V. I.

Lenin

I. M. Kozminykh-Lanin, an engineer, has published a book on
the length of the working day and working year in the factories of Moscow
Gubernia.

The data collected by the author relate to the end of 1908 and cover
219,869 workers, or a little over seven-tenths of the total number of
factory workers in Moscow Gubernia (307,773).

On the basis of these data, the author finds the average working day to
be 9 \frac12 hours for adults and juveniles and 7\frac12 hours for
those under age.

It should be noted that these data do not include overtime work (the
author has prepared for the press a special book on overtime work) and,
secondly, that the author’s data are based solely on “obligatory
regulations for employers and workers”.

Whether these regulations are actually adhered to is a question our
engineer does not raise. Only workers’ unions, by compiling their own
statistics, could collect data on this question as well.

This 9 \frac12-hour day varies greatly from one establishment to
another.

The author’s tables show that 33,466 workers work over 10 hours a day ! This covers more than 15 per cent of the total number of
workers surveyed.

There are 13,189 workers who work over 11 hours a day , and 75 workers who work over 12 hours a day. The bulk of the
workers crushed by this excessively long working day belongs to the textile
industry.

If it is taken into account that approximately one-third of the workers
are not included in the author’s survey, the conclusion can be drawn that the working day of more than 20,000
factory workers in Moscow Gubernia is monstrously long.

Lastly, Kozminykh-Lanin’s data show that even the extremely obsolete
Russian law of 1897, which permits an 11\frac12-hour (!!!) day, is not observed by the factory owners . Under that law, when working in two
shifts, no worker may work more than 9 hours a day, calculated over a
fortnight.

In reality, however, out of the 83,990 two-shift workers surveyed by
the author, 14,376 worked over 9 hours . This comprises 17 per cent
of the total number of those working in two shifts. And of the 3,733
two-shift workers engaged in repair and auxiliary jobs, 2,173, or
nearly three-fifths , worked over 9 hours a day! A total of 16,500
workers who are compelled—even according to official data—to work
longer than allowed by the law!

An eight-hour day existed in Moscow Gubernia in 1908 only for 4,398
workers—out of the 219,669 surveyed. This means that an eight-hour day is
perfectly feasible even today; it is only necessary for 215,000 workers to
overtake those 4,000.

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