social activity.

p The people are also active in maintaining law and order. Voluntary law maintenance detachments have been set up at factories, building sites, offices and collective farms and 286 these actively assist the militia, the courts and the procurator’s office.

p The government supports the various mass associations and organisations which facilitate the operation of state bodies or undertake (fully or partially) the functions of these bodies. The government gives these mass organisations a legal standing and renders them material, technical and organisational assistance.

p It must be noted that the forms and rates of the transfer of the functions of state organs to mass organisations are different in the various spheres. They depend chiefly on the maturity of the mass organisations and their preparedness to take over the various functions, on the availability of activists able and willing to carry out these functions. The transfer of one function or another to the public is expedient only if it can be fulfilled by the people in their spare time without remuneration. Otherwise it would mean transferring work from one paid staff to another.

p The enhancement of the role played by the public is a natural and objectively necessary process, which develops in proportion to the maturing of the corresponding conditions. This process should be neither forced nor accelerated. As in any other sphere the forestalling of developments can bring nothing but harm.

p The extension of socialist democracy does not mean giving rein to pointless talking-shops, anarchy, insubordination and indifference. It is indivisibly linked up with the strengthening and development of socialist organisation and discipline. Socialist organisation and discipline are inconceivable without broad democracy, because organisation is efficient and discipline is firm only when they are not imposed from above but spring from the people’s experience of struggle and work and are accepted by them as their own discipline and their own organisation.

p Moreover, in promoting democracy it should not be forgotten that this process is directly linked up with the strengthening of the socialist state and socialist legality. The breaking of laws under the screen of democracy and the use of the prestige of the public for covering anti-social acts should not be tolerated. The forms and methods of public self-administration can be worked out only by promoting and strengthening state forms of administration and 287 extending democracy within the framework of these forms. Nobody is more qualified to teach the people to administer social affairs than the C.P.S.U. and the Soviet Government, which have accumulated vast and invaluable experience in administration.

Sweeping measures to further extend socialist democracy are envisaged in the new Programme of the C.P.S.U. These measures, which are designed to draw virtually all citizens into the administration of social affairs, include: improvement of the forms of public representation and of the democratic principles of the Soviet electoral system; promotion of the practice of nation-wide discussions of major problems of communist construction and of draft laws; the utmost extension of public control over the activities of organs of power and administration and enhancing the effectiveness of this control; systematic renewal of the personnel of leading bodies and consistent implementation of the principle of electivity and accountability of leaders and the gradual spread of this principle to all leading officials of state organs, mass organisations and cultural institutions.