Book Review: U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe: Soviet Local and Republic Elections
| Date | 01 March 1967 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206702200152 |
| Published date | 01 March 1967 |
| Author | Peter J. Potichnyj |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BooK
REvIEws
143
de-Stalinization
will
provide
the
necessary
antidote
for
the
valuable
but
one-sided
revelations
of
Khrushchev
and
Milovan
Djilas.
It
is
there-
fore
all
the
more
unfortunate
that
he
did
not
try
to synthesize
the
new
information
of
the
last
decade
with
the
old
material
herein anthologized
to
present an
original biographical essay
rather
than
another
rewarmed
historical potpourri.
University
of
Alberta
RALPH
CARTER
ELWOOD
SOVIET
LOCAL
ANbD
REPuLic
ELECTIONS:
A
Description
of
the
1963
Elec-
tions
in
Leningrad
Based
on
Official
Documents,
Press
Accounts,
and
Private
Interviews.
By
Max
E.
Mote.
1965.
(Stanford:
Hoover
Institution.
123pp.
$2.50)
The
title
of
this
volume
is
somewhat
misleading.
The
book
is,
in
fact,
a
detailed and
chronological
description
of
the
local
elections
held
in
the
Soviet
Union
during
1963,
with
particular
reference
to
Lenin-
grad.
It
does
not
deal
with
the
Republic
elections
apart
from
noting
that
these
were
held
at
approximately
the
same
time.
The
matter-of-fact
description
of
elections
to local
Soviets
and
of
their
actual
operation
is
supplemented
by
a
number
of
appendices.
These comprise items
of
varying
degrees
of
interest,
beginning
with
a
schematic
representation
of
the
administrative structure
of
the
U.S.S.R.,
and
ending
with
a
facsimile
of
a
local
election
ballot.
A
glossary
of
Russian
terms
fills
the
last
few
pages
of
the
book.
According
to
the
author, the results
of
the
elections
were,
for the
most
part,
a
foregone
conclusion.
Why,
then,
does
the
Soviet
govern-
ment preserve the
formality
of
creating
districts and
selecting
candi-
dates
Indeed,
why
does
the government
even
insist
on
holding
elec-
tions,
when
the
political
meaning of
the
act
has
been
carefully
elimm-
ated?
Perhaps
a
yet
more
intriguing
question
is
why
apparently
99
per
cent
of
the
electors
go
out
and vote
in
such
elections.
The
answer
to
the
last
question
might
very
well
be
that
the
voting,
as
the
author
points
out,
"is
both
a
patriotic,
and
a
social
activity
invested
with the
diverse
pleasures
which
most
people
derive
from
per
forming
a
commendable
action"
(p.
77)
One
might present
an
additional
reason,
namely,
that
it
takes
considerable
courage not
to
vote.
But
these
are
only
partial
answers,
for
surely
the
election
campaigns
are
designed
to
serve
a
variety
of
purposes
some
of which
seem
worth
mentiomng
here.
First
and foremost, they
allow
the
party
and governmental
agencies
to
bring
their
claims
of
past
achievements
and
their
future
plans
to
public
attention.
For
example,
a
count
of
spoiled
ballots
enables
them
to
pinpoint
areas
of
non-support
and
discontent,
and
in
this
way
in
turn,
to
measure the
effectiveness
of
local
party
machines.
Second,
the
elections
are
designed
to serve
a
legitimizmng
function.
Third,
the
masses
gain, to
some
degree
at
least,
a
sense
of
participation
in
politics.
Finally,
the
elections
are
used
to
demonstrate
the
superiority
of
the
Soviet
system
of
democracy
in
comparison
with
Western
political
pro-
cesses
as
these
are
presented
in
campaign
propaganda.
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