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COMPETITIONIN THE SOVIET UNION

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SOCIALIST COMPETITIONIN THE

SOVIET UNION

"Socialist competition and capitalistcompetition represent two entirely differ­ent principles. The principle of capitalistcompetition is: defeat and death for someand victory for others. The principle ofsocialist competition is: comradely assist­ance to those lagging behind the more ad­vanced, with the purpose to reach genera)advancement. Capitalist competition says:Destroy those Jagging behind in order toestablish your domination. Socialist com­petition says: some work poor, others bet­ter and others still better-reach the bestand establish genera) advancement. Thisreally explains the unheard of enthusiasm,which captured millions of toiling massesin our socialist competition. It is needlessto say that capitalist competition andcapitalism could never create anythingsimilar to the present enthusiasm of themasses" Stalin.

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and peasants of the Soviet Union. Through its publications it willbring out truthful and authentic accounts of the industrial, political andcultural activities of the Soviet Union and will from time to timearrange delegations of work;ers to visit the land of the Soviets to seeand study for themselves the achievements of the Five Year Pl"n.

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The Continuous Workint! WeekIn The Soviet Union

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Socialist .Competition in theSoviet Union

The pace at which the Soviet workers and peasants aresuccessfully building Socialism thru realizing the terms ofthe Five Year Plan for the industrialization of the countryand complete socialization and collectivization of agricultureis greatly accelerated by the slogan "Socialist Competition."To American workers the word "competition" means rivalrybetween individuals for the greatest advantage and personalgain, or the independent endeavor of two persons to getthe best of and to outdo and even exterminate each other.Competition under capitalism means individualism and a"fight to a finish." In the Soviet Union competition has anentirely different meaning. In his article "How to OrganizeSocialist Competition," written in the spring of 1918, Leninsaid the following about competition in the period of So­lCialist construction:

"Socialism does not only not extinguish competition,but on the contrary for the first time creates possibilitiesto apply competition widely, on a real mass scale, todraw the majority of' the toilers into the field of thiswork, where they can really show themselves, wherethey can develop their abilities, disclose their talentswhich are an untouched source among the masses andwhich capitalism trampled upoh, crushed and strangledby thousands and millions."

From this we understand then, that Socialist competitioninstead of bringing to the forefront the bourgeois ideologyof personal gain, gives to the working clCl'sS the possibilityfor opening up latent talents and displaying all its creativeenergies for the purpose of social gain, for the benefit ofthe whole working class and peasantry, and not for personalgain and the benefit of a few parasitical members of society.Instead of throttling and exterminating the energies andcapabilities of the toiling masses it stimulates them to in­creased efforts, opens up all the dormant, creative energiesof immense value to society which under capitalism couldnever come to use.

[ 5 ]

6 SOCIALIST COMPETITION

I

SOCIAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS WORK.

When the working class i,s victorious and begins the taskof reconstructing economic life it assumes an entirely differ­ent attitude towards· work than under capitalism. In a cap­italist factory a· worker works under compulsion withoutfeeling any personal interest in his work. Under capitalismhis work, whenever he has a job, is merely the means ofkeeping life together, it gives him only the barest necessitiesof life. As soon as the fa.ctory belongs to the workers col­lectively, t'he worker assumes a different attitude. Now hefeels that he must give all his energies, all his devotion, allhis working power and creative abilities to his factory, tothe working class, his class and to the State of his class.

Have the Soviet workers accepted this ideology towardswork ? Yes. One need only point to the stupendous eco­nomic reconstruction work that has taken place in theformer empire of the czar. This work could never havebeen ac·complished unless the class-conscious Soviet workersand peasants were imbued with the spirit of work not forpersonal gain, but for the good of the whole working class,for the success of the 'Workers and Peasants Republic.

Socialist competition in the Soviet Union began on thesecond day after the capture of power by the working classand even before that, in the fight for the capture of power.The workers of the Soviet Union in the fights on the mili­tary and industrial fronts have shown wonders of self­sacrifice and heroism competing with one another forsupremacy in these struggles, for the honor of doing mostfor their class, for their State. There are no pages in theworld's history telling of gr~ater heroic deeds than the pagesrelating to the struggles of the Russian workers during thetwelve years of· building up the Workers' and Peasants.'Republic in the Soviet Union .

