Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-19
The Russian Artel.
A Partnership Rather Than a Trade Union.
From the Saturday Review.I

Although much attention has of late been concentrated on Russia, it is pity that so little of it has been directed to the strange forms in which labor organizes itself in that country where social institutions are not merely in a transition state, but in a state of ever quickening evolution. No better illus tration of this can be given than the fact ! that to great many intelligent persons the | term 'Artel" is empty of meaning. The | late Czar is said to have declared that Mir. l Mackenzie Wallace's book was the only trustworthy and exhaustive one from the pen of foreigner on Russia. Yet in that work there is but meagre passing reference made to the Artel system.
 Of the permanent type of Artel there are the Bendujniks, or carters, and the coal DOT ters, who remind one somewhat of the free companies of porters who have existed for centuries at the town of Leith in Scotland. There are many obvious advantages in hay ing to deal with head-men when large num- bers of carts or porters are wanted, and Tn getting rid of the nuisance of having the qua3s of large town turned into scene of riot by hundreds of fierce competitors for patronage. Artels are of real service to the community. In fact, the Artel not only nit igates the ferocity of individual competition, but enables it's members to make their united energies more formidable in competition with rivals 4 good example of this Is seen fu~ E1-S Hftdi of boatmeu on tho northern
 
 as ferrymen individually 8 steamer drove them out of the field. When they banded themselves in an Artel they were soon mas ters of the situation. Their constitution is very curious The society consists of forty members. who elect a headman. He does all the business of the Artel with the public and the municipality, but in other respects he is simply an or linary member. They take 1t in turns to act as cashier, the official whose duty it is to collect from every boat man every fare he earns; and then at night the total earnings are divided, but only among those who have worked during the day, the sick having no share. The hardest manual toll in Russia Is that of collecting and stacki Ig the salt at the great works near the Crimean lakes and it is invariably done by Artels. Arteis of reapers are, as might be expected, numerous, and they differ from others in this respect women, usually the wives of the members, belong to the associ- ation and accompany the men. their duty being to bind into sheaves the corn that falls before the mower. The various trades who form Artels in North Russia, such as carpen- ters and masens, organize them so that mem bers are all equal as regards food, lodging and share of wages "they lodge, eat, and. as rule, work together" the "starost, or elected chief, holding office merely as an af fair of honor, and being empowered to carry out only the will of his comrades. The Bourse Artel of Odessa Is importation
 
 labor combination, guarantee society, and friendly society. It has one hundred permanent members, and equal number engaged by the month, and it is guaranteed by twenty members of the Bourse. For each permanent member it lodges in the I'm perial bank sum of two hundred rubles, which, by accumulations of interest and graduated annual payments is allowed to in crease to one thousand rubles, forming his guarantee fund. The ''starost" is elected, and members must obey him and not take situations without Lis sanction-a very nec- essary provision, for the Artel stands as se- curity for his dealings with his employers money. From this body all functionaries who have to handle cash are taken by banks and commercial firms in Odessa, and though it differs also from some of tho other Artels in giving aid to members when unemployed or sick, yet in matters of internal manage ment there is no material difference.
 The Russian Artel, then, would appear to be partnership rather than trade union or & co operative association indeed, there is hardly any institution in Russia core spending with our English cooperative soci- cites of producers, though in Odessa there is co operative store, which, however, after serving it's members at cheap rates, serves the public at shop prices, dividing the profits thus made among it's share holders The f trades that the Artel system best suits seem ! to be those of porterage, carrying and trans \ U, 1 petition is fierce, and where earnings huctu- ! ate and employment may be irregular. With I regard to other trades, 1t is noticed that as ] the workmen settle in towns they lose their l independence, fall into the ways of seryl- { tu5e. and work under capitalists for wages, 1 whereupon their Artel dwindles into mess | or club, dragging on it's existence merely as a survival" But the system fourishes as | a rule over Russia, and it is not at all hard | to understand why. Russia is country of magnificent distances and thin urban popu- [ Iation. Laboring people must there travel | far for work. But man, especially Tn kus' | aia, being gregarious or 'clnbable' being, travelling far soon comes to mean travelling | in company with others and out of compan- \ ionshjp a working partnership IS soon l evolved, Nor is 1t difficult to understand how such an organization of labor naturally 1 arises in a country where the social unit- | the family--is not so much collection of | individuals under common authority linked l by blood tic as labor association banded 1 together for mutual support in fighting that battle for life which for the Mujik is even at the best of times peculiarly hard More ! over, it is system of organization which the Imperial government encourages rather I than otherwise for the excellent reason that l repression of individualism is essential to it's ! success But so Is it essential to the mainte- l nance of the autocratic system, and thus it comes to pass that in Russia all things seem to work together to impart both to the or ganization of labor and of family life strong 1 flavor of communism. At the same time i Artels tend to impart some very excellent 1 qualities to the Russian character. They must implant in the Mujik the germs of many | virtues rare in the working classes of freer
 and moro favored lands. He must be capa- | bIe of great self sacrifice, of much self-ef-
 l facement, and fraternal good feeling and
 l trustfulness Unless he were by nature
 blessed with an amiable temper and an apti-
 | tude for what, in want of better word, we
 1 must call ''chumming," his Artels would
 ] soon break up in general scrimmages.
 Joseph A. Lewis, of WiIlimantie, will be
 l one of the sneakers at the State temperance