RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT
By RICHARD CHANCELLOR
pARLIAMENT is sitting in Moscow—not, perhaps, a Parliament in the Western sense of the word, but a gathering of men and women from all parts of the Soviet Union which acts by virtue of the Stalin Constitution of 1936 as the highest organ of State authority aqd the exclusive legislative power in the U.S.S.R. The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. sits at least twice a year for a period of ten to fourteen days, between which times it delegates authority to a Prmsidium of 42 members. The President of this Prmsidium, formerly Kalinin and now Shvernik, fulfils a function similar in many ways to that of the President of the French Republic. The Supreme Soviet is elected for a term of four years and consists of two chambers, the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities. The Chambers sit simultaneously, possess equal authority and have equal right to initiate legislation. It is of interest, and may some day be of importance, that provision is made in the Constitution for cases of disagreement between the two Chambers, which must be referred to a conciliation commission consisting of an equal number of mem- bers from each. The Soviet of the Union represents every individual man or woman in the U.S.S.R. over the age of 18, with the exception of the insane and those specifically deprived of electoral rights. The Soviet of Nationalities caters for the multiplicity of peoples which populate the U.S.S.R., and representatives in this chamber are elected on a basis of quotas from each Republic, Autonomous Republic, Autonomous Province and National Region in the country. Its aim is to ensure adequate representation by nationalities as well as by total numbers of electors.
In addition to the election of its Prmsidium, the Supreme Soviet is responsible for the appointment of the Ministers who form the Council of Ministers, or Government of Russia, under the chairman- ship of Generalissimo Stalin. It is not intended here to examine in any detail the interweaving of the Soviet governmental weft with the warp of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik), but it can be stated simply that the Prime Minister of Russia and his Deputies represent in themselves the whole strength, except one, of the full members of the Politburo of the Communist Party, while the Soviet Ministers are almost without exception members of the Central Committee of that Party. The motive power behind Soviet legislation lies in the Party, and a Party Directive precedes the tabling of every bill in the Soviet Parliament.
There are two overriding problems which pre-occupy the minds of the Soviet leaders at the present time, and each of these problems finds its reflection in the proceedings of the Supreme Soviet, as communicated to the Russian Press and the outside world. The first great problem is the appalling economic situation disclosed by the report of the Council of Ministers on the progress of the current five-year plan. This report indicates a state of affairs not dissimilar to that revealed by the British Economic Survey. Secondly the fears and suspicions of a generation are rising to a climax in Russia's foreign policy. As the Moscow conference approaches, full realisa- tion is reaching the Soviet rulers that the internal problems which face them do not allow Russia any longer to dominate vast areas of Europe by Communist minority governments and Russian-controlled ',Mice. This system depends in the last analysis on the presence of greater bodies of Soviet troops than Russia can now afford in the face of the grave man-power shortage. This shortage, coupled with the drought of 1946, may yet cause famine conditions this summer and could, if not corrected, bring real disaster in 1948.
Russia's distress is great, and the Soviet passion for secretiveness which darkens every aspect of her relations with foreign counuies has hitherto suppressed the truth which might have rallied many of her friends had it been known when the seriousness of the situa- tion first became clear, last October. It is only the truth which can enable her friends to explain and sometimes to justify many manifes- tations of Soviet policy without having recourse to the parrot-like platitudes and blatant back-somersaults of Communists. The truth
will out, and the Soviet rulers would do well to realise that their inflexible security machine can delay, but it cannot prevent, the true facts about 200 million virile and intelligent people from reaching the ears of the outside world.
From the proceedings of the present session of the Supreme Soviet it is evident that the Russian leaders are making use of it as a sounding-board for certain themes which they wish to reach the
ears of foreign governments. Articles in Pravda, New Times and Culture and Life have their uses in this connection, but also their
limitations at a time when Moscow is preparing to receive the diplo- matic representatives of the Great Powers for one of the most impor- tant conferences in contemporary history. The Russian Parliament, in carrying out this duty, illustrates some of the paradoxes which are so charming in the individual Russian but which, on a national scale, often afford a glimpse of the sombre undercurrent which flows beneath the surface of Russian life at the present time.
