The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1920-07-15

both men and women have the sur
frage, and the age qualifying one to
vote is eighteen years. l. therefore,
figure that there would be one voter
for every two In population. There is
no question about the discrimination
against the poor peasant" and the ia
voring of the city voter. 1t Is only
question OF how much.
Machine Politics.
Lenine may be the ideaist some IeO-
pie say he is, but this section of the
constitution proves him TO be prac-
teal machine politician in his meth
DDS. The provision was written TO
meet a situation. Ii has purpose.
Lenine has frequently written and
spoken about the poor peasants" He
can be forgiven for overworking the
phrase. The poor peasants" make
up the great bulk of the population OF
Russia. 1t is not bad politics, al
though IL smacks of demagogy, TO
speak often and alphabetically OF
the suffering poor" particularly when
the poor peasants" make up the ma
jority of ones constituency. Many
successful politicians owe their
offices to this appeal. In Russia
over so per cent Of the people live on
the land-over four-fifths of all the
Russians are peasants. Less than one
fifth of the population live in the
towns and cities. Measured by his
words, Lenine is the friend of the
poor peasants;" by the constitution,
their enemy.
AS we have seen, the constitution
specifically declares that the supreme
power of the government Is vested in
the All-Russian congress. OF course
this is true only in theory, for we have
read how the All-Russian congress
turns the supreme power over 10 the
central executive committee, which in
turn surrenders the power to the IL
peoples commissars.
The discrimination against the poor
peasant" runs all through the consti-
tuition; the bolsheviks are at least con.
sistent. Paragraph "B" of section 81
of the constitution furnishes addition
al evidence of the conspiracy against
the peasants 1t reads:
1.-The provincial soviets are COM
posed of representatives of the city
soviets and the rural soviets, one rep
resentative for 10000 inhabitants of
the rural districts and one represent
alive for 1000 voters in the CITY,"
In the regional congresses it is the
same, one representative for $4,000
inhabitants of the country, and one rep
resentative for 5000 voters of the city.
Aim at DISTINGUISHING Peasants.
The governments of the nation, Of
the regions, of the provinces, are based
on the disfranchisement of the poor
peasants" l am wondering If there
is any significance in the fact that the
people Of the city have one represent
ative for a certain number of votes,
and the people of the country have
one representative for just five times
the number. You will note the ratio
is always the same: For congressman
| it is $4,000 In the city, as against
125,00O in the country; in the regional
| congress ii is 5000 voters of the city
as against 25,0O0 inhabitants of the
| country, in the provincial congresses it
Is one representative for 1900 voters
| in the city, one representative for
| 10000 Inhabitants from the rural dis
tricts. Why this five to oneY am
wondering how Lenine hit upon the
ratio of five to one; is there any con-
nection between this five-to-one dis
elimination against the poor peas
ants" and the ratio of population in
| Russia between city jewellers and
poor peasants" which is about FIVE
to one? II is not difficult to guess the
reason for this action. Any American
ward politician could furnish the ex-
PLANTATION in a minute. All political
experience proves that a political ma
chine is best controlled, easiest or.
ganiZed in the cities. Political ma
chimes have never been popular in the
country districts. The soviet form Of
government is political machine. The
control of the machine is insured by
DISTINGUISHING the poor peasants"
The men who designed the bolshevik
constitution knew one thing about
practical politics, and knew that one
thing thoroughly, and that is that cit
les are accessible TO political control.
amenable To political influence, ideal
for the political machine.
The soldiers and sailors are gen
orally stationed in cities. This gives
them the power OF city voters. They
are not discriminating against, they
are favored Soldiers and sailors are
not free agents in the sense the civil
fans usually are. Civilians have
freedom of thought and action that
the military do not enjoy. The sol
dier's occupation prevents IL. First. he
is an employee of the govern
ment; second, he is under disci-
pine third, the peoples commissars
fix his pay. determine the quantity
and quality of his food. arrange for
tho onnforfc Of Tho ho rronLc. thu