To the Electorate

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of To the Electorate has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the edition published in the pamphlet Speeches Delivered at Meetings of Voters of the Stalin Electoral District, Moscow by the Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1950.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a speech delivered by Comrade I.B. Stalin at the Bolsoj Theatre in Moscow, Russia, Council Union on the 11th of December, 1937.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#TO THE ELECTORATE

#SPEECH DELIVERED AT A MEETING OF VOTERS IN THE STALIN ELECTORAL DISTRICT OF MOSCOW

#I.B. Stalin

#11th of December, 1937

#★

[The voters greet Comrade Stalin's appearance in the rostrum with a loud ovation lasting for several minutes. All those in the hall of the Bolsoj Theatre rise and greet Comrade Stalin. Continuous cries from the hall: «Long live great Stalin! Hurrah!» «Hurrah for Comrade Stalin, the creator of the Council Constitution, the most democratic in the world!» «Long live Comrade Stalin, leader of the oppressed throughout the world! Hurrah!»]

Comrades, to tell you the truth, I had no intention of making a speech. But our respected Nikita Sergeevic [Hrusev] dragged me to this meeting by sheer force, so to speak. «Make a good speech», he said. What shall I talk about, exactly what sort of speech? Everything that had to be said before the elections has already been said and said again in the speeches of our leading comrades, Kalinin, Molotov, Vorosilov, Kaganovic, and many other responsible comrades. What can be added to these speeches?

What is needed, they say, are explanations of certain questions connected with the election campaign. What explanations, on what questions? Everything that had to be explained has been explained and explained again in the well-known addresses of the Majoritarian Party, the Communist Youth League, the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the Aviation and Chemical Defence Society, and the Committee of Physical Culture. What can be added to these explanations?

Of course, one can make a light sort of speech about everything and nothing. [Laughter.] Perhaps such a speech would amuse the audience. They say there are some great hands at such speeches not only over there, in the capitalist countries, but here too, in the council country. [Laughter and applause.] But, firstly, I am no great hand at such speeches. Secondly, is it worth while indulging in amusing things just now when all of us Majoritarians are, as they say, «up to our necks» in work? I think not.

Clearly, you cannot make a good speech under such circumstances.

However, since I have taken the floor, I will have, of course, to say at least something one way or another. [Loud applause.]

First of all, I would like to express my thanks [applause] to the electors for the confidence they have shown me. [Applause.]

I have been nominated as candidate, and the Election Commission of the Stalin District of the Soviet capital has registered my candidature. This, comrades, is an expression of great confidence. Permit me to convey to you my profound Majoritarian gratitude for this confidence that you have shown the Majoritarian Party of which I am a member, and me personally as a representative of that Party. [Loud applause.]

I know what confidence means. It naturally lays upon me new and additional duties and, consequently, new and additional responsibilities. Well, it is not customary among us Majoritarians to refuse responsibilities. I accept them willingly. [Loud and prolonged applause.]

For my part, I would like to assure you, comrades, that you may safely rely on Comrade Stalin. [Loud and sustained cheers. A voice: «And we all follow Comrade Stalin!»] You may take it for granted that Comrade Stalin will be able to discharge his duty to the people [applause], to the working class [applause], to the peasantry [applause], and to the intellectuals. [Applause.]

Further, comrades, I would like to congratulate you on the occasion of the upcoming national holiday, the day of the elections to the Supreme Council of the Council Union. [Loud applause.] The upcoming elections are not merely elections, comrades, they are really a national holiday of our workers, our peasants, and our intellectuals. [Loud applause.] Never in the history of the world have there been such really free and really democratic elections -- never! History knows no other example like it. [Applause.] The point is not that our elections will be universal, equal, secret, and direct, although that fact in itself is of great importance. The point is that our universal elections will be carried out as the freest elections and the most democratic compared with elections in any other country in the world.

Universal elections exist and are also held in some capitalist countries, so-called democratic countries. But in what atmosphere are elections held there? In an atmosphere of class conflicts, in an atmosphere of class enmity, in an atmosphere of pressure brought to bear on the electors by the capitalists, landlords, bankers, and other capitalist sharks. Such elections, even if they are universal, equal, secret, and direct, cannot be called altogether free and altogether democratic elections.

Here, in our country, on the contrary, elections are held in an entirely different atmosphere. Here there are no capitalists and no landlords, and, consequently, no pressure is exerted by propertied classes on non-propertied classes. Here, elections are held in an atmosphere of collaboration between the workers, the peasants, and the intellectuals, in an atmosphere of mutual confidence between them, in an atmosphere, I would, say, of mutual friendship; because there are no capitalists in our country, no landlords, no exploitation, and nobody, in fact, to bring pressure to bear on people in order to distort their will.

That is why our elections are the only really free and really democratic elections in the whole world. [Loud applause.]

Such free and really democratic elections could arise only on the basis of the triumph of the socialist system, only on the basis of the fact that, in our country, socialism is not merely being built, but has already become part of the life, of the daily life of the people. Some ten years ago, the question might still have been disputed as to whether socialism could be built in our country or not. Today, this is no longer a debatable question. Today, it is a matter of facts, a matter of real life, a matter of habits that permeate the whole life of the people. Our mills and factories are being run without capitalists. The work is directed by individuals belonging to the people. That is what we call socialism in practice. In our fields, the tillers of the land work without landlords and without rich peasants. The work is directed by individuals belonging to the people. That is what we call socialism in daily life, that is what we call a free, socialist life.

