The Labor Laws of Soviet Russia

Containing a Supplement, "The Protection of Labor in Soviet Russia," by S. Kaplun of the Commissariat of Labor

APPENDIX TO SECTION 79

(See page 26 above)

Rules Concerning Unemployed and Payment of Subsidies

I. "Unemployed" shall mean every citizen of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic subject to labor duty who is registered with the local Division of Labor Distribution as being out of work at his vocation or at the remuneration fixed by the proper tariff.

2. "Unemployed" shall likewise mean:

(a) Any person who has obtained employment for a term not exceeding two weeks (Section 25 of the present Code) ;

(b) Any person who is temporarily employed outside his vocation, until he shall obtain work at his vocation (Sections 29 and 30 of the present Code).

3. The rights of unemployed shall not be extended ( a) To persons who in violation of Sections 21, 24 and 29 of the present Code, have evaded the labor

duty, and refused work offered to them;

(b) To persons not registered as unemployed with the local Division of Labor Distribution (Section 21 of the present Code) ;

(c) To persons who have willfully quit work, during the term specified in Section 53 of the present Code.

4. All persons described in Sections 1 and 2 of these Rules shall Le entitled to permanent employment (for a term exceeding two weeks) at their vocations in the order of priority determined by the list of the Division of Labor Distribution for each vocation.

5. Persons described in Section I and subdivision "b" of Section 2 of these Rules shall be entitled to a subsidy from the local fund for unemployed.

6. The subsidy to unemployed provided in Section I of the present Rules shall be equal to the remuneration fixed by the scale for the group and category to which the worker was assigned by the valuation commission (Section 61). ·

Note. In exceptional cases the People's Commissariat of Labor may reduce the unemployed subsidy to the minimum of living expenses as determined for the district in question.

7. A worker employed temporarily outside of his vocation (Subdivision "b" of Section 2 of these Rules) shall receive a subsidy equal to the difference between the remuneration fixed for the group and category in which he is enrolled and his actual remuneration, in case the latter be less than the former.

8. An unemployed who desires to avail himself of his right to a subsidy slrnll apply to the local fund for unemployed and shall present the following documents: (a) his registration card from the local Division of Labor Distribution; and (b) a certificate of the valuation commission showing his assignment to a definite group and category of workers.

9. Before the subsidy is paid the fact of unemployment and the reason thereof must be verified and the group and category to which the unemployed belongs must be ascertained. The verification shall be made by the local fund for unemployed, with the assistance of the Division of Labor Distribution and the respective trade union.

10. The local fund for unemployed may for good reasons deny the application for a subsidy.

II. If an application is denied, the local fund for unemployed shall, within three days from the filing of the application, inform the applicant thereof.

12. The decision of the local fund for unemployed may within two weeks be appealed from by the interested parties to the local Department of Labor, and the decision of the latter may be appealed from to the District Department of Labor. The decision of the District Department of Labor shall be final and subject to no further appeal.

13. The payment of the subsidy to an unemployed shall commence only after he has actually been laid off, but not later than after the fourth day.

14. The subsidies shall be paid from the fund of unemployment insurance.

15. The fund of unemployment insurance shall be made up-

(a) from obligatory payments by all enterprises, establishments and institutions employing wage labor;

(b) from fines and penalties imposed for arrears in such payments;

(c) from casual income.

16. The amount and the manner of collection of the payments and fines mentioned in Section 15 of these Rules shall be determined every year by a special order of the People's Commissariat of Labor.

APPENDIX TO SECTION 80

( See page 26 above)

Rules Concerning Labor Booklets

1. All able-bodied citizens of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic, upon their assignment by the valuation commissariat of the trade unions to a definite group and category (Section 61 of the present Code), shall be given labor booklets free of charge.

Note. The form of the labor booklets shall be worked out by the People's Commissariat of Labor.

2. Each worker, on entering the employment of an enterprise, establishment or institution employing paid labor in the form of organized cooperation, shall present his labor booklet to the management thereof, and on entering the employment of a private individual, to the latter.

Note. A copy of the labor booklet shall be kept by the management of the enterprise, establishment, institution or by the private individual by whom the worker is employed.

3. All work performed by a worker during the normal working day as well as piece work or overtime work, and all payments received by him as worker (remuneration in money or in kind, subsidies from the unemployment and hospital funds), must be entered in his labor booklet. Note. In the labor booklet must also be entered the leaves of absence and sick leave of the worker, as well as the fines imposed on him during and on account of his work.

4. Each entry in the labor booklet must be dated and signed by the person making the entry, and also by the worker (if the latter is literate), who thereby certifies the correctness of the entry.

5. The labor booklet shall contain:

(a) The name, surname and date of birth of the worker;

(b) The name and address of the trade union of which the worker is a member;

(c) The group and category to which the worker has been assigned by the valuation commission.

6. Upon the discharge of a worker, his labor booklet shall under no circumstances be withheld from him. Whenever an old booklet is replaced by a new one, the former shall be left in possession of the worker.

