60 years ago, as a result of the victory of the Great October Revolution, the Republic of Soviets was born, and with it was born Soviet socialist democracy, a democracy for the vast majority of the population, for all working people. "The establishment and consolidation of Soviet power as one of the forms of the dictatorship of the proletariat, "the CPSU Central Committee resolution on the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution notes," actually ensured unprecedented freedom and democracy for the gigantic working majority, which is impossible in any capitalist country."¹

Under the leadership of the Communist Party, during the years of Soviet power, major political and socio-economic measures were implemented in the USSR, which ensured the steady development of the Soviet State, the improvement of socialist democracy, and the active participation of millions of working people in the management of the state, in the management of economic and cultural construction. The further development of Soviet society was reflected in the draft of the new Constitution of the USSR. "The main direction of the development of the political system of Soviet society," states Article 8 of the draft, " is the further development of socialist democracy: the ever-increasing participation of workers in the management of society and state affairs, the improvement of the state apparatus, the increased activity of public organizations, the strengthening of popular control, the strengthening of the legal basis of state and public life, the expansion of accounting for public opinion " ² .

Generalization of the experience of the development of Soviet socialist democracy is of great theoretical and practical interest. An in-depth study of it becomes particularly important in modern conditions in the light of the ideological struggle between socialism and capitalism on an international scale. The ideologists of anti-communism are trying by all means to slander the truly democratic forms of state and public life in the USSR. Soviet social scientists oppose these falsifications with their research on the problems of socialist democracy. The works of historians analyze the activity of the Soviets as the main form of people's power in the USSR, their role in the development and improvement of socialist democracy, the analysis of the history of the Soviet Union.-

¹ "On the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution". Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU of January 31, 1977, Moscow, 1977, p. 5.

² "The Constitution (Basic Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". Project, Moscow, 1977, p. 8.

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The activities of the Communist Party aimed at involving the working masses in the government of the country are being discussed ^.3 Philosophers and jurists show the main features and characteristics of Soviet socialist democracy as a democracy of the highest type ^.4 However, many aspects of the problem remain unsolved. This article aims to show how the new Soviet socialist democracy was formed and developed under the leadership of the Communist Party, to reveal its character and social essence, its advantages over bourgeois democracy.

On October 25, 1917, speaking at an emergency meeting of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies with a report on the tasks of Soviet power, V. I. Lenin spoke about the victory of the socialist revolution: "First of all, the significance of this revolution lies in the fact that we will have a Soviet government, our own organ of power, without any involvement of the bourgeoisie. The oppressed masses will create power themselves. The old state apparatus will be completely broken up and a new administrative apparatus will be created in the form of Soviet organizations. " ⁵ The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which opened late on October 25 in Smolny, legislated the creation of a state of workers and peasants as a state of a new, socialist type, and marked the beginning of a new social system. Later, in 1919, in the draft Program of the RCP (b), V. I. Lenin described the Republic of Soviets as "the only type of state that corresponds, based on the experience of the Paris Commune of 1871, as well as the experience of the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917-1918, to the transition period from capitalism to socialism, i.e., the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat" ⁶ .

With the victory of October, the deeply democratic principle of the sovereignty of the working people in the form of Soviets was proclaimed. In accordance with the resolution of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, all power was transferred to the Soviets, which became the political form of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The establishment of the proletarian state, the emergence of new institutions that expressed the will of the vast masses of working people, and the involvement of workers and peasants in the management of the State and society led to the creation of socialist democracy. "The Soviet revolution," Lenin wrote, " gave an unprecedented impetus to the development of democracy both in depth and in breadth, moreover, democracy precisely for the working people and the masses oppressed by capitalism - hence democracy for the vast majority of the people, hence socialist democracy (for the working people), in contrast to bourgeois democracy (for the exploiters, for the capitalists, for the rich) " ⁷ . Under the dictatorship of the proletariat, the working masses, who were disenfranchised and exploited under capitalism, and who formed the absolute majority of the Russian population, were given a wide opportunity to enjoy democratic rights and freedoms. This provided them with an active participation in the project-

³ "History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union", Vol. 3, book 1. Moscow, 1967; "Soviets in the First Year of the Proletarian Dictatorship", Moscow, 1967; E. G. Gimpelson. Soviets in the Years of foreign Intervention and Civil War, Moscow, 1968; I. I. Mints, History of the Great October, Vol. 3, Moscow, 1973; N. N. Demochkin, V. I. Lenin and the Formation of the Republic of Soviets, Moscow, 1974; G. A. Trukan. The Working Class in the Struggle for Victory and Consolidation of Soviet Power, Moscow, 1975; B. M. Morozov. The Party and Soviets in the October Revolution, Moscow, 1976, et al.

⁴ A. I. Lepeshkin. The Soviets are the power of the working people. 1917-1936. Moscow, 1966; F. M. Burlatsky. Lenin. State. Politika, Moscow, 1970; G. Kh. Shakhnazarov. Socialist democracy. Some questions of theory, Moscow, 1974; "Democracy of developed socialism", Moscow, 1975: "Socialism and Democracy", Moscow, 1976; "Soviets of deputies of workers and the development of socialist democracy", Moscow, 1976.

⁵ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 2.

⁶ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 38, p. 89.

⁷ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 39, p. 285.

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social life, in economic and socio-cultural construction, in state administration.

Bourgeois democracy, which is a form of dictatorship of the dominant minority, restrains the creative activity of the broad masses of the people. In contrast to the bourgeois state, the Soviet state, from the very first days of its existence, became an instrument of emancipation of the working people from exploitation and enslavement, a political form of power of the working class and the working masses led by it. The Soviets as a form of the proletarian state, as a direct organization of the working masses, are much higher and more effective than the bourgeois parliament. They expressed the democratic character of the socialist state, and gave the workers and peasants the most accessible representation in the administration of State affairs. On the basis of proletarian democracy, the Soviets opened up a wide scope for the revolutionary creativity of the masses. The principles of the creation and operation of Soviets-electability, turnover, accountability, transparency of work-became the principles of the Soviet state. "Soviets of workers and peasants," Lenin emphasized, "are a new type of state, a new higher type of democracy, a form of dictatorship of the proletariat, a way of governing the state without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie." ⁸ Soviets are a higher, incomparably more democratic type of social institution, a more perfect form of democracy-workers ' democracy. They reliably ensure a close, indissoluble connection between the authorities and the masses of the people, their direct participation in solving public affairs and in the management of the state.

