To the 60th anniversary of Great October.

The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution transformed the working class of Russia into the ruling class of society. Every proletarian, Lenin emphasized, "must feel himself a leader and lead the masses." 1 To this end, Lenin set the Communists the task of instilling in the workers a class consciousness, a deep conviction, and a clear understanding that their strength lies in organization, cohesion, and consciousness. The transformation of the proletariat into the ruling class was expressed, first of all, in the creation of proletarian State power, in the socialization of the basic means of production, and in the elaboration of a new discipline of labor.

In real life, these processes were organically linked. However, there are still no special studies in the literature that would adequately reveal this relationship; works describing the role of the working class in the creation of the Soviet state apparatus predominate. As for the question of the formation of a new labor discipline, it is covered much less. This fact has already been noted in historiographical writings2 . The only book devoted to this issue was published ten years ago and did not cover all aspects of the problem posed. 3 Its main focus was on analyzing the activities of trade unions aimed at instilling new labor discipline, at the daily use of methods of persuasion and coercion, material incentives, and comradely courts. At the same time, the author tried to show how socialist competition was born in the course of solving these problems.

In the following years, a considerable number of generalizing works were published, which extensively and thoroughly characterized the vanguard role of the Communist Party and the working class in organizing the Soviet economy, in shaping a new type of social relations, and in creating prerequisites for the gradual implementation of the most important principle of socialism: "from each according to ability, to each according to work" 4 . In almost all of these works

1 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 147.

2 I. E. Vorozheikin. Essay on the historiography of the Working Class of the USSR, Moscow, 1975, p. 209.

3 L. B. Genkin. Formation of a new labor discipline, Moscow, 1967.

4 "Istoriya Kommunisticheskoi partii Sovetskogo Soyuza" (History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), vol. III, kn. 1-2. Moscow, 1967-1968; I. I. Mints. History of the Great October. Vol. 1-3. Moscow, 1967-1973; V. Z. Drobizhev. The Main Headquarters of Socialist Industry, Moscow, 1966. Krasnogvardeyskaya ataka na kapital [Red Guard Attack on Capital], Moscow, 1976; Drobizhev V. Z., Sokolov A. K., Ustinov V. A. The working class of Soviet Russia in the first year of the proletarian dictatorship. M. 1973; E. G. Gimpelson. Voennoi kommunizm: politika, praktika, ideologiya [Military Communism: politics, practice, and Ideology]. Soviet Working Class, 1918-1920, Moscow, 1974; D. A. Baevsky. The working class in the first years of Soviet Power (1917-1920). Moscow, 1974; G. A. Trukan. The Working Class in the struggle for Victory and Consolidation of Soviet Power, Moscow, 1975, et al.

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there are special sections about the formation of a new labor discipline. On the basis of extensive factual material, the authors show how the struggle for the transition from forced labor to self-employment began, how complex and multifaceted this struggle was, and what significance it had for consolidating Soviet power, completely suppressing exploiters, and establishing the foundations of socialism. Covering the first actions of the party and the state aimed at developing a conscious attitude to work, historians describe in detail the specific situation of that time, including the difficulties caused not only by the resistance of the overthrown classes, but also by changes in the composition of the workers, the demobilization of industry, and the shortage of raw materials, fuel, and food. All these stories are most fully revealed in the materials that relate mainly to the second half of 1918-1920, mainly to the time when the nationalization of industry was already carried out. Even in the book of D. A. Baevsky, where the events of the first months after Great October are considered more fully than in other works, only a few pages are devoted to the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918.

The purpose of this article is to eliminate this gap to a certain extent and to consider the initial stage of the emergence of a new discipline of labor, which belongs mainly to the period that Lenin called the time of the "Red Guard" attack on capital."5 It was during this period that the complex process of developing new, socialist norms and principles of labor organization began for the first time in history, and it was then that the first experience was accumulated under the leadership of the party, which confirmed the readiness and ability of the working class to work creatively without exploiters. The article is mainly based on materials from the Moscow and Petrograd industrial districts, which were not invaded by the interventionist and White Guard troops and where approximately 41.9% of the country's factory and mining workers were located .6 Since these districts were one of the main strongholds of the dictatorship of the proletariat, an analysis of the situation in them makes it possible to judge the success achieved by the most class-conscious and organized detachments of the working class in the struggle for the formation of a new attitude to work.

Even before the overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie and the landlords, the proletariat, which is daily associated with large-scale industry, had developed in itself such traits as prepared it for the role of the ruling class, for the struggle to master production, preserve the latter, and create a new discipline of labor. The experience gained during the period from February to October was of fundamental importance in this regard. Emphasizing its significance and emphasizing the practice of the movement for workers ' control that began in the spring of 1917, Lenin repeatedly called for the expansion of this "living practice" and for its comprehension. He regarded the exercise of workers 'control over factories and plants in the pre-October period not only as" measures of an economic nature", but also as important evidence that"workers care about production" 7 . In April 1918, Lenin again turned to the analysis of such facts. He pointed out, in particular ,that even before the victory of the Soviet regime, workers who had passed the school of trade unions "set to work to develop standards of labor discipline." 8
5 See V. I. Lenin, PSS. Vol. 36, p. 178.

