As part of its discussions over affiliation with the Red International of Labor Unions, the I.W.W.’s One Big Union published several valuable histories from Russian industrial unions. Below is the history of the various food workers’ unions, from Petrograd’s first bakers’ strike in 1904, that united into the All-Russian Union of Workers in the Food Industry during the revolutionary year of 1917, through 1920 when they were central to organizing the country’s food supplies.

‘The All-Russian Union of Workers in the Food Manufacturing Industry’ from One Big Union Monthly. Vol. 2 No. 9. September, 1920.

PUBLISHED BY THE ALL-RUSSIAN CENTRAL COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS. MOSCOW, 1920.

(Editor’s note: The following official account of the activities of the union of the foodstuff workers in Russia has just reached here. It covers the time immediately before and during the revolution and describes how this union under the soviet regime is gradually growing into the food manufacturing organ of the Russian people. The story should be an inspiration and a lesson to the same workers in this country to hurriedly change from craft unionism to the industrial form, in order that these workers may be able to feed the people when the big crash comes and forever thereafter. The fate of all of us rests largely in the hands of the food stuff workers.)

Strikes broke out among the bakers and confectioners even prior to 1900. These strikes were very often accompanied by terrorism directed against scabs and employers. After 1900 the bakers and confectioners began to organize themselves in illegal unions.

In 1904 the first bakers’ strike broke out in Petrograd. The strike was badly organized, was accompanied by sabotage which expressed itself in the destruction of ovens, the spoiling of dough and flour, the breaking of the windows of the bakeries and shops and even the killing of their owners.

The revolution of 1905 gave a strong impetus to the development of the labour movement among the workers of the food manufacturing industry. A great strike movement commenced and, simultaneously with this, unions of workers in this branch of industry sprang up all over Russia. Al] these unions were of a craft character: bakers, confectioners, sausage-makers, tea-weighers, millers and so on, all formed their own separate unions. The strongest of these was the bakers’ union.

The strike movement led by the unions now assumed an organized character. It should be observed that the Petrograd strike in June 1906 was the best organized strike in the history of the trade union movement in Russia. All the bakers and confectioners of the whole Government of Petrograd (Petrograd Tsarskoe Selo, Pavlovsk, Schlusselburg, Luga, Kronstadt, Gatchina, etc.), to the number of 30,000 workers, went on strike. The strike was brilliantly won after a two weeks’ struggle. The general bakers’ strike in the Petrograd province which broke out in 1907 ended however, in the complete defeat of the union by the Government and in the arrest of two hundred of the most active workers.

In other towns in Russia the labour movement among food workers developed chiefly among bakers and confectioners. Unions of workers in other branches of industry existed only in a very few places: thus a union of millers existed in Ekaterinslav and Nijni-Novgorod and unions of tea weighers existed in Moscow, Odessa and Tcheliabinsk. Attempts were made to organize unions (unregistered) of fishermen in Astrakhan and of workers in the butter industry in Kazan and other places.

In 1906 the first attempts were made at creating national unions in separate branches of the food industry. In that -year an All-Russian Conference of Tea Weighers was convened at which representatives from Moscow, Odessa, Tcheliabinsk and

Ekaterinburg were present. This Conference passed a number of resolutions amongst which special attention must be drawn to the resolution on the 8hour day, on the establishment of a central strike committee, on the abolition of searchings and fines, on the standard of tea weighing, etc.

In 1907 the Petrograd Bakers’ Union received an invitation to the International Congress of Bakers in Stuttgart but the delegate who was elected did not succeed in crossing the frontier.

During 1906 and 1907 the Bakers’ Union in Petrograd issued a journal “The Voice of the Baker and Confectioner” and the Union of Confectioners and Chocolate Makers issued the “Confectioner.” In Moscow a journal entitled “The Baker’ was published.

Nothing can be said of the growth and development of the movement between 1908 and 1912 because this was the period in which the trade union movement among the food manufacturing workers was completely dissolved. Alongside with the wholesale closing down of unions in the food industry as well as in other industries proceeded the annulment of all the economic gains so that by 1912 only the memory remained of the gains previously secured after long and difficult struggle. Towards 1912 illegal bakers’ unions existed only in nineteen towns and only in Moscow was there a union of the confectioners besides that of the bakers.

