Military Control in the U.S.S.R.
A decree issued this week in Moscow places the U.S.S.R. under a severe military control ; in the thirteen military districts councils of three, directly subordinate to the Minister of Defence, Voroshilov, will have control of the army, transport, education, and any activity which can be interpreted as relating to defence. The official explanation is that this measure has been necessitated by the activities of Trotskyists, wreckers, spies, and_ foreign. agents, and that it represents the restoration of severe control of the armed forces by the Communist Party. If this is true it is an extraordinary reflection on the condition of the U.S.S.R., and it is in strange contradiction with the state of affairs which was declared to justify the introduction of the new constitution, which will now function by courtesy of the army. The curious will notice that resumption of control by the Communist Party means in fact the establishment of military control. They will notice also the charges, made against the Trade Union leaders arrested on the day of the decree, of " Trotskyism " in the form of malversation of funds, and " standing aloof" from the rank and file ; these are precisely the charges made by M. Trotsky in his latest book against the Trade Union leaders and rejected indignantly by official apologists. When enemies agree on the same charge, though they give it different names, there is likely to be something in it * * *
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