FORMER ECONOMIC CONDITIONS.

When ·one speaks of the accomplishments of the Sovietworkers, the strides forward that they have made, oneshould not forget to tell of the former economic conditionsof the Russia that the workers succeeded to. The characterof the country was mainly agricultural; industry was verylittle developed and the little that did exist was artificiallystimulated with the aid of a high tariff and could keep on

IN THE SOVIET UNION 7

going only as long as such tariff barriers existed. Eco­nomically and technically the country was also very primi­tive and backward. In such a condition Russia entered intothe bloody imperialist war of 1914-18. Russia's economysuffered much more than that of any other country; thewar caused a complete breakdown and disorganization ofits commerce and industry. For years after the Brest­Litovsk peace counter-revolution devastated Russia and theworkers and peasants had to defend their new Soviet powerafter having overthrown the rule of the former landownersand the bourgeoisie in the successful revolution of Novem­ber, 1917. During civil war, with battles ranging on sixteendifferent fronts, Russian economic life became still moremined. At this time the bourgeoisie tried their level best toregain their lost power but all to no avail. Not succeedingin doing this, with the aid of armies sent in to help themfrom the imperialist Europe and America, they proceededto destroy and sabotage. Industrial plants, roads, waterways,railways, bridges, etc., were blown up, demolished or va­cated, and with wars On all fronts, they had to be left todecay and ruin. But the Red Army of the workers andpeasants beat these armies of the interventionists back andemerging victorious, the Russian workers and peasantsbegan the task of reconstructing ruined Russia. They tookstock and were soon at the job of putting the Workers andPeasants Republic on its feet. Upon checking up, the work­ers found that industry was producing about a quarter ofthe pre-war output of 1913. On top of this economic ruin,they lived through a great calamity, the famine of 1921,caused by the failure of the crops in 1921. The year 1922was spent in struggle with the consequences of this terriblefamine. .

So when one speaks of the reconstruction of Soviet indus­try and economy one should reckon from 1923, for in thatyear really begins the rehabilitation of Soviet economy.During this whole period of war communism, of civil war,famine and blockade the spirit of' socialist competition andclass consciousness and devotion to the ideas of the Octoberrevolution came to the foreground and thousands and mil­lions of workers were drawn in to the task of lifting Russiaout of economic ruin and saving and strengthening therevolution. ,All of us have heard of the "Communist Satur­days," when voluntary, unpaid collective work was done

8 SOCIALIST COMPETITION

for the community and for the state, such as repairing andcleaning streets and buildings, sowing, reaping and harvest­ing , bringing out lumJber, unbottling congested transporta­tion facilities and other work which had to be done andwhich' was done. This sort of spirit does not and neces­sarily cannot exist in capitalist countries because the work­ers cannot have any interest in doing work that profits noone else than the exploiters. Only when the workers them­selves are the owners of' the means of production can suchenthusiastic collective working spirit prevail. All the state­ments of bourgeois economists that Socialism does not stim­ulate labor is proved so much bunk, for during socialistreconstruction the productivity of labor is not lost, butstimulated to its highest degree.

THE GREAT INITIATIVE.

"Communism begins where the unselfish and difficultwork of the people is devoted to increasing the outputof wealth, to preserving every bushel of corn, everyhundredweight of coal and other necessaries, destinednot for the producers themselves and their 'nearest'but for those who are 'distant'-for society as a whole,for the millions of human beings, at first living in sep­arate Socialist countries, and later united in a Leagueof Soviet Republics."-Lenin, "The Great Initiative"(1919).

Even though Socialist competItIon is not new, neverthe­less until very recently it was carried on in an -unorganizedfashion, mostly by members of the Young CommunistLeague and Communist Party, the most class conscious sec­tion of the workers and peasants, and was not really under­stood by the broadest masses of' workers and peasants.

