SUPPRESSION OF WORKER MILITANCY DURING THE NEP: THE WORKER, THE UNIONS, THE PARTY AND THE SECRET POLICE, 1921 - 1928 by Andrew Pospielovsky Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Slavonic and East May 1998 European Studies University of London ProQuest Number: U643487 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U643487 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract This thesis examines state-labour relations during the NEP (1921-1928). Through an examination of working and living conditions this thesis argues that workers' agenda of full employment, improved conditions, and a sharing of the responsibilities of their enterprises, which motivated industrial unrest in 1905, 1917 and 1921, remained unfulfilled at the end of the NEP. During the NEP, the leadership attached low priority to workers' interests, concentrating instead on 'intensification' and 'rationalisation' to maximize productivity and minimize costs. The various campaigns of 'intensification' and 'rationalisation' ended, however, in failure, for which the leadership itself was to blame. By assigning leadership of the campaigns to party, rather than economic organs, the campaigns were politicised, which had disastrous consequences for the efficiency of the Soviet economy and exacerbated the economic hardships faced by workers. This thesis then examines why workers, by the end of the NEP, were unable to launch coordinated and effective action to promote their agenda. This thesis argues that worker group behaviour disintegrated as workers increasingly turned to individual responses such as: despondency, downing tools in frustration, decreasing quality of production, maliciously damaging machinery or product, absenteeism, job-flitting, or seeking escape off the factory floor through promotion. This was the result of several factors. Firstly, economic hardship and the repressive nature of the Soviet regime increased the cost of public opposition. Secondly, the opportunities offered to obedient workers for promotion into the growing state, union and party bureaucracy, deprived the workforce of its natural vanguard. Finally, the regime's drive to assert total control over communications and every aspect of factory life made organised collective action increasingly difficult to sustain. While the leadership was successful in mitigating worker militancy, it failed to narrow the 'gulf' between itself and the worker masses. This, combined with the failure of the 'intensification' and 'rationalisation' campaigns, sealed the fate of the NEP. Table of Contents Acknowledgements 7 Note on Translation and Transliteration 8 Abbreviations 9 Introduction 10 Notes 25 Survey of Working and Living Conditions 27 During the NEP (i) Living Conditions 27 (ii) Working Conditions 38 (iii) Overtime 47 ( iv) Working Conditions in the Private Sector 50 (v) Unemployment 52 ( Vi ) Conclusion 56 (vii ) Notes 58 Strikes and Industrial Unrest, 1921-1924 65 (i) The Launch of the Nep 65 (ii) Strike Figures, 1921-1924 72 (iii) Causes of Strikes 80 ( iv) The State's Response to Strikes 85 (v) Character of Strikes and Strikers 90 (vi ) Other Forms of Expression of Worker 95 Dissatisfaction and Unrest Among the Unemployed (vii ) Conclusion 100 (viii) Notes 102 3 The Organisational Web 114 (i) Introduction 114 (ii) Summary of Organisational Structures 118 (iii) The Sinews of Party and Central Domination 123 (iv) Resistance to Party and Central Domination 142 (v) Passive Implementation and 157 Misinterpretation of Policy (vi) Conclusion 163 (vii) Notes 165 4 Intensification and Rationalisation, 1924-1928 175 (i) Introduction 175 (ii) The Campaign of Intensification and 179 Rationalisation, 1924-1925 (iii) Production Commissions and Production 191 Meetings (iv) The Re-launch of Production Commissions 197 and Meetings, and the Regime of Economy (v) The LenMash Trust 209 (vi) Conclusions on the Regime of Economy 212 (vii) Increasing Centralisation, 214 Regimentation and Standardization of the Economy and 'Rationalisation of Production' (viii) Conclusion 223 (ix) Notes 224 5 Strikes and Industrial Unrest, 1924-1928 236 (i) Introduction 236 (ii) Survey of Strikes and Strike 236 Figures, 1924-1928 (iii) Strikes and the State 250 (iv) Case Studies of Strikes 258 (v) Strikes in Seasonal Industries 276 (vi) Other Manifestations of 282 Worker Dissatisfaction (vii) Unrest Among the Unemployed 284 (viii) Conclusion 291 (ix) Notes 293 6 Bridging the 'Gulf' 