6 See The Working Class of Soviet Russia in the First Year of the Proletarian Dictatorship. Collection of documents, Moscow, 1964, p. 364.

7 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 31, pp. 408, 378.

8 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 36, p. 260.

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Even at that time, the advanced workers understood the dangers of sabotage and sabotage by the capitalists, the policy of the bourgeoisie aimed at closing enterprises or selling them to foreign companies. Workers saw a connection between these actions and the actions of idlers and truants, those who looted and broke equipment, resold raw materials and semi-finished products. Regarding such behavior as actions that are beneficial to entrepreneurs and organized with their knowledge, representatives of the workers ' control have repeatedly advocated taking measures aimed at preserving production, preparing conditions for strengthening labor discipline in the interests of the revolutionary transformation of society. 9 The Great October Revolution, which marked the beginning of the transformation of the proletariat into the ruling class, opened the way for the formation of socialist relations of production and the formation of a new attitude to work. No matter how significant the experience of workers ' control accumulated before, the activity of the working class was crucial, which manifested itself in fundamentally new conditions when the creation of the socialist mode of production began.

On October 25, 1917, Lenin's proclamation to the Second Congress of Soviets stated that the Soviet government would establish workers ' control over production. A day or two later, Lenin drew up a draft regulation on workers ' control, the bodies of which (like the owners of enterprises) were declared "responsible to the state for the strictest order, discipline and protection of property."10 It is characteristic that even before the publication of Lenin's draft and the adoption of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decree on workers 'control (that is, during the last week of October and the first half of November 1917), as a result of the revolutionary creativity of the working class, a number of documents were developed that fully supported Lenin's generalizations and ideas about the tasks of workers' control in the new conditions. One of them was the instruction of the Nevyansk Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. Adopted at the end of October 1917, it clearly focused the Ural workers on the struggle to raise labor productivity and outlined a whole system of measures to ensure the solution of this problem .11 Such acts, which reflected the process of transformation of the proletariat into the ruling class, were particularly important at that time, because the state bodies of the new government were still emerging; their functions were temporarily performed by various proletarian organizations .12
At the same time, in Petrograd, Moscow, and other major centers of the country, trade unions and factory committees led by the Bolsheviks were rousing workers to fight for the strictest observance of revolutionary order everywhere. The Petrograd Soviet, the Council of Trade Unions, and the Central Council of Factory Committees issued an appeal to all workers of the city on October 27, 1917, stating that "new laws" on the workers 'question would be issued in the coming days, including one of the very first - the law on workers' control of production and regulation of industry. The appeal called for " an end to all economic and political strikes, for everyone to get back to work and do it in full order." And then: "Work in the factories and in all enterprises is necessary for the new government of Soviets, because every disruption of work creates new difficulties for us, which are already enough. Everything to its place. Best

9 See L. B. Genkin. An interesting document about the workers ' struggle to preserve production in the pre-October period. Voprosy Istorii, 1963, No. 3.

10 V. I. Lenin. PSS, Vol. 35, p. 31.

11 " Nationalization of industry in the Urals (October 1917-July 1918)". Collection of documents. Sverdlovsk. 1958, p. 34.

12 For more information, see: E. N. Gorodetsky. Rozhdenie Sovetskogo gosudarstva [The Birth of the Soviet State], Moscow, 1965, pp. 218-219.

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the only way to support the new Soviet government in these days is to do your job. " 13 In the address, the firm and authoritative voice of Russia's new master, the working class, is heard. The party and Government's concern for improving the working and living conditions of the masses of the people had a great influence on the strengthening of political activity of the working people. In the first weeks of its existence, the Soviet State introduced the 8-hour working day, implemented a system of measures to improve sanitary conditions and medical care, confiscated large private households, and relocated thousands of workers and their families from basements and slums .14
Under such conditions, the "Regulations on Workers 'Control", which the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted on November 14, 1917, began to be implemented everywhere. Introduced "in the interests of the planned regulation of the national economy", it obliged workers to exercise control over production "through their elected institutions: factory committees, factory councils, etc.". The decree granted the workers ' control bodies the right to monitor production, set a minimum production output, and take measures to determine the cost of manufactured products. The owners were required to show the workers all the accounting books and reports. According to the decree, commercial secrecy was abolished 15 . The strength and vitality of the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was that it immediately became a guide to action for the emerging state apparatus, for workers ' organizations. It gave scope to the creativity of the masses in the matter of national accounting and control. "In pursuance of the decree of the People's Commissars," the Executive Committee of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet wrote in its resolution on November 17, 1917, "to make it a duty for the factory committees to retain all their rights and powers in accounting for goods and controlling production until the reorganization." 16
The introduction of operational control was an objective necessity in the conditions prevailing at that time. The slogans of workers ' control were clear and familiar to the proletarian masses, who, even before the victory of the socialist revolution, had gone through a serious school of struggle to establish control over the activities of the bourgeoisie, which was striving to suppress the revolutionary movement by bringing the country to an economic catastrophe. Worker control was the only possible measure to train the masses of workers in the complex art of industrial management. Without immediately destroying the old, bourgeois apparatus of industrial management, it contributed to the birth of a new, proletarian apparatus. Finally, the introduction of workers ' control was also necessary in order to overcome the resistance of the capitalists, who, after the victory of the revolution, used all methods of fighting the Soviet government - from open armed actions to sabotage in the economic sphere. This sabotage was organized and purposeful in nature, its forms and methods were different. In many enterprises, capitalists and senior employees have fled, leaving production without managers. "The owner has disappeared" is a typical phrase from workers ' letters to Soviet organizations in the first months of the proletarian state's existence. The Control Commission of the Great Kineshma Manufactory reported: "There is no director in a factory with more than 5,000 workers." "The owner disappeared and

