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p We have repealedly used the words “Soviet state" and “Soviet power" in Ibis book. The U.S.S.R. is called a Soviet state because the Soviets are its central and local organs of slate power. The entire activity of the Soviets, which are elected by and are accountable to the people, expresses the will and the interests of the masses.

p That was why Lenin said that “the Soviets are the highest form of popular rule”.  [73•* 

p The democratic nature of Ihe Soviet state system has found its fullest embodiment in the Soviels, which, being organs of state power, are the biggest mass organisations of the working people. The lalter participale in Ihe administration of stale affairs and in promoling economic and cultural development primarily through the Soviets.

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p The world’s first Soviets were formed during the first Russian revolution of 1905 as a result of the revolutionary activity of the people fighting against tsarism. Initially, the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies appeared in Petrograd (now Leningrad), Moscow, Ivanovo-Voznesensk and other large industrial cities. Originally organs of the mass strike movement, the Soviets soon became organs of the revolutionary struggle against the tsarist government, and then developed into organs of insurrection. In some cities they took over some functions of state authority. In defiance of the laws and norms established by the tsarist government, the Soviets in 1905 on their own authority introduced an eight-hour working day at factories, seized printshops and enforced freedom of the press for the workers.

p Already at that time Lenin viewed the Soviets as the embryo of the new revolutionary authority. “It was an authority open to all,” he wrote, “it carried out all its functions before the eyes of the masses, was accessible to the masses, sprang directly from the masses, and was a direct and immediate instrument of the popular masses, of their will. Such was the new authority, or, to be exact, its embryo, for the victory of the old authority trampled down the shoots of this young plant very soon.”  [74•* 

p The first Russian revolution was crushed and the Soviets were disbanded by the tsarist reaction after a short-lived existence. But even the brief experience of 1905 played an immense role in the revolutionary struggle of the working class.

p The idea of Soviets became firmly implanted in the minds of workers. That was why they set up Soviets in February 1917, when the second Russian revolution broke out and tsarism was overthrown. This time they arose not only in large industrial centres as in 1905, but throughout the country. Alongside the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies there appeared Soviets of Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.

p Lenin rendered a great service to the world when he perspicaciously saw in the Soviets a new form of a socialist state and showed that the Soviets, which arose in the flames of revolutionary struggle, were a new and higher form of democracy.

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p In his famous April Theses (1917) he called for the organisation of a Soviet republic as the most acceptable form of a socialist state for Russia. He wrote: “Not a parliamentary republic—to return to a parliamentary republic from the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies would be a retrograde step—but a republic of Soviets of Workers’, Agricultural Labourers’ and Peasants’ Deputies throughout the country, from top to bottom.”  [75•* 

p This prevision was and still is of tremendous significance for the world revolutionary movement.

p In October 1917, in alliance with the working peasants and under the leadership of the Communist Party, the Russian proletariat destroyed the hated state machinery of oppression and transferred all power to the Soviets.

p On October 25 (November 7, new style), 1917, the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets was convened in Petrograd. It was attended by 650 delegates representing the population of Russia and the bulk of the Soviets in cities, villages and military units.

p Backed by the will of the vast majority of the workers, soldiers and peasants and by the victorious insurrection of the workers and soldiers of Petrograd, the Congress took power into its own hands.

p It adopted a Proclamation “To the Workers, Soldiers and Peasants" which said in part: “All power in the localities is transferred to the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, which must duly ensure genuine revolutionary order.”

p The Congress approved the historical Decrees on Peace and Land and formed the first workers’ and peasants’ government—the Council of People’s Commissars. Lenin was unanimously elected its Chairman.

p In this way the slogan calling for the transfer of all power to the Soviets, which became the political foundation of the state, was translated into life.

p A few days after the victory of the Revolution, the Council of People’s Commissars published its Declaration “To the Population" drawn up by its Chairman.

p It said in part:

p “Comrades, working people! Remember that now you 76 yourselves are at the helm of the state. No one will help you if you yourselves do not unite and take into your hands all affairs of the state. Your Soviets are from now on the organs of state authority, legislative bodies with full powers.

p “. . .Take all power into the hands of your Soviets. Be watchful and guard like the apple of your eye your land, grain, factories, equipment, products, transport—all that from now onwards will be entirely your property, public property.”  [76•* 

p From the very outset the Soviets showed that they were organs of genuinely popular rule.

p Land, factories, banks and transport facilities were confiscated from the capitalists and landowners. They became the property of the state, i.e., the property of the whole people.

p Soviet rule smashed the bourgeois-landowner state machinery of coercion, thwarted sabotage by the former officials and ensured the normal, uninterrupted work of the new state apparatus.

p Very soon the Communist Party organised new organs to administer economic and cultural development, a new people’s court, and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army to defend the country.

p Although the victorious workers and peasants had no previous experience in state administration or in building up a new society, they overcame the tremendous difficulties that confronted the young Soviet Republic.

p From the midst of the people there emerged brilliant leaders of the Soviet state.

p The entire organisation and activity of the Soviets very quickly demonstrated that they pursued no other goal than to defend the vital interests of the working people.

p This, in particular, explains why the organs of Soviet power have always enjoyed the earnest support of the masses.

p That was why even in the periods of severe trials such as the Civil War and foreign intervention and later the Second World War, the people willingly endured all hardships in order to safeguard their gains and their Soviet rule.

