106 MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
Russian State Trusts

THE problem of wage fixation in State enterprises is essentially
different from that of wage determination in private industries.
 The interest in maintaining the low cost of production,
which is, in the nature of things, the main interest of the private
employer, is only one of the interests of the State employer, which
is also inherently interested in the welfare, purchasing power, and
good feeling of its employees—its citizens. The weapon used by
tate employees in modern democratic States is rarely the threat to
strike; much more generally it is pressure brought to bear on public
opinion and on parliament. The considerations which are of decisive
 influence for determination of wages by State authorities are, to
a certain extent at least, similar to those which dictate the attitude
of State representatives on boards elsewhere which fix wages for
private industries, although the economic self-interest of the State
employer divides, to a certain extent, the two problems. In Russia,
by far the greater part of big industrial enterprises are managed
by the State, and State fixation of wages in industry is therefore
largely an accomplished fact. The principles of that State fixation
 may in a way be compared with the principles of legal fixation
of wages elsewhere.
The wage policy for these enterprises is outlined in the order as to
general wages, issued on June 17, 1920. That order prescribes that
the time needed for thoroughly learning the trade, the Injuriousness
and danger of the conditions under which the work is carried out,
the arduousness of the work, and the degree of responsibility for its
performance should be taken into account when drawing up schedules
of wages.’
On September 16, 1921, other general regulations were issued for
wage payment in State enterprises.’ These regulations provide for
a minimum wage, to be increased in proportion to increasing production.
 No effort is to be made to equalize wage scales for Workers of
different grades. The share in the wage budget of the nation attributed
 to each factory is to be proportional not to the number of
workers but to the unit of manufacture. The total wage budget
must vary with the national production. Premiums on production
are allowed to the individual establishments, to be divided among the
workers,
A decree of November 10, 1921, provides that—
The total payment allocated to each factory shall not be decreased even
though the number of employees are decreased as a result of more efficient
management. * * * Should a lower percentage only of the program have
been completed, the amount of supplies distributed among the factory employees
 on account of wages shall be diminished accordingly for that month.
Prof. Roswell Johnson, on his return from an investigation in
various parts of Russia, reported in the autumn of 1927 that compulsory
 arbitration has been established, both for industries leased
to outside concerns and for State-owned trusts. In the latter

* Burns, BE. M.: Wages and the State. London, 1926, p. 112.
1 Journal of Political Economy, Chicago, April, 1922, p. 277: * Russian wage systems
ander communism,” by Amy Hewes,
12 JTdem, pp. 277. 278.