Soviet Law And Soviet Society

Soviet power rests on two main supports: the comp1ete economic dependence of the citizens upon the state and the unlimited politi cal control of the government over the economic, social and even cultural life. History knows various kinds of despotisms, dicta torships and regimentations of economic activity, but the U .S.S.R. represents a unique kind of dictatorship based on the one party system and integral planning with the specific goal of realization of communism. Mankind had never before known such a system. Even the best of possible comparisons, the ana logy with the period of Ptolemies in Egypt, is good only in so far as it concerns the regimentation of all kind of economic activity. There was in the past no ideology pretending to be adjusted to the needs of the toiling masses, no planning system on the same scale and no Communist party apparatus. As concerns the modern world the comparative method is necessary for giving the most graphical characterization of the differences between the Western democracies, with their ethical traditions, rule of law and the principle of the inviolability of individual rights, and, on the other hand, the Soviet monolithic state, with its unscrupulous policy, extremities of regimentations and drastic penalties.

The revised Encyclopedia follows the format of the 1973 edition. It is a compilation of nearly 500 short, factual articles on Soviet domestic and international law.

Mr. Berman gives a many-sided interpretation of the Soviet legal system in theory and in practice. He presents a threefold explanation of the development of Soviet law, rooted first in the requirements of a socialist planned economy, second in the heritage of the Russian past, and third in the Soviet 'parental' concept of a man as a youth to be educated and disciplined. He compares and contrasts socialist law with capitalist law, the Russian heritage with the Western legal tradition of the past 900 years, the Soviet concept of man with that which is implicit in our own legal system.

This is the first treatise on Russia's new legal system, as it emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The first part of the book analyses in detail the political and economic origins of "perestroika," indispensable for understanding the basic parameters of the evolution of Russian law. In the following chapters all major legal subjects are discussed against the background of their Soviet past and as the result of the radical changes in the political, social and economic make-up of the country. The appendices include the texts of the U.S.S.R. and Russian Constitutions, the Agreement of Minsk, The Russian Federation Treaty, bibliographical sources, and extensive indices of Soviet and Russian legislation. The book has been written for legal practitioners, comparative lawyers, and students of Russian law, but will also be of interest to a wider audience of political scientists, journalists, etc.