The essence of any parliamentary republic in capitalist countries is the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The main task of the bourgeois state is to protect and strengthen private property and the entire system of exploitation of man by man. The entire mechanism of the bourgeois state, consisting of the army, police, prisons, and bureaucracy, acts entirely in the interests of the ruling class and is designed to keep the working masses in subjection and prevent them from governing the country. Having come to power, the bourgeoisie introduces a constitution, creates a parliament and other representative institutions, and declares political freedoms under the pressure of the working masses, but all this is done in such a way as not to offend the interests of the capitalists, so that under the flag of democracy they can freely implement their anti-democratic policy.

The Soviet Republic, by eliminating the isolation of the organs of power from the people, which is characteristic of bourgeois parliamentarism, opens up a real opportunity for the working people to participate in the government of the State. The consistent democratism of the Soviet socialist social and state system consists precisely in the fact that it creates real conditions for the majority of the population, and then all members of society, to participate in the government of the country. "The Soviet system," Lenin pointed out, "is the maximum of democracy for the workers and peasants, and at the same time it means a break with bourgeois democracy and the emergence of a new, world - historical type of democracy, namely, proletarian democracy or the dictatorship of the proletariat." ⁹ With the victory of October and the establishment of Soviet power, democracy for the first time in the history of mankind began to acquire its true meaning: it was now developing as a real democracy of the people.

From the first days of the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the enemies of socialism attempted to distort the essence of Soviet power by contrasting it with the proletarian dictatorship

⁸ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 37, p. 62.

⁹ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 44, p. 147.

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V. I. Lenin, exposing K. Kautsky and other leaders of the Second International who accused the Soviet government of undemocracy, showed that the abstract opposition of democracy to dictatorship is unscientific. Democracy and dictatorship do not exclude each other and are in a certain unity. There is neither dictatorship nor pure democracy in nature: any democracy, whether bourgeois or proletarian, is at the same time a dictatorship of the ruling class. Democracy is a special form of dictatorship or domination of one class over another. Consequently, the dictatorship of the proletariat does not mean the destruction of democracy; it is the highest type of democracy, democracy for the working people, who constitute the vast majority of the population.

Only with the victory of the socialist revolution do objective social prerequisites arise for the establishment and development of genuine democracy, and the improvement of democracy, its expansion and deepening, in turn, become a prerequisite for the successful construction of socialism and communism. Unlike bourgeois democracy, which reflects the economic inequality of people and is implemented in the interests of the exploiting minority, socialist democracy is based on the equal treatment of all working people to the tools and means of production. Thus, for the development of a full, all-embracing democracy, it is necessary that the working class should have political power at its disposal. K. Kautsky, while exaggerating the significance of "pure democracy", did not want to take into account the existence of a class struggle in bourgeois society, the class content of bourgeois democracy, and the fact that as long as classes exist, one can only speak of class struggle. democracy.

Lenin emphasized that from the point of view of the proletariat, the question of freedom, equality, and democracy "becomes only this: freedom from oppression by what class? equality of which class with which? democracy on the basis of private property or on the basis of the struggle for the abolition of private property? etc. " ¹⁰ It is impossible to speak of democracy, as the leaders of the Second International did, without reference to the class struggle, since democracy depends entirely on the nature of the ruling property, on the correlation of class forces in society. What class in a given society has economic, political, and therefore state power, and what class or classes are the owners of the means of production - this determines the specific type of democracy and all its qualities. By formally recognizing democracy, the bourgeoisie seeks to cover up the economic, political, and social unfreedom and inequality that exist in capitalist countries for the working and exploited. "Under the guise of the equality of the human person in general," Lenin wrote, "bourgeois democracy proclaims the formal or legal equality of the proprietor and the proletarian, the exploiter and the exploited, thereby leading the oppressed classes into the greatest deception." ¹¹

In bourgeois society, there is broad freedom for the exploitation of the working people, there is no democracy, but the omnipotence of monopoly capital is legalized. Universal suffrage in bourgeois society, wrote Fr. Engels is an "indicator of the maturity of the working class" ¹² . When proclaiming universal suffrage in capitalist countries, there are all sorts of restrictions that are aimed at eliminating broad strata of working people from political life (even during election campaigns). The equality of all before the law, which is written down in the constitutions of capitalist countries, is not guaranteed by anything, but remains formal. By current rules

¹⁰ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 39, p. 281.

¹¹ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 41, p. 162.

¹² K. Marx and F. Engels, Op. 21, p. 173.

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according to bourgeois laws, deputies are representatives of the will of the nation as a whole, but not of the voters of the districts from which they are elected. Therefore, deputies do not report to the voters. Voters are deprived of the right of early recall of a deputy who has failed to justify their trust.

Bourgeois democracy has a pronounced class, bourgeois character. Behind the facade of bourgeois democracy lies the omnipotence of monopolies, the political and economic oppression of the vast masses of working people by the exploiting minority.

Therefore, the emancipation of the working people from all forms of exploitation is inconceivable without a socialist revolution directed against the exploiters. Only with its victory does the history of true democracy - democracy for the working people, for the people-begin. Socialist democracy is an objective pattern of the development of a socialist society, a crucial tool for the most complete disclosure of the potential capabilities of the Soviet socio-economic system. All arguments about "pure democracy" in the conditions of the civil war unleashed by the deposed exploiting classes of Russia and the intervention of the imperialist powers that had begun meant nothing more than the rejection of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the return to power of the landlords and capitalists.

