Page:Trade Unions in Soviet Russia - I.L.P. (1920).djvu/36

 Directly after the February Revolution a Ministry of Labour which endeavoured to act as the intermediary between Labour and Capital was established, but it strove to maintain a strictly "governmental" neutrality and by this means turned both the workers and the employers against itself. Things are quite different with the Commissariat of Labour. Created by the trade unions it acted as a class organ, not seeking compromise but putting into force all the compulsory powers of the Government to carry out all the demands of the workers. There was some parallelism in the work after the first months of the Revolution. The Commissariat, as an organ elected by the trade unions, often carried out the functions of the latter and sometimes acted without consulting the trade unions. This duplication of work arose as the result of the absence of any delimitation of functions between the trade unions and the Commissariat of Labour. The 4th Congress of Trade Unions, which took place in April, 1918, in order to clear up the relations between the two departments, resolved that "all resolutions on principle passed by the higher organs of the trade unions (Congresses and Conferences, etc.) are obligatory for the Labour Commissariats. All legislative proposals and special obligatory regulations affecting the conditions of labour and production must be previously approved by the responsible organ of the trade unions (i.e. the National and Local Trade Union Councils). As a first step towards the practical realisation of this the National and Local Trade Union Councils organise collegiate boards at the head of the Labour Commissariats as their responsible organs for carrying out general class policy and for harmonising practical measures."

The 2nd Trade Union Congress again confirmed the obligation for the Labour Commissariat to put into force the resolutions of the higher organs of the trade unions (i.e., conferences, congresses and the All-Russia Central Council of Trade Unions). The Congress also resolved that "all compulsory regulations issued by the Commissariat of Labour affecting labour conditions must be previously approved of by the general meeting of the All-Russia Council of Trade Unions."

Two and a half years of the work proved that the limitation of functions was a rather complicated thing and that the work of the Commissariat and its local Departments wholly depends upon the degree of influence which the responsible trade union organisations have upon it. On the whole the following division of labour was observed. The whole wages policy, i.e., the state regulation of wages, standardisation of labour, questions of labour discipline, etc., is exclusively conducted by the trade unions while the commissariats merely confirm the decisions arrived at by the trade unions. Protection of labour and the distribution of labour power are carried out by the Commissariat of Labour while the trade unions control these departments through their representatives.

The 3rd Trade Union Congress expressed itself for "the necessity of a closer contact between the trade unions and the