APPENDIX

SOVIET RUSSIA’S CODE OF LABOR LAWS

I. The Code of Labor Laws shall take effect immediately upon its publication in the Compilation of Laws and Regulations of the Workmen’s and Peasants’ Government. This Code must be extensively circulated among the working class of the country by all the local organs of the Soviet Government and be posted in a conspicuous place in all Soviet Institutions.

II. The regulations of the Code of Labor Laws shall apply to all persons receiving remuneration for their work and shall be obligatory for all enterprises, institutions and establishments (Soviet, public, private and domestic), as well as for all private employers exploiting labor.

III. All existing regulations and those to be issued on questions of labor, of a general character (orders of individual establishments, instructions, rules of internal management, etc.), as well as individual contracts and agreements, shall be valid only in so far as they do not conflict with this Code.

IV. All labor agreements previously entered into, as well as all those which will be entered into in the future, in so far as they contradict the regulations of this Code, shall not be considered valid or obligatory, either for the employees or the employers.

V. In enterprises and establishments where the work is carried on in the form of organized cooperation (Section 6, Labor Division A of the present Code) the wage earners must be allowed the widest possible self-government under the supervision of the Central Soviet authorities. On this basis alone can the working masses be successfully educated in the spirit of socialist and communal government.

VI. The labor conditions in the communal enterprises organized as well as supported by the Soviet institutions (agricultural and other communes) are regulated by special rules of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and of the Council of People’s Commissars, and by instructions of the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture and Labor.

The labor conditions of farmers on land assigned them for cultivation are regulated by the Code of Rural Laws.

The labor conditions of independent artisans are regulated by special rules of the Commissariat of Labor.

ARTICLE I ON COMPULSORY LABOR

1. All citizens of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, with the exceptions stated in Sections 2 and 3, shall be subject to compulsory labor.

2. The following persons shall be exempt from compulsory labor:

(a) Persons under 16 years of age;

(b) All persons over 50 years;

(c) Persons who have become incapacitated by injury or illness.

3. Temporarily exempt from compulsory labor are:

(a) Persons who are temporarily incapacitated owing to illness or injury, for a period necessary for their recovery.

(b) Women, for a period of eight weeks before and eight weeks after confinement.

4. All students shall be subject to compulsory labor at the schools.

5. The fact of permanent or temporary disability shall be certified after a medical examination by the Bureau of Medical Survey in the city, district or province, by accident insurance office or agencies representing the former, according to the place of residence of the person whose disability is to be certified.

Note I. The rules on the method of examination of disabled workmen are appended hereto.

Note II. Persons who are subject to compulsory labor and are not engaged in useful public work may be summoned by the local Soviets for the execution of public work, on conditions determined by the Department of Labor in agreement with the local Soviets of trade unions.

6. Labor may be performed in the form of—

(a) Organized cooperation;

(b) Individual personal services;

(c) Individual special jobs.

7. Labor conditions in government (Soviet) establishments shall be regulated by tariff rules approved by the Central Soviet authorities through the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

8. Labor conditions in all establishments (Soviet, nationalized, public and private) shall be regulated by tariff rules drafted by the trade unions, in agreement with the directors or owners of establishments and enterprises, and approved by the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

Note. In cases where it is impossible to arrive at an understanding with the directors or owners of establishments or enterprises, the tariff rules shall be drawn up by the trade unions and submitted for approval to the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

9. Labor in the form of individual personal service or in the form of individual special jobs shall be regulated by tariff rules drafted by the respective trade unions and approved by the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

ARTICLE II THE RIGHT TO WORK

10. All citizens able to work have the right to employment at their vocations and for remuneration fixed for such class of work.

Note. The District Exchange Bureaus of the Department of Labor Distribution may, by agreement with the respective unions, assign individual wage earners or groups of them to work at other trades if there is no demand for labor at the vocations of the persons in question.

11. The right to work belongs first of all to those who are subject to compulsory labor.

12. Of the classes exempt from compulsory labor, only those mentioned in subdivision “b” of Section 2 have a right to work.

13. Those mentioned in subdivisions “a” and “c” of Section 2 are absolutely deprived of the right to work, and those mentioned in Section 3 temporarily deprived of the right to work.

14. All persons of the female sex, and those of the male sex under 18 years of age, shall have no right to work during night time or in those branches of industry where the conditions of labor are especially hard or dangerous.

Note. A list of especially hard and health-endangering occupations shall be prepared by the Department of Labor Protection of the People’s Commissariat of Labor, and shall be published in the month of January of each year in the Compilation of Laws and Regulations of the Workmen’s and Peasants’ Government.

ARTICLE III METHODS OF LABOR DISTRIBUTION

15. The enforcement of the right to work shall be secured through the Departments of Labor Distribution, trade unions, and through all the institutions of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic.

16. The assignment of wage earners to work shall be carried out through the Departments of Labor Distribution.

17. A wage earner may be summoned to work, save by the Departments of Labor Distribution, only when chosen for a position by a Soviet institution or enterprise.

18. Vacancies may be filled by election when the work offered requires political reliability or unusual special knowledge, for which the person elected is noted.

19. Persons engaged for work by election must register in the Department of Labor Distribution before they are accepted, but they shall not be subject to the rules concerning probation set forth in Article IV of the present Code.

20. Unemployed persons shall be assigned to work through the Departments of Labor Distribution in the manner stated in Sections 21–30.

21. A wage earner who is not engaged on work at his vocation shall register in the local Department of Labor Distribution as unemployed.

22. Establishments and individuals in need of workers should apply to the Local Department of Labor Distribution or its division (Correspondence Bureau) stating the condition of the work offered as well as the requirements which the workmen must meet (trade, knowledge, experience).

23. The Department of Labor Distribution, on receipt of the application mentioned in Section 22, shall assign the persons meeting the requirements thereof in the order determined by the same.

24. An unemployed person has no right to refuse an offer of work at his vocation, provided the working conditions conform with the standards fixed by the respective tariff regulations, or in the absence of the same by the trade unions.

25. A wage worker engaged for work for a period of not more than two weeks, shall be considered unemployed, and shall not lose his place on the list of the Department of Labor Distribution.

26. Should the Local Department of Labor Distribution have no workers on its lists meeting the stated requirements, the application must be immediately sent to the District Exchange Bureau, and the establishment or individual offering the employment shall be simultaneously notified to this effect.

27. Whenever workers are required for work outside of their district, a roll-call of the unemployed registered in the Department of Labor Distribution shall take place, to ascertain who are willing to go; if a sufficient number of such should not be found, the Department of Labor Distribution shall assign the lacking number from among the unemployed in the order of their registration, provided that those who have dependents must not be given preference, before single persons.

28. If in the Departments of Labor Distribution, within the limits of the district, there be no workmen meeting the requirements, the District Exchange Bureau has the right, upon agreement with the respective trade union, to send unemployed of another class approaching as nearly as possible the trade required.

29. An unemployed person who is offered work outside his vocation shall be obliged to accept it, on the understanding, if he so wishes, that this be only temporary, until he receives work at his vocation.

30. A wage earner who is working outside his specialty, and who has stated his wish that this be only temporary, shall retain his place on the register on the Department of Labor Distribution until he gets work at his vocation.

31. Private individuals violating the rules of labor distribution set forth in this article shall be punished by the order of the local board of the Department of Labor Distribution by a fine of not less than 300 rubles or by arrest for not less than one week. Soviet establishments and officials violating these rules on labor distribution shall be liable to criminal prosecution.

ARTICLE IV PROBATION PERIODS

32. Final acceptance of workers for permanent employment shall be preceded by a period of probation of not more than six days; in Soviet institutions the probation period shall be two weeks for unskilled and less responsible work and one month for skilled and responsible work.

33. According to the results of the probation the wage earner shall either be given a permanent appointment, or rejected with payment for the period of probation in accordance with the tariff rates.

34. The results of the probation (acceptance or rejection) shall be communicated to the Department of Labor Distribution.

35. Up to the expiration of the probation period, the wage earner shall be considered as unemployed, and shall retain his place on the eligible list of the Department of Labor Distribution.

36. A person who, after probation, has been rejected, may appeal against this decision to the union of which he is a member.

37. Should the trade union consider the appeal mentioned in the preceding section justified, it shall enter into negotiations with the establishment or person who has rejected the wage earner, with the request to accept the complainant.

38. In ease of failure of negotiations mentioned in Section 37, the matter shall be submitted to the Local Department of Labor, whose decision shall be final and subject to no further appeal.

39. The Department of Labor may demand that the person or establishment provide with work the wage earner who has been rejected without sufficient reason. Furthermore, it may demand that the said person or establishment compensate the wage earner according to the tariff rates for the time lost between his rejection and his acceptance pursuant to the decision of the Department of Labor.

ARTICLE V TRANSFER AND DISCHARGE OF WAGE EARNERS

40. The transfer of wage earners in all enterprises, establishments, or institutions employing paid labor, can take place only if it is required in the interest of the business and by the decision of the proper organ of management.

Note. This rule does not apply to work with private individuals employing paid labor, if the work is of the subdivisions mentioned in “b” and “c” of Section 6.

41. The transfer of a wage earner to other work within the enterprise, establishment or institution where he is employed may be ordered by the managing organs of said enterprise, establishment or institution.