It is on this basis that our new, really free, and really democratic elections have arisen, elections which have no precedent in human history.

How then, after this, can one refrain from congratulating you on the occasion of the day of national celebration, the day of the elections to the Supreme Council of the Council Union?! [Loud, general cheers.]

Further, comrades, I would like to give you some advice, the advice of a candidate to their electors. If you take capitalist countries, you will find that peculiar, I would say, rather strange relations exist there between deputies and voters. As long as the elections are in progress, the deputies flirt with the electors, fawn on them, swear fidelity, and make heaps of promises of every kind. It looks as though the deputies are completely dependent on the electors. As soon as the elections are over, and the candidates have become deputies, relations undergo a radical change. Instead of the deputies being dependent on the electors, they become entirely independent. For four or five years, that is, until the next elections, the deputy feels quite free, independent of the people, of their electors. They may pass from one camp to another, they may turn from the right road to the wrong, they may even become entangled in machinations of a not altogether savoury character, they may turn as many somersaults as they like -- they are independent.

Can such relations be regarded as normal? By no means, comrades. This circumstance was taken into consideration by our Constitution and it made it a law that electors have the right to recall their deputies before the expiration of their term of office if they begin to play tricks, if they turn off the road, or if they forget that they are dependent on the people, on the electors.

This is a wonderful law, comrades. A deputy should know that they are the servant of the people, their emissary in the Supreme Council, and that they must follow the line laid down in the mandate given them by the people. If they turn off the road, the electors are entitled to demand new elections, and, as to the deputy who turned off the road, they have the right to send them packing. [Laughter and applause.] This is a wonderful law. My advice, the advice of a candidate to their electors, is that they remember this electors' right, the right to recall deputies before the expiration of their term of office, that they keep an eye on their deputies, control them, and, if they should take it into their heads to turn off the right road, to get rid of them and demand new elections. The government is obliged to appoint new elections. My advice is to remember this law and to take advantage of it should need arise.

And, lastly, one more piece of advice from a candidate to their electors. What, in general, must one demand of one's deputies, selecting from all possible demands the most elementary?

The electors, the people, must demand that their deputies should remain equal to their tasks; that, in their work, they should not sink to the level of political philistines; that in their posts they should remain political figures of the Lenin type; that as public figures they should be as clear and definite as Lenin was [applause]; that they should be as fearless in battle and as merciless towards the enemies of the people as Lenin was [applause]; that they should be free from all panic, from any semblance of panic, when things begin, to get complicated and some danger or other looms on the horizon; that they should be as free from all semblance of panic as Lenin was [applause]; that they should be as wise and deliberate in deciding complex problems requiring a comprehensive orientation and a comprehensive weighing of all pros and cons as Lenin was [applause]; that they should be as upright and honest as Lenin was [applause]; that they should love their people as Lenin did. [Applause.]

Can we say that all the candidates are public figures precisely of this kind? I would not say so. There are all sorts of people in the world, there are all sorts of public figures in the world. There are people of whom you cannot say what they are, whether they are good or bad, courageous or timid, for the people heart and soul, or for the enemies of the people. There are such people and there are such public figures. They are also to be found among us, the Majoritarians. You know yourselves, comrades, there are black sheep in every family. [Laughter and applause.] Of people of this indefinite type, people who resemble political philistines rather than political figures, people of this vague, uncertain type, the great Russian writer, Gogol, rather aptly said: «Vague sort of people, neither one thing nor the other, you can't make head or tail of them, they are neither Bogdan in town nor Seliphan in the country.» [Laughter and applause.] There are also some rather apt popular sayings about such indefinite people and public figures: «A middling sort of person -- neither fish nor flesh» [cries of approval and applause], «neither a candle for God nor a poker for the Devil». [Cries of approval and applause.]

I cannot say with absolute certainty that, among the candidates (I beg their pardon, of course) and among our public figures, there are no people who resemble political philistines more than anything else, who in character and make up resemble people of the type referred to in the popular saying: «Neither a candle for God nor a poker for the Devil.» [Laughter and applause.]

I would like you, comrades, to exercise systematic influence on your deputies, to impress upon them that they must constantly keep before them the great image of the great Lenin and imitate Lenin in all things. [Applause.]

The functions of the electors do not end with the elections. They continue during the whole term of the given Supreme Council. I have already mentioned the law which empowers the electors to recall their deputies before the expiration of their term of office if they should turn off the right road. Hence, it is the duty and right of the electors to keep their deputies constantly under their control and to impress upon them that they must under no circumstances sink to the level of political philistines, impress upon them that they must be like the great Lenin. [Applause.]

Such, comrades, is my second piece of advice to you, the advice of a candidate to their electors.

[Loud and sustained applause and cheers. All rise and turn towards the government box, to which Comrade Stalin proceeds from the platform. Voices: «Hurrah for the great Stalin!» «Hurrah for Comrade Stalin!» «Long live Comrade Stalin!» «Long live the first of the Leninists, candidate for the Council of the Union, Comrade Stalin! Hurrah!»]