In 1912 a revival began in the bakers’ and confectioners’ unions particularly in Petrograd where during that year they published a trade union journal (15 numbers).

During 1913 and 1914 the idea arose of convening a national Congress of Bakers and Confectioners but it was fated not to be realized, as the outbreak of the imperialist war in 1914 led to the wholesale closing down of unions and the arrest of hundreds of the best workers.

During the war the trade unions of bakers and other food producing industries were everywhere broken up. Only in the revolutionary centers like Petrograd and Moscow, did bakers’ confectioners’ and tea-weighers’ unions exist. In Petrograd the union existed illegally. These unions maintained a definite anti-militarist position and their leaders belonged to the left wing of the labour movement.

The February Revolution opened wide the door to the trade union movement and aroused the workers of the food manufacturing industry to exert their organizing power. In every town separate bakers’ and confectioners’, sausagemakers, millers, confectioners and other unions were formed.

From the first days of the February revolution arose the idea in the Bakers’ Trade Union movement of uniting all workers employed in the food manufacturing industry into. one union. The call from craft unions to one big union became very prominent. In many towns such as Samara, Irkutsk, Krasnojarsk, Petrograd, Rostov-on-Don, this amalgamation took place from the first day of the Revolution,

On the Volga and the Upper-Volga a Union of Millers arose which rallied round itself all the millers from Jaroslav, Kostroma, Ribynsk and Kineshma.

In the South of Russia the food producers’ and workers’ unions during this period presented a kaleidoscopic picture of craft unions.

From the very first months of the revolution the food workers’ unions were confronted with the concrete question as to what their immediate aim should be, government by bourgeois coalition or labour dictatorship. They did not hesitate for a moment and everywhere in overwhelming majorities they expressed their active support to labour dictatorship. Compromising tendencies among the food workers were extremely weak.

In June 1917 three unions in Petrograd—Bakers-Millers, Sausage-Makers and Confectioners—amalgamated into one union. Immediately after this amalgamation, the question arose as to the necessity of an All-Russian Union of Food Workers headed by a single All-Russian center. For this purpose a special provisional bureau was selected from: among the Petrograd unions upon whom the task was imposed of convening an All-Russian conference of food workers’ unions which sent out a number of members of the bureau for the purpose of organizing the conference.

In Ekaterinoslav on November 2nd, 1917, a conference of outlying Unions of Food Workers was called at which representatives of 25 South Russian towns representing 20,268 organized workers were present.

The Conference unanimously decided to unite into a single All Russian Union of Food Workers. It also by an overwhelming majority passed a resolution severely condemning the Provisional Government and expressed itself for the dictatorship of the proletariat and the necessity of fighting for and supporting the new Labour Government which arose as the result of the October Revolution. Later, a conference was called in South-East Russia, in Rostoff-on-the-Don on November 1st. This Conference also resolved to unite into a national union and passed resolutions supporting the Soviet Government.

The First All-Russian Conference of Food Manufacturing Unions took place in November, 1917. This Conference expressed itself in favour of uniting all workers in the food manufacturing industry into one national union. At this Conference there were present representatives of 43 unions from 39 towns, chiefly from South Russia, representing a membership of 95,951. The unions present represented the following sections of the eight united food workers’ unions, with a membership of 39,207; 27 bakers’ and confectioners’ unions, with a membership of 32,544; 4 millers’ unions with a membership of 25,000; 2 brewers’ and oil refiners’ unions, membership 1,350; 1 cooks’ union, 15,000 members; 1 bakers’ shop assistants’ union with 3,500 members; 1 union of meat preservers and sausage-makers with 450 members. Many unions, owing to political events were unable to send their representatives. Generally, the unions joining the amalgamation had a membership of nearly 120,000.

The Conference greeted the Soviet Government and passed a resolution for the municipalization of all food producing businesses. An All-Russian center—the Provisional All-Russian Council of Food Workers—was elected.

The occupation of the Ukraina by Germany dealt a severe blow to the organization of the unions. As we have seen, most of the representatives at this Conference came from South Russia. With the occupation of Ukraina by Germany, connections with these unions were broken and the majority of the members of the unions remained in the Ukraine. Thus, the All-Russian Union of Food Workers was mutilated at the very beginning of its existence. ‘ In Central Russia there were hardly any food workers’ Unions and generally hardly any food manufacturing industry. Those places in which they did exist were occupied by the counter-revolutionaries. The active members of the union were dispersed among different government departments for reorganizing the economic life of the country and were also sent to the front.