13 "Nationalization of industry in the USSR". Collection of documents and materials, Moscow, 1954, pp. 188-189.

14 See L. K. Baev. Social Policy of the October Revolution, Moscow, 1977, pp. 34-129.

15 "Nationalization of industry in the USSR", p. 74.

16 "Materials on the history of the USSR", vol. 3, Moscow, 1956, p. 76.

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he took all the office books with him, " wrote the workers of the iron foundry of Fedorov 17 . Almost all members of the Petrograd board of the Bromley factory fled abroad . Where the capitalists remained, they tried in every possible way to undermine production, focusing on increasing financial ruin. This sabotage could only be broken by the organized struggle of the entire proletariat, by the establishment of workers ' control over production and distribution. Within a few months, workers ' control bodies were established at almost all large enterprises. In January 1918, Lenin wrote:: "And to those who say that we have done nothing, that we have been inactive all the time, that the rule of the Soviet government has borne no fruit, we can only say to them: look into the very bowels of the working people, into the mass of the masses, where organizational and creative work is in full swing, there is a renewal of life in full swing. life sanctified by the revolution " 19 . If from February to October 1917, 34 bodies of national control appeared monthly in the country, then from November 1917 to March 1918, 228 20 of them appeared monthly .

Seeing the reluctance of the bourgeois management of enterprises to take the initiative in setting up production, the workers ' control bodies themselves dealt with the supply of raw materials, fuel, etc. 21. The control commissions tried to understand all aspects of the life of enterprises, including the most difficult for them - the financial sphere. The vast majority of workers ' collectives did not allow an anarcho - syndicalist attitude to the national heritage. This was reflected in the establishment of district-or industry-wide governing bodies by factory committees and trade unions dealing with the distribution of raw materials and fuel between enterprises, and in the fact that almost all meetings of workers, factory committees and trade unions at which decisions on nationalization were made considered factories and factories as the property of the proletarian state .22 Ya. E. Rudzutak, a member of the Central Committee of the Textile Workers 'Trade Union, wrote in early 1918:" We came across a natural and inevitable addition to workers ' control ...to the question about the organization of production. The proletariat must exert all its creative powers to exercise control and organize production, for it is the only class that puts the interests of the whole people first, not its own class interests. " 23
Gradually, factory committees and control commissions turned into the real organizers of production. Already in the first months of Soviet power, workers ' control "went beyond control and in fact,"as the Second All - Russian Congress of Metalworkers' Trade Unions assessed the situation in 1919, "interfered in production and thereby eliminated the commanding element, the bourgeoisie, from managing production." 24 The control commissions, as truly State bodies, have done a great deal of work to restore order in the enterprises and to instill in the workers a socialist attitude to work. The Mensheviks 'panicked cries that workers' control would provoke anarcho-syndicalist sentiments among the working class were refuted

17 State Archive of the Moscow Region (GAMO), f. 2122, op. 1, d. 503, l. 1; d. 506, l. 2; TsGAOR of the USSR, f. 5457, op. 2, d. 6, l. 138.

18 GAMO, f. 2122, op. 4, d. 24, l. 127.

19 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 283.

20 See V. Z. Drobizhev. General Staff of Socialist Industry, p. 51.

21 TsGAOR USSR, f. 6935, op. 7, d. 71, ll. 130-131.

22 See V. Z. Drobizhev. General Staff of Socialist Industry, p. 94; GAMO, f. 2122, op. 1, d. 210, ll. 7, 9; f. 130, op. 1, d. 24, l. 532.

23 "Tekstilny rabochy", 1918, N 4, p. 7.

24 "Metalist", 1919, N 3/11, p. 14.

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life itself. The proletariat has proved in practice that it is the most class-conscious and advanced class in society.

