Private law branches under a totalitarian political regime (the case of Soviet labor law development in the 1918–1930s)

The subject. Implementation of Soviet labor law in the context of totalitarianism. Particular attention is paid to the formation of a repressive model of regulation of private law relations. The study of this problem is extremely important from the point of view of the totalitarian past of our country, covering all spheres of public life and entailing large-scale tragic consequences. The purpose of the article is to confirm or disprove hypothesis that a totalitarian political regime seriously impacts on the essential characteristics of private law branches. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study includes the principles of objectivity and historicism, the formal logical interpretation of the Soviet legal acts concerning labor relations and the method of system analysis, which allows us to reveal the subject of research comprehensively. The main results, scope of application. During the formation of the Soviet totalitarian regime, administrative methods of governance in the branches of private law (and in labor law, in particular) prevailed. The formation and development of Soviet labor law in the 1918-1930s. fully reflects the logic of the impact of a totalitarian state on the branches of private law. The widely used system of repressive measures in the sphere of labor was provided not only by laws, but also by the adoption of numerous by-laws, which deformed the system of private law relations based on decentralization and freedom of choice by legal entities. Labor relations were used by the Soviet state as a means of political management of significant masses of the population. Along with the codification of labor legislation (the adoption of the RSFSR Labor Law Codes of 1918 and 1922), normative acts aimed at state monopolization of labor regulation were adopted. A significant number of by-laws, which actually had the highest legal force, often had a purely coercive nature and was used by management as a means of achieving political goals. There was a de facto substitution of the right to work with a labor obligation. In a totalitarian regime in 1918-1930. in fact, a labor obligation is being affirmed, and the relationship between the employee and the employer has ceased to be private in nature, being under the control of executive authorities. Conclusions. Totalitarian political regime seriously changed the essential characteristics of private law branches.