2 their employment. Moreover, applicants for employment are subject to certain disabilities if they refuse positions offered. The various measures adopted would presumably have a different significance in a society where industry and trade are mainly in private hands, from that which they possess in Soviet Russia where the great bulk of the manufacturing, mining, and transportation industries are in the hands of the Government. None of the laws or regulations examined contains any specific provision to prevent a worker in the Government industries from returning to the farm or seeking employment in such private enterprises as may exist. Bearing upon the question of possible Russian exports of anthracite coal, it may be pointed out that Russian industries, according to soviet publications, are now suffering from a severe shortage of coal. The soviet program of industrial expansion calls for a much larger home consumption of coal in the near future. Because of the distant location of Siberian reserves of coal, the demands upon the Donetz reserves will be very heavy. According to the soviet press, the expansion of coal production may be unequal to the industrial requirements of Soviet Russia. Even now the productive resources of the Donetz Basin appear to be taxed beyond their present capacity. The future development of coal exportation by Soviet Russia, however, can not be foretold. I. RECRUITING OF LABORERS FOR THE DONETZ COAL FIELDS On September 7, 1930, the official daily of the Supreme Council of People's Economy of the Soviet Union contained an announcement. with respect to recruiting several thousand workers for the Donetz coal fields. The translation of this article follows. RECRUITING OF WORKERS FOR COAL MINES IN SOVIET RUSSIA (U. s. s. R.)1 In accordance with the direction of the Council of Labor and Defense (STO) of the Soviet Union to recruit workers for the Donbass, the Commissars of Labor of the Soviet Union (U. S. S. R.) and of Soviet Russia (R. S. F. S. R.), the Supreme Council of People's Economy of the Soviet Union (U. S. S. R.), the Center of Collective Husbandry, the Central Committee of Miners and Agricultural Workers, the Central Committee of the All-Union Lenin Communist Union of Youth (V. L. K. S. O.), and the united "Ugol" (united Soviet trust in charge of coal mining in the Donetz Basin) have informed the respective organizations under them of the necessity of recruiting 55,000 workers for the coal mines of the Donetz Basin ("Donbass") and of the delivery of these workers at the mines not later than October 1, 1930. Out of the total number 5,000 must be farm hands, 20,000 members of the Communist Youth, and 20,000 Kolkhozniks" (farm hands from the collective farms). 66 For the prompt fulfillment of this plan of recruiting and delivering workers at the coal mines the labor offices are responsible. Without delay all People's Commissars of Labor of the Union and Autonomous Republics and also all provincial of the and district labor offices, together with the offices of the "kolkhoz" (collective unions of mine workers and agricultural workers must prepare republican and To assist in recruiting and sending workers to the Donbass the united "Ugol" has placed 100 workers at the disposal of the labor offices. The united "Ugol" and the offices of the mines must immediately take all necessary measures to receive and place the recruited workers, paying special attention to the provision of adequate housing. daily of the Supreme Council of People's Economy of the Soviet Union (U. S. S. R.)). 1 Translation of article in Za Industrializatsiiu (For Industrialization) Sept. 7, 1930, p. 1. (Official The labor offices and all other organizations taking part in the recruiting of workers must expedite the delivery and placement of workers. Soviet public opinion should be directed to the recruiting and delivery of workers to the Donbass. For the fulfillment of the plan the following are personally responsible: People's Commissars of Labor of the United and Autonomous Republics, directors of the provincial sections of labor offices, chairmen of the "Kolkhoz" (collective farms) centers and Kolkhoz union, chairmen of the union of miners and of agricultural forestry workers, secretaries of the provincial and district communist organizations of the All-Union Lenin Communist Union of Youth, and the managers of the mines. The workers brought to the Donbass shall receive transportation expenses and 2.50 rubles for food a day from the day of their recruiting up to the day of beginning work in the coal mines. The workers brought to the mining establishments must work in the mines not less than six months, and when qualified, not less than one year. If the worker leaves voluntarily, the administration may exact from him the transportation expenses from the place of recruiting to the place of work and also per diem payments advanced to him. If the recruited worker is a farm hand, "kolkhoznik (farm hand from a collective farm), or a member of the communist youth organization, and works in the mines of the Ugol one year and fulfills the work days and norms of output stipulated in the collective agreement, the enterprise pays him a lump sum equal to the average value of his output of 12 days. II. LAWS AND REGULATIONS REGARDING RUSSIAN LABORERS GENERALLY When the order for the recruiting of coal miners was issued, the Soviet Government was in the process of formulating more general measures against labor turnover, to apply to the whole country. Regulations were promulgated on September 25, 1930, an account of which is given in Russian Economic Notes, as follows:2 A measure which will tend to prevent the shifting of labor is the resolution passed recently by the Commissariat for Labor, the Supreme Economic Council, and the All-Union Central Council of Cooperative Societies, according to which the administration of factories and other economic organizations is to enter in the pay books of individual workmen the reasons for their dismissal. These notations must cover all possible reasons, such as: By workman's own request, termination of contract, inability to do the work, absenteeism, etc. If, owing to the short duration of employment the workmen do not have a pay book, the reasons for leaving the job are to be stated on a special memorandum that is to be handed to the man when he leaves. The men in charge of employment are to interview the men who express a desire to leave, and if the complaints are reasonable, the factory administration should comply with the workmen's requests so as to retain them. The employment bureaus are forbidden to register applicants for jobs who do not have a statement of the reasons for