The great tasks facing the country and the added dutiesplaced upon the Soviet workers by the Five Year Plan forthe developing to the fullest extent the economic life demandan extraordinary and entirely new m.ethod in the wholesystem of work. This new method is Socialist competition.This socialist rivalry between workers began in the monthsof March and April, 1929, on the initiative of the workersof separate works, led by the Communist Party and the tradeunions. Rivalry and contests exist between individual

IN THE SOVIET UNION 9

workers in the factories, between separate departments ofthe factory, between separate factories, all the way up, tocompetition between districts and whole enterprises.

The workers compete to improve the quality of the work,the quantity of production, to decrease the cost of produc­tion, etc. In many places the workers organize themselvesinto brigades who thru the example of their work and con­duct show the other workers how to improve their work andthe products turned out, how to fill the quota thru definiteresults. These brigades consist of the most active, the mostclass conscious and devoted workers. Their work is full ofenthusiasm and serves as a fine example to the otherworkers.

Craft competes against craft, one factory competes withanother for obtaining the best results. For example,Andjero-Sudjensky mining district in Siberia competes withthe Gorlovsk mining distriot of the Don Basin and the oldoil district of the Grozneft competes with the Surahanskydistrict of Asneft.

FORMS AND METHODS.

The forms and methods of carrying out Socialist compe­tition are extremely varied. Active workers take uponthemselves the patronage over young workers and newworkers. The factories that are competing with each otherexchange delegates and information. Quite different fromAmerica where competing plants look upon each other asunfriendly rivals, yes, as enemies, and the secrets of pro­duction are carefully guarded from each other, with spiessent in to find out what the rival is doing, and where thesooner you canl thru competition, stop the activity of yourrival the "better." The profit interests are decisive inAmerica, and the interests of society are completely disre­garded. But in the Soviet Union the rival is challenged togreater and greater efforts thru comradely competition.

The most active comrades among the workers taking partin socialist competition are carefully distributed over alldepartments in a factory or plant or mine-pit. Such"actives" are to be found in every department. They notonly take part in the socialist competition, but they spreadit' and draw in other workers and inform the productioncommittee of the general progress. The production com-

10 "uCIALIST COMPETITION

mittees are the leaders of the competition, they hold dailyconferences, compare results, try to correct defects whichare hindering the work. In some factories special booksare kept where the workers can write down their proposalsand criticism of various defects and errors. Such booksalso exist in some American factories but for an entirelydifferent purpose. The workers are asked to give "sugges­tions for improvements," etc., which improvements, if theywere to be given by the workers, would cause more speedup, and rationalization and general worsening of the condi­tions of the workers and more profits to the factory owners,and the things that the worker wants to improve, namelyhis own conditions, more wages, shorter hours, less speedu~. better hygienic conditions, vacations with pay, socialinsurance paid for by the industry, these things the workerknows that he can never get by making suggestions in thebosses book, but only thru fighting for them, thru organiza­tion under the leadership of the revolutionary trade unions,and following in the footsteps of the Soviet workers.

Under this new socialist competition in order to stimu­late the interest of the workers many methods are used. Forexample, the best and most active workers are placed onred lists, while lazybones and slackers are put on blacklists. Special public courts are organized by the workers totry these slackers, idlers and those who break the disciplineof the factories. Special satirical placards and posters aremade. Industrial exhibitions and corners are organized,special meetings are called. In the evenings movie showswith special industrial films are organized.

WOMEN WORKERS AND COMPETITION .

. In this socialist rivalry the woman worker does not lagbehind. In many instances she has been the pioneer inintroducing various new measures. The women workersare particularly effective in strengthening the labar disci­pline, and available reports show that labor discipline insome places is higher among the women workers thanamong the men. There are cases reported, for example,where workers have been expelled from the factory becauseof too frequent absence. Absence, unless for good cause,is considered a severe breach of discipline. Even the wivesof workers take part in socialist competition. In the Donetz

IN THE SOVIET UNION II

Basin, for example, the workers' wives, in ?- meeting de­clared to the husbands who had the habit of being too fre­quently absent from the shop, that "We demand normalwork from you, without absences"! This declaration ofthe women proved to be very effective.

