The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1920-06-10

voter In every i've Of the population.
This calculation IL based upon male
Suffrage alone, with the voting age
fixed at twenry-one years. In Russia
both men and women have the SUI
frage, and the age qualifying one to
vote is eighteen years. l. therefore.
figure that there would be one veter
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
a question of how much.
Machine PotitieA
Lenine may be the idealist some peo-
pie say he is, bu, this section Of the
constitution proves him to be E prac-
ucal machine politician in his meth
DDS. The provision was written to
meet a situation 1t has a 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 it smacks of demagogy. to
speak often and sympatherically 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 50 per cent Of the people live on
the land-over four-6fths Of all the
Russians are peasants. Less than n
fifth Of the population live in the
towns and cities. Measured BY his
words, Lenine is the friend of the
poor peasanrs;" by the constitution,
their enemy.
As we have seen, the constitution
specifically declares that the supreme
power Of the government is vested in
the AI-Russian congress. OF course
this is true only in 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 II
peoples commissars.
The discrimination against the poor
peasant" runs all through the consti-
tuition the bolsheviks are ar least con-
eisrent. Paragraph b" Of section SO
OF the constitution furnishes addition
al evidence Of the conspiracy against
the peasants. 1t reads:
The provincial soyiets are COM
posed OF Representatives Of the city
soviers and the rural soviets one rep
resentarive for 10000 inhabitants Of
the rural districts, and one represent
alive for 1900 voters in the city"
In the regional congresses it is the
same. one representative for 5000
inhabitants Of the country, and one rep
resentarive for 5000 voters of the city.
Aim at DISTINGUISHING Peasanta
The governments Of the nation, Of
the regions, OF the provinces, are based
on the disfranchisement Of the poor
peasants I am wondering If there
is any significance in the fact that the
people OF the city have one represent
alive for a certain number Of votes.
and the people OF the country have
N representative for just five TINES
the number. You will note the ratio
is always the same: For congressman
it Is &.60 in the city. as against
E5,00 in the country; in the regional
congress it is 500 voters OF the city
as against $500 inhabitants OF the
country, in the provincial congresses it
is one representative for 900 voters
IN ffa ni~- - Har-aca-$oti-1 -
1860 Inhabitants from the rural dis
ricts- Why this five to one: I an
wondering how Lenire hit upon the
ratio Of FIVE to one; is there any con-
necricn between this f~veto-one dis
c%rinination against the poor peas
ants" and the ratio of population in
Russia between city jewellers and
poor peasants" which Is about i've
20 enc: 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 a political ma
chine IS best controlled, easiest or.
ganized in the cities. Political ma
chimes have never been popular in the
counr! districts. The soviet form Of
government is 9 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
ere favored. Soldiers and sailors a-e
not free agents In the sense the civil.
isns usually are Civilians have 8
freedom OF thought and action tina,
the military do not enjoy. The Sol
dier's occupation prevents it. First. he
is an employee OF the govern
menr: second, he is under diSci
pline: third. the peoples ~counissar
fl his pay, determine the quan,i,!
and o~rclirv Of his fnrf arrap.1 Ia,