USSR Supreme Soviet Research Articles

The Army and the Economy Economic Aspects of Military Reform

The need for military reform has already been recognized at all levels of the political and military leadership. Unfortunately, however, its subsequent preparation has been protracted. The draft of the conception of military reform has not yet been made public. This question has not yet been discussed by the USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on Defense and State Security and by the USSR Supreme Soviet proper. At the same time, the draft of the conception that was prepared by the working commission back in April of this year was submitted to the president of the USSR, to all committees and commissions of the USSR Supreme Soviet, to the USSR Ministry of Defense, and to chairmen of supreme soviets and presidents of union republics. The basic ideas and principles of the draft have won approval and support in all arms and branches of the Armed Forces, where it has been discussed with the participation of representatives of our officers' deputy group. The question of the status in the USSR Armed Forces and avenues of potential military reform has been discussed twice in the U.S. Congress, but in our country there is a strange calm …

One step forward, two steps back: The USSR supreme Soviet in the age ofperestroika

When the Soviet leadership revamped the USSR Supreme Soviet in 1989, they could have made it into a powerful, representative, national legislature. As such, it could have become the cornerstone of an emergent Soviet democracy. But this was not done. Lacking parliamentary supremacy or meaningful checks on the presidency, the USSR Supreme Soviet today is an empty shell of a national legislature. As such, it constitutes a step backwards in the country's political development. Yet it is not too late to make the USSR Supreme Soviet a powerful, representative, national legislature. To do so, however, far‐reaching changes would have to be implemented.

Are We Teaching Any Old Thing, Any Old Way?

It seems as if accusing pedagogical institutes of training teachers poorly has become chronic. Schools directors complain about the practical helplessness of young specialists; directors of studies are despondent over young teachers' lack of methodological abilities, while yesterday's graduates of higher educational institutions suffer from their inability to deal with the children, to make contact with them. When Iu. A. Ryzhov, chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet Committee for Science, Public Education, Culture, and Upbringing, says that the crossbar on the standards of our higher education has been lowered appreciably, his statement applies fully to pedagogical education.

Agrarian Reform and Socioeconomic Structures of the Modern Countryside

Many centuries of mankind's history and modern world practice teach us that no civilization in any country can develop in full measure and exist without a firm rear guard [tyl] in the form of a viable countryside providing a reliable food front. It is highly regrettable that the present state of our society confirms this truism. As repeatedly emphasized at congresses of people's deputies and sessions of the USSR Supreme Soviet not only by rank-and-file deputies but also by the country's principal leaders—work superintendents [proraby] of perestroika— roughly 70 percent of the realization of all the tasks of perestroika (political, economic, and social) hinges on the existing state of the food supply and on the agrarian sector as a whole.

The council for religious affairs and the shaping of soviet religious policy

THE SOVIET PO DELAM RELIGII-Council for Religious Affairs (CRA)-attached to the USSR Council of Ministers is a strangely elusive body. Few nowadays, and this includes CRA spokesmen, dispute the traditional dissident complaint that over recent decades it has actively and illegitimately interfered in the internal life of religious organisations. Nor would they question the assumption that this body is not the major institution responsible for the formulation of religious policy in the USSR. Yet in practice we know little about its inner workings or role in the shaping of that policy. Only in 1975 was the Council's place in the implementation of religious policy given published legislative backing and even then it was clear that its statute failed to reflect the CRA's extensive involvement in controlling institutional religious life in the USSR. This article seeks to shed further light on the work of the Council for Religious Affairs through an examination not only of its formal structure and the functions it performs, but also by trying to unravel its various institutional allegiances and relationships within the political system. More importantly, we shall examine the extent to which it participates in the policy-making process, and in so doing qualify somewhat the traditional view that the CRA simply carries out policy made elsewhere. A study of the CRA is particularly timely in so far as the new law on freedom of conscience passed by the USSR Supreme Soviet on 1 October 1990 envisages the replacement of the Council in its present form. The evolution of the Council for Religious Affairs Even before 1917 the autocratic state had sought to maintain close controls over religious life in the Russian Empire, and this political control of religion was institutionalised by Peter the Great as part of his thorough overhaul of Russia's political structures and societal relations. The 'Ecclesiastical Regulation' (1721) placed control of the Orthodox Church in the hands of a Ruling Synod presided over by an Oberprokuror appointed by the Tsar. Consequently, as one historian has pointed out:

