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Equality of Rights of the Soviet NationalitiesAuthor(s): C. C. GecysSource: Russian Review, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Apr., 1953), pp. 100-110Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review

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q u a l i t y o i g h t s o t h S o v i e t

ationalities

BY C. C. GECYS

I

ENIN'Spre-revolutionary outlook was clearly international. Hewrote in I9I3: Marxism cannot be reconciled with any na-

tionalism, even the most 'just,' 'pure,' refined, civilized. What is

required is the independence of the proletariat from nationalism.

To a struggle against any national oppression we say absolutelyyes. To a struggle for any national development . . . we say

absolutely no. 1 In place of nationalism Lenin proposed inter-

nationalism-the amalgamation of all nations into supremeunity. 2

Federalism, emphatically rejected by Marx, Engels, and Lenin,

emerged as the post-revolutionary antidote to the pre-revolutionarydoctrine of self-determination as only a transitional step to a

really democratic centralism.

Time and again, given a real democratic order, a federation . . . constitutes

only a transitional step to a really democratic centralism. In the example of the

Russian Soviet Republic we see most graphically that the federation we are

introducing will serve now as the surest step to the most solid unification of

the different nationalities into a single, democratic, centralized Soviet state.3

On November 15, I917, Lenin issued the Declarationof the Rights

of the Peoples of Russia,4 which formulated the basic principles of

Soviet policy with regard to nationalities. The document declared

the equality and sovereignty of all the nations of Russia, and gavethem the right of self-determination, including the right to form

'Lenin, CollectedWorks, New York, International Publishers, 1927-1945, XVI,p. 554; XVII, p. 146. His actual statement: We do not defend . . . national in-

terests; we declare that the interests of socialism, the interests of world socialism

are higher than national interests. . . . We are defenders of the socialist father-

land (Lenin, Sochineniya,30 vols., 3rd ed., Moscow, '935, XXIII, pp. 4-5).2Lenin,CollectedWorks,XVII, p. 145.3Lenin,CollectedWorks,XXII, pp. 515-I6.4A. Vyshinsky, The Law of the Soviet State, New York, I948, p. 93. Cf. Dekrety

OktyabrskoiRevolyutzii,ed. by M. D. Orakhelashvili and V. G. Sorin,Moscow, 1933,

vol. I, pp. 1-2.

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Equality of Rightsof the SovietNationalities

independent states. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the

Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan proclaimed their polit-ical

independence duringthis

phaseof national self-determination.

It was a very clever, diplomatic move on Lenin's part but it wasnot sincere. His goal was to gain the sympathy of all the nations

oppressed by Tsarist Russia; and, in signing the peace treaty withthe Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, while pro-claiming peace without annexations or idemnities, to get better

terms and the desired peace.On the other hand, there is ample evidence of Lenin's desire to see

reunited immediately, on working-class terms, the very people to

whom he solemnly granted the right to an independent politicalexistence. He wrote: . . the proletariat strives to create as largea state as possible, for this is in the interests of the workers; it strivesto bring the nations closely together, to fuse them; but it intendsto bring this about not by the use of force but only by a free, broth-

erly union of the workers and the toiling masses of all nations. 5Lenin's policy towards the nationalities of the Russian Empire

has undergone a series of.rapid changes in the following order: (a)the right of national self-determination; (b) the right to separate

from Tsarist Russia; (c) voluntary reunion on working-class termsinto a common state-the Union of Soviet Russian Republics; (d)final retention within the boundariesof Soviet Russia by force.

II

The first documents of a Soviet federal nature were the Declaration

of the Rights of the Toiling and Exploited People,6promulgated on

January I6, 1918, and incorporated later into the Constitution of

1918,and the resolution of the Third Soviet

Congresson the Federal

Institutions ofthe Russian Republic.7The structure of national interrelations within the Soviet Union

has been described by Stalin, contrary to the actual facts, in veryrosy colors:

5Lenin,CollectedWorks,XX, Bk. I, pp. 155, 329, and 338.6A.Vyshinsky, op. cit., pp. 94 and 555.-For Russian text see Lenin and Stalin,

0 SovietskoiKonstitutzii, Moscow, 1936, pp. 278-80.7IstoriyaSovietskoi Konstitutzii vdekretakh postanovleniyakhSovietskogoPravitel-

stva, 1917-7936, ed. by S. Studenik, Moscow, 1936, pp. 55-6. This document was an

amplification of certain parts of the declaration of rights; in particular, in regard tothe type of federation. There was to be a voluntary union of the peoples of Rus-sia.

