The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 4, 1925, Page 4

—_—_—_—__—_——— SOVIET PRIMERS the covers. They sell for two and a TE L L FOLKS OF the Soviet Congress, They are found all over the book | store counters, for the information of the Soviet people. I bought five book- lets, one on finance, one on industry, No. 1 Tells of Finances one on the agricultural tax, one on vil- lage co-operation, and one on hand in- of Soviet Union By ANISE. dustries. They are so simply and neatly told that I am passing on the MOSCOW, Sept. 2.—Little red and black booklets are appearing in the information, “In the month of May” begins the Moscow book shops, issued in editions of 50,000 copies, thirty-two pages in ple of Russia, and especially the peas- ants, all about the recent decisions of Congress of the Soviet Union; to set- tle all important government ques- tions, The congress also took impor- half cents each, and they tell:the peo-| booklet on finance, “we had the third size, with bright red illustrations on THE DAILY worKER finance. “Shall we strengthen or wéaken the Soviet treasury and what shall we do to strengthen it? This question is im- portant to every worker and peasant. It is obvious that the stronger¥the treasury is, the more help it can give to improving all the farming and in- dustry of the land” . . How naive- ly different from Coolidge’s comments on tax-reduction! The Farm Tax, But in spite of the needs of more money, the farm tax must, be reduced, “For Comrade Lenin always said that as our conditions improved, taxes should grow lighter. They are still too heavy. And yet if we consider what the peasants paid under the tant decisions on the questions of czar, they are paying now much less. de “On Muy 7, 1925, the dongt : cided to reduce the fprm (* from 470 million rubles to 280i million ad 1925-26. At the samejtime they V"" Dut 100 million of this tito loca! {@x°S for schools, roads, hospitals. There will be more about this unde r the primer on the farm tax. But ‘his finance primer passes quickly (0 ‘h question of government bug reminds me that only recent yh ve we had such a thing in the Un! States. “Every kopeck that is 5? must be written down in the ) which is the, account of the and expenses of the govern “By the budget you c: 8 needs of the land; and also if land is strengthened or , wea! which a growing; it is growing not from _big- , but from other income, from ries, our mills, our railways, our banks, our trade, From the bud- get you can see just what grows fast {and what slowly, ‘In 1923 we had in our budget one billion, 300 million rubles; in 1924 it s half again as large; and this year it is nearly twice as big as two years “it is two and a half billion rub- . . If any American, trained the tax reduction speeches of-Cool- thinks this very naive exultation, »|let him go on to the next sentence, ‘But in 1923, of every hundred rubles, 17 came from the farm tax; now only 11 comes from the farm tax, ~* “Last year much money from the dustry, factoriés, mills, mines. The’| Czar’s war and the civil war ruined the factories and the government had to Dut them on their feet with its own money. But now most of our factor- jes are giving profit into the govern- ment treasury. So this-yedr industry needs much less help, and more help can be given to the farms, “Already the help to tarms is higher than to industry.’ To equip industry we are giving this year 110 million, and to help farms 145 million. Of this 60 million is help to peasants suffer- | ing from the bad harvest; this docs not count the help from social organ- izations, Then 75 million goes to farm credits and to various ways of building up farming; this will keep on economic power. And ,our bud RUSSIA T (Continued from Y esterday’s Daily Worker) SYNOPSIS.—The official report of the British trade union delegation to Soviet Russia described the workings of foreign trade, transportation, Industry, finance and agriculture in the Soviet Union, The trade union leaders concluded that foreign trade is increasing, and that in agriculture and industry the level of production is being raised. The finances have been placed on a sound basis, the report showed. Harm is being done to Eng- land by the absence of full diplomatic relations, the union leaders stated. Schools and universities, and literature, music and opera and the theatre were then discussed. Art collectionsy censorship, newspapers, wall news- Papers, and freedom of the press were explained, with the conclusion that “the results of education are astounding.” The report then took up hospitals, welfare work, sanitation, birth control, abortion, cleanliness and housing, rent regulations, family life, and prisons. “The Soviet government is achieving most remarkable results in respect to public health, housing, and the prison system,” says the report. Regarding the trade unions and labor conditions, the report states, “The Delegation were much impressed by the position and activities of Trade Unions under the Soviet system.” The report then described labor regulations, co-operatives, wages, and told of visits to various industrial works, The general conclusion on labor con- ditions reached by the commission was that, “The U. S. S. R. is a strong and stable state. The government is