Soviet (council)

Soviet (Russian: сове́т, Russian pronunciation: [sɐˈvʲɛt]) was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.

Etymology

“Soviet” is derived from a Russian word signifying council, advice, harmony, concord. The word “sovietnik” means councillor.

Imperial Russia

In Imperial Russia, the State Council was referred to as a “Soviet of Ministers.”

According to the official historiography of the Soviet Union, a soviet was organized in May 1905 in Ivanovo during the 1905 Russian Revolution. In his memoirs, Volin claims that he witnessed the creation of the St Petersburg Soviet in January 1905. The Russian workers were largely organized at the turn of the 20th century, leading to a government-sponsored Union leadership. In 1905, the Russo-Japanese War increased the strain on Russian industrial production, the workers began to strike and rebel. They represented an autonomous workers movement, one that broke free from the government's oversight of workers unions. Soviets sprang up throughout the industrial centers of Russia, usually organized on the factory level. The soviets disappeared after the Revolution of 1905, but re-emerged under Socialist leadership during the Revolution of 1917.

Russian Revolution of 1917

The popular organizations which came into existence during the Russian Revolution of 1917 were called “Councils of Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies.” These bodies were supposed to be holding things together under the provisional government until the election of a constituent assembly could take place; in a sense, they were vigilance committees designed to guard against counter-revolution. The Petrograd Soviet of 4,000 members was the most important of these, on account of its position in the capital and its influence over the garrison.

At the beginning of the Revolution of 1917, these soviets were under control of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and even the Mensheviks had a larger share of the elected representatives than the Bolsheviks. But as World War I continued and the Russians met defeat after defeat, and the provisional government proved inadequate at establishing industrial peace, the Bolsheviks began to grow in support. By degrees, the Bolsheviks dominated with a leadership which demanded “all power to the soviets.” The Bolsheviks promised the workers a government run by workers' councils to overthrow the bourgeoisie's main government body - the Provisional Government. In October 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government, giving all power to the Soviets and the Bolsheviks who governed in their name.

The Bolsheviks and their allies came out with a program called “soviet government.” The soviet system was described as “a higher type of state” and “a higher form of democracy” which would “arouse the masses of the exploited toilers to the task of making new history.” Furthermore, it offered “to the oppressed toiling masses the opportunity to participate actively in the free construction of a new society”. According to Lenin, the author of these quotations, soviet rule “is nothing else than the organized form of the dictatorship of the proletariat.” A code of rules governing elections to the soviets was framed, but the following classes were disqualified to vote: “Those who employ others for profit; those who live on incomes not derived from their own work — interest on capital, industrial enterprises or landed property; private business men, agents, middlemen; monks and priests of all denominations; ex-employees of the old police services and members of the Romanov dynasty; lunatics and criminals.”

With village and factory soviets as a base, there arose a vast pyramid of district, cantonal, county and regional soviets, each with its executive soviet. Over and above these stood the “All-Russian Soviet Congress,” which appointed an “All-Russian Central Executive Committee” of not more than 200 members, which in turn chooses the “Soviet of People's Commissaries” — the Ministry. Beginning with a minimum of three and maximum of 50 members for smaller communities, the maximum for town soviets was fixed at 1,000 members. The soviet system was seen as an alternative to parliamentary systems for administering republican governments.

Soviet Union

Originally, the soviets were a grassroots effort to practice direct democracy. Russian Marxists made them a medium for organizing against the state, and between the February and October Revolutions, the Petrograd Soviet was a powerful force. The slogan "All power to the soviets!" (Vsya vlast sovyetam!; Вся власть советам!) was used by the Bolsheviks to oppose the Provisional Government led by Kerensky.

Based on the Bolshevik's view of the state, the word soviet extended its meaning to any supreme body that obtained the authority of a group of soviets. In this sense, soviets turned into a hierarchical structure - Communist government bodies at local level and republic level were called "soviets", and at the top of the hierarchy, the Congress of Soviets was the nominal core of the Union government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), officially formed in December 1922. However, the Communist Party officially played the "leading role" in society by that time; the soviets were in practice subordinate to it.

Later, in the USSR, local governmental bodies were named "soviet" (sovet: "council") with the adjective indicating of the administrative level, customarily abbreviated : gorsovet (gorodskoy sovet: city council), raysovet/raisovet (rayonny sovet: raion council), selsovet: rural council, possovet (poselkovy sovet: settlement council).

Outside Russia

The term soon came to be used outside the former Russian Empire following 1917. The Limerick Soviet was formed in Ireland 1919. A soviet republic was established in Bavaria in February 1919. In 1920, the Workers' Dreadnought published “A Constitution for British Soviets” in preparation for the launch of the Communist Party (British Section of the Third International). Here the focus was on “household” soviets “[i]n order that mothers and those who are organisers of the family life of the community may be adequately represented.”

See also

• Arbeitsrat für Kunst
• Congress of Soviets
• Council communism
• Participatory democracy
• Soviet democracy
• Workers' council
• Workers' control

Further reading

• Edward Acton Rethinking the Russian Revolution 1990 Oxford University Press ISBN 0-7131-6530-8
• Tony Cliff Lenin: All Power to the Soviets 1976 Pluto Press
• Voline The Unknown Revolution Black Rose Books
• Rex A. Wade The Russian Revolution, 1917 2005 Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-84155-0