Political System of USSR

· Examine the principle of Democratic centralism in the Soviet Union. (Done))

· Examine critically the factors leading to the disintegration of Soviet Union. (Done)

· Salient features of Constitution of Former Soveit Union (Done)

· Examine the Powers of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of USSR. (Done)

· Critically analyze the nature of federation in former USSR.

· What is Supreme Soviet? Discuss its powers and functions. (DOne)

· Discss the role and organiztion of communist party in former soviet union politics (Done))

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1. Examine critically the factors leading to the disintegration of Soviet Union.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a loose confederation of 15 republics with Russia as
the leader. USSR was a strong bloc with great control over global politics from 1922 to 1991, when it was
disintegrated into smaller units.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 ended the Russian empire. This was followed by Russian Civil War which
finally resulted in the formation of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922.

Factors Leading to Disintegration of USSR

1. Economic Weakness

The weakness of the economy was the major cause of dissatisfaction among the people in USSR. There
was sever shortage of consumer items. The reason for economics weakness were the following.

Huge military spending.

Maintenance of satellite states in Easter Europe.

Maintenance of the Central Asian Republics within the USSR.

2. Political Un-accountability

The communist party regime (single party rule) for around 70 years turned authoritarian. There was
widespread corruption, nepotism and lack of transparency. Gorbachev’s decision to allow elections with
a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of
democratization that eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
3. Gorbachev’s reforms

Once people started to enjoy freedom under Micheal Gorbachev’s reforms, they demanded more. The
demand grew into a big force which turned difficult to control. The people wanted to catch up with the
west quickly.

There is a popular conspiracy theory in Russia that Gorbachev deliberately sought to destroy socialism
and the Soviet Union. However, it’s not taken seriously because there is no indication whatsoever that he
truly wanted to undermine his own rule.

On the contrary, Perestroika tried to reform the Soviet system, which by that time demonstrated signs of
degradation. His first reforms, the so-called “acceleration” of the economy, were supposed to unleash
the potential of “modernized socialism.”

Despite Gorbachev’s best intentions, the economy failed to “accelerate” and, on the contrary, his
ineffective policies led to a downward spiral that weakened the state. The Soviet system before
Gorbachev had performed poorly, with fits and starts, but due to his reforms, it simply stopped
functioning. In the sociologist’s words, “in the desperate search for ways to modernize the economy …
Gorbachev started the radical process of democratization that made the death of the Soviet system and
empire inevitable,” as there appeared new actors among whom was Boris Yeltsin, who wanted to create
an independent Russia. This meant the “inevitable demise of the USSR”.

4. Rise of nationalism

Rise of nationalism among countries like Russia, Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Ukraine,
Georgia etc is the most important and immediate cause of disintegration of the USSR. The national
feeling was strong among the more prosperous areas in USSR and not in Central Asian republics.
Ordinary people among prosperous republics didn’t like to pay big price to uplift the backward Central
Asian republics.

In 1989, nationalist movements in Eastern Europe brought regime change in Poland, and the movement
soon spread to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe. As these Soviet
republics pulled away from the Soviet Union, the power of the central state weakened.

5. Oil prices and economic inefficiency

“The date of the USSR’s collapse is well known. It’s not the day of the Belovezha Accords, nor the August
coup [of 1991]. It was Sept. 13, 1985 when Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Oil, [Ahmed] Yamani, declared that
Saudi Arabia was quitting the agreement on oil production restraint, and started to boost its share in the
oil market. After this, Saudi Arabia increased oil production by 5.5 fold, and oil prices dropped by 6.1
fold,” wrote Egor Gaidar, the architect of radical economic reforms in post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s.

It was a major turning point in 1986 when oil prices fell and all possibilities to generate revenue[for the
USSR] crumbled.
6. Ethnic tensions

In the late 1980s, the time of Perestroika, there was an ever increasing level of violence caused by
competing ethnic nationalisms in the Soviet republics. The first example of ethnic violence took place at
the end of 1986 in Kazakhstan’s capital of Almaty, when Kazakh youth, who were frustrated with the
appointment of an ethnic Russian as the republic’s head, started rioting. Eventually, troops were sent in
to quell the unrest. Then there was a pogrom in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait, and the violent events
in Tbilisi, as well as Baku and other places. The bloodiest conflict took place in Karabakh between
Azerbaijan and Armenia, and which is sometimes called “one of the main political triggers that started
the disintegration of the USSR.” By the late 1980s, ethnic conflicts took a new deadly turn, claiming
hundreds of lives in fighting.

7. Aging Politburo Was Less Ideologically Pure

The Soviet Union founders were driven by an ideological purity tied to Marxism that didn’t exist in future
generations.

The removal of Nikita Khrushchev in 1963 signaled a fundamental change in Soviet politics. The Politburo
began to move away from Lenin’s vision.

The 1960s and 1970s saw a rapid increase in the wealth and power of the Party elite. While average
citizens died from starvation, the Politburo enjoyed luxuries. The younger generation saw this and
refused to adopt the Party ideology.

8. Western Aggression

Ronald Reagan entered the White House in 1981, making his intentions towards the Soviet Union’s “evil
empire” clear.