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p Wherein lies the strength of the Soviets? What are the advantages of the Soviets as a new form of political organisation? In what way are they superior to the bourgeois-parliamentary state? The answers to these questions have to take several factors into account. First, by their nature the Soviets are the most popular and all-embracing political organisation of the working people, which very successfully combines administrative and public activity.

p As organs representing the bulk of the people and then the entire population, elected and completely controlled by the people, the Soviets express their will more directly and precisely. They embody the alliance between the working class and the peasantry, which is the foundation of foundations of the Soviet state.

p Their entire activity is based on direct participation by the working people. The deputies in the Soviets are not professional politicians. They combine their duties as deputies with production activity.

p At the same time, the Soviets are internationalist organs resting on the co-operation of people of all nationalities and facilitating their union into a single federal state.

p With the transfer of power to the Soviets, national oppression and all the former national privileges and limitations were completely eradicated in Russia.

p The Soviet system brought a new life to the once downtrodden peoples who were at different levels of development. Assisted by the more advanced nations, particularly by the Russian people, they have made remarkable headway in state, economic and cultural development.

p Formed in 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has become a fraternal family of equal peoples, a land where all nations and nationalities flourish.

p In the multinational Soviet state the common interests of the people of each nationality organically combine with the features and traditions of all the peoples of the U.S.S.R.

p It is important to note that the Soviets, to quote Marx, are “working corporations directing all economic and social processes taking place in society”.

p They are free of the negative aspects of the traditional parliamentary system, where deputies stand aloof from the people and representative organs degenerate into 78 talking-shops behind whose facade the all-powerful bureaucratic state machine completely controls state affairs.

p In the Soviets, by contrast, law-making and enforcement of laws have merged into a single function.

p This means that the Soviets not only draw up normative acts but also organise the fulfilment of their decisions through their deputies, and direct and effectively control the activity of executive bodies.

p “The Soviets,” Lenin said, “concentrate in their hands not only legislative power and control over the observance of laws, but also the direct enforcement of the laws through all the members of the Soviets for the purpose of gradually drawing all working people without exception into fulfilling legislative functions and administrating the state.”  [78•* 

p . All these features have been inherent in the Soviets throughout the period from the October Revolution to the present.

p Nonetheless, we observe that in connection with the enormous changes that have taken place in the economy and in the class structure of society definite changes have also occurred in the system of Soviets. In particular, the elimination of the exploiter classes and the building of socialism in the U.S.S.R. had created conditions for the further development of Soviet democracy and the transformation of the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies into Soviets of Working People’s Deputies.

p This took place in 1936 with the adoption of the new Constitution, which mirrored the fact that with the accomplishment of socialist construction Soviet society consists only of working classes, that in these conditions the Soviets have become organs of the whole Soviet people and that they represent the entire population of the country without any limitations or exceptions. Substantial changes have also taken place in the system of electing Soviets and in the forms of their activity.

p Thus, the Soviets of Working People’s Deputies are a higher stage in the development of socialist democracy insofar as they have become an all-embracing organisation of the people and embody their unity. Born in the flames of the struggle for power they are now organs expressing
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79 THE SOVIETS-THE POLITICAL FOUNDATION OF THE U.S.S.R. SUPREME SOVIET OF THE U.S.S.R. 80
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the interests of the whole country and give millions of people the finest training in public activity.

p Under the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. all power in the country is vested in the working people of town and country as represented by the Soviets of Working People’s Deputies.

p This is quite understandable, for only the Soviets, which are elected in accordance with the most democratic principles, can mirror and express the will of the masses, sum up and generalise the interests of the whole society and embody the legal concepts of the people into obligatory acts. The Soviets occupy a dominating position in the entire system of state organs and make up the political foundation of the U.S.S.R. Thus no other organs in any measure whatever can set themselves oil’ against the Soviets or rise above them. The executive and administrative apparatus set up by the Soviets functions in strict conformity with the law and other regulations authorised by representative organs.

p The Soviets check and direct the activity of executive and administrative organs and hear the reports of their 81 chiefs. In other words, they are the permanent and only foundation of the entire slate apparatus.

p The Communist Party of the Soviet Union does its utmost to strengthen and develop the Soviets of Working People’s Deputies.

p The C.P.S.U. Programme stresses that the role of the Soviets will grow as communist construction progresses.

p The enhancement of the role of Soviet representative organs is not a transient task, but the pivotal line of development. It follows, therefore, that in the process of communist construction the jurisdiction of the Soviets will steadily expand. That is why the 23rd Congress of the C.P.S.U. reiterated the necessity of enhancing the role of the Soviets in guiding economic and cultural development and in satisfying the requirements of the population. The Congress underlined that their activity must be improved on the basis of all-round democratisation.

Having described the Soviets in general outline we shall now examine their organisation and concrete functions.