Some may wonder why a Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs should be called upon to explain the necessity for retention of an -eight-hour day throughout the U.S.S.R. The more thoughtful will remember that the same Deputy has been notable in the past for the wide scope of his duties, which included that of Public Prosecutor of Zinoviev and Kamenev in the great trials of 1936. Vishinsky's pro- posals for separate diplomatic representation and independent armed forces for the 16 Union Republics are of comparatively small interest so far as they concern the present members of the Union. They would, however, be of far greater importance and significance should the number be increased by the " voluntary " incorporation of countries such as Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Hungary as constituent members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is ..tattai that the Legislative Commission of the Supreme Soviet is to prepare a Bill giving rights of Habeas Corpus to Soviet citizens, a provision which was unfortunately omitted from the Stalin Constitution of 1936. This will be welcome news to the delegates from foreign countries now assembling in Moscow and also, possibly, to some millions of F wiet citizens working in camps and townships under the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Soviet Budget fcr 1947, as announced by Zverev and published in the Soviet Press, is mainly notable for a considerable reduction in the allocation for the Armed Forces. It would, however, be dangerous to attribute the same significance to these figures as would be given to correspo:_ding figures in the budgets of western countries, owing to the widely differing basis from which the Soviet figures are calculated. It would be equally misleading to draw conclusions from the Order of the Day published on the occasion of the 29th Anniversary of th.: wiet Army and signed by the Generalissimo.
At the start of the present session of the Supreme Soviet, Zhdanov, the Chairman of the Soviet of the Union, tendered his resignation, giving as his reason the pressure of current work in other departments. No announcement has yet been made that Zhdanov is to receive an office of equivalent importance, although he retains his chairmanship of the Allied Control Commission in Finland. The resignation has since been announced of Generalissimo Stalin from the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the U.S.S.R. This resignation can hardly be compared with that of Zhdanov as Stalin retains his office as Prime Minister of the Union. From the tactical point of view the present moment is certainly appropriate for the transfer of responsibility from the famous Generalissimo to the little man General Bulganin. During the autumn of 1946 Zhdanov and Alexei Kuznetsov, another Leningrader, were much to the fore
in Soviet public affairs and were deeply engaged in the ideological drive for the re-establishment of Party influence in literature and the arts. It was in this period that the full extent of the economic plight of Russia must have become clear to the rulers of the country in all its seriousness, and it is from this time that we can date the marked change in political tactics which became so apparent in the first week in November.
The Anniversary of the Revolution was celebrated in Moscow on November 7th in the absence of most of the members of the Polit- buro. The Leningraders, Zhdanov, Alexei Kuznetsov and Govorov, held the limelight, and as the rather listless review proceeded to its close an observant onlooker may have picked out the squat figure of Matvei Shkiryatov on the rostrum above Lenin's tomb, the only civilian present who was neither Party Secretary net member of the Politburo. To those who study such matters the presence of Shkiryatov was a clear and grim reminder of the steel threads linking Moscow with Sochi. Matvei Shkiryatov, Deputy Chairman of the Party Control Commission and Stalin's nominee in the original Central Control Commission of 1922, stood on the rostrum as a silent embodiment of the grey power of Generalissimo Stalin. Many may have remembered that other Leningrad group, liquidated by the same Shkiryatov, which met its end so abjectly at the trial and execution of Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1936.
In a day or two the Deputies will disperse to the farthest corners of_ Russia, giving way to the influx of foreign diplomats and journalists which will tax Moscow accommodation and Soviet hos- pitality to the full for the next few months. A delegation from the Supreme Soviet is to visit the United Kingdom in the near future as guests of the British Government, and the new realisation of the grave economic problems facing both countries will give additional point to the contacts which the Soviet delegates are to make in this country. A Russian Parliament is in session, taking its authority from the provisions of a Russian Constitution, and however real the differences between the operation of Parliament in Great Britain and the U.S.S.R. it at least represents one common starting point from which mutual contacts and interests can be developed for the future.
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