Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1920-07-03
States we estimate that there Is che

states we estimate that there Is che
| voter In every Ave az thc population
This calculation is based upon male
suffrage alone. with the voting Ige
HN"H at tW"uty-uu" years In Russia
/ both men and women have the sui
/ fTay", and the age Qualicving one to
/ vote Is r.-hlecu years therefore
| 'Sur" that there would he one voter
/ tor every TWO in population. There il
! o." question about the discrimination
/ '2aluSt rhc poor peasant" and the IA
| '"rlnr Of tho city voter. It is only
/ "a question Of how much
Machine Politics.
L"rnr may be the idcalSt some PEG
/ p.r say ne is, hut this section Of the
/ constitution proves him TO be { prac-
teal machine politician in his meth
] od> The provision was written to
/ meet situation. II has purpose
! truine has frequently written and
! spoken about the poor peasants" He
! can Dee forgiven for oycrWorkiug the
! phrase. The poor peasants" max"
! up the great bulk of the population Of
/ kuS>ia. 1t is not bad politics. al
/ though IL SMackS Of dciuagogy, to
! speak often and sympathctically Of
/ th" Suffering poor" particularly when
/ IA" poor peasants" make up the ma
I Jorl'y OF ones constituency. MANY
/ successful politicians owe their
Offices To this appeal. In RUSSIA
/ over 50 per cent of the people live ON
/ Tho Iaud-ovcr four-ffthS Of all the
! Russians are peasants. Less than one
/ fifth of the population live in the
/ towns and cities. Measured by his
words, L"ninc is the friend of tn"
/ poor pca~ants;" by the constitutions
/ their enemy.
As We hive 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 i'm theory. for we have
read how the All-RuSSian congress
| turns the supreme power over to the
central executive committee, which in
! turn surrenders the power TO the l.
| 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. II reads:
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 ii is the
same. one representative for 25,00O
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
alive for 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 it is 5000 voters of the city
as against $4,000 inhabitants of the
country, in the provincial congresses 1t
Is one representative for 1900 voters
In the city, one representative for
| 10000 Inhabitants from the rural dis
tricts. Why this five to one? l 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? 1t 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 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 a 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 10 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 n
freedom of thought and action that
the military do not enjoy. The sol
dier's occupation prevents 1t. FIRST. ne
Is an employee of the govern
ment: second, he Is under disci-
plIne; third. the peoples commisSars
fix his pay, determine the quantity
and quality of his food. arrange for
the comforts of the barracks the
votes and the bayonetS of the military
sustain and support Lenine as truly
ms the military force held the car oh