An extremely important result of the work of the labor control bodies was the development of the basics of a new labor discipline. Lenin, who more than once pointed out that the creation of a new labor discipline would take a whole historical epoch, from the first days of October tirelessly drew the attention of the party, the advanced workers, to the need to deal with this task on a daily basis and to fight systematically for its successful implementation. Understanding this process in many ways, he inextricably linked it with the general process of establishing workers ' control, nationalizing industry, and overcoming not only the fierce resistance of the deposed exploiters, but also petty-bourgeois licentiousness. In December 1917, Lenin pointed out that " the workers and employees of nationalized enterprises must exert all their strength and take extraordinary measures to improve the organization of work, strengthen discipline, and increase labor productivity."25 . In your article " How to organize a competition?" Vladimir Ilyich wrote:: "For the first time after centuries of labor for others, forced labor for exploiters, it is possible to work for oneself, and moreover work based on all the achievements of the latest technology and culture." 26
But such self-employment required a new attitude from the worker to the enterprise, to the discipline of management. In the work written by Lenin at the end of December 1917, " From the diary of a publicist (topics for development)", among the topics listed were: "13. How to organize a competition?.. 16. Workers 'discipline and tramp habits ... 37. Nationalization of industry and the" duty "of workers to work" 27 . Here again, the problems of the new attitude of workers to nationalized enterprises and to labor discipline are among the most urgent. And this is quite understandable. As a result of the victory of the October Revolution, the process of rallying the proletariat into the ruling and leading class of society unfolded. The material basis of this process was the transformation of private ownership of the means of production into social socialist ownership. A radical revolution began in the relations of people, in the management of society, in its socio-political and spiritual development. Under these conditions, in the context of the "Red Guard attack on capital", the workers ' control bodies made every effort to establish labor discipline. Workers who first felt emancipated from capitalist oppression had to impose new discipline mainly in enterprises that had not yet been nationalized. The need to fight for the introduction of labor discipline was dictated by a number of serious reasons. In order to preserve and consolidate the political power in the hands of the working class, it was necessary to break the resistance of the capitalists, who hoped to suppress the revolution by deliberately destroying industry. It was impossible to consolidate the power of the proletariat without establishing a new, conscious labor discipline, without fighting for an increase in labor productivity.

Along with factory committees and control and economic commissions, special bodies were created to strengthen labor discipline. At the Kuvaevskaya manufactory, for example, as early as December 1917, a special institute of supervisors was introduced, whose task was to " monitor the exact arrival at the beginning of work, as well as the untimely departure of craftsmen before the end of work... monitor IP on the ground-

25 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 177.

26 Ibid., p. 196.

27 Ibid., pp. 188, 190.

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it is full and full of work by workers, craftsmen and employees " 28 . The task of establishing a new discipline of labor was clearly and precisely defined in the decision of the workers 'section of the Second Regional Congress of Soviets of the Moscow Region on December 13, 1917:" The transfer of power to the proletarian masses demands from the working class the necessity of temporary self-restraint and sacrifice, requires the development of new proletarian self-discipline, new production standards, because from now on the revolution production"29 .

Forming a new attitude among the workers to work, it was necessary to get rid of the psychology of forced labor, the psychology of the wage worker of a capitalist enterprise, the habit of treating work as a heavy duty. The transition to the conscious discipline of the worker of a socialist enterprise took place in an environment of devastation caused by the war and the most acute class struggle. Industrial production fell in all regions of the country. The gross output of the censorship industry in 1917 decreased by about 1.6 times compared to 1913, and in 1916 its volume decreased by more than 2 times. Downtime of many enterprises was caused both by the direct consequences of military operations, and by the lack of fuel, raw materials and equipment. Even in the factories of the military industry, workers suffered from hunger, which also negatively affected the development of production, leading to a decrease in labor productivity. 30 In addition, the resistance of not only yesterday's exploiters and obvious saboteurs, but also of the backward strata of the working class, was hindered. The share of the latter increased noticeably during the war years, because many peasants came to the factories, coming from petty-bourgeois families, people who, after the end of the war, were going to go back to their former business. It is not surprising that in the first months after October there were many such factories and factories where the decline in labor productivity continued, the decline in discipline that began in the pre-revolutionary period, and the number of absenteeism increased. The press of that time repeatedly reported on the ragged demands of certain groups of backward workers, and on the anarchist sentiments among them .31 "Class-conscious workers," M. S. Olminsky wrote in April 1918, " understand that discipline and the most energetic work are necessary in the factory. And the non-conscious ones reason like this: I would like to grab more and go somewhere as soon as possible. " 32
According to one of the contemporaries of those events, "the transition from hateful labor for capitalists to free labor for themselves could not pass the stage of "respite" - the desire to show a minimum of energy caused by the aversion to labor developed by capitalism"33 . Often there were very serious conflicts, in some cases it even came to strikes. An interesting document has been preserved showing the determination with which the head of the Putilov factory committee addressed the workers on October 31, 1917, with a call to fight against those who understood freedom "as the arbitrariness of personal desires, as unrestrainedness that always harms the common cause", against those who forgot that "the factory is the property of the state of the Russian Republic".34
28 "Materials on the history of the USSR", vol. 3, p. 94.

29 "Moskovsky Metalist", 1917, N 2-3, p. 14.

30 D. A. Baevsky. Op. ed., pp. 206-207.

31 The All-Union Central Committee's newspapers and magazines pointed out that the ragged demands came mainly from the semi - rural strata of the proletariat (see, for example, Professional Bulletin, 1918, N 5-6, p.8).

32 "Izvestiya VTSIK", 3. IV. 1918.

