Page:Trade Unions in Soviet Russia - I.L.P. (1920).djvu/83

 Only in October, 1917, was an end put to this position; the illusions of craft unionism were thrown aside, and first place was given to the problem of securing working class ownership and organisation of the industry on communist principles. From this moment a revival took place in the various Agricultural Workers' Unions which were in existence. The organisation of new unions was soon started in districts populated by an agricultural proletariat.

The development of the unions was assisted by the organisation of Soviet Farms on the nationalised estates. The best organised of these Agricultural Labour Unions were the Luthvanian and White Russian Agricultural Labour Union, the Moscow Union of Orchard Workers, the Petrograd, Tver and Vladimir organisations. In all these organisations the need was felt for a common centre and a common directing head. In order to meet this, an attempt was made to organise a Moscow district Union, which coincided with the division of Central Russia into districts (first half of 1918); but as a consequence of the abolition of the district system, this scheme fell through too.

The All-Russia Agricultural Workers' Union was called into existence in the first half of the year 1919. It was initiated by a Conference of Land workers in Moscow, on February 20, 1919; the latter was convened mainly on the initiative of the land surveyors who had their National Union and whose aim was to unite with the mass of land workers as well as with the groups of agricultural specialists and experts in peasantry. But this first conference, owing to the lack of information, was not a success. Only 69 delegates arrived at the conference, 49 were specialists, land surveyors and agriculturalists, and only twenty represented the workers (17 from the Moscow Landowners' Union and from the Elets, Jula and Shisk Agricultural Workers' Union). The Conference worked out rules and elected an executive committee. But owing to the non-proletarian character and small number of its members present, the union was not registered in the All-Russia Central Council of Trade Unions. The conference was recognised as a preliminary conference of the executive, as the organising bureau for preparing for the convocation of a new conference.

The first All-Russian conference of landholders, convened by this bureau, assembled in Moscow on June 16, 1919. There were present 142 delegates from 30 districts, representing, 48,000 organised in the Landholders' Union.

But owing to the non-revolutionary and non-proletarian character of the organising bureau which convened the conference, and the absence of connection with the localities, this conference also proved unsatisfactory. Out of 142 delegates little more than half represented the proletariat; the rest represented agricultural experts and land surveyors, who numbered in all only 5,000 members. Nevertheless this conference was the turning point in the organisation of the Agricultural workers of Russia.

The leading part at the conference, was taken by the communists and labour fractions, who in spite of the large number of non-party delegates present, succeeded in getting all their