leaving their last job. Persons who have left on their own initiative, or have been discharged for breach of labor discipline are to be registered by the labor bureaus on special lists; these men are not to be given unemployment doles and are to have the last choice in obtaining jobs. The economic organizations to which these workmen are assigned should be specially notified that the men sent to them have been discharged for breach of labor discipline or are known to have quit their jobs without approved reasons. The personnel departments of the economic organizations are instructed to act in the same way as the employment bureaus. A decree promulgated by the Labor Commissariat of the Soviet Union on October 11, 1930, reads in part as follows: 3 1. In view of the insufficiency of labor in all branches of the national economy, the State Insurance Department henceforth will give no unemployment pay except in cases of physical disability. Russian Economic Notes No. 104, Oct. 31, 1930, p. 4, translated from "Za Industrializatziiu" (Sept. 25, 1930). Russian Economic Notes consists of translations and digests of publications of the Soviet Government and of the semiofficial Russian Press. Russian Economic Notes are prepared by the Russian Division in the United States Department of Commerce. 3 A decree of the I.abor Commissariat of the Soviet Union, October 11, 1930. Izvestia (Organ of the Cen tral Executive Committee of the Soviets of the U. S. S. R., and of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets), Oct. 11, 1930, p. 4. 36281-31- 2 2. Htate Inbor exchanges and employment agencies must immediately take mensures for putting the unemployed to work-and first of all those hitherto enjoying the right to unemployment insurance pay. 3. Unemployed persons must accept work not only in accordance with their own specialty, but also, if necessary, work requiring no special qualification. 4. No reasons for refusal of such proposed work will be accepted, except Refusal to accept work will involve illness, supported by a medical certificate. removal of such persons' names from labor exchange files. The labor exchanges are the offices through which employment is secured in the state industries. On the date that the above decree was issued, the Workers' Gazette, a Russian paper, stated that to be striken from labor exchange files would imply explusion from trade unions with the probable loss of civic rights and the certain loss of accident or illness insurance.* On October 20, 1930, the central committee of the Communist Party issued a resolution which states that: Skilled workmen and specialists employed in less important branches of the national economy, factories or administrative organizations, can be removed by the request of the Commissariat for Labor and sent to more important industries, particularly, coal mining, iron, and steel, transport and large construction underbakings, regardless of where they are located. This resolution also says that slackers and floaters are to be deprived of the right to work in industrial undertakings for six months. III. TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES IN ANTHRACITE COAL, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RUSSIA The coal imported from Soviet Russia into the United States consists of anthracite. For a number of years anthracite has been imported into this country, but the Russian imports began only in 1979. The following table shows the imports for consumption of authracite from all countries since 1922. Valne per ton Imports for consumption of anthracite coal from Russia by customs districts, 1929, and first 10 months of 1930 1 It will be noted that practically all the imports of Russian anthracite in 1929 and 1930 entered New England customs districts. New England was also the predominant market for imported anthracite from all countries in 1927 and 1928. The following table shows the imports of anthracite from Soviet Russia by months in 1929 and the first 10 months of 1930: Imports for consumption of anthracite from Soviet Russia, by months, 1929 and 1930 United States exports of anthracite have been as follows since 1922: Exports of anthracite from the United States, 1922–1929 1 1 U. S. Department of Commerce, statistics section, coal division, mimeographed report, Nov. 29, 1930. Total exports of coal from Russia amounted to 388,682 tons in 1927-28, and to 726,443 tons in 1928-29.7 These include shipments to all countries. 6 IV. RESERVES AND PRODUCTION OF COAL IN SOVIET RUSSIA 1. Reserves. The total Russian coal reserves are estimated to be about 475,000,000,000 tons, 83 per cent of which are in Asiatic Russia.8 The Donetz Basin, situated in the Ukraine, and not far from the Black Sea, is the most important developed Russian coal field. It is the source of the anthracite coal exported to the United States. The Donetz coal is in one large field, which extends from west to east for a distance of 300 miles. It is considered the largest coal field in Europe, but it is split up into several areas, with varying qualities of coal. Roughly, the flaming coals are at the western end of the field, the coking and semianthracite coals in the center, and the anthracite in the east, though coking coals are also found toward the northeast corner. Throughout the Donetz field the seams vary much in thickness; the bulk of the output is from seams of 21 to 35 inches; but seams of 5 feet are moderately common, and the maximum thickness is 7 feet. 10 11 The Donetz coal reserves are estimated at 68,167,000,000 tons, of which 39,599,000,000 tons are classed as anthracite and semianthracite and 28,568,000,000 as bituminous. These anthracite deposits are over twice as large as the remaining anthracite coal reserves of Pennsylvania, which amount to about 15,000,000,000 tons, about two-thirds of the original deposits.12 2. Production.-The following table shows the production of coal in the Soviet Union for recent years and a comparative figure of the output in 1913 in the present territory of the union. Output of coal in Soviet Union, by principal mining areas i [Thousands of metric tons] quarte The 000 to tons. incre thrac 1917 1918 1919 1920 192 192 192 192 199 19 19 19 h Choromkhov.. Others... Total... 1926-27 1927-28 1928-29 1929-30 760 463 1.169 1.600 2.366 3.024 3,008 655 817 1.050 1.846 2375 1.914 1 Santalov and Segal, Soviet Union Yearbook. 1980, p. 145. The production of coal in the Soviet Union was much greater in *Russian Geological Commis (apasy Ugle & S. S. S. R.), Leningrad, 3 Great Britam, Tagers mineral resources The Mineral Industry of the British Empire and SSSSR. Legend, 1987, R& Report of the U, S. Coal Common, 1925, Purt Lp. 36 |