specialists was recommended as a necessary measure. Under the
regime of the workmen's control, technical experts were treated
as second-rate persons to be ordered about by the ignorant
" demos " of proletarian boards, but experts were now invited to
proceed to Sovdepia in order to help to restart productive indus-
trial activity. In the factories piece-work was given a prominent
place as against the " ca'canny " devices of time work, although
previously workmen used to protest most violently against this
form of remuneration. Altogether payment by results was being
more and more recognized as an antidote against slovenly labour.
As for working hours no account was taken of the 8-hour day, and
forced labour was exacted for 10 or 12 hours when deemed neces-
sary by the commissars.
Standard of Living. Thus the Soviet dictators were trying in 1921 to back out of the impasse into which they had run the in- dustry of the country. There was among the working class one group which had profited by the Oct. revolution it was the communistic nucleus used by the Soviet administration to spy on their comrades and to coerce them. They enjoyed all the priv- ileges of an official class and could afford not only necessaries of life but such luxuries as were to be had in the market. Apart from these privileged Communists the working class was reduced to a condition of utter destitution. Even judging by the standard of the prices fixed from time to time by the ruling powers they could not make the two ends meet, because the prices had risen during Soviet domination from 16 to 25 times. In 1921 bread cost 19 times as much as in the second quarter of 1917, manufac- tured goods 22 times as much, footwear and soap 25 times. Wages indeed had increased also, but their nominal increase did not keep up with the cost of living. About the middle of 1918 an enquete had been made in Moscow as to the budgets of 2,173 workmen, and it resulted from it that on the average a bachelor working-man's wages did not exceed 462 rubles per month, though by occasional extra work they might be brought up to 624. The head of a family earned on the average 703 rubles, and might increase his earning by supplementary labour to 1,077 rubles per month. The ordinary budget was made up in the case of a bachelor by 22-2 rubles for lodging, 46-9 for food, 47-7 for clothing, i-i for house implements, 19-6 for health (baths, drugs, etc.), 13-4 cultural expenses (newspapers, books, etc.), 13 (parcels sent to village home), 32 miscellaneous expenses; in all, including other items, being 609 r. For heads of families the average monthly expenses rose to 952-7, of which 672-8 r. fell on food (Zagorsky, La Republique des Soviets, 214, 215). These figures show a considerable deficit in normal and well-regulated households: any disturbance in personal conduct, conditions of labour or health, was bound to result in downright starvation and ruin. Let us also notice that distress was much more marked in 1920 and 1921 than in 1918.
The only consolation for workmen was derived from the fact that the hated bourgeois were subjected to even greater hardships. In the early stages of Bolshevik domination this kind of consola- tion was a potent one: the feeling of triumph of the lower class over its former superiors made up for many privations, but in course of time the bourgeois were trodden down to that extent that there was not much satisfaction to be obtained from kicking them, while new contrasts arose between the mode of life of half- starved workers and of the Soviet bureaucrats shepherding them. The food situation became catastrophic in 1921. As a result of the restriction of cultivation, transport difficulties and civil dis- order, a great part of the country was visited by downright famine, with terrible prospects ahead.
Credit and Finance. In such conditions nothing could be expected but growing decay in public credit and finance. The Soviet Government had been living on the reserves accumulated under monarchical rule. The gold fund of the Imperial Treasury had been its chief asset in conducting political and commercial negotiations. Its remnant represented something like 50,000,- ooo in the first quarter of 1921. The needs of the home circula- tion were satisfied by constant emissions of paper notes. There was no system and no limit in this process of inflation. Paper notes had even come to be measured by weight instead of being
reckoned at their indicated value. The Chief of the Soviet State often spoke with contempt of money currency as a worth- less product of capitalistic exploitation. But the Communist Commonwealth had not yet discovered the means of replacing this system by a more adequate instrument of exchange. Figures in rubles were still being handled as if they represented realities. The only hope left for the Bolsheviks was that when they had spent the reserves captured from the Imperial Government and from the defeated armies, the national capital represented by the natural wealth of Russia in forests, minerals, fisheries, etc., should be put into the market. The handing over of this wealth to foreigners would mean, of course, economic subjection, a state similar to that of Asiatic and African dependencies of western Powers. But the Bolsheviks were not deterred by a prospect of that kind, provided it enabled them to continue in power. They mapped out a programme of concessions on the widest scale. The Council of the Commissars of the people laid down a set of rules as to concessions, and the Councils of Economy and of Agriculture outlined a vast scheme of natural resources which should be offered to foreigners for exploitation. The rules were as follows:
(1) Concessions should be granted by agreement on the principle of a division of profits.
(2) In case of the introduction of special machinery and appliances the concessionnaires would be granted privileges, e.g. large orders.
(3) The concessionnaires would be allowed to remain in possession for long periods in order that they should draw sufficient benefits from their concessions.
(4) The Government of the Soviets guaranteed immunity to the concessionnaires from nationalization, confiscation and requisitions.
(5) The concessionnaires would have the right to hire labourers on conditions specified in the Laws of the Commonwealth or on special conditions safeguarding the life and the health of the workmen.
(6) The Government pledged itself not to make any change in the conditions of the agreement by a one-sided exercise of its authority.
It would be impossible to enumerate all the resources of the country offered to enterprising capitalists for exploitation. Two or three examples must suffice to give an idea of the booty offered to foreign capitalists by Russian Communists. In Western Siberia, along the rivers Ob, Irtysh and Taz, an area of 70 mil- lion dess. (about 180 million ac.) was reserved for them. It is covered by immense forests of pines, firs, cedars and larches. If it were found necessary at the start to restrict exploitation to a strip along the rivers some 15 versts wide along each bank, there would still be available for immediate and easy use some 16 mil- lion dess. (about 42 million acres). The timber should be sawed and worked into pulp and cellulose in mills to be erected by the estuary of the Ob. Such mills ought to make up a settlement of the size of another Archangel. The natural route westwards lies down the Ob and by the Kara sea: it had already been utilized to some extent and its future importance could not be exaggerated. The whole region should be opened up by a number of railway lines. Mineral wealth of various kinds platinum, coal, lead is to be found in these districts. One of the most stupendous advertisements as to mineral wealth concerned the Kuzsnetsk coal mines along the Tom river. They were estimated to contain about 250 million tons of excellent coal. In European Russia 14 uyezds (districts) were advertised for agricultural exploitation and the construction of ways of communications of all kinds. All these districts are situated in the black soil region of south- eastern Russia. The application of powerful traction engines and steam ploughs would soon convert them into one of the prin- cipal granaries of Europe.
Such were the prospects held out in 1921 to enterprising capitalists. Not a word was wasted on the social and legal condi- tions of the human material connected with these tracts. It remained for the concessionnaires to fashion it with the assistance of the enlightened commissars: it was evident that the 5th clause of the Soviet rules ought not to be applied in such a way as to hamper the great process of economic restoration. The principal object was to get capitalists to speculate on the material basis described with such graphic details.
It remained to be seen how they would organize and keep in order the labouring population required for the carrying out of