42. The transfer of a wage earner to another enterprise, establishment or institution situated in the same or in another locality, may be ordered by the corresponding organ of management with the consent of the Department of Labor Distribution.

43. The order of an organ of management to transfer a wage earner as mentioned in Section 40 may be appealed from to the respective Department of Labor (local or district) by the interested individuals or organizations.

44. The decision of the Department of Labor in the matter of the transfer of a wage earner may be appealed from by the interested parties to the District Department of Labor or to the People’s Commissariat of Labor, whose decision in the matter in dispute is final and not subject to further appeal.

45. In case of urgent public work the District Department of Labor may, in agreement with the respective professional unions and with the approval of the People’s Commissariat of Labor, order the transfer of a whole group of wage earners from the organization where they are employed to another situated in the same or in another locality, provided a sufficient number of volunteers for such work cannot be found.

46. The discharge of wage earners from an enterprise, establishment or institution where they have been employed is permissible in the following cases:

(a) In case of complete or partial liquidation of the enterprise, establishment or institution, or of cancellation of certain orders or work;

(b) In case of suspension of work for more than a month;

(c) In case of expiration of term of employment or of completion of the job, if the work was of a temporary character;

(d) In case of evident unfitness for work, by special decision of the organs of management and subject to agreement with the respective professional unions.

(e) By request of the wage earner.

47. The organ of management of the enterprise, establishment or institution where a wage earner is employed, or the person for whom a wage earner is working must give the wage earner two weeks’ notice of the proposed discharge, for the reasons mentioned in “a,” “b” and “d” of Section 46, notifying simultaneously the Local Department of Labor Distribution.

48. A wage earner discharged for the reasons mentioned in subdivisions “a,” “b” and “d” of Section 46 shall be considered unemployed and entered as such on the lists of the Department of Labor Distribution and shall continue to perform his work until the expiration of the term of two weeks mentioned in the preceding section.

49. The order to discharge an employee for the reasons mentioned in subdivisions “a,” “b” and “d” of Section 46 may be appealed from by the interested persons to the Local Department of Labor.

50. The decision of the Local Department of Labor on the question of discharge may be appealed from by either party to the District Department of Labor, whose decision on the question in dispute is final and not subject to further appeal.

51. Discharge by request of the wage earner from enterprise, establishment or institution must be preceded by an examination of the reasons for the resignation by the respective organ of workmen’s self-government (works and other committees).

Note. This rule does not apply to the resignation of a wage earner employed by an individual, if the work is of the character mentioned in subdivisions “b” and “c” of Section 6.

52. If the organ of workers’ self-government (works or other committee) after investigating the reasons for the resignation finds the resignation unjustified the wage earner must remain at work, but may appeal from the decision of the Committee to the respective professional union.

53. A wage earner who quits work contrary to the decision of the Committee, pursuant to Section 52, shall forfeit for one week the right to register with the Department of Labor Distribution.

54. Institutions and persons employing paid labor shall inform the Local Department of Labor Distribution and the respective professional union of each wage earner who quits work, stating the date and the reason thereof.

ARTICLE VI REMUNERATION OF LABOR

55. The remuneration of wage earners for work in enterprises, establishments and institutions employing paid labor, and the detailed conditions and order of payment shall be fixed by tariffs worked out for each kind of labor in the manner described in Sections 7–9 of the present Code.

56. All institutions working out the tariff rates must comply with the provisions of this article of the Code of Labor Laws.

57. In working out the tariff rates and determining the standard remuneration rates, all the wage earners of a trade shall be divided into groups and categories and a definite standard of remuneration shall be fixed for each of them.

58. The standard of remuneration fixed by the tariff rates must be at least sufficient to cover the minimum living expenses as determined by the People’s Commissariat of Labor for each district of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic and published in the Compilation of Laws and Regulations of the Workmen’s and Peasants’ Government.

59. In determining the standard of remuneration for each group and category attention shall be given to the kind of labor, the danger of the conditions, under which the work is performed, the complexity and accuracy of the work, the degree of independence and responsibility as well as the standard of education and experience required for the performance of the work.

60. The remuneration of each wage earner shall be determined by his classification in a definite group and category.

61. The classification of wage earners into groups and categories within each branch of labor shall be done by special valuation commissions, local and central, established by the respective professional organizations.

Note. The procedure of the valuation commissions shall be determined by the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

62. The tariff regulations shall fix the standard of remuneration for a normal working day or for piece-work, and particularly the remuneration for overtime work.

63. Remuneration for piece-work shall be computed by dividing the daily tariff rate by the number of pieces constituting the production standard.

64. The standard of remuneration fixed for overtime work shall not exceed time and a half of the normal remuneration.

65. Excepting the remuneration paid for overtime work done in the same or in a different branch of labor, no additional remuneration in excess of the standard fixed for a given group and category shall be permitted, irrespective of the pretext and form under which it might be offered and whether it be paid in only one or in several places of employment.

66. Persons working in several places must state in which place of employment they wish to receive their pay.

67. Persons receiving excessive remuneration, in violation of Section 65, shall be liable to criminal prosecution for fraud, and the remuneration received in excess of the normal (standard) may be deducted from subsequent payments.

68. From the remuneration of the wage earner may be deducted the excess remuneration received in violation of Section 65, and the remuneration earned by the wage earner during his vacation; deduction may also be made for cessation of work.

69. No other deductions, except those mentioned in Section 68, shall be permitted, irrespective of the form or pretext under which they might be made.

70. Payment of remuneration must not be made in advance.

71. If the work is steady, payment for the same must be made periodically, at least once in every fortnight. Remuneration for temporary work and for special jobs provided the same continues at least for two weeks, shall be paid immediately upon completion of work.

72. Payments shall be made in money or in kind (lodgings, food supplies, etc.)

73. To make payments in kind special permission must be obtained from the Local Department of Labor which shall determine the rates jointly with the respective trade unions.

Note. The rates thus determined must be based on the standard prices fixed by the respective institutions of the Soviet authority (valuation commissions of the Commissariat of Victuals, Land and Housing Department, Price Committee, etc.)

74. Payments must take place during working hours.

75. Payments must be made at the place of work.

76. The wage earner shall be paid only for actual work done. If a cessation of work is caused during the working day by circumstances beyond the control of the wage earner (through accident or through the fault of the administration), he shall be paid for the time lost on the basis of the daily tariff rates, if he does time work, or on the basis of his average daily earning, if he does piece-work.

77. A wage earner shall be paid his wage during leave of absence (Sections 106–107).

78. During illness of a wage earner the remuneration due him shall be paid as a subsidy from the hospital funds.

Note. The manner of payment of the subsidy is fixed by rules appended hereto.

79. Unemployed shall receive a subsidy out of the funds for unemployed.

Note. Rules concerning unemployed and the payment of subsidies to them are appended hereto.

80. Every wage earner must have a labor booklet in which all matters pertaining to the work done by him as well as the payments and subsidies received by him are entered.

Note. Rules regarding labor booklets for wage earners are appended hereto.

ARTICLE VII WORKING HOURS

81. Working hours are regulated by the tariff rules made for each kind of labor, in the manner described in Sections 7–9 of the present Code.

82. The rules for working hours must conform with the provisions of this article of the Code of Labor Laws.

83. A normal working day shall mean the time fixed by the tariff regulations for the production of a certain amount of work.

84. The duration of a normal working day must in no case exceed eight hours for day work and seven hours for night work.

85. The duration of a normal day must not exceed six hours: (a) for persons under 18 years of age, and (b) in especially hard or health-endangering branches of industry (note Section 14 of the present Code).

86. During the normal working day time must be allowed for meals and for rest.

87. During recess machines, beltings and lathes must be stopped, unless this be impossible owing to technical conditions or in cases where these machines, beltings, etc., serve for ventilation, drainage, lighting, etc.

88. The time of recess fixed by Section 86 is not included in the working hours.

89. The recess must take place not later than four hours after the beginning of the working day, and must continue not less than a half hour and not more than two hours.

Note. Additional intermissions every three hours, and for not less than a half hour, must be allowed for working women nursing children.

90. The wage earners may use their free time at their own discretion. They shall be allowed during recess to leave the place of work.

91. In case the nature of the work is such that it requires a working day in excess of the normal, two or more shifts shall be engaged.

92. Where there are several shifts, each shift shall work the normal working hours; the change of shifts must take place during the time fixed by the rules of the internal management without interfering with the normal course of work.

93. As a general rule, work in excess of the normal hours (overtime work) shall not be permitted.

94. Overtime work may be permitted in the following exceptional cases:

(a) Where the work is necessary for the prevention of a public calamity or in case the existence of the Soviet Government of the R. S. F. S. R. or human life is endangered;

(b) An emergency, public work in relation to water supply, lighting, sewerage or transportation, in case of accident or extraordinary interruption of their regular operation;

(c) When it is necessary to complete work which, owing to unforeseen or accidental delay due to technical condition of production, could not be completed during the normal working hours. If leaving the work uncompleted would cause damage to materials or machinery;

(d) On repairs or renewal of machine parts or construction work, wherever necessary to prevent stoppage of work by a considerable number of wage earners.

95. In the case described in subdivision “c” of Section 94, overtime work is permissible only with the consent of the respective trade union.

