Russian Revolution by Unknown What they can achieve by such trade union action is not much, but at least it is a means of minimum protection against pressures from their employers. The year is 1917. [8] The situation for the common worker improved during the post-Stalin years, and some of the worst measures approved by the Stalin regime to improve worker productivity were repealed. [9] In return for working, a Soviet worker would get an individual return in the form of a money wage; however, during the period under the New Economic Policy, hyperinflation rendered money effectively useless, and wages sometimes occurred through bartering[citation needed]. Just how unequal were the incomes of different classes of Russians on the eve of Revolution, relative to other countries, to Russia's earlier history, and to Russia's income distribution today? In the period between 1971–81, the social wage grew faster than the money wage; the money wage grew by 45 percent for workers and employees and 72 for workers at collective farms. State power in Russia, then, is concentrated in the hands of a minority quite as small as, if not smaller than, that in the West. [3] In the period 1940–1950 women were 92 percent of new entrants in employment; this is mostly due to the exodus of the males who fought during World War II. Russia. Russian Revolutions. Then in October, a second Russian Revolution placed the Bolsheviks as the leaders of Russia, resulting in the creation of the world's first communist country. [1], Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soviet_working_class&oldid=992422294, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from September 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 5 December 2020, at 05:04. On theoretical grounds, then, we have every reason to suspect the claim that the state in Russia represents the community. [6] Women were given the lowest-paid jobs and low-skilled jobs. The Russian ur… But this wage or salary, representing the value of the labour power they have sold, is less than the value of what they produce. No recipes for the cookshops of the future. After the revolution, individual rights and social power began to be discussed in many parts of the world including Europe and Asia. An example, in 1973 54 percent of the population of Turkmenistan were employed, of these, less than one-third of them were ethnic Turkmen. [8] During World War II the pressure on workers increased and it was expected of them to take on Herculean efforts in their work. Social wage took many forms; it could be improved health, education, transport or food subsidies, which was the responsibility of the state, or the improvement (or introduction) of sanitation and working facilities. The Russian ruling class is clearly not going to allow genuine trade unions to be formed in Russia except under mass pressure from the workers. The process of industrialisation in the Russian Empire gave birth to a new class of industrial labourers, recruited from Russia’s predominantly peasant population. Women were the logical replacement for men – a source which was becoming dry. As seen in the table, the return of males to civilian life decreased women employment; 56 percent of the workforce were women in 1945, it decreased to 47 in 1950. A 1959 census stated that out of the 13 million able-strong people who could work, but didn't, 89 percent of them were women. [4] A major reason for the increasing role which women held in the workforce was due to the fact that, by 1960, there were more women than men in the Soviet Union. Organisations called “trade unions” do exist in Russia but these are not organisations formed by workers to protect their interests; they are state organisations into which the working class are brigaded, whose functions are precisely to see that strikes do not take place and that the work of production (of profits) is not interrupted. [1] The money wage was set at the top of the administrative system, and it was the same administrative system which also set bonuses. Limited as this must be by the class structure of capitalism, it is still the framework within which can develop the working class movement, both to defend its interests under capitalism and to replace capitalism by socialism. Key Stage 3. World War I was very hard on the Russian Empire. The Russian working class accounted for a small percentage of the population, at least until the turn of the 20th century. [5], Similar to capitalism, patriarchy and the role of women played an important part in Soviet development. The workers, during and after the Russian Revolution, went beyond what any workers had done before or since in building and using their power. But if this is the case then the surplus value produced by the working class in the state factories of Russia belongs not to them but to this minority which controls the state. It was during this surge of working-class struggle in February that factory committees sprang up across Russia. It is the source of their profits and of all other property and privilege incomes. [10] Social wages were also an important part of the general standard of living for an average household; it stood at 23.4 percent of income for the average Soviet worker and their family, and at 19.1 percent for the family income of collective farmers. A-level. This party itself is not organised on a democratic basis but is controlled from the top downwards by its politbureau and central committee. Unfortunately, power struggles from within ended with the Politburo, and later a dictator running the … [7], Working conditions for a Soviet worker changed over time; for instance, at the beginning of the Communist regime the government pursued a policy of worker participation