Review of L. A. Grigorian,the Power of the People in the USSR

The power of the people determines the character of all the political institutions of Soviet society, the fundamental points of superiority of Soviet government and democracy, and their creative role in guaranteeing economic and social progress and in the building of communism. It is natural that problems pertaining to the power of the people are of particular importance to the Soviet system of government organization and to jurisprudence.     

Soviet Political (State) Sciences Association Centers Attention on the Scientific Foundations of Politics

The decisions of the October and November 1964 plenums of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union have drawn attention, with new force, to problems of the scientific validity of political practices. Prevention of subjectivism and unjustified haste in the solution of affairs of state, and the further improvement of the efficiency of all links in the political organization of Soviet society — this is the range of problems now facing the social sciences.     

The Treatment of Legal Problems Involved in the Management of the Economy

In every science there appears, at some stage in its development, a particular complex of problems demanding immediate solution. In Soviet jurisprudence it is primarily the legal problems of administration of the economy that fall into this category.     

On the Results of a Study of the State Structure of the Tatar ASSR

The fifty years of experience of development of the Soviet state and of all forms of state structures based on nationality provide the most persuasive testimony that Soviet society has successfully solved one of the most complex of social problems — the national question. It is precisely under the conditions of socialist society that new forms of state and law have been found and successfully applied that have made it possible, on the basis of friendship and truly fraternal collaboration, to unite dozens of nations and nationalities and create the conditions for their development.     

Blind Alleys of Post-Soviet Development: Searching for Exits: Editor's Introduction

The articles in this issue of Russian Politics and Law show that Soviet legacies continue to shape the political development of all of the post-Soviet states. Some articles in the issue focus more specifically on Russia, highlighting how some of the political problems that have resulted from Soviet legacies have derailed the liberalization of the region's most important state.     

刑法教义学与犯罪论体系的分野

刑法教义学是以制定法和判例为基础的学问,其研究方法的核心是对刑法的解释和体系化。刑法教义学是观察和分析各种犯罪论体系的重要维度。大陆法系的犯罪阶层体系是一种教义学体系,是对刑法总则的解释和体系化;苏俄的犯罪构成体系则背离了刑法教义学传统,因而衍生出诸多问题。我国应当强化以实在法规范为对象的教义学研究,逐步清除苏俄犯罪构成体系的不当影响。     

Improving National Relations in the USSR

The problem of nationalities occupied a substantial place among the wide range of social problems raised at the Twenty-seventh CPSU Congress. The Soviet Union has been a pioneer in addressing the national question which, as V. I. Lenin wrote, is a worldwide phenomenon. It is one of the most acute questions in the history of mankind: the engendering of class antagonisms that inevitably entail national oppression, the lack of equality of nationalities before the law, and their inequality. Our country has convincingly demonstrated to the entire world that with the victory of socialism antagonisms in the sphere of national relations are being overcome. As noted in the new edition of the CPSU Program, "the Soviet Union has successfully resolved the national question that was left over from the past." In the course of socialist construction, the formerly backward national hinterlands have long ago vanished; socialist nations have joined to form an international community—the Soviet people—that is new in its social parameters; there have formed common cultural traits that are characteristic of Soviet people of all nationalities; national discord is a thing of the past; and the fraternal friendship of the peoples, forged in their common creative labor and tested in the most difficult of wars, has become the standard of life.     

前苏联“解冻文学”对中国“百花文学”的影响

前苏联的“解冻学”和中国的“百花学”都属于“社会批判学”。“解冻学”在社会批判中阐发“人的尊严”，这一社会批判理论直接影响着“百花学”的形成和发展。“百花学“仿效“解冻学”的创作路数，艺评论思想和组织形式，由于不同的国内形势，“解冻学”得以发展，而“百花学”却被迫中断。     

The Defense Counsel: Rights and Problems

With this article by the prominent jurist, Grigorii Zakharovich Anashkin, our journal initiates a discussion on the problems of Soviet lawyers.     

The Further Development of Democracy in Soviet State Administration

Soviet agencies of state administration are carrying on a great deal of organizational and creative activity toward resolving problems involved in administrative-political, economic, socio-cultural and military construction. These agencies consist of representatives of the working population, serve its interests and are under its control. Despite this, many opportunities exist for greater democracy in their operations. In the activities of certain links in the administrative apparatus, cases of deviation from Leninist principles are still encountered: replacement of collegial solution of problems by one-man decision; violations of legality; ignoring of public opinion; swelling of paid staffs, etc. These deviations do not define the nature of the Soviet state apparatus, but one cannot make peace with them. They must be exposed and eliminated more rapidly.     

