Page:Through Bolshevik Russia - Snowden - 1920.djvu/147

 and the Communist system is firmly established all over the earth.

The Soviet elects an Executive Committee. In Moscow this numbers forty persons. This Committee elects a Presidium. In Moscow this numbers nine. The power which may still linger in the Soviet to a small degree resides in this Presidium. But on this body and over the election of both the Presidium and the Executive Committee, the Government exercises great pressure, and naturally the Government nominees, who are all Communists, are elected to the Presidium, which sits daily.

Great play is made in defending this undemocratic arrangement and these terrific powers, of the "recall," which they allege, operates frequently and is a check on conduct. If recalls are as frequent as is claimed, the efficiency of business must be seriously jeopardised. But the recall is frequently exercised because some elected persons are obliged to go to the front and it is thought wise to put others in their places. Drinking, which is another reason for recall, should not be possible in a prohibition country. Personal spite and jealousy frequently come into the business. And an eloquent speaker, working upon an ignorant and changeable mass can so change their political point of view as to bring their representative easily within the criticism of his