96. For overtime work described in subdivision “d” of Section 94, permission must be obtained from the local labor inspector, in addition to the permit mentioned in the preceding section.

97. No females and no males under 18 years of age may do any overtime work.

98. The time spent on overtime work in the course of two consecutive days must not exceed four hours.

99. No overtime work shall be permitted to make up for a wage earner’s tardiness in reporting at his place of work.

100. All overtime work done by a wage earner, as well as the remuneration received by him for the same, must be recorded in his labor booklet.

101. The total number of days on which overtime may be permitted in any enterprise, establishment or institution must not exceed 50 days per annum, including such days when only one wage earner worked overtime.

102. Every enterprise, establishment or institution must keep a special record book for overtime work.

103. All wage earners must be allowed a weekly uninterrupted rest of not less than 42 hours.

104. No work shall be done on specially designated holidays.

Note. Rules concerning holidays and days of weekly rest are appended hereto.

105. On the eve of rest days the normal working day shall be reduced by two hours.

Note. This section shall not apply to institutions and enterprises where the working day does not exceed six hours.

106. Every wage earner who has worked without interruption not less than six months shall be entitled to leave of absence for two weeks, irrespective of whether he worked in only one or in several enterprises, establishments or institutions.

107. Every wage earner who has worked without interruption not less than a year shall be entitled to leave of absence for one month, irrespective of whether he worked in only one or in several enterprises, establishments or institutions.

Note. Sections 106 and 107 shall take effect beginning January 1, 1919.

108. Leave of absence may be granted during the whole year, provided that the same does not interfere with the normal course of work in enterprise, establishment or institution.

109. The time and order in which leave of absence may be granted shall be determined by agreement between the management of enterprise, establishment or institution and proper self-government bodies of the wage earners (works and other committees).

110. A wage earner shall not be allowed to work for remuneration during his leave of absence.

111. The remuneration of a wage earner earned during his leave of absence shall be deducted from his regular wages.

112. The absence of a wage earner from work caused by special circumstances and permitted by the manager shall not be counted as leave of absence; the wage earner shall not be paid for the working hours lost in such cases.

ARTICLE VIII METHODS TO ASSURE EFFICIENCY OF LABOR

113. In order to assure efficiency of labor, every wage earner working in an enterprise, establishment or institution (governmental, public or private) employing labor in the form of organized collaboration, as well as the administration of the enterprise, establishment or institution, shall strictly observe the rules of this article of the Code relative to standards of efficiency, output and rules of internal management.

114. Every wage earner must during a normal working day and under normal working conditions perform the standard amount of work fixed for the category and group in which he is enrolled.

Note. Normal conditions referred to in this section, shall mean:

(a) Good condition of machines, lathes and accessories;

(b) Timely delivery of materials and tools necessary for the performance of the work;

(c) Good quality of materials and tools;

(d) Proper hygienic and sanitary equipment of the building where the work is performed (necessary lighting, heating, etc.).

115. The standard output for wage earners of each trade and of each group and category shall be fixed by valuation commissions of the respective trade unions (Section 62.)

116. In determining the standard output the valuation commission shall take into consideration the quantity of products usually turned out in the course of a normal working day and under normal technical conditions by the wage earners of the particular trade group and category.

117. The production standards of output adopted by the valuation commission must be approved by the proper Department of Labor jointly with the Council of National Economy.

118. A wage earner systematically producing less than the fixed standard may be transferred by decision of the proper valuation commission to other work in the same group and category, or to a lower group or category, with a corresponding reduction of wages.

Note. The wage earner may appeal from the decision to transfer him to a lower group or category with a reduction of wages, to the Local Department of Labor and from the decision of the latter to the District Department of Labor, whose decision shall be final and not subject to further appeal.

119. If a wage earner’s failure to maintain the standard output be due to lack of good faith and to negligence on his part, he may be discharged in the manner set forth in subdivision “d” of Section 46 without the two weeks’ notice prescribed by Section 47.

120. The Supreme Council of National Economy jointly with the People’s Commissariat of Labor may direct a general increase or decrease of the standards of efficiency and output for all wage earners and for all enterprises, establishments and institutions of a given district.

121. In addition to the regulations of the present article relative to standards of efficiency and output in enterprises, establishments and institutions, efficiency of labor shall be secured by rules of internal management.

122. The rules of internal management in Soviet institutions shall be made by the organs of Soviet authority with the approval of the People’s Commissariat of Labor or its local departments.

123. The rules of internal management in industrial enterprises and establishments (Soviet, nationalized, private and public) shall be made by the trade unions and certified by the proper Departments of Labor.

124. The rules of internal management must include clear, precise and, as far as possible, exhaustive directions in relation to—

(a) The general obligations of all wage earners (careful handling of all materials and tools, compliance with instructions of the managers regarding performance of work, observance of the fixed standard of working hours, etc.);

(b) The special duties of the wage earners of the particular branch of industry (careful handling of the fire in enterprises using inflammable materials, observance of special cleanliness in enterprises producing food products, etc.);

(c) The limits and manner of liability for breach of the above duties mentioned above in subdivisions “a” and “b.”

125. The enforcement of the rules of internal management in Soviet institutions is entrusted to the responsible managers.

126. The enforcement of the rules of internal management in industrial enterprises and establishments (Soviet, nationalized, public or private) is entrusted to the self-government bodies of the wage earners (works or similar committees).

ARTICLE IX PROTECTION OF LABOR

127. The protection of life, health and labor of persons engaged in any economic activity is entrusted to the labor inspection—the technical inspectors and the representatives of sanitary inspection.

128. The labor inspection is under the jurisdiction of the People’s Commissariat of Labor and its local branches (Department of Labor) and is composed of elected labor inspectors.

129. Labor inspectors shall be elected by the Councils of Professional Unions.

Note I. The manner of election of labor inspectors shall be determined by the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

Note II. In districts where there is no Council of Trade Unions, the Local Department of Labor shall summon a conference of representatives of the trade unions which shall elect the labor inspectors.

130. In performing the duties imposed upon them concerning the protection of the lives and health of wage earners the officers of labor inspection shall enforce the regulations of the present Code, and decrees, instructions, orders and other acts of the Soviet power intended to safeguard the lives and health of the workers.

131. For the attainment of the purposes stated in Section 130 the officers of labor inspection are authorized—

(a) To visit at any time of the day or night all the industrial enterprises of their districts and all places where work is carried on, as well as the buildings provided for the workmen by the enterprise (rooming houses, hospitals, asylums, baths, etc.);

(b) To demand of the managers of enterprises or establishments, as well as of the elective organs of the wage earners (works and similar committees) of those enterprises or establishments in the management of which they are participating, to produce all necessary books, records and information;

(c) To draw to the work of inspection representatives of the elective organizations of employees, as well as officials of the administration (managers, superintendents, foremen, etc.);

(d) To bring before the criminal court all violators of the regulations of the present Code, or of the decrees, instructions, orders and other acts of the Soviet authority intended to safeguard the lives and health of the wage earners;

(e) To assist the trade unions and works committees in their efforts to ameliorate the labor condition in individual enterprises as well as in whole branches of industry.

132. The officers of labor inspection are authorized to adopt special measures, in addition to the measures mentioned in the preceding section, for the removal of conditions endangering the lives and health of workmen, even if such measures have not been provided for by any particular law or regulation, instructions or order of the People’s Commissariat of Labor or of the Local Department of Labor.

Note. Upon taking special measures to safeguard the lives and health of wage earners, as authorized by the present section, the officers of inspection shall immediately report to the Local Department of Labor, which may either approve these measures or reject them.

133. The scope and the forms of activity of the organs of labor inspection shall be determined by instructions and orders issued by the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

134. The enforcement of the instructions, rules and regulations relating to safety is entrusted to the technical inspectors.

135. The technical inspectors shall be appointed by the Local Departments of Labor from among engineering specialists; these inspectors shall perform within the territory under their jurisdiction the duties prescribed by Section 31 of the present Code.

136. The technical inspectors shall be guided in their activity, besides the general regulations, by the instructions and orders of the People’s Commissariat of Labor and by the instructions issued by the technical division of the Local Department of Labor.

137. The activity of the sanitary inspection shall be determined by instructions issued by the People’s Commissariat of Health Protection in conference with the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

APPENDIX TO SECTION 79

RULES CONCERNING UNEMPLOYED AND PAYMENT OF \

SUBSIDIES

1. An “unemployed” shall mean every citizen of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic subject to labor duty who is registered with the Local Department of Labor Distribution as being out of work at his vocation or at the remuneration fixed by the proper tariff.

2. An “unemployed” shall likewise mean:

(a) Any person who has obtained employment for a term not exceeding two weeks (Section 25 of the present Code);

(b) Any person who is temporarily employed outside his vocation, until he shall obtain work at his vocation (Sections 29 and 30 of the present Code).

3. The rights of unemployed shall not be extended—

(a) To persons who in violation of Sections 2, 24 and 29 of the present Code, have evaded the labor duty, and refused work offered to them;

(b) To persons not registered as unemployed with the Local Department of Labor Distribution (Section 21 of the present Code);

(c) To persons who have wilfully quit work, for the term specified in Section 54 of the present Code.

