RUSSIAN UNIONS.

Grey River Argus, 25 February 1927, Page 6

RUSSIAN UNIONS.

Build Socialism. WHAT COMM UN IST LE.I L’ERSI 11 f MEANS. The history of the Russian Trade Union Movement actually dates back to the stormy period of mass struggLs against Tsardom in 1905. They played their part in these struggles, ami were smashed when the forces of reaction triumphed. It was not until the revolution jf February, 1917, that the rebirth of the) Russian Trade Unions took place, under the influence and control, as in 1905, of the Social-Democratie Party.l By August, 1917. the Bolsheviks had captured the leadership of the unions and under that leadership the worker? entered into the decisive struggle which iesuited in the overthrow of Tsarism ami Capitalism ami the seizure of power by the workers ami peasants. ’ Since that time the Trade Union Movement of Soviet Russia has gone from strength to strength. It was the Trane Unions which supplied the administrative machinery without which the Workers’ Governmnet would have collapsed. It was the Trade Unions which built the Red Army anff supplied its ranks with the finest revolutionary fighters that the world has ever known. All this was done under the leadership and guidance of the Russian Communist Party, the vanguard of (he world revolutionary movement. STRUCTURE OF UNIONS. The structure of the Trade 1 nion Movement of Soviet Russia is worthy of study by the workers of Britain. There arc 23 industrial unions (as compared with the 1,000 odd craft unions, in Britain). This entire movement is centralised in the U.S.S.R. Central Council of. Trade Unions, a body corresponding to the General Council of the British T.U.C., ami this Central Council i* the ■supreme, authorativc. leading body of I the whole Trade Union Movement in 1 h( tween Congresses. The decisions of 'the Congress are binding upon all unions. MEMBERSHIP GROWING. Some figures of the present trade union membership are not, without interest. On April 1, 19-26, the total trade union membership was S,/65,-4<-On April 1. 1925, the total was 6.950.006. Lt will thus be seen that there has been an increase of over one and a half million during that period of tw dve months. Well over 90 per eent of the workers in Soviet Russia are organised in trade unions. And Trade Union membership is not compulsory. TRADE UNIONS AND WORKERS' STATE. An essential feature to take into con .S’deration wnen eon si "inn ng the Rosian Trade Union is their relations with the State. !n Great Britain, under t Capitalist State, the trade unions have not onlv to fight 1 itterly for every little improvement in their standards, but have to fight even to maintain their legal status. In Soviet Russia the reverse Is t:icase. In the words of Lenin: “'!.>•■ trade unions, after the greatest revolt, tion in history, when the proletariat assumed political power, became the main builders of the new Society.--In Russia the trade unions do not have to fight, the State and the Government. because it is a workers’ State

and a workers’'Government. Their task is to educate the workers in the art of ruling and administering the functions of the country. The trade nnlons are the only lawi'nl representatives of the workers ~i social, political, and economic Hie. Under Article 16 of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. the trade unions are granted particular privileges, such as grants of premises for union headquarters, rent free, reductions in postal, telegraph, telephone, and railway charges, etc. According to Comrade Yarotsky. head of the Russian Trade Unions Publications Department, “there is not a single union in the U.S.S.R. which does not devote a considerable amount <•: its time and energy to working out and testing the plans ami projects of economic construction in the respective branch of national economy.’’ RAISING CULTURAL LEVEL. Again, one of the foremost tasks of tho trade unions is in the realms of increasing the cultural level of the masses of the workers. Gigantic strides have been made in this direction. Thousands of the Trade I nion Branchs and lactory committees have libraries, reading-rooms, workers' theatre, clubs, etc. The trade unions have been responsible for releasing the forces of masproletarian art. which had no chance of expression under the regime of reaction and tyranny in the days of the Tzars. All this lias expressed itself in' the great mass workers’ theatre movemen*, in the growth of a real proletarian literature and the like. THE PRESS. A further Important development has been in connection with the Trade Union Press. In 1925. the circulation of the trade Union newspapers amounted to 951.275, and of the magazines 907,600. Since then the circulation and general technical level of the Trade Union Press has developed considerably. Sufficient has been shown to Ulv Irate the profound advances, political!' and culturally, which the worker’ have made through their trade unions. Sufficient has been mentioned to show the fundamental differences between a Trade Union Movement where the working class is in power and a I Trade Union Movement which is fighting for its very existence against a brutal class Capitalist Government. Let the courage, heroism, and progress of our Russian comrades stimulate ns to still greater efforts to cement and rnifv our own Movement for the rotquest of power from our class enemies. The Russian unions are not onlj helping in the work of Socialist re struetion in their own country, but a actively assisting the workers who.are still under the yoke of nP _nL n i , nvpr one million They have given o\er

pounds to th* struggling Bnti.-h miners. Even if we had no ether information regarding the Russian trade unions except the knowledge of this striking act of solidarity, the Russian unions woul 1 istand out as being the foremost Trade Union Movement of the world. Their splendid solidarity is in sharp contrast to the cheeseparing meanness of the Amsterdam unions. The Russian unions ;'ie an illustration of what a Trade Union Movement can Leconte under Communist leadership, as the .Amsterdam unions are a warning as to [what they car. become under the leadership of reformist traitors. I Ln the Soviet elections in 1924 only 17 million workers and peasants vot'd; in 1926 nearlv 20 millions voted. It is the aim of the Sox t Government lowercase the interest that the workers and peasants take in politics, and they are succeeding. “During the last three years the number of pupils (in all the schools in the R.S.F.S.R.. not the Soviet Union) has increased from 1,300,000 to 4,900,0 0 .. . . The expenditure on education Increased by C» per cent during last yoju. Tho size of a class was fixed at n>t more than 40 pupils.—From an article by A. Lnnacharski People’s Commissary for Education ot the R.S.F.S.R.