From Strikes to “Volynki” (labour sabotage): the Protests of Workers in the Soviet Union of 1920s

Abstract

The paper is devoted to reasons and character of strikes in the USSR in 1920s, and lessons, which the Bolshevik power learnt of the protest of different strata of workers against employers. The politic in the sphere of labour conflicts was of the dualistic character. Some strikes, in particular in private and concession sectors, received an institutional support. Others, in the state sector of economics, assessed as negative acts and were suppressed with administrative and cohesive measures. Steady reproduction of sharp conflicts in the sphere of labour relations lead to a question about genuine nature of the system of power and the economic basis, which was called a socialist one.