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The absence of exploiting classes, which are the principal organizersof strifebetween nations; the absence of exploitation which cultivates mutual distrustand kindles nationalist passions; the fact that power is in the hands of the

working class, which is the foe of all enslavement and the true vehicle of theideas of internationalism; the actual practice of mutual aid among the peoplesin all spheres of economic and social life; and, finally, the flourishing national

culture of the peoples of the U.S.S.R., culture which is national in form and

socialist in content-all these and similar factors have brought about a radical

change in the aspect of the peoples of the U.S.S.R.; their feeling of mutual dis-

trust has disappeared, a feeling of mutual friendshiphas developed among them,and thus real fraternal cooperation among the peoples has been established

within the system of a single federated state.As a result, we now have a fully formedmulti-national socialist state, which

has stood all tests, and whose stability might well be envied by any national

state in any part of the world.8

The Stalin Constitution states that in the U.S.S.R. all national-

ities, irrespective of their race, enjoy full equality in all spheres of

economic, state, cultural, socialj and political life. The article on

equality of the nationalities is the cornerstone of the Soviet Bill of

Rights, and it is the only article provided with a constitutional

clause against any direct or indirect restrictions of the rights of the

nationalities or any activity directed against them. It states:

Any direct or indirect restriction of the rights of, or, conversely,any establishment of direct or indirect privileges for, citizens on

account of their race or nationality, as well as any advocacy of racial

or national exclusiveness or hatred and contempt, is punishable

by law. 9It is true that there is no racismper se in Soviet legal theory. The

Soviet Civil Code grants equality of rights to all citizens, regardlessof their nationality or race.10The Soviet Penal Code specifically

prohibits any racial discrimination, and punishment for advocating

or agitating national enmities is two years of imprisonment in peace-time, and shooting in wartime. 'l Soviet legislation places no limita-

tion whatsoever upon anyone because of his national or racial origin.On the other hand, it is also true that there is a constitutional classifi-

cation of ethnic groups in regard to their political rights. Thus, in

8Stalin,Leninism, New York, International Publishers, 1942, pp. 385-6.9Konstitutsiya (osnovnoizakon) S.S.S.R., Moscow, ed. of the Supreme Soviet of

the U.S.S.R., 1947, Art. 123.

loGrazhdanskyodeks:ofitzialnyteksts izmeneniyamina I Sentebryar947, Moscow,

I948, Art. 4.

Ugolovny kodeks R.S.F.S.R.: ofitziyalny tekst s izmeneniyami na Ig Oktyabrya

i936, Moscow, 1936,Art. 59, ? 7.

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Equality of Rightsofthe Soviet Nationalities

practice,there exists a hierarchyof ethnic groupsin the followingorder: (a) Russians, (b) Ukrainians and Bielorussians, (c) the bulkof other

nationalities, (d) Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Jews,and Moslems.

III

The multi-national state of the Soviet Union is divided into fourclasses of national units on the basis that for every ethnic group theremust be a political unit. The Union consists today of (a) sixteenconstituent republics, (b) sixteen autonomous republics, (c) nineautonomous regions, and (d) ten national regions.12

The legal status of the four classes of national territorial units'differs in respect to the right of separation, participation in thefederal government, and the extent of autonomy.

As regards separation, ethnic groups of the first class have the

constitutionally-recognized right to secession,13 and groups of thesecond class the constitutionally recognized right to be promotedto the rank of a federal republic,14whereas groups of the third andfourth classes have no specific constitutional rights at all but onlycultural rights.

In contradistinction to the ethnic groups of the first and secondclass, those of the third and fourth class do not possess any legisla-tive or administrative autonomy; in their territories, the functionsof the state are carried out by local agencies of the constituent andautonomous republics.