4. All persons described in Section 1 and subdivision “b” of Section 2 of these rules shall be entitled to permanent employment (for a term exceeding two weeks) at their vocations in the order of priority determined by the list of the Department of Labor Distribution for each vocation.

5. Persons described in Section 1 and subdivision “b” of Article 2 of these rules shall be entitled to a subsidy from the local fund for unemployed.

6. The subsidy to unemployed provided in Section 1 of the present rules shall be equal to the remuneration fixed by the tariff for the group and category on which the wage earner was assigned by the valuation commission (Section 61.)

Note. In exceptional cases the People’s Commissariat of Labor may reduce the unemployed subsidy to the minimum of living expenses as determined for the district in question.

7. A wage earner employed temporarily outside of his vocation (Subdivision “b” of Section 2) shall receive a subsidy equal to the differences between the remuneration fixed for the group and category in which he is enrolled and his actual remuneration, in case the latter be less than the former.

8. An unemployed who desires to avail himself of his right to a subsidy shall apply to the local funds for unemployed and shall present the following documents: (a) his registration card from the Local Department of Labor Distribution; and (b) a certificate of the valuation commission showing his assignment to a definite group and category of wage earners.

9. Before paying the subsidy the local funds for unemployed shall ascertain, through the Department of Labor Distribution and the respective trade union, the extent of applicant’s unemployment and the causes thereof, as well as the group and category to which he belongs.

10. The local funds for unemployed may for good reasons, be denied the applicant.

11. If an application is denied, the local fund for unemployed shall inform the applicant thereof within three days.

12. The decision of the local fund for unemployed may within two weeks, be appealed from by the interested parties to the Local Department of Labor, and the decision of the latter may be appealed from to the District Department of Labor. The decision of the District Department of Labor is final and subject to no further appeal.

13. The payment of the subsidy to an unemployed shall commence only after he has actually been laid off and not later than by the fifth day.

14. The subsidies shall be paid from: the fund of insurance for the unemployed.

15. The fund of unemployment insurance shall be made up,

(a) from obligatory payments by all enterprises, establishments and institutions employing paid labor;

(b) from fines imposed for default in such payments;

(c) from casual payments.

16. The amount and the manner of collection of the payments and fines mentioned in Section 15 of these rules shall be determined every year by a special order of the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

APPENDIX TO SECTION 80

RULES CONCERNING LABOR BOOKLETS

1. Every citizen of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, upon assignment to a definite group and category (Section 62 of the present Code), shall receive, free of charge, a labor booklet.

Note. The form of the labor booklets shall be worked out by the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

2. Each wage earner, on entering the employment of an enterprise, establishment or institution employing paid labor, shall present his labor booklet to the management thereof, or on entering the employment of a private individual—to the latter.

Note. A copy of the labor booklet shall be kept by the management of the enterprise, establishment, institution or private individual by whom the wage earner is employed.

3. All work performed by a wage earner during the normal working day as well as piece-work or overtime work, and all payments received by him as a wage earner (remuneration in money or in kind, subsidies from the unemployment and hospital funds), must be entered in his labor booklet.

Note. In the labor booklet must also be entered the leaves of absence and sick leave of the wage earner, as well as the fines imposed on him during and on account of his work.

4. Each entry in the labor booklet must be dated and signed by the person making the entry, and also by the wage earner (if the latter is literate), who thereby certifies the correctness of the entry.

5. The labor booklet shall contain:

(a) The name, surname and date of birth of the wage earner;

(b) The name and address of the trade union of which the wage earner is a member;

(c) The group and category to which the wage earner has been assigned by the valuation commission.

6. Upon the discharge of a wage earner, his labor booklet shall under no circumstances be withheld from him. Whenever an old booklet is replaced by a new one, the former shall be left in possession of the wage earner.

7. In case a wage earner loses his labor booklet, he shall be provided with a new one into which shall be copied all the entries of the lost booklet; in such a case a fee determined by the rules of internal management may be charged to the wage earner for the new booklet.

8. A wage earner must present his labor booklet upon the request:

(a) Of the managers of the enterprise, establishment or institution where he is employed;

(b) Of the Department of Labor Distribution;

(c) Of the trade union;

(d) Of the officials of workmen’s control and of labor protection;

(e) Of the insurance offices or institutions acting as such.

APPENDIX TO SECTION 5

RULES FOR THE DETERMINATION OF DISABILITY FOR WORK

1. Disability for work shall be determined by an examination of the applicant by the Bureau of Medical Experts, in urban districts, or by the provincial insurance offices, accident insurance offices or institutions acting as such.

Note. In case it be impossible to organize a Bureau of Medical Experts at any insurance office, such a bureau may be organized at the Medical Sanitary Department of the local Soviet, provided, however, that the said bureau shall be guided in its actions by the general rules and instructions for insurance offices.

2. The staff of the Bureau of Experts shall include:

(a) Not less than three specialists in surgery;

(b) Representatives of the Board of Directors of the office;

(c) Sanitary mechanical engineers appointed by the Board of the office;

(d) Representatives of the trade unions.

Note. The specialists in surgery on the staff of the bureau shall be recommended by the medical sanitary department, with the consent of the Board of Directors, preferably from among the surgeons connected with the hospital funds, and shall be confirmed by a delegates’ meeting of the office.

3. During the examination of a person at the Bureau of the Medical Commission, all persons who have applied for the examination may be present.

4. An application for the determination of the loss of working ability may be made by any person or institution.

5. Applications for examination shall be made to the insurance office nearest to the residence of the person in question.

6. Examinations shall take place in a special room of the insurance office.

Note. If the person to be examined cannot be brought to the insurance office, owing to his condition, the examination may take place at his residence.

7. Every person who is to be examined at the Bureau of Medical Experts shall be informed by the respective insurance office of the day and hour set for the examination and of the location of the section of the Bureau of Medical Experts where the same is to take place.

8. The Bureau of Medical Experts may use all methods approved by medical science for determining disability for work.

9. The Bureau of Medical Experts shall keep detailed minutes of the conference meetings, and the record embodying the results of the examinations shall be signed by all members of the bureau.

10. A person who has undergone an examination and has been found unfit for work shall receive a certificate from the Bureau of Medical Experts.

Note. A copy of the certificate shall be kept in the files of the bureau.

11. The records as well as the certificates shall show whether the disability is of a permanent or temporary character. If the disability for work be temporary, the record and certificate shall show the date set for examination.

12. After the disability for work has been certified the proper insurance office shall inform thereof the Department of Social Security of the local Soviet, stating the name, surname and address of the person disabled, as well as the character of the disability (whether temporary or permanent).

13. The decision of the Bureau of Medical Experts certifying or denying the disability of the applicant may be appealed from by the interested parties to the People’s Commissariat of Health Protection.

14. The People’s Commissariat of Health Protection may either dismiss the appeal or issue an order for the re-examination of appellant by a new staff of the Bureau of Experts.

15. The decision of the new staff of the Bureau of Experts shall be final and subject to no further appeal.

16. Re-examinations to establish the recovery of working ability shall be conducted in the same manner as the first examination, with the observance of the regulations of the present article of the Code.

17. The expenses incurred in connection with the examination of an insured person shall be charged to the respective insurance office. The expenses incurred in connection with the examination of a person not insured shall be charged to the respective enterprise, establishment or institution.

18. The People’s Commissariat of Labor may, if necessary, modify or amend the present rules for the determination of disability for work.

Rules concerning payment of sick benefits (subsidies) to wage earners:

1. Every wage earner shall receive in case of sickness a subsidy and medical aid from the local hospital fund of which he is a member.

Note I. Each person may be a member of only one insurance fund at a time.

Note II. A person who has been ill outside the district of the local hospital fund of which he is a member shall receive the subsidy from the hospital fund of the district in which he has been taken ill. All expenses thus incurred shall be charged to the hospital fund of which the particular person is a member.

2. The sick benefits shall be paid to a member of a hospital fund from the first day of his sickness until the day of his recovery, with the exception of those days during which he has worked and accordingly received remuneration from the enterprise, establishment or institution where he is employed.

3. The sick benefit shall be equal to the remuneration fixed for a wage earner of the respective group and category.

Note I. The group and category in which the wage earner is enrolled shall be ascertained by the local hospital fund through the Department of Labor Distribution or through the trade unions.

Note II. The subsidy for pregnant women and those lying-in shall be fixed by special regulations of the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

Note III. In exceptional cases the People’s Commissariat of Labor may reduce the subsidy to the minimum of living expenses as determined for the respective district.

4. Besides the subsidies, the hospital funds shall also provide for their members free medical aid of every kind (first aid, ambulatory treatment, home treatment, treatment in sanatoria or resorts, etc.)

Note. To secure medical aid any hospital fund may, independently or in conjunction with other local funds, organize and maintain its own ambulatories, hospitals, etc., as well as enter into agreements with individual physicians and establishments.

5. The resources of the local hospital funds shall be derived:

(a) From obligatory payments by enterprises, establishments and institutions (Soviet, public and private) employing paid labor;

(b) From fines for delay of payments;

(c) From profits on the investments of the funds;

(d) From casual payments.

Note. The resources of the local hospital funds shall be consolidated into one common fund of insurance against sickness.

