MATERIAL AND TECHNICAL BASIS OF COMMUNISM - Communism and Labour

Communism and Labour

Nothing is more desired by man than the joy of labour. Yet labour has not always been joyful. Could it bring joy to the slave or the serf who was driven to work by fear 238of death or the whip of the overseer? Is there much joy in the labour of the hired worker, whom fear of hunger forces to toil for the capitalist? Forced labour cannot be attractive and it cannot be a source of freedom and happiness.

Socialism is the only political system that has made labour really free. Having put an end to exploitation, it has given the working man his first ever opportunity of working not for the landowner or the capitalist but for himself, for his people, for society. This is bringing about a profound change in people’s attitude to labour which is becoming a matter of glory, honour, valour and heroism.

The dedicated labour of workers, peasants and intellectuals lies at the back of the monumental achievements of socialism in the Soviet Union. Labour will play an even larger role in people’s lives in communist society. Communism is not a society of idlers. Distribution according to needs does not mean that without any effort at all man will receive everything he wants. Distribution according to needs is possible when there is an abundance of social wealth. Abundance does not appear of itself. It is created by persevering and conscientious labour.

Communism and labour are inseparable. In communist society labour will continue to be the source of all values, the father of all of mankind’s wealth. Every person capable of work will do his bit and ensure the continuous growth of material and cultural values. Like socialism, communism liberates people not from labour but from the exploitation of their labour. That is why in the basic principle of communism—“From each according to his ability to each according to his needs"—the allocation to man of all the blessings of life is indissolubly linked up with dedicated social labour.

At the same time, under communism labour itself, its conditions and the attitude of people to it will change. It will become communist labour.

Communist Labour

Under communism labour is universal, voluntary, free from exploitation and founded on social ownership and the highest possible level of technical development; it is highly productive and organised scientifically; it is creative, organically combining physical and mental efforts; it has 239no quota; it is unpaid and man devotes all his ability to it; and, lastly, it is a vital need. Communist labour, Lenin wrote, “is labour performed gratis for the benefit of society, labour performed not as a definite duty, not for the purpose of obtaining a right to certain products, not according to previously established and legally fixed quotas, but voluntary labour, irrespective of quotas; it is labour performed without expectation of reward, without reward as a condition, labour performed because it has become a habit to work for the common good, and because of a conscious realisation (that has become a habit) of the necessity of working for the common good—labour as the requirement of a healthy organism”. [239•*

Elements of communist labour are to be found in socialist society. During the early years of Soviet power the people organised what have become known as communist subbotniks. [239•** Lenin highly appraised this voluntary work, regarding it as the embryo of the new, communist attitude to labour. The subbotniks laid the beginning for the socialist emulation movement, which acquired new forms at the different phases of social development. In the Soviet Union the present movement of communist shock workers and communist work teams embraces millions of people who are learning to work and live in a communist way.

True, in this movement cases now and then crop up of elements of formalism, of a desire to draw in as many people as possible with the result that the much-coveted title of communist shock worker is conferred upon people who do not deserve it. Despite these shortcomings, one cannot fail to see the mighty spirit of socialist emulation and the striving to work to the best of one’s ability, that have embraced broad sections of Soviet workers, collective farmers and intellectuals.

The sacred rule of socialist society that he who does not work neither shall he eat has long ago become a law of life for the majority of Soviet citizens. Many of them put their hearts into their work and cannot imagine life without their chosen profession, without labour, which is for 240them a source of joy and happiness and a vital need. Yet under socialism labour is not a need of all members of society. There still are idlers, people who shirk socially useful work and seek to enrich themselves at the expense of society. Moreover, there are people who perform their duties unconscientiously. Neglect of one’s duties will be ended when communism is built.

Talent and vocation, sincere enthusiasm and love of one’s profession are indispensable for fruitful work and for a genuinely innovatory attitude to work. Most Soviet people have that attitude to their work. At the same time, in socialist society the choice of a profession and place of work are sometimes determined by other, particularly material, considerations. If it is not turned into money hunting the desire to receive more for one’s work is quite natural, for under socialism the material incentive stimulates the development of production and, when applied correctly, coincides with social interests. However, if a person is spurred on solely by the desire to earn more and if he does not like his work he will never be able to give of his best to society no matter how conscientiously he works. To some extent, even though it be inconsiderable, he will remain in debt to society, for he will be giving it less than if he had been doing work that he liked.

In communist society people will have every opportunity to take up work in which they can display all their talents and in which, consequently, they can be of the greatest use to society. Resting on the highest possible level of automation in production and on a high level of social consciousness, communist society not only gives people equal opportunities to develop their talents but also creates the most favourable conditions for the fullest and most expedient utilisation of the capabilities of each person. It is a society in which all people will always work according to their abilities. There can be no other attitude to work under communism, for while remaining man’s prime faculty labour will become a vital need. “It is impossible,” states the Programme of the C.P.S.U., “for a man in communist society not to work, for neither his social consciousness nor public opinion would permit it. Work according to one’s ability will become a habit, a prime necessity of life for every member of society.”

