WORKERS’ PROTECT IN THE ENTERPRISES OF THE VOLGA REGION IN THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION TO NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP)

Igor N. KAMARDIN

УДК 93/94

ББК 63.3(2)

Key words

strike, workers’ protest, NEP, material remuneration, food ration, famine, workers, enterprise

Abstract

The relevance of the topic of workers’ protest is connected with the wide spread of protest mood in several European countries. The study of workers’ activism in the early 20s will help to understand in more detail the causes, the course and the scenarios for the development of workers’ struggle for their economic, political and social interests. The findings are based on archives, periodicals and the latest historical research. In the study, the author concludes that the low level of the proletariat’s welfare and a systematic delay in material remuneration resulted in impoverishment of workers, which served as a breeding ground for conflicts in the region. During strikes workers demanded to eliminate wage arrears and to issue food rations in full. Party and trade union leaders as a rule sought to switch the conflict from the area of the system’s overall flaws to the plane of individual executives’ mistakes, to switch workers’ discontent to specific business managers, thus redirecting dissatisfaction with the system to a particular manager. Workers in conflicts were inherent in conformism, the desire to come to terms with the power at the factory level. They easily made concessions to promises and, being once again deceived, returned again and again to their demands.

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Information about the author

Igor N. Kamardin – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Director of the Center for Admission and Pre-University Training, Penza State University, Russia, Penza (sehd@mail.ru).