A further difference consists in the very nature of the two organizations; the Russian unions are absolutely centralistic; the single parts have no right to self-determination; they have to carry out the decisions and orders of the central councils to the limit. But in Freie Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands (Free Labor Union of Germany), that is, the Syndicalist Movement, the local organizations, the Labor Bureaus as well as individual unions belonging to the industrial or craft federations have the right of complete self-determination. The idea which serves as a foundation of the Russian unions is the same as, or similar to the fundamental idea of the German syndicalists. Both wish to be the organizations which have to solve the problem of production and consumption in the socialist society.
These tasks which the Freie Arbeiter-Union of Germany has set for itself, theoretically, the Russian unions had an opportunity to put into practice, although under other conditions and with the use of other means. But it has not yet been possible to completely grip the whole economic life through the unions. Lozovsky, one of the presiding members of the Central Council of the Ail-Russian Unions, says in a pamphlet treating of the Russian unions, that this is an ideal to which they would, without doubt, approach in the future, but that it is not possible for the present.
The provisioning is still largely handled by the nationalized Consumers' Societies (Centrosoyuz), who co-operate with the Food Stuffs Commissariat and have a branch in each locality. This branch supplies the workers with foodstuffs through the shop councils or factory committees. For the rest, the supplying of food stuffs is not in the hands of one single organization. As the food stuffs are so scarce everybody is bungling with it. Lozovsky also says that "in the same measure as the unions are perfecting themselves and fill all the functions of economic life, the Soviets will disappear. In bolshevik theory the Soviets are, in consequence, intended only as the weapons of the period of transition, the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat, for the breaking down of capitalism.
The Opposition in the Unions
We have now discussed the program, the form and the functions of the Russian unions. I have also taken pains to ascertain whether the Russian workers are all satisfied with the present condition of the unions or whether there are tendencies which are in opposition. And I was able to observe an opposition coming from two different camps, first from the menshevik camp, and, second, from the camp of the anarcho-syndicalists. The opposition of the mensheviks has taken root principally in the ranks of the printers. It takes the standpoint of democracy. It is of the opinion that the workers should co-operate with other parties and classes, as only then a continued development of economic conditions would be thinkable. Earlier this tendency stood for the Constituent Assembly, but now that the assembly has ceased to exist, they accept fait accompli. Nevertheless, it demands that the unions, as in the capitalist state, should have the right to strike and that they should be free from the state.