Page:Samuel Gompers - Out of Their Own Mouths (1921).djvu/112

 86 great restlessness to permit of forcible measures over wide stretches of territory without great risks of serious consequences. Conscription of labor is going forward very slowly, and only where the Communist forces are gathered in such strength that resistance is rendered impossible.

The Russian laborer is held tied to his shop as closely as any feudal serf was bound to the land of his lord. Transfer of employees from one factory to another is possible only with the consent of the shop directorate. Travel beyond a radius of twenty-five miles is possible only with the consent of the local representatives of the extraordinary commission, which permission is granted only upon the request of the factory executive. Desertion from factories is punishable by reduction of food ration, and, if repeated, by arrest and internment in concentration camps. Some of the most important plants are being operated like military encampments, workers' quarters having been erected upon the grounds. There the employees are held under armed guards and require special passes to enter and to leave.

Military discipline has been introduced in all works. Fines are imposed for workers arriving late, heavy punishments are exacted from those failing to appear unless satisfactory justification of their absence is forthcoming. Factories are again placed under individual control with dictatorial power in directorates' hands over conditions of work. Overtime is demanded as required. Piece work, premiums, the Taylor system, all possible methods are introduced to speed up the exhausted worker. In each factory are representatives of the extraordinary commission reporting all cases of discontent and mischief makers are dealt with severely. Strikes are absolutely forbidden, and any attempts to organize the workers to resist the imposition of new demands are called counter-revolutionary activities for which long-term imprisonment is the lightest possible punishment.