Bourgeois and reformist ideologists, in their efforts to oppose the dictatorship of the proletariat to democracy, distort the essence of the question of the relationship of the Soviet government to the Constituent Assembly, claiming that the dissolution of the latter was allegedly a "campaign" of the Bolsheviks against democracy. Meanwhile, the slogan of convoking a Constituent Assembly as one of the demands of the bourgeois-democratic revolution was put forward as early as 1903 in the Program of the RSDLP. But the Bolsheviks connected this convocation with the simultaneous overthrow of the autocracy, its replacement by a democratic republic, and the provision of a democratic constitution for the autocracy of the people, that is, the concentration of all supreme power in the hands of a legislative assembly composed of representatives of the people and forming one chamber. After the February Revolution of 1917, when Lenin and the Bolsheviks called on the masses to fight for the establishment of the Republic of Soviets, they proceeded primarily from the class content of the Soviets, from the support that the working masses gave to this new form of power. Pointing out the need to replace in the RSDLP Program the demand for a democratic republic, of which the Constituent Assembly was the personification, with the demand for a republic of Soviets, Lenin noted that "life and revolution put the Constituent Assembly in the background."¹³

After the victory of the October Revolution, the bourgeoisie and the compromise parties hoped to use the slogan "All power to the Constituent Assembly" to liquidate the Soviet government. The Bolshevik Party, while opposing a bourgeois parliamentary republic with a Constituent Assembly, at the same time did not refuse to convene it, since this idea still possessed the minds of a certain part of the Russian population, especially the peasantry. At the same time, the Bolsheviks constantly emphasized that in comparison with a bourgeois parliamentary republic, which could have had a Constituent Assembly as its organ, the Republic of Soviets is, of course, the highest type of State - the State of proletarian democracy. The Constituent Assembly convened by the Soviet Government, whose deputies were elected according to lists drawn up before the victory of the Socialist Revolution, opposed the recognition of Soviet power and refused to approve the decrees adopted by it. Only in response to this, the Central Executive Committee was forced on January 6, 1918.-

¹³ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 31, p. 110.

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start the Constituent Assembly. "The people wanted to call a Constituent Assembly, and we did," Lenin said at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on January 6 (19), 1918, " but they immediately felt what this notorious Constituent Assembly was like. And now we have fulfilled the will of the people, the will that says: all power to the Soviets. " ¹⁴ The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, which the enemies of the Soviet government tried to portray as a" general democratic body " that supposedly expressed the interests of all classes and strata of the Russian population, and with the help of which the Mensheviks, the right SRS, together with the Cadets, hoped to restore the bourgeois-landlord system in Russia, was a necessary measure to defend the gains of the Great October Revolution, which democracy.

By distorting the essence of Soviet power, Kautsky tried to contrast it with the Paris Commune. Thus, he argued that if the Paris Commune was formed on the basis of general elections, that is, without depriving the bourgeoisie of electoral rights, then the Soviet government was formed on the basis of class representation. Exposing the background of these fabrications, Lenin wrote: "First of all, it is known that the flower, the staff, and the upper ranks of the bourgeoisie have fled from Paris to Versailles... Secondly, the Commune fought Versailles as the workers 'government of France did against the bourgeois government." ¹⁵ The universal suffrage applied by the Paris Commune was radically different from the universal suffrage advertised by the bourgeoisie. The big bourgeoisie who had fled Paris did not participate in the vote. Universal suffrage, realized by the victorious proletariat of Paris, was in its hands a method, a method of organizing the institutions of the new proletarian State. The Paris Commune declared all public authorities to be elected from bottom to top. It has replaced the corrupt and rotten system of bourgeois parliamentarism with institutions in which the parliamentarians themselves work, execute their own laws, check the implementation of adopted laws themselves,and answer directly to their constituents. The Paris Commune established the right of recall by voters of its deputies who did not justify confidence. All this is evidence that the measures taken by the Paris Commune did not fit into the framework of bourgeois democracy, but meant replacing the institutions of bourgeois society with institutions of a fundamentally different kind that emerged in the course of the struggle of the Paris proletariat for its power.

Emphasizing this, Lenin wrote: "Here we observe just one of the cases of the 'transformation of quantity into quality': democracy, carried out with the greatest completeness and consistency with which it is generally conceivable, is transformed from a bourgeois democracy into a proletarian one."¹⁶ The transformation of bourgeois democracy into proletarian democracy here took place not as a result of the adaptation of the class interests of the proletariat to bourgeois democracy, but in the course of the liquidation of the old, bourgeois military-bureaucratic machine. The Paris Commune legislated for the destruction of the regular army and the creation of an armed army of the people, and proceeded to destroy the police and gendarmerie. The state order was protected by the people. The bureaucracy ceased to be a privileged class that stood above society, and began to serve the people. The Paris Commune set about liquidating the old bourgeois courts and organizing a new judicial system based on universal suffrage. It broke the instrument of spiritual oppression of the masses, separating the church from the state. However, the destruction of the Paris Commune rotten and corrupt management system-

¹⁴ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 241.

¹⁵ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 37, p. 248.

¹⁶ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 33, p. 42.

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This did not mean that the working class was opposed to representative institutions. They remain even in the conditions of a proletarian state, and without them there can be no proletarian democracy. Lenin revealed the inconsistency of the statements of the leaders of the Second International that the existence of a multi-party system in capitalist countries and the existence of a parliamentary opposition allegedly express the genuine democracy of the bourgeois social system. Meanwhile, in the conditions of a capitalist state, multiparty expresses the presence of antagonistic classes in society. Therefore, democracy cannot be equated with a multiparty system. The degree of development and nature of democracy is determined not by the number of political parties in a country, but by who these parties serve, whose interests they express and protect, and in whose hands the national wealth, means of production, and political power are located. The measure of the democratic nature of the social system is the presence or absence of political power in the hands of the overwhelming majority of the people, that is, the working masses, the real opportunity for them to exert a decisive influence on the development of political decisions, and directly participate in the implementation of state policy.

After the victory of the socialist revolution in Russia, in addition to the Bolshevik Party, there were, as is well known, other political parties, some of which were members of the Soviet Government and were delegates to congresses of Soviets. Thus, among the 673 delegates to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, there were 160 Social Revolutionaries and 72 Mensheviks. The Central Executive Committee elected at the congress consisted of 62 Bolsheviks, 29 left SRS, 6 Menshevik internationalists, 3 Ukrainian socialists and one Socialist-Revolutionary maximalist. The Central Executive Committee elected at the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets included 162 Bolsheviks, 122 left SRS, and 21 representatives of other petty-bourgeois parties. ¹⁷ The left Social Revolutionaries refused to join the government formed at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Only after repeated proposals of the Bolsheviks in December 1917. They joined the Soviet government headed by Lenin. However, the leading role in the organs of Soviet power belonged to the Communist Party, because it was the party of the working class - the hegemon of the socialist revolution, the party that most deeply and fully expresses the interests not only of the working class, but of the entire working people.

