Differentiation of wages for workers in the metallurgical industry during the NEP years (based on archival materials of the Sickle and Hammer plant)

Chudinov Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Postgraduate student; Department of Social and Economic History of Russia; Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) 119571, Russia, Moscow, Dekabristov str., 2 achudinov2023@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The metallurgical industry was one of the priorities for the Soviet state. It sought to create a new modern industry that would meet the demands of the time. However, a significant part of the metal industry created in Russia before the First World War was destroyed in the following years. The new economic policy of the 1920s was supposed to help the industry recover. It is for this reason that metallurgy became one of the main priorities for the Bolsheviks from the very first days. The period of the new economic policy has become special, both in the field of management of the metal industry and in the field of wage policy. The industry was managed by trusts, which, on the one hand, concentrated significant administrative functions in their hands, but on the other, retained a certain independence in terms of production. Control of the "administrative heights" was part of the Bolshevik political program, but elements of market relations were present in the economy. This ambivalence has been reflected in wage policy, which has become both an ideological and an economic tool. The Soviet state and trusts needed to simultaneously encourage workers to work productively and improve their skills, and provide workers, as the mainstay of the Bolsheviks, with a decent standard of living. The 1920s became a time of searching for optimal methods in the field of remuneration.

While the nature and content of decisions made at the top in the field of remuneration have often been the subject of research, the question of how these decisions were implemented in practice and what results they led to remains poorly understood. To answer it, it turned out to be insufficient to assess the situation at the level of industries or regions. In recent years, authors of publications dealing with this problem have increasingly emphasized that in order to form a more complete picture, it is necessary to conduct research at the micro level, i.e. on the materials of specific enterprises.

Within the framework of this study, an analysis of wage differentiation is carried out using the example of the Sickle and Hammer plant. The choice of this particular company is due to a number of reasons. This plant was one of the largest metallurgical enterprises in the Russian Empire and in the USSR. It was founded in 1883 and produced simple iron, iron wire, nails, bolts, etc. Under Soviet rule, this company was one of the most advanced, it repeatedly tested new technological developments, as well as ways to organize and stimulate labor.

The purpose of this work is to study the processes of wage differentiation in metallurgy during the NEP years at the micro level (based on materials from the Sickle and Hammer plant). The main tasks of the work:1) to characterize the main trends in the differentiation of wages of employees of the Sickle and Hammer plant; 2) to identify changes in the ratio of real and nominal wages of workers and employees during the period under review; 3) to characterize the impact of changes in various types of wages on the level of differentiation of earnings of employees; 4) to compare the main results obtained on the materials of the plant The results are related to the situation in the industry and in the region.

Publications that address important issues for the analysis of the research topic can be divided into several main groups, depending on their issues. The first group consists of studies that directly focus on wage issues as one of the main incentives for work in Soviet Russia during the NEP period. In A. A. Ilyukhov's monograph "How the Bolsheviks paid" ^[1], an in-depth study of the topic under consideration is carried out. The paper presents a systematic analysis of the policy of the Soviet government in the field of wages, from the moment the Bolsheviks came to power to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The author highlights the main tasks that the Soviet government pursued when making certain decisions regulating the size and level of wage differentiation of various categories of workers, as well as the methods of implementing the decisions taken.

The second group of jobs is directly related to the impact of wages on labor motivation and wage differentiation during the NEP period. The articles by L. I. Borodkin ^[2] and E. I. Safonova ^[3] consider the problems of turning wages into a key incentive for conscientious and productive work in the 1920s using the example of the Prokhorovskaya Trekhgornaya Manufactory ^[4]. In another article by L. I. Borodkin ^[5], the author analyzes the dynamics of nominal and real wages of textile workers separately for workers and employees, which is of undoubted interest for our research. Important for the analysis is the article by I. M. Garskova ^[6], devoted to the differentiation of workers' wages during the NEP period, as well as the publication by V.N. Vladimirova, which focuses on the issues of wage differentiation for workers and employees in Siberia ^[7]. To analyze the historical context of the process of wage differentiation, it is necessary to refer to general works devoted to the socio-economic history of the NEP period. The most important works in the context of this study are those on the history of wage regulation ^[8], labor motivation ^{[9, 10]}, and the daily routine of Soviet enterprises ^[11]. Of particular interest are the works of A.K. Sokolov ^[12] and M. A. Feldman ^[13], devoted to the historiography of the NEP period.

The third category of research focuses on the study of labor incentives at the level of individual enterprises. These papers are important because they apply the methodology of microanalysis to research Soviet enterprises during the period of the new economic policy. The group of research papers under consideration includes works directly devoted to the Sickle and Hammer plant. In particular, it is necessary to highlight the monograph by A.M. Markevich and A. K. Sokolov "Magnitogorsk near the Garden Ring" ^[14] and the work by I. L. Kornakovsky "From Goujon to the Hammer and Sickle" ^[15]. However, these monographs are devoted to the entire period of the plant's existence, and therefore do not place much emphasis on the period of the New Economic Policy. In addition, they do not consider wage differentiation as the main subject of research. In this regard, these works do not analyze salary differences between different categories of employees. In this article, the emphasis is on the issues of wage differentiation, which allows us to speak about the novelty of the research.

