Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-15
Shops Run by Agitators.

wages were 100 to 500 rubles $3.50 Iii
$500 a month";.
Shops Run by Agitators.
! When the bolsheviki began 10 apply
| their theories they introduced shop
! committees. which. in fact. were not
composed of workmen, but of ouisid.
! agItators. Not a single instruction.
would be given by the technical staff
| but what shop meetings would ~
| once be called during hours of work
10 discuss them and decide upon them.
/ Every day long and noisy meetings
were held, for which time the work
men insisted upon being paid. Often
, they would refuse to follow instruc-
tons. because they held the tech
nical staff We're their enemies" The
| men didn't actually work more than "A
| rev hours day. and if there was a
procession. which was frequent they
"ouldn't work at all. Out they would
rush to take part in it. Yet within
TOUR months they had received from
the navy department an increase in
their pay of 90 600. 900 rubles. not
wlthstanding their efficiency was low
! efed al least so per cent. Finally, so
demoralized had personnel and ma.
| chinery become. that the factory had
: to shut down altogether But Al
! though the workmen did no work The
oolshevik government kept on pay
with TO odstuffs.
1T has been sad Lieut.. Brasol
not merely usual but an everyday in
cident for workmen to carry away
products. tools or parts of machinery
and sell them for their own profit
, StIll other causes of the shutdown
! have been lack of fuel and raw ma
terial Miners wouldn't work and rail-
roads have hardly operated at all. The
conditions and fate of many other
plants have been the same as those
no hhf,,,l I,
| boishevik government controls the
ioou supply and has been systemat-
| ically starving such of the 'bour-
| geoisie as it hasn't slaughtered"
How banks have been run is de-
scribed. with other experiences. 10y
FREDERICK Nj. Corse. general manager
IN Russia of the New York Life In
surance Company. Mr.. Corse recently
returned to New York city after Il
seNenteen-year residence in Russia.
! Laborer at Head of Bank.
THE Nolsa Kama Bank" he said.
I was one of the biggest and richest in
Petrograd. 1t was like the National
city Eank here. L had the largest ac-
count in it. The bolsheviki early in
1918 deposed its president and board
OF directors and put "A man who had
been the banks rear yardman in
charge of the bank. | had to deal with
! him and he was still there when [
left.
.All private banks had this same on
Derience. Multiply the Nolga Kama
Banks experience by a thousand and
you have the situation. To draw $50
rubleS took three days. with all sorts
of preliminarieS such getting per-
mits and vises in different parts Of
the city. But if you paid to certain
lesser bolshevik functionaries % per
cent of the amount that YOU drew, you
could draw "a million ruktpS
When | left Russia the efficiency
of industries had been reduced 30 per
cent. and the result, of the commit
tee system was the gradual closing
of factories and shops everywhere.
There is lack of skilled men. Cost
of production is too high. The labor
committees are utterly ignorant of
/ administration and make no provision
for deprecia ton. Much machinery has
! been wantonly destroyed by rowdy-
| ism. spite and grudge''
We had labor committees In our
plant. said w. f.. Dixon. director of
the Russian Singer Company. which
! before the war employed 5000 men in
its plant at Moscow. I'm our case the
head men or leaders OF the shop COM
mittees were outsiders. but they ran
matters. Some of these outsiders
were the dregs of the legal profession.
Others We're dilletante university stu
dents. and still others were shoddy
intellectuals. They reduced the work
day to eight hours. but the men work
ed only six. They increased wages
500 TO 600 per cent. The chaos of
conditions in bolshevil Russia is such
that we haven't been able to ger any
adviceS from our Russian representa-
tiveS since February. 1918. What has
become of the Russian Singer Com
panyS plant since then we don't know
Oscar Tokoi. who was bolshevik
prime minister of Finland. certainly
cannot be charged with hostility To
bolshevik ideas. Yet after personally
seeing the results of the bolshevik
legime in Russia. Tokoi issued "A
statement declaring that the Russian
workers. who for the most part are
iiliterate and ignorant about all
cial questions. have lost all founda-
tons of reality. Their efficiency aud
even their Willingness to work have .
altogether disappeared.