CHAPTER XIV DOCUMENTS OF THE RUSSIAN SOVIET REGIME 1. Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic.. 246 246 b. Article Two. General Provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic 249 c. Article Three. Organization of the Soviet Power: I. Organization of the Central Power. 251 II. Organization of Local Soviets. d. Article Four. The Right to Vote. e. Article Five. The Budget... f. Article Six. The Coat of Arms and Flag of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic 2. Decrees and Constitution of Soviet Russia. a. Land Law b. Church and State c. Nationalization of Banks. d. The People's Court. e. Instructions to the Revolutionary Tribunal. f. The Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press. 255 258 260 261 262 262 276 277 278 280 283 g. To the Soviet of Workmen's, Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. h. Marriage, Children and Registration of Civil Status. i. Divorce 284 285 288 c. Nationalization of Foreign Commerce. 7. Defense of Berkman j. Orders of the People's Commissar of Education of the Western Provinces and Front k. Abolition of Inheritance 3. Circular of the Soviet Committee of the Soviet Government of Russia. 4. Russian Soviet Industrial Program... a. Labor Discipline of the Working Class and Peasant Poverty. b. End of Money Power. 5. The Red Terror 6. On the Brest-Litovsk Peace 8. Suicide Letter of a Bolshevik Commissar. 290 292 295 296 296 299 303 306 307 307 308 9. Manifesto Issued on December 19, 1917, by the Soviet of Railway, Petrograd District, to the Railroad Employees of all the Russian Railway Systems 310 10. From the People's Commissariat of Labor to All Workers. 312 313 a. To British and American Soldiers" Why Have You Come to Ukraine?" 313 b. Prisoner in Archangel to his Fellow Royal Scots.. 316 c. Peter Petroff to the British Soldiers. 318 d. Bolshevist Propaganda The Group of English Speaking Communists to the American and British Soldiers.. a. The Polish Socialist Party to the Communist Party of Russia. b. The Russian Soviet Government to the Polish Representative. 15. Decree of the Soviet Commissaries of the People Relating to Conscientious Objectors 336 337 338 16. Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic "Down With the Pogrom-Makers!". 339 17. Political Propaganda and Educational Activity in the Villages-A Resolution of the 8th Convention of the Russian Communist Labor Party.. 341 18. Soviet Russia's Code of Labor Law... a. Article One. b. Article Two. d. Article Four. e. Article Five. On Compulsory Labor. The Right to Work. Methods of Labor Distribution Transfer and Discharge of Wage Earners. f. Article Six. Remuneration of Labor h. Article Eight. Methods to Assure Efficiency of Labor. i. Article Nine. Protection of Labor. 1. Rules Concerning Unemploved and Payment of Subsidies. k. Rules Concerning Labor Booklets.. 1. Rules for the Determination of Disability to Work. m. Rules Concerning Payment of Sick Benefits (Subsidies) APPENDIX CHAPTER XIV OFFICIAL AND OTHER DOCUMENTS OF THE RUSSIAN SOVIET REGIME Document No. 1 CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN SOCIALIST FEDERATED SOVIET REPUBLIC "Resolution of the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets, adopted on July 10, 1918. "The declaration of rights of the laboring and exploited people (approved by the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January, 1918), together with the Constitution of the Soviet Republic, approved by the Fifth Congress, constitutes a single fundamental law of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic. "This fundamental law becomes effective upon the publication of the same in its entirety in the Izvestia of the All-Russian General Executive Committee.' It must be published by all organs of the Soviet Government and must be posted in a prominent place in every Soviet institution. "The Fifth Congress instructs the People's Commissariat of Education to introduce in all schools and educational institutions of the Russian Republic the study and explanation of the basic principles of this Constitution. "1. Russia is declared to be a Republic of the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies. All the central and local power belongs to these Soviets. "2. The Russian Soviet Republic is organized on the basis of a free union of free nations, as a federation of Soviet national republics. 66 CHAPTER TWO "3. Bearing in mind as its fundamental problem the abolition of the exploitation of men by men, the entire abolition of the division of the people into classes, the suppression of exploiters, the establishment of a Socialist society, and the victory of Socialism in all lands, the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies further resolves: "(a) For the purpose of attaining the socialization of land, all private property in land is abolished, and the entire land is declared to be national property and is to be apportioned among agriculturists without any compensation to the former owners, in the measure of each one's ability to till it. "(b) All forests, treasures of the earth, and waters of general public utility, all equipment whether animate or inanimate, model farms and agricultural enterprises, are declared to be national property. "(c) As a first step toward complete transfer of ownership to the Soviet Republic of all factories, mills, mines, railways, and other means of production and transportation, the