§ 5. Mr. SHAKESPEAREasked the Minister of Labour whether she has any information as to the weekly wages of agricultural workers who have been engaged in wheat production on State farms in Soviet Russia during 1930?
§ 23. Commander BELLAIRSasked the Minister of Labour whether she has any information as to the hours worked by agricultural workers on the State farms in Soviet Russia in 1930, the extent to which they were compulsorily drafted to work in other occupations such as the State forests, and the compulsory levies on wages such as for loans and for the State trade unions?
§ Miss BONDFIELDAs the reply is necessarily rather long and contains a number of figures, I will, if I may, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the reply:
§ I have no figures of wages and working hours for the year 1930. According to official statistics, the average earnings, of manual workers, during the period July-September, 1929, on 1,333 State farms (Sorkhozy), including farms producing wheat, were as follow:
| Class of Worker. | Proportion of each class of worker employed at 1st July, 1929. | Monthly earnings. | Daily earnings. |
| Per cent. | Roubles.* | Copecks.* | |
| Permanent | 4.6 | 42.40 | 163 |
| seasonal | 16.1 | 32.40 | 129 |
| Temporary | 69.3 | — | 97 |
§ * One rouble, or 100 copecks. equals 2s. l½. approximately, at the par of exchange.
§ In addition, payments ill kind were made, the value of which is not stated for the period referred to; but in June, 1929, the value of these payments is stated to have increased the earnings of permanent, seasonal and temporary workers by 0.3, 1.2 and 3.7 per cent., respectively.
§ Earnings on State farms, it is stated, increase according to the degree of mechanisation. On the completely mechanised farms of the Grain Trust (Zernotrest), the average earnings of manual workers during the period July-September, 1929, are given as follows:
2366| Class of Worker. | Monthly earnings. | Daily earnings. | ||
| Roubles.* | Copecks.* | |||
| Permanent | … | … | 75.70 | 296 |
| Seasonal | … | … | 61.30 | 244 |
| Temporary | … | … | — | 145 |
| * One rouble, or 100 copecks, equals 2s. 1½d. approximately, at the par of exchange. |
§ No statistics of the hours worked in 1029 by agricultural workers on State farms are given; but, in 1928, the length of the working day, it is stated, ranged from 8.1 to 9.2 hours according to the season of the year.
§ As regards the extent to which agricultural workers on state farms were compulsorily drafted to work in other occupations, I have no information.
§ Deductions from wages are, I understand, regulated by three Orders issued in March and April, 1930, by the General Council of Trade Unions of the Soviet Union. According to these Orders, the total amount of all deductions from wages, other than trade union dues, contributions to mutual aid funds, instalments on subscriptions to State loans, and contributions to the Communist party must not exceed 3 per cent. of the total wage.
§ The rates of deduction for trade union, etc., purposes are as follows:
§ Nature of deduction:
§ Subscription to State loans.
§ Trade Union dues.
§ Contributions to mutual aid funds.
§ Amount of deduction from wages:
§ Must not exceed half a month's earnings in any one year.
§ Two per cent.
§ One per cent.
§ As from 1st January, 1931, it is proposed to reduce trade union dues and contributions to mutual aid funds to 1.5 and 0.5 per cent. respectively.
§ 22. Commander BELLAIRSasked the Minister of Labour whether she will give directions for the Labour Gazette to publish information from time to time as to labour, conditions in Soviet Russia in regard to compulsory labour, wages, compulsory levies on wages, the distribution of food cards, the purchasing 2367 power of wages, and other factors that bear on the condition of the workers in export trades?
§ Miss BONDFIELDSo far as it is available, information concerning hours and wages based on official statistics is published from time to time in the Ministry of Labour Gazette. Space in the Gazette, however, is limited and I would remind the hon. and gallant Member that information concerning Russian conditions is published regularly by the International Labour Office in their weekly publication "Industrial and Labour Information."
§ Commander BELLAIRSCan the right hon. Lady tell us the last occasion on which any information whatever in regard to Soviet Russia was given in the Labour Gazette?
§ Miss BONDFIELDI must, ask for notice of that question.
§ Mr. THORNEIs it not a fact that there are 1,000,000 industrial workers in Russia working five days a week and no more?
§ Commander BELLAIRSDoes not that question show the ignorance of hon. Members on the subject?