Long before trade at home was taken over by the state, all foreign trade had been nationalized. The decree by the Council of People's Commissars on April 22, 1918 prescribed:

All foreign trade is to be nationalized. Contracts with foreign countries and foreign commercial houses for buying or selling of all kinds of products (raw, industrial, agricultural, etc.) are to be made in the name of the Russian Republic by specially authorized organs. Aside from these organs all export and import agreements are forbidden.13

The decree of April 27, 1918 abolishing the right of inheritance was a sweeping one:

Inheritance both by law and by testament is abolished. After the death of the owner the property which belongs to him (movable and immovable) becomes state property of the R[ussian] S[oviet] F[ederative] S[ocialist] R[epublic].14

The decree of November 11 [October 29], introducing the eight-hour working day, was one of the very first decisions of the Council of People's Commissars: "The working time . . . should not exceed 8 working hours a day and 48 hours a week"; however, "until the end of the war" operations, the new regulation of overtime may not be applied in war industries.15

Other decrees did away with personal titles and the division of the population into estates. The decree confirmed by the Central Executive Committee on November 23 [10], 1917 read:

1. All classes and class distinctions which have hitherto existed in Russia, class privileges and class limitations, class organizations and institutions, as well as all civil ranks are abolished.

2. All estates (noble, merchant, commoner, peasant, etc.), . . . are abolished and in their places the inhabitants of Russia are to have one common name to all-citizens of the Russian Republic.16

The new government was just as radical in regard to titles and privileges in the army. The very terms "general," "major," "captain," "officer," and others were forbidden. The decree of December 29 [16], 1917 by the Council of People's Commissars said:

Carrying out the desire of the revolutionary people for the speedy and determined abolition of all remnants of former inequality in the army, the Council of People's Commissars resolves:

(1) All ranks and titles in the army, starting with that of corporal and ending with that of general, are abolished. The Army of the Russian

13 Ibid., p. 617.

14

Izvestia, May 1, 1918. The decree was issued by the Central Executive Committee.

Republic henceforth consists of free and equal citizens, bearing the honorable rank of soldier of the revolutionary army.

(2) All privileges connected with former ranks and titles, as well as all external distinctions, are abolished.

(3) All addressing by title is abolished.

(4) All orders and other insignia are abolished. . . .17

A proclamation dealing with the problem of Russia's nationalities was among the first public statements of the new regime. An end must be put, the Council of People's Commissars said in its declaration of November 15 [2], 1917, to the old policy.

An end must be made to this unworthy policy of falsehood and distrust, of cavil and provocation.18

From now on all nationalities, large and small, were to enjoy equality and freedom, including the privilege of secession from the Russian state. In view of the strong secessionist movements of the time, especially in the Ukraine and Finland, this pledge went far to satisfy the wishes of these nationalities:

In compliance with the will of these [Soviet] Congresses, the Soviet of People's Commissars has resolved to adopt as the basis of its activity on the problem of nationalities in Russia the following principles:

1. Equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia.

2. The right to free self-determination of the peoples of Russia even to the point of separating and forming independent states.

3. Abolition of each and every privilege or limitation based on nationality or religion.

4. Free development of national minorities and ethnographic groups inhabiting Russian territory.10

The first decree on religion, promulgated by the Council of People's Commissars February 5, 1918, separated the church from the state but did not yet accord any privileges to antireligious or atheistic propaganda:

1. The church is separated from the state.

2. Within the territory of the Republic the passing of any local laws or regulations limiting or interfering with freedom of conscience or granting special rights or privileges to citizens because they belong to a certain faith is forbidden.

17 "Ob Uravnenii v Pravakh Vsekh Voennosluzhashchikh" (On the Equalization of Rights of All Military Personnel), Istoriya Sovetskoi Konstitutsi (v Dokumentakh) 1917-1956 (History of the Soviet Constitution (in Documents) 1917-1956) (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatelstvo Yuridicheskoi Literatury (State Publishing House for Juridical Literature), 1957), p. 90.

18 Bunyan and Fisher, op. cit., p. 283.

19 "Deklaratsiya Prav Narodov Rossii" (Declaration of the Rights of the People of Russia), Istoriya Sovetskoi Konstitutsii .. p. 58. The Council of People's

Commissars issued this decree on November 15 [2], 1917.

3. Every citizen has a right to adopt any religion or not to adopt any at all. Every legal restriction connected with the profession of certain faiths or with the non-profession of any faith is now abolished.

9. The school is separated from the church. The teaching of religion in state and public schools, as well as in private schools where general subjects are taught, is forbidden.20

A new army, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, was created. A new task for the traditionally antimilitarist Bolshevik movement, it was several months before Lenin's group learned the rules of effective military organization. The first orders following the November upheaval were propagandistic and unrealistic. The decree of December 29 [16], 1917 provided for election of commanders by the troops; the decree of January 28[15], 1918, was intended to create an army on a voluntary basis; applicants for enlistment in the army required "recommendations," and only "toiling" people (meaning no members of families of privileged classes) would be accepted.

Political asylum, which had been enjoyed by most of the Bolshevik leaders abroad, was provided for (Central Executive Committee decree of March 28, 1918); at this stage it was not stressed that only foreign Communists or pro-Communists would be able to take advantage of this privilege:

Any foreigner persecuted in his native country for crimes of a political or religious nature is entitled to asylum if he comes to Russia.

