In our last issue we published extracts from the Marxist Platform in the CPSU. Below we publish extracts from the Democratic Platform, many of whose supporters are talking openly of splitting from the CPSU at or soon after the congress.
The extracts, including the introduction, are taken from the version of the Platform published in Pravda of March 3. INTRODUCTION the party....
The party in its present state cannot handle the weight of tasks that has fallen on it - to carry the processes of perestroika through to their logical conclusion. Maintaining the monopoly position of the party, more exactly of the party-state apparatus in society, is extremely dangerous, not only for the society but for the party itself, because it is leading to the degradation of the party, a loss of authority and influence among the masses....
The CPU's strategic lag revealed itself with special acuteness during the summer miners' strike, when the local authorities and the central apparatus proved totally unprepared to handle the situation, when in a series of regions de facto dual power arose. The strike committees became the
DEAR comrades, we propose publication of the Democratic Platform in the party's central organ, Pravda. It was adopted a: an all-union conference of party clubs and party organizations on January 20-21 in Moscow. While it is in agreement on a series of questions with the Draft Platform of the Central Committee of the CPSU, it also differs fundamentally from the CC document, both conceptually (the conception of the transformation of the CPSU into a parliamentary rather than a vanguard party) and in its contents.
We maintain that only in conditions of broad internal pluralism, in free discussion, with the possibility to acquaint oneself with all points of view or platforms that exist in the party, can Communists make a conscious choice and clearly define what they want their party to be like in the future.
We hope that the words in the Draft Platform of the CC of the CPSU about " also considering alternative drafts" will not be out of line with what is done in reality.
The Coordinating Council of the "Democratic Platform in the CPSU", February
15 1990.
a party
WE, Communists from 162 party clubs and party organizations from 102 cities and 13 republics of the country...are seriously concerned about the fate of perestroika and the crisis-wracked situation of both the society as a whole and the party.
Rooted in history, the crisis is hitting all spheres of social life. The reforms are suspended in air. Inflation is growing. Despite the measures undertaken, food supply to the population is getting worse. The list of shortages is constantly growing. Breakdowns in the large-scale technological systems are taking on a threatening character.
Tension is increasing more and more in inter-ethnic relations. In many regions, the environment is in a wretched state. Crime, especially organized crime, is growing
Political and legal reforms, the transfer of power from the hands of the party apparatus to the soviets, the establishment of legal guarantees of glasnost and socialist values, are being implemented in an extremely inconsistent way.
All this is increasing the discontent of the masses, leading to a decline in the authority of the leadership, generating a growth of social tension and political instability in the society. The fundamental responsibility for the deepening of the crisis that is leading the society to a dangerous point falls on the ruling party. In the existing conditions, the CPSU itself is going through a crisis, which is hitting all aspects of the party's activity, ideological, political, organizational and moral.
Fundamental is the crisis of Communist ideology and above all its modifications, which have governed the CPSU for many decades. In contemporary conditions, in the light of new political thinking, the unsoundness and amorality of many means and methods by which the goals proclaimed were achieved, the excessive cost of the results achieved by "actually existing socialism," have become obvious. There needs to be a radical reexamination of dogmatic conceptions of the role of the working class; of the dictatorship of the proletariat; of the inevitability and necessity of socialist revolution; of socialism without a market; of the possibility of popular sovereignty without political pluralism; of the steady growth of the leading power, the party-state structures held it only nominally. Reelections everywhere of administrations, union committees, party committees, demands for calling special forums were a serious warning to the ruling party.
A further worsening of the tendency to lag behind could lead to a defeat of the party in the elections for the republic and local organs of power, the results of which would be catastrophic for the CPSU.
Indissolubly bound up with the ideological and political crises is the organizational crisis of the party.... The main cement of the undemocratic character of this party, as well as of the whole political system, is the principle of democratic centralism. Democratic Centralism a) does not guarantee a real pluralism of opinions in the party and the possibility to defend such ideas and to criticize the decisions by organized means.
b) It does not guarantee defense of the rights of minorities, in part generated by innovating ideas, and by the same token condemns the party to permanent stagnation.
c) It does not give the right of decision making to those directly concerned; it prescribes subordination of the lower party bodies to the higher ones in all questions.
d) It bans the formation of horizontal ties, as a result of which the party apparatus becomes all-powerful and uncontrolled, able to manipulate the opinion of individual Communists, as well as of all party organizations.
g) It dictates an iron executive discipline, excluding creative initiative and activity from below, thereby regimenting the party ranks and transforming Communists into an adjunct to the party apparatus. 11 e) It does not permit the members of the July 2, 1990 • #188 International Viewpoint
CPSU and elected people's deputies to express the will of those who elected them rather than that of the higher party bodies.
The second major source of the party's undemocratic character is the nomenklatura system of selecting and placing cadres for every function, leading to the "partification" of all leading posts, to the formation of a party-state elite with its own special interests, corrupted by irresponsibility, overgrown with privileges, mired in corruption and favoritism, abusing power, a part of which is intimately bound up with shadow economy and organized
In the present stage, what is necessary is not an improvement and perfection of the existing party structure and relations but a radical democratic reform of the party, involving a transition from the totalitarian model of the party to the modern democratic model of the parliamentary party in the framework of a multiparty system.