The question of the expediency of a one-party or multi-party system in a socialist state is decided taking into account specific conditions and time, the real balance of power, historical traditions and social characteristics of the country. The multi-party system that has developed in some socialist countries is based on the recognition by non-proletarian democratic parties of the program of socialist transformation of society and their active participation in its implementation, as well as on the recognition of the leading role of the Marxist-Leninist party in society and the state. The Communist Party is equally interested in democracy both in the conditions of preparation for the socialist revolution and after its implementation : in the first case, it facilitates the transfer of power to the hands of the working class, and in the second, it accelerates the development of socialism.

The development of the Soviet state from its very inception followed the path of developing socialist democracy and improving its forms. Democracy in Soviet socialist society is not limited to the question of the way in which the organs of power are formed; it is directly connected with the problem of the exercise of power, with the control of the state.-

¹⁷ "Congresses of Soviets in documents", Vol. I. Moscow, 1959, pp. 5, 7, 25.

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control over the activities of state organs on the part of the working masses. The process of democratization covers not only the state, but also the economic, socio-political and spiritual spheres of a socialist society.

With the victory of the socialist revolution in Russia, the implementation of democracy in a crucial area of society's life - in the economy-began. The Soviet government abolished private property. In the middle of November, 1917. she took over the management of the State Bank. On December 14, the Central Executive Committee adopted a decree "On the nationalization of banks" ¹⁸, according to which all banking was declared a state monopoly and all private banks were merged with the state one. At the end of November, the Soviet state began nationalizing large-scale industry. Railways, foreign trade, and the merchant navy were also nationalized. Deep agrarian reforms were carried out in the interests of the peasants. According to the Decree on Land adopted by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, peasants received more than 150 million dessiatines of appanage, landlords ' and church lands for free use. Assessing the significance of this act of the Soviet state, Lenin stressed at the Seventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets that "no country has ever given so much in such a short time for real freedom and for real equality, no country has ever given the working people in such a short time freedom from their main exploiting class - the landlords and capitalists, no country has ever the country did not give equality to such an extent in relation to the main source of livelihood - the land. " ¹⁹

The establishment of socialist social ownership of the means of production created the necessary material prerequisites for the actual existence of a genuine socialist democracy. It is this form of ownership that provides the workers of the Soviet State with the main freedom - freedom from exploitation, economic crises, freedom from fear for the future. Such freedom creates conditions for the truly full flourishing of the individual, and ensures democracy in practice. With the victory of October, the working masses were given a broad opportunity to exert direct influence on the material basis of the people's power. The change in the attitude of the working people towards the means of production - the people themselves became the true owners of the country's material and cultural wealth - was the basis for their broad exercise of their political rights. Noting that the essence of democracy is determined primarily by the nature of production relations, Lenin wrote: "Every democracy, like every political superstructure in general (which is inevitable until the abolition of classes is completed, until a classless society is created), ultimately serves production and is ultimately determined by the production relations of a given society." ²⁰

In the decrees and resolutions adopted by the Soviet State in the first months of its existence, the foundations of socialist democracy were laid. The greatest role in this respect was played by the "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia", adopted by the Soviet Government on November 2, 1917, which proclaimed the equality and sovereignty of all nations and nationalities large and small, and the abolition of all national and national - religious privileges and restrictions. The decree of the Council of People's Commissars abolished all classes and class divisions of citizens that existed before the revolution, privileges and restrictions, as well as all civil ranks.

¹⁸ SU RSFSR, 1917, N 10. article 150.

¹⁹ V. I. Lenin. Iss. Vol. 39, p. 433.

²⁰ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 42, p. 276.

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population of the country name-citizens of the Russian Republic ²¹ . The marriage decrees were of great importance for the emancipation of women. They were granted equal rights with men.

The Soviet State has provided the working masses with complete freedom of conscience. The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January ²⁰, 1918 "On Freedom of Conscience, Church and religious societies" eliminated the privileges of the clergy, the church was separated from the state, and the school was separated from the church22 .

The activities of the Soviet government in the field of socialist democracy were further legislated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, adopted by the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The Declaration declared Russia a republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers 'and Peasants' Deputies, power in which "must belong entirely to the working masses and their authorized government - the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers 'and Peasants' Deputies."²³ The legislative acts adopted by the Soviet State ensured the equality of all citizens regardless of gender, race or nationality, the broadest suffrage and participation of the masses in government, equal pay for equal work, the right to paid leave, education, and social security. The right to unite workers in public organizations, freedom of speech, assembly, and meetings were proclaimed.

Summing up the results of the Communist Party's efforts to consolidate the foundations of the Soviet state and socialist democracy at the first stage of the revolution, from October 25, 1917, to January 5, 1918, Lenin wrote: "(1) We have deployed, as never before, the forces of the working class to use state power. (2) We have dealt a worldwide blow to the fetishes of petty-bourgeois democracy, the constituent assembly, and bourgeois "freedoms" such as freedom of the press for the rich. (3 )We have created the Soviet type of state, a giant step forward after 1793 and 1871. " ²⁴

The Soviet government not only proclaimed the rights and freedoms of citizens, but also guaranteed them materially and legally, which was enshrined in the Constitution of the RSFSR, adopted by the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets in July 1918. Thus, Articles 14 and 15 stated that the Soviet Republic placed in the hands of the working class and the poor peasants all the technical and material means for publishing newspapers, magazines, books, and all the premises suitable for organizing people's assemblies ^.25 Lenin saw in the material guarantees of Soviet democracy its fundamental difference from bourgeois democracy. "When the old bourgeois-democratic constitutions described, for example, formal equality and the right of assembly, "he noted," our proletarian and peasant Soviet constitution throws away the hypocrisy of formal equality... The price of "freedom of assembly" for the workers and peasants is nothing if all the best buildings are seized by the bourgeoisie. Our Soviets have taken away all the good buildings, both in towns and villages, from the rich, and given all these buildings to the workers and peasants for their unions and meetings. Here is our freedom of assembly - for the working people! This is the meaning and content of our Soviet, our socialist Constitution! " ²⁶ .

With the victory of October, the sovereignty and supremacy of the people was established in Russia. The Soviets, as organs of State power, began to be created by the working people themselves from freely elected, constantly controlled bodies.-

²¹ SU RSFSR, 1917, N 3, article 31.

