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matter
properly thrashed out； though feeling upon it is extremely strong。
Everybody whom I asked about it began at once to address me as if I were
a public meeting； so that I found it extremely difficult to get from either
side a statement not free from electioneering bias。 I think； however； that
it may be fairly said that all but a few lunatics have abandoned the ideas of
1917； which resulted in the workmen in a factory deposing any technical
expert or manager whose orders were in the least irksome to them。 These
ideas and the miseries and unfairness they caused； the stoppages of work；
the managers sewn up in sacks； ducked in ponds and trundled in
wheelbarrows； have taken their places as curiosities of history。 The
change in these ideas has been gradual。 The first step was the
recognition that the State as a whole was interested in the efficiency of
each factory； and； therefore； that the workmen of each factory had no right
to arrange things with no thought except for themselves。 The Committee
idea was still strong； and the difficulty was got over by assuring that the
technical staff should be represented on the Committee； and that the
casting vote between workers and technical experts or managers should
belong to the central economic organ of the State。 The next stage was
when the management of a workshop was given a so called 〃collegiate〃
character； the workmen appointing representatives to share the
responsibility of the 〃bourgeois specialist。〃 The bitter controversy now
going on concerns the seemingly inevitable transition to a later stage in
which； for all practical purposes； the bourgeois specialist will be
responsible solely to the State。 Many Communists； including some of
the best known； while recognizing the need of greater efficiency if the
revolution is to survive at all； regard this step as definitely retrograde and
likely in the long run to make the revolution not worth
preserving。*＇（*）Thus Rykov； President of the Supreme Council of Public
Economy： 〃There is a possibility of so constructing a State that in it there
will be a ruling caste consisting chiefly of administrative engineers；
technicians； etc。； that is； we should get a form of State economy based on
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THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA
a small group of a ruling caste whose privilege in this case would be the
management of the workersand peasants。〃 That criticism of individual
control； from a communist； goes a good deal further than most of the
criticism from people avowedly in opposition。＇ The enormous
importance attached by everybody to this question of individual or
collegiate control； may bejudged from the fact that at every conference I
attended； and every discussion to which
I listened； this point； which might seem of minor importance；
completely overshadowed the question of industrial conscription which； at
least inside the Communist Party； seemed generally taken for granted。 It
may be taken now as certain that the majority of the Communists are in
favor of individual control。 They say that the object of 〃workers'
control〃 before the revolution was to ensure that factories should be run in
the interests of workers as well of employers。 In Russia now there are no
employers other than the State as a whole； which is exclusively made up
of employees。 （I am stating now the view of the majority at the last Trades
Union Congress at which I was present； April； 1920。） They say that
〃workers' control〃 exists in a larger and more efficient manner than was
suggested by the old pre…revolutionary statements on that question。
Further； they say that if workers' control ought to be identified with Trade
Union control； the Trades Unions are certainly supreme in all those
matters with which they have chiefly concerned themselves； since they
dominate the Commissariat of Labor； are very largely represented on the
Supreme Council of Public Economy； and fix the rates of pay for their
own members。*＇（*）The wages of workmen are decided by the Trades
Unions； who draw up 〃tariffs〃 for the whole country； basing their
calculations on three criteria： （I） The price of food in the open market in
the district where a workman is employed； （2）the price of food supplied by
the State on the card system； （3）the quality of the workman。 This last is
decided by a special section of the Factory Committee； which in each
factory is an organ of the Trades Union。＇
The enormous Communist majority； together with the fact that
however much they may quarrel with each other inside the party； the
Communists will go to almost any length to avoid breaking the party
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THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA
discipline； means that at present the resolutions of Trades Union
Congresses will not be different from those of Communists Congresses on
the same subjects。 Consequently； the questions which really agitate the
members； the actual cleavages inside that Communist majority； are
comparatively invisible at a Trades Union Congress。 They are fought
over with great bitterness； but they are not fought over in the Hall of the
Unions…once the Club of the Nobility； with on its walls on Congress days
the hammer and spanner of the engineers； the pestle and trowel of the
builders； and so on…but in the Communist
Congresses in the Kremlin and throughout the country。 And； in the
problem with which in this book we are mainly concerned； neither the
regular business of the Unions nor their internal squabbles affects the
cardinal fact that in the present crisis the Trades Unions are chiefly
important as part of that organization of human will with which the
C