The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 28, 1931, Page 7

By A. DEUTSCH (Mescow) The Sovist Union has entered the period of Socialism. At the beginning of the third yeav of the Five-Year Plan there are no longer any unemployed in} the Soviet Union. There were countries in which for the time being unemployment | But there is| was not very acute. only one country, namely the Sov- iet Union, in which unemployment has been finally liquidated because the root cause of unemployment, the capitalist system cr economy. has been abolished. in time of the reconstruction of national economy which has been destroyed by war, civil war and im- perialist intervention, there existed unemployment in the Soviet Union. At the same time, however, there was an extensive social service. The unemployed received not only ade- quaie unemployment benefit, but also considerable privileges in re- gard to housing, clothing and food. Tne period of socialist reorrani- zation of the whole of the national economy was characterized by the Five-Year Plan, the rapid indus- trialization of the country, the so- cialistic transformation of agricul- ture on the basis of collectivization, the liquidation of the kulaks as a class, the improvement of the ma- terial situation and the raising of the cultural level of the masses, as well as the systematic liquidation of unemployment. At the time of the commencement of the Five- Year Plan there were still 1,468,000 unemployed in the Soviet Union. On the first of January 1930—after the successful carrying out of the first year of the Five-Year Plan— there were only 952,000 unemployed, and on the Ist of January 1931, after the successful carrying out of after the successful carrying out of the second year of the Five-Year Plan. unmployment was completely done away with in the Soviet Ur’on, Th: rapid pace of socialist con- Socialism struction, the colossal development of industry and the socialist recon- struction of agriculture resulted in ever increasing pace. ae DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1931 mployment Page Three ot 2 Blast a tremendous increase in the num- ber of workers employed. Whilst in the capitalist countries the number of workers employed is continually declining and millions of workers are doomed to permanent unem- | ployment because capitalism has no | prospect /them in the process of production whatever of absorbing in the Soviet Union the working class is continually growing at an In the past The Disapp By HARRY GANNES. gelecnst ty | This is just as believable as his “sixty-day” prosperity promise back HERE is no let-up in unemploy-' in the early part of 1930. Ten mil- ment. Never before was there | lion unemployed is a conservative such a mass of workers thrown out| estimate of the number of Ameri- ‘can men and women who want to on the streets to starve as there is in the United States today. Every | development of capitalism makes for unemployment. Mass produc- tion, even wken the factories are running, means mass unemploy- ment. work and can find no jobs and who face starvation as a result. 8,000,000 In 1928 In 1928, Professor Irving Fisher, economist of Yale University, a rec- | ognized supporter of Hoover. pro- When a crisis of the present! nibition, capitalism in all its phases, severity comes about all the factors make for still more unemployment. How does it work? ‘The factories slow up, and thousands are thrown out. But the men that remain on the job must do the work that two used to do before. Very soon, even if production remains at an even pace, less workers are required to do the job. Endless Process In a crisis, when there is over- production, prices begin to drop— not for the workers—but wholesale prices. This means that the bosses have to produce their commodities at lower costs of production, so that they can meet the lower prices. Then begins the increased process of sneed-up. They lay off workers and speed up those on the job. The speed-up constantly eliminates more. It is an endless process. Noover says there are only 5,500,- 000 out of work in the United States. wrote as follows about unemploy- ment at that time: “The recent estimate of the number of unemployed made by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statis- tics show a shrinkage in the ac- | tual number of employed in all industries of 1,874,050 between 1925 and January, 1928. The Sec- retary of Labor Points out that immigration has added more than | 250,000 to the population each year and that about 2,000,000 boys | employment from 1919 to 1228 be- and girls in our native population reach the working age each year. If these figures are acceptable as dependable the number of em- ployable age who were not em- Furnaces at the Voroshi | Liquidates Une ect tee iiov Mills in Alchersk. ad « few years the number of workers employed in the Soviet Union has increased as follows: 1929 5,988,000 workers 1930 7,442 000 = 1931 anticipated 8,888,000 This means that in three years | the number of workers employed in industry has increased by 67,5 per cent. In the third year of the Five- | will be engaged. The number of workers and employees will increase from 14 million in the year 1930 to 16 million in the year 1931. One of the most important