not only in every way better than anything Russia has ever yet had, but it has done and is doing work in which @ther older state systems have failed and are failing.” The visitor who had known the city before might, there-} fore, have expected to fine some remnants of the wealthy and: middle class, especially among the Mahomedan Tartar popula- tion: their elimination, however, appears to have been complete. There also appears to have been less resistance on the part of the Tartars to the advent of the Soviets than in any other part} of the Caucasus. Several Tartar millionaires were quietly de-) posed. Some resisted and were killed. (Those who fled the coun- try appear to have been comparatively few in number. A few who were too old to work were granted a pension and allowed ““*t0 retire to smafi but comfortable quarters in the villages, wnue | some, regardless of their political color, were granted posts in the various Government Departments. Many of the wealthy) Armenians and Russians had already disappeared prior to the establishment of Soviet rule, but several still remain in high ad. ministrative posts, either as specialists in the Oil Department of Aznepht or in the Government itself. 4 The “26 Commissars” i The Delegation visited the Liberty Square, formerly a large} plot of waste ground which has now been laid out as a public garden. At one end of the square is a monument to the 26 Baku Commissars who were murdered by the Menshevists at Kizil Avat in Transcaspia. The bodies have now been brought from their former place of burial and re-interred in the center of this square. es Members of the Delegation were profoundly shocked to learn that the massacre of these 26 unarmed prisoners, which has now become one of the principal historic features of the Russian Revolution in the Caucasus, is attributed to instruc- tions given by certain officers in command of the British Forces at that time operating in North Persia and the Caucasus. Since returning to England the Delegation has made careful inquiry into this incident and finds that the evidence entirely exonerates the British Forces and their officers. In view of the fact that these accusations are generally be- lieved throughout the whole of Russia, the Delegation is of the opinion that the matter should be definitely cleared up by a joint inquiry. The Oilfietds Both the Grozny oilfield and Baku oilfields were a great ob- ject lesson to the Delegation, not only as regards the possibilities under a scheme of nationalization, but as tending to disprove the statement that Russia’s need of funds is seriously affecting her economic stability. It was evident to the most casual observer of the works and of the production returns which were seen by the Delega- tion that vast sums of money could immediately be obtained from the industry by curtailing capital expenditure and putting in cheaper and less durable work. Nevertheless the Soviet Government has no intention of ex- ploiting a paying industry to the detriment of the workers or the future of the industry itself; but, on the contrary, has consented to a program of progressive capital expenditure, both in housing ‘and industrial development, which is to be covered by the in- creasing revenue received. The results of the reconstruction of letail in the following section. i ae oil industry by the Soviet Government are dealt with in PART I ( Special Industries and Institutions 1.—Visit to Baku Oilfields The Delegation, while in Baku, paid a visit to the oilfields and the Refineries. The main Baku oilfields consist of two areas, the larger and older fields are at Balachani, situated some twelve miles from the town: the smaller and more recent fields known as Bibie ‘Eybat are on the outskirts of the town itself. Formerly, when der private ownership, these fields were divided into plots of 20 or acres, most of which were worked as small units, the power used being usually steam or internal combustion engines. F Now, by means of nationalfgation, all the great projects: for ‘the el cation of the whole oilfield, and the concentration of the industry, which have been’ talked of for the last 15 years, are ly completed. ayaue _ The large electric power. station, which formerly provided ver for lighting the town and oilfields and for driving machin- on the properties of those who found it more economical vy the ff charged than to use their own power, has now. } and its output increased. By, this means elec Wh 4 Thru Courtesy of the International Pub- fishers Co. tric power is used all over the Bibie Eybat field; arid the com- plete electrification of the Balachani fields is well. advanced. Further extension of the power-houses is still in progress, and a new battery of six Babcocks-Wilcox boilers is in tha course of erection at the large station in the refinery town. As a result of this centralization of power, an enormous economy both in fuel (about 15,000 tons) and of labor has been affected, and both town and oilfields are better lighted. Another economy is the construction of a series of new pipe lines around the bay connecting the Bibie Eybat oilfield with the refineries. The Bibie Eybat oil was formerly pumped into barges and towed across the bay to the refineries. These pipe lines total in meas- urement