Extradition of such persons at the demand of the countries whose subjects they are may not be effected.21

In his first comments on the draft of a Soviet constitution Lenin wanted to incorporate the idea that the new state would grow in the future and expand to embrace other "Socialist nations":

8. As a socialist soviet system is established in other countries, the R.S.F.S.R. joins with them in an integrated Union of socialist Federations of soviet republics.22

These were the declaratory acts of the new government, intended at this moment as propaganda rather than actual policy. "Our government," Lenin said, "may not last long, but these decrees will be part of history."

20

23

Bunyan and Fisher, op. cit., pp. 590, 591.

"O Prave Ubezhishcha" (On the Right of Asylum), Istoriya Sovetskoi Konstitutsii . . ., p. 58.

22

"Popravki k Proektu Konstitutsii RSFSR [Ranee 28 Iyunya 1918 goda]” (Corrections to the Draft of the Constitution of the RSFSR [Before June 28, 1918]). Istoriya Sovetskoi Konstitutsii . . ., p. 132.

23 Simon Liberman, Building Lenin's Russia (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1945), p. 8.

even if the Russian Soviet Government is crushed by world imperialism tomorrow, as a result of an agreement between German and AngloFrench imperialism, for example-even in this worst possible case, Bolshevik tactics will still have brought enormous benefit to Socialism, and will have assisted the growth of the invincible world revolution.24

The system of government established in November 1917 has become known as the "Soviet system." The first Soviet Constitution of July 10, 1918 embodied the ideas of a "Soviet democracy," which is different from both the old Russian autocracy and Western democracy. Its basis was the local Soviet, elected by the "toilers" (workers, peasants and intellectuals); regional conferences of local Soviets elected the governments of their areas; All-Russian Soviet congresses, according to the constitution, wielded supreme power and elected the Central Executive Committees. The latter appointed the Soviet governments. Since over 90 per cent of the population was entitled to vote in the election of local Soviets, and since the program of the Soviet government emphasized abolition of the privileges of the rich in favor of the poor, the Soviet leadership claimed for this system superiority over every other system of government; it was "the most democratic" in the world, even if the political freedoms which were viewed abroad as an element of democracy were practically abolished.

The Soviet state assumed at first the name "Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic," often abbreviated into RSFSR. In this name, Federation referred, according to the constitution, to various supposedly selfgoverning areas inhabited by non-Russian national minorities. (The Soviet government claimed to be the only authority for all of the territory of pre-revolutionary Russia but in early 1918 its control over much of the territory was limited by German occupation, local independence movements and the like. In 1924 the RSFSR became part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, along with the newly reacquired areas in the Caucasus in the South and West.)

This formal structure did not reveal the actual system of government, however. Along with the structure of Soviets there existed and grew the structure of the Bolshevik (Communist) party. The party also possessed its units ("cells") in cities and towns; its "committees" actually dominated the Soviets and wielded power in their areas; its provincial conferences elected "committees" which controlled all Soviet agencies in their areas. The congresses of the Bolshevik party elected a Central Committee, which appointed its Political Bureau ("Politburo"). The Politburo actually wielded unlimited power over the country, also appointing and dismissing ministers ("peoples' commissars"); its power,

24 Lenin, "The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky" (November 10, 1918), Selected Works (New York: International Publishers, 1943), vol. VII, p. 184.

44836-60--Vol. II- -6

unlimited by law, was tantamount to an unlimited dictatorship. The group ruling in the Politburo, strong enough to perpetuate itself, consisted first of Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Grigori Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Bukharin.

2. Dictatorship and the Principles of Morality

"Transition to Socialism," the aim of the new government was, according to Lenin, possible only in dictatorial forms; Lenin gave a correct definition of dictatorship as a ruling power which is above the law, which defies law, and which can have recourse to any means.

The scientific concept "dictatorship" means nothing more nor less than unrestricted power, absolutely unimpeded by laws or regulations and resting directly upon force. This is the meaning of the concept "dictatorship" and nothing else.2

25

The revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is power won and maintained by the violence of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, power that is unrestricted by any laws.26

But Communist dictatorship, identified with Soviet dictatorship, was at the same time, according to this theory, the highest form of democracy because it served the interests of the poor, who constitute the majority in every nation:

What is the difference between socialists and anarchists? Anarchists don't recognize authority, whereas socialists, including Bolsheviks, are in favor of authority for the transition period from our present status to socialism, toward which we are striving.

We bolsheviks are for a stern rule; but for a rule which would be the rule of the workers and peasants.

27

Lenin, the undisputed leader, could, unlike his successors, state openly that the dictatorship in Russia was his personal dictatorship; he did not try to emphasize "collective leadership" because, in his eyes, his personal rule was democracy. More than once did he stress this paradoxical view:

The irrefutable experience of history has shown that in the history of revolutionary movements the dictatorship of individual persons was very

25

'Lenin, "A Contribution to the History of the Question of Dictatorship" (October 20, 1920), Selected Works (1943 ed.), vol. VII, p. 254.

20

Lenin, "The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky" (November 10, 1918), Selected Works (1943 ed.), vol. VII, p. 123.

27

Lenin, "Zaklyuchitelnoe Slovo 18 Noyabrya (1 Dekabrya) na Chrezvychainom, Vserossiiskom S'ezde Sovetov Krestyanskikh Deputatov" (Concluding Speech at the Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies, November 18 (December 1) [1917]), Sochineniya (Works) (4th ed.; Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatelstvo Politicheskoi Literatury (State Publishing House for Political Literature), 1941–58), vol. XXVI (1949), p. 294.