The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 31, 1927, Page 3

Le | \ ! rs THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1927 2age Three Soviet Russia ter Ten Years Report of the American Trade Union Delegation to USSR The following is the ninth instalment of the re- port of the first American Trade Union Delega- tion to Soviet Russia, in the words of the delega- tion. The report will be published in The DAILY WORKER in successive issues until completed. (Continued from Last Issue.) Consumers’ Cooperatives. HE 14,000,000 members of the 29,000 co- operative societies form one of the most powerful economic forces in the U. S. S. R. About 40 per cent of the members are urban workers, drawn almost entirely from the trade unionists and their families, while the re- mainder are peasants. These societies have over 67,000 stores; and during 1925-1926 did a total retail business of over $2,250,000,000. This was 38 per cent of the total retail sales. During the year closing October 1, 1927, it is estimated that the total sales by these socie- ties will be $2,650,000,000, or 46 per cent of all goods sold. The cooperatives and the state stores (owned by: municipalities or by the state trusts) are rapidly cutting down private trade. In 1923-1924 private trade handled 59. per cent of the retail business, but-this had de- creased by 1925-1926 to 39 per cent, and this year it will form but approximately 31 per cent of the total, of which a considerable pro- portion represents the direct sales by peas- ants and domestic workers of their handiwork at markets and fairs, rather than sales by a separate mercantile class. All the evidence indicates that the general impression current outside of Russia that the “nepmen,” or pri- vate merchants, are gaining ground is quite mistaken. There are a few fairly prosperous private traders in Moscow and Leningrad, but in the main the private merchants, though perhaps more numerous, keep only very small shops which can be tended by themselves and their: families. —It-is the cooperatives which are coming more and more to control the retail trade of Russia. The cooperatives are making such rapid progress because they undersell the private stores by approximately 20 per cent. This is, of course, a different price policy from that followed by the British cooperative sys- tem, where sale is conducted at market price. The latter is a safer policy under a different economic régime, since it lessens the dangers of changes in the prices of commodities, pro- tects against mistakes in cost accaunting, les- sens the opposition of private traders, and gives the bulked savings in the form of divi- dends upon purchases to the mentbers at the end of a period. But while this treats the system of prices as an umbrella to protect against possible difficulties, it is not con- |ducive to a quick growth or to a rapid dis- placement of private trade. The Russians are anxious to decrease the relative amount of private trade and thus to prevent a class Be of small business men from arising. The cooperatives are able to reduce prices in this fashion in part because of the ad- vantages of large-scale buying which the) possess through their federations and through their general efficiency. They also receive special favors from various state agencies, such as first option, with the' state stores, upon the output of the state trusts. This means that the private merchants are unable 4 to secure those products of which the supply is insufficient to satisfy the demand, and that the cooperatives and state stores have a virtu- al monopoly of these lines. The cooperative: are also given more generous credit terms, lower rents, and a lower tax rate. The shares of the cooperatives are in small denominations, having until recently been in general $2.50 for the country and $5.00 for 5 the urban societies. These shares are mostly held by the male heads of the households, although the cooperatives are trying to get as many women to become members as pos- sible. The total amount of share capital held by the members amounted in April, 1927, to $45,- 900,000, or an average of only slightly $3 per member. This shows that in practice few of the members have more than one share. The codperative societies, however, hold property !y been turned over to the agricultural coop-! and possess reserves built up out of previous undistributed profits amounting to $190,000,- 000. The principle of one man, one vote, is followed. In smaller village societies the members choose the administrative officers at yearly meetings; in large societies the members elect a delegate body to select the administrative officers and exercise general supervision over policy. These local societies are federated into district and provisional associations, and these in turn into federations | for each of the main republics. Centrosoyus, the cooperative federation for the R. S. F. S. R., is also the loose federation for the U. S.' 3. R. as a whole. These