COMPETITION AMONG TECHNICIANS

Comradely contests among the engineers, technical expertsand administrators is also very keen. They work togetherwith the workers, aid them in working out technical points,in organizing the control of the results of competition andteaching and helping the workers so that they are able totake part more efficiently in the leadership of the variousindustries. Since October last, more than 500 men andwomen workers from the bench have been promoted toresponsible positions, and during the next few months itis proposed to promote 10,000 workers from the benchesto leading positions in the State and economic apparatus,and still others will be taken from the benches and trainedin the technical schools. These experts and engineers alsocompete with each other in order to find new methods ofWlork, to rationalize and improve various processes of pro­duction. This participation of specialists and engineersbrings them nearer to the workers, they take part in theproduction conferences, they hear the criticism and com­ments of the workers, favorable "and unfavorahle, all ofwhich helps to do away with the previous misunderstand­ings during the earlier part of the Soviet regime which haveexisted between the workers and engineers, and strengthensthe relations between them. There has been a systematicstruggle against shortcomings and against bureaucracy andthis socialist competition has brought out many interestingproblems and practical recommendations for progress andimprovements in all spheres.

For experts and technicians to discuss problems of pro­duction, etc., with rank and file workers is a step for­ward, and for them to teach them, aid them so that theworkers can become more efficient and finally take "the leader­ship is also a step forward from the practise in capitalistcountries, where such a spirit of comradely co-operation be­tween specialists and workers is unknown and impossible.

12 SOCIALIST COMPETITION

Under capitalism children are taught not to aid oneanother in their problems. In capitalist schools it is for­bidden, for example, for a child to show another how anarithmetic problem is done, or how a word is spelled, andfor the child to ask another next to him for advice istaboo. The capitalist ideology of competition and rivalryforbids it. Each child is taught to struggle for itself, andto egotistically hold on to all acquired knowledge as somuch private property. This ideology is shown in the"honor" system practised in the colleges where the studentis upon his "honor" not to give or take aid from a fellowstudent during exams. In America, competition, the strug­gle for an existence, forces the specialist to jealously guardhis superior training and knowledge, for the possession ofsuch knowledge places him in another class than the work­ing class; it puts him in the ranks of the middle class orbourgeoisie. The technicians and specialists in Americanindustries are often the bosses. They are the ones who arehated by the workers, and the real owners, who do nothinguseful for production and live a parasitical life on the profitssqueezed out of the workers by these technician-bosses,often assume a democratic attitude, as for example HenryFord of the Ford Motor Trust, or William A. Wood ofthe American Woolen Trust, they are considered as "goodfellows" because of a "generous gift" of a baseball diamondor a half' holiday once during the summer when the work­ers are taken to some cheap resort at the owners' expense.Such philanthropic and "welfare" work in general is noth­ing but a scheme of the capitalists to draw the attentionof the workers away from their miserable working conditions.

SELF-CRITICISM.

Here one must mention the campaign of self-criticismnow going on in the Soviet Union. This campaign has tre­mendously contributed towards the doing away with manydefects in management and administration and with bureau­cracy among Soviet officials; with backwardness and withconduct unbecoming to workers under communism whicha;re remnants of' the prerevolutionary days. Stalin says,"Self-criticism is as necessary for 1fS as air and water."Soviet workers and peasants are in all ways induced tostate their opinions about anyone or anything which they

13

Soviet factory work.ers try an embezzler.

consider to be wrong. In this campaign the workers havenot spared either their fellow workers or administrators,and the campaign has resulted in bringing about genuineimprovements. It was Lenin who taught the Soviet workersthat the best means for overcoming defects is not to keepsilent about them, but, on the contrary to give them as muchpublicity as possible. These articles on self-criticism arepublished in the Soviet press and are used by the enemiesof the Soviet Union to prove that there exists in the SovietUnion only shortcomings and weaknesses; but to the work­ers in the Soviet Union, and to the workers outside of theSoviet Union such criticism signifies strength, stability andan earnest desire for progress and to improye present con­ditions in every sphere, thru exposing all weaknesses andthus overcoming them.

AGREEMENTS ON SOCIALIST COMPETITION.

