Labour Relations and Conflicts at the Concessionary Timber Enterprises of the Arkhangelsk Province in the 1920s

Abstract

This article dwells on the labour relations at the timber enterprises of the Arkhangelsk Province granted by the Soviet government as a concession to foreign entrepreneurs in the 1920s. The main sources include archival (concession contracts and reports, results of inspections of concessionary enterprises by the authorities, shorthand reports of meetings of Soviet party and trade union organizations, materials of factory rates commissions and investigative and judicial authorities), as well as published sources, primarily, contemporary (publications in newspapers and magazines). Emphasis is placed on the authorities’ attitude to labour conflicts. Timber enterprise concessions were of great international importance to the central government and economic importance to the local authorities; therefore, unlike at other concessionary enterprises, the authorities often supported the “capitalists”. The concessionaires, in their turn, being interested in attracting skilled workers to their enterprises and seeking to normalize relations with the population and the authorities on the territory designated for forest exploitation, were accommodating the employees by spending substantial funds to build housing as well as social and cultural facilities in the factory settlements. Labour relations and conflicts are examined in the article using the example of four personnel categories: skilled workers; labourers at the sawmills; peasants engaged in logging and delivering timber to the factories (loggers and rafters, united in artels); administrative and clerical employees. In addition, a conclusion is made about the specificity of labour conflicts caused by the post-revolutionary social expectations of the population.