SOVIET RUSSIA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 21 April 1927, Page 8

SOVIET RUSSIA.

UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES LACK OF OFFICIAL INTEREST A. review of the conditions of Labour in Russia, as reported in the seventh congress of trade unions recently held at Moscow, is contained in the January 17 issue of Industrial and Labour Information, published by the International Labour Office. This shows that unemployment is widespread and is increasing, and that there is a serious growth in number of accidents among workers. According to Mr Sohmiclt, Commissary of Labour employment in Russia threatens to become a permanent evil, and is a source of considerable anxiety both to the trade unions and to the Commissariat of Labour. The number of unemployed increased in 1926 by more than 100,000, and .at the end of the year the labour exchanges registered 1,1)23, 000 unemployed. To this statement of Mr Schmidt should be added the fact that the number of unemployed trade unionists constitute about one-half of total number of the unemployed. The total should therefore be put tat more than 2,000,000. Further, in the view of the fact that registration with the labour exchanges is optional, many unemployedfpersonk' affiong seasonal] wforkers, or workers who come from the country, fgil to register with them. The Commissary of Labour described the .situation with regard to unemployment among young people as deplorable. According to the' representative, of the Young Communists there were more than, a million young persons under IS years of age Who were entirely without work.

Representativeis of the various trade unions pointed out at the congress that unemployment among skilled workers was more serious than had been stated by Mr Schmidt, and almost all tlje speakers accused the Commissariat of Labour and its accessories, the labour exchanges, of failure to exert .sufficient energy in the campaign against unemployment. The Commi.sssary of Labour was of opinion that it was impossible to return to Communist methods of regulating the labour market. Among other things there could be no question of recourse to the labour exchanges compulsory, as had been urged by certain trade unionists. Mr Schmidt had to .admit that there was a tendency for accidents to increase. The report in dealing with this matter states: —“1 ri one year, from. July, 1925, to June 1926, the accident rate per 10,000 working days rose from 310 to 410. In 1913, in the mining industry there were 47 accidents per year per 1000 worker*. At the present moment the rate is from hi to 70. According to figures quoted bv a member of the central committee of the Miners’ Union, there were in 1923-24 (October L to SeptemberSO) 109 .accidents per '.OOO workers and 152 in 1924-25. During the first half of the 1925-26 period the number of accidents in the industry increased 40 per cent in comparison with 1924-25. In other industries there is also more or less marked increase in the number of accidents. This, is true also of the seasonal .industries such as building, where in 1926 at Moscow there were ten times as many accidents as in in 1925.” The growth in the number of accidents is attributed to (1) defective machinery and inadequate safety regulations in undertakings; (2) the .systematic opposition offered by the directing organisations of State industry to measures proposed for industrial safety; (3) the lack of energy and perseverance on. the part of the organisations of the Commissariat of labour; and (4) the inefficiency of factory inspection. Conditions in many undertakings are described as altogether bad. Machine ry is obsolete or in a poor condition, and the raw material employed is defective. Thus many explosions, involving loss of life, have taken place in the mines, owing to the defective condition of the lamps. AVhat is still more serious is that new undertaking®, or undertakings under construction, are taking no account of the organisations for the protection of the workers and of the trade unions. The representatives of the non-indus-trial unions, and in particular of commercial employees and teachers, complained of the very trying conditions of labour to which they were exposed .and of the total lack of interest shown in them by the •Commissariat of Labour. Thus, commercial employees have for the most part to work in premises which are damp insufficiently lighted, and not properly ventilated. Each employee has to serve on an average 300 customers a day. Their hours of work are not regulated in .accordance' with the labour code, and they very often work many hours unpaid overtime. The Commissariat of Labour, to which they have appealed, has taken no interest in the question, and has left it to the discretion of he Commissariat jy{ Commerce, which is entirely of contact with the employees’ unions. Moreover the factory inspectors never visit the state commercial or co-operative undertakings, despite the complaints of the unions. Teachers in villages complained that the provisions of .tie labour code in connection with the dismissal and overtime were not observed. They were di srnissed without notice and without compensation. They were compelled continually to work twice and- even three times the statutory number of hours, and received no supplementary salary although their basic salary was extremely low. Doctors also complained of hours of work. It frequently happens that they are compelled to- work a 12hour day. The delegate of the Union of Doctors described conditions of labour in the hospitals as appalling. He also rererrea to me increasing number of cases of malingering workers threatening the doctors with violence unless they give them a medical certificate. As regards hours of work, complaints were also received from the industrial unions, .particularly from the railwaymen., whose representative made the following statement: “1 wish to point to l the cases of violation of labour legislation .in transport undertakings. There is no single railway on which the regulations concerning hours of work have been observed, although there exists for this purpose a special decree of the Oommiissariat of Labour. Labour is exploited just as if there were no labour legislation at all.”