In Soviet Russia

Summary

This undated-author occasional paper section, headed “In Soviet Russia: Industrial & Political Situation” and dated 7 November 1927, examines Soviet factories, trade unions, labour conditions, wages, and the relationship between industrial workers and peasants. The writer reports visits to factories in Leningrad, Moscow, and near Nizhni-Novogorod, noting both improved worker efficiency under shorter hours and a serious need for modern machinery and imported capital. Factory administration is described as a partnership between a technical director and a “Red Director” drawn from the workers’ ranks.

The paper presents Soviet trade unions and social services in relatively favourable terms, citing extensive union membership, factory schools and crèches, an eight-hour day, paid holidays, restrictions on child and female labour, and state-supported welfare. It nevertheless questions the distribution of these gains, contrasting the better-paid industrial workforce with the much larger peasant population. The final section identifies the “Peasant Problem” as the Soviet state’s unresolved attempt to secure cheap food, isolate the “kulak,” organise a rural proletariat, and eventually establish effective state ownership and management of land.

Key points

• The writer describes Soviet industrial visits and reports a widespread need for more up-to-date machinery, with inadequate equipment hampering production.
• Shorter working hours are presented as compatible with, and possibly beneficial to, worker efficiency and production.
• Factories are said to be managed by both a technical director and a worker-appointed “Red Director.”
• The paper highlights near-universal trade-union membership, extensive union privileges, and the role of unions in Soviet social affairs.
• Factory welfare provisions include clubs, schools, crèches, paid holidays, rest periods, and social insurance.
• Wages and living standards are compared favourably with post-war wage reductions among British, French, German, and Italian workers, but the comparison is limited to a minority industrial population.
• The “Peasant Problem” concerns the state’s need to obtain cheap agricultural supplies while managing peasant property and class divisions.
• The paper argues that Soviet rural transformation depends heavily on education and the eventual assertion of state ownership of land.