Rykov's prophecies of the disappearance of Political parties may be falsified by a development of that very non-partyism on which he basesthem.It is true that the parties openly hostile to the Communists in Russia have practically disappeared.Many old-time Mensheviks have joined the Communist Party.Here and there in the country may be found a Social Revolutionary stronghold.Here and there in the Ukraine the Mensheviks retain a footing, but I doubt whether either of these parties has in it the vitality to make itself once again a serious political factor.There is, however, a movement which, in the long run, may alter Russia's political complexion.More and more delegates to Soviets or Congresses of all kinds are explicitly described as "Non-party." Non-partyism is perhaps a sign of revolt against rigid discipline of any kind.Now and then, of course, a clever Menshevik or Social Revolutionary, by trimming his sails carefully to the wind, gets himself elected on a non-party ticket.'When this happens there is usually a great hullabaloo as soon as he declares himself.A section of his electors agitates for his recall and presently some one else is elected in his stead.But non-partyism is much more than a mere cloak of invisibility for enemies or conditional supporters of the Communists.I know of considerable country districts which, in the face of every kind of agitation, insist on returning exclusively non-party delegates.The local Soviets in these districts are also non-party, and they elect usually a local Bolshevik to some responsible post to act as it were as a buffer between themselves and the centralauthority.They manage local affairs in their own way, and, through the use of tact on both sides, avoid falling foul of the more rigid doctrinaires in Moscow.