6. The amount of the payments to local hospital funds by enterprises, establishments and institutions employing paid labor shall be periodically fixed by the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

Note I. In case these obligatory payments be not paid within the time fixed by the local hospital funds, they shall be collected by the Local Department of Labor; moreover, in addition to the sum due, a fine of 10 per cent thereof shall be imposed for the benefit of the hospital fund.

Note II. In case the delay be due to the fault of the responsible managers of the particular enterprise, establishment, or institution, the fine shall be collected from the personal means of the latter.

7. The decision of the hospital funds may be appealed from within two weeks to the Department of Labor. The decision of the Department of Labor shall be final and subject to no further appeal.

8. The People’s Commissariat of Labor may, whenever necessary, change or amend the foregoing rules concerning sick benefits to wage earners.

THE SECOND ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF TRADES UNIONS (VOCATIONAL UNIONS)

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT THE CONFERENCE

Moscow, June 16th to 25th, 1919

A year’s work of the professional trades unions of Russia was completed by a new conference, the second one in its history—which shows how young our professional movement is as yet. The past year was unparalleled in the history of the entire international trade union movement, both according to the kind of activity as well as those circumstances under which our unions had to carry on their work.

It was a year of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

On the ruins of the demolished capitalist system, the proletariat of Russia has taken upon itself the task of building up a new, Socialist Russia. While struggling and conquering, it was gradually turning to constructive work—strengthening its dictatorship by taking possession of the entire apparatus of the country’s economic administration.

The proletariat, organized into professional unions, constituted the vanguard of the Socialist revolution. The unions were the hotbeds of revolution, and it has fallen to their lot to solve the most complicated problems—in fact they took into their hands the management of all economic affairs, taking over the factories, the mills and the mines. This problem was difficult in itself, and its complexity was increased still further through the economic disintegration and chaos which were caused by the imperialist world war.

The Second All-Russian Conference of Trades Unions demonstrated that the Russian professional trades union movement has grown stronger during the year and that its organization has improved in both quantity and quality.

The qualitative progress made by the Russian trades union movement expressed itself in that marvelous intelligence which the Conference displayed in grappling with the complicated problems it had to face. If the first All-Russian Conference of Professional trades unions outlined a rough draft of a plan according to which the working class was to steer its course during the period of its supremacy, if at that first conference the delegates were groping in the dark, trying to feel the correct way,—the second Conference found the path sufficiently cleared to proceed forward toward the solution of new problems put forth by the life and practice of the professional movement. If at the First Conference we could only speak of regulating industry and controlling it, now, at this Second Conference, we can already tabulate the results of organization in the realm of industry by the efforts of the working class itself.

A big stride forward was made by the proletariat organized within professional trades unions, when in discussing the question of organization it pointed out clearly and definitely the place which the proletariat of the entire world is occupying under the present circumstances. The Conference has not only firmly and decisively drawn the line between its position and that of neutrality, but it took a definite stand in favor of recognizing “the revolutionary class struggle for the realization of Socialism through the dictatorship of the proletariat.”

The quantitative growth of the Russian trades unions since the first Conference, notwithstanding the fact that the counter-revolution has snatched away a number of provinces (Siberia, Finland, the Donetz region, Caucasia, etc.), has resulted in a membership of 3,422,000 whereas only 2,500,000 members were represented at the First Conference. Thus, within one year the membership increased by almost one million. According to the All-Russian industrial groupings, the number of union members represented at the conference was distributed as follows:

Metal trades 400,000

Tanners 225,000

Members of Trade-Industrial Union (probably sales clerks) 200,000

Workers engaged in the food industry 140,000

Tailors 150,000

Chemists 80,000

Architectural and building trades 120,000

Wood-working trades 70,000

Printers 60,000

Railroad workers 450,000

Glass and chinaware workers 24,000

Water transportation workers 200,000

Postal-telegraphic employees 100,000

Sugar industry 100,000

Textile workers (according to data furnished by the local union) 711,000

Firemen 50,000

Oil miners and refiners 30,000

Chauffeurs 98,000

Bank employees 70,000

Domestic help 50,000

Waiters (in taverns) 50,000

Cigar and cigarette makers 30,000

Drug clerks 14,000

Foresters 5,000

According to the data furnished by the committee on credentials, there were 748 delegates at the Conference with the right to vote, and 131 with a voice. The political composition of the Conference (according to the results of an informal inquiry) was as follows: 374 Communists, 75 sympathizers, 15 Left Socialists-Revolutionists, 5 Anarchists, 18 Internationalists, 4 representatives of the Bund, 29 United Social-Democrats, 23 non-partisans, and 236 delegates did not state their party affiliations. The party registration bureaus showed entirely different results, which have been confirmed by the vote cast for the main resolutions. Thus, at the Communist bureau 600 persons have registered (this includes party members having the right to vote, sympathizers, and people with a voice only, but no vote), the Internationalists had 50 persons, and the United Social-Democrats had 70.

Geographically the delegates were represented as follows:

Second First

From Unions Conference Conference

The Northern Region 100 delegates 69 delegates

The Central Region 320 " 112 "

The Volga Region 144 " 25 "

The Ural Region 2 " 13 "

The Southern Region 31 " 62 "

The Western Region 30 " .. "

From Soviets and Northern Region 29 "

Central Region 70 "

Ural Region 3 "

Southern Region 6 "

Western Region 14 "

Volga Region 30 "

The local Soviets of the Professional Unions were represented according to regions, as follows:

Central Region 36 cities 1,004,500 persons

Northern Region 16 cities 396,000 persons

Volga Region 19 cities 499,300 persons

Western Region 7 cities 73,800 persons

Southern Region 4 cities 64,000 persons

—————— —————————

Total 82 cities 2,037,600 persons

At the preceding Conference 49 cities 1,888,353 persons

From June 16th to 25th, 1919, during the nine days of its work, the second All-Russian Congress of Trades Unions solved the fundamental questions of the Russian professional (trades union) movement. The Conference more precisely defined the place of the professional trades unions in a proletarian state, it has more concretely outlined the interrelations of the trades unions with the organs of administration and, above all, with the People’s Commissariat of Labor. All other questions, such as the regulation of working hours and wages, the safeguarding of labor and the social insurance of laborers, the organization of production, and workmen’s control have been solved on the basis of the experience of the past year.

The Russian professional unions entered upon a new era of proletarian activity. And the unions are already facing practical problems—to put into practice the principles and resolutions adopted and in all phases of its work to follow one direction, that of still further strengthening its power, and participating more closely in establishing the might of proletarian Russia.

THE PROBLEMS OF THE PROFESSIONAL TRADES UNIONS

(A resolution introduced by M. Tomsky)

One year of political and economic dictatorship of the proletariat and the growth of the workers’ revolution the world over, have fully borne out the correctness of the position taken by the first All-Russian Conference of the Professional Trades Unions, who have unconditionally bound up the fate of the economically organized proletariat with that of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government.

The attempt, under the flag of “unity” and “independence” of the trades union movement, to pit the economically organized proletariat against the organs of the political dictatorship of its own class, has led the groups which were supporting this slogan, to an open struggle against the Soviet Government and has placed them outside the ranks of the working class.

In the course of the practical cooperation with the Soviet Government in the work for the strengthening and organization of the nation’s economic life, the professional trades unions have passed from control over industry to organization of industry, taking an active part in the management of individual enterprises as well as in the entire economic life of the country.

But the task of nationalization of all the means of production and the organization of society on the new principles of Socialism demands persistent and careful labor involving the reconstruction of the entire governmental apparatus, the creation of new organs of control, and regulation of production and distribution, based on the organization and activity of the laboring masses who are themselves directly interested in the results.

This makes it imperative for the trades unions to take a more active and energetic part in the work of the Soviet Government (through direct participation in all governmental institutions, through the organization of proletarian mass control over their actions, and the carrying out, by means of their organization, of individual problems with which the Soviet Government is confronted), to aid in the reconstruction of various governmental institutions and in the gradual replacement of the same by their own organizations by amalgamating the unions with the governmental institutions.

However, it would be a mistake at the given stage of development of the professional trades union movement with the insufficiently developed organization to convert immediately the unions into governmental organs and to amalgamate the two organizations as well as for the unions to usurp of their own accord the functions of governmental institutions.

The entire process of complete amalgamation of the professional unions with the organs of government administration must come as an absolutely inevitable result of their work, in complete and close cooperation and harmony and the preparation of the laboring masses, for the task of managing the governmental apparatus and all the institutions for the regulation of the country’s economic life.

This, in its turn, places before the unions the problem of welding together the as yet unorganized proletarian and semi-proletarian masses into strong productive unions, initiating them, under the control of the proletarian unions, into the task of social reconstruction and the general work of strengthening their organizations, as regards centralization and smoothly working unions as well as the strengthening of professional discipline.

Directly participating in all fields of Soviet work, forming and supplying the man-power for the governmental institutions, the professional unions must, through this work for which they must enlist their own organizations as well as the laboring masses, educate and prepare them for the task of managing not only production but the entire apparatus of government.