over 18 miles. The general system now followed in working these oilfields is to treat them as one huge concern. Light railways to a total length of over 120 versts have been built to connect both the Balachani and Bibie Eybat oilfields with large centrel ware- houses and stores from which all material for the fields is deli- vered. This light railway system is now carrying 300,000 tons of material a month for distribution to various points on the fields. All the large workshops, machine shops, boiler works, wire rope works, tube factories, etc., have also been reorganized jn various centers, and are connected with the fields by these railways or good roads over which motor lorries and tractors can travel. : The centralization of the industry has in a great measure enabled the experts to cope with the serious question of the flooding of the oil strata with water. A special commission has been formed for dealing with prospecting and trial borings which are being put down in all likely localities, | The whole scheme of centralization and electrification fol- lows very much the same lines as those worked out y the ex- pert Commission some time before the war; but which was impossible of realization owing to the conflicting interests of private enterprise. It is now considered that half the scheme is complete, but another 30 millions of roubles is required for its total realization. Production oF beg During the last three years more energyhas oe expended wn thic guant aantmalinadinn mal awe 4 He | the production of crude oil. In 1921 the gross production of the Baku fields had fallen to 157 million poods.as compared with 468 million in 1918. In 1922 it rose to 2126 bees. is, and in 1923 it had already risen to over 250 millions. ‘urther in- erease of 20 per cent is expected from this year. The old form of baling the well with a baling bucket and drum is being elim- inated wherever possible, and the American pumping: system is being very largely used. In 1921 production received from gush- ers amounted to 10 per cent of the total gross production, and in 1923 to 15 million poods, or 7 per cent of production. Drilling f It is only by fresh borings that production on an oilfield can be maintained or increased. In 1913, 76,938 sajens were drilled. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining labor and material, this fell during the war to 32,430 sajens in 1917. During the revolution- ‘ary period in 1919, only 5,000 sajens were drilled of the whole Baku fields. Very much the same was the case in 1921-22 when 7,000 sajens were registered. In 1923, however, when the new organization was already in working order, the amount of new borings was increased to 23,661 sajens. It is estimated that 40,000 sajens will be completed by the end of the current year. From this increased drilling activity a marked increase of pro- duction is expected over the year 1925. Refining Of the 33 refineries in the Baku area, 14 of the largest and most up-to-date are working at full pressure. A considerable amount of capital expenditure has been effected in these re- fineries and the plant wherever possible has been improved. In 1923, only 126,615,358 poods of crude oil were driven over the stills. The proportion of products received’ was as follows:— Illuminating oils ie per cent ; Lubricants _.. Solar .... 10.3001" Benzine 42 #8. Gasoline 1.08 "th Mazout .. 57.74 Special products 36 ie Lost in distillation 13900 ye 100.00) " Exports ap Export of products from Russia is confined to’ luminating oils, lubricants, solar oil, and benzines. Five and a’half million poods of kerosene, two million poods of lubricants, one and a half million poods of solar were shipped to Turkey,and Europe in 1923. Figures for 1924 are not yet available, but no great increase is expected, as the requirements of liquid fuel in Russia still exceed the output. t 09 Shipping “ Owing to the events during the war and thé! Revolution shipping on the Caspian Sea suffered very considerably. At the present time the oil transport fleet consists of six Diesel driven tankers, with a capacity of 808,000 poods, 52 tank steamers, with a carrying capacity of 3,775,000 poods, and 14 schooners, with a capacity of 1,075,000 poods, Finance At the time of the nationalization of the oilfields the ‘total amount of cash in hand at Baku was 59,000,000 roubles, and the workers were already in arrears of pay, nsequently the industry had to borrow very heavily from the om author- ities in order to fulfill the program of centralization and electri- fication of the fields. % we Now, however, the industry regeives no subsidy from the State; and the whole of this capital expenditure is being paid for out of revenue. Last year the industry was able te; pay 24 mil- lions in taxation to the central Government and 70,000 roubles toward the electrification of the town tramways. The accounts and balance sheet for the financial year, which ends on O1 ® not yet available, but it 1s no! THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE BRITISH TRADE UNION DELEGATION TO SOVIET RUSSIA Copyright by the Trades Union Congress General Council In Great Britain. budget went into the equipment of in- increasing in the future; every extra Copyright in the United States by the International