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An Experiment in Competition: The 1987 Elections to the Local Soviets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Jeffrey Hahn
Jeffrey Hahn*
Affiliation:
Villanova University
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Extract

For western observers, one of the most striking policy shifts articulated by Mikhail S. Gorbachev since he became general secretary of the CPSU in March 1985 has been his insistence on greater democratization (demokratizatsiia) and self-government (samoupravlenie). In his speech to the Communist party's Central Committee on 28 January 1987 he explicitly identified “the many-sided development of democracy and selfgovernment“ as a key component of what he meant by the reconstruction (perestroika) of Soviet society. His speech to the plenum dealt in large part with this theme. In it, Gorbachev startled his audience both at home and abroad with proposals for the introduction of a degree of competitiveness in the elections of party leaders, state officials, and enterprise managers.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , Fall 1988 , pp. 434 - 447
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1988

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References

1. Materialy plenuma Tsk KPSS, 27–28 Jan., 1987 (Moscow: Politizdat, 1987), p. 15.

2. Ibid., p. 30.

3. Legislation was adopted separately for each union republic. They did not differ substantively from that of the RSFSR. “Postanovlenie Presidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta RSFSR o povedenii v poriadke eksperimenta vybprov v mestnye Sovety narodnykh deputatov RSFSR po mnogomandatnym izbiratel'nym okrugom, “Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta RSFSR, no. 10 (1987), item 310.

4. Exceptions to this lack of attention include Werner Hahn, “Electoral Choice in the Soviet Bloc, “Problems of Communism 36, no. 2 (March-April, 1987); Celestine Bohlen, “Soviets Hold Multicandidate Voting,” Washington Post, 22 June 1987, p. 1; and “Any Color, So Long as it's Reddish,” Economist 303 (27 June 1987): 46.

5. Other than articles 95–102 in the 1977 constitution, there is no single national electoral law. In 1979, however, electoral laws were adopted in all the fifteen union republics and the twenty autonomous republics. With only the most minor variations, they conform to the law used in the RSFSR. This law, along with extensive commentary prepared by the Department on Issues in the Work of the Soviets of the Presidiumof the Supreme Soviet has been published as Kommentarii k nekotorym stat'iam zakona o vyborakh v mestnye Sovety narodnykh deputalov RSFSR (Moscow: Iuridicheskaia Literature, 1979). See especially articles 35–40 dealing with the nomination of candidates. Article 40, for example, calls for the alphabetical listing of candidates for each district seat. The most comprehensive Soviet discussion of this legislation as itpertains to the local Soviets is Grigor'ev, V. K. and Zhdanov, V. P., Vybory v mestnye Sovety narodnykh deputatovi poriadok ikh provedeniia (Moscow: Iuridicheskaia Literature, 1982 Google Scholar.

6. For a summary of these debates see Hill, Ronald J., Soviet Politics, Political Science, and Political Reform (New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1980), pp. 24–30 Google Scholar.

7. Barabashev, G. V., “Izbiratel'naia kampaniia: Tseli i sredstva,” Sovetskoe gosudarstvo ipravo, no.4 (1987), p. 7 Google Scholar (hereafter referred to as SGiP). See also, V. I. Vasil'ev, “Sovety i razvitie demokratii, “Pravda, 8 May 1987, p. 3.

8. Vasil'ev, “Sovety i razvitie demokratii. “

9. Barghoon, Frederick, Politics in the USSR, 2nd edition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1972), p. 91 Google Scholar.

10. Soviet specialists are aware of voter apathy and those favoring competitive elections use the needto stimulate voter interest as one of their principle arguments. See Barabashev, “Izbiratel'naia kampaniia,” pp. 5, 6; V. I. Vasil'ev, “Government Open to All,” Literaturnaia Gazeta, 17 September 1986, p. 10 (hereafterLG) (CDSP 38, No. 52, p. 12); and A. T. Leizerov, “Teoreticheskie problemy sovershenstvovaniia demokraticheskie nachal v formirovanii i deiatel'nosti mestnykh Sovetov narodnykh deputatov BelorusskoiSSR (preliminary Ph.D. diss., Moscow State University, 1986) chap. 2, section 2 (pagination not available).