Soviet law for the control by workmen and the establishment of the Supreme Soviet of National Economy is hereby confirmed, so as to insure the power of the workers over the exploiters. "(d) With reference to international banking and finance, the Third Congress of Soviets is discussing the Soviet decree regarding the annulment of loans made by the Government of the Czar, by landowners and the bourgeoisie, and it trusts that the Soviet Government will firmly follow this course until the final victory of the international workers' revolt against the oppression of capital. "(e) The transfer of all banks to the ownership of the Workers' and Peasants' Government, as one of the conditions of the liberation of the toiling masses from the yoke of capital, is confirmed. "(f) Universal obligation to work is introduced for the purpose of eliminating the parasitic strata of society and organizing the economic life of the country. "(g) For the purpose of securing the working class in the possession of complete power, and in order to eliminate all possibility of restoring the power of the exploiters, it is decreed that all workers be armed, and that a Socialist Red Army be organized and the propertied class disarmed. CHAPTER THREE "4. Expressing its fixed resolve to liberate mankind from the grip of capital and imperialism, which flooded the earth with blood in its present most criminal of all wars, the third Congress of Soviets fully agrees with the Soviet Government in its policy of abrogating secret treaties, of organizing on a wide scale the fraternization of the workers and peasants of the belligerent armies, and of making all efforts to conclude a general democratic peace without annexations or indemnities, upon the basis of the free determination of peoples. "5. It is also to this end that the third Congress of Soviets insists upon putting an end to the barbarous policy of the bourgeois civilization which enables the exploiters of a few chosen nations to enslave hundreds of millions of the working population of Asia, of the colonies, and of small countries generally. "6. The third Congress of Soviets hails the policy of the Council of People's Commissars in proclaiming the full independence of Finland, in withdrawing troops from Persia, and in proclaiming the right of Armenia to self-determination. "" CHAPTER FOUR "7. The third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies believes that now, during the progress of the decisive battle between the proletariat and its exploiters, the exploiters should not hold a position in any branch of the Soviet Government. The power must belong entirely to the toiling masses and to their plenipotentiary representativesthe Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies. "8. In its effort to create a league-free and voluntary and for that reason all the more complete and secure of the working classes of all the peoples of Russia, the third Congress of Soviets merely establishes the fundamental principles of the Federation of Russian Soviet Republics, leaving to the workers and peasants of every people to decide the following question at their plenary sessions of their Soviets, namely, whether or not they desire to participate, and on what basis, in the Federal Government and other Federal Soviet institutions. B. "ARTICLE TWO "GENERAL PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN SOCIALIST FEDERATED SOVIET REPUBLIC 66 CHAPTER FIVE "9. The fundamental problem of the constitution of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic involves, in view of the present transition period, the establishing of a dictatorship of the urban and rural proletariat and the poorest peasantry in the form of a powerful All-Russian Soviet authority, for the purpose of abolishing the exploitation of men by men and of introducing Socialism, in which there will be neither a division into classes nor a state of autocracy. "10. The Russian Republic is a free Socialist society of all the working people of Russia. The entire power, within the boundaries of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, belongs to all the working people of Russia, united in urban and rural Soviets. "11. The Soviets of those regions which differentiate themselves by a special form of existence and national character may unite in autonomous regional unions, ruled by the local Congress of the Soviets and their executive organs. "These autonomous regional unions participate in the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic upon a federal basis. "12. The supreme power of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic belongs to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and, in periods between the convocation of the Congress, to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. "13. For the purpose of securing to the workers real freedom of conscience, the church is to be separated from the state and the school from the church, and the right of religious and antireligious propaganda is accorded to every citizen. "14. For the purpose of securing freedom of expression to the toiling masses, the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic abolishes all dependence of the press upon capital, and turns over to the working people and the poorest peasantry all technical and material means for the publication of newspapers, pamphlets, books, etc., and guarantees their free circulation throughout the country. |