PROFESSIONAL UNIONS AND THE COMMISSARIAT

OF LABOR

(A resolution embodied in V. Schmidt’s report)

Professional trades unions organized according to the scale of production, called upon to regulate the conditions of labor and production in the interests of the working class as a whole, under the conditions of proletarian dictatorship, are becoming gradually converted into economic associations of the proletariat, acquiring a nation-wide significance. On the other hand, the Commissariat of Labor, as an organ of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government, in which the organized industrial proletariat is at the present moment playing a leading part, serves as an instrument for the introduction of the economic policy of the working class, utilizing for this purpose its apparatus and all the power vested in governmental authorities to enforce its laws and regulations.

Therefore, with a view to eliminating the duality in the united economic policy of the working class, it is necessary to recognize that all fundamental decisions of the supreme union organ—the Congress of Professional Unions—are to be adopted by the People’s Commissariat of Labor and embodied in its proposed legislation and all special obligatory regulations bearing on the conditions of labor and production, must first be approved by a majority of the All-Russian Central Council of Professional Trades Unions.

The Conference fully approves of coordination and cooperation between the All-Russian Central Council of Trades Unions and the People’s Commissariat of Labor and suggests that the local councils (Soviets) of trades unions participate in the work of local branches (departments) of the Commissariat of Labor, on the basis of the relations prevailing between the central bodies, for which purpose the local councils of trades unions are to send their representatives into the leading Soviets and make up out of the union apparatus its subdivisions (tariff, social insurance, labor safeguarding, etc.)

In order to finally eliminate all duplication in the solution of questions concerning the conditions and regulation of labor by separate departments, the Conference suggests that the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Soviet of People’s Commissaries concentrate all its efforts to the working out of standards regulating the conditions of work, wages, organization of labor, order of employing and discharging help, safeguarding labor, and social insurance, through the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

THE PARTICIPATION OF THE UNIONS IN THE ORGANIZATION OF INDUSTRY

(A resolution on the report made by Comrade Rudzutak)

1. The process of taking over the control of the industries which is now being completed by the workers’ government, places the vocational associations in a position where they are coming to play an ever more and more important part in the special fields of their activity.

2. Standing in close relationship to the actual production and thus being the natural guardians of industry against the remnants of the bureaucratic apparatus permeated by the traditions of the old regime, the unions must build a new Socialist order, in accordance with the fixed program of production based on a national plan for the utilization of the proper products and material.

3. In the interests of preserving a single plan of organization of production, management and distribution, it will be necessary to concentrate in one center all the units of production, which are now in the charge of various departments (Chief Artillery Department, Navy and War Departments, etc.)

4. The participation of the unions in the industrial management should consist in the working out of a system of activity for the regulating and managing organs as a whole, insofar as there is a possibility of some part or other of their membership not being permeated by the spirit of Socialistic constructive activity. The management of the leading departments and centers must be composed mainly of the representatives of professional unions, following an understanding between the corresponding All-Russian Industrial Association or the All-Russian Council of Trades Unions and the presiding officers of the Supreme Council of National Economy.

5. All delegates representing the trades unions within the administrative and regulating bodies are responsible to the corresponding unions and are to report on their activities at regular intervals.

6. In order to keep up the organic connection between the unions and the management of the government owned mills, the unions are to call conferences of the management of the largest enterprises, not less than once in two months, for the purpose of discussing and passing upon the most important practical questions arising in the process of work.

7. In order to convert the regulating and managing organs into a proletarian apparatus for constructive Socialist work and in order to obtain the cooperation in this work of the large masses of the more advanced workers, it is necessary to saturate all the organs of regulation and management with proletarian elements by means of placing in their ranks responsible workers who assert themselves within the central and local trade union groups.

8. Together with the part which the unions are playing in the matter of directing the industrial life along the channels fixed by the programs of production, based upon the subjugation of private interest to those of society as a whole, comes their activity in connection with the basic element of production—labor. Therefore, the decisions of the central trade union associations are obligatory insofar as they bear on the questions of wage scales, inspection of labor, internal regulations within the factories, standards of production and labor discipline.

9. Being placed in the position of organizers of production at a moment when Russia is now more than at any other time, affected by a shortage of various kinds of material which causes a reduction of the output, the unions must safeguard the proletariat against the possibility of its exhaustion or degeneration, as a class of producers, at this critical period, and to safeguard its nucleus against social disintegration and its absorption by other classes; it is therefore necessary:

(a) wherever a shortage of raw material exists to reduce the working day or the number of days per week, keeping employed at the factory the largest possible number of workers.

(b) to introduce, wherever the number of hours or days per week is reduced, obligatory attendance at technical and educational courses, so as to utilize the crisis for the purpose of lifting the technical and cultural level of the laboring masses.

10. At the same time, in view of the primary significance of actually supplying the mills with the necessary products, and the impossibility of increasing the productivity of labor and introducing discipline, unless this question is solved in a satisfactory manner, it is necessary to enable the trades unions to participate as closely as possible in the work of production and distribution of provisions.

WORKERS’ CONTROL

(Resolution in connection with N. Glebov’s report)

The Second All-Russian Congress of Vocational Unions, having heard the report on workers’ control, recognizes the following:

1. Workers’ control, which was the strongest revolutionary weapon in the hands of the labor organizations in their struggle against economic disruption and the sabotage practised by the employers in their struggle against the proletariat for economic supremacy, has led the working class into direct participation in the organization of production.

2. The economic dictatorship of the working class has created new conditions which stirred up the activity of the large masses of the workers. Through their vocational associations the workers have been called upon to organize the country’s economic life and to participate in the management of production.

3. At the same time the working class domination over the economic life of the country has not as yet been completed. A subdued struggle is still seething within the new forms of economic life, which calls forth the necessity on the part of the laboring masses to control the activities of the institutions in charge of the management of production.

4. Under such conditions of transition from the capitalist system to the Socialist regime, the workers’ control must develop, from a revolutionary weapon for the economic dictatorship of the proletariat, into a practical institution aiding in the strengthening of this dictatorship in the process of production.

5. The problems of workers’ control must be confined to the supervision of the course of work in the various establishments, and to practically check on the activity of the management of individual mills as well as that of entire branches of industry. The workers’ control is carried out in practice in a certain order according to which control does not precede, but, on the contrary, follows the executive work.

6. Workers’ control is also to solve the problem of the gradual preparation of the large masses of the working class for direct participation in the matter of management and organization of industry.

With this object in view the Congress resolves:

1. To confirm the decision of the first All-Russian Congress of Vocational Unions regarding the formation of organs of control, both local and central, under the guidance of the vocational associations of the working class.

2. Within every nationalized industrial, commercial, and transport house, the local committee for control takes upon itself the supervision of the work of the enterprise and the activities of its management, for which purpose it gathers and systematizes all data relative to the running of the establishment and places the same at the disposal of the control department of their trade union, before which, whenever the necessity arises, the question of auditing the books of the enterprise is brought up.

Note. In extraordinary cases the local control commission has the right on its own responsibility to fix the time for a revision of their enterprise, with a precise statement of the subject of control, on condition that the local control committee immediately notify to that effect the Department of Control of the corresponding industrial (vocational) union.

3. The local control committee is being formed of: (a) representatives of the corresponding industrial (vocational) union; (b) of the persons elected by the general meeting of the workers employed in a given factory, who are subject to approval by the committee of the corresponding industrial (vocational) union. The members of the local control committee elected from among the committee of the industrial union, retain their office for a considerable length of time; while the persons elected at the general meeting are to be replaced in as short a period as possible, with a view to training the large masses of the people in the work of management and organization of industry so as to insure the gradual transition to the system of universal participation in it of all the workers.

4. The local control committee is responsible for its activities both before the general meeting of the workers of their factory and before the control department of their industrial (vocational) union. In case of abuse of authority, negligence in carrying out its duties, and so on, the local control committee is subject to severe punishment.

5. The representatives of the local control committee participate at the sessions of the management of the mill or factory, having only a voice, but no vote in the matter. The rights of administration of the establishment remains with the management and therefore the entire responsibility for the work of the enterprise rests with the management.

6. The coordination of the workers’ control within the limits of any given industry must be centered within the industrial (vocational) union. The union creates a Workers’ Control Department which is responsible before the management of its union.

7. The Congress authorizes the All-Russian Central Council (Soviet) of Vocational Unions to direct the institutions of workers’ control. For this purpose the All-Russian Central Council is to form a supreme organ of workers’ control, composed of the representatives of the industrial (vocational) unions.

8. With a view to coordinating all activities and eliminating the duplication of functions in the work of control, the organs of the People’s Commissariat of State Control must work in contact with the controlling organs of the industrial (vocational) unions.

9. The supreme organ of workers’ control is to work out the instructions, fully determining the rights and duties of the lower organs of control and their organization. Until such time as these instructions are made public the organs of workers’ control in the nationalized enterprises are to be guided by these rulings.

10. The regulations for the workers’ control of nationalized enterprises must be decreed by the Council of People’s Commissaries.

11. In the establishments which have not been nationalized workers’ control is to be carried out in accordance with the decree of November 14, 1917.