Publishers Co, Ali Rights Reserved, another two years, when the effect of the intensive drilling pro- gram will be realized and the expenditure on reconstruction cease. Labor As may be imagined, the intensive activity on the recon- struction has called for an increase in labor. Whereas in 1914 48,000 men were employed producing nearly 500 million poods, the same amount of labor has been required in 1923 to produce less than half that quantity. Owing to the general conditions in Russia and the increased demand for skilled labor on the Baku fields consequent on more scientifi¢é methods of production, a very considerable change has taken place in the composition of the labor. Whereas in 1923 the labor employed on the oil- fields was composed as follows:. Persians Armenians Russians Georgians Azerbaijanese Jews it is now— Russians Persians Armenians Azerbaijanese Jews .... j Of these different nationalities, 79 per cent of the Russians are employed as industrial workers ahd 21 per cent in adminis- trative positions. Most of the industrial workers are, therefore, Russians. Of the 50,000 workers 52 per cent are employed in production of oil—that is, baling or pumping 16 per cent, on dril- ling rigs, 9.9 per cent refineries, 2.9 in storage depots, 6.9 per cent in power stations, 1.9 per cent sweeps and cleaners, etc., 3.9 per cent transport, 2.2 per cent, schools and hospitals, and 2 per cent in the supply department. ¥ The workers are paid a monthly, and ih some cases a daily ruble must) go for this, for it is our next chief»need . . “One the biggest state expenses is for arty and fleet, It costs us 417 million rubles. This is very much less than the czar’s army which cost 850 million; he needed it to put down rev- olution and to grab other lands. “Our biggest bill is for railroads, 855 million rubles. But this money all comes back, for the railroads pay for themselves now. Only, last year we still had to give them 40 miilion, but this year they are paying their way; they ‘have grown strong and do not need help. “Thanks to all this we can now give out more money for schools, hospitals, road building, farm building. For edu- cation we gave last year from the central budget 66 million; this yéar we are giving 114 million, For health we also increase this year by 45 mil- lion. 9® Sound Money. “Our success has been much helped by our sound money, which we have now lived on for a year. For more than two years we had this soufd money, but not enuf of it, so that the workers and peasants still lived on ‘sovsnaks’ (paper emblems). When you got any money you must spend it at once, for next day it would not buy much. But now with our sound money, if a peasant cannot at once buy a plow, he can pyt his money in the credit association and save until he has enough; the money remains the same, Foreign Debts and Loans. “Everyone can see that our national housekeeping gets better. We could do much better still if we had a foreign loan. But the foreign capitalists will not give us one because we refuse to pay the czar’s debts. . . These debts were not for the good of the land but for sup- pressing revolutions and making war. They are 9 billion rubles, which is 300 rublés for every peasant’s household. See from what chains of debt the Oc- tober revolution freed us. And the president of the Sovnarkom. Aléx- ander Ivanovich Rycoff said at the congress; “We c¢ategorically refuse to recognize any debts incurred before the Soviet Republic began.” . . . In this we are all with him, “But still, to get a loan, we might make some concessions to the foreign capitalist This is how. They get 6. per cent for their money in foreign lands; we would give them 10 per cent; then this ten per cent could go to pay the foreigners who lost money, thru our revolution. This would be good for them and good for us; we could get on our feet much quicker. We could easily afford ten per cent for wage. The average monthly work per man is 21.4 days a month, with hours eretoue, According to loca zomulations, win: so foe Rem nad aollanti: ant J Union, tie workers and emp) joyes are athe? Lge 17 categories or classes. The wages are paid according: to the category of work into which the worker falls. Catégory No. 1 consists of unskilled laborers such as yardmen, streét cleaners, and porters; the highest category, No. 17, consists of head bookkeepers, of- fice superintendents, managers, ete. There are further classes consisting of five categories of specialists such as engineers, skilled chemists, and the secretariat staff, dealing with finance and confidential information. The pay of the lowest category of ordinary worker varies from 20 to 30 roubles a month, rising gradually through all the grades up to 200 roubles a month for 17 category; specialists receives very much higher salaries. . The working day for industrial workers consists of seven hours in the dayshift and six hours at night, with a six-hour day,on Saturday and on the eve of every public holiday. Work- ers in offices work one hour longer than the industrial worker. Overtime is paid at the rate of one and a half times for the first two hours and double wages for every subsequent hour. Work on p&blic holidays or Sunday is paid for at double rates. Public holidays are as follows:— ‘y Ten public State