While the industrial union form is the most proper form of union for the workers, even of other countries, still, the centralism of these industrial unions, which made the subordination of the union under the party and the soviet government possible, was to be traced to that particular circumstance. But if the Russian bolsheviks want to transfer their own forms of organization upon the rest of the countries, then they make a fatal error. As, the peculiar form of organization called "Labor Bureaus" arose out of French soil, and as the Industrial Unions arose in America, so there grew up in Russia under particular circumstances the dependence of the unions upon the party. Just as it would be a failure to transfer the French form to American conditions, so it is also a failure to try to carry over the Russian form to other countries, as provided for in the statutes of the Third International. In Sweden, for instance, the local samorganization is a far better form for that country, not only as a fighting organization but also as a future foundation for socialist production. Anyhow, it would be difficult for the centralistic leadership of a political party to work its way into control of such a form of organization, in fact, it is inconceivable.
The Organization of the Unions
The building of the Russian unions is partly done from ti top downward and partly from the bottom upward. Bu\t their functions take place exclusively from the top dowmvard. We therefore get a better picture of the general activity of the unions, which at the same time serve as a regulator of production, when we consider their growth outward from the center, as the rules prescribe. In Russia, membership in the unions is obligatory for all industrial workers. There are 4% millions of organized workers in Russia, (1920).
Every organization must be practical, that is, its form must correspond to the functions it has to fill. As the present function of the Russian unions is to manage industry and to fill the tasks given it by the Supreme Council of National Economy, which has production in its hands, the unions must be so organized that they can do justice to these tasks. The shops (factories, furnaces, mines, transport and distribution facilities) are no longer in the hands of private employers but in the hands of the state. When the shops still were in the hands of private employers, a union organization of the kind that exists today was not necessary for capitalist production. But when everything was nationalized and thus became the property of a single owner, (the state) , this single owner, also had to be in the position of being able to supervise everything from one central point, We can best illustrate this if we imagine a great capitalist company, which does not either belong to any single person but still all threads run together in one central point. Everything is conducted from this central point. Everything must again come back to that point.
The manager of production is the Supreme Council of National Economy. To production belong two parts: men and things. The organization of the human part is the unions. For this reason the Supreme Council of National Economy must act through the unions. The manner of procedure is this: The managers of the factories are appointed by the S. C. of N. E. after nominations by the unions. Furthermore, representatives of the S. C. of N. E. have a seat in the councils of the unions. Besides, the unions have a representative in the Commissariat of Labor. The commissar of the Commissariat of Labor, who at the same time is a member of the Council of People's Commissars is put on this post through the joint selection of the unions.
a) The Central Council of the All-Russian Unions consists of 120 members and is elected from a congress of local district committees, gouvernement committees, local district councils and gouvernement councils. The president of the Central Council of the All-Russian Unions is Michael Tomski. The members of the Central Committee are eleven. They are, besides Tomski: A. A^drejeff, W. Kossior, E. Holzman, H. Ziperovitch, N. Ivanoff, N. Bucharin, P. Rutzutak, J. Lutovinow and W. Schmidt.