The agreements entered into by the various groups whichare competing with each other show that the economic basisand aims of the competition are linked up with the politicalaims of the competition. To illustrate how varied are thepoints around which the workers compete and the serious-

14 SOCIALIST COMPETITION

ness with which these workers take these socialist contests,we list here some of the points included in the agreementson competition entered into by the various groups:

1. To carry out the industrial tasks of production andeven to ca>rry out more than assigned by the Five Year Plan.

2. To increase the productivity of labor.3. To reduce the cost of- production.4. Strict observance of the working hours.5-. To decrease the expenses for fuel.6. To lower the administrative expenses.7. To decrease the number of absences and latenesses.8. To economically use materials.9. To decrease waste in production.10. To improve the quality of goods.II. To be careful with factory property, such as tools,

materials, etc.12. To completely realize all proposals of the production

conferences.13. To carry out all measures of rationalization.14. To improve safety measures and to decrease the

number of accidents.IS. To improve the work of the co-operatives.

AGREEMENTS TO IMPROVE HOME LIFE.

There are also agreements to improve the home life of theworkers, and their cultural activities, as for example againstthose that stimulate lazybones, slackers and idlers, against na­tionalistic hatred, against anti-semitism and the persecutionof specialists. On the cultural field the workers and peas­ants pledge to liquidate illiteracy, both general and technicalilliteracy; to establish reading rooms, libraries, newspapers,and other mediums of agitation; for the attendance of meet­ings and lectures; to fight drunkenness and other forms ofmisconduct; to struggle for better hygienic conditions, as forexample to keep clean houses, barracks, cleanliness for theanimals, not to spit or smoke in living rooms, etc.

GOMRADELY COMPETITION BETWEEN FARM AND CITY WORKERS

Many factories and mills in the towns and cities competewith the workers on the collective farms and the Soviet farmsand even with certain sections of the poor and middle strataof peasantry in the villages. The industrial workers in the

IN THE: SOVIET UNION IS

dty will pledge themselves to carry oult the plans in theirfactory as voted upon in the general meetings and the peas­ants will agree to do all :they can to help in the industrializa­tion of the countryside, as for example:

1. to organize collective farms.2. to introduce new methods of agriculture.3. to increase and rotate the crops.4. to increase the acreage of the tilling.S. to increase the agreements with the government for

the collection of the crops, and to receive agricultural aidfrom the government.

There are also contests which involve the question of laborprotection, as for example the workers ag,ree to lower thenumber of accidents in industry; to prevent industrial ill­ness by introducing better sanitation, ventilation, rest­periods, etc.; to do away with industrial damages; to aidand improve the work of the Committee on Labor Protection.From this one can see that every field of activity is includedin this vast contest, in this competition for the complete so­cialization of the 'once technically ill-equipped and backwardRussian industries, and for bringing the workers to a betterunderstanding that they themselves are the masters over anyimprovement and betterment in their economic conditionsand that only by hard, intensive, never ceasing work on thepart of the greatest masses of the workers and peasants willthey be able to be successful and reach their goal. Theycome to ,realize that they cannot sit down and wait for thingsto get better. They themselves must do the bettering, andthe more and better they work the faster they will get thedesired electrification, the fine new roads, waterways, raii­roads, oil wells, pumps and machinery f'Or the refining ofthis natural product; modern mine machinery, tractors, newhomes for the workers, club houses, hospitals, sanatoria, etc.,etc. The first year of the socialist competition has broughtto the mind of the broad Soviet masses as never before therealization that all these things are theirs to get by hardwork, and no amount of effort is spared by the masses tofulfill the enormous tasks set out for them.

16 SOCIALIST COMPETITION

RESULTS OF THE COMPETITION

The results of these socialist contests have been remark- .able. In fad it has been almost impossible for the statis­ticians to keep up with the workers and to record the results.The figures change so rapidly. \Ve can give a few figureskom some of the basic industries which will show the re­markable results:

I. Groups of exemplary workers in the Kemarovsky Min­ing Syndicate in Siberia, competing with each other werealble to increase productivity in some cases 44% over pre­vious figures, and other groups as high as 88% over whatthey had done in 1927-28.

2. In Baku, in the Lenin District, the production in June,1929 increased by 130%; in July, 1929, 147%; in anotheroil field in the Baku district production increased by 136%;in June, 1929, and 136.7% in July, 1929.

