William Cox Redfield

“ In Soviet Russia, under Section 10 of the Code of Labor Laws, "all citizens able to work have the right to employment at their vocations." This is not a mere theoretical right. Under Article III of the Code the right to work is enforced through the machinery of the Soviet Government. Every unemployed wage earner is furnished work by the Department of Labor Distribution. In case no work can be found for him he is entitled to an unemployed benefit which must be equal to his regular wages, fixed by the wage scale committee of his labor union. ”

“ A wage earner is not permitted to change from one job to another except by the permission duly certified by the labor authorities, under whom he becomes virtually an industrial serf bound to his job. If a man wishes to quit work, he must secure a certificate from the bureau of medical experts proving his disability, and whether it is temporary or permanent. Leaves of absence may be granted by agreement between the management of enterprises and workmen's committees,but a wage earner shall not be allowed to work for remuneration during his leave of absence. ”

“ In the first place, all citizens of Soviet Russia between sixteen and fifty who are not incapacitated by injury or illness are subject to compulsory labor. All laborers are divided into categories by the authorities and are subject to wage scales and labor conditions laid down by them. Every laborer must carry a labor booklet, which is like a passport. ”

“ Moreover, inasmuch as the government must provide every able-bodied person with work or pay him an unemployed benefit, it would be unbusinessnike to permit one worker to draw double pay while others may have to be put on the list of the unemployed and draw unemployed benefits. ”

“ MR. REDFIELD is of opinion that under Soviet law "labor is put back into a state of serfdom and oppression the like of which has not been known for a century." The Soviet government has "imposed a tyranny which has deprived labor of all the rights and privileges hitherto attained." The laborer has become "virtually a serf bound to his job." ”

“ No American workman should (would?) submit for a moment to such a tyrannical and oppressive system and a reading of this code shows clearly how far the autocracy at Moscow has gone in the direction of reaction and destruction of the liberty and right of the individual. ”

“ Redfield never heard of the chain gangs in the Southern States, where unemployed negroes are sentenced to prison terms for vagrancy and hired out by the authorities to private contractors to work on public roads? ”