SOVIET WORKERS' LOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20075, 12 October 1928, Page 17

SOVIET WORKERS' LOT.

BAD CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA.

BACKWARDNESS AND MUDDLE.

INDIFFERENCE OF OFFICIALS. The ovil conditions under which Soviet workmen aro compelled to work in their "ideal State," the general backwardness niiil muddle in the industrial organisation in Russia and tho callous indifference of Soviet officials, are once more brought to light by an accredited Soviet organ. Under the title of "Labour Protection nnd Rationalisation" there recently appeared an editorial article in Za Rationalisalsiu, the official organ of tho Central Supervisory Commission of tho Communist Party, reviewing the causes of accidents to workmen, the measures taken for tho woikmen'u protection and the al-ti-tudo of tho officials and workmen. Tho report has been reproduced by the International Labour Office at Geneva. The following are some of its salient features: — In tho glass industry clay is still leneaded with tho feet, as in ancient JCgvpt. The working day of eight hours is in forco, bin, an exact calculation shows that, a kneador is unable to work more than one hour and 20 minutes altogether in a single day. Ho can work continuously only from two to five minutes, during which brief period of tima the temperature of his body rapidly rises and his pulse shows 170 or even 200, instead of 80; in short, his organism is completely ppset. Absence of Ventilation. An oven mm in the furnaco room of fhe earthenware manufactory at Doulievsk •works in a room where tho temperaturo ranges between 79 and 118deg.; he is obliged to spend more time in resting than in working, arid loses not less than a kilogrammo a day in weight In the pottery workshop of tho "Red Warrior" glassworks a caustic smoko spreads throughout tho workrooms when tho drying furnaces are lit and tho workers flee or crouch in tho corners till the smoke is dissipated. Disregard of modern equipment is as much a feature of Soviet management as wilful neglect or ignorance. At Tsaritsin, for instance, tho management of the Donugol coal mines distributed neck protectors to the uinloaders instead of trucks, for tho purpose of unloading coal and anthracito Ten poods can bo loaded on a truck, while only four or a little more can be loaded c-n a neck protector. A Commission of Inquiry of December, 1925, declared emphatically that tho conditions in the Donetz mine district in the matter of workers' protection, and particularly of industrial safety, were absolutely intolerable. In the petroleum industry of Baku, important now buildings have been erected, and fairly satisfactory measures of rationalisation have been carried out, yet "no account has been taken of tho absolutely indispensable requirements of industrial safety and health. Numerous factories have been built, but no provision has been made in the plans for ventilation." Uo Spirit in the Workers. At the Cliecherbinov mines, a system of baths was maucurated on tho tenth anniversary of the October revolution, but they aro unworkable and cannot be used. Funds for tho protection of workmen are often devoted to other uses The Moskvougol Trust, which recorded threo fatal accidents last December, expended on labour protection only 15,007 roubles out of 129.500 which were at its disposal. At tho Congress of Mining Engineers and Technical Experts, the delegates accused the factory inspectors of being soulless bureaucrats as regards their obligations. The delegate from the Crimea declared that Ihe re was, in fact, no supervision of work in tho mines. Tho inspectors' minutes aro generally documents of self-justification to cover up their ojvn inactivity and inefficiency. Unfortunately, tho workers themselves and their organisations remain passive in face of this intolerable position that has arisen through excessive bureaucracy. (Years of continuous oppression have killed their spirit, and they accept the present evil situation with Slavic fatalism.