federations, however, | ave more and more becoming primarily agen- | cies which assemble the orders of the local | societies and place them. The state trusts in- sofar as possible ship their goods directly from the factories to the local societies, thus reduc-. ing warehousing charges. | The cooperative societies sell not only gro-’ ceries, but also textiles, clothing, crockery,: furniture, and, until recently, agricultural im-' Where American Trade Bul Map of part of Soviet Russia. The double line indicates their moyements. plements and seed amongst the peasants. The latter two commodities, however, have recent- eratives, who buy these articles for the pea- sants, as well as market their grain and other products. Credit is furnished to members who need it, varying from one pay-period for groceries to six months for clothing, furni- ture, etc. The losses from bad debits have been small. The employers of labor are in general held responsible for the debts of wage earners, and in turn protect themselves by de- ducting from the pay checks of the employes. No interest is charged upon the credit ex- tended. The local societies secure capital partly in the form of sales on credit by the cooperative federations and partly in the form of credit from the banks. The iatter is more important than is share capital or accumulat@l savings in April, 1927, the borrowings from the bank amounted to over $750,000,000, or approx mately three times the accumulated resources of the societies. The federations, of course, secure a larger proportion of their credit from the banks than do the local societies. Because of the fact that the goods are sold ae RUSSTAN oSiak6 5. Roe UB e: I\c Union Delegation Went PRI ge ypEan * svenn oven FIVE Part the DEL BATE at very close to factory costs plus the cost o transporting and handling, the dividends upon purchases are very slight, seldom if ever amounting to more than three per cent. The pr s for the first half of 1926-1927 were $4. 1,000 or approximately two per cent up- on the total sales. Some societies have given up the practice of paying any dividends upon |purchases at all, and instead turn their profits lat the end of year into their cultural work jor into building up their supply of capital. Since the cooperative stores sell a consid- erable proportion of their goods to non-mem- |bers at the same price as to members, the |question ariss why so many should join the \cooperatives when they could obtain most of the advantages by not doing so. Dividends upon purchases, it should be remembered, are jextremely slight and in a large percentage! of the cases non-existent, while many of the cieties do not pay interest on the shares. The main inducement for people to join the cooperatives are: (1) the f claim upon those articles of which there is shortage, be- ing particularly the case for the better grades of textiles and for sugar; (2) the sole right ito receive credit; (3) the sense of social soli- {darity and of grouped together in thes ions to control the process¢ ) on. The low price of har on action of which need bi n mainder paid gradu easy for terest fe still further induce o makes it nent of in- dends offers membership. The fact that the extremely upy limited in com y goods is 1 with the de- mand furnishes a temptation to members to buy cles from the cooperatives and then re-sell them to private t an ap- ably h I at still fford to pay ) pay more to secure itives are rather than to stand in line t them. When me discovered to be membership pri them and they from the trade ur in goods, their contrast be- 2 supply and onomy and un- In the former xed, and if at that price more goods are demanded than available, then those who are to secure them are determined by the principle of first come first served. When enterprise is free, however, the compe- tition of the buyers 1 and thus les- sens the quantity which would otherwise be demanded by those who cannot pay the new price. offers a the d under a contro methods of are ises pr A large. proportion of non-Communisis par- ticipate in the actual administration of the cooperatives. In the country districts this is particularly the case, but it is also true of the jurban societies. As in the trade union and {governmental structure, the percentage of Communists increases in the upper reaches of the system, and their membership predomi- nates in the large wholesales. The program of rigid price-cutting inaugurated during the last year was indeed carried into effect be- {cause of the Communist control of these up- \per bodies, which brought the cooperatives in- to harmony with the general policy decidea™ upon for industry as a whole. Continued.) | (To Be i (The full report of the American Trade | Union Delegation to Soviet Russia, as pub lished here by courtesy of International | Publishers, can also be obtained in book form at all bookstores.) er. ference > A British Worker to a British “Lady” —_SQVIET FISHERY NEWS FROM THE U.S.S.R 4 { | es MORTON is a British mould-| surely not reach any further than El- | Socialist Soviet Republics which will | | Be ea aeninera with he a ek ee pega | MOSCOW, Oct. 17. (By Mail).