The institution which has worked out the insurance system is the Commissariat 'of Labor. At the head of it stands the People's Commissar of Labor, Schmidt. But this commissariat has to care for not only the workers without an income, but also for the active ones, that is, it has to> give out the work to the workers. The commissariat has five sub-departments. The first branch handles the distribution of the work and the workers ; the second, protection of the workers ; the third, the tariff service ; the fourth, labor statistics; the fifth, a labor museum. The Commissariat of Labor has sections in every city. If workers are needed in a place, they are sent from a central in Moscow or from a provincial division. This institution also manages the negotiations and arrangemerits with foreigners who wish to immigrate into Russia. The workers must labor according to the conditions fixed by the commissariat. As the commissar of labor is put in office by the trade unions, the conditions are in conformity with the wishes of the Executive Committee of the unions, and the tariff, statistics, etc., are worked out by the Commissariat in conjunction with the unions. When a job of some kind is to be started, such as the erection of a building, the Commissariat for Building Construction addresses itself to the Supreme Council of National Economy for material, and to the Labor Commissariat for workers. Just as the Supreme Council of National Economy has to supply the material, so the Commissariat of Labor has to supply the labor power.
These measures of labor protection include motherhood insurance, child insurance and the bringing up of children, invalid and sickness insurance. According to the statements of Labor Commissar Schmidt the basic support for all needy is 1,200 rubles per month. This is the minimum wage for workers, for unemployed, for women whose husbands are in the red army, etc. Of the workers actually employed — and that is practically all the workers included in the unions — about one-sixth receives this minimum wage; five-sixths receive additional payments of all kinds, through overtime, through piece work, through premiums, so that the worker comes to an average of 4,000-5,000 rubles per month. The wage is paid partly in kind, partly in money. Workers under 15 years are allowed to work only 6 hours a day.
So far Commissar Schmidt. But in the factories I have found that many qualified workers earn much more than the sums given here ; they come as high as from 10,000 to 15,000 rubles per month. In the factories I also spoke with 16-year old youths, who had already for four years worked 8 hours a day at the turning lathe, so that the protection of the youth, which now exists on paper, has not yet been carried over into reality. It may be that the decree on workers' insurance is partly carried out, but that it is not completely carried out ivas proven by my observations,
National Finance
In another place in this book we have already discussed the question whether we in Russia have to do with state capitalism or state socialism. The financial problem shows us this question in new light.
When the November revolution of 1917 broke out and went o*n to victory, all large land owners were dispossessed. The banks were nationalized. Interest on money was abolished, private capital was changed into national capital. All mortgages were annulled. Tho government made great efforts to collect all the money outstanding on mortgages, but received only 4 million rubles under that head.