The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-05
A RUSSIAN FACTORY
The things about Russia which different" as look
back from America)
BY ANIsE.

TN my lectures across the United
4 States, find that the hardest thing
Of all to explain to American workers
is just what factory means in Russia.
To an American, factory is merely
place to work; rather unpleasant
spot where you labor eight hours or
more per day, and then go home to
live. To Russian, the factory is the
center of life. iA
Those very words sound drab and
repellent to the American worker. He
can't get rid of the grim unpleasant
ness around that word factory. Sup
pose you think, instead, of the words
social center" A sort of combined
university dance-hall, polling place,
musical club, day nursery and sewing
circle combined Is that 'jazzy"
enough to sound Interesting? Well,
that is what a Russian factory is, out
side of working hours.
Of course, they also work in Russ
~ ian factory. Not so fast as they
do in America, for the Russian have
never learned our speed. At the pres
ent moment, in fact, they are putting
in the piece work system, in the hope
Of learning to produce a little more.
The workers in America object to the
piece-work system, because it is used
to exploit them and wear them out
But extra speed in a Russian plant
comes back to benefit all the workers.
Besides, it will take lot of speeding
up before the Russians go fast enough
to affect their nerves. And there are
safeguards established, in the shape
of forms fixed, not by the swiftest,
but by the moderately slow worker.
In any event the Russian workers
are really producing in their factor
les; last year the output of state in
dustry increased thirty-three and a
third per cent. Every Russian work
er can see quite plainly that, as the
output of his factory increases, so also
his wages go up. His shop committee
has access to the books of the. fac
tory and knows just what the profits
are. They can easily tell how much
to demand in wages at the time of
the next collective agreement. When
tell American workers about this
arrangement, they usually grin with
pleasure at the thought of putting
something over" on the management
by knowing all the inside secrets. But
in Russia it is not considered "put-
ting anything over; it is considered
the most natural thing in the world
that the increased profits of a state
factory should go. in part, to increas-
ing wages, and that the workers in
the factory should know all about the
balance sheets in order to encourage
them to produce more and better BY
seeing how fast the factory is getting
ahead.
PUT the Russian factory is more
than place to work. II you go
in the evening to any large factory in
Russia, and even to some of the small
one, you find from four to a dozen
rooms going full blast. Clubs and
classes and lectures and concerts
these make up the evening life. In
one room you find the group fighting
illiteracy-a dozen or more old men
and women who are painfully learn
ing their A B C's from the young
Communist who is teaching them.
Down the hall come the strains Of a
stringed instrument; it is the factory
orchestra.
Beyond is the women's club, and
farther down is a chess club or a
meeting Of Young Pioneers Then
perhaps you come TO a session OF the
Guardianship Committeeman you
learn that the factory has assumed
responsibility for helping in the cul.
tural life OF some nearby peasant
community On Sundays a group Of
workers goes down to take books and
journals from the city, or to conduct
classes and give lectures. They are
meeting now TO mike their plans for
repairing the former manor-house Oh
that district and, turning II into a
little theater and club house for the
peasants.
YOU would staff In class for read
= Ing and writing. every night after