* * *

The Conditions for Turning Labour into a Vital Necessity

The necessity for work may be described as man’s labour activity that has become a habit.

The possibility of turning labour into a vital necessity lies in labour itself. Indeed, labour has always been the basic natural condition for man’s existence, a major outlet for his vital activity. Man’s capabilities and his human qualities are shaped in labour. Inasmuch as any work is a play of physical and mental powers, it also contains elements of creative effort. Moreover, it is the most important source for satisfying man’s varied requirements. Physiological prerequisites are also involved, because man constantly feels the need to expend the energy which he has naturally accumulated, and labour is the key outlet for this energy.

At the same time, in order to make this possibility a reality, the nature of labour must be changed by putting an end to survivals of the old division of labour and turning it into a source of joy and delight. All the dark aspects of labour, aspects which clash with the nature of man, must be eliminated, and the bright, attractive aspects developed to the utmost.

Heavy physical labour and filthy and monotonous work must be abolished, and conditions must be created to enable people engaged in this labour to change their professions.

These problems are resolved by building the material and technical basis of communism, mainly through the electrification, comprehensive mechanisation and the ever fuller automation of production processes.

Rapid technical progress linked up with the building of the material and technical basis of communism demands greater efficiency in industry and higher standards of special training and general education. The development and improvement of techniques are accompanied by a growth of the level of the people’s culture and technical knowledge, with the result that the distinction between mental and physical work is erased. This accentuates the intellectual, spiritual side of labour and gradually moves its creative aspect to the forefront. 

Technical progress eradicates the one-sided nature of physical or intellectual work and gives rise to a qualitatively new kind of labour, in which physical and mental efforts are integrated. The basic forms of labour are turned into creative activity.

Another outcome of technical progress is that the intellectual side of labour becomes more pronounced thus making labour more attractive. Working conditions steadily improve and harmonious labour relations become more firmly rooted. The absence of noise, the abundance of light and verdure, the attractive colour of implements of labour and of work premises and ideal cleanliness and order will turn factories into “bright laboratories worthy of human beings”. [242•*

Thus, powerful machines incorporating the latest achievements of science and man’s wide knowledge will fundamentally change the nature and conditions of work under communism.

One may ask whether the automated industries of communism will not leave people with nothing to do except press the push-buttons on the control panels? There are no grounds whatever for apprehensions of this kind. Automated machines will abolish heavy back-breaking labour but they will never release man from the necessity for applying a certain amount of physical and mental effort to work and will never turn labour into an amusement, into a senseless pressing of push-buttons.

In a reply to Charles Fourier, who believed that under communism labour would be an amusement, Marx wrote: “Genuinely free labour, for instance the labour of a composer, is devilishly serious and requires tremendous strain.” Under communism labour is a joy and delight because its creative aspect eclipses the strain and the fatigue. However, this does not imply that labour will not require people to surmount obstacles and difficulties. For example, will not space exploration, that has already been started, require an immense intellectual and 243physical effort? Wherever there is work to be done there always will be difficulties which will require man’s mental and physical strength.

* * *

Communist Division of Labour

Having put an end to private ownership and exploitation, socialism thereby abolished the foundations of the capitalist division of labour and set about eradicating the distinction between town and country and between mental and physical labour. The new division of labour takes the form of co-operation and mutual assistance among people who are free of exploitation. This division of labour is planned and organised. At the same time, survivals of the old division of labour persist in socialist society, namely, the essential distinction between industrial and farm labour and between mental and physical work. These distinctions are gradually expunged in the course of communist construction.

There will be a certain division of labour under communism as well. Generally speaking, a division of labour will be necessary as long as material production exists. Marx wrote: “That this necessity of distributing social labour in definite proportion cannot be done away with by the particular form of social production, but can only change the form it assumes, is self-evident.”

The division of labour between workers and collective farmers will disappear because farming will become a form of industrial labour, and there will be no distinction between mental and physical work. However, the division of labour between different branches of industry and between different industrial enterprises will remain, as will the territorial division of labour.

The change effected in the nature of work as a result of technical progress, polytechnical training and the higher level of culture (stemming from more leisure time) will change the worker himself. People will not be confined to a single narrow profession. They will be able to choose their occupation or go over from one profession to another. The “partial” worker, who at present performs a definite production function, will become a versatile individual, the director of intricate production processes and the creator of cultural values. This is dealt with by the Programme of the G.P.S.U., which states: “Each is guaranteed 244an equal and free choice of occupation and profession ’with due regard for the interests of society.” At the same time, this docs not exclude the division of labour between professions, between specialisation of the members of society. The citizen of communist society should not, however, be pictured as a person who can engage in any production or cultural activity, who may be a doctor today, a teacher tomorrow, and then a scientist, an engineer, an artist, and so forth. Communist production requires a high level of organisation, efficiency and discipline, and therefore every person will perform a definite function in a definite time. However, narrow, one-sided specialisation that chains a person to one form of activity will gradually disappear. Within the framework of occupations allied or close to their main profession people will have the possibility of freely changing and varying their work.

