Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0392/03920.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 23KB | 375 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03920}
$Pretitle{295}
$Title{Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Chapter 11A.  Formal Structure of the Union Government}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Thomas D. Roberts}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{constitution
government
union
soviet
central
state
republics
supreme
new
executive}
$Date{1972}
$Log{}
Country:     Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Book:        Soviet Union, A Country Study
Author:      Thomas D. Roberts
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1972

Chapter 11A.  Formal Structure of the Union Government

     The Soviet Constitution of 1936, as amended, defined the country's formal
governmental structure in 1969. The constitution provides that the powers of
the state be shared by a parliamentary body known as the Supreme Soviet; by
its executive committee, known as the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet; and, by
a government bureaucracy functioning under a Council of Ministers (see fig.
6). In fact, however, the formal structure of government constitutes an
administrative framework within which the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(CPSU), which is not designated by the constitution as a ruling body,
exercises complete control. The Communist leadership exercises this rigid
control through the party structure itself, through the political police, and
through the armed forces (see ch. 21, Political Dynamics).

     The CPSU maintains a monopoly of power over the political system, and the
organization of the government is designed to further that purpose. Although
the constitution does refer to various administrative powers that the
branches of the government are allowed to exercise, it makes no mention of the
measures the Party enacts, either alone or in conjunction with the state
organs, to determine the course which the government will follow. The real
rulers of the Soviet Union are the members of the Central Committee of the
Party, especially its Politburo. The government and the CPSU, in 1969, were
interlocked through well-known personalities of the Party who were to be found
in all the crucial posts (see ch. 21, Political Dynamics).

     The Constitution of 1936 describes the Soviet Union as a federal state,
but the country has most of the characteristics of a unitary state with a
highly centralized government. The governmental structure is based on a
pyramid of elected councils, known as soviets, which-since the Bolsheviks came
to power-have served as the governing bodies at various levels beginning with
the village. Below the national level there were fifteen union republics in
1969 that were further subdivided into autonomous republics and regions;
provinces; territories; and national areas on the basis of ethnic, historical
or economic considerations. These subdivisions are formally assigned many
powers of self-government, but in practice they function mainly to put into
effect the decisions of the central government, channeled downward through a
structure dominated by a political elite composed of professional government
officials and CPSU leaders (see ch. 20, Component Political Subdivisions).

     At the Twenty-first Party Congress in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev intimated
that a revision of the constitution was necessary. At the Twenty-second Party
Congress in 1961, he specifically mentioned the need for the drafting of a new
document to replace the 1936 constitution under which the country had been
operating. It was not until April 1962, however, that the Supreme Soviet
unanimously approved a proposal for the formation of a commission to prepare
the draft of a new constitution. Headed by Khrushchev, the commission
consisted of ninety-six party and government dignitaries. With Khrushchev's
removal in October 1964, the chairmanship of the commission was passed to
Leonid Brezhnev, the new Party secretary. In 1969 the commission had not
reported on its progress or presented a draft constitution. Thus the
constitution adopted in 1936 continued to define the country's formal
governmental structure.

Constitutional Development

     During the course of its history, the Soviet Union has had three
constitutions, those of 1918, 1924, and 1936. However, the concept of
constitutionalism-defined as an attempt to confine each branch of government
to its prescribed role, to safeguard citizens against abuses of power by the
officialdom, and to enforce the continuing responsibility of the governing
authorities to the electorate-is alien to Soviet political thought. The
constitutional documents have rarely been consulted by administrators as a
guide to the organization and functioning of the government. The constitutions
of the Soviet Union have never given an adequate picture of the actual
political system; they have provided only an outline of the existing
structures. More than in most other political systems, the real constitution
remains largely unwritten.

     From the point of view of the Soviet leaders, the constitutional
documents of the Soviet Union serve several useful purposes. They make the
formal governmental structure explicit, giving legitimacy and stability to the
system of control. In addition, the constitutions have played an important
role, both at home and abroad, as propaganda measures. Since the emphasis in
Soviet constitutions has always been on the mass mobilization of the
electorate and on its participation in the proceedings of the government, the
regime has attempted to perpetuate an idea of monolithic popular support for
itself. Finally, to meet ideological requirements, the Soviet constitutions
have been carefully drafted to emphasize the economic security that the
communist system claims to provide. The constitutions were designed to give
the impression that ultimate power in the country resides in the hands of the
workers.

The Constitution of 1918

     On July 10, 1918 the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets ratified the
constitution which established the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic
(RSFSR). The structure of the state system as outlined in the constitution
represented a formal codification of institutions that already existed and the
first attempt of the new state to legitimize itself according to accepted
Western standards. The Constitution of 1918 established formally many of the
principles of political organization and control that have come to
characterize the modern Soviet state.

     In the debate preceding the drafting of the document, basic conflicts
emerged between those revolutionaries who favored a strengthening of the
central power of the new government and those who wished to safeguard the
autonomy of the local soviets; between those who favored a concentration of
legislative and executive powers in the supreme organs of the government and
those who sought their separation and delimitation.

     Under the guidance of Yakov Sverdlov and Joseph Stalin, the basic lines
of policy that were drafted subordinated the local soviets to centralized
authority, ensuring the concentration of legislative and executive power in
the supreme governmental organs (which in turn were to be controlled by the
Communist Party) and organizing the component subdivisions along
nationality-territorial lines. The industrial working class was designated as
the principal supporting pillar of the government. No specific mention of the
Communist Party was made in the constitution.

     In its final form the document consisted of two parts. The first part,
the Declaration of the Rights of Toiling and Exploited Peoples, stated the
policies and aims of the new regime and confirmed specific actions, which the
government had taken prior to the ratification of the constitution. The Bill
of Rights was cast in class terms in that the constitution provided for what
it described as "real freedoms" of press, assembly, and association for the
workers and peasants. Freedom of religious and antireligious propaganda was to
be assured every citizen. The constitution further spelled out the duties as
well as the rights of its citizen