The Provisional Council took an active part in the organization of the food making industry. On its initiative an independent Department for the Manufacture of Food Products was opened up in connection with the Chemical Department of the Supreme Council of National Economy. A member of the Provisional Council was at the head of this Department and the Collegiate board was also composed of members of that Department.

At the same time measures were taken to organize unions in the provinces and to amalgamate separate millers’, bakers’, confectioners’, and other unions into one union.

In September 1918 the Provisional Council called the first All-Russian Congress of Millers which decided that all millers should join the All-Russian Federation of Food Workers. The Conference welcomed the nationalization of the milling industry and resolved to create a chief administration of the flour and grain industry to manage it. The Conference also elected its representatives to the Provisional Council. The entire proceedings of the Conference were marked by its unanimous support of the Soviet Government.

During the period of its work the Food Manufacturing Department of the Supreme Council of National Economy, with the participation of the Provisional Council, established an administration of the nationalized undertakings of various branches of the food industry (milling, confectionery and chocolate, fish and meat preserving industry, tea, coffee and chicory industry, dairy produce and fish). The Provisional Council after the addition to it of new representatives energetically set to work to prepare for the National Congress which took place on January 15th 1919. At the Conference were present representatives from 50 unions representing 100,000 workers.

In the resolution passed by the Congress it is stated that the destiny of the workers organized in the Food Producers’ Union is closely connected with that of the Soviet Government and that the members of the union will take all measures to repel the enemies of Soviet Russia. The Congress regarded the organizing of the Food manufacturing industry as the most important task of the Union. A resolution in this connection declares that the form of organization of the organs directing the industry will indicate the solutions of questions of organization in various branches of the food industry.

The Conference finally formed the Union of Food producers and included in its ranks workers and employees of the following branches: 1) millers, 2) macaroni makers, 3) biscuit-bakers, 4) butter and dairy produce workers, 5) confectioners, jam makers and chocolate makers, 6) starch and treacle workers (potato-starch sago, dextrine, treacle and glucose), 7) preserving, meat, fish, fruit, vegetables etc., 8) vegetable and fruit drying, 9) brewing and distilling, 10) egg and milk preserving, 11) sausage making, 12) slaughterers, 13) bacon curers, 14) salting, 15) meat extracts, 16) blood drying, 17) cold storage, 18) fish, 19) coffee, tea and chicory, 20) picklers, 21) beer brewing, 22) kvass and mineral waters 28) oil pressers. The necessity was recognized also for including workers in the sugar refining industry.

The first organizing work of the Central Committee after the Conference was to complete the amalgamation of all the above indicated industries. This work was carried out fairly rapidly and at the present moment there is not a single craft union in the food industry in the whole of Soviet Russia except in some places in the Ukraine. The second task of the Central Committee was to carry out the resolution of the Congress on the organization of unions by provinces and to convert the provincial unions into branches of the National Union of Food Workers and the district unions into sub-branches of the provincial branches.

The fall of the Skoropadsky government and the liberation of the Ukraine by the Soviet troops raised the tremendous problem of organizing the Ukrainian food workers. A delegation of the Central Committee was sent to the Ukraine which, together with the Kiev Food Workers’ Union, convened an all-Ukrainian Congress of Food Workers which confirmed the resolutions of the first All-Russian Congress. On the instructions of the Central Committee a bureau of the Central Committee was set up in the Ukraine. This Bureau convened a conference of millers which resolved to unite Ukrainian millers in the All-Russian Union of Food Workers. As a consequence of the occupation of the Ukraina by Denikin, however, connection with Ukraine again became interrupted. The Central Committee left two of its members in the Ukraine to carry on illegal work. The liberation of the Ural and Siberia by the Soviet troops opened up for the Central Committee a wide territory in which the food industry is well developed and where there are large numbers of food workers, chiefly millers. The Central Committee delegated several workers by whose assistance the unions which were destroyed by Koltchak are once again arising.

