Thus there was, as an instance, a strike of bakers in Moscow. The bakers demanded a larger bread ration. Up to that time they had had the same quantity as the population of Moscow, that is, 1 Ib. or 400 grams daily (.88 Ib. American weight). But the military bakers had 4 Ibs. of bread daily, that being the military ration. Now the other bakers demanded just as much. Their demand would have been more just if they had taken the stand that the military should also have received no more than 1 Ib. The strike does not bear testimony of a high moral level. The government, naturally, did not accede to the demands of the bakers, and the bakers struck. It is to be noted that the secretary of the union of the bakers was an anarcho-syndicalist, by the name of N. Pavlov. The measures which the government took in the matter are reported in the "Pravda" of June 19, 1920, in the following manner: "The plenary meeting of the unions took up the matter in their capacity of a government organ. Comrade Melnitschansky,
the chairman of the Moscow Council of the unions, reported on the case and said that the investigation had shown, that the influence of the anarcho-syndicalists were strongly apparent among the bakers. A complete report by Comrade Melnitschansky appeared in No. 125 of the "Pravda." The meeting thereupon adopted the following resolution : Due to the systematic abuse and breach of union discipline by the members of the union committee of the Moscow bakers, it was decided to dissolve the section of the Moscow bakers and include the bakers in the union of the foodstuff workers. The members of the former committee of the section of the bakers' union, N. Pavlov, Kameschov, Nuschenkov, Vurgov and Komsnitzov are excluded from the union movement and shall, furthermore, be held to answer before a judiciary board. They lose their right to speak before any assembly and can never more be elected to a responsible post in the unions."
Naturally, other conflicts occur in the union movement, such as strikes, insubordination, etc. But the mentioning of one conflict is sufficient to make us understand that friction and conflicts can occur even in the Russian unions, and first of all, also between the individual unions and the government, just as in other capitalist states. But which of the different tendencies shall finally gain the upper hand is not difficult to say; very plainly the one that uses the slogan, that in the unions all power shall belong to the unions, being that the workers want to finally make themselves independent and establish the rights of labor. The tendency which says that the state shall go up in the unions shal finally conquer, because the workers feel most free through su< ~ a victory.