The Government and Politics of the Soviet Union [antikvár]

NOTE TO THE SIXTH EDITIONThe information for this edition has been brought up to date by the insertion of the latest facts available in January 1977.1 have also added a new chapter summarising the main political developments of the past ten years. I am much indebted to Miss Xenia Howard-Johnston for her help.NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION (1967)Since this book appeared important changes have taken place in the government of the Soviet Union and a number of changes made during the time when N. S. Khrushchev was First Secretary of the cpsu have been repealed. In the first edition which was completed for the press around the time of Khrushchev's fall only very hasty alterations were possible. This second edition has been completely revised so as to take account of changes up to June 1966 so far as they are known. I have also followed the advice of some reviewers and brought the historical chapter up to date from the death of Stalin, where I had left it in the first edition.I am once again deeply indebted to my colleague Paul Rosta for his skill and patience in helping me with the revision of this book, for checking factual information, and for once again preparing the Index.L.S.INTRODUCTIONMany pitfalls await the student of Soviet government. Not least is the problem of sources. For one thing, there are no Soviet textbooks of government such as we know in our own political literatureonly textbooks of constitutional and public law. It is as if, for example, the literature on British government were confined to the textbooks of constitutional law alone: if we had nothing else to Vead or to learn from we should emerge with the convictionto choose one among manythat the Queen in Parliament is the sovereign power in England; we should know little of parties, of the predominance of the Cabinet, of the role of the civil service or of pressure groups. Fortunately we have a wealth of other material to draw on: memoirs, spirited and controversial debate both in parliament and in the press, and a great deal of opportunity for personal contact with and experience of the business of government.Very little of all this exists in the case of the Soviet Union, at any rate for the foreign student. There are virtually no memoirs of recent events, public debate is nearly always very formal, the press is strictly controlled and the foreigner at all events has few chances for personal investigation of and contact with government in action. Yet this is not to say that academic study of Soviet government must be given up in despaira considerable body of scholarly literature in English on both sides of the Atlantic and the experience of teaching in our universities provide a powerful argument to the contrary. The study may be harder than, say, that of Switzerland or Sweden. But the academic method is the