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.

Inhaltsangabe- a legal approach to the study of Communism.- I Soviet Philosophy of Law.- I. So Viet Law and the Legacy of the Past.- 1. Traditional Indifference toward Law.- 2. Insufficiency of Legal Reforms.- 3. Legal Education and Science of Law.- 4. Consequences of the Revolution.- 5. Peculiarities of the Soviet Period.- II. Soviet Ethics.- 1. The Relativity of Moral Principles.- 2. The Source of Moral Consciousness.- 3. Morality and Law.- 4. Collectivism and Pragmatism.- 5. The Moral Duties of Soviet Citizens.- III. Soviet Concept of Law And State.- 1. Coercive Character of Soviet Law.- 2. The State as an Apparatus of Violence.- 3. The New 'Socialist Law'.- 4. Durability of Proletarian State.- IV. Law does not Wither Away in the Soviet Union.- 1. Vyshinskii's Campaign for 'Socialist Law.'.- 2. Socialism Does not Abolish Law.- 3. Inadequacy of the Marxist Theory of Law.- 4. Variable and Constant Elements of Law.- V. Four Stages in the Development of Soviet Law.- 1. Period of War Communism.- 2. The New Economic Policy.- 3. The Period of Socialist Construction.- 4. The Period of Stability.- VI. Sources of Soviet Law.- 1. Statutary Law.- 2. 'General Line' of the Communist Party.- 3. Legal Publications.- II Soviet Economic Law.- VII. Legal Foundations of the Centralized Economy.- VIII. The Shpere of Economic Freedom.- 1. General Limitations of Economic Freedom.- 2. Limitations of Economic Organizations (Soviet Legal Entities).- 3. Objects of Private Rights.- III Civil Law.- IX. Property Rights.- 1. The State Socialist Property.- 2. The Socialist Property of Co-operatives (Kolkhozes).- 3. Juridical Effects of 'Socialist Property.'.- 4. Personal Property.- X. Contracts.- 1. Limitations on Freedom of Contract.- 2. Contracts between Private Persons.- 3. Contracts of Government Agencies.- XI. Inheritance Law.- 1. The Theory of Inheritance Law.- 2. Soviet Laws of Inheritance.- 3. General Appraisal.- IV Land Law and Labor Law.- XII. Kolkhozes.- 1. Government and Party Control.- 2. Economic Dependence of Kolkhozes.- 3. Economic Functions of Kolkhozes.- 4. Remuneration of Individual Farmers.- 5. Private Farmers' Economy.- 6. Anti-individualist Trends.- 7. Failure of Kolkhoz Economy.- 8. The Legal Nature of Kolkhozes.- 9. Fluctuations in Kolkhoz Policy.- XIII. Soviet Labor Law.- 1. Sources of Labor Law.- 2. The 'Six-Poin? Program and the Trade Unions.- 3. Work as a Duty.- 4. Wages.- 5. Labor Discipline.- 6. Social Insurance.- 7. Collective Bargaining since 1947.- 8. Labor Conflicts.- XIV. Penalties and Rewards as Incentives for Work.- 1. Crimes against Public Interests.- 2. Encouragement of Socialist Zeal.- 3. Psychological and Social Effects of New Incentives.- V State Law.- XV. Foundations of Political Power in the U.S.S.R.- 1. Development of the Soviet State.- 2. The Role of the Communist Party.- 3. The Supreme Soviet.- 4. The Council of Ministers.- 5. The Pyramids of Ispolkoms.- 6. General Characterization of the Soviet Structure.- 7. Decisions of the XIX Congress of the Communist Party.- 8. Reorganization of the Government.- XVI. Soviet Centralism and National Problems.- 1. The Federal Structure of the U.S.S.R.- 2. The National Policy of the Soviets.- 3. Apparent Sovereignty.- 4. Self-government or Decentralization?.- XVII. Elections.- XVIII. The individual and the state.- 1. Legal Guarantees of Individual Rights.- 2. Freedoms in the Soviet Union.- 3. Rights of Citizens.- 4. Citizens1 Duties.- 5. Soviet Citizenship.- XIX. Democracy of 'The Highest Type'.- 1. General Principles and Trends of Democracy.- 2. Soviet Comments on 'Bourgeois Democracy'.- 3. Soviet Democracy.- 4. 'Proletarian Dictatorship', a New Type of State.- VI Soviet Society.- XX. Social Stratification.- 1. Destruction of the Old Society.- 2. Formation of New Social Strata.- 3. Social Inequality in the 'Classless' Society.- 4. Stabilization of Social Inequalities.- XXI. Organization of Social Life.- 1.