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the workers should be organised in a Union covering the entire industry, not merely a sectional craft trade within the industry.
The Communist Party declared that the Industrial Unions should conduct the economic fight of the workers, and should constantly collaborate with the workers' political party in the working-class struggle for emancipation, the abolition of wage slavery, and the victory of Socialism.
For this reason the Bolshevik Party has never considered the Industrial Union as an organisation aspiring only to secure some reforms and ameliorations of working conditions within the limits of capitalist society. On the contrary, the Bolshevik Party, in complete accord with the doctrine of Marx, has always seen that the Industrial Union is one of the most important organisations of the working class; one that has been created for the fight for Socialism in intimate collaboration with the political party, and one that, in consequence, is favourable to the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Since 1918 important changes have come about in Russia. The power has passed into the hands of the working class. The bourgeoisie has been expropriated; the workers are no longer obliged to sell their labour power to the divers exploiting employers.
If we consider that fact, it immediately becomes clear to us that the functions of the Industrial Unions in Russia are subject to important modifications.
A Statement by the All-Russian Congress
of Trade Unions.
The resolution adopted at the First All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions in 1918 is as follows:—