The Experience of Patriotic Upbringing Its Spiritual Foundations

It used to be that we were constantly reading in the periodical press and hearing on television and radio about a new entity that was unprecedented in the world—the Soviet nation/people [narod]. By way of proof, the history of our multinational country was cited. The sacred symbols of the friendship and brotherhood of the peoples of the USSR, authenticated by the blood shed during the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War, as well as the participation of the country's peoples in opening up the virgin lands of Kazakhstan, and the creation of a mighty space technology through the efforts of all the peoples—all of this was seen as the firm foundation of a new community of people. Throughout, to be sure, no one paid any attention to such "trifles" as the deportation of whole peoples from their native lands and the brutal repressions in the 1930s, '40s, and early '50s. As a result of distortions of the Leninist nationality policy, a dual morality came into being: during the so-called period of stagnation, on the one hand, there were the slogans about the monolithic unity of nations; on the other hand, whole nations existed without any rights, or, more accurately, as was noted at the November 1989 session of the USSR Supreme Soviet, there was genocide against particular nationalities. All of this reverberated in the home, in the school, and, in particular, affected the weakening of patriotic upbringing of the rising generation. The purpose of this article is to examine certain aspects of the problem of patriotic upbringing in the home and in the school, to explore its typological principles. In doing so, we are drawing upon the historical experience of the peoples of the USSR as it is reflected both in popular teaching and in the creative works of national writers, poets, and educators. It will be necessary to examine the goals and the means, the experience of patriotic upbringing, its spiritual foundations.

REGIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF THE USSR: A SYNOPSIS OF VIEWS FROM THE SOVIET PARLIAMENT

A geographer member of the USSR Congress of People's Deputies and member of a USSR Supreme Soviet Commission for Nationalities Policy and Interethnic Relations discusses key regional and environmental issues debated by those legislative bodies in 1989 and 1990: disparities in development levels and regional economic structure; effects of distorted prices on regional khozraschet; inadequate social infrastructure and imbalanced development in resource frontier regions; regional environmental problems exacerbated by decisions concerning location of new productive capacity; nuclear power generation and testing; administrative measures promoting environmental protection efforts; and discrepancies between the administrative-territorial and economic division of the country (translated by Jay K. Mitchell; PlanEcon, Inc.; Washington, DC 20005).

Leasing Relations: Problems of Development

Leasing is recognized in our country as one of the basic directions of modernization of economic relations and of conveying internal dynamism to them. An edict of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet has been adopted and Fundamental Principles of Legislation on Leasing Relations are being discussed.

Will Branch Ministries Be Able to Become Agents of Innovation?

The task of transforming central economic organs and especially ministries into headquarters of scientific-technological progress, i. e., into bodies that would define the strategic directions of scientific-technological progress in branches of the economy, was posed at the Twenty-seventh Congress of the CPSU. It is specifically on the basis of attainments in science and technology that branch ministries are called upon to carry out the economic reform and to strive to raise our nation's economy to a qualitatively new level. However, the press is filled with abundant evidence that the economic reform is bogging down primarily because the apparatus of ministries and other central bodies is still functioning in a command-administrative regime. They have been quite sharply criticized by people's deputies at the congress and at a session of the USSR Supreme Soviet noting that the law on the state enterprise does not agree with the existing forms and methods of branch management of the economy.

They Failed to Achieve Success

Abstract On January 20 in the Kremlin, a joint meeting of the commissions on public education and culture of the Soviet Union and the Soviet of Nationalities of the USSR Supreme Soviet discussed the question of the work of the Soviets of People's Deputies of the Armenian SSR in regard to carrying out the Basic Guidelines of General Education and Vocational School Reform.

Arbitration in the USSR: The 1988 Statute and Rules of the Arbitration Court of the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The Foreign Trade Arbitration Commission (FTAC) for the resolution of disputes in foreign trade was formed in Moscow in June 1932, more than fifty-five years ago. FTAC has now been renamed as the Arbitration Court of the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry2. A new statute for this Arbitration Court was promulgated by the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet on 14 December 19873; and the new Rules of the Arbitration Court were approved by the Presidium of the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 11 March 1988 on the basis of Article 8 of the Statute4. The Arbitration Court is a permanent arbitration court for institutional arbitration. It is attached to the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a social organisation intended to promote the USSR's foreign trade and other foreign economic relations. Apart from the Arbitration Court another permanent arbitration body, the Maritime Arbitration Commission (MAC), is attached to the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry5. MAC resolves disputes arising from relations concerned with chartering, marine transportation, sea-going vessels, salvage and other matters. Its activities are beyond the scope of this Note6. The Arbitration Court consists of the President, two deputy Presidents, the arbitrators, the secretary and his deputy. The President and his deputies are elected by the arbitrators from amongst themselves. Individuals possessing the necessary expertise included in the list of arbitrators by decision of the Presidium of the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry may be appointed as arbitrators of the Arbitration Court. They are, as the Rules state, independent and impartial in the discharge of their duties. The arbitrators are to keep confidential information concerning the disputes examined by the Arbitration Court. The Statute and the Rules provide for no limitations …

Our Soviet Law on the Schools

Today our newspaper is publishing the USSR Law, passed by the Fourth Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet, Eleventh Convocation, concerning the introduction of changes in the Fundamentals of Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics Concerning Public Education, in connection with the Fundamental Directions of General Education and Vocational School Reform, as well as the new edition of the Fundamentals of Legislation ratified by the USSR Supreme Soviet. Constituting an all-union legislative act, the Fundamentals of Legislation of the USSR and the union republics set down the principles and most important legal norms in various fields of social relations. Such acts are passed by the USSR Supreme Soviet in order to ensure uniformity in the legal regulation of questions that represent the subject of joint management of the USSR and the union republics.

Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World

Perestroika, which means restructuring, is Mikhail Gorbachev's own account of the policies he is currently implementing in the USSR. Created 70 years after the October Revolution, perestroika constitutes a revolution in ideas, attitudes and practice that entails a radical alteration of Russian domestic and foreign policy. Frank in his criticism of the past, the Soviet leader details his convictions for tolerance, understanding and world peace. He presents a coherent vision which he offers as an alternative to the current divisions and tensions of the international political scene. Mikhail Gorbachev has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee, Chairman of the USSR Council of Defence and Member of the Praesidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet since March 1985.

Agro-Industrial Science on the Road to Restructuring

From the editors of Sovety narodnykh deputatov: We hope that our readers have taken note of the fact that the journal has published several articles on the introduction of scientific advances into agricultural production since the beginning of the year. In the second issue, this topic was the subject of the article "Intensification—the Demand of the Times" by Academician I. Glebov, chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet's Commission on Science and Technology. Discussion of the topic was continued in the fifth issue in an article entitled "Upgrading the Knowledge of Agro-Industrial Committee Cadres "by V. Bival'kevich, first deputy chairman of the Altai Territorial Agro-Industrial Committee. The sixth issue published the article "In League with Science" by Kh. Vel'di, first deputy chairman of the Estonian SSR Council of Ministers and chairman of the republic State Agro-Industrial Committee.

The Gnosiological Aspects of Education

"The Fundamental Directions of General Education and Vocational School Reform," which were approved by the April 1984 plenary meeting of the CPSU Central Committee and the first session of the USSR Supreme Soviet (eleventh convocation), reflect the vital vested interest of our entire society in the improvement of education, in the optimal resolution of this truly cardinal challenge. As emphasized in a resolution of the CPSU Central Committee plenary meeting (10 April 1984), "the reform is expected to raise the work done in general education and vocational schools to a qualitatively new level; to eliminate the existing shortcomings in their activity; to ensure that pupils will gain an in-depth mastery of basic knowledge; to shape in them sound communist convictions, a fondness for work, and moral fastidiousness; to nurture pupils in a spirit of love for their multinational socialist Motherland and readiness to defend it in a spirit of proletarian internationalism.[See Soviet Education, vol. XXVII, nos. 6-7, p. 115.]

The Food Program and Protecting the Environment

The conversion of the economy to the intensive path of development requires the careful and effective use of land, water, and the vegetable and animal world. The fulfillment of the Food Program depends in large measure thereupon. The existing ecological situation necessitated the examination of the question of observing legislative demands regarding nature conservation and the rational use of natural resources at a session of the USSR Supreme Soviet.

Methodological Bulletin from the RSFSR Ministry of Education, No. 155-M, July 4, 1984

In accordance with the USSR Supreme Soviet resolution of April 12, 1984 entitled "Concerning the Fundamental Directions of General Education and Vocational School Reform" [Ob osnov-nykh napravleniiakh reformy obshcheobrazovatel ‘noi i professional ‘noi shkole], the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, by an Edict dated June 15, 1984, has designated September 1 a day of public celebration, [to be called] Knowledge Day.

A New Stage in the Development of the Vocational School

The transformations outlined by the CPSU Central Committee, the USSR Supreme Soviet, and the Soviet government in documents on the school reform are an integral part of the constructive activity undertaken by the Communist Party to optimize developed socialist society and are crucial to the confirmation of socialist civilization. As comrade Konstantin U. Chernenko, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, indicated in the address he gave to the April 1984 Central Committee Plenum, one main point of reference—the shaping of a comprehensively developed personality—determines the essence and the purpose of the reform. By the time Soviet young people embark on an independent existence, they should be highly cultured and well educated, and have a fondness for work.

A Major Task of the School Reform

If Soviet society is to move forward with confidence toward our great goals, comrade Konstantin U. Chernenko, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, stressed at the April 1984 Central Committee Plenum, each new generation must rise to a higher level of learning and general cultivation, occupational skill and civic activism. Such, one might say, is the law of social progress. This is wholly in keeping with the Fundamental Directions of General Education and Vocational School Reform, a document endorsed at the April 1984 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee and the first session of the USSR Supreme Soviet (eleventh convocation).

At the Center of Attention: The Decisions of the CPSU

Particularly characteristic features of the sociopolitical atmosphere in which our people live and work these days, remarked Comrade Konstantin U. Chernenko, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, at a meeting with Moscow metallurgical workers, are a creative, collective quest for solutions to compelling questions, competent efficiency, and uncompromising strictness. The decisions taken at the April 1984 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee and the first session of the USSR Supreme Soviet (eleventh convocation) have done much to affirm that atmosphere everywhere. Those decisions attune Soviet people to the need for concerted and strenuous effort in all areas of communist construction.