Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-08-25
RUSSIA SINCE LENIN
The country today series of ncenored
by months Russia studying conditions
BY SEYMOUR B. CONCER.

Committee do not concern themselves
| with all details of government and
| administration, but they formulate
and prescribe the general policies of
| the Soviet government, issue the d.
receives In all important questions,
and, when they choose, descend to
| detail as well, issuing their orders to
! the ministries or to the local authori-
| ties direct. Except for Trotsky, who
| retains his title as kommissar, or
| minister of war, although the power
| over ministry and army was trans
ferred to a committee while he was
| off on sick leave, none of the minis
tiers is represented on the Politbureau.
| Kalinin, President of the Soviet Re-
publics, and Rudzutak, minister of
railways, are Candidates." in train
| ing for places on the Polft bureau, but
| Tchitcherin and other prominent
ministers are not among the larger
Central Committee of so, nor among
the 35 candidates" in training for
places on that committee.
No Legislation in Boishevia.
Another misconception about the
Russian governmental system should
| be dropped along with that of con-
| sidering the government" as really
| ruling. There is no such thing as
| Legislation" in our sense-rather is
enactment by executive action, with
the bolshevist party executive in the
seat of power the prevailing system.
! In matters of administration, par
| ticularly local administration, a wider
| degree of latitude is allowed, al
though the bolshevist party rulers
keep their hands upon the machine,
ready to interfere at any time, and,
of course, prescribing the general
| policies. They must maintain their
general authority, for under the sys-
| tenn of election permitted for district
| executive councils, municipal tenant
| committees and some other local rep
resentative bodies Communists are in
| a small minority, although none but
| '.proletarans" are allowed to vote.
In the tenant or house committee
| elections in Moscow, although the
| bourgeois jewellers were this year
| made ineligible either to vote or sit
on the committees, only rs per cent Of
| Communists were elected. In the
volost or district provincial councils,
| with the same bar against the bour-
geoisie or the more prosperous farm
| ers, the proportion of Communists is
also small.
| Holding a government job ranks
first among the list Of avocations of
members of the Russian Communist
| party, and a good many of these have
| turned out unworthy or have yielded
| to the temptations offered by their
| power. It must be said. however, that
| the bolshevist authorities have made,
| and continue to make, determined ef-
| forts to clean up this condition, and
have not hesitated to resort to stern
| punishment erring on the side of
| mildness perhaps in cases of delin-
| quent members of the political police
| and the army, which form part Of
this department
Courts Firm with Communists.
I have noticed repeated instances
| when officers of the Cheka and it's
| military formations have gotten off
| very lightly for comparatively serious
| offenses, but in the big court cases in
| which Communists have been impli-
| cated-and these are reported about
as frequently as corresponding big
cases against private business men,
the clergy and other non-Communist
| offenders-the courts have acted
| with as much vigor against delin-
geois offenders.
This, too, though the bringing to
| justice of Communist offenders is
hampered to a certain extent by the
| special privileges which they enjoy
! through their membership in the
party. Standing orders Of the min
| isry Of justice, for instance, do not
permit arrest Of Communists without
a special report to the local party
authorities and to the ministry Of
| Justice direct. They are also entitled
| to release on bail, immediate exami-
nation and other privileges which the
arrested non-Communist signs vainly
for, II indeed he does not suffer de-
portation, Jail sentence or even death
by summary police procedure in
! trusted to the dreaded Cheka or spend
long months in prison without even
charges being preferred against him
Zinovev, in recent speech, at
tempted to disprove the charge cur
rent quite as freely among bolshev-
| lists as among outsiders that the
bolshevist party, the Russian govern
ment and the control of the Commun-
list Internationale were absolutely in
the hands of q small clique of about
40 individuals Of the pre-war old guard
Of bolshevism.
His chief argument was that the
enlargement Of the party and the
grant Of the vote for the party con-
gress to this years recruits proved
that the system was democratic and
representative. But the same clique,
Nevertheless, emerged from the con-
gress intact-no new blood whatever
having been permitted to show under
the stranglehold which they maintain
ON tho party machinery.
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