holidays at various dates commemor- ating revolutionary events, These are public holidays throughout the land. ; Eight religious holidays of the Christian Church, which include two days at Christmas and two days at Easter. All who work on these days, regardless of faith or nationality, receive double pay. Apart from the above, there are nine Mahomedan feast days and seven Jewish holidays, when it is not obligatory for either a Mahomedan or Jew to comé to work. Any Mahomedan or Jew working on any of these days receive double pay. Workers and employes are engaged through the Labor Ex- change after notification and confirmation by the factory com- mittee of workers. Unemployed members of the Trade Unions have preference in all cases. A worker receives two weeks’ notice of discharge and half a month’s pay . In the event of his being discharged without notice he receives a full month’s pay.” Should he have worked con- tinuously for three years he receives an extra fortnight’s wages and a full month’s pay in the event of his having completed five years’ service. Each worker or employe who has completed five and a half month’s service becomes eligible for a forthnight’s: yearly holi- day on full pay. Should he have to travel any distance to his home the time occupied on the journey, should it occupy not more than one week, is not counted as leave time. During the time of travel, however, he does not receive pay, but 50 per cent of his journey money up to 1,500 versts within the confines of the U. S. S. R. is paid for him; on the remaining 50 per cent he receives a rebate according to the category in which he is placed. He has the right to accumulate leave for two years, A worker who lives outside the region of his work and has to travel by train or tram receives-his journey money. Over and above the minimum wage the worker has certain privileges such as rates for piecework, extra compensation for working on holidays, overtime, and money for clothing provided by the undertaking. In this manner, on an average the workers employed on the production side of the oil industry increase their yearly wage 5414 per cent. A driller is paid foot money, which enables him to increase his yearly wage 11414 per cent. Men employed on storage tanks can increase their wages by 48% per cent. Employes in the offices, clerks, etc., are able to increase their salary by 15 per cent. In the event of the death of a worker, his family receives two months’ pay from the date of his death. If his death occurs whilst at work, or as a consequence of his. work, the family re- ceives four months’ pay. All medical aid and hospital treatment is given to the worker free of charge. In.the event of destruc- tion of a workers’ clothes or property fire or while per- forming certain classes of work, he receives full compensation sither in kind or 5 eal ; eer? 1 “a4 a loan. But the capitalists have wait-/. ed for eight years for us to recognize the czar’s debts and they still think, we will. But under that slavery we will not go. Even without a loan, we will build up our husbandry, tho more slowly, until there is no more pov- erty, no one in need in the whole Soviet Union . - So said the Con- gress of Soviets, and all Soviet or- gans from the Central Committee to the smallest Village Soviet, must bring this resolution into life.” (Articles on Soviet Primers No, 2 and 3 will be published in later issues. Ed. Note.) INTERNATIONAL LABOR NEWS CZECHO-SLOVAKIA, “Ghent” Subsidy System.—The so- ealled “Ghent” system of paying sub- sidies to unemployed workers has been effective since April 1, 1925. Un- der this plan, unemployment doles ate paid by the labor unions instead of the ministry, which later, howevér, reimburses the unions for the gor. ernment’s proportionate share. Reduce Government Personnel.— Under the provisions of the finance Jaw and National Budget for 1995, the government will soon be required to dismiss 34,000 persons from its vari- ous departments, DENMARK. Labor Conflicts Ended.—The labor conflicts which commenced in Den. mark during the latter part of March, and which involved more than 150,000 workers, thru lockouts and sympathy strikes, were finally ended during June. GUATEMALA, Czecho-Slovak Colonization — Cze- cho-Slovak families are said to be ar- riving in Guatemala for the Purpose ef colonizing certain uncultivated dis- tricts under the conditions set out by the minister of agriculture in eration with interested private ctt{. zens. j IRELAND, * Londonderry Repair Work.—In on” der to provide work for the unem: ployed, the Londonderry Corporation recently decided to spend the sum of $300,000 to repair the streets of the city during the remainder of the pres. ent calendar year, MEXICO. . Unemployment.—There is unques- tionably marked unemployment in Vera Cruz at present, due, it is sald, to the closing of the sugar mills for the season and’ curtailment of ti Pi Pett of alcohol, on account | th os "aa Placed this year Geral government upon the ufactiire ot alcohol. " a ati HERLANDS. jomestic Problems.—German ants who a few years ago Holland the: eth serve A came to, ecause of the depression of, rating to the United at ctiodl A i must now depen | exclusively upon hh who fecdive fa wages pinay My mark are now returni h tise hde sa ab