The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-22
HOW RUSSIAN LABOR UNIONS
 WE'RE ORGANIZED

directed the labor movement in that city.
 Building the Workers Republic. At the moment of the October Revolution our industries were on the verge of complete disor- der; the factories were closing down in scores and the manufac- turers were abandoning their business and flying, after pillag- ing as far as possible. In face of this state of affairs the working class did not remain inactive but set itself to work out, by it's own methods, the resumption Of pro- auction. Labor control was inten- sified. The shops committees ob- tained the right, under the dir ection of the unions, to control the economic life of the work shops and to remove all the ele- ments that were impeding the development of industry. The factories had to produce more The shops committees-b boldly took this complicated task upon themselves and prevented their complete breakdown
 A410 llllOIS gave d COIE6CL 1u- depreciation to the control of the whole industrial life of the works and factories and carried it out in methodicaI and regular manner. In matters affecting the regulariza ton and the organiza- ton of industry the unions and shops committees joined all the official organs of management and organization and thus they assured the correct solution of all questions touching the organiza- ton of our-industry. The unions, besides participating in the state organs, worked also at increasing our production. It was necessary to take measures for increasing labor production in order to keep the factories and works going. This could be done only by means of the exact determination of the minimum daily production for each worker. When the manu- lecturers were accused of sab otage and the reduction and even premeditated suspension of labor in their factories, they always justified themselves by saying that the increased wages and the enormous reduction in the pro- auction of labor on the part of the workers no longer gave them the possibility of continuing pro- duction. But when the Workers and Peasants government took the factories in and, production not only no longer diminished,
 
 cerns 1t even increased. In in creasing the productivity of labor the unions played decisive part. Every time union of production demanded an increase in wages it set out side by side with the exact indication of the wages, the daily output for the worker. For a defined wage the union exacted from the worker a defined quan- tity of manufactured products.
 The desire of the capitalist gov ernments throughout the world to suppress the Soviet i govern ment, the intervention of the Allies, the despatch of troops to Murmansk and the Caspian Sea area, all exacted from us the greatest efforts in order to repel the enemy. An army was wanted, and it was the workers alone that were in a position to create this army. The unions hastened to help in the building up of strong force, and from the fac tories and workshops went men who were ready to bear arms which finally resulted in the cap ture of Kazan, Simbrosk and Samara-
 Thus if the Trade Union move ment as a whole, and the differ ent labor organizations, had to fight against the capitalists for the satisfaction of their economic demands, before the October Revolution, and at the same time, fight against the Kerensky government, which was support ing the capitalist class on all questions; after October they threw all their weight against the enemies of the new Workers Re- public.
 Labor Unions of the Future.
 The future of the labor unions and the professional organiza- lions will depend on the main tenance in power of the govern ment- of Workers and Peasants. The fall of this government would bring with it the defeat of the Trade Union movement The months preceding the revolution have not been without profit to the Russian unions. The unions have widened the framework and scope of their struggle and now have only one task before them that of strengthening and extending the new Soviet Republic, bringing to it all their experience, their practical know1- edge and their revolutionary spirit.
 HTlCEYUEE n