Известия Уральского федерального университета. Серия 2: Гуманитарные науки (Sep 2019)
The Social Sentiments of Workers of Ural Region in the Mid-1920s (with Reference to Information Bulletins of JSPD)
Abstract
Referring to information reports of the Joint State Political Directorate (Rus. OGPU), this article examines the social sentiments of workers of Ural Region and their causes and manifestations in the mid-1920s in the conditions of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The paper illustrates the main causes of negative sentiments among workers (high production rates, low wages, protective clothing, housing issues, etc.). Among important factors for the workers’ discontent were their tense relations with the factory administration provoked by its rudeness, as well as the inaction of trade union organisations, which often led to strikes. The period faced a steady increase in the number of strikes in Ural Region. In 1926, the number of strikes tripled compared to 1925. A large number of conflicts that led to strikes had an economic basis, i.e. they arose from failure of the administration to fulfil its obligations. The defiant, demonstrative behaviour of the administration of factories and specialists and their malpractice fueled the workers’ dissatisfaction. Workers compared the situation in the factories with the times of the tsar. As a result, political discontent and anti-Soviet and anti-Communist moods began to arise among industrial workers of the Urals. Thus, the social and economic situation of workers had little to do with the official status of the working class as a hegemonic class in Soviet Russia. At the same time, most workers were loyal to the Soviet government which they considered “their own”. The workers were more concerned about the economic aspects of their daily existence. Social unrest could become more widespread in case of deterioration of economic situation in the country but could hardly develop into political unrest.
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