at the enterprise level. Andrew Flood to the WSM public meeting in Dublin, 1991 To-night I want to talk about the Russian revolution of 1917. An attempt was made in January last year by some Russian workers to form a sort of trade union (though we would rather call it a “claimants union” since its purpose was to try to redress grievances against the state rather than to negotiate over wages); most of those responsible are now in psychiatric hospitals. Several Soviets expressed concern over the focus of sharp growth in per capita income over that of labor productivity. [8], Since unemployment was rendered unviable through various acts of legislation, the Soviet worker, in contrast to a Capitalist worker, was more secure economically. [1], The access to use values by the common Soviet worker was not determined by money wages, but rather by a position in the official hierarchy, access to privilege or the privileged, access to foreign currency, where a person lived, influence and access to the black market. Here there is a single legal political party from whose ranks come all the top state officials and leaders. [8] For instance, small theft became illegal; this had been allowed for several years to compensate for workers' low salaries. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and so on are needed by the working class so that they can acquire the majority socialist consciousness needed before capitalism can be abolished. This is the Summer School Report.here. It is state capitalism. The Russian workers do not have this right nor this protection. As they did in the West, the workers in Russia are going to have to struggle against their rulers to obtain the freedom to organise. This is not the case in Russia. [6] Another problem was that while women were proletarianised, their family burdens increased – women were still expected to continue their traditional duties at home and in the family. In the West, after many hard struggles, the workers have won the right to organise into trade unions and to bargain, and if need be to strike, over their wages and working conditions. The events from the Russian Revolution to the end of the British intervention in 1921 showed how a revolution on the other side of Europe, despite the slow, limited and censored news, could help shape political events in Britain and inspire working class militants to fight for revolution here. Many factory owners treated workers like their serfs. the support of the working class internationally in the enormous movements following the October revolution For instance, in 1926 9 out of every 10 working women worked in agriculture, in 1959 this had decreased to half of working women and in 1975 under a third of women worked in agriculture. Blog. The first day of the Russian Revolution – 8 March (23 February in the old Russian calendar) – was International Women’s Day, an important day in the socialist calendar. But we do them a great disservice if we do not identify the Russian rulers for what they are: a class of state capitalist exploiters living off the backs of the Russian workers and oppressing them through a ruthless political dictatorship. Better A Society Where There Were No Homeless. Before Stalin became premier, the government initiated a policy which ended discrimination against women in the workplace. Defenders of the Russian regime argue that in reality the situation is different: that Russian workers work not for capitalist employers but for the State which represents the whole community, so that they are in a sense working for themselves and the profits they produce belong to them. This source of labor was exhausted nationwide, except within the Soviet Muslim community. All class societies are based on the separation of the producers from the means of production. Test your knowledge on all of The Russian Revolution (1917–1918). But it's also wrong about Marxism, Lenin's mistakes, and the revolution in general. The first reason is that for the first time in history a working class revolution succeeded in ousting the old ruling classes. Read the essential details about the Russian Revolution, February, 1917 (old style Russian calendar) or March, 1917 (new style Russian calendar). This storm culminated in the October Revolution when, led by the Bolsheviks, the soviets (councils) of workers, soldiers and peasants took power, overthrowing the Provisional Government. Last updated: 10th October, 2017 The fact of the existence of a political dictatorship in Russia, concentrating state power into the hands of a single political party, shows that the claim that the Russian state represents the community or the workers in Russia is quite without foundation. The events of Bloody Sunday triggered nationwide protests and soldier mutinies. A council of workers called the St. Petersburg Soviet was created in this chaos. In 1917, two revolutions completely changed the fabric of Russia. 0 1 2. Under capitalism the means of production and distribution monopolised by a minority function as “capital”, as wealth used to produce other wealth with a view to profit. During the Revolution of 1905–07 the militant vanguard of the working class of Russia, the Bolshevik Party, assumed a greater, stronger political role. (ii) Vast estates were owned by the Russian nobility and the church. With the 1905 revolution there began an extended period of working class revolutionary upheaval around the world, including parts of the colonial world. Being excluded from the ownership and control of the means of production, the working class can only get a living by selling their ability to work, mental and physical, to a capitalist employer for a wage or salary. 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