11. M.S. Gorbachev, “Report of the CPSU Central Committee for the 27th Congress,” Pravda, 26 February 1986, pp. 1, 11 (CDSP 38, No. 8, p. 24).

12. V. I. Vasil'ev, “Government Open to All” LG, 17 September 1986 (CDSP 38, no. 52, p. 12). S. A. Avak'ian, “Samoupravlenie i vybory,” Sovety Narodnykh Deputatov, no. 10 (1986), p. 83 (hereafterSND).

13. B. A. Strashun, “Vybory: Puti sovershenstvovanniia,” SND, no. 1 (1987), p. 77; V. I. Vasil'ev, “Sovety i razvitiie demokratii,” Pravda, 8 May 1987, p. 3; Strashun, “Vybory.” Strashun is a specialist on East European socialist systems and had made similar arguments earlier. See B. A. Strashun, “Razvitieizbiratel'nogo prava sotsialisticheskikh stran” SGiP, no. 7 (1973).

14. Vasil'ev, “Government Open to All,” p. 10.

15. Data are from Nekotorye voprosy organizatsionnoi raboty mestnykh Sovetov narodnykh deputatovv 1985 godu (statistieheskii sbornik) (Moscow, 1986), p. 8. This factor was emphasized by Iu. Evtiukhin, “Zamestitali deputatov? Logichnoi,” SND, no. 1 (1987), p. 80.

16. B. A. Strashun, “Vybory,” p. 77.

17. Hill notes Barabashev's presentation of this approach in 1975 in Soviet Politics, Political Science and Reform, p. 29. Barabashev also discussed the development of this idea with me during a research visit to Moscow in the fall of 1984.

18. G. V. Barabashev, “Izbiratel'naia kampaniia: Tseli i sredstva,” SGiP, No. 4 (1987), pp. 7–8. Although this article appears to be the first presentation of this proposal in print, earlier drafts were in circulation well before the legislation adopted on 26 February 1987.

19. Malerialy plenumaTsk KPSS, 28 Jan., 1987 (Moscow: Politizdat, 1987), pp. 29–30.

20. “V Politburo Tsk, KPSS,” Pravda, 13 February 1987, p. 1.

21. For a description of the different levels of the Soviets and of the relationship between them with astatistical breakdown from the 1985 elections, see Hahn, Jeffrey W., Soviet Grassroots: Citizen Participationin Local Soviet Government (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1988)Google Scholar, chap. 4. This book alsodescribes normal election procedures

22. “Postanovlenie Presidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta RSFSR,” Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta RSFSR, p. 198. Subsequent discussion of the decree is based on this source.

23. I spent the period from 3 February to 9 June 1987 teaching in the Law Faculty of Moscow State University as a Fulbright Exchange Scholar. During this time I held numerous talks and interviews on the local Soviets with Soviet specialists including S. A. Avak'ian, G. V. Barabashev, A. A. Bezuglov, A. T.Leizerov, N. G. Starovoitov, V. V. Smirnov, and V. I. Vasil'ev. While all were helpful, none bear direct responsibility for the views expressed here.

24. A remarkably candid description of how the raikom organizational-instructional department in one district chose candidates according to the necessary “percentages” can be found in A. Pashkov, “Electionsby “Work Order, “’ hvestiia, 2 February 1987, p. 2 (CDSP 39, no. 6, p. 7).

25. Vladimir Nadein, “Vybory v zerkale chuvstv,” hvestiia, 18 July 1987, p. 3.

26. Ibid. See also a letter to the editor entitled “Ne po anketu—po delu,” Izvestiia, 2 June 1987, p. 1. Although it is possible to defeat a candidate if he receives less than 50 percent of the votes cast, this happens rather rarely—1, 076 cases out of 2, 321, 766 in 1987. Only one such case occurred out of thousands in Moscow when students and staff of Moscow State University went out of their way to defeat the nominee for the Lenin district soviet in Moscow, Irina M. Dodonova, as a protest against her performance as head of the university's food services. See P. Ignat'ev, “Bol'shinstvo golosovalo protiv,” Moskovskaia Pravda, 24 June1987, p. 3. Also Nikolai Andreev, “Posle vyborov,” LG, 1 July 1987, p. 10. A more successful candidate (or more artful dodger) managed to avoid defeat by having his district assignment changed at the last minute. A Solov'ev, “Pokirovka,” hvestiia, 20 August 1987, p. 3.