WAGE AND WORK REGULATION

(Resolution introduced in connection with V. Schmidt’s report)

Observing a great variety and lack of coordination of the tariff (wage scale) regulations which hamper not only the standardization of labor, but their practical materialization, and explaining such an abnormal phenomenon in this matter by the presence of a number of glaring defects, (absence of a definite system of wages, which would serve as a basis of the tariff regulations, the elasticity of groups and categories, the elimination from these regulations of the salaries of the higher technical, commercial and administrative personnel), defects due to the rapid transition from one form of wage scale regulation to another; due to the weakness of the local unions and their local separatism, and, finally, the inconsistency (instability) of the local organs of governments in regard to the wage regulation policy, the Second All-Russian Congress of Vocational Unions deems it necessary to introduce the following amendments and additions to the wage regulations:

1. The basic principle of wage scale regulation, in connection with the struggle for the restoration of the country’s economic forces, must be the responsibility of the laborers and other employees for the productivity of labor before their union, and the responsibility of the latter before the class associations of the proletariat. For this purpose the wage scale regulations must be based on the system of compensation of labor power which would serve as an incentive for the laborers to outdo each other in their desire to raise the productivity of labor in the nationalized enterprises, i.e. the piece-work and premium system founded on a rock-bottom standard of production, with a firmly fixed schedule of either increased pay or decreased hours of work in compensation for production above the standard requirements.

In those branches of industry where it is impossible to standardize the work, a scale of wages is to be applied on the basis of the time employed with definite hours of work and strict working regulations.

2. The wage scale of the industrial union is to include the higher technical, commercial and administrative personnel, whose salaries are to be subject to the control of the union. In accordance with this, the tariff regulation is to be divided into three fundamental parts; (a) the higher technical, commercial, and administrative personnel; (b) the lower technical and administrative personnel; the employees of the managements, the offices, institutions and commercial establishments, and (c) the laborers.

3. In order to eliminate too large a number of groups and categories (five groups and 15 categories) and to insure a fair compensation of the basic nucleus of the workers and other employees occupied in the industries, a subdivision into four groups and 12 categories is fixed for each of the three ranks (the higher personnel, the lower staff, the workers), the ratio of the higher wage to the lower within the limits of each one of the four given groups, from the first category to the 12th, is 1:1.75.

4. The wage scale regulations for individual groups of the workers and for certain branches of industry or parts thereof, must contain provisions either for the shortening of hours, or for the increase of pay as compensation for particularly harmful, dangerous, difficult or exhaustive labor, and in connection with climatic conditions.

5. Clothing and footwear is to be distributed to the workers engaged in the wood chopping industry, the sewerage and street cleaning industry, or occupied in underground work, work at a particularly high temperature, or necessitating the handling of harmful chemicals. Particularly difficult and harmful work (such as, underground work, the peat gathering industry, the preparation of wood fuel, work at a high temperature, work with poisonous gases and acids exhausting the system) should carry with it a home and a higher wage. This latter measure is to be carried out by the All-Russian and local councils of the Vocational Unions. In order to put these additions and amendments to the wage scale regulations into actual life and in order to do away with the obnoxious multiformity the Congress resolves:

To recognize the wage scale regulation which is being carried out on a national scale and which affects all the workers and employees of a given industry, from the highest administrator down to the skilled laborer,—as the one which best answers the fundamental needs of standardizing the wages.

To grant to the All-Russian Central Committee of the Industrial Unions the exclusive right to finally work out the wage scale regulations and to submit them for approval of the All-Russian Central Council of Professional Unions and to the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

To deprive the local branches of the All-Russian centralized unions of the right to directly submit their wage scale for approval over the head of their central body, so long as an All-Russian industrial wage scale is in operation.

To leave to the local Soviets (councils) of the Vocational Unions the right to fix the wage scale regulations only for the local unions, which have no All-Russian association, using the wage scale regulations in force as a guide; under no circumstances changing the regulations passed on a national scale. Besides, it is the duty of the local Soviets of the Vocational Unions to coordinate individual scales in different industries while putting them into practice, and the right to present a grounded petition for the transfer of a given locality into another district in accordance with the proportional (percentage) scale of district decrease of wages.

The Congress approves of the work of the committee and the section on the construction of wage scale regulations and recommends to the All-Russian centralized industrial unions to accept them as a basis. The Congress authorizes the All-Russian Central Council of Vocational Unions to carry out this resolution strictly and without any deviations.

LABOR SAFEGUARDS AND SOCIAL INSURANCE

OF THE WORKERS

(Resolution passed in connection with A. Bakhutov’s report)

In capitalist society, with the complete economic and political supremacy of the bourgeoisie, the legal measures which were enacted for the safeguarding of labor and the individual kinds of social insurance of the workers were being enforced under the control of the capitalist state, together with the employing class, and beyond the reach of direct influence of the labor organizations. With the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat it became possible for the first time to put point blank all the questions arising out of the struggle against the grave consequences of the conditions of labor, which remain as a legacy of the capitalist era, as well as preventive measures and the solutions of the questions, in accordance with the Socialist aims of the present moment. The actual safeguarding of labor and the social insurance of the worker, with a view to safeguarding his life and increasing his strength and power, proved to be indissoluble aspects of the same problem—changing of conditions of labor, the reconstruction of the industrial environment in which the worker is laboring, and the betterment of his living conditions.

The October revolution determined the basic principles of social defence for the proletariat of Russia, having given over the safeguarding of labor and social insurance of the toilers into the hands of the working class, and for the first time it has created organs of factory inspection on the basis of elective representation.

But the acute civil war and the economic work of organization, as the fundamental problem which has been confronting the working class during the first year of the October coup d’état, have diverted the attention of the proletariat from a problem of no lesser significance—the safeguarding of its health, as the main source of national economy—and its economic organizations became indifferent. This is the reason why the working class paid but very little attention to questions of labor safeguards and social insurance, as well as to the institutions in charge of these questions.

At the present moment, however, the building of a new life, the reconstruction of the conditions of labor on a Socialist foundation, the safeguarding of production for the life and health of the workers, the betterment of their living conditions, the workers’ insurance against all accidents depriving him of his labor power, the amalgamation of the various kinds of insurance agencies into one powerful organization, and the management of the same, are becoming the most important problems which the vocational unions are to solve. Together with the economic work of organization which includes the safeguarding of labor, social insurance of the toilers must take the proper place in the every-day work of the unions.

Taking all this into consideration, the second Congress of Vocational Unions finds it necessary that the vocational unions—

1. Take active part in the construction of united government insurance bodies through the formation of corresponding subdivisions within the departments of labor of the local Soviets, in accordance with the instructions of the Department of Social Insurance and Labor Safeguards of the People’s Commissariat of Labor; 2. That they energetically carry out the “regulations of social insurance of the workers” of October 31st, 1918; 3. That they immediately start the organization within the unions of permanent committees on the safeguarding of labor, and of nuclei for the same within the various mills and factories for the purpose of cooperating with the governmental institutions charged with the safeguarding of labor; 4. That they intensify the work on the spot for the creation of labor inspection by means of selection and training for this purpose of the active workers; 5. That they practically spread the validity of the safeguarding of labor regulations and their enforcement over all types of labor (in the building trades, in the transport service, over domestic servants, commercial and office workers, restaurant help, and agricultural workers); 6. That they pay particular attention to the conditions of labor in the small semi-handicraft establishments; 7. That they assist in the practical efforts of labor inspection to remove the children from the works and for the introduction of a shorter work-day for minors, enabling them at the same time to continue their education; 8. That they take an active part in the organization of local sanitary-hygienic and technical investigations of the conditions at the factories and mills, and in the working out of various obligatory standards and various measures for the safeguarding of labor; 9. That they carry out the principles of labor safeguarding through the current activity of the local and central organs regulating the nation’s economy; 10. That they take an active part in the work of improving the living conditions of the working population; 11. That they energetically push the agitational and educational work among the proletarian masses along the lines of vocational hygiene and sanitation and the technique of insuring safety, as well as on general questions of social insurance and labor safeguarding.

THE INTERRELATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL INSURANCE AND LABOR SAFEGUARDS OF THE PEOPLE’S COMMISSARIAT OF LABOR AND THE PEOPLE’S COMMISSARIAT OF SOCIAL INSURANCE

Whereas in the process of development of the social revolution the division of society into a handful of parasites, on the one hand, and into the masses of workers and peasants overloaded with excessive toil, on the other, is constantly disappearing, and the entire population is being transformed into a mass of producers who must be insured, in accordance with the provisions of the regulations on social insurance of the laborers, of October 31, 1918, against all accidents that might incapacitate them, and

Whereas the work of social insurance can be developed on condition of immediate participation of vocational unions through the medium of the corresponding organs of the People’s Commissariat of Labor,

The second Congress of Vocational Unions holds that all insurance business, its functions, the institutions of the People’s Commissariat of Social Insurance, affecting the workers, must be amalgamated into the common work of the Department of Social Insurance and Labor Safeguard of the People’s Commissariat of Labor.

Having discussed the question of interrelations between the Commissariat of Public Health and the Department of Social Insurance and Labor Safeguards of the People’s Commissariat of Labor, the second All-Russian Congress of Vocational Unions resolved to accept the following principles as a basis for the solution of the question:

1. Social insurance and labor safeguarding being a complete and logically united institution, with the dictatorship of the proletariat in power, when the entire population of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic is being transformed into laborers, covers the activities of Commissariat of Health, thus representing under the circumstances one of the most important and most necessary links of one chain.

2. It is possible to carry into life the measures of social insurance and labor safeguards with the necessary system and on a vast scale, only if the work is done in the closest connection and intimate touch with the masses that are interested in it, and on the condition that the masses cooperate most energetically.

