Page:Trade Unions in Soviet Russia - I.L.P. (1920).djvu/76

 5. The Collegiate of the Metal Department of the Supreme Council of Public Economy is organised by the Central Committee of the Union in agreement with the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Public Economy. Of the five members of the Collegiate two are members of the Central Committee.

6. There has also been established a Collegiate of the- Electrical Department of the Supreme Council of Public Economy and a Head Management of electrical undertakings which embraces all electrical works like the late "Central Electrical Company," the late Siemens, Shuckert, etc.

All other metal factories are organised on similar lines; they are united into trusts or subordinated to local government metal departments. Once a year conferences take place in every trust composed of representatives of factory committees and factory managements, to which the management of the trust reports. The union takes a very active part in guiding the work of these conferences.

Having accepted the organisation of industry as its fundamental task, the Metal Workers' Union was one of the first to put forward the idea of introducing general compulsory labour, of attaching the workers to the factories, and the obligatory transfer of labour power from one undertaking to another; in a word the idea of what is now called the militarisation of labour. The resolution carried at the second conference of the Union Which took place in January, 1919, dealing with the participation of the unions in the organisation and management of industry among other things says:

"For the purpose of maintaining a sufficient staff of workers in the factory, and for the proper utilisation of the labour power of the staff, the conference considers it necessary to introduce general obligatory labour based on the compulsory census and distribution of labour power by the industrial unions in conformity with the requirements of national economy. It is necessary also to prevent the departure and transfer of workers from important undertakings to others without the consent of the industrial union."

In this manner the supreme organ of the union, the Conference, on its own initiative put forward a measure which in capitalist countries would lead to the practical dissolution of the labour unions. The experience of the metal workers' union on this question goes to show that this measure has had a useful effect in the organisation of industry, particularly in the armament factories, and the function and importance of the union has not only not decreased but, on the contrary, they were to a considerable degree strengthened and enlarged. The Metal Workers' Union is proud in the consciousness of the fact that, thanks to these measures, it has succeeded in increasing the defensive powers of the country and has helped in the defeat of the forces of the counter-revolution.