27. In the two months or so before the election Vechernaia Moskva published an occasional column called “Navstrechu vyboram v mestnye Sovety.” The events cited here were described on p. 1 of the 14 April edition, along with a description of a nominating session in which the official candidate won without opposition. The emphasis of the reports in this period, however, was on the element of competition in the nominationprocess.

28. The Kaunus District, one of forty-four in Lithuania, was the subject of an interview held with thesecretary of the Presidium of the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet, 1.1. Guretskas. “Po mnogomandatnym okrugam,” SND, no. 5 (1987), pp. 29–32, and also of an article by a leading specialist on the Soviets, Vadim A. Perttsik, “Liudiam po dyshe,” Pravda, 4 June 1987, p. 1. The data used here come from thesetwo articles.

29. These data were published in Pravda, 25 June 1987, p. 1. It is not clear from the published figures whether the three candidates who did not receive 50 percent of the votes cast came from the multimember districts, though data published in Pravda, 27 June 1987, suggested this may be the case. I wish to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Liz Trabulsi, a student in the Russian studies program at Bryn Mawr College for tracking down these statistics.

30. For the 1961 figures see Friedgut, Theodore H., Political Participation in the USSR (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1979), p%. 130 Google Scholar; for the 1985 figures see Hahn, Soviet Grassroots, p. 106

31. V. Shepotkin, “Obnovlenie,” Izvestiia, 7 July 1987, p. 2. The succeeding quotations are from this article.

32. Vladimir Fomin, “Tsena mandata,” LG, 8 July 1987, p. 2.

33. Fomin particularly stressed this aspect in ibid, where he noted that the deputies proceeded to choose—from among their ranks—a rather good replacement for the ousted president of one village soviet. He also reported the approval of the district party committee secretary who noted that those who had been elected were quality candidates.

34. Ibid.

35. A. T. Leizerov, “Teoreticheskie problemy,” p. 278. These figures are actually an improvement from earlier years. See Leizerov, A. T., Savetskaia vybarchaia sistema (Minsk: Belorussia State University, 1974, pp. 103–104 Google Scholar.

36. Avakian, S. A., “Samoupravlenie i vybory,” SND, no. 10 (1986), pp. 80–81.Google Scholar

37. Barabashev, “Izbiratel’ naia kampaniia,” p. 9; Vasil'ev, “Government Open to All. “

38. Barabashev, “Izbiratel’ naia kampaniia,” p. 9; Avakian, “Samoupravlenie i vybory,” p. 79.

39. A. T. Leizerov, “Teoreticheskie problemy,” chap. 2, section 2.

40. B.A. Strashun, “Vybory: Puti sovershenstvovanniia,” SND, no. 1 (1987), pp. 78–79. A. A.Bezuglov seemed to share this view in an interview on 12 June 1987

41. V. Fomin, “Tsena mandata,” LG, 8 July 1987.

42. Strashun, “Vybory.” A discussion of the current imbalance of power between the executive committeeand the deputies, as well as of the presidium proposal can be found in Hahn, Soviet Grassroots: pp. 246–250.

43. Ibid., and Strashun interview, “How Are We to Choose?” Izvestiia, 3 January 1987, p. 3 (CDSP 39, no. 6, p. 4).

44. Avak'ian “Samoupravlenie i vybory,” strongly attacks the high rate of turnover at each election and also proposes a three-term limit. Leizerov, “Teoreticheskie problemy,” chap. 2, section 2, and in conversation with the author, thought that longer sessions or more frequent meetings among fewer deputies might be a good idea. He also felt that the rate of deputy renewal was much too high. A limit on terms wasalso proposed by E. Kuzmin, “The Development of Democracy to the Fullest,” Pravda, 24 August 1987(CDSP 39, no. 34, p. 16).

45. Iu. Evtiukhan, “Zamestiteli deputatov? Logichnoi,” SND, no. 1 (1987), p. 80. See also, G. V.Barabashev, “Izbiratel'naia kampaniia: Tseli i sredstva,” SGiP, no. 5 (1987) for a related proposal, p. 11.