33 M. Dubrovsky. At the Obukhov factory (facts and impressions). Novy Put', 1920, N 8, p. 75.

34 See N. B. Lebedeva and O. I. Shkaratan. Essays on the history of Socialist Competition, L. 1966, p. 32.

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Noting the value of such initiatives, which were launched by many proletarian collectives, Lenin linked them with the general process of forming a new attitude to work. "This struggle," he emphasized in December 1917, " has already been begun by the advanced, class-conscious workers, who are resolutely repelling those newcomers to the factory environment, of whom there were especially many during the war, and who now would like to treat the people's factory, the factory that has become the property of the people, from the same point of view as before. a single thought: "grab a bigger piece and run away." 35
At that time, there were many workers who expected from the revolution, first of all, an immediate improvement in working conditions and other benefits. They were perplexed by calls to increase labor productivity, perceiving them as something incompatible with the revolution. "The Factory Committee," says correspondence from the Yamonovskaya Factory in Ivanovo - Voznesenskaya Gubernia to the newspaper Rabochy Krai, " has long taken a number of measures to raise the intensity of labor and streamline work. For this reason, the workers considered their committee counter-revolutionary. But then they got used to it. And now, thanks to this energetic Committee, the Yamonov Factory stands at a level of production that other factories cannot even think of."36 Such reports vividly reflected the peculiar perception of the revolution by the backward strata of the proletariat, who did not understand that it fundamentally changes the attitude to the means of production and to labor and imposes new demands on the workers.

N. K. Krupskaya told how one day an employee came to the People's Commissariat of Education, who, when asked why she was not at work now, replied:: "No one works here today. There was a general meeting yesterday, and everyone has a lot of things to do at home. Well, they voted not to work today. Well, we're the owners now. " 37 It took time, and the hard work of the party and all the advanced workers, for the masses to realize the fundamental difference between their position and that in which they had previously been under conditions of exploitation.

One of the primary factors that influenced the formation of a new attitude towards work among the advanced workers was the consciousness of the working class's responsibility for the country and its economy, which increased with the victory of October. The establishment of workers ' control contributed to the formation of a sense among workers of the owner of production, interested in the success of their factories and plants. Already in the first months after October, numerous resolutions of workers ' organizations were adopted calling for the strengthening of labor discipline. On November 27, 1917, at a joint meeting of the factory committee of the Putilovsky plant, representatives of the Peterhof District Council, and the Union of Metalworkers, a resolution on labor discipline was adopted, stating that the establishment of the power of workers and peasants "imposes on us, the Putilovites, a huge responsibility for our Putilovsky plant, for its integrity and productivity, because our plant is one one of the most valuable in the national economy " 38 . At the beginning of December 1917, the Putilov people adopted a proclamation on the need to strengthen discipline, which stated: "Freedom won is the greatest good, but to win it is one thing, and to possess it is another. Freedom obliges, first of all, to establish in each of them discipline ,order in mental and volitional actions. Freedom and civic duty require of us,

35 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 199.

36 "Materials on the history of the USSR", vol. 3, p. 214.

37 N. K. Krupskaya. Memoirs of Lenin, Moscow, 1957, p. 372.

38 "Workers' control and nationalization of Petrograd industry". Collection of documents, vol. I. L. 1947, p. 264.

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without hesitation, without hesitation, when necessary, to sacrifice their personal interests for the common "National good" 39 .

Many factories and factories adopted special charters and rules of internal order and discipline, which played an important role in the formation of socialist labor discipline, in the development of the foundations of Soviet labor legislation. The need to develop such rules was acutely felt by the broad masses of workers. Already in the first days of November 1917, the workers of the Yaroslavl Lokalov factory applied to the Petrograd VRK with the question: "How to develop internal regulations?"40. On November 25, 1917, at a general meeting of workers at the Yuzovka Metallurgical plant, the "Charter of Self-Discipline"was approved. In January 1918, many mines in the Donbass region issued instructions on the labor discipline norms41 . The 12 points of the "Self-Discipline Charter" list misdemeanors and punishments for them - from a reprimand at the general meeting of the central factory committee to dismissal from the factory. The first three paragraphs of the charter refer to unfair treatment of work, unauthorized absences, and tardiness. For these misdemeanors, penalties are imposed by public organizations, by a comradely court. One of the most serious crimes was theft of tools and materials; it provided for "dismissal from service without the right to protect workers 'organizations" 42 .

The rules of labor discipline appear in the first months of 1918 at one of the textile factories in Tver (January 30), at the Lokalov factory in Yaroslavl (February 17).43 . The document developed by the Yaroslavl workers is close in content to the Yuzov rules. According to it, the issue of punishments for violation of labor discipline was to be decided by the factory committee without the participation of administrative and technical personnel .44 A document drawn up by the Trekhgorki workers ' organizations stated that workers "must obey orders concerning production and internal regulations, both from their manager and from the persons assigned to them... bearing in mind that your interests are protected by the delegates of the factory committee that you have chosen from among you." Here we can already see the transition to discipline on the basis of unity of command. At the same time, the administration's actions were monitored by the fabcom, which was supposed to "warn its comrades against violating the order and indifferent attitude to work"45 .

