"The Greatest Failure in All History": A Critical Examination of the Actual Workings of Bolshevism in RussiaSpargo, John
History
"The Greatest Failure in All History": A Critical Examination of the Actual Workings of Bolshevism in Russia
Spargo, John
Communism -- Russia
Article V governs the withdrawal of wage-earners from jobs which
do not satisfy them. Paragraph 51 of this article clearly provides
that a worker can only be permitted to resign if his reasons are
approved by what is described as the “respective organ of workmen’s
self-government.” Paragraph 52 provides that if the resignation is
not approved by this authority “the wage-earner must remain at work,
but may appeal from the decision of the committee to the respective
professional unions.” Provision is made for fixing the remuneration of
labor by governmental authority. Article VI, Paragraph 55, provides
that “the remuneration of wage-earners for work in enterprises,
establishments, and institutions employing paid labor ... shall be
fixed by tariffs worked out for each kind of labor.” Paragraph 57
provides that “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.” Paragraph 58 provides
that “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.” Paragraph 60 provides
that “the remuneration of each wage-earner shall be determined by his
classification in a definite group and category.” Paragraph 61, with an
additional note, explains the method of thus classifying wage-earners.
“Valuation commissions” are established by the “professional
organizations” and their procedure is absolutely determined by the
local Soviet official called the Commissariat of Labor. If a worker
receives more than the standard remuneration fixed, “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”--Paragraph
65--the excess amount so received may be deducted from his next wages,
according to Paragraph 68.
The amount of work to be performed each day is arbitrarily assigned.
Thus, Article VIII, Paragraph 114, provides that “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.” According to Paragraph 118 of the same article,
“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.” If it is judged
that his failure to maintain the normal output is due to lack of good
faith and to negligence, he may be discharged without notice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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