²² "Decrees of Soviet Power", Vol. I. Moscow, 1957, pp. 373-374.

²³ "Congresses of Soviets in documents", vol. I, p. 28.

²⁴ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 44, p. 102.

²⁵ "Congresses of Soviets in documents", Vol. I, p. 73.

²⁶ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 37, p. 63.

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registered and at any time replaceable representatives of the people. The absolute power of the working people in the form of Soviets was exercised not only in the political sphere, but also in the direction of economic and cultural construction. Being the most representative elected bodies of the people, the Soviets were already in the first post-revolutionary years not only legislative, but also law-enforcement institutions, and the combination of the legislative function and the function of law enforcement and executive activity in the Soviets was a step forward in the development of democracy. This peculiarity of the Soviets revealed the decisive difference between Soviet popular representation and bourgeois parliamentarism. In a bourgeois society dominated by the" principle of separation of powers, "the essence of popular representation and parliamentarism boils down to" deciding once every three or six years which member of the ruling class should represent and suppress... the people in parliament " ²⁷ . The separation of legislative and executive powers inherent in bourgeois parliamentarism turns the representative bodies that exist in bourgeois-parliamentary states into "empty talking rooms" whose purpose is to deceive the people, while "state" work is done in the chancelleries and headquarters ^.28

From the first days of the formation of the Soviet state apparatus, the highest and local authorities constitute a single system, a single State power, which belongs to the working masses, headed by the working class. Both the supreme and local Councils have full power within the limits of the powers granted to them by law. The Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 established by law the system of organization of central and local authorities that had already been established in practice. Article 31 stated that the supreme legislative, administrative and controlling body of the RSFSR in the period between congresses of Soviets is the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. According to Article 6, the regional, provincial, volost, and uyezd organs of Soviet power, as well as the Soviets, resolve all matters of purely local (for a given territory) significance, and unite all Soviet activities within the given territory ^.29 This principle of forming the Soviet state apparatus was confirmed in the Party Program adopted at the Eighth Congress of the RCP (b )in 1919,30 The principle of unity of State authorities was confirmed in the USSR Constitutions of 1924 and 1936 and expanded in the draft of the new Constitution of the USSR.

Democracy under the established Soviet regime was clearly manifested not only in the free expression of the will of the working people, but also in their active participation in public administration. The involvement of the broad masses of the people in the administration of the country is one of the most important principles of the Soviet State. "It is important for us," Lenin said, " to involve all the working people in the administration of the State without exception. This is a gigantically difficult task. But socialism cannot be introduced by a minority-a party. It can be introduced by tens of millions when they learn to do it themselves. We see it as our merit that we strive to help the masses take it up on their own immediately. " ³¹ The Communist Party and the Soviet State, while liquidating the old state administrative apparatus, from the first days of Soviet power steadily pursued a policy of involving the highest and local authorities, industry and other branches of government in the leadership of the state.-

²⁷ Ibid., p. 253.

²⁸ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 38, p. 47.

²⁹ "Congresses of Soviets in documents", vol. I, pp. 75, 80-81.

³⁰ "The CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee". Vol. 2. Ed. 8, pp. 43-44.

³¹ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 36, p. 53.

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the most active and well-trained representatives of the working class and peasantry. "At all costs, we must break the old, absurd, wild, vile and vile prejudice," Lenin wrote, "that only the so - called 'upper classes', only the rich or those who have passed the school of the rich classes, can govern the state, that they can be in charge of the organizational construction of socialist society... organizational work is feasible for both the ordinary worker and the peasant, who has literacy, knowledge of people, and practical experience. Such people are in the "common people"... mass" ³² .

With the victory of the October Revolution, which changed the economic and political situation of the working class and transformed it into the ruling class, the necessary conditions were created in the country for its political activity and direct participation "not only in the administration of the state, but also in power.. in the very structure of the state " ³³ . The best representatives of the working class were sent to lead the central organs of the Soviet state. Thus, a Bolshevik sailor N. G. Markin came to work in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, and a worker I. K. Ksenofontov joined the Cheka. A large group of workers from the Putilov factory was sent to work in the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. Many workers were elected to the new revolutionary courts. For example, the workers of the Narva district of Petrograd elected Putilov workers as judges-I. Gensler, V. Alekseev, G. Samoveda, ^F. Lemeshev34 . In 1918, out of 12,268 employees of the central state apparatus (data on which are available), 503 came directly from factories and factories, 1,270 from Soviets, Soviet institutions, trade union organizations, and 1,408 from the army and navy ^.35

In dealing with issues related to the involvement of the working masses in the government of the country, the Communist Party and the Soviet State attached paramount importance to eliminating the unequal position of women in public activities. The first Constitution of the Soviet Republic legally established the equality of political and civil rights of women and men proclaimed by the October Revolution. In accordance with the program requirements of the Bolshevik party, Soviet legislation did a lot to equalize women with men in the production process: for the first time in history, a woman began to receive equal wages for her work with a man. In capitalist countries, even in our time, there is no guarantee of equal pay for women for the same work as men. According to the International Labour Office, the gender pay gap is 17% in France, about 30% in Sweden, and about 50% in Japan. Among full-time workers in the United States, women's average earnings were 64% of men's in 1955, 60% in 1965 ,and 57% in 1974. ³⁶

Assessing the great significance of the October Revolution in the social emancipation of women, Lenin said in September 1919:: "No state and no democratic legislation has done for women even half of what the Soviet government did in the first months of its existence." ³⁷ The daily work of the Communist Party and the Soviet State among women contributed to the active involvement of working women and peasant women in the construction of socialism. Already in 1922, 1.5 million people were employed in the national economy of the country.

³² V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 198.

³³ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 41, p. 383.

³⁴ E. Gorodetsky. The birth of the Soviet State, Moscow, 1965, p. 319.

³⁵ G. A. Trukan. Op. ed., pp. 177-178.

³⁶ Pravda, 2. V. 1977.

³⁷ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 39, p. 201.

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women. Their political activity grew steadily. In 1920, there were 45,000 women in the Communist Party ^.38 Since October 1, women have been actively involved in the management of public affairs. Thus, among the delegates of the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets there were 53 women, the X All-Russian Congress of Soviets - 80 women; ³⁹; at the IV All - Ukrainian Congress of Soviets there were 27 delegates, at the V All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets-50; at the I Congress of Soviets of Azerbaijan-3 women; at the I Congress of Soviets of Armenia-17 women; at the I Transcaucasian Congress Soviets - 19 women ⁴⁰ .