3. The union of any group of functions into one whole may be determined exclusively by their proximity and similarity, else there is a possibility of the least efficient combination of all or any individual branches of government activity, to the detriment of the regular development and direction of the same and to the certain amount of independence so necessary to each and every one of the activities.

4. The medico-prophylactic activity, like the entire institution for social insurance and labor safeguards, must be united, i.e., both the organizing and organic work is concentrated in the hands of bodies and institutions specially created for that purpose, and depending from the same common central body. As regards the necessary differentiation of labor it must be carried out exclusively within the common bodies, but under no circumstances must it be done by means of tearing away from them of any of the parts closely bound through common problems and peculiarities of the work, no matter how considerable each of them, taken apart, might be.

In view of the above principles, the Congress resolves that:

1. The Commissariat of Public Health must be amalgamated with the Department of Social Insurance and Labor Safeguards.

2. All organs of social insurance and labor safeguards must be built from top to bottom entirely on the basis of vocational unions’ representation.

3. The question of the order of uniting the Commissariat of Public Health with the Department of Social Insurance and Labor Safeguards of the People’s Commissariat of Labor is given over to the Central Executive Committee for consideration.

CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE VOCATIONAL UNIONS AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING

(Resolution based on Tzyperovich’s and Kossior’s reports)

1. The Socialist revolution has put before the proletariat a series of the most important problems in the field of reconstruction. Simultaneously and in connection with the revolutionization of the economic relations, the working class, as the standard-bearer of Socialism, must get down to the work of creating a proletarian culture, instead of that of the bourgeoisie, in order to prepare the masses for the complete realization of the Socialist Commonwealth.

2. The dictatorship of the proletariat, enabling the working class to fully utilize all the cultural acquisitions of mankind, is already now putting forward a new creative form of the cultural movement, in the shape of proletarian cultural organizations.

3. Vocational unions, as working class organizations, notwithstanding all their weakness and the isolation of the proletarian cultural organizations from the masses of the working class must organically enter into their work, concentrating within them all their activity for the general work along questions of science and art and endeavoring with a view to making it sound, to subject their activity to the influence and guidance of the industrially organized laboring masses.

4. The Vocational Unions are also facing as an immediate problem the utilization on as large a scale as possible of those facilities which have been created by the Commissariat of Public Education in the matter of compulsory, and free education, of education for people above school age, for technical training, etc.

The vocational unions must have their representatives in the Commissariats of Public Education, who are to shed light on the needs of the trade union movement and demand that these needs be satisfied immediately.

5. At the same time, the vocational unions are to continue their cultural and educational activity, creating educational institutions and organizations which would answer the immediate problems of the vocational movement.

6. The building up of clubs, especially for the districts and provinces, is desirable. The type of a vocational-political club is preferable, if possible of a large size.

7. It is necessary at present to build libraries in the districts. But for the central trade-industrial unions special libraries are to a certain extent superfluous (outside of special publications, guides, etc.) They can easily and with much greater success be replaced by public and municipal libraries, to which the trade-industrial unions should turn their attention, by sending to the same the representatives of their cultural-educational departments, as delegates.

8. The publishing associations of the individual unions must be technically united into one Publishing Association of the Council of Unions. The program of the publications must be adapted to the needs of the trade union movement, but at the same time it must be so flexible and elastic as to be of service to the agitational activity of the unions in various directions (appeals, bulletins, etc.). The amalgamation of the periodic trade-union organs,—is a problem of the immediate future. Besides, it is necessary to issue at present a monthly or semi-monthly magazine in order to explain the general questions of theory and practice of the trade-industrial movement.

The organization of central expeditions for all trade union publishing societies is already now an imperative necessity.

9. In order to materialize the above enumerated problems each central body of the trade-industrial unions of a given industry is to have its own cultural and educational department whose activities are to be coordinated by the Soviets (councils) of the Vocational Unions at the center and in the local branches.

On the question of vocational training the Congress finds that:

1. Vocational training, as one of the mightiest weapons in the general system of cultural-industrial socialist education of the working class, may attain its object on condition that, together with the vocational training of the workers along the lines of skilled labor, they will also be given a general industrial education, acquainting them with the general questions of the condition of technical and industrial development, political economy, economic geography, and also the questions of administrative and technical management of an enterprise.

2. Vocational training is concentrated in the hands of the Committee on Vocational Training, which is formed at the Commissariat of Public Education of the representatives of the vocational unions. The Committee is given charge of the general direction, financing and working out of a single program in the field of vocational training. For the management of each individual school a School Soviet is formed of the representatives of the vocational union, the Commissariat, and the students.

3. Within each branch of industry, a network of vocational schools is to be established as soon as the needs and requirements of the corresponding All-Russian Vocational Association are made known. In the first place the schools are being organized in those places and points for the preparation of such groups and types, of skilled workers as will be found necessary by the proper industrial associations.

4. The cultural and educational departments of the All-Russian Industrial Associations are connected with the Committee on Vocational Training of the Commissariat of Education and are to determine both the quantity and type of school needed and the technical possibility of their opening in this or that particular locality. The Committee is bound immediately to satisfy these demands, in case of necessity taking a census of the technical personnel available as instructors in vocational schools.

5. The vocational unions will utilize the schools for the organization of courses and lectures on questions of theory and practice of the labor movement, striving at their widest possible development and their transformation into a disseminator of all kinds of cultural and technical knowledge among the proletarian masses.

THE QUESTION OF PROVISIONING

(A resolution based on Comrade Antzelovich’s report)

Fully supporting the general principal policy of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government on the questions of provisioning and supplying the population, taking into consideration the extraordinary difficulty of the food situation, caused by the general conditions of the moment and by the weakness of the food supplying apparatus, the Congress resolves to give its best forces to the work of organization of the provisioning work, to continue the work of mobilization and centralization for this purpose of the proletarian forces on an all-Russian scale, and is hereby submitting for the approval of the Council of People’s Commissaries the provisions stated below:

1. The Congress recognizes the War-Provisioning Bureau of the All-Russian Soviet of Vocational Unions, acting in accordance with the instructions adopted by the Soviet, as the central body in charge of mobilization and distribution of the proletarian forces in the field of provisioning.

In order to fulfil its tasks the War-Provisioning Bureau of the All-Russian Soviet of Vocational Unions: (a) mobilizes the labor power, selecting it from among the vocational unions and their organs (the shop committees, etc.); (b) promotes the workers into the positions of members of the colleges, provincial provisioning committees, district provisioning committees, and other provisioning organizations, appointing them to office through the People’s Commissariat for provisioning; (c) sends the workers’ provisioning detachments composed of the best forces into the villages to do the work of organization. The detachments are working under the leadership of members delegated by the War-Provisioning Bureau into the local provisioning bodies, and are to act as auxiliary organizations to those provisioning bodies; (d) it organizes the provisional expeditions with special tasks to aid the provisioning organizations among them in the localities freed from occupation; (e) it organizes the work of labor inspection, working under the control of the War-Provisioning Bureau, both in the field of provisioning and in the allied fields of transportation, etc.; the problems of inspection consist of the renovation, reorganization and the placing of the entire system of provisioning bodies on a proletarian basis; (f) it selects with the aid of the proper vocational unions specialists in different lines of the provisioning work, making them available to fill executive offices; (g) in its work the Central War-Provisioning Bureau is leaning for support on the auxiliary local war-provisioning bureaus of the Soviets of Vocational Unions, uniting the entire activity of the vocational unions for the betterment of the provisioning work.

2. From the point of view of unity of the general system of distribution of necessaries, the Congress deems it necessary to put into practice in full measure the participation of labor cooperation in the matter of distributing the products so that, in the course of time, and labor, all the united system of distribution may be organized after the pattern of a single type of consumers’ communes.

Workers’ cooperative societies must become the chief distributors of products among the workers.

Considering it necessary thus to impose on the workers’ cooperative societies the extremely important task of constructive Socialist work and the work of actually supplying the workers with the necessaries, without which the productivity of labor cannot be increased, the Congress holds that these functions can best be carried out by the workers’ cooperatives on the following conditions: (a) the creation of a united organized basis for the cooperative and vocational associations (factory or mill committees), which is to be carried into practice by means of an agreement between the All-Russian Council of Vocational Unions and the All-Russian Council of Workers’ Cooperative Societies; (b) the All-Russian Councils of Vocational Unions and the Workers’ Cooperative Societies exchange representatives; (c) all members of the vocational unions must join the Workers’ Cooperative Society and every member of the latter must become a member of a vocational union; (d) the common leading body of the workers’ cooperative societies must be the meeting of representatives (conferences) of the shop committees and collective associations, uniting the employees and the laborers not occupied in the mills and factories; (e) the workers’ cooperatives must immediately be induced to participate in the broadest possible manner in the work of organizing all municipal commerce; the control and general direction in the matter remaining in the hands of the provisioning bodies; (f) the existing special productive-distributive organs such as that in charge of transportation of the provisions, waterway transportation of provisions, (canals, rivers, etc.), must be transformed into well organized, open workers’ cooperative societies; (g) the workers’ cooperative societies are to be induced to take up the practical work of organization of these branches of industry whose scale and problems justify such work, and which are engaged in the production of the prime necessities.