RUSSIA: Delusion on Sunday

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"And It Was Obvious, . . ." On election day, polls open at 6 a.m. Polling places provide day nurseries where mothers can leave their babies while they vote. Some polling places feature string orchestras for the voters' entertainment. The ballot bears a single name, that of the official "bloc" candidate. To vote for him, the voter marks the ballot with an X. To vote against him, he scratches out the name. A voter may withdraw into a gaily festooned polling booth, but most put their X down out in the open. Obviously, privacy would serve only those who would want to vote against the candidate, and the names of people- who use the polling booths are usually taken down by poll watchers and passed on to the secret police. The day after election day, Radio Moscow announces triumphantly that well over 99% of the votes have been cast for the bloc of Communist and nonparty candidates.

The show is not as pointless as it looks. It gives the Russian people the illusion that they are actually participating in their government. A recent issue of the Soviet magazine Krokodil printed a song that expressed the mood which the "elections" are supposed to create:

It was a Sunday and a winter eve To a meeting we went. With a candidate-deputy We had a lengthy talk . . . He told us about his work, About his wounds sustained in war. And in his story each of us Recognized his own life . . . We were arguing, discussing, Talking more and more, And it was obvious that pretty soon The candidate will become a deputy.

Krokodil, a humor magazine, did not seem to think it was being funny. Neither did the Russian people who, never having known anything better, believe that the show that they will enact next Sunday is really an election as well as a holiday.