305 (i) Increasing Participation and Expansion 305 of Organisational Structures, 1924-1928 (ii) Conclusion 337 (iii) Notes 339 Conclusion 347 Bibliography 361 Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding my research. I owe a particular debt to my supervisor. Prof. Robert Service,for his guidance, patience and encouragement. I would also like to express my gratitude to the numerous people whose comments, at various stages, have contributed to this work, especially my father. Prof. Dimitry Pospielovsky and Felix Corley. I had the opportunity to test some of the ideas contained in this thesis at conferences of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies and the Study Group on the Russian Revolution, as well as at the Soviet Industrialisation Project Series Seminar (CREES, University of Birmingham) . I am grateful to the members of these forums for their comments, particularly Dr John Channon, Dr Chris Ward, and Dr Mary McAuley. Note on Translation and Transliteration: All translations are the author's, unless otherwise indicated. In transliterating Russian words and names, the following table was used. Cyrillic characters Transliteration A a A a 8 6 B b B a V V r r G g A A D d E e E e É e E e W Zh zh 3 3 Z z M I i M ù\ I i K k K k A A L 1 M m M m H HN n 0 o 0 o n n P P p P R r c C S s T T T t Y Y U u f F f X X Kh kh Ts ts y y Ch ch LU LU Sh sh 4 Shch shch t tr LI kl Y y b b 1 3 3 E e K) l-û lu iu Ya ya Abbreviations : Gomza Gosudarstvennoe ob"edinennie metallicheskikh zavodov - State Union of Metal Factories trust GSPS Gubernskii sovet profsoiuzov - Provincial Council of Trade Unions GUVP Gosudarstvennoe upravleniye voennoi promishlennosti - State Directorate of Military Industry lugostal Southern Steel trust luMT Southern Metal Trust Left-SR Left Socialist-Revolutionaries MGS PS Moskovskii gubernskii sovet profsoiuzov Moscow Provincial Council of Trade Unions NKPS Narodnyi komissariat putei soobshcheniva - People's Commissariat for [railway] Transport NKTruda Narodnyi komissariat truda - People's Commissariat for Labour NOT Nauchnaya organizatsiya truda - Scientific organisation of labour OGPU Ob"edinennoe qosudarstyennoe politicheskoe Unified State Politicalupraylenie Directorate RKK Rastsenochno-konf 1 iktnaya komissiya - Ratings- Conflict Commissions SRs Socialist Reyolutionaries SNK Soyet narodnykh komissarov - Council of People's Commissars SNKha Soyet narodnoqo khozyaistya - Council of the National Economy SPS Soyet profsoiuzoy - Trade Union Council STO Soyet truda i oborony - Council of Labour and Defence TNB Tari fno-normi royochnoe biuro / TeKhnicheskoe- normiroyochnoe biuro - Tariff and norm-setting bureau / Technical norm-setting bureau TsIT Tsentral'nyi institut truda - Central Institute of Labour VeCheKa Vserossiiskaya chrezyychainaya komissiya po bor'be s kontrrevoliutsiei, sabotazhem i spekulyatsiei - All-Russian Special Commission for Combatting Counter-reyolution, Sabotage and Speculation VSRM Vserossiiskii (Vsesoiuznyi] soiuz metallistov - All-Russian (All-Soyiet) Union of Metal Workers VSNKha Vysshii soyet narodnoqo khozyaistya - Supreme Council of the National Economy VTsSPS Vserossiiskii (Vsesoiuznyi) Tsentral'nyi Soyet Professional'nykh Soiuzoy - All-Russian (All- Soyiet) Central Council of Trade Unions 10 Introduction Workers' aspirations played a central role in the revolutions of 1917. Industrial unrest delivered the final blows to Tsarist government in February, and the Bolsheviks justified their seizure of power in October in terms of defending worker interests. Workers' aspirations for revolution had initially been minimal. In the first years of the twentieth century the workers' agenda focused on improving working and living conditions. As worker expectations for improvements were repeatedly frustrated, workers began to see the realisation of their goals within a context of changing the social order and gaining greater control over the workplace so as to radically alter the distribution of wealth. Their acquiescence to Bolshevik rule in the months following October 1917 was a result of a convergence of proclaimed agendas, with the new Bolshevik regime endorsing workers' control. During the Civil War this agenda was displaced by the requirements of war. But the need to preserve the revolution against the threat from the right united the left and limited worker opposition to Bolshevik rule. By 1921 the Civil War had been won and the revolution