# The Russian Revolution (Foster)/Chapter 12

XII.
THE ORGANIZATION OF INDUSTRY.
Being in a state of profound and constant transition, Russian industry is extremely complicated in structure. It varies all the way from the near-feudalistic to the near-communistic. Milyutin, one of Russia’s foremost industrial experts, says there are now five distinct economic systems in operation, viz.: (1) Patriarchic—the greater part of primitive peasant forms, (2) small industrial production, (2) private capitalism, (4) state capitalism, (5) socialism. Here we will deal only with the nationalized industries of the latter two categories, which comprise about 90 per cent of Russia's means of social production and distribution, exclusive of agriculture. They are reasonably regular in form and represent the broad stream of industrial development brought about by the revolution.
The highest and most authoritative industrial body in Russia is the National Council for Labor and Defense. It is composed of the heads of all the Government departments (the Peoples' Commissars) and representatives of the labor unions and industrial, agricultural, and scientific societies. Lenin is the chairman, and Rykov, a prominent economist, the next in authority. The National Council for Labor and Defense is a sort of political-economic cabinet, the chief function of which is to work out and supervise the application of broad industrial and agricultural policies. Every other branch of the social organization for production and distribution stands subordinate to it. It is an outgrowth of the civil war crisis and is taking on more and more importance with the passage of time. It will probably develop into the future economic parliament of Russia.
Next in the scale of industrial organizations and inferior to the National Council for Labor and Defense, stand the several national governmental departments devoted to production and distribution, viz.: Food, Agriculture, Posts, Telephones and Telegraphs, Transportation, and the Supreme Economic Council. They co-operate closely together, sending delegates to each ​other's national and local councils and presiding boards wherever the proper functioning of industry requires joint action. The first four of these departments are comparatively restricted in scope, limiting themselves to the activities described by their respective names. The Supreme Economic Council is a much broader type of organization; it covers the whole remaining body of production and distribution. Its method of organization is typical, and we will deal with it only.
Corresponding to the needs of the work it is doing, the Supreme Economic Council specializes itself by industry and locality. The specialization by industry is of two general kinds: First, the national board of the S. E. C. is divided into five sections to meet the requirements of all industry considered as one body, viz.: (a) Production, (b) Distribution, (c) Finance and Accounts, (d) Factory and Workshop Statistics, (e) Local Affairs. Second, the S. E. C. is divided into sub-departments, one of each "trust" or industry. Thus there are national organizations for Metals, Soap, Timber, Flax, etc. All of these are headed by boards of experts entrusted with the carrying on of industry in their respective spheres.
The specialization of the Supreme Economic Council by locality starts at the body of experts forming the general presiding board of the S. E. C. and runs down through all the political and industrial subdivisions of the country until it reaches the managers of individual plants. There are provincial, state, district, local, and plant councils of the S. E. C. Such branches serve to link all the industries together in given areas and thus to make the industrial mechanism a unified, co-ordinated whole.
The local and other territorial councils of the S. E. C. are patterned after the parent national organization. Each has its board of experts and a specialization to correspond with the type of industry within its jurisdiction. These local councils, like the S. E. C. itself, are always connected with the Government Soviets of the corresponding geographical areas. Thus the whole political and economic structure is knitted together. Every year the Supreme Economic Council holds a national congress, at which representatives of all the ​locality and industrial councils assemble to review and organize the work of the whole mechanism.
An important factor in the organization of Russian industry is the national Department of Workers' and Peasants' Control. This is a sort of national audit committee and, like many other institutions in present-day Russia, it has no parallel anywhere else in the world. In capitalist countries the checking-up of the financial and efficiency sides of industry and society in general is done by a multitude of auditors and experts attached to the various institutions and working more or less independently of each other. In Russia all this checking-up force is organized and combined in one body, the Workers' and Peasants' Control. It is a very large organization with ramifications everywhere. It is constructed according to the usual Soviet pattern through a series of ever-higher-rising delegate bodies, beginning with the rank and file in the shops and fields and running up to the top of the national department. The general function of the Workers' and Peasants' Control is to look after all social institutions—political, industrial, educational, etc.—and to see to it that they are operated efficiently and honestly. The hand of the Workers' and Peasants' Control is everywhere in all shops and factories. Although the recommendations of its agents lack actual legislative force, they are given much consideration and form a powerful directive force in the management of Russian industry.
Theoretically at least, the industries are still run upon a monetary basis. Their financing is attended to by the Department of Finance. This body also conducts the national treasury and issues the currency.
On the human side of industry, that is the part dealing with the rights and relationships of the workers therein, several departments and independent organizations come into play. At this place the most important for us are the Department of Labor, the trade unions and the Communist Party—the co-operatives playing but a minor part in the nationalized type of industry which we are considering.
The Russian Department of Labor is what its name signifies: an institution to function in the interests of the toilers. Unlike the fake labor departments of other countries, it is a vigorous organization striving ​so make industry a fit place for human beings to work in. It is controlled from top to bottom by the trade unions. They select its officers.
The Department of Labor's activities may be summed up under the following general heads: (1) Registration and distribution of labor; (2) regulation of wages, hours, and working conditions; (3) health protection and accident prevention in industry; (4) labor and industrial statistics.
Under the first head is comprised the employment service of Soviet Russia. All the people out of work are registered with the special local employment sections of the Labor Department and from there distributed to the various industries wherever there may be need for workers. This is done in close co-operation with the trade unions concerned. Under the second head is comprised the working-out of the trade union scales and agreements. As we have seen in a previous chapter, about all the Department of Labor has to do in this matter is to rubber-stamp what the trade unions have decided upon. It is the direct representative of the general Government in all the latter's negotiations with the unions over changes in industrial working conditions. In the matter of health and accidents in industry, the Department is very active. It maintains a large corps of inspectors, most of whom come directly from the unions, to see that the best possible conditions are secured and kept up. The statistics it gathers are of real value to the people. A special function of the Department of Labor is to enforce all the laws and trade union agreements relating to industry.
In a preceding chapter we have shown in detail the part played by the trade unions in industry. They have a practical monopoly in the establishment of the wages and working conditions of the toilers. They are also a most important factor in educating the great masses to the new discipline and industrial re-organization made necessary by the revolution. And, finally, they have an important share in the actual management of industry through their direct participation in the many local and national boards of the Supreme Economic Council and the other industrial departments of the Government.
The Communist Party, bearing on its shoulders the main burden of the revolution, watches closely over ​every phase of industry and seeks constantly to inspire the whole thing with its own militant spirit and policies. Its national executive committee has the final word in the settlement of every important industrial question, even as it has upon all social matters. We have, likewise, described it in a previous chapter. When it has decided upon a major economic policy, its thousands of yatchaykas carry the burning message of Communist organization and ideals into every shop, trade union, Government office, and all other institutions in any way connected with industry and make them function according to the policy agreed upon. The Communist Party is the brain and soul of Russian industry.