LECTURE No. 6
The Red International and the Process of Clarification
Factory and Shop Committees
THE next question, which life itself put on the order of the day, and which we had to answer, was the question of factory and shop committees. In Russia the Factory and Shop Committees appeared at the time of the February revolution. At that time it seemed that such a form of organization is a specifically Russian one, that is, it belonged specifically to a country where, at the moment that labor organization became possible, there were no labor unions.
But the German revolution has already shown that the Factory and Shop Committees appear not only where there are no trade unions, or where they are weak, but also where the trade unions are strong and where they have a great influence on the masses.
Thus, their appearance and development does not depend on the existence or non-existence of trade union organizations, but is explained by entirely different reasons. It is plain that the Factory and Shop Committees have some different kind of functions which even the strong trade unions cannot fulfill. What are these functions?
First of all, control of industry. The Factory and Shop Committees represent those organs which strengthen the victory of revolution in the sphere of production. Labor control was born in close connection with the Factory and Shop Committees, being their main function. It is the first elementary form which precedes socialization of production, the seizure of all tools of production and distribution.
This role of the Factory and Shop Committees showed itself especially marked in the October revolution. In the countries of Western Europe which lived through revolutionary upheavals, in Austria, in Hungary, in Germany, Factory and Shop Committees, in the period of their appearance, had a varied character. They were something between the Russian Labor Soviet[1] and the Factory and Shop Committees. This confusion lasted for quite a while.
From the above the question of Factory and Shop Committees presented itself in the following complex way: First, in general to clarify our attitude toward the Factory and Shop Committees; second, the
- ↑ The Labor Soviet in Russia is an integral part of the trade unions and, at the same time, participates in the administration of production in the given factory.
