VADIM BELOTSERKOVSKY
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necessity of further democratization , and the rate and methods of its
introduction ." But in my opinion, this is insufficient . A mere
declaration of this sort is most unlikely to dispel skepticism and
distrust . Nor would it guarantee that the next steps would necessarily
follow-especially if we consider the compositIOn of the Party
leadership and the psychological mood of the country. The history of
Khrushchev 's rule is a good illustration: the Malenkov opposition,
the sabotage or misapplication at local levels of Khrushchev's
initiatives , and his final overthrow. Acrually , Khrushchev made no
serious attempt at democratization even though his first step was
unusual and revolutionary in character: he had to unmask the cult of
Stalin's personality and rehabilitate the "enemies of the people "
(actions similar to those demanded of Dubcek in the Prague spring).
In my opinion, a suitable first step could be the implementation of
the recommendation contained in Lenin 's
Testament:
that one
hundred ordinary workers , who had never held high-level posts in
either Party or Government, be made members of the CPSU Central
Committee , where they should have unhindered access to all
documents and full voting rights .
Lenin 's recommendation would , of course, have to be amended
now to provide for the inclusion of engineers and scientists in the
Central Committee, not just workers. These ought to be elected
freely, by secret ballot, from an unlimited number of candidates at
their places of work, and should account for up to 50 percent of the
Central Committee membership .
At the same time it would be necessary to realize another
essential condition, namely the exposure of the Central Committee's
and the Government's work to the public view , the
glasnost
Lenin
endorsed. And public trust would be strengthened if the Central
Committee's members (in accordance with Lenin 's proposal) were
elected for a limited period , so the unremovable leaders could be
replaced .
Should candidacy be limited to Party members? This would be
perfectly feasible, because the rank-and-file Party members among
the worker-engineers and scientists are not much different from their
non-Party colleagues, and an unlimited choice of candidates and a
secret vote would surely ensure the election of the most honest and
competent people .