The First All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions, held in Petrograd in January 1918, which discussed the issue of workers ' control, the duties and rights of control commissions, paid great attention to maintaining labor discipline among workers and employees. The decisions of the congress stated that each Council of workers 'Control was obliged to develop measures to increase labor productivity, and to issue mandatory rules of labor discipline for workers and employees. 46 On February 16, 1917, V. P. Nogin, Commissar of Labor of the Moscow Industrial District, approved the "Internal Regulations of Moscow Automobile Repair Shops". The 15th paragraph of these rules stated: "Internal regulations are subject to

39 Ibid., p. 360.

40 GAMO, f. 2122, op. 1, d. 487, l. 18; f. 180, op. 1, d. 80, l. 9.

41 L. B. Genkin. Formation of a new labor discipline, p. 28.

42 "The establishment of Soviet power", Moscow, 1942, p. 77.

43 L. B. Genkin. Formation of a new labor discipline, pp. 28-29.

44 "The establishment of Soviet power in the Yaroslavl province". Collection of documents. Yaroslavl. 1957, p. 410.

45 "Tekstilny rabochy", 1918, No. 7, p. 14.

46 "Trade unions of the USSR". Documents and materials. Vol. 2. Moscow, 1963, p. 93.

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accurate execution, as well as the instructions of the workshop manager. For non-compliance with these rules and regulations, the perpetrators can be dismissed from Moscow car repair shops. " 47
All the rules drawn up and approved in the first months of 1918 reflected the great desire of the workers to establish a strict revolutionary order in the enterprises. In relation to violators of labor discipline, various penalties were provided - from reprimand at the general meeting to dismissal from the enterprise. Thus , on November 6 , 1917, the Trekhgorki Factory committee 48, on November 13, the factory committee of the Franco - Russian Plant in Petrograd 49, and on November 17, the First Conference of the Board of the Metalworkers ' Trade Union and Factory Committees of Petrograd (where 15 factories were represented)were in favor of applying penalties to violators of labor discipline.50 .

At the first meeting of the Trekhgornaya Manufactory's factory committee in November 1917, a decision was made to punish workers who violated labor discipline. Those who were absent from work for a disrespectful reason were deprived of their wages for three days, those who were absent for a disrespectful reason were allowed to work for four days only with the permission of the factory committee; those who did not start work for a week were dismissed. 51 Due to the fact that some individuals violated the rules of internal order, left an hour before the end of the working day, and took absenteeism, the factory committee of the Bolshaya Ivanovskaya Manufactory decided that henceforth violators of discipline will be immediately dismissed .52 At a number of Petrograd factories, workers ' collectives also fought against tardiness and absenteeism. In January 1918, the head of the radiotelegraph plant of the Maritime Department decided:: "For leaving the port earlier than the hooter, you should be sent for a walk for one week without pay" 53 . At the same time, work begins on the creation of courts in Ivanovo-Voznesensk54 . This initiative of the workers was warmly supported by Lenin. In December 1917. he appreciated the birth of revolutionary courts as an important means of controlling the provision of the necessary quantity and quality of labor .55
An important role in strengthening industrial discipline was played by measures to streamline labor remuneration. In the first months after October, existing tariffs were reviewed everywhere, taking into account the cost of living and reducing the wage gap between different groups of workers. By January 1918, 70 new tariffs had been introduced by trade unions, and 9 tariff agreements were under development .56 The advanced unions opposed egalitarianism and supported material incentives for labor .57 The Union of Metalworkers has done a great job in this regard. In the tariff developed by him, only 2/3 of the tariff rate was paid for non-compliance with the production rate without valid reasons. However, overfulfilling the norm so far

47 GAMO, f. 186, op. 1, d. 316, ll. 14-15.

48 See 3. A. Astapovich. The first measures of the Soviet government in the field of labor, Moscow, 1958, pp. 40-41.

49 See M. Gordon. Participation of workers in the organization of production. l. 1927, p. 18.

50 "Metalist", 1917, N 6, pp. 1-3.

51 GAMO, f. 3973, op. 1, d. 2, l. 114.

52 TsGAOR USSR, f. 7952, op. 8, d. 7, l. 27.

53 "Workers' control and Nationalization of Petrograd Industry", p. 360.

54 "From the history of the working class of the USSR". Ivanovo, 1964, p. 117.

55 "Professional Bulletin". October 1917-October 1918, Moscow, 1918, pp. 12-13.

56 "Minutes of the All-Russian Constituent Congress of the Union of Metal Workers", Moscow, 1918, pp. 100-113; "Nationalization of Industry in the USSR", p.250.

57 "Minutes of the All-Russian Constituent Congress of the Union of Metal Workers", p. 111; "Nationalization of industry in the USSR", p.253.