In regard to participation in the federal government, the size ofthe representation in the Soviet of Nationalities of the U.S.S.R.varies according to class: (a) twenty-five deputies from each con-stituent republic, (b) eleven deputies from each autonomous re-

public, (c) five deputies from each autonomous region and (d) onedeputy from each national region.

The constituent republics are the heart of the Union and the

highest form of national expression attainable within the Soviet

political system. To them alone the federal relationship applies and

only in their case the term sovereign is used.'5 The leading posi-tion among the constituent republics is occupied by the R.S.F.S.R.It covers seventy-six per cent of the total area of the Soviet Union

l2Constitutionof the U.S.S.R., Arts. 22-29b.13Ibid.,Art. 17.41bid.,Art. I4c.

l6Constitutionof the U.S.S.R., Art. I5.

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and holds almost seventy per cent of the Soviet population. Its

influencein the All-Union CommunistParty and in the highest

organsof

state authorityof theU.S.S.R. is

predominant.The Constitution of the Soviet Union clearly recognizes the

supremacyof the Union,and at the same time makesit mandatorythat the nationalpoliticalentities within the Union be Soviet andsocialist n character.

Art. 15of the StalinConstitutionemphasizeshat the sovereigntyof the constituent republics is restricted only by Art. I4 of the Soviet

Constitution,which ists mattersfallingwithinthejurisdictionof theUnion. This articledeprivesthe constituent federalrepublicsof all

important state functions and transfers them to the Union. TheU.S.S.R. is given powerin the followingmatters: the admissionofnew republics; he declarationof war and the conclusionof peace;internationalrelations;changes of boundariesof constituent re-

publics; the creation of new autonomousrepublics, autonomous

regions, and national regions; military affairs; foreign trade; internal

security;nationaleconomicplanning;determination f fundamental

principlesfor the developmentof the land, naturalresources,and

public health; national taxation and finance, banks, industry,

agriculture,and trade of nationalsignificance; ransportationandcommunication;moneyand credit;insuranceand nationalaccount-

ing; criminal and civil law; citizenship; amnesty acts; control over

the observanceof the Constitutionof the U.S.S.R. and the ensuringof conformityof the federalconstitutions o thatof theU.S.S.R.

The sovereigntyof the Union republics s limited not only bythe provisions et forthin Art. 14 of the Constitutionof the U.S.S.R.

but alsoby manyotherarticlesof thisConstitution.The laws of the Union enjoy equal force within the territoryof

every constituent republic.In the event of discrepancybetweenrepublicanaw andUnionlaw, the Unionlaw prevails.The Councilof Ministers of a constituent republic can issue decisions and orders

only on the basis and in pursuanceof the Union laws in operation,and of the decisionsand ordersof the Councilof Ministersof theUnion. Furthermore, he Presidiumof the SupremeSoviet of theUnion has the right to annul decisionsand ordersof the Councilof

Ministersof the constituentrepublics f they do not conform o thelaw. The Union-RepublicanMinistriesof the Union supervisethe

workof the correspondingministries n constituentrepublics.Alsothe Prosecutor-Generalf the Union supervisesthe strict enforce-

mentof the lawsby allministriesandhe appointsprosecutorsorthe

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Equality of Rightsof the SovietNationalities

constituent republics,autonomousrepublics,autonomousregions,and nationalregions.16

Thusthe central

authorityretains the veto

powerover

legislationof the constituent republicsand exercises its power of supremesupervisionand control. The Ministryof State Control,the PartyControl Commission,and the agenciesof the Prosecutor-General,all operatelocally without restrictions or the very purposeof pre-venting any particularistic endenciesfrominterferingwith central

objectives.The constitutionalamendmentsof FebruaryI, I944, grantedthe

constituentrepublics he right to organizerepublicanministriesfor

foreign affairs and defense,17 o enter into direct relations withforeignpowers,and to raise their own armies. But there s, of course,no question of an independentdiplomacyor of sovereignarmies.To the Union alone is reserved the representation f the Union ininternationalrelations,conclusion,ratification,and denunciationoftreaties of the U.S.S.R. with otherstates, and the establishmentofthe generalcharacterof the relations between the Union Republicand foreignstates. 18Actually,this revealsthat not the realinstru-ments of authoritybut only the fictionalones weregiven up by the

U.S.S.R. This follows from the very text of the decrees.19Further-more, t was neither ocalnationalism,nora suddenrealizationof thevirtues of decentralization,but the emergenceof opportunities ninternationalpolitics, such as getting pluralrepresentationn theUnited Nations and at the Peace Treaty Conferences,which dic-tatedthis fictitiousstep.