—The j ter was organized by the collection of The indictment points out that his family, after being challenged by “Lady” Astor, aristocratic member of the British parliament, who in a pub- lic meeting offered to pay the way of any British worker who preférred the| happiness of my children. life of the workers’ republic to life! great difficulties in making them re- in capitalist England. Morton is now|turn from school. working in the Krassny Putilovetz works. After living and working there awhile, he has sent a letter to ever, here~in the Soviet Union I was given assistance in finding work. “I have no words to describe the things: |a nurse in every school. Did you “You know perfectly well what | ever have the opportunity to observe We have | | | | piness of the millions of children and then go back to England to support the infanticidal government. In closing Morton writes: “If I ever return to England I shall The fact of the devote all my energy and all my time| |matter is that under the Soviet re-| to the struggle against the shameless, | gime children are regarded as human! provocative, war stories circulated by } : “| if beings and as future citizens of the! the conservative government. all} Canning m U, S. | lady Astor saying among other| workers’ state. There is a doctor and| capitalists remember that the Soviet! Let all government has become an object: of sympathy and love of millions living would happen to us if we would come, | the future citizens of the British em-| far beyond the Soviet borders and is let us say to America, on conditions |pire playing in the dirty London | at the present time the most popular such as you have specified. We would|yards? If so come to the Union of! government in the world.” SEND YOUR GREETINGS NOW To Be Published in the | Special November 7th Number of the Daily Worker ON THE “TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE : ‘RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Send not less than 25 cents with every fidtiie to The Daily Worker, 33 First St., New York, N. Y. FULL NAME AMT. FULL NAME SAE ea Ce ORCA OCTET ES NE REN Sa Pe ak \ Cee ae haan { TOTAL GREETINGS—Accepted from working class organizations at $200 per full page (frac- tions of a page on this basis) and $1.50 per inch. Be sure your organization sends its greetings. ORDER A BUNDLE OF THE DAILY WORKER For the November 7th Meetings and for Distribution. RATES2~$1.50 per hundred copies n jYepresentatives of the British, | French, German, Austrian and Polish HERE FOR STUDY sccesios to the congress of the H | working.and peasant women in Lenin- |grad have published a declaration pointing to the great success of the Soviet Union in drawing in the women to the work on all fields of public life in the Soviet and the state organi- | zations. _ Four representatives of the Soviet (eae Pepsi ty the women educa- fishing industry, including G. A. ‘tion and an all-round social care. The Kryshov, Chief Director of the Fish- | serious and objective treatment of the ing Industry Division of the Soviet | questions dealt with at the congress Supreme Economic Council, arrived |hy the working women and peasant in the United States for a study of | women delegates caused the admira- American fisheries American fisher- | tion of the foreign delegates. The ies and the fishing industry equip-' perfect control, the independence and ment. The delegation represents all | the knowledge shown by the attitude State-owned fisheries of the Soviet jof the delegates to the congress are Republic, with annual catch ‘valued characteristic for the results of that | eee To Analyze Methods nal at $50,000,002. form of self-administration which “Our study here will concern espe- | Lenin created in Soviets and cially American canning and freezing | Which have now beccrae the centre of methods and equipment”—declared | socialist constructive work, The declaration closes: “We, as the representatives of the working women of the west, under- take to utilize all our fo to counte: the interventionists plans of our gov fernments and all attempts to fore: jour country into war with the Soviet | Union, thus disturbing the work of socialist rec raction in the Soviet ‘Union. We | to militarize the women struggle for the emancip: working women, with the | masses.” Mr. Kryshov.—“‘Only three per cent of the Soviet fish catch is. being can- ned and five per cent frozen. How- ever, the demand for canned fish in the Soviet Union is so large that the Soviet fishing trusts contemplate establishing additional canning fae- tories. During the year beginning October 1, 1927, it is planned to spend $6,500,000 for new canning plants and other improvements in the in- dustry. Fishing Is State Controlled. “Soviet State owns about 60 per cent of all fisheries and accounts for an annual fish production. of 500,000 decisive n of the shoulder to shoulder revolutionary working es ae Delegates to Celebr {metric tons, by far the larger part of MOSCOW, Oct. 18. (By Mail).