In March 1990, for the first time, a new and supposedly improved electoral system was introduced that was calculated to please the bourgeois elements at home and especially those abroad who had been pushing for it relentlessly. In this new system, each of the seats could easily be contested in what is described as a pluralistic election similar to those in any bourgeois country. In December 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved. What had been the Soviet of the Russian Republic within the union became the Russian Congress. According to the present Russian constitution, the Congress is the supreme law of the land.
All authority is vested in it.
Most importantly, it has the power of the purse, as with most bourgeois parliaments. The president or prime minister must come to the Congress to plead for money. Only then does the executive have the right to set up machinery to effectuate the laws enacted by the Congress. Originally, the Communist Party had the authority to recommend to the Congress the initiatives it deemed necessary to effectuate its political program. The bourgeoisie called this a monopoly of power because the party's recommendations were usually accepted.