Issues of Strengthening Labour Discipline in the Years of the New Economic Policy (Case Study of the Tula Cartridge Works)

Abstract

The issues of strengthening labour discipline in the years of the New Economic Policy are the subject of this research. The author examines them in the unity of factory production process and macroeconomic circumstances of the period using the example of employee behaviour of the Tula Cartridge Works munition workers. The author states that during the first years of the new period, due to the pressure of unemployment and competition on the labour market, the labour discipline of the Tula cartridge makers was changing for the better. However, the increased labour turnover and the decline in workers’ skills created serious contradictions between different categories of workers at the workshop level. Together, they defended their measure of control over workplace behaviour by formally seeking protection from workers' organisations and informally by turning to implicit resistance practices. In the second half of the 1920s the labour discipline situation in the enterprise aggravated again. The general irritation of the workers was provoked by a worsening of cash and non-cash payments they got against the background of labour intensification campaigns. Under these conditions, the management team of this enterprise, like the leaders of labour collectives throughout the country, had to adhere to a compromise tack. Overall, in the author’s opinion, an acceptable level of labor discipline was achieved within the historical context of the New Economic Policy.