it is being done. I do not think it would be a waste of time
to set down as briefly as possible, without the comments of
praise or blame that would be inevitable from one primarily
interested in the problem from the Capitalist or Communist
point of view what, from observation and inquiry, I believe
to be the main framework of the organization whereby that
dictatorship of the party works.


The Soviet Constitution is not so much moribund as in
abeyance. The Executive Committee, for example, which
used to meet once a week or even oftener, now meets on the
rarest occasions. Criticism on this account was met with the
reply that the members of the Executive Committee, for
example, which used to meet once a week or even oftener,
now meets on the rarest occasions. Criticism on this account
was met with the reply that the members of the Executive
Committee were busy on the front and in various parts of
Russia. As a matter of fact, the work which that Committee
used to do is now done by Central Committee of the
Bolshevik Party, so that the bulk of the 150 members of

the Central Executive are actually free for other work, a
saving of something like 130 men. This does not involve
any very great change, but merely an economy in the use of
men. In the old days, as I well remember, the opening of a
session of the Executive Committee was invariably late, the
reason being that the various parties composing it had not
yet finished their preliminary and private discussions. There
is now an overwhelming Communist majority in the