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4. THE STALINIST SYSTEM
In addition to the industrial and economic changes of the 1930s, in 1936 Stalin introduced a new and apparently democratic constitution for the Soviet Union. Reasons for the change are not difficult to find. Successful as the industrial reorganization had been, it had been achieved by methods of dictatorship. How long the Russian people would be content with this condition was doubtful. Conditions outside Russia also needed to be watched. From 1933 onwards Hitler was in power in Germany, and his hatred of Communism was so intense and bitter that sooner or later conflict between the two countries seemed inevitable. When that day came the U.S.S.R. would need the support of the democratic nations of the West, and this she was not likely to receive unless she herself had at least the appearance of democracy. The new constitution of 1936 displaced the former elaborate pyramid of councils and its system of indirect elections. At every level the councils were to be elected directly. Even the Soviet of the Union was to be elected in the proportion of one deputy for 300,000 electors. Former disqualifications for the franchise – including capitalists and members of the Czarist regime – were abolished, and a vote was given to every citizen of eighteen years of age and upwards irrespective of sex, race, religion, or any other consideration. Elections were to be by secret ballot. Equal representation was given to town and country districts. All this looked like true democracy. In practice the changes were little more than nominal. To grant votes to the aristocratic and capitalist classes would make very little practical difference since these had all but disappeared. The secret vote, too, was of little value since only Stalinist Communists would be allowed as candidates for office. Moreover Russia remained a police State: though the OGPU had changed its name to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (the MVD), its methods were not less violent. Under its control, many thousands of people who were suspected of disloyalty to Communism were herded into forced labour camps in the wilds of Siberia.
In spite of all that Stalin had been able to do to force changes upon the older generation of Russians, Communism's real hope lay rather with the children and the youth of the country. By 1937 twenty years had passed since the original Russian Revolution, and already there was growing up a new generation that had no experience of any but a Communist society; and with every passing year the proportion of such people in the nation would grow and grow. Stalin's natural policy, therefore, was to concentrate upon this younger element and, from their childhood upwards, to train them exclusively in Communist ideas. One of the difficulties of instilling new ideas into the adults was that they were too ignorant to understand ways to which they were not accustomed. At the time of the Revolution, one-half of the population was illiterate. One of the Soviet Government's first cares was to open schools as fast as circumstances allowed so that all the children would learn at least to read and write. Behind this there was something more than enthusiasm for education for its own sake. During the period of the first Five-Year Plan, Russia had to depend upon foreign technical experts, but she would need to train technicians of her own in every sphere of manufacture and science. One effect of her early efforts towards general education was that between 1933 and the outbreak of the Second World War she provided various forms of higher education for a million young people. Though the resulting standards of qualification were not always as high as those in the West, there began to flow a wide stream of scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers, agricultural experts, and others of a calibre to take managerial responsibility in factories and elsewhere. These were the men who made possible the enormous advances in every branch of knowledge and industry, especially during the generation following the Second World War. Related to this subject of education and culture is that of the Soviet Government's attitude towards religion. This is a difficult subject, and the facts have not always been easy to reach or to interpret justly. The basic fact is that Communism is atheist, finding no place for the idea of God or the life of the spirit. So far as Russia was concerned, this was understandable because of the close association between the Orthodox Church and the Czars. The Communists believed that religion had been the tool of Czardom to keep the people quiet. They said: 'Religion is the opium of the people', and so they rejected all religious ideas, good and bad together. But because the Revolution was supposed to set people free, the Communists did not forbid religious practices: churches remained open, and attendance at worship was allowed. Strong anti-religious pressure, however, was exerted. In part this was direct: the Orthodox Church lost its property and its schools, and its members had to support its priests; also no openly practising Christian would be acceptable to the Communist Party and so would not receive the benefits that Party membership brought with it. In part it was indirect: State schools were the only ones allowed, and in these Marx's anti-religious ideas were taught, and so the rising generations would have less and less contact with religious beliefs and practices. Religion would become limited to older and ageing people, and thus in time it would die out altogether.
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