Reagan’s leadership led to a massive increase in American military spending, as well as research into new
and better weapons. The United States isolated the Soviets from the global economy and helped drive
down oil prices. Without oil revenues, the Soviet Union began to crumble.

9. Guns and Butter

Every economy has a limited number of resources with which to make strategic goods (“guns”) or
consumer goods (“butter”) for the nation. If a nation focuses too heavily on guns, the people are left
without the consumable goods they need. On the other hand, if the country produces too much butter,
there are not enough resources to grow the economic capacity of the nation or protect it.

Stalin’s “Five Year Plans” were almost entirely driven by a need to increase the production of strategic
goods for the nation. The Soviet Union funneled all its available resources into industrialization to
compete with the rest of the world. Economic shortages undermined the argument for the superiority of
the Soviet system. The people cried out for a revolution.
10. High Level of Literacy

By the 1970s, a lot had been changed in terms of education and exposure of the Russian people to
outside world especially the West. Hedelson states that by the 1970s, an overwhelming Russian
population was well educated and living in urban areas. Similarly, because of the improvement in
Soviets’ relationship with the Western countries during the late 1960s and 1970s, a huge number of the
Soviet citizens had the opportunity to travel the West. This exposure played a significant role in
undermining the official anti-capitalism ideology according to which the capitalist system was suppose to
being poverty and sufferings to the workers.

11. Corruption in Government

Corruption is another factor that had devastating impacts on the Russian society. Hudelson (1993) points
out that with in the Soviet system, party officials enjoyed extraordinary power over the distribution of
scarce consumer goods. Having connections with the party official, a person could thus easily get the
consumers goods such apartments, cars, televisions or refrigerators without waiting for his turn to come.
The system thus resulted in creating ample opportunities for bribes, kickbacks and payoffs. It became a
common perception to use the system to one’s advantage. Within the communist party and the
government circles were mafias who exploited their positions of power for personal gains. According to
Hobsbawn (1994: 476), by the mid 1980s, corruption had become a prominent phenomenon throughout
the Soviet Union and posed a major threat to the existence of the Soviet state.

Consequences:

The major consequences of the disintegration of the USSR upon countries like India were:

1. End of ideological battle:

The disintegration of USSR showed the lacunae of socialistic model of economic governance to the
developing world. It was seen as a victory of capitalism over socialism, often termed as ‘end of ideology’
thesis.

2. Rise of free-market economic model:

Dominance of western institutions like IMF and World Bank in the global economic governance pushed
developing countries to adopt neo-liberal economic policies. India adopted free-market economic model
in the form of LPG reforms post 1991.

3. Decline in financial aid to other countries:

Though a member of NAM, India had mutual strategic cooperation with USSR as per its 1971 Indo–
Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation. The financial aid from the Soviet Union to India was
significantly reduced due to the disintegration of the USSR. This was also one of the reasons for balance
of payments crisis of India in 1991.
4. Reorganization of Eastern Europe:

Changes in politics of Europe led to dilution of division between Western and Eastern Europe.
Demolition of the Berlin wall, the unification of Germany, the end of the Warsaw Pact and rise of
democratic regimes changed the politics of Europe. The membership of European Union enlarged,
leading to emergence of new economic bloc -EU.

5. Rise of Central Asia:

Central Asia became a new centre of global interest particularly from Chinese expansionist ambitions in
the region.

Conclusion

Hence, the disintegration of the USSR resulted in a phase of USA’s dominance in world politics. Countries
like India maintained good relations with Russia post-disintegration and shared the idea of having a
multipolar world order.

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2. What is Supreme Soviet? Discuss its powers and functions

The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was, beginning in 1936, the most
authoritative legislative body of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and the only one with the
power to approve constitutional amendments. Prior to 1936, the Congress of Soviets was the supreme
legislative body. During 1989–1991 a similar, but not identical structure was the supreme legislative
body. The Supreme Soviet elected the USSR's collective head of state, the Presidium; and appointed the
Council of Ministers, the Supreme Court, and the Procurator General of the USSR.

Structure

The Supreme Soviet was composed of two chambers, each with equal legislative powers, with members
elected for four-year terms:

The USSR Supreme Soviet was divided into two chambers, called the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet
of Nationalities. The former was based on representation by geographic, political-administrative
territorial units nationwide; the latter was based on national, or ethnic, territorial units. The rationale
given for this in official documents was that in this way the Soviet people would be represented both by
geographic location as well as by ethnicity.

Representation was based on one deputy per every 300,000 of the population. There was no class
restriction as found in the first, 1918, constitution.

The Soviet of the Union, elected on the basis of the population with one deputy for every 300,000
people in the Soviet federation.
The Soviet of Nationalities, which represented the ethnic populations as units, with members elected on
the basis of 32 deputies from each union republic, 11 from each autonomous republic, five from each
autonomous oblast (region), and one from each autonomous okrug (district). The administrative units of
the same type would send the same number of members regardless of their size or population.