The Communist Party, which became the ruling party with the victory of October, attached the utmost importance to the participation of direct producers in the management of the economy. Lenin, in his report to the Second All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions on January 20, 1919, pointing out the need for the widest possible involvement of workers in the management of production, emphasized: "If we don't solve this problem... then we will not complete the work of communist construction. " ⁴¹ The most important source of recruitment for the Soviet economic apparatus was the trade unions and factory committees. Thus, in 1918, out of 362 employees of the central offices and centers, 144 (34.2%) were representatives of trade unions and other workers ' organizations. There were even more workers in the boards of the main districts and centers: out of 287 members of the boards, 150 (52.3%) represented trade unions, factory committees and other workers ' organizations, and 108 (37.6%) represented the Supreme Economic Council. Workers who came to control directly from the machine accounted for 23.3% ⁴² . In the following years, there was a significant increase in the number of workers in the industrial management bodies. This is evidenced by the data for 1920 on the participation of workers in the governing bodies of industry, given by Lenin ⁴³ .

Thus, workers in the production management apparatus already in 1920 owned the majority (61.6%).

The Communist Party and the Soviet State linked the solution of issues related to the involvement of millions of working people in the government of the country primarily with the Soviets. "The people united by the Soviets are the ones who should govern the state," ⁴⁴ Lenin wrote even before the victory of the October Revolution. This provision was reflected in Article 10 of the 1918 Constitution of the RSFSR, which stated that all power within the Republic "belongs to the entire working population.

³⁸ N. D. Karpetskaya. Workers and the Great October, L. 1974, p. 131.

³⁹ "Congresses of Soviets in documents", vol. 1, pp. 128, 212.

⁴⁰ Ibid., vol. II. Moscow, 1960. p. 62, 84, 319, 364, 473.

⁴¹ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 37, pp. 450-451.

⁴² G. A. Trukan. Op. ed., p. 213.

⁴³ See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 42, p. 284. The table covers only a part of gubernia councils of national farms and enterprises.

⁴⁴ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 31, p. 188.

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united in city and village councils " ⁴⁵ . As the basis of proletarian democracy, the Soviets opened up a wide scope for the revolutionary creativity of the masses. They bind together the entire working population, all the nations and nationalities of the Soviet State, and at the same time fully and profoundly take into account and satisfy their specific needs and interests.

Following Lenin's instructions to involve the most active and trained representatives of workers and peasants in the leadership of the highest and local authorities, the Communist Party steadily pursued the line of improving the social composition of the Soviets. Thus, in 1920, in the Astrakhan City Council, workers accounted for 50.1%, in the Kaluga City Council - 32.6%, in the Moscow City Council - 74.8%, in the Perm City Council - 37%, in the Petrograd City Council - 71.1%, and in the Tsaritsyn City Council - 56%. Many workers were elected to the executive committees of local Soviets: among the members of the executive committees of uyezd Soviets, they were 31.9%, provincial - 36.5%, uyezd city - 44.8%, provincial city-63.2 %⁴⁶ .

The following data (in%) indicate the social composition of city councils of uyezd and provincial cities in 1920-1922 in the whole country: ⁴⁷ :

The table shows that workers and Red Army men made up the majority of deputies to local Soviets. The Soviets, as a new state apparatus, Lenin wrote, make it possible to establish "a strong link with a wide variety of professions, thereby facilitating various reforms of the most profound nature without bureaucracy." ⁴⁸ From the very first days of the establishment of Soviet power, the advanced workers and peasants headed many of the executive committees of the Soviets. So, among the chairmen of the executive committees of 35 provincial Soviets (data on which are available), there were 22 workers and peasants (63%)⁴⁹, including Bolsheviks: worker S. A. Novoselov (Vyatka Gubernia Executive Committee), worker I. I. Raevsky (Yaroslavl Gubernia Executive Committee), metal worker S. I. Pakhomov (Kursk City Council), turner- metalist M. D. Stepanov (Voronezh City Council), worker V. P. Kuznetsov (Ivanovo-Voznesensky City Council)⁵⁰ .

The Communist Party and the Soviet State paid great attention to attracting workers and peasants to participate in the work of the supreme authority. The Eighth Congress of the RCP (b) in its resolution on the organizational question, pointing out the need to change the composition of the Central Executive Committee, wrote:: "Members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee should be recruited mainly from local figures who are constantly working among the masses of peasants and workers." ⁵¹

⁴⁵ "Congresses of Soviets in documents", Vol. I, p. 73.

⁴⁶ B. K. Alekseev, M. N. Perfiliev. Principles and trends of development of the representative composition of local councils, L. 1976, p. 62.

⁴⁷ Ibid. The category of "Red Army men" included mainly workers and semi-proletarians (peasants).

⁴⁸ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 34, p. 304.

⁴⁹ B. M. Morozov. Op. ed., pp. 229-232.

⁵⁰ E. G. Gimpelson. Op. ed., p. 60.

⁵¹ "The CPSU in resolutions and decisions of Congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee", vol. 2, p. 75.

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In accordance with the decision of the Eighth Party Congress, Lenin, in the draft resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) of November 29, 1919, on the composition of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, proposed "to increase in large numbers the number of workers and working peasants who are undoubtedly closely connected with the mass of non-party workers and peasants."⁵² Expressing dissent over the election of mainly officials to the ninth-convocation Central Executive Committee, Lenin suggested that the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) adopt a decision according to which the Central Executive Committee should include at least 60% of its members from workers and peasants who do not hold "any positions in the Soviet service"^.53

There was a steady increase in the number of delegates from workers and peasants at All-Russian Congresses of Soviets, as well as at congresses of Soviets of other Soviet republics. Thus, among the delegates to the IX All-Russian Congress of Workers 'Soviets there were 39%, peasants-20%, among the delegates to the X All-Russian Congress of Workers' Soviets-44%, peasants-31%⁵⁴ . Among the delegates to the IV All-Ukrainian Congress of Workers 'Soviets were 40.3%, peasants-12.7%, VII All-Ukrainian Congress of Workers' Soviets-52%, peasants-25.4%⁵⁵ . At the Third All-Belarusian Congress of Soviets, 34.3% were workers 'delegates, 37% were peasants' delegates, 44.8% at the Fourth All - Belarusian Congress of Workers ' Soviets, and 14.4% were peasants ^.56 Among the members of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, elected at the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR, workers accounted for 46.2%, peasants -13.6%. The Union Council of the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R., elected at the Second Congress of Soviets of the U.S.S.R., comprised 46.7% of workers and 17.8% of peasants; the Council of Nationalities comprised 20.5% and 26.5%, respectively ^.57 The social composition of the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R., elected at the First and Second Congresses, shows that the workers and peasants in the supreme organ of the Soviet state formed an absolute majority.

