Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-04

l
The lawyers of the land may be ad-
| mitted to practice without legal train
ing, but must pass Communist board
which decides their qualifications In the
light Of their political beliefs. The pro-
fession is now being collectivized. On
February l Moscow abolished the pri-
collective unit Of workers lawyers ur1-
der Communist management. The briefs
are iYnpartially distributed among the
members of the organization, and the
private practice Of law or advising in
legal matters by lawyers not members Of
the collective is ruled to be q fraudulent
practice, punishable by imprisonment.
Six Final Appeal Courts.
Above the Peoples Court are the
Gubernia Courts, which hear appeals
from the lower tribunal and have the
right to try cases of special Importance
involving counter-revolutionary trials
not conducted in the @. P. u courts
The court OF final appeal is the Su-
preme Court of the Republic. There
are six Of these sitting in the various
States, and in this judiciary. appointed
| by the central council. the same class
distinctions prevail. OF the As judges
of this high bench all are Communists,
The penal code administered by these
courts names as crimes many acts not
regarded as crimes in other lands, and
omits or nlinimizes deeds that the world
| has for ages branded as criminal It
provides for q maximum penalty Of only
| 10 years for all offenseS with the single
exception Of counter-revolutionary &C.
tivity, which may be punished by death.
These statutes, 50 strange to Western
Soviet theology, are direct product Of
revolutionary chaos.
The f1rst Ave years Of the Soviets' life
there was no penal code in existence to
| designate the acts to be uniformly con-
sidered criminal. That important d.
vision Of law was deliberately neglected
In order to establish revolutionary
forms. During this hectic half decade
criminal Justice was administered by
judges unframed In Jurisprudence,
whose sole qualification was thorough
munism and D hysterial fervor for the
precepts Of the Red faith.
There were no statutes nor formal
tests by which they determined whether
acts an accused man was alleged to
have committed were criminal or not.
The existing customs Of the people were
not q sound guide because those usages
were bred In czarist days. The fact
that an act had been a crime under the
empire was not considered, for the Ro-
manoffs were dead and q new world
was to be made.
So these jurists OF the revolutionary
tribunals examined Issues and tested
them in accordance with the general
notions Of the aims and ideals Of the
Red philosophy. If by q sixth sense
they felt a certain act initiated against
the permanency Of the struggling
Soviets, or believed 1t to be detrimental
to the welfare of the group, 1t was
Judged q crime and sentence was passed
In accordance with the magistrates no
tons OF the extent to which the Offend
| er was menace to the community.
80 out Of the rudy glow Of the "revolu-
regarded as arti-social came into being,
These were crystallized into the penal
code made in 1922, put into effect In
| 1928 and revised in 1927.
The Red penal code now In operation
divides all offenses into three chief
categories. There are the crimes against
health, life and property. which include
| larceny and murder. A second class Of
| offenses against the economic life OF the
| country embraces many startling new
J types OF crime and the frantic efforts be-
Ing Hldoe LUQay 10 CoinplcUc tLlc uVC-ycdL
plan and effect Russia's industrial in
dependence In the next four years Is
provoking q rigid enforcement Of these
statutes. The third classification Is
counter -revolutionary crimes. These
are defined as ANY action directed
toward the overthrow, the breaking or
weakening Of the power Of the workers
| and peasants government" Although
| this section of laws is directed most
forcefully against political activity and
economic conspiracies, the liberal inter-
| brings many offenses in the first two
categories under its force.
New Crime Is Created.
A new crime fostered by this all
inclusive statute was born only last
month In Kharkov when several library
officials were arrested and charged with
| cultural sabotage. Their crime had
been the arrangement and distribution
| Of books on the shelves Of their library.
The police investigating the institution
discovered that thousands Of tones
exalting the dictatorship of the
and fears and yearnings Of humanity
as vanishing at the magic touch of an
economic cure-all, had been relegated
to obscure shelves and stacked In damp
| cellars. And in prominent display they
found cheap novels with bourgeoisie
| settings. volumes on God and dead
faiths and books about people whose
souls had not been standardized. The
offenders must answer to the courts Of
| Communism for their transgression.
The many crimes against the economic
security which do not have revolu-
tionary intent, but are punishable be-
cause they are detrimental to the group,
| form an anomalous collection Of laws
Labor desertion Is nisder1eanor in
Red Russia. II important work Is to
be done and an employee leaves his Job
without proper excuse, he may be
sentenced to compulsory labor for two
weeks or imprisonment for not more
than six days. The wasteful use of
material by a manager or worker or
the ill-advised direction of labor by a
superintendent may be punished by not
less than six months imprisonment.
There Is the recent case of an Office
manager who fell q victim to the
stringent laws demanding extreme care
in the process of doing Soviet business
The manager, In hurry to leave the
office to keep an appointment with his
bride, left his work at the regular time,
but failed TO turn over TO his secretary
| the keys to the vault in which the Office
to leave the books unlocked during the
night. In the morning it was discovered
that the records Of hours of labor put
in by the factory workers had been
stolen and that the pay roll could not
be made up. For this negligent act
the manager was indicted. tried and
sentenced to nine days imprisonment
Maladministration of an Office
through carelessness, lack OF ability or
| application are punished by not less
than six months imprisonment. If the
poor management Is carried on de-
liberately for private gain, a maximum
of five years imprisonment may be the