Page:Sergei Ilich Kaplun - The Protection of Labor in Soviet Russia (1920).pdf/17



The above questtions exhaust by no means the many-sided legislative activity of the Protection of Labor organs in Soviet Russia: it is impossible to deal with them fully in a small pamphlet. I will point out in brief the following aspects of it. At present every worker engaged in physical labor is supplied free of charge with working clothing made according to the requirements of labor protection. In addition to these, in all factories which expose workers to a danger of poisoning, or where the workers are subject to dampness or filth, etc., special protective clothing is supplied. The standard and kind of such clothing and footwear, as well as the category of workers to be supplied, is defined by the People's Commissariat of Labor. All working men and women engaged in harmful trades are supplied with soap, free of charge, in spite of the acute shortage of soap in the Soviet Republic.

Protection of labor includes not only persons employed in the ordinary way but also those who are subject to labor service. The Soviet Government as a proletarian dictatorship which is based on labor makes an effort to assure normal and healthy conditions for the labor of those who have been mobilized for work. Special regulations regarding the application of the Code of Laws to labor service have been drawn up, in connection with which there have also been established special commissions for the proper utilization of labor. The question has now been put forward regarding the establishment of special organs of the protection of labor in connection with the labor armies. Notwithstanding the difficult conditions of the present moment, the People's Commissariat of Labor is carrying on scientific investigation of harmful trades. In accordance with the fundamental principles of the Soviet