Osipova N. A. Ensuring trade unions with new credentials to regulate labor relations in the NEP years (Based on materials from the Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Vladimir provinces)

The article touches upon the topic of the legal powers transfer by the People‟s Commissariat of Labor (hereinafter referred to as the PCL) in favor of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (hereinafter referred to as the AUCCTU) and local professional associations. The empowerment of trade unions with new credentials was enshrined in the Decree of the Council of People‟s Commissars of the RSFSR “On the transfer of the Central and local Labor Protection Departments to the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions and local associations of trade unions” dated 05/12/1921. It is important to note that the alienation of some functions that previously belonged to the People‟s Commissariat of Labor became the subject of discussion at the fourth and fifth All-Russian congresses of trade unions. In the article, the author emphasizes the fact that the independence of trade unions in fact turned out to be formal, and all their activities in the field of occupational health and safety protection was dominated by the People‟s Commissariat of Labor. At the same time, the article presents material not only of all-Union significance; it also reflects the situation that developed locally (specifically at the enterprises of Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Vladimir Governorates). The author shows that the inoperative democratic principles, the commandadministrative vertical of power, which rigidly defines the boundaries of the activities of trade unions, are the result of the ideological and organizational subordination of the latter to the party. The current situation turned out to be a kind of “trade union NEP”, a tactical „flirtation‟ with broad organized strata of workers and their structures at the stage of economic recovery and “living productive force”.

Reference to article:

Osipova N. A. Ensuring trade unions with new credentials to regulate labor relations in the NEP years (Based on materials from the Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Vladimir provinces) // Ivanovo State University Bulletin. Series «The Humanities». 2021. No.2. P. 64-71.