Jump to content

Page:George Lansbury - What I saw in Russia.pdf/105

From Wikisource
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

TRADE UNIONS AND LABOUR
79

ture. At this shop I received my first lesson in workers’ organisation and control. The work is organised differently from what I saw elsewhere and is evidence that when conditions are more settled industry will not be organised on one cast iron basis but that groups of workers will devise their own best methods for carrying on the work of the community.

As many of those employed here could speak English, it was possible to discuss without an interpreter. My friend Griffin Barry discussed matters with one group, and I had another group in a separate part of the workshop. The managers are elected by the workers on the principle one person one vote : all real grievances are settled by the vote of all ; rules and regulations are discussed and approved. All deferred to expert opinion on matters requiring special knowledge, but each worker was expected and encouraged to make suggestions as to how to increase output and at the same time reduce exhausting labour to a minimum. Holidays, sick pay, overtime, all these matters were discussed and settled by committees representing the workers.

As we walked round and talked, first at one machine, then at another, the thought that came to my mind was, how very much alike all engineering and toolshops are, and what a very little difference there is in the lay out of one set of machines and another ; and as I