The Central administration of the food manufacturing industry during 1919 succeeded in developing its work to the extent possible under the prevailing conditions of civil war. In its activity the Central Committee was continually brought up against pure questions of organization such as the form of this or that organ of the industry, as well as separate questions of organizing production. For the purpose of solving the questions of production All-Russian Conferences of Millers (2nd Congress), Starch and Treacle Workers, Sausage Makers, Preservers and Fishermen were called. The Conferences received the reports of the Central Administration, considered the plans of the future work of these administrations and passed resolutions indicating the path which the Central Administrations must follow in their future work. During this period a new department was formed with the cooperation of the Central Committee, viz. the Chief Department for administrating the cold storage business of the Republic.

Tremendous work has been accomplished in regulating wages in. the various branches of the food industry. An exact definition of each category of labour and a definite standard of output were worked out and applied. The premium bonus system for millers and the fish industry was introduced.

Much work is being carried out in the sphere of labour protection, in examining the labour conditions in the food manufacturing industry, supplying workers with industrial clothing and granting extra holidays for harmful trades.

The union took an energetic part in mobilizing its members for protecting the Soviet Republic against its surrounding enemies. In many of. the food workers’ unions, particularly in the Volga towns, nearly all the members stood under arms for the defense of their government.

The 2nd. National Congress of the Food Workers’ Union took place on March 17th—25th, 1920. For the first time representatives from the whole of the Soviet Republic were present. 174 delegates representing 75 unions and 151,895 organized workers were present. Owing to bad railway communications it was not possible for all the unions to be represented.

The 2nd. Congress again expressed its unreserved support of the Soviet Government. The main point on the agenda was the organization of the food manufacturing industry. A report was submitted from the food manufacturing department of the Supreme Council of National Economy and of all the chief administrative departments of the various branches of the industry. On each report resolutions were carried indicating the path which the Congress thought it necessary for the organization of the industry to follow. The struggle against the economic disorganization must be conducted with the greatest energy by the Unions.

The Congress sent out an appeal to the millers, bakers and other food manufacturing workers of Europe and America.

On March 1st 1920 the National Union had 268 departments, branches and sections, with a membership of 222,389.

In the local unions (provincial and regional departments, district and sub-district branches) there are sections of workers engaged in separate branches of industry. These sections are auxiliary organs of management of the union and all their decisions must be confirmed by the general administration. The sections are engaged chiefly in participating in the organization of their branch of industry and in working out wage rates and standards of output. There are no national sections although their existence was permitted by a resolution at the Congress.

The Central Committee and its local branches participate in the organization of production by delegating its representatives to the administrative collegiate boards of the economic organs which are set up by the consent of the Central Committee.

At the present moment the Central Committee has its representatives in the Chief Flour Department of the Supreme Council of National Economy (3 members out of 4) in the Chief Confectionery Department (all 3) in the Chief Preserving Department (two out of three) in the Chief Fish Department (none although this collegiate board was set up by the consent of the union) the Central Cold Storage Department (1 out of 8) and the Department for the Manufacture of Food Products (3 out of 4). All the collegiate boards are set up with the consent of the Central Committee.

The predominance of the union representatives on local administrations is even greater than in the center.

The factory administrations are also set up by the consent of the unions (branches and departments). Individual managers are also put forward by the union. The representatives of the union are connected with the union by the presentation of reports on their activity and the joint examination of all questions of organization of production.

The Central Committee published a journal called “The Voice of the Food Workers.” The finances of the Central Committee can be described in the following manner: For January, February and March 1920 the amount of contributions received from the departments and branches of the union was 601,121 roubles. Special levies on members—511,532 roubles. The expenses for this period were 588,298 roubles. Grants for the organization of unions in the liberated districts and to various persons and institutions, 575,525 roubles.

On. April 1st there were 34,716 roubles in the funds of the union and 74,739 roubles on current account at the National Bank.

The union lives the life of the masses and together with them concentrates its efforts on the organization of labour and industry in the interests of the Soviet Republic, in its defence against foreign and internal enemies and the creation of a new communist society.

The Central Committee of the Food Workers’ and Employees’ Union

One Big Union Monthly was a magazine published in Chicago by the General Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World from 1919 until 1938, with a break from February, 1921 until September, 1926 when Industrial Pioneer was produced.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/one-big-union-monthly/v02n09-sep-1920_One%20Big%20Union.pdf