7. In case a worker loses his labor booklet, he shall be provided with a new one into which shall be copied all the entries of the lost booklet; in such a case a fee determined by the rules of internal management may be charged to the worker for the new booklet.

8. A worker must present his labor booklet upon the request:

(a) Of the managers of the enterprise, establishment or institution where he is employed;

(b) Of the Division of Labor Distribution; (c) Of the trade unions;

(d) Of the officials of workmen's control and of labor protection;

(e) Of the insurance offices or institutions acting as such.

PROTECTION OF LABOR IN SOVIET RUSSIA.

By S. KAPLUN, of the Commissariat of Labor.

1. Protection of Labor in Soviet Russia before the establishment of the Soviet Government.

THE Soviet Government, the government of the workers and the poorest peasants, was the first seriously to raise in Russia the question of social protection of labor.

Under the Czarist Government, which was the embodiment of the whip and the fist, all the instructions and wishes of the landlord class and big manufacturers were faithfully carried out. Naturally enough, factory legislation was in a more backward state than in any other part of the world. In accordance with the Law of 1897, the working day officially was 11 % hours, while in reality the workman was compelled to work far longer than that; this was due to the great amount of overtime compulsory and "uncompulsory," the latter only on paper;-in actual life extreme destitution and the complete absence of rights of the workers compelled them fully to submit to all the proposals of the manufacturers. Children were permitted to go to work even at the age of 12; according to the law of 1882 youngsters up to the age of 15 were forbidden to be engaged at night work, whilst dur ing the day their labor was not to exceed 8 hours.

Even these inadequate laws, however, soon appeared to be too great a compromise in the eyes of the "European gendarme," and subsequently Czarism gave to the manufacturers a great number of loopholes and means to evade the law. The first step in this direction was the permission of un interrupted 6 hour work instead of the former 4 hour work for children. When working two shifts children were allowed to be engaged for 9 hours a day during the two shifts instead of the maximum 8 hour working day according to the law of 1882. Night work was permitted for children in the glass industry although from a hygienic point of view this is one of the most harmful trades; yet this night work was permitted owing to the fact that it was demanded by the interests of the industrial magnates. Further, the factory inspection was given the right to permit Sunday and holiday work for children. Finally, night work, which was generally prohibited by law to children and women could be sanctioned by the factory and works managements, or by the governor of the gubernia,(Province) in all cases where such children were engaged in work together with their parents, that is to say, this night work became a general rule.

With regard to the protection of woman labor, nothing at all was undertaken. No care whatsoever was taken of the sanitary and hygienic state of factories or workshops. In the sphere of technical safety and safeguards from dangerous machines, the government acted very timidly, almost refraining from establishing any important rules or obligatory regulations.

Little can be said of the rights of the workers. Absolute rule of the employer, endless fines and impositions, dismissals of workers without serious reason, constant interference of the police, and armed force at the first sign of agitation of the workers, such is the well remembered picture of Russian factory life. Equally little was done in the sphere of social maintenance of the workers in the event of loss of livelihood. Social insurance, which developed by the legislation of 1912, provided only for cases of sickness and accidents. But in spite of the fact that the workers were heavily taxed for state insurance, unemployable men were given a most beggarly assistance. And even here insurance did not by any means embrace all the workers.

Especially important was the character of those organs which were charged with the enforcement of the laws for the protection of labor. The direct agents of supervision were the factory inspectors state officials who submissively carried out all the instructions of capital.

In accordance with the laws, instructions, and circulars, they were to work in the closest possible collaboration with the police and were even directly subordinated to the governor of the gubernia in question. One of their principal tasks was to prevent strikes and fight every strike that occurred. The leading local organ of factory supervision was the so-cal1ed gubernia board of administration for factories and mines. The composition of the board is quite characteristic: the governor presides and the entire upper local hierarchy are members of this board: the vice-governor, the public prosecutor, the chief of police, the chief factory inspector, and the district engineer. To endow the constellation with greater authority, another element interested in protection of labor was introduced, namely: four members of the local manufacturers and factory proprietors. It is obvious, there£ore, that under Czarism protection of labor was actually turned into protection of capital against labor.

When Russian Czarism gave place to that miserable miscarriage-the Coalition Government, re-· presenting a mixture of the big industrial bourgeoisie with the anemic middle class personified by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, protection of labor ceased to he a scarecrow. But it is plain enough that the vacillating Menshevik opportunist Ministry of Labor, ever apprehensive of encroaching upon the interests of the bourgeoisie, was not capable of serious work in this sphere. The result of this is that for the 8 months from February to Oct. 1917, only pitiful attempts were made with regard to protection of labor, the most characteristic of which is the project of "labor inspection" consisting in the appointment of higher specialists and of workers who were to act only in the capacity of "assistants." In every other respect the old Czarist laws remained in violate, and in addition to this, constant deviation was allowed in the interests of the bourgeoisie upon the first demand of the kings of "national" capital.