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not yet stimulated 58 . Printers were opposed to piecework payment, and in December 1917 the Ivanovo-Kineshma textile workers, the factory committee of the Arsenal plant of Peter the Great, and in January 1918 the Constituent Congress of Metalworkers spoke out in favor of it .59
Simultaneously with the establishment of workers ' control in Soviet Russia, the nationalization of industry also began. The first was the decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the nationalization of A. V. Smirnov's Likino manufactory in the Vladimir Province, adopted on November 17, 191760 . Since that time, the nationalization of those factories and plants whose owners sabotaged production and resisted the Soviet government has unfolded. At the end of December 1917, the largest Putilov plants of the Electric Lighting Society in the country became the property of the Russian Republic. In early January 1918, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the confiscation of all property of the Rostokino Dye and finishing factory near Moscow .61 Summing up the results of the nationalization of industry in the autumn and winter of 1917/18, Lenin called it a " Red Guard attack on capital." At this stage of socialist construction, the process of nationalization was accelerated by the actions of the bourgeoisie, its attempts to overthrow the Soviet government through armed struggle and economic sabotage. The tactics of the bourgeoisie necessitated the nationalization of a number of major enterprises. Almost all relevant decrees consistently emphasized that enterprises are nationalized because of the sabotage of capitalists, their refusal to comply with the requirements of workers ' control bodies. This period is also characterized by a broad initiative of local councils and other workers ' organizations in carrying out nationalization.

There was a direct link between the transfer of enterprises to the ownership of the people and the strengthening of labor discipline. The very demand of the workers to nationalize certain factories reflected their understanding of the tasks of the proletarian revolution, their awareness of their responsibility for the future fate of the country. In turn, the process of nationalization further raised the enthusiasm of the workers. So, the staff of the Rostokino factory immediately after learning about the nationalization of the enterprise, sent a telegram to the Council of People's Commissars. The workers took on specific obligations to establish production: "1) Increase the productivity of all enterprises and factory operations... 4) establish full order and labor discipline in the enterprise " 62 . Similar obligations were assumed by the workers of many other nationalized enterprises.

In the factories and factories that became the property of the proletarian state, a struggle was waged to establish a new, socialist discipline of labor. Strict measures were applied to violators of labor discipline at the Likin manufactory. In the report of the workers 'board of this enterprise on the results of the first year of activity after nationalization, it was stated:" To raise labor discipline, factory organizations have developed a number of measures, such as: for being late for work up to 15 minutes, the guilty person is reprimanded for the first time and dismissed from the factory if repeated, those who are late for more than 15 minutes are the same is true for leaving work prematurely; the person caught stealing is dismissed from the factory.

58 See "The Working Class of Soviet Russia in the First Year of the Proletarian Dictatorship", p. 147; "Nationalization of Industry in the USSR", p.250-256.

59 "Nationalization of industry in the USSR", pp. 244-245; L. B. Genkin. Formation of a new labor discipline, p. 122.

60 "Decrees of Soviet Power", Vol. I. Moscow, 1957, p. 106.

61 "Nationalization of industry in the USSR", pp. 295, 300, 303,

62 Ibid., pp. 622-623.

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All these measures and many others, after their approval by the general assembly of workers and employees, received the force of law for factories. " 63 The whole structure of life at the Likin manufactory has changed radically. Bolshevik B. A. Azarkh wrote: "Embezzlement was punishable by unconditional dismissal from the factory... The meetings of the factory committee were always open, where the most important moments of the workers ' lives were decided. These meetings were always attended by many male and female workers... One of these meetings dealt with the case of theft of potato starch by a worker... One had to see the anger of the workers present to understand how much the Lycians had learned to appreciate that the factories were their common property, and that anyone guilty of embezzlement was regarded as their enemy, a disgrace to their entire collective."64
One of the most important results of the social transformation activity of the Soviet state was the growth of labor productivity in factories and factories after their nationalization. This shows the vitality of the socialist mode of production. At the Bryansk plant, labor productivity had already reached the level of 191365 in November 1918 . After nationalization, the Kaluga telephone and telegraph plant produced more products in an 8-hour working day than it had previously produced in 10 hours .66 At the Yamonovskaya factory in the Ivanovo - Voznesenskaya province, labor productivity reached the level of 1913-1914 by the end of 1918, and at the Konovalov factory it was reached as early as April 191867 . At the Likin manufactory, in August 1918, the productivity of the spinning mill increased by almost 25% compared to the figures for the same month in 1916, and at the dye and finishing factory-by almost 100% compared to 191668 . The results of the work of the working class to strengthen discipline and increase labor productivity at nationalized enterprises were very figuratively summed up by the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya newspaper Rabochy Krai: "In the Vichugsky district, two factories of Kokarev and Razorenov and B. I. Konovalov are located nearby. While the former is in danger of collapse, the latter continues to flourish. This is a direct consequence of nationalization. " 69
According to studies by Soviet historians and economists, the greatest results were achieved in those regions of the country where there were no military operations in November 1917 - January 1918 .70 In other areas, the situation was more difficult. In the whole country, labor productivity in industry has noticeably decreased. But all the more important is the contribution of the working class, which, despite the difficulties of that time, showed the highest consciousness and organization in the struggle for the formation of a new mode of production. According to S. G. Strumilin's calculations, in Petrograd the decline in labor productivity in 1918 occurred by 44% as a result of hunger and exhaustion of workers, by 35% - due to the deterioration of raw materials, wear and tear of equipment, defects in labor organization, etc.

63 "The Working Class of Soviet Russia in the first Year of the proletarian dictatorship", p. 165.

64 B. A. Azarkh. The first nationalized factory. The Moscow Province in 1917. Moscow -L. 1927, p. 57.

65 "Nationalization of industry in the USSR", p. 756.

