After the 1905 Revolution, trade unions sprung up in Russia. The Moscow’ Printers Union was the first illegal trade union set up in Russia in 1903. Between the years 1906 and 1907, there was the flourishing of trade unions. However, they were persecuted during the “Years of Reaction.” From the years 1914-17, they were seen to revive again only to be suppressed another time due to the war outbreak. Thus, the March of 1917 saw leaders construct a trade union movement, building it from the very basics1.
Although skilled and artisanal workers were mainly joining the trade unions in Russia in 1905, factory workers were also recruited by 1914-17.
Following the February revolution, workers began building craft and labor unions. In the metal trade spheres, about twenty such unions sprung, only a few which lasted. In April, a union was formed by the stokers from the Metal, Reosenkrantz, and Phoenix works based on the declaration that they were weaker than the other mastrovyes despite engaging in strenuous jobs.
On 18th September, a meeting was held, but aborted because the stokers’ union would not agree to the metal workers’ collective contract, and hence a merger between the two was not established.
On 30th April, a union of welders came into existence, but was a hindrance to the metalworkers’ leadership. Other unions came into existence, such as the Gold and the Silversmiths in 1918.
1Smith, S. A., Red Petrograd, Revolution in The Factories, 1917-18. Cambridge University Press, 1983
The first National Trade Union Conference took place in 1917 – the Third Trade Union Conference, which declared in favor of the labor unions. According o the resolution in the
conference, trade unions were to form according to the branch of industry, and the workers needed to join the appropriate union based on the branch of industry they worked in.
In 1917, however, craft union power was not great in Russia as compared to other European countries.
Intensifying of Worker’s Control
As there was a threat to a great many jobs, the worker’s control intensified and expanded. Fuel and raw materials began to be controlled by factory committees and newer forms of control were established. The control was attempted to include finances and sales of the companies too. However, this remained more of a vision than the reality as much of the information needed to control the finances of a company remained with the banks. The banks were not prepared to divulge information and the accountants of the companies who were well trained would not cooperate with the committees. Some committees asked the government to sequester a few organizations and supervise their workings by appointing a government official to oversee operations. Thus, committees sought control over companies not merely for power but to save workers their jobs2.
2Deutscher, Isaac, Soviet Trade Unions Their Place in Soviet Labour Policy. Digitalized by Rev Socialist for Socialist Stories, 1950.
Factory Committees and Their Relationship With Trade Unions
On 20th of June, at Petrograd, the Third All-Russian Conference of Trade Unions was held. This was the first national conference of the trade unions since the February Revolution. V/.P.
Grienvich spoke about the duties for the trade unions. According to him, the main focus of the trade unions was the struggle for the working class, and their chief weapon in this struggle was the strike. He firmly spoke on the involvement of the trade union only in this sphere and not in the administrative works as this was the duty of the government. Acceding to N. Glebov-Aviliov, the Bolshevik spokesmen, the issue of worker’s control was too crucial to be left in the hands of the factory committees. He argued that that sphere of activity should be taken on by the trade unions and that the factory committees should be a subordinate to the trade unions. According to him, “The factory committees must be the primary cells of the unions. Their activities in the unions must be made dependent on the economic control commissions of the unions”.
The Second Conference of the Petrograd Factory Committees (7th – 12th August) discussed the complete relationship to the Factory committees with the trade unions. Lozovskii who advocated the subordination of the factory committees to the trade unions in a big way later on, tried to bridge the divide between the two organizations. He argued that both must concern themselves with separate spheres of functions: The trade unions were to concern themselves with the defending of wages and labor conditions and the implementation of labor protection legislation; the factory committees were to oversee regulation of production. Lozovskii wanted the factory committees to bow down to the trade unions and insisted that they could not strike without the permission of the trade union. The point was strongly contradicted by Volin who said that factory committees were the only revolutionary organizations that could function and protest for the protection of labor, while the trade unions could only mediate between the capital and labor. However, that day saw Lovioskii win, with his proposal for dividing the labor between the labor and factory committees accepted.
Trade Unions and the Revolution
The revolution that happened in 1917 was similar to that in 1905 in that the newly won freedom spurred the growth of the trade unions. In1905, there were 250,000 members in the trade unions. During the first few months of 1917, the numbers rose from a few thousands to 1.5 million. This increase in membership is seen as the desire and urge of workers to use the newly won freedom for organization.
However, even if the number of members in the trade unions during the revolution was high, it was less significant than what happened in 1905. Strikes in 1917 never equaled, in power and magnitude, those that happened in 19173. This was because the economic ruin in Russia, the inflation, the scarcity in the goods for consumers, and the like made the fight for “bread and
3Ashwin, Sarah and Simon Clarke, Russian Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Transition, (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2002).
4Lenin, “Report at the Second All-Russia Trade Union Congress”, in On Trade Unions, (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1919).
5Lenin, Draft Thesis on The Role Of The Trade Unions Under The New Economic Policy In The Essentials Of Lenin, (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1922).
butter” less unreal. The working class did not have to merely fight for committee rights that were limited and reforms that were partial. The whole economic condition of Russia was at stake.
In the trade unions, the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, and the Social Revolutionaries fought to throw in their influence. The Mensheviks were ruling the trade union and said they were striving for neutrality. However, Lenin wanted to approach the trade unions from a new dimension. The central economic idea of Lenin advocated the workers’ control over industry4,5. It becomes understood that in the power struggle between the capitalists and the workers, the capitalists would be eliminated. Three-quarters of the votes that controlled the company now belonged to the workers, and the capitalists could not do anything in the way of reconciling themselves.
Apart from the Factory committees, the Worker’s Section of the Soviet stole the trade unions prominence. This committee includes those workers who had been directly voted in factories. The Soviet Workers section was known to hold meetings and conferences on its own apart from the Soviet and their decisions were respected and accepted by the workers normally.
Conclusion
Form the years from 1917 to 1991, trade unions did not play a part in fighting for workers’ rights as they were state-run organizations. Following the collapse of the Soviet, the workers were exploited by employers with poor wages and the like. However, they did not have a body to turn to as they were no legal or government system functioning.
Only around 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, did the strengthening of unions take place and now the workers are able to take on those employers who exploit them.
References
- Smith, S. A., Red Petrograd, Revolution in The Factories, 1917-18. Cambridge University Press, 1983.
- Deutscher, Isaac, Soviet Trade Unions Their Place in Soviet Labour Policy. Digitalized by Rev Socialist for Socialist Stories, 1950.
- Ashwin, Sarah and Simon Clarke, Russian Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Transition, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2002.
- Lenin, “Report at the Second All-Russia Trade Union Congress”, in On Trade Unions, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1919.
- Lenin, Draft Thesis on The Role Of The Trade Unions Under The New Economic Policy In The Essentials Of Lenin, London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1922.