Soviet discussion on enterprise incentives and methods of planning

For some years a discussion has been in progress among economists in the Soviet Union on methods of securing the active and positive participation of individual enterprises in a centrally planned economy. The main theme of discussion has been the problem: how to arrange the system of plan indices, prices, enterprise bonuses, etc. to encourage enterprise interest in higher plan assignments, introduction of new technology, and improvement of quality of output. On the following pages some excerpts from this debate are reproduced. However, since the problems discussed are now engaging also the Soviet political authorities, let us first quote a few sections from one of the many official statements made in this connection. The one we have chosen is from the report given by the Soviet Prime Minister N. S. Khrushchev at the CPSU Central Committee Plenary Meeting of November 19, 1962 (Pravda, November 20).     

Problems of Public Opinion Research

Public opinion plays a greater and greater role in solving the problems facing Soviet society. It exercises strong influence on the functioning of all the elements of the political system of developed socialism. Therefore, interdisciplinary analysis of this phenomenon is of special importance.     

The Fourth Soviet-American Meeting of Legal Scholars

The regular conference of Soviet and American legal scholars who study problems of the activity of local governing bodies took place in June 1981 in Moscow. Its subject was questions related to the process of preparing and making decisions at various levels of local government.     

刘少奇与苏联宪法的移植简

新中国的宪政建设在发端之初就走上了移植外来法的道路,从宪法制定到宪政实践,均受到苏联宪政模式的广泛影响.在苏联宪法理论于中国大陆全面传播之时,刘少奇作为苏、中法律嫁接的桥梁,将苏联的制宪建议、宪政精神和选举制度等传入中国;通过移植苏联宪法,主持和参与新中国第一部宪法的制定工作,为“五四宪法”的诞生作出了卓越贡献.     

The Twilight of the Brezhnev Era

In August 1993, Professor Vladimir Shubkin, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, celebrated his seventieth birthday. Professor Shubkin's name is associated with the revival of Soviet sociology in the 1960s. One of the creators of the Siberian school of sociology, he established a number of new directions in the theory and methodology of research. His books Quantitative Methods in Sociology, Sociological Experiments, and The Beginning of the Road are standards of scientific analysis of social problems.     

Certain Problems of State Administration under the Conditions of the Socialist State of the Entire People

Soviet state administration, constituting the activities of state bodies in the daily and direct guidance of economic and socio-cultural development, retains its importance in full in the period of the comprehensive building of communism. The direct relationship between this form of state activity and the developing economic and cultural processes defines the role of the administrative machinery in the establishment of the material and technological foundations for communism and of all the conditions needed for socialist social relationships to undergo transition to communist relations. "Along with problems of economic development," N. S. Khrushchev remarked at the 21st Congress of the CPSU, "there arise pressing problems concerning the political organization of society, the state structure and administration during the period of the comprehensive building of communism."     

When the World Hung by a Thread

When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the East European countries threw themselves in friendship into the West's embrace, no one wanted to think about the problems and difficulties that lay ahead. A few years later, when the Soviet Union disintegrated and the Russian Federation that rose from its ruins declared a resolute transition to capitalism, everyone already knew that the transformations would be painful. This was evident in the experience of the formerly fraternal countries in Eastern and Central Europe, even as the Soviet economy was undergoing a grave crisis, from which there could be no exit without losses. However, neither in 1989 nor in 1991 did many doubt the correctness of the path chosen or that ultimately the triumph of capitalism was guaranteed. With that triumph would come an effective economy, freedom, and prosperity. Some dissenters ventured to protest, but no one wanted to listen to them.     

New Legislation in the Union Republics with Respect to the Legal Profession

The Soviet legal profession occupies a place of honor in the system of government and public organizations whose duty it is to protect the rights and liberties of Soviet citizens and to strengthen socialist legality and order. In performing the function of defense in criminal trials and in providing other legal services to citizens, enterprises, institutions and organizations, and by vigorous activity to educate the people with respect to Soviet law, lawyers promote the defense of the rights and legal interests of the citizenry, their training in a spirit of respect for Soviet laws, prevention of crime, strengthening of socialist legality, and proper administration of justice.     

Law of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic on the Adoption of the RSFSR Code on Marriage and the Family

The Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic decrees:

Article 1. The RSFSR Code on Marriage and the Family is hereby adopted and shall be put into effect on November 1, 1969.     

Church,State, and Society in the East

The articles in this issue of Russian Politics and Law review the role of religion in state-society relations in the former Soviet Union. They examine the role of the Church in several former Soviet republics and show that the Orthodox Churches in former Soviet states share many commonalities.