Government of the Soviet Union

“ For the first time in the history of mankind a socialist society was created.
The strength of socialism was vividly demonstrated by the immortal feat of the Soviet people and their Armed Forces in achieving their historic victory in the Great Patriotic War. This victory consolidated the influence and international standing of the Soviet Union and created new opportunities for growth of the forces of socialism, national liberation, democracy, and peace throughout the world. ”

“ While we were abolishing the private right of inheritance, it was impossible not to take into account the existence of individual families and the fact that free education and maintenance of children by society has not yet been thoroughly accomplished, and that the social insurance of all persons incapable of work has not yet been secured. ”

“ PREAMBLE The Great October Socialist Revolution, made by the workers and peasants of Russia under the leadership of the Communist Party headed by Lenin, overthrew capitalist and landowner rule, broke the fetters of oppression, established the dictatorship of the proletariat, and created the council (Rus: Soviet) state, a new type of state, the basic instrument for defending the gains of the revolution and for building socialism and communism. Humanity thereby began the epoch-making turn from capitalism to socialism. ”

“ A wage earner who is working outside his vocation, and who has expressed the desire that this be only temporary, shall retain his place on the register of the Department of Labor Distribution until he secures work at his vocation. ”

“ The case of the marriage laws affords an excellent illustration of the peculiar problem which confronted the Russian proletariat, and of the method in which that problem was met. Certain critics have come forward to argue that there is nothing very revolutionary in substituting registration by the civil authorities for the religious ceremony. Why abolish the church marriage only to substitute a state marriage? The answer is that this present marriage law is at once the most revolutionary and the most socialistic which could be devised to meet the special circumstances. ”

“ It is a society in which powerful productive forces and progressive science and culture have been created, in which the well-being of the people is constantly rising, and more and more favourable conditions are being provided for the all-round development of the individual. ”

“ Elections of deputies are universal: all citizens of the U.S.S.R. who have reached the age of 18, irrespective of race or nationality, religion, standard of education, domicile, social origin, property status or past activities, have the right to vote in the election of deputies and to be elected, with the exception of the insane and persons convicted by court of law to sentences including deprivation of electoral rights. ARTICLE 136
Elections of deputies are equal: each citizen is entitled to one vote; all citizens participate in elections on an equal footing. ”

“ In order to assure efficiency of labor, every wage earner working in an enterprise, establishment or institution (governmental, public or private) employing labor in the form of organized cooperation, as well as the administration of the enterprise, establishment or institution, shall strictly observe the rules of this article of the Code relative to standards of efficiency, output and rules of internal management. ”

“ The main aims of the people's socialist state are: to lay the material and technical foundation of communism, to perfect socialist social relations and transform them into communist relations, to mould the citizen of communist society, to raise the people's living and cultural standards, to safeguard the country's security, and to further the consolidation of peace and development of international co-operation. ”

“ The proletarian government constructs its laws so that each day of their existence should make their continuance less necessary. ... For example, the Soviet Constitution, based upon the principle of the political supremacy and dictatorship of the proletariat, is so made that each day of its application, shattering the resistance and organization of the classes of the former oppressors and uniting the formerly oppressed, thus lessens the necessity for this form of constitution, for this forced political supremacy, and for compulsory political supremacy in general. ”

“ No law can annihilate custom and prejudice. That must be left to other processes. But this code opens the way. "It establishes," says Hoichbarg, "absolute equality of men and women before the law. So far as it is possible to free women in the period of transition before the complete establishment of socialism, this law frees her and enables her the more readily to accept the principles of socialism which will ultimately free her." Moreover, it will be seen that the code does not rest with a mere tacit assumption of the economic equality of the sexes. ”

“ Citizens of the USSR enjoy in full the social, economic, political and personal rights and freedoms proclaimed and guaranteed by the Constitution of the USSR and by Soviet laws. The socialist system ensures enlargement of the rights and freedoms of citizens and continuous improvement of their living standards as social, economic, and cultural development programmes are fulfilled. Enjoyment by citizens of their rights and freedoms must not be to the detriment of the interests of society or the state, or infringe the rights of other citizens. ”

“ The western reader, who is at least familiar with, if not altogether habituated to, such ideas as the separation of Church and State, equality of the sexes, and the recognition of the rights of "illegitimate" children, must be constantly reminded of the heavy burden laid upon the Russian proletariat by the economic and social backwardness of the country at the moment of the revolution. The full significance of such an achievement as this code can only be realized in the light of these special difficulties involved in the proletarian struggle in Russia. ”

“ The economy of The USSR is an integral economic complex comprising all the elements of social production, distribution, and exchange on its territory. The economy is managed on the basis of state plans for economic and social development, with due account of the sectoral and territorial principles, and by combining centralised direction with the managerial independence and initiative of individual and amalgamated enterprises and other organisations, for which active use is made of management accounting, profit, cost, and other economic levers and incentives. ”

“ In case either of the married persons shall be in a state of want and shall be unable to work at the time when their marriage shall be terminated by death or by a judicial declaration that one of the parties to the said marriage shall be deemed to be dead, provision for the surviving party shall be made out of the property left by the deceased spouse. ”

“ The obligation of the parents for the care, education and maintenance of their minor children is accompanied by an equal obligation upon mature children for the maintenance of their parents if the latter are indigent and unable to work, provided the parents are not receiving support from the government (Section 163) . Beyond these mutual obligations for care and maintenance, however, there are no economic privileges established by descent. "Children have no right to the property of their parents, nor parents to the property of their children" (Section 160) . ”

“ It is a society of mature socialist social relations, in which, on the basis of the drawing together of all classes and social strata and of the juridical and factual equality of all its nations and nationalities and their fraternal co-operation, a new historical community of people has been formed--the Soviet people. ”

“ If one of the parties to a marriage shall refuse to support the other in case of want and inability to work, the latter party shall have the right to apply to the Department of Social Welfare attached to the local Soviet in the place of residence of the defendant whether husband or wife, and request the same to compel the said defendant to provide such support. ”