—Up which is used for domestic con- ie the PIeAery 110 delegates sumption. On the Caspian Sea, | ®ve arrived in the on and where there were 2000 small fishing | sey 00 ese Lest tepid o establishments before the war, but} ihe Sue U aay coe ie a 250 are left now, while the present dota i ican tak vagea 1 fish. production is equal to that of} or nae ho ine biden cements on } 7 A ¥ 1913. j i be | The leaders of the German, Sw The delegation will visit Boston, | and Belgian workers delegations mad Seattle, Los Angeles, Vancouver and'| speeches of greeting which were re- New Orleans. Members’ of the dele-| ceived with gerat applause. $ I. Golovkin, director of the Volga- Caspian Fishing Trust, the largest m| “Despite the great Russia; H, Hanmagamedoy, presi-} placed by the leaders of the German dent of the Dagestan Fishing Trust, and V. P. Rabeheysky, an engineer. delegation: ganizatio of the delegation, the lat- deciares that the| will answer all attempts | The | signatures amongst the German workers and sent off to the Soviet} Union. Upon our return to Germany | we will tell the German workers | honestly and loyally all that we saw during our visit.” Hiedecke described the astounding } ion the freedom of the work-| in the Soviet Union made upon} he delegates. “We must build up our life,” said; |the speaker, “upon the basis of | |Marxist lessons, just as you have! done it. We German social demo-} crats came here because we know that | we can learn something from you. The working class of Germany thinks like this too, but not our Party lead- je We declare that your cause lies !close to the heart of all German) workers.” The leader of the Swiss workers delegation, Hitz, pointed out that the workers of Switzerland had been fed upon lies about the Soviet Union. It} | was the fir tie that the Swiss | | workers had sent a delegation to the! | Soviet Union and the members of; the | delegation were of the opinion that | their report upon reaching home vould contribute to mobilize the for- es of the s working class to go jalong the r Then the | headquarter. would becor im fe tio: e of the jalliance of the workers of all coun- \t | ae one | | British Use Espi | MOSCOW, Oct. 18, Mail) Rece te Political Ad- vered a number of pionage ations which |maintained ¢ with the | British dipl« tic representation in interests. whose tion con- Revolutionary concerning othe: military organizations, was under the |leadership of the one-time secretary | of the British Mission, Charnock. The | Moscow 3 {One of worked in i zatio Ww i Hiedecke |chief members of this organization |in this factory a well-known spy) gation besides Mr, Wryshov are: A.| declared in the name of the German|were: two sons of the one-time|the pay of {millionaire Russian Prove, the juri- difficulties | dieal adviser of the Supreme Revo-| Leningrad military district and lutionary War Council, Korepakov trades i in the way of the or-|and two military officials, All these | partmen’ will shortly appear before the court, | ministraijon in January 1926, € 4 from the very first day of their prese ence in the Soviet Union, employes of the British Mission in Moscow carried on espionage under the cover of diplomatic immunity and collected secret material concerning the Red Army and Soviet industry. Correspondence between Hodgson the chief of the British Mission in | Moscow, and Preston, the British cone sul in Leningrad, fell into the hands. of the State Political Administration, clearly exposing the espionage of tha British Mission. Charnock one of the most active, assistants of Hodgson recruited spies, amongst his circle of acquaint and amongst the employes of the, military authorities. Sons of oné= time millionaires, the one-time gilded) youth, assisted Charnock in his works | of espionage. During the course of the examing- tion all the accused made exact states, ment concerning their work for Cham nock, The meetings of the broth Prove with Charnock usually took’ place in moving picture theatres or in other lic places and Charnock usual ppeared in a car flying the Union Jack. Apart ‘ pu from general espionage, gents the especial g how strongly. building of the Supreme, Revolut y War Council was, what exits Voroshilov and Unschlicht used, in what automobiles they joum neyed into the town, ete. such information was It i needed terrorist tempt government and leading Party men, An uncle of the brothers Prove, who was mixed up in a process against a counter-revolutionary organization of one-time Russian factory owners, fled ith the assistance of Charnock to Esthonia, where with the assistance of Charnock, he established his rights. in a factory which at one time be: longed to him in Narva. He empl Great Britain, Col Frank, whose agents worked in were discovered by the Leningrad of the State Political