THE TZ.I.K.

Evening Star, Issue 19456, 14 January 1927, Page 9

THE TZ.I.K.

WHO’S WHO IN RUSSIA MOSCOW'S STRONG MAN Stalin, Trotsky, the Tz.LK., and Kalinin. ' Who and what are they? Names of leaders and certain Go- \ eminent bodies are familiar in nows lespatches from Russia (says the Sydloy ‘Sun’), yet they are confusing tecause so little is known of the struc■ure of the Government or the exact tatus of its leaders. The National Geographic Sdciety as.igned Junius B. Wood to winnow the facts about various phases of presentday conditions in Russia. Concerning the present governmental organisation of Russia, which, incilentally, is officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Mr Wood writes: “ A meeting of the Tz.LK. (Central Executive Committee) brings out all those individuals whose statements occupy more space in the newspapers, and who arc seen Jess in public than any other officials in the world. The centre of interest when he emerges in the corridors is Joseph Djugashvili Stalin—--1 stalin,’ meaning steel, having been conferred on him by Lenin when they were exiles together. He would bo called director or political boss in any other country. “ Moscow’s strong man and virtual ruler is a.Georgian. Tall, slender, with jet black hair and moustache, sternlaced, sparing of words, but direct and emphatic, Stalin controls the party organisation which he has perfected. “Kalinin, ‘Undo Nikhall Ivanovitch,’ as the peasants call him, son of the field and factory, is a contrast, smiling through his close-cropped beard, eyes twinkling behind his spectacles, shaking hands, greeting friends right and left. Peasants have been known to walk 1,000 miles—an old-time peasant must go afoot on an important mission—to tell their troubles to him. Kalinin is the genial president, Stalin the silent political boss. THE PEAK OF THE PYRAMID. “ The Tz.LK. is a tabloid of the political organisation of Soviet Russia, next to the peak of its pyramidal system of government. The peak itself, dected by the Tz.LK., is the Presidium af twenty-seven members, which includes the six presidents, and is the legislative, executive, and judicial authority .except durincr the few days of each year that the Tz.LK. is in session. “ The Tz.LK. has 581 members, livided into the Upper House, or Conn■Jil of.the Union, of 450 members, chosen According to population, and the Lower louse, or of Nationalities, of

131 members, five from each of the constituent republics and one from each of the autonomous republics or nationalities. “Theoretically, the Tz.LK. should meet three times a year, rotating in the capitals of the I’ussian, Ukrainian, White Russian, Transcaucasian, Turkoman, and Uzbek republics. The Tz.LK. also chooses the Council of People’s Commissars, corresponding to a Cabinet in other countries. The identical structural organisation follows in each of the republics in the union. “The base of the All-Union pyramid, Itself resting on other pyramids descending from the higher soviets of the republics to the voters themselves, is the All-Union Congress of Soviets, a cumbersome body of more than 2,000 members, which is supposed to meet annually in Moscow. Its last meeting was in May, 1925. “ It elects the Tz.LK., which is not so unwieldy, its members are elected by town, township (volast), and provincial (gubernia) soviets. The gubernia soviets also arc elected by the volost soviets. Members of the latter, in turn, are elected by the village and ciuy soviets, and these by the voters themselves. METHODS OF VOTING. “Every person eighteen years old, doing brain or manual labor, except proprietors, is qualified to vote. Propaganda to get out the voter, especially the women and younger people, is persistent, but the percentage responding is about the same as in the United States. The voter casts Ins ballot as a raeiAber of some group, either in his union, factory, village, or city district. “Voting is on the town meeting order. The nominating committee receives the names of the candidates. It prepares a list. The first name is presented to the meeting. Speeches _ follow. Hands are raised for and against. “The advantages of heading the list are even greater than on an Australian ballot. Usually all the allotted spaces are iilicd before the end of the list is reached. “The All-Union Communist Party, according to the figures of the January session of its Central Committee, numbered 643,412, about one out of every 233 persons in a population of 140,000,000. Russians constituted 61 per cent. oT this total. With candidates the party strength was 1,088,037, about 1 in 140. Figures on the elections now being held show that though only about 10 per cent, of the members of the lower soviets are party members, the parly strength increases to between SO and 90 per cent, in the higher soviets. "By organisation and methods which are common to most parties in power, especially if they are minorities, the (Jpmmuiiist Party controls the Government. Communism has ceased to be an obligatory rule of conduct for the country, but there is no reason to anticipate that it will not be the party in control for a Jong time to come.”-,