The popular character of socialist democracy was already clearly manifested in the electoral system itself, in the order in which the organs of Soviet power were formed. In accordance with the established principle of elective Councils, the absolute majority of the population participated in the formation of higher and local government bodies, as well as in monitoring their activities. According to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, the right to vote and be elected was enjoyed, regardless of religion, nationality and gender, by citizens of the Russian Federation who had reached the age of 18 by election day and were engaged in socially useful work.

During the transition period, when the question of "who is who" was being decided, socialist democracy in our country had a pronounced and legally fixed class character. It was a proletarian democracy. The working class, as the leading force of Soviet society, had advantages over the peasantry in representation at All-Russian, regional, and provincial congresses of Soviets. According to Article 25 of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets consisted of representatives of city councils at the rate of 1 deputy per 25 thousand voters, and representatives of provincial congresses of Soviets-1 deputy per 125 thousand inhabitants. Regional congresses of Soviets were composed of representatives of city and county councils at the rate of 1 deputy per 25 thousand inhabitants, and from cities-1 deputy per 5 thousand voters.

Due to the fact that the deposed exploiting classes launched an armed struggle against the Soviet government, it was forced to deprive the factory owners, landowners, and large merchants of the right to vote-

⁵² V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 39, p. 333.

⁵³ "Lenin's Collection" XXXVI, p. 492.

⁵⁴ "Congresses of Soviets in documents", Vol. I, pp. 162, 212.

⁵⁵ Ibid., vol. II, pp. 62, 145.

⁵⁶ Ibid., pp. 265, 301.

⁵⁷ Ibid., vol. III. M. 1960, pp. 13, 32, 33.

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former gendarmes, etc. ⁵⁸ . However, the number of persons deprived of their voting rights was a small percentage. Thus, in 1923, the total number of voters excluded from elections in urban areas was 8.2%, and in rural areas-1.3%⁵⁹ . Explaining the meaning of depriving a certain category of citizens of the right to vote, Lenin emphasized that this measure is not a mandatory condition for the dictatorship of the proletariat, that it is temporary and caused solely by the resistance of counter-revolutionary elements: "The question of restricting the right to vote is a national-specific, and not a general question of the dictatorship. The question of restricting the right to vote must be approached by studying the special conditions of the Russian revolution, the special path of its development. " ⁶⁰

The consistent implementation of the class principle of democracy was dictated by the tasks facing the Soviet State during the transition period: first, it was necessary to eliminate the exploiting classes and suppress their resistance; second, to create a solid economic foundation for socialism and ensure the country's economic independence; third, to re-educate the vast masses of the peasantry and put them on socialist lines. fourthly, to launch a cultural revolution, eliminate illiteracy, and create a socialist people's intelligentsia; fifthly, to repel all attempts by international imperialism to restore capitalism in our country. After socialism was built, the USSR Constitution of 1936 abolished restrictions on the right to vote based on class. Elections to the Supreme and local Councils have become universal, equal, direct and are held by secret ballot. The electoral system in force in the USSR since then does not contain any qualification restrictions.

Simultaneously with the adoption of the principle of electability of Soviets, the working masses from the first days of the Soviet state's existence were given the right to recall deputies who did not justify their confidence. The unity of the right of the people to elect and recall their representatives is one of the characteristic features of socialist democracy and guarantees the real sovereignty of the people. This unity was enshrined in the statutes of the first Soviets that emerged in Russia during the revolution of 1905-1907. Thus, the charter of the Kostroma Council stated that the executive commission of the Council is obliged to "organize the re-election of old deputies instead of those who have left or are performing their duties in bad faith"⁶¹ . The right to recall deputies was established in Section 16 of the Tver Soviet Charter: "If a deputy does not justify the confidence of the electors, they shall inform the Assembly of Workers' Deputies about it; the latter is obliged to hold new elections. " ⁶²

Lenin paid exceptionally great attention to the question of recalling deputies. He constantly emphasized that the right to recall deputies is the basic principle of true democracy. In May 1917, criticizing the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries for their deviation from democratic principles, he proposed "to recognize and emphasize the principle of democracy: the right of the population to recall at any time all and sundry elected officials, representatives..." ⁶³ Pointing out the need to fix in the party Program the provision on the right to recall deputies, Lenin wrote: "The party is fighting for a more democratic proletariat-

⁵⁸ " History of the Soviet Constitution. Collection of documents. 1917-1957". Moscow, 1957, p. 85.

⁵⁹ B. K. Alekseev, M. N. Perfiliev. Op. ed., p. 63.

⁶⁰ V. I. Lenin. PSS Vol. 37, pp. 265-266.

⁶¹ " The highest rise of the revolution. November-December 1905". Part II. Moscow, 1965, p. 65.

⁶² Ibid., p. 171.

⁶³ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 32, pp. 118-119.

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ski-a peasant republic in which... all officials become not only elective, but also replaceable at any time at the request of the majority of their electors. " ⁶⁴

The right of recall of deputies by voters, as a principle of socialist democracy, was enshrined in the party's Program adopted at the Eighth Congress of the RCP (b). In the very first days of Soviet power, Lenin developed a "Draft decree on the right of recall", which indicated that any elected institution "can be considered truly democratic and truly represents the will of the people only on condition that the right to recall their elected representatives is recognized and applied by voters." He noted that the refusal to implement the right of recall is " a betrayal of democracy and a complete renunciation of basic principles and tasks... 65. The Decree on the Right to Recall Delegates, adopted by the Central Executive Committee on November 21 (December 4), 1917, established the procedure for recalling electors to their electorates . The right to recall deputies by electors was enshrined in the first constitutions of the Soviet republics. Thus, in Section 78 of Chapter 15 of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, it was written: "Voters who have sent a deputy to the Soviet have the right at any time to recall him and hold new elections in accordance with the general provision."