3. In the heavy industry like iron ore; in the RidderovskySyndicate the productivity of l<lJbor increased during July,August and September, 1929, from 34% to 60%; in thesame district the production costs decreased by 40%, theLost of production of one ton of ore fell from 15 rubles to9 rubles.

4. The workers in the Prokopoevsky mine in the KuznetsBasin in Siberia agreed to increase output by 28%; theysUGceeded in increasing output by 324%; they furtheragreed to lower the cost of production per ton, and also toincrease the productivity of labor by 13.5%.

Of course, the results of socialist competition are not al­ways so successful. In some cases the results are not morethan 2 to 10%, and in some cases there is no improvement atall. Then an investigation takes place and workers exercisetheir right of criticism and self-critidsm and the reasons forthis failure are discovered and removed, if possible. But theresults of the socialist competition have been on the averagesplendid, greater than was expected. In reducing the aver­age cost of production in industry as a whole, the workershave succeeded in bringing it down 4.5 % (1928-29).

IN THE SOVIET UNION

PREMIUMS AND BONUSES TO ACTIVE WORKERS

The driving force behind all these contests is the classconsciousness of the workers and their desire for improve­ment of their own State where the workers are the rulingclass. Various bonuses and premiums are given to the mostactive workers and this serves as another driving force insocialist competition. The Soviet People's Commissars is­sued a decree by which all industrial plants and establish­ments are to organize special funds in order to give pre­miums to the most able workers: 401'0 of the sums realizedfrom socialist competition must be given to this special fund.These funds are then spent for the improvement of the cul­tural and home life of the workers. The workers who get thepremiums are sent to rest-homes, or to a sanatorium; orthey may receive a home library, or they may be sent on aspecial mission to another city or even to some foreign coun­try to take part in some technical conference, etc. Or if theyprefer, they may go on an excursion, or take a special coursein some school. Collectively, as far as the factory is con­cerned, the funds are used either for the improvement of orthe building of new day nurseries, club rooms, playgrounds,workers homes, libraries, etc.

RATIONALIZATION·

The socialist competition has brought about tremendousrationalization and speed up in the Soviet industries, minesand mills. The rationalization process is diminishing thecost of production, increasing the productivity of each work­er, decreasing waste of both time and materials and in otherways doing away with the old factory method in Soviet en­terprises. The Soviet workers are constantly talking aboutintroducing "American" methods, American machinery andAmerican efficiency, etc. and some plants are to be modelledalong American lines. From this one would then deducethat things American were set up as an example for all thatis worth emulating and taking after. Yet the difference be­tween rationalization and its consequences in Soviet indus­tries from the American speed up are as different as dayand night. Rationalization in American industries has thefollowing consequences:

18 SOCIALIST COMPETITION

An increase in the production of each individual workermeans less workers are required in the factory and the ex­cess number of workers are thrown into the streets to jointhe unemployment army. These workers become part of theincreasingly growing army of permanently unemployed forwhom there is slight chance of getting work. Rationaliza­tion under capitalism cuts down the wages for the workers,it diminishes the difference between skilled and unskilledworkers bringing the skilled worker to a lower standard ofliving; it wears out the workers sooner because of the inten­sity of the speed-up.

The decrease in the cost of production, by reducing thenumber of workers and increasing productivity of each work­er means so much more profit for the factory owners, andthe worker, although he produces more gets no more payand in many cases gets a wage cut. As for example theweavers in the Loray ,Mill in Gastonia, N. c., who went outon strike in 1929 against this "stretch-out" system, stated:",We were making $30 to $35 per week and were runningsix to eight looms. Now we are running ten to twelvelooms and getting $15 to $18 per week." It also reacts onthe worker who remains on the job, and who must now ac­cept almost any conditions, hours and wages because heknows that there are thousands, everi millions of other work­ers waiting to take his place in the shop. Therefore, in Amer­ica under capitalism all w~rkers should fight against capital­ist rationalization and speed up.