By the Soviet constitutions of 1936 and 1977, the Supreme Soviet was defined as the highest organ of
state power in the Soviet Union and was imbued with great lawmaking powers. In practice, however, it
did little more than approve decisions made already by the USSR's executive organs and the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). This was in accordance with the Communist Party's principle of
democratic centralism, and became the norm for other Communist legislatures.

The Supreme Soviet convened twice a year, usually for less than a week. For the rest of the year, the
Presidium performed its ordinary functions. Often, the CPSU bypassed the Supreme Soviet altogether
and had major laws enacted as Presidium decrees. Nominally, if such decrees were not ratified by the
Supreme Soviet at its next session, they were considered revoked. In practice, however, the principle of
democratic centralism rendered the process of ratifying Presidium decrees a mere formality. In some
cases, even this formality was not observed.

Meeting

Both chambers met either separately or in joint session in the Supreme Soviet building within the
Kremlin. They would meet jointly especially when the powerful executive Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet was elected (every four years) along with elections of the USSR Supreme Court and of the Council
of Ministers (formerly, Council of People's Commissars), or government and cabinet. The chairman of the
Presidium was considered to be, as head of state, the Soviet President. By the constitution the chambers
were to meet twice per year in which the closely regulated sessions lasted only about a week. Prior to
the 1950s, the two Soviets sometimes met more than twice per year.

Powers of Sumpreme Soviet

In 1989, its powers were:

· Passing and initiating laws.

· Submitting questions to the President of the Soviet Union, the Council of Ministers of the Soviet
Union, scheduling elections of deputies.

· Convening the Congress of People's Deputies.

· Appointing the Chairman of the Council of Ministers on the submission of the president.
· Ratifying the composition of the Council of Ministers and changes in it on the submission on the
Chairman.

· Forming and disbanding ministries and state committees on the Council of Ministers proposal.

· Overriding a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority.

· Ratifying presidential declarations of war.

· Impeaching the President.

· Hearing reports by organs of appointed officials.

· Implementing laws regulating property, management of the economy, social and cultural issues,
budget and finance, salaries, prices, taxes, environmental protection, natural resource, and civil
rights,

· Laying down the principals of local and republic state power and the legal status of social
organisations,

· Submitting for ratification (and ratifying and amending) by the congress long-term national and
social and economic development plans, the national budget, monitoring implantation of the
state plan and budget, and ratifying reports on their performance.

· Ratifying international treaties.

· Overseeing the granting of foreign aid and negotiating foreign loans.

· Determining basic measures for national security, including declarations of war, mobilizing
troops, and meeting international treaty obligations.
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3. Salient features of Constitution of Former Soveit Union

4. Examine the Powers of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of USSR

Democratic centralism is a practice in which political decisions reached by voting processes are binding
upon all members of the political party. Although mainly associated with Leninism, wherein the party's
political vanguard composed of professional revolutionaries practised democratic centralism to elect
leaders and officers as well as to determine policy through free discussion, then decisively realised
through united action

In practice

In party meetings, a motion (new policy or amendment, goal, plan or any other kind of political question)
is proposed. After a period of debate, a vote is taken. If one vote clearly wins (gaining a share of 60% or
above among two options, for example) all party members are expected to follow that decision, and not
continue propagandizing or otherwise working against it, aiming to act in unity. In the development of
socialism in the Soviet Union and China, it was largely taken up in response to dramatic developments
and violence which required faster mechanisms of decision-making.

The characteristics of Democratic Centralism

The term Democratic Centralism paints a picture of a dialectical relationship between twoopposite
concepts namely, Democracy and Centralism It is a theory of struggle and unity.There is no fixed ratio in
which the two concepts must be applied to the working of the partyorganization. The party must decide
itself when either of the two is more needed according tothe changing nature of the class
struggle.Democracy ensures effective decision making through discussion among the party
membersabout political questions, minority viewpoints. Collective decision taking is ensured and
thosedecisions should be periodically reviewed by the members themselves. Reports are
encouragedfrom members about decisions they make and criticisms are also heard about the
organization,politics and theoretical practice. The discussion ensures that any decision which is
takencollectively after debating by the members themselves reflect the actual wants of the workingclass
which would have been impossible if decisions were taken without discussions.

Once the collective decision is taken, the aspect Centralism ensures that there is unity ofaction in
carrying out the organizations decision. Historically it has been seen that no partywhich has led a
revolution (successful to some extent) has rejected the principles of DemocraticCentralism, because no
revolution is allowed to progress peacefully and democratically.
In the Sixth Party Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolshevik),Democratic
Centralism was defined as follows,

1. That all directing bodies of the Party, from top to bottom, shall be elected;

2. That Party bodies shall give periodical accounts of their activities to their respective
Partyorganizations;
3. That there shall be strict Party discipline and the subordination of the minority to themajority;

4. That all decisions of higher bodies shall be absolutely binding on lower bodies and on allParty
members

Thus, democratic centralism if seriously practiced then can be asserted that it opens up a widespace for
intra party democracy which encourages discussion, debates and collective decisionmaking.

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6. Discss the role and organiztion of communist party in former soviet union politics

Organization of Communist Party in USSR