Page:The Labor Laws of Soviet Russia (1920).pdf/12

 upon the public treasury while he is out of a job? Would that not be a temptation for many a man to loaf at public expense?

It must be borne in mind, moreover, that this theoretical curtailment of the worker's right to quit his job at pleasure is compensated by the abolition of the employer's right to "fire" the worker at pleasure. Under Section 46 a worker may be discharged (1) in case of complete or partial liquidation of the enterprise, or of cancellation of certain orders, (2) in case of suspension of work for more than a month, (3) in case of evident unfitness of the worker for work. In all these cases, the worker must be given two weeks' notice. (Section 47.)

The discharge of a workman for "evident unfitness" requires the approval of his trade union, and he may appeal from the order for his discharge to the local Bureau of Labor. Should the final decision be unfavorable to the worker he is entered on the lists of unemployed by the Department of Labor Distribution, which must furnish him with another job or pay him the regular unemployed benefit, (Section 47)) which, as will be remembered, is equal to his wages.

The President of the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce is joined in his abhorrence of compulsory labor in Soviet Russia by the venerable President of the American Federation of Labor. We have it, however, on the authority of Mr. Lincoln Eyre, special correspondent of the New York World, in its issue of March 13, that the laws governing compulsory labor "originated with the unions" which according to his testimony, have been "empowered to regulate in concert with the Labor