The greatest factor in the centralizationof all-out political con-trol overconstituentrepublics s the relentless mpactof the highly-centralized All-Union Communist Party. This imposition of the

monolithicParty upon a federal frame ensures fundamentaluni-formityin actionandin the operationof the nationalpoliticalunitsat all levels of the Soviet administrativeapparatus.For, in spite offederaldistinctions, t is the sameAll-UnionCommunistParty thatrules, whether it be in Moscow, Kiev, Vilnius, or Vladivostok.Essential ideologicaluniformityprevails. The Party, whichenjoysa political monopolyin the Soviet Union, can, without difficulty,

l6Constitution of the U.S.S.R., Arts. 19-21, 49f, 69, 75, 76, 78, 8x, 87, 113, I 5, andI

7.17Constitutionof the U.S.S.R., Arts. i8a, I8b, 6oe, and 6of.

slIbid., Art. I4a.19Cf.N. S. Timasheff, The GreatRetreat,New York, 1948, pp. 197-8.

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carry any measure it considersnecessary throughboth chambersof the SupremeSoviet of the U.S.S.R. The Party countenancesno

opposition to its dictates; it recognizes no competition; and it fur-nishes the singlethread that knits togetherthe entireUnion into a

compact, highly-centralized ystem, characterizedby rigid Partydiscipline.

In practice, ocalpolitical ibertiescannotdevelop,sincethe actual

powerbelongsto the All-UnionCommunistParty andno reflectionof the federalstructureof the Soviet Union is to be found in thestructureof thePartyitself.

All ministersheadingrepublicanministriesarenominatedby the

Orgbureau, ow the Presidiumof the CentralCommitteeof the All-Union CommunistParty in Moscow,andare elected by the Com-munistmajorityof the SupremeSovietof the constituentrepublics.Being a Party member, the minister must obey strictly all orderswhichhe receivesfrom the higher agenciesof the Party. The lattercan dismisshim at theirpleasure,and a vote of the SupremeSovietof the republicwill make this dismissalofficial. Even in the localadministrativeorgans,whichplay a most insignificantpart in theCommunist chemeof things,thePartyis properly epresented.

Similarly, he politicallocal libertiesof autonomousrepublicsarelimited within the provisionsset forth in the constitutionsof theconstituent republics and the Soviet Constitution,20and Partypolicy and control. A. Vyshinsky'sdictum that the autonomous

republics possessa jurisdiction ess broadthan that of the federal

republic 21merelyrefersto their classificationon the level of cen-tralization.The conceptof localgovernments in no way employedin Sovietpoliticalparlance.

IV

A cursoryexaminationof the Soviet government'spractical op-erations reveals a wide divergencebetween theory and practice.The Sovietsystemis fullof glaringcontradictionsbecause t appearsto bemoving n twoopposingdirectionsat once.

The Baltic states are a case in point. Contraryto Art. 13 of theStalinConstitution, he Balticstates wereoccupiedby Soviettroopsin June, I940, i.e., less than a year after V. Molotov, the ForeignMinister,announced hat themilitarypactjust concludedwiththem

in no way impliedany interference n the partof the Soviet Union20Constitutionf the U.S.S.R., Arts. 6ob and 82.

21A.Vyshinsky, op. cit., pp. 300-I.

