The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-09-01

IoreWord by A. d. COOK. Inc
New Leader, London. as pages,
Reviewed BY ANNA ROCHESTER
John STRACHEY went to the
' Soviet Union last winter at the
invitation of the Russian Miners
Union and spent two months in the
Don coalfields. He had been editor
of The Miner, the paper of the Min
ers' Federation of Great Britain,
and he was we'll aware of the chaos,
unemployment, brutality and be-
trayal of which British, American
and German miners have been the
victims.
Strachey's report takes up the
points most Immediately affecting
the everyday life of the miner. But
by way of introduction he gives GER
tain "key" figures for the Russian
coal industry as a whole.
The total annual output for the
fiscal year 1926-27 surpassed the
output in 1913 by 100000 tons,
and caspian estimates that in the
current year it will rise another A.
100000 tons. Strachey pictures the
Generalization of the coal industry
during the civil war, and the ma
licious destruction of the Don mines
during the German occupation of
the Ukraine. In 1920 the Soviets
secured control of the Don coal
field-the principal coalfield in
European Russia-and that year
October 1920 to October 1921 the
total tonnage produced by the coal
industry of the Soviet Union was
less than 100000 tons. This year
t will exceed 100000 tons.
The output per man shift has been
rising-in spite Of the sabotage of
technicians which was revealed
after Strachey had left Russia and
to which he does not refer. Thanks
to mechanization and reorganiza-
ton of the industry-and again in
spite of criminal sabotage-the cost
Of producing coal has been steadily
falling while wages have been ris-
ing.
How the coal industry is coor-
dinated with other fuel industries
and with the national economy as a
whole is briefly described. The Coal
Trusts carry on the actual admin
istration of the mines and are re-
sponsible for measuring up to pro-
duction standards and labor stand
ards set by the central government
IN Moscow, with participation Of
men representing the Miners
Union. No reader of The Daily
Worker needs to be reminded that
these trusts bear no resemblance to
the Coal Syndicate of the German
Ruhr OF to the various trusts which
are increasing their holdings in the
coal industry of the United States.
They have no private shareholders,
and no power to appoint officials
unsatisfactory to the Miners Union.
Wages for mine workers Strachey
compares with British wage levels
and finds the relatively small cash
wage per day or per ton, in the
Soviet Union, made up for by the
free housing which is fairly gen.
eral in the coal fields, and by other
points which he enumerates as fol-
lows:
1. The miners get about IL tons
of free coal a month. 2. Every
miner receives two weeks holiday
with full pay year. For most
underground workers the holiday
period has been extended to a
month. 8. On discharge a
worker receives from two to six
weeks pay, according to the reason
of his discharge. a. Working
clothes usually, l found, made of a
sort of fine canvass are provided
free for all miners. For bad
places i.e., wet seams, ETC., special
oil-skins are provided, while in all
cases boots and a warm-wadded
Jacket and cap are included in
the outfit. Furthermore, "the Rus
sian miners, in common with other
Russian workers, are insured both
against unemployment and sickness,
accident and death"
Strachey does not attempt such a
comparison of present wages with
pre-war wages as, for example,
Paul Douglas gives in the Soviet
Union in the Second Decade. But
A. j. Cook, in his foreword, points
out: "While the conditions of the
British miners have become very
much worse since 19t3-1914 and get
worse every day, the hours becom-
ing longer and the wages lower, the
conditions of the Russian miners
have improved, hours have been re-
duced and things get steadily bet
ter"
Strachey emphasizes the fact
hat Russian miners underground
work only six hours from bank to
bank. This is in accordance with
he standard set by the Labor Code
f the Soviet Union. But a limited
overtime is permitted underground.
According to Strachey this brought
She hours up to an 8-hour shift for