V. I. Lenin

Draft Resolution

On “The Tasks of the Trade Unions, And The Methods of Their Accomplishment” [1]

In accordance with the decisions of the Ninth Congress of the
Communist Party of Russia, the Conference once again draws the
attention of the trade unions to the necessity of these decisions
being scrupulously fulfilled, and points out in particular that
the imperative need of a single economic plan establishing the
order of priority of objectives in the general scheme of economic
construction is indisputable. At the same time, as was recognised
by the Party Conference of September 1920, a gradual but steady
transition must be effected from urgency procedures to a more even
distribution of forces, particularly in the secondment of the
individual unions’ best organisers to the All-Russia Central
Council of Trade Unions with a view to consolidating that body as
a whole, improving the functioning of its apparatus, achieving
greater system in the work of all trade unions, and thereby
strengthening the entire trade union movement.

This measure should be applied in particular to the Central
Committee of the General Transport Workers’ Union ( Tsektran ); an end must be put to its
disproportionate growth as compared with the other unions, and the
best elements thus released should extend to the entire trade
union movement those methods of the broader application of
democracy, the promotion of initiative, participation in the
management of industry, the development of emulation, and so
forth, which have yielded the best practical results.

In conformity with the decisions of the Ninth Congress of the
Communist Party of Russia, and recognising as absolutely
indispensable the development, extension and consolidation of
trade union participation in production management, the Conference
instructs the All-Russia Central Council of Trade Unions to sum up
immediately the practical experience gained in this respect by the
leading unions and enterprises, and to draw up detailed
instructions, which will help all trade unions make use of that
practical experience and will enjoin them to utilise the latter in
a more energetic and systematic fashion.

This refers especially to the utilisation of specialists.

Endnotes

[1]
This document formed the basis of the resolution on the tasks of
the trade union movement, which was passed by the R.C.P.(B.) group
of the Fifth All-Russia Conference of Trade Unions on November 8,
1920, and published in Pravda on November 13. 200 delegates
supported the resolution, with 12 delegates abstaining.
At the Conference, which took place in Moscow between November 2
and 6, the Party raised the question of reorganising the work of
the trade unions in keeping with the tasks of peaceful socialist
construction, extending democracy and abandoning purely
administrative methods. Trotsky came out against the proposed
reorganisation. At a sitting of the Communist group on November 3,
he spoke “fine words”, as Lenin said, about “shaking up” the trade unions, “tightening the
screws” and immediate “governmentalisation of trade unions”. Trotsky’s speech, which sparked off a
discussion in the Party, was opposed by a slight majority of
Communist delegates. Disagreement with Trotsky over trade unions
concerned the methods over the role of unions in a workers state
where socialism was not yet constructed and which was in a state
of civil war. On November 8 Lenin read his theses at a plenary
meeting of the Central Committee, in which he opposed
Trotsky’s views. Trotsky’s theses won 7 votes, and
Lenin's, 8 votes.

Lenin's theses formed the basis of his draft resolution on "The Tasks of the Trade Unions, end the Methods of
Their Accomplish-ment ", which was passed by 10 votes against 4,
with I abstention.