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Equality of Rights of the SovietNationalities

in the affairsof Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Their admissioninto the U.S.S.R. was effected during this occupation.The three

countrieswerenot even given the opportunityof servingthe SovietUnion as satellite states. Moscow insisted that they becomefullyintegratedmembersof the Soviet Union within two months after

theywereoccupiedby the Soviet armed orces.This example of becomingmembersof the Soviet Union while

occupiedby foreigntroopsalso serves to disprovethe doctrineof

Marx, Lenin, and Stalin that the overthrowof capitalismand theinstitution of Communismare achieved by the revolutionaryup-rising of the proletariatof a given country. The proletariatof

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuaniadid not even get the opportunityto rise.

Moreover,if the U.S.S.R. is a voluntary union of national re-

publics enjoying equalrights it should logically follow that thenationalrepublicshave the right to secedefromit, which right, in

fact, is granted them by the Stalin Constitution.Even thoughStalin expressedthe thought in April, 1917, that after the over-throw of Tsarism, nine-tenths of the nationalities will not wishto secede, he refuted this obliquely in 1923, when he conceded that

each republicretains the right to leave the Union at its discre-tion. 22But in the same breathhe emphasized hat this was purelya scholasticquestion. 23Thirteen years later, i.e., in 1936, hereiteratedthis conviction twice: It is true, of course, that not a

single republicwould want to secede from the U.S.S.R. But thisdoes not prove that we shouldnot recordin the Constitutionthe

rightof Unionrepublics reelyto secedefromtheU.S.S.R. 24What this meant,of course,was that the so-calledrightof seces-

sion was a myth; its only purposewas to serve as an ideological

bromideto lull the variousrepublics nto believingthat the Unionwasa voluntaryamalgamation.Deceptively,however,the Constitutionof the Soviet Union does

not mention the fact that no machineryhas ever been establishedfor the implementationof this constitutionalprovision,and thatthereforeArt. 17 has, like manyotherprovisions n the Stalin Con-

stitution,a purely llusorycharacter. Oneof the theoreticalpossibil-

22Stalin, Marksizm i natzionalno-koloniyalny vopros, Moscow, I935, p. 48. Cf.S. L. Ronin, Stalinskoe uchenie ob natzii i o mnogonatsionalnom Sovietskom

gosudarstve, Sovietskoegosudarstvo pravo, 1950, No. 2, pp. I-15.

23Stalin, Marksizmi natzionalno-koloniyalnyvopros,p. I52.24Stalin,Leninism, p. 399.

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itiesof withdrawal romthe Unionis the desireto do so expressedbythe controllingAll-UnionCommunistParty, a situationat present

unthinkable.Furthermore,he Soviet Penal Codecontainsa clauseapplicable o any personor groupadvocatingseparationand qual-ifying ipso facto such an attempt as an act of counter-revolution:

Hightreason, .e., acts committedby citizensof the U.S.S.R. withintentionto damagethe militarypowerof the U.S.S.R.or to violateits state independenceor the integrityof its territory. . . are tobepunishedby thesupreme riminalpunishment.*. . 25

While the constitutionalright of secession s in fact a dialecticalviciouscircle,the Soviet regime'sunconstitutionalacts in regardto

dissolutionof nationalterritorial nitsare a fact.In the courseof 1941-45, three autonomousrepublics,German

Volga, Chechen-Ingush,and Kalmyk, as well as the Karachajevautonomousregion,wereliquidated,whilethe Crimeanautonomous

republicwasdemotedto the rank of a region.Of the three autono-mousrepublics he first,the GermanVolgarepublic,was abolishednthe autumnof I94I, following disclosureof diversionistactivities

amongthe Germanpopulation. Similarly,duringI943-5,the otherfournational erritorial nitswereabolished,on theground hat they

didnot offeroppositionto the treacherous ollaborationist roups,whichwereformedamong hemduring heNazi Germanoccupation,andwhichfought alongside heNazi GermanagainstU.S.S.R. The

populationof the five national units in questionweredeportedtotrans-Uralocalities.26

The abolitionof these national territorieswas accomplishedbyorderof the Councilof Ministersof the R.S.F.S.R., and it was notuntil June 26, 1946, that the SupremeSoviet of the R.S.F.S.R.ratified hese orders.27

The transplantation f entireethnicgroupsbeyondthe Uralshasincreased ince the endof WorldWar II in bothscopeandbrutality.It must be added that the conditionsof life and labor disciplinedeliberatelyinflictedon the deporteesin concentrationcamps arecalculated o bringabout theirphysicaldestruction; hat by separat-

26Ugolovny kodeksR.S.F.S.R., Art. 58, Par. i.