Control over the work of deputies from the first days of Soviet power was directly connected with the implementation of another Leninist principle of socialist democracy - the involvement of all members of the Soviets in the management of state affairs. "The further development of the Soviet organization of the state," Lenin pointed out, "should consist in the fact that every member of the Soviet must necessarily carry out constant work on the administration of the state, along with participation in the meetings of the Council." ⁶⁷

One of the directions of development of Soviet socialist democracy from the moment of its birth was the activity of the Communist Party and the Soviet State to involve the broad masses of the people in active political life, in the management of public and state affairs through a broad system of public organizations - trade unions, cooperatives, and the Komsomol. In the resolution of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets "On the formation of a Workers' and Peasants 'Government", it was entrusted with the task of "ensuring the implementation of the program proclaimed by the Congress, in close unity with mass organizations of workers, working women, sailors, soldiers, peasants and employees"⁶⁸ . Of particular importance among these organizations are the trade unions, which Lenin called "the school of management, the school of economic management, the school of communism" ⁶⁹ . From the first days of the Republic of Soviets, the Komsomol also took an active part in managing the affairs of the society and in the activities of state bodies.

Since the victory of October, the main bearer of the principles of socialist democracy, the guarantor of its full development and improvement, has been the Communist Party, whose policy expresses the interests of all the working people of the Soviet state. During the years of Soviet rule, the Communist Party has done a great deal of work to develop and improve democracy. With the construction of mature socialism, proletarian democracy in the U.S.S.R. became a national democracy. The state of the dictatorship of the proletariat has developed into a state of the whole people, a political organization of the whole people, with the leadership of the working class, headed by the Communist Party. Sovetskoe sotsi-

⁶⁴ Ibid., p. 141.

⁶⁵ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 106.

⁶⁶ "Decrees of Soviet Power", vol. I. pp. 116-119.

⁶⁷ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 36, p. 73.

⁶⁸ "Congresses of Soviets in documents", Vol. I, p. 14.

⁶⁹ V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 42. p. 388.

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In the conditions of a developed socialist society, which is gradually developing into a communist one, the nationalist state of the whole people appears as the highest type of socialist democracy, as a new stage in the development of the democracy of the political power of the working people.

The world-historical achievements of the Soviet people under the leadership of the Communist Party in the 40 years since the adoption of the current Constitution are reflected in the draft of the new Constitution of the USSR. It defines the main directions for the expansion and deepening of socialist democracy. First of all, the democratic principles of the formation and operation of the Soviets that form the political basis of the U.S.S.R. are being further developed. Renaming them the Soviets of People's Deputies underlines the nationwide character of the Soviet state, which expresses the will and interests of the working class, the peasantry and intelligentsia, and all the nations and nationalities of the country. The project provides for strengthening the role of Councils in solving the most important issues of society. 106 states that the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. is authorized to resolve all issues referred by the Constitution to the jurisdiction of the U.S.S.R. Local councils solve not only all issues of local significance, manage state, economic and socio-cultural construction on their territory, but also control and coordinate the activities of all enterprises, institutions and organizations located on the territory of this Council (Articles 145 - 146). The draft Constitution establishes the systematic control of Councils over executive and administrative bodies, over the activities of organizations and officials.

The draft new Constitution provides for a change in the electoral system. If under the 1936 Constitution the right to be elected to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. was granted to persons who had reached the age of 23, and to the Supreme Soviets of the Union Republics-21 years, then, according to Article 95 of the draft, all citizens of the U.S.S.R. who have reached the age of 18 are granted the right to with the exception of persons recognized as insane in accordance with the procedure established by law. "This is a real manifestation of our society's concern for and trust in young people," said Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Chairman of the Constitutional Commission, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU on May 24, 1977 ^.70

As noted in the draft of the new Constitution of the U.S.S.R., socialist democracy is further developed by expanding the rights of public organizations and increasing their role in solving political, socio-cultural, and economic issues. For the development of democratic principles in the management of production, the provision on the role of workers ' collectives contained in article 16 of the draft Constitution is of great importance: "Workers' collectives and public organizations participate in the management of enterprises and associations, in solving issues related to the organization of work and everyday life, in using funds intended for the development of production, as well as for socio-cultural needs and material incentives."

The draft of the new Constitution further developed and improved the provisions on the rights of Soviet citizens. In Chapter 6 " Citizenship of the USSR. Equality of citizens " establishes the general principle of equality of citizens of the USSR before the law, regardless of origin, social and property status, national and racial affiliation, gender, education, etc. As is known, the Constitution of 1936 established broad socio-economic rights, which are:

⁷⁰ L. I. Brezhnev. On the draft Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Report at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU on May 24, 1977, Moscow, 1977, p. 8.

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used by citizens of the USSR. According to the draft new Constitution, the rights of citizens are expanded, and their material guarantees become richer and more weighty. Thus, the right to work is supplemented by the right "to choose a profession, occupation and work in accordance with vocation, abilities, professional training, education and taking into account social needs "(Article 40). Article 44 of the draft Constitution proclaims the right of citizens to housing. The provisions on the political rights and freedoms of citizens of the Soviet Union, such as freedom of speech, the press, assembly, meetings, street processions and demonstrations, are also more fully formulated. Article 48 of the new draft Constitution proclaims the right of citizens to participate in the management of State and public affairs. At the same time, the draft new Constitution of the USSR emphasizes the idea that the exercise of all these rights and freedoms in our country is inseparable from the performance of citizens ' duties (Article 59).

Sixty years of experience in the development of the Soviet state shows the whole world that only socialist democracy guarantees real freedom and equal rights of citizens. "We oppose the most complete and real set of rights and duties of the citizen of socialist society to the interpretation of the concepts of democracy and human rights that is perverted and vulgarized by bourgeois and revisionist propaganda," said Leonid Brezhnev at the May 1977 Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU⁷¹ . The Communist Party, as the leading and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, and of all State and public organizations, is working tirelessly to further improve the principles of national socialist democracy on the basis of mass and active participation of the working people in the administration of the State and all the affairs of society.

⁷¹ Ibid., p. 15.

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