Bloc of Communists and Non-Party Members

in the USSR, a political alliance of the Communist Party and non-Party working people. The Bloc of Communists and Non-Party Members expresses the indestructibility of the moral and political unity of Soviet society. The bloc puts forth its slogan in campaigns for elections to the soviets.

On Dec. 7, 1937, before the elections to the first convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (December 1937), which were held on the basis of the new Constitution of the USSR (1936), the Central Committee of the CPSU (Bolshevik) published the “Appeal to All Voters” in Pravda. The appeal stated that the Communist Party “was entering the elections in a bloc, in alliance with non-Party members . . . .” The experience of many years of struggle, the three Russian revolutions, and communist construction had convinced working people that the Communists had no interests other than those of the people. By their unanimity and activity in the elections, the Soviet people expressed complete confidence in the Communist Party and the Soviet government and demonstrated the Party’s unity with the non-Party working masses.

All the deputies of the soviets are representatives of the people. The social and national composition of the deputies shows the democratic and representative character of the soviets. In the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1970 elections) there were 1,517 deputies: 767 in the Soviet of the Union and 750 in the Soviet of Nationalities. Among the deputies there were 481 workers, 282 kolkhoz members, and 146 workers in the fields of culture, science, education, and public health. The two chambers had representatives of 58 nations (natsiia; nation in the historical sense) and nationalities of the Soviet Union. Among the deputies in the local soviets, 29.5 percent are workers, 31.3 percent are kolkhoz members; 43 percent are women. Non-Party members make up 54 percent of the elected representatives of the people. The Bloc of Communists and Non-Party Members is evidence of the unity of purpose of the Soviet people.