social- political measures of the Soviet Power was the decree regarding the introduction of the seven-hour day issued on the tenth anniversary of | the October Revolution (1927). The | going eyer to the seven-hour day | could only take place gradually with the adantation of the old factories and works, whilst the newly erected factories are immediately commen- g to work the Seven-hour day. Up to 1930, 50 per cent of the work- ci ers in the’ State big industry went | over to the seven-hour day, and in 1931 the whole the State big industry will be work- ing the seven-hour day. Another important measure was the introduction of the five-day week. ber of rest days was increased, the health of the workers was greatly improved, the workers had the pos- sibility of making full use of the cultural and educational institu- tions, and at the same time there was @ more rational utilization of the existing workshops and plants. It is obvious that the introduction of the seven-hour day and the five- day week contributed greatly to the feolition of unemployment, With the liquidation of unem- ployment socialist construction en- tered on a new characterized by the shortage of labor. The demand for workers, not only skilled but aiso unskilled, can- not be satisfied in good time and to a sufficient extent. The fulfil- ment of the building plans calls for hundreds of thousands of skilled workers and millions of semi-skilled and non-skileld workers from the | ranks of the former artisans, the women and poor peasants. Thus the Soviet Union is able to give its Labor Exchanges a quite new func- tion. The Labor Exchanges are con- verted from institutions whose task | it was to find positions for unem- Year Plan 2 million fresh workers ployed workers and employees, into of the workers in | By this measure the num- | phase, which is | State offices for recrpifing an training new workers. Lvery Sovies citizen who wishes to work has the possibility of registering immeciate ly at the Labor Exchange and he the right to be sent to work once. The Labor Exchange mu find him suitable work within thre days or send him to a training cer re, at the cost of the Labor E> change. In order further to meet the de mand for highly skilled workers is intended in the year 1931 to re train 600,000 adult workers in ft! factories and place them on skille york. Further, 200,000 highly ski led workers must be promoted { leading positions. Tens of theusanc of workers are studying in the tec? nical, vocational and high schooi and in the course of the year wi take over leading functions in ir dustry as qualified technicians an engineers. In additon, in the 193° 1,106,000 apprentice swill be trainc in the factory schools. Thousanc of foreign expert workers are a) ready working in the factories a workshops of tte Soviet Union ar assisting in the work of sociali construction. year The great successes in this spher are one of the heaviest blows whic the Soviet Union has dealt wor! capitalism, They show the workir class of the whole world that on under a socialist economic syste it is possible to introduce a planne organization of work and there} finally and completely liquidate ur | employment. Tractors in the Soviet Unrion. Negro Workers Repairing Street at Lowest Wage comes a decline of 25 per cent when the increase ef population is taken into account.” This learned professor tells us that 8,000,000 were unemployed in ployed in January, 1928, would be | the “prosperity” year of 1928! Whai | close to 8,000,000 instead of 4,000,- 000 as estimated by the Labor Bureau, Incorporated. . . . The | good reason. actual decline of 15 per cent in ! must be his estimate today? He has | been silent on this point, and for a One quarter of the workers were unable to find jobs in 1928. Between 1919 and 1928, nearly 2,000,000 were displaced. Right now, curing the crisis, this displacement process is being speeded up so that even if production goes ahead, it will leave in its wake an army of over 8,000,000 permanently unem- ployed. Hunger, permanent hunger, is the prospect for the American working class. On the job there SRR, will be killing speed-up, low standard of living and misery, po. erty, disease and degradation. The fight for unemployment ir - surance is not a temporary matte Those workers who have a few do lars and eke out a miserable ex- istence waiting for the day whe capitalism is going to begin hirir by the millions better get disillc - sioned now. Waiting for capita!- ism of its own free will to feed th workers is waiting for slow deat: by starvation. ‘The fight must p on now, must rally every worker i : the country. The conditions of th unemployed are tied up unbreakab! with that of the employed. ‘Th struggle for unemployment imsur- ance and against unemployment i not a matter of just this crisis, c its uneven phases. It ts the mai : question that will face the Ameri- | Can workers until the end of capi- talism. It is becoming more evi- dent to the workers that to en unemployment and all the miser that flows with it capitalism mur be destroyed. The final fight wil: be won only when capitalism i overthrown. The immediate figh is for unemployment insuranc JOBLESS ON THE BREADLINE IN “PROSPEROUS” AMERICA against starvation of millions.