Date: 1922
Source: ru:PSS/v45

A SPITTLE OF TAR IN A BARREL OF HONEY
Mr. O. A. Ermanский has penned a highly useful and exceptionally well‑written book: “The Scientific Organization of Labor and the Taylor System” (Gosizdat, 1922). This work represents a revised edition of his earlier book, “The Taylor System,” which was first published in 1918. The book has been substantially expanded; it now includes two particularly important appendices: I. “Productive Labor and Culture”; II. “The Problem of Fatigue.” One of the most crucial sections—formerly titled “Labor and Rest,” which previously occupied just 16 pages—has grown to an impressive 70 pages (Chapter III: “The Work of Man”).
The book offers us a remarkably detailed exposition of the Taylor System, critically examining not only its positive aspects but also its negative ones—and, moreover, presenting the fundamental scientific data concerning the physiological processes of energy input and output within the human machine. In my view, the book is fully deserving of recognition as a mandatory textbook for all vocational schools and for all secondary schools in general. To learn how to work—that is now the paramount, truly nationwide task of the Soviet Republic. We must achieve universal literacy; yet we must by no means stop there—we must, at all costs, go further and assimilate everything of genuine value from European and American science; this is our foremost and most critical objective.
One serious shortcoming afflicts Mr. Ermanский’s book—a flaw that may, in fact, hinder its acceptance as a textbook. It is the author’s tendency to repeat the same points over and over again, often unnecessarily. Perhaps, to some extent, one might excuse the author in this regard, given that he wrote his book without any intention of turning it into a textbook. However, on page VIII of the preface, the author states that he regards the book’s strength as lying in its accessible, popular presentation of scientific issues. He is right to say so—but popular exposition also demands the elimination of redundancy. The “people” simply do not have the time to read lengthy works. Mr. Ermanский’s book is excessively long, and quite unnecessarily so. This very fact undermines its accessibility…
Written in September, after the 10th, 1922.
First published in 1928.

In Lenin’s Collected Works, Volume VIII

Printed from manuscript

* The manuscript ends abruptly here. Ed.