Declaration of the Rights of Workers and Exploited Peoples

Full Text
Ratified 7 October 1934

Preamble

With the victory of proletarian revolution in America, and the establishment of a soviet society and economy now achieved, the revolutionary government has the duty to sweep aside the reactionary and oppressive remnants of the old order, which treated people, especially those deemed lesser than the dominant clique of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, as disposable tools.

The dictatorship of the proletariat rejects the selfish and evil sentiment of class society that every man is for himself and let the devil take the hindmost. Freedom is more than just protections from undue abuse by the state. Individual freedom cannot exist without economic security, for necessitous men are not free men. People who are ostracized for their language, their nation, their race or their religion are not free. Women who are subjected to cruel dependency on men to support themselves and their children, and who must undertake the socially necessary but nonetheless unremunerated domestic labor that supports the basis for society, are not free.

This declaration is a compact by the revolutionary workers of the Union of American Socialist Republics to establish a social order where everyone would be free from fear and free from want.

Article I

The strength of the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is unity in diversity. While we hold the full compatibility of social and cultural self-determination with the revolution, no article of this declaration shall be construed as undermining the revolutionary democratic institutions of workers power.

Article II

The Union of American Socialist Republics is a nation of nations. Pursuant to this, all peoples have the right of self-determination, and thus the right to freely determine their political status, and pursue economic, social and cultural development.

Article III

The many immigrant nations of the UASR have the right to speak their language, and pursue their own social, cultural and religious practices within the UASR.

Article IV

The development of productive forces across the imperial possessions of the old United States, as well as many areas within the country proper, has been highly uneven and malformed by bourgeois political economy. The workers’ republic: the all-Union government, the governments of the republics, and all devolved governments, shall individually and collectively take steps to provide economic, technical, and educational assistance, maximizing the development of eusocial productive forces so that all may benefit.

Article V

The workers’ republic must ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights in this declaration. This article shall not be construed to prohibit the necessary protections women need as mothers and as a historically disadvantaged sex to ensure they may enjoy equality of condition.

Article VI

The workers’ republic must ensure the equal right of all races, nationalities, and peoples to the enjoyment of all economic, social, and cultural rights in this declaration. This article shall not be construed to prohibit the necessary protections historically disadvantaged groups need against the legacy of disenfranchisement and prejudice to ensure they may enjoy equality of condition.

Article VII

1. The workers’ republic must ensure the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the free association of labor and the democratic management of economic life, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right. 2. To achieve the full realization of this right, the all-Union government shall organize technical and vocational guidance and training programs, policies and techniques to achieve steady economic, social and cultural development and full and productive employment under conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual.

Article VIII

All persons shall have the right to the enjoyment of just and favorable conditions of work which ensure: a) Remuneration which provides all workers with fair wages and equal remunerations for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular with respect to race, sex, or nation; b) Safe and healthy working conditions; c) Equal opportunity for everyone to be promoted to an appropriate higher level, subject to no considerations other than seniority and competence; d) Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays;

Article IX

The workers’ republic shall ensure: a) The right of everyone to form and to join alternative trade unions of their choice, subject only to the rules of the organization concern, for the promotion of their economic and social interests. No person exercising this right shall be excluded from membership in, nor be sanctioned in anyway by, the official trade union federation. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public order or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others; b) The right of all trade unions to establish national federations, and the right of trade union federations to form or join international organizations; c) The right to strike, limited only by restrictions prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public order or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others;

Article X

Everyone shall have the right to social security, including social insurance.

Article XI

Everyone shall have the right to an irreducible minimum of resources to ensure an adequate standard of living. All persons have the right to freedom from want, especially freedom from hunger, subject only to the limitations of the level of the development of productive forces.

Article XII

Everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing. The workers’ republic must take reasonable measures within available resources to achieve the progressive realization of this right.

Article XIII

Everyone shall have the right to have access to sufficient food and water.

Article XIV

Everyone shall have the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. This shall include, but not be limited to: a) The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality, and for the healthy development of all children; b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene; c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other disease; d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness;

Article XV

Every child has the right: a) To a name and a nationality from birth b) To family care or parental care, or to the appropriate alternative care when removed from the family environment c) To basic nutrition, shelter, health care services and social services d) To be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation e) To be protected from exploitative labor practices f) Not to be required or permitted to perform work that is inappropriate for a person of that age, or places at risk the child's wellbeing, education, physical or mental or social development.

Article XVI

Everyone shall have the right to free education, directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups.

Article XVII

Everyone has the right of access to any information held by the state, subject only to the reasonable restrictions of national security and public order, as determined by national security juries.

Article XVIII

Everyone shall have the right to take part in cultural life; to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its application.

Article XIX

All persons are guaranteed freedom of scientific, technical, and artistic work. This freedom is ensured by broadening scientific research, encouraging invention and innovation, and developing literature and the arts. The state shall, as permitted by the level of development of productive forces, take steps to provide the progressive realization of the necessary material conditions for this and support for voluntary societies and unions of workers in the arts. The rights of authors, inventors and innovators are protected by the state.

Article XX

The all-Union government shall take progressive steps to organize the introduction of inventions and innovations in production and other spheres of activity.

Article XXI

To promote the further development of productive forces, and realize the abolition of toil, the workers’ republic shall take progressive steps to socialize domestic labor.

Article XXII

Any direct or indirect restriction of the rights of, or, conversely, any establishment of direct or indirect privileges for, citizens on account of their race or nationality, as well as any advocacy of racial or national exclusiveness or hatred and contempt, is punishable by law.

Article XXIII

The UASR shall afford the right of asylum to foreign citizens persecuted for defending the interests of working people, or for their scientific or cultural activities, or for their struggle for national liberation.