THE SOVIET MODEL OF LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN THE NEW ECONOMIC
POLICY: ADMINISTRATIVE, LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS
Authors: Sukhonos V.V. 
Published: January 2021

The article is devoted to the political and legal problems of the organization of local authorities. At the same time, the main attention is paid to the Soviet model of local government in the period of its first reform, which falls on the day of the so-called “New Economic Policy”, when the liberalization processes started, called the “Leninist line for the development of socialist democracy”. However, the expansion of this democracy was greatly complicated by the fact that the Soviet state apparatus did not have its own bureaucracy, and therefore, for the most part, relied on the bureaucracy of the old, bureaucracy, raised on the bureaucratic traditions of the royal apparatus. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that many of the workers of the party and Soviet bodies, especially the grassroots, were hardly deprived of previous methods of state
administration, which usually had military-administrative character. The transition to a new economic policy (NEP), a certain liberalization of the Soviet system could not but cause a revival in the work of the party, trade unions, and the Soviets. But if the restructuring of the party and trade unions was implemented within a rather short time, then in relation to the Soviets, it was a bit delayed. The newly formed Soviet state apparatus proved to be unprepared for various kinds of social experiments. Among
other things, this was due to the inadequate level of farming in the first years of the NEP, the general deterioration of the civil war, the still hard financial situation of the people and the use of all these circumstances by the opponents of the Bolsheviks in the countryside. The most effective means of improving the Soviet apparatus and eliminating bureaucratic “tricks” was the regular campaign in the form of wide involvement in the management of the state of workers and peoples.
Particularly relevant was the issue of improving the forms of party leadership by the activities of the Soviet state and economic apparatus. It was necessary to find the right forms of relations between the party and Soviet bodies, to eliminate the practice of substituting Soviets by party bodies not removed from the civil war since the times of civil war. This kind of branching should have provided a more systematic discussion and solution of economic issues by the Soviet authorities while increasing the responsibility of each Soviet worker and the case he was entrusted with. On the other hand, this provided the opportunity for party bodies to focus on the overall management of the work of all state bodies, paying particular attention to the education and organization of working classes. However, despite a certain liberalization of the Soviet system, the model of the organization of local government in the USSR in the period of the New Economic Policy remained ineffective, both as a result of its virtually “curious” character and absolute domination of the members of the Bolshevik Party in the Soviets.
Keywords: Local Government; a system of Councils; local Councils; Councils of Workers’ and Peasants’ Deputies; Soviet local government.