10. The Soviet Union in the Mirror of the New Constitution¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter 10: The Soviet Union in the Mirror of the New Constitution¶
The new Soviet Constitution, approved in June 1936, was drafted and introduced in a manner that betrayed any pretence of democratic process. Stalin announced its adoption date months in advance, and the subsequent public "discussion" consisted solely of resolutions thanking him. The constitution's first section enshrines the principle "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his work"—a falsification of Marx's communist formula, which couples work according to ability with distribution according to need, presupposing abundance and the end of compulsion. The Soviet state, still closer to backward capitalism, cannot permit work according to ability; it relies on piecework and exploitation. The constitution cuts Marx's formula in half, attaches the capitalist norm of wage labour, and calls this "socialism." Article X protects personal property, but this legalises the bureaucrat's luxury goods alongside the peasant's basic possessions.
Politically, the constitution abandons class-based Soviet elections for universal, equal, direct suffrage with a secret ballot, juridically liquidating the dictatorship of the proletariat. The state is still called Soviet, but this is a ruse: soviets are organs of class rule, not democratic municipalities. The promised freedoms of speech, press and assembly remain muzzled by censorship and bureaucratic control. The secret ballot is needed because the people must be protected from the bureaucracy itself. Stalin's claim that the absence of classes means only one party can exist is theoretically false: classes are heterogeneous and produce multiple tendencies. The Soviet Union is more stratified than any capitalist proletariat, so it could sustain several parties; the monopoly of the bureaucracy is not a socialist necessity but a police measure.
Bukharin's argument that the choice of road to socialism is as important as the goal is turned against Stalin's position: if the soil for parties has truly vanished, there is no reason to forbid them, and the party programme should abolish all limitations on freedom. Stalin's reply—that non-party social organisations will also present candidates—is dismissed as a sophism: all such organisations share the same hierarchical structure, with active roles monopolised by privileged groups and the final word held by the party bureaucracy. Article 126 confirms this: it guarantees the right to join mass organisations, but restricts the Communist Party to "the most active and conscious citizens", making it the "guiding nucleus" of all organisations. Molotov's denial of factions within the party is belied by purges and concentration camps. The real motive is material: the ruling bureaucracy, fearing the masses, uses the secret ballot as a whip against corrupt institutions. The new constitution dissolves the soviets, submerging workers in the general population, and relies on the countryside against the cities. It marks a step back from socialist to bourgeois principles, juridically reinforcing bureaucratic absolutism and creating political premises for a new possessing class.