26Bulletinon the Soviet Union, September II, 1941; I. P. Trainin, Sovietskoe

mnogonatsionalnoe gosudarstvo, Sovietskoegosudarstvoi pravo, 1947, No. o1, p.

39.Cf. The New York

Times, January I5, 194I;November

30, 1945;October

12,1950.

27TheNew York Times,June 27, 1946.

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Equalityof RightsoftheSovietNationalities

ing the deported men from their wives,28the M. V. D. imposes con-

ditions intended to prevent births within deported groups; that the

deportees'children are

separatedfrom their mothers and are

placedin orphanages-all of which acts mean willful destruction, in wholeor in part, of national, or ethnic groups.29

Summarizing available figures it may be stated that the crime of

genocide perpetrated by the Soviet Union in Lithuania alone has re-sulted in the extermination of 525,000 people. This figure covers thetime from the beginning of the Soviet occupation in 1940 up to the

middle of I949.30 For a nation of three million it is a very high per-centage. A parallel situation prevails in the other Baltic states,

Latvia and Estonia.31 The fact that the Soviet process of genocideis most intense in the Soviet Union's frontier lands, with their poten-tially hostile populations, and the systematic Soviet infiltration of

them with people presumably loyal to the regime32demonstratesthe inhuman measures which the Soviet government is willing to

take, and amounts to an attempt to wipe out biologically-autoch-thonous populations.

All the above-mentioned facts, i.e., political supremacy of the

Russians over the other ethnic groups, the unconstitutional dissolu-

tion of national territorial units, the mass deportations for political3328 Thousandsf Lithuanianwomenmoveddeepinto the SovietUnion to work n

factories,kolkhozes . . (Tiesa [Truth]-Organ of the Lithuania'sCommunist

Party, March 7, 1947).29K.Belekis,Genocide-Lithuania's hreefold ragedy,WesternGermany,Publ.by

Venta, 1949,passim.30Memorandum n the Restoration of Lithuania's Independence, Publ. by Lith-

uanian Executive Council, I950, p. 48.31Cf. The New York Times, December 7, I951. A. Kaelas, Human Rights and

Genocide n the Baltic States, Stockholm, Publ. of the Estonian Information Centre,

1950, pp. 4, 20, 52-4; Endel Kareda, Estonia in the SovietGrip, London, Boreas Publ.Co., Ltd., 1949, pp. 87 and go. For the latest facts on deportations from the Baltic

states see Newsletterfrom Behind the Iron Curtain, Compiled by the Baltic Review,

Stockholm, June 12, I95I, Nos. 228-9, V, pp. I14-20.

32 A great many soldiers and officers demobilized because of their wounds,selected the small towns of Estonia for permanent residence . . . 71 million rubles

were paid to such persons as assistance. (Pravda, February 9, I950; Newsletter,

May 22, I95I, Nos. 226-7, V, pp. IIo-II.) Settlement of Russians in Baltic cities

has reached the point where Tallin, Estonia, is about 5o per cent, Riga, Latvia,about 6o per cent, and Vilnius, Lithuania, about 35 per cent Russian. These citiesare now regardedas safely Russian with all key posts in the hands of the newcomers.

(Cf. A. Kaelas, op. cit.)33 Theemoval of anti-Soviet elements from the Baltic Republics is a political

operation of the highest importance. (Secret instruction issued by Serov, Deputy

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and military reasons, the disaffection existing among the subjugatednationalities, furnish the best proof that there is no real equality ofnational ties. The Soviet Union

was,in

fact,never formed on the

principles of equality and voluntary affiliation of the peoples of theU.S.S.R., and there is little basis for Stalin's statement that the

stability of the multi-national Soviet state might well be envied by

any national state in any part of the world. 34

Soviet Commissar for Internal Security, January 2I, 1941, No. 2192, Memorandum,

p.38).34Stalin,Leninism, pp. 385-6.

equality of rights of the soviet nationalities

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