A certain division of labour between individual members of society will thus remain under communism, but it will lose its class social nature. It will acquire a purely professional character and ensure the people concerned with the possibility of varying their work in the sphere of material production.

Incentives for Work

In the arsenal of means of promoting communist work and the attainment of the highest possible level of labour productivity immense importance attaches to a correct combination of material and moral incentives for work.

Material stimuli acquire the form of personal, collective (group) and social interest in receiving remuneration for work. As distinct from collective and social interest, which is linked up with the material interests of the entire personnel of a factory or collective farm, or of society as a whole, personal material interest expresses the striving of each individual to receive a definite share of means of subsistence for his work. This striving, it should be emphasised, springs from the knowledge that the share received for work depends upon the quantity and quality of this work and on its productivity.

The need for providing material incentives during the entire period of communist construction is due to the fact that society has not yet reached the level where it can produce an abundance of consumer goods and also to the 245fact that a distinction still exists between mental and physical work and between skilled and unskilled labour. In this situation, renunciation of material incentives and transition to equalitarian payment for work would deal social production an irreparable blow and give rein to idleness and parasitical sentiments.

Some people hold the view that material incentives run counter to communist principles, that they foster bourgeois habits, lead to a race for personal benefit, moneygrubbing and a drive for gain. This view is quite wrong, because material incentives are an indispensable condition of the success of communist construction. These incentives and the desire to have their requirements satisfied as fully as possible spur people on to improve their production know-how, enhance efficiency, perfect implements of labour and technologies and steadily raise the productivity of labour. Material incentives have opened broad vistas for honest and dedicated work and for cultivating the great force of example by labour.

Under socialism personal incentives objectively do not clash with the interests of society because labour is founded on public ownership and its products go to ensure the welfare and free, all-round advancement of all people. Thanks precisely to material remuneration for work each person receives direct social recognition. At the same time, it is extremely important that the objective harmony between what is personal and what is social should be realised by every member of society and that every person should clearly understand that by working for himself he works for society, and that the welfare of society is his own welfare.

Experience has shown that relinquishment of material incentives lead to difficulties and disproportions in building up production, which in their turn negatively affect the welfare of the people. Difficulties of this nature were experienced for a long time, for example in Soviet agriculture. The principle of material incentives was violated in industry as well. The restoration and development of this principle make it possible to expand the economy swiftly and raise the standard of living.

Material incentives are an extremely important, but not the only spur for work. In socialist society the working 246person is the master of his country, building a new society. For him moral encouragement and moral satisfaction are just as important as material encouragement. That explains why with progress in building communism more and more importance is attached to moral incentives for work—moral recognition of work, respect of fellow workers and of society as a whole, duty and responsibility to the people, satisfaction with the results of one’s work, pride in one’s work, honour, conscience and zeal, the joy of creative work, and the quest for the new, emotional upsurge and aesthetic delight in the work itself and in its results. “In the course of the advance to communism,” declares the Programme of the C.P.S.U., “the importance of moral labour incentives, public recognition of achieved results and the sense of responsibility of each for the common cause will become continuously greater.”

Moral incentives play an ever larger role not through a reduction but, on the contrary, an improvement of material incentives. The main thing in stimulating labour is to achieve a synthesis of material and moral incentives. Only when they harmonise and intertwine, material and moral incentives are, on the one hand, a source for steadily boosting people’s labour activity and the growth of labour productivity and social wealth and, on the other, a source for the growth of the national wealth and for the development of the working person, for the moulding of lofty moral and spiritual features in him.

Developing the Personality Through Creative Work

When we speak of a fully developed person we mean primanly a person who is cultured and educated, i.e., a person possessing considerable spiritual wealth. However, Lenin wrote, “to be cultured we must achieve a certain development of the material means of production”. [246•*

Material production is the foundation of social life, while the ability to produce the means of life, to work, is the principal and decisive ability of man. This ability to work underlies the formation and the development of all of his capabilities without exception. One can well appreciate that, for labour created man. Thanks to labour, 247our distant ancestor, the savage, became a human being. Labour gave man food, clothes and a roof over his head. It not only protected him against the elements but also enabled him to conquer and harness nature. In work man has changed beyond recognition and has also changed the planet he lives on. Man’s hand, that remarkable implement of creative work, took shape in the process of work. “Thanks to work,” Engels wrote, “the human hand attained the high degree of perfection that has enabled it to conjure into being