Talk:Politics of the Soviet Union

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The text, written by User:Fred Bauder, was retired from Soviet Union, where it did not fit into the structure of the article. It was apparently structured to make the case that the Soviet Union was a totalitarian regime. I favor replacing this entirely with an article adapted from the public domain LOC handbook on the Soviet Union. Chapter 7 on the Communist Party [1], Chapter 8 on government structure and its functions [2], and chapter 9 on mass media and the arts [3] are particularly useful. 172 13:23, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I'd rather say it is written from the POV that "western democracy" is good, and if somethings does not match it, then it should be bad. An example of this attitude is the phrase "The Supreme Court, the highest judicial body, had little power, lacking authority to determine constitutionality of laws, to interpret laws, or to strike laws down". I.e., it is erroneously assumed that the Soviet Supreme Court should have the same functions as in the US of A.

It's ironic you would put it this way. As you can recall from the early days of the legal system of USA, the Founding Fathers originally did not intend the SCOTUS to have much powers, especially regarding striking down unconstitutional laws. The position as equal among the Three Branches was "usurped" by SCOTUS only in Marbury v. Madison. Digwuren 05:29, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

I approve of placing the Soviet Union's explanation of itself in the article, provided the source is clearly and prominantly identified, but independent information should form the bulk of the article. Fred Bauder 23:47, Jan 2, 2005 (UTC)

You are again politicizing and POVizing the issue. "Independent information" is a game play with the word "information". Encyclopedia must contain facts, not "information", if you know what I mean. The bulk of the article must be facts and neutral summaries of facts. mikka (t) 15:51, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

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Did the USSR have elections? If so, how did they work, and who got to vote? Brutannica 00:24, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, there were elections. However, it didn't matter who voted; what mattered was who got to count the votes. (See Stalin.)

There's an article Soviet democracy that explains a bit of the ostensible theory behind the system. Reality was quite different, though, starting from the part where there was only one Party. (This is a common point of misunderstanding by Western people trying to make sense of Soviet politics. In context of Soviet system, if you wanted to do any politics at all, you *had* to be a Party member. Hence, people who were politically active "back then" are, even now, sometimes referred to as "former Communists", even if their political views were not really Communist, and if their aspirations were in administration or clerical work.) Digwuren 05:23, 26 May 2007 (UTC)