To achieve the consistent application of such a reform from below, in its radical variant, is the strategic task of the Democratic Platform, of all vanguard forces in Il Radical Reform of the CPSU In today's conditions, the primary task is to work out a conception reform of the CPSU and on this basis of an anti-crisis program for our party. Such a reform must become the centerpiece of a a thoroughgoing liquidation of the regime and transition to democratic socialism....
Along the road of carrying out the reform of the party, we see two basic stages, with
Stage 1. The transfer of power from the monopolistically ruling party to the soviets, democratization of the party.
The foundation for this stage was laid by the "March" revolution, the spring 1989 elections of people's deputies of the USSR It involved a slow limiting of the governmental functions of the party. The party is renouncing direct involvement in economic, social and spiritual life, it is narrowing the sphere of its cadre policy, concentrating its attention on ideological-political leadership. The supreme power is being transferred to the Congress of People's Deputies and in the localities to the soviets. All this is taking place in the framework of a conception of separating the legislative, executive and judicial branches.
The leading role of the party in society is ceasing to be a constitutionally established monopoly and is being based exclusively on its authority, its ability to continue its role of initiator of the processes of peres-
A differentiation is occurring between radical and conservative wings in the parties. Various platforms, groups and factions 12 cratic structures of civil society is continu- At the same time, the formation of demoInternational Viewpoint #188 • July 2, 1990 with the formation of new political organizations and movements preparing the way for the emergence of various political parties. We consider that only a union of the progressive wing of the CPSU with the independent democratic movement of the people can give perestroika a real social base, extricating it from its present
In order to achieve such transformations in the framework of the first stage, the following are needed.
1. Revision of the constitution of the USSR (removal of Article 6 [which established the leading role of the party]) and the adoption of a law on social organizations (or a law on political parties) which must guarantee the freedom to form political parties and equality among them and define their political status.
2. An ideological reform that must find its conceptual expression in a new program for the party. We think such reform should include the following:
a) Renunciation of the dogmatic interpretation of Marxism. Using that part of the Marxist heritage that has retained a significance in today's conditions. From now on, the party must make extensive use of the leading achievements of human thought, abandoning the resort to schemas that obstruct the process of innovation and creative research.
b) Genuine avowal of the enormous responsibility that the CPSU bears for the results and consequences of the totalitarian regime in our country. There must be a full and irreversible condemnation of the state socialist model that led our society into c) Scientific definition of the goals of the reforms undertaken, thoroughgoing liquidation of the totalitarian regime and a transition to a democratic society, based on a priority for general human interests and values — the principles of democracy, humanism, pluralism, social justice, non violence, solidarity and tolerance for other world-views and social systems.
3. Reform of organizational structures and inter-party relations on the basis of new democratic statutes for the CPSU.
The aim of this reform is to replace the principle of democratic centralism with established democratic principles (elections, glasnost, removability of leaders, the subordination of minorities to the majority within the framework of a statutory guarantee of the rights of minorities) and total rejection of the nomenklatura system.
To this end, we propose that the following principles be introduced into the stat-
- Direct elections of the secretaries of party base organizations, district committees, city committees, the members of party committees and delegates to party forums, on the basis of platforms, with a variety of candidates and with the right to put forward candidates freely.
- A return to freedom for factions and groupings and ideological tendencies, annuling the 1921 "On Party Unity" resolution of the Tenth Party Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik)
- Establishing the possibility of forming horizontal structures in the party (for example, associations for general, functional, professional and other interests).
- Freeing the party control commissions and mass media from subordination to the party's executive organs, making them responsible only to party congresses or
- Continuation of the mandate of delegates to party congresses and conferences for the entire period leading up to a new forum (if delegates are not recalled).
- Liquidating special privileges and benefits for the chosen team and apparatus, which undermine the party's authority.
— To replace the nomenklatura system by elections, competitions and other mechanisms for selecting cadres
- In view of the growth of national consciousness of the peoples, of the growing tendency of the republics to independence (and the possibility of adopting a new treaty on the formation of the USSR), transition, as conditions ripen, to the federal principle for the structure of the CPSU in accordance with the structure of our state, forming a Communist Party of Russia.
The immediate bounds and character of this transitional stage will be largely determined by the bounds of political and ideological pluralism in the party itself. The faster and deeper the process of democratizing the CPS goes, the gentler and less painless will be the transition to full power of the soviets and the formation of a multi-
Stage 2. The transformation of the CPSU into a parliamentary party operating within the conditions of a multiparty system, a parliamentary and constitutional state.
It seems to us that the possibility of transition to this stage depends first of all on the definitive consolidation of the authority of the soviets and the creation of a new par liamentary and constitutional state; second ly on the emergence of mass politica parties and organizations able to participat in a real way in the formation of govern mental organs of power and to assum responsibility for ruling the country; and thirdly on the transformation of the CPSU into a real, modern democratic party ready for dialogue on a equal footing with other political forces, including those in opposi-
All this makes possible a transition to a parliamentary system with proportional representation of the parties in the organs of power in accordance with the direct expression of the will of the voters. The logical foundation of this stage is the preparation and holding of regular (and special) elections of people's deputies of the USSR.
While we are for maintaining our party's leading positions, we consider that the CPSU's right to political leadership has tu be gained exclusively in elections and con