But under the Soviets, under a Communist form ofgovernment just the opposite happens. In the SovietUnion speed-up and rationalization are also taking place,but it has the following results: An increase in the pro­duction of each individual worker means that so muchmore goods are produced, and this increases the nationalwealth of the country. In the Soviet Union, the owners ofindustry are the workers and peasants themselves, andproduction is carried on by them not for the pro,fit of a fewcoupon dipping, parasitical owners, hut for the general wel­fare of all the workers and peasants. Therefore the morethat is produced, the more goods will the workers and pea~­ants receive. A decrease in labor costs, an improvement 10

machinery and increase in the productivity, rationalization

IN THE SOVIET UNION 19

and speed-up in the Soviet Union means to the workers somuch more wealth for the owners of the factories, and theSoviet workers being the owners thereof, get all the benefits.In the Soviet Union rationalization means shorter hours;the seven-hour day has been introduced in almost all indus­tries, in heavy and dangerous industries and in mining sixhours a day is the rule. And recently the Soviet Workershave gone even ahead of the six and seven hour workingday, they have introduced the "continuous working week,"which gives the worker one day off every five days, andwhich figures up to 77 complete days of' rest per year notcounting the fifteen working days vacation with full pay toevery worker who works above ground and thirty days vaca­tion for underground workers. Further, Soviet rationaliza­tion does not wear out the worker. He has longer and morefrequent rest periods during the clay and exerts less physicalefforts than most workers under capitalism. Likewise there isno need to fire a worker in the Soviet Union because of ra­tionalization or technical improvement; instead the Sovietworkers when they are able to produce a given product in lesstime, produce so much more goods for their needs, ancl thedemand for manufactured goods in the Soviet Union is sogreat, due to the greater and greater demands of the workersand peasants and their ability to get more necessities andluxuries, that in order to provide for these· needs any andevery improvement is heartily welcomed because it means somuch more manufactured goods in less time, which in itsturn, enables the city workers to buy so much more grain andother food products from the peasants, all of' which increasesthe standard of living for both the city workers and thepeasants.

INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST COMPETITION

Not only has the socialist competition taken root amongthe Soviet workers and peasants but contests are held be­tween the Soviet workers and peasants and workers in othe~'

countries. Through such contests the workers of capitalistcountries are brought into direct contact with the workers ofthe U.s.S.R. Each group of workers gets to know the prob­lems and conditions of work of the other. Through suchcontacts the slanders and lies broadcast by the capitalistsabout the conditions in the Soviet Union will no longer be

20 SOCIALIST COMPETITION

'r 'believed by the workers. Such competition strengthens f~,ties of international workingclass solidarity, and leads to or­ganization, in the shops and factories of capitalist coun:"tries, of groups of workers who know about the conditionsin the Soviet Union, about its industrialization and the build­ing of socialism, and who stand ready to defend the SovietUnion from any attack by the capitalist countries. The work­ers themselves take the initiative in carrying out toe termsof these agreements and in this way they reach and draw in­to the work th~ broadest possible masses of workers. Suchagreements have' be-en entered into with sections of the Ger­man workers; (Ritfwttymen), with Austrian and Frenchworkers, etc. . . :"':"

'::: .

THE Friends of the Soviet Union AND SOCIALIST

COMPETITION

Through the Friends of the Soviet Union, U.S.A. section,the American workers will be able to enter into such inter­national" cohtests. American workers must aid the Sovietworkers in successfully realizing the Five Year Plan. Ourfirst contrib~ltion towards t~is end is a gi ft of tractors, plows,and trucks' to the value oJ $20,CX)().OO which went to theworkers of Moscow, and to the peasants of a newly organ­ized collective farm on the lower Volga. This is only asmall beginning in developing a movement of the closestco-operation and solidarity between Soviet and Americanworkers. We must continue this work of giving technicalaid; we lUUSt enlarge our activities by campaigns for thesupport and defense of the Soviet Union against world im­perialism; for demands for immediate and unconditionalrecognition of the Soviet Union. Amer. ~all we:.:'enter into competition with workers of l,'

challenge them to increased activity on L - "0

c::st number of n1.embers in.:'lthe Fri!",Union, greatest amount of RTopaganlPlan; greatest number of "~nd laiings ·f'Or the defense of the Soviet Um",.,., --'0--tions to the Industrial Loan and greatest amount of con­tributions for technical aid, machinery and tools! This willdraw Soviet workers and American workers into direct con­tact with each other and cement a tie of solidarity which noimperialist power will ever be able to break.

47f.