The source base of this research is based on archival materials preserved in the R-176 foundation (Sickle and Hammer Factory) The Central State Archive of the City of Moscow (CGA of Moscow). The main documents used in this work in constructing wage dynamics and determining the level of wage differentiation for various groups of employees were monthly statistical cards in form No. 2 (salary cards). They were one of the forms of reporting of the plant to the Central Control Commission of the USSR. These statistics provide the following information: the number of workers and employees, the size of the factory-wide monthly salary fund (separately for workers and employees), the amount of payments for individual forms of payment (time-based and piecework; basic earnings, as well as earnings, overtime, bonuses), the amount of time worked. Based on these monthly data, we have built dynamic series of relevant indicators, which are presented in tables in the appendices. It should be noted that during the 1920s, the names and structure of the statistical card form were repeatedly changed. However, these changes were not critical, which made it possible to build dynamic series according to the indicators mentioned above.

The monthly data collected on the basis of statistical maps does not contain information for some months of the 1925/1926 business year. This is due to the work of the Rabkrin Commission, which in its recommendations mentioned the need to collect data on branches. In this regard, it was apparently decided to temporarily abandon the aggregated data collection. In this regard, to solve a number of problems in this article, it was necessary to use the quarterly dynamics presented in the "Semi-annual statistical data on labor accounting with appendices from October 1924 to October 1926." Some of the monthly data series were converted to quarterly in order to obtain comparable indicators. Additionally, the materials of the statistical cards were checked using monthly reports on the salary status of the plant.

Before directly analyzing the differentiation of wages at the Sickle and Hammer plant, it is necessary to specify the composition of the categories of "workers" and "employees" (see Table 1). The basis of the distribution was collective agreements.

Table 1. Composition of the categories of "workers" and "employees" (under collective agreements of the Hammer and Sickle plant) in 1923-1928.

Sources: Central State Administration of Moscow. F. R-176. Op. 2. 170. L.10, 23; 250. L. 21; 718. L.15; 811. L.6; 386. L. 32.

These categories are of great importance when analyzing changes in the structure of the salary fund.

Differentiation of wages for workers and employees.

Analyzing the dynamics of differentiation between workers and employees in terms of remuneration in 1922-1928, it is necessary to refer to several indicators. In particular, data characterizing the share of workers and employees in the total number of employees, their salary level and time worked will be used.

The graph in Fig.1 shows the change in the share of employees in the total number of employees.

Fig. 1. The share of employees in the total number of employees.

Sources: Central State Administration of Moscow. F. R-176. Op. 2. D.108 L.3-187, D. 223 L.3-70, D.518, L.4-96, D.682. L.2-80, D.235 L.6, D.240. L.7.

Considering the graph in Fig.1, it is necessary to pay attention to the obvious downward trend in the share of employees in the total number of employees at the Sickle and Hammer plant during the NEP period. The sharp increase in the share of employees by February 1923 was primarily due to the plant reaching higher production capacities. However, as the production process stabilizes and the staffing table is completed, the proportion of employees begins to decrease. Note that this process was accompanied by an increase in their working hours. In 1923, a number of categories of employees experienced an increase in the length of the working day from 6 hours to 8 hours. At the same time, all employees involved experienced a salary increase. Accordingly, this led to an increase in the difference in earnings between workers and employees.

Wages are an important, but not the only criterion for distinguishing between workers and employees. A decrease in hourly earnings can manifest itself not only in the form of salary changes, but also in the form of an increase or decrease in the working day.

Fig. 2. Dynamics of man-hours worked on all types of work, per 1 person at the Hammer and Sickle factory in 1922-1928.

Sources: Central State Administration of Moscow. F. R-176. Op. 2. D.108 L.3-187, D. 223 L.3-70, D.518, L.4-96, D.682. L.2-80, D.235 L.6, D.240. L.7.

Figure 2 shows the quarterly dynamics, considering the number of hours worked on average by one worker and one employee. This dynamic actually demonstrates a gradual mitigation of staff hunger during the NEP period, and a decrease in the degree of workload on the company's employees.

Figure 3 shows the ratio of the average monthly nominal earnings of workers and employees per person. This ratio demonstrates a change in wage differentiation between these categories of employees.

3. The ratio of the average nominal salary of workers to the average nominal salary of employees at the Hammer and Sickle factory, 1922-1928.

Sources: Central State Administration of Moscow. F. R-176. Op. 2. D.108 L.3-187, D. 223 L.3-70, D.518, L.4-96, D.682. L.2-80, D.235 L.6, D.240. L.7.

The trend line in Figure 3 shows a general downward trend in wage differentiation. For a more detailed analysis, we use monthly data (see Appendix 1). Analyzing the process of wage differentiation between workers and employees of the Sickle and Hammer plant during the NEP period, four stages can be distinguished.