Soviet Archives - Collection of Government Documents on Workers

From the Collection of enactment and decrees of the government for 1921, Administration of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR

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About handicraft and small industry. ( Izv. No. 150, S. U. 53‐323 ).

Article No. 323.

Decree of the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars.

To raise the productivity of handicraft and small‐scale industry, the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee, and the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars, in the development of its Resolution of May 17, 1921 (No. 47, Art. 230 ), decided:

1.                   Every citizen can freely engage in handicrafts, as well as organize a small‐scale industrial enterprise.

Note . Small‐scale industrial enterprises can be organized only by citizens who have reached the age of 18, and each citizen can own no more than one enterprise.

2.                   Small‐scale industrial enterprises are considered enterprises in which not more than 10 or 20 hired workers are employed, including those working at home. The maximum norms for small‐scale industrial enterprises in each branch of industry are established by the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the National Economy by agreement with the All‐Russian Central Council of Trade Unions.

3.                   Small‐scale industrial enterprises using hired labor are subject to registration with the Local Councils of National Economy, which are obliged to enter them into the register within a week.

4.                   Craftsmen and owners of small‐scale industrial enterprises have the right to freely dispose of the products and products of their production and, within the framework of the current legislation, to acquire raw materials, materials, tools and equipment.

5.                   Small‐scale industrial enterprises are not subject to either nationalization or municipalization. The products and products of their production at the disposal of artisans and small‐scale industrial enterprises, as well as materials, raw materials, tools and other equipment purchased by them for their production, may be subject to requisition (seizure with payment of value) or confiscation (gratuitous seizure) only by a court order or on the basis of special decisions of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars.

6.                   All regulations on labor protection, hiring and dismissal, tariff rates, apprenticeships are mandatory for all handicraftsmen and small‐scale industrial enterprises provided for by this decree.

7.                   Supervision over the implementation of this decree and assistance to handicraft and small‐scale industry shall be assigned to the bodies of the Supreme Council of the National Economy.

8.With the publication of this decree, the following shall be considered canceled: the decree of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars of September 24, 1919 on the re‐registration of production cooperatives, industrial cooperatives, partnerships, unions and all kinds of handicraft associations and on the right to participate in them ( 1919, No. 48 , art. 467 ); Resolution of the Supreme Council of the National Economy on the procedure for re‐registration, revision and liquidation of cooperative organizations, in accordance with the decree of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars of September 24, 1919 (1919, No. 54, art. 522 ); decree of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars of January 27, 1920 on the unification of all types of cooperative organizations (1920, No. 6, art. 37) in the part concerning fishing cooperative organizations; the decree of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars on agricultural and industrial cooperative organizations of April 19, 1920 (No. 30, art. 147 ); Resolution of the Supreme Council of National Economy and the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Agriculture of May 20, 1920 on the Main Directorate for Handicraft and Small Industry and Industrial Cooperation (No. 50, Art. 218 ), § 5, p. 11 and 14 and § 7; the decree of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars on the regulation of artisanal fishing and non‐nationalized industry of September 7, 1920 (No. 78, Art. 366 , and No. 84, Art. 416 ).

The decree of the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee of April 26, 1919 on measures to promote the handicraft industry (1919, No.

14, article 140) ‐ to cancel.

Signed by:

Chairman of the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee M. Kalinin .

Chairman of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

Secretary of the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee A. Yenukidze .

July 7, 1921.

Published in No. 150 of the News of the All‐Russian Central Executive

Committee of Soviets dated July 12, 1921.