66 "Proceedings of the Economic Congress of the Moscow Region, May 20-25, 1918", Moscow, 1918, p. 85.

67 "Materials on the history of the USSR", vol. 3, pp. 155-214.

68 "The Working Class of Soviet Russia in the first Year of the proletarian dictatorship", pp. 165-166.

69 "Materials on the history of the USSR", vol. 3, p. 259.

70 B. Verkhoveni. Lenin's plan for launching socialist construction. Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya, 1940, No. 1, p. 4. 79; 3. A. Astapovich. Op. ed., pp. 123-124; L. B. Genkin. Formation of a new labor discipline, pp. 79-83: V. F. Shishkin. The Great October and Proletarian Morality, Moscow, 1976, p. 207.

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by 21% - due to falling labor discipline 71 . Data from 1919-1920 confirmed the validity of these calculations. Therefore, Strumilin wrote with good reason that if only objective factors were taken into account, then labor productivity would have decreased much more. This did not happen only because "the Russian worker worked better than his diet allowed, depleting his old reserves, draining his body... Hence, it was not laziness, but increased zeal, as one might expect, that was aroused in the Russian worker by the Proletarian revolution. " 72

The main result of the struggle to strengthen labor discipline and increase labor productivity, initiated in the first months of the revolution by advanced workers under the leadership of the Communist Party, was a change in the consciousness of the working people. A whole series of measures carried out by the party and the Soviet State helped to form the consciousness among the workers that they were the masters of the country. Noting the difficulty of solving the problem of teaching the masses how to manage, Lenin said that it was necessary to do this "not by lectures, not by meetings, but by experience ..." 73 . "The question is that the class-conscious worker should feel that he is not only the owner of his factory, but also a representative of the country, and that he should feel responsible for himself." 74 Working on the draft Party program in the spring of 1918, Lenin emphasized that competition was a means "for steadily increasing the organization, discipline, and productivity of labor."75 A year later, the Eighth Congress of the RCP(b) adopted the Party's Program, in which the question of fostering a new attitude to work and "creating a new, socialist discipline"occupied an important place .76 The Program noted that " in the conditions of the disintegration of the capitalist organization of labor, the productive forces of the country can be restored and developed, and the socialist mode of production can be strengthened only on the basis of comradely discipline of the workers, their maximum self-activity, a sense of responsibility and the strictest mutual control over the productivity of labor."

In setting out these tasks, the Communist Party drew on the experience gained in less than a year and a half. The period associated with the "Red Guard attack on capital" played a particularly important role in the practical activity of the masses, when the working class for the first time in history began to create its own state, to build a society without exploiters. The successes achieved at that time in the formation of a new labor discipline strengthened the working class's self-confidence and increased its collective power as an organizer of the socialist economy. The policy of the bourgeoisie, which even before October 25 had taken the path of deliberately destroying industry in order to weaken the revolution and break the working people by means of famine, failed. The arguments of the Mensheviks, who, together with the leaders of the Second International, harangued the Russian working class about its lack of preparation for the socialist revolution, its immaturity and lack of culture, and its inability to create creatively, also proved untenable. The very first months of Soviet power showed exactly the opposite. One of the decisive victories of this period was the achievements in the field of

71 S. G. Strumilin. Damage to labor productivity caused by the civil war and the blockade. Vestnik Truda, 1921, No. 3 (6), p.40.

72 Ibid., pp. 41-42.

73 See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 37, p. 451.

74 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 36, pp. 369-370.

75 Ibid., p. 75.

76 "The CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee". Ed. 8-E. T. 2. Moscow 1970, p. 52.

77 Ibid., p. 51.

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the formation of a new attitude to work, which illuminated with extraordinary vividness the moral image of the Russian proletariat led by the Leninist Party, its political activity and the highest organization 78 . Thanks to its foundations, the country avoided the chaos and anarchy that the internal and external counterrevolution so hoped for.

No matter how difficult the conditions at the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918 were, the working class managed in a short time to establish workers ' control, to start nationalizing large-scale industry, and to save the country from economic catastrophe. According to the testimony of leading employees of the Supreme Economic Council, the decline in labor productivity that occurred in November-December 1917 and January 1918 was already stopped in February and began to give way to an upward trend . The newspaper Pravda, as well as the Second All-Russian Congress of Commissars of Labor, noted this "turning point in the mood of the working masses and the desire to raise labor discipline" 80. Even at that time, the Communist Party regarded the question of a new attitude to work as an integral part of the general problem of strengthening the discipline of the working people. It was at the turn of 1917-1918 that the formation of a new, socialist discipline began, the development of rules and norms of labor, applying and improving which the Soviet people, under the leadership of the Communist Party, successfully coped "with the most important and most difficult task of the socialist revolution - the creative one"81 .

78 For more information, see: V. F. Shishkin. Edict op.

79 "National Economy", 1918, N 11, p. 87.

80 "Bulletin of the People's Commissariat of Labor", 1918, N 4-5, p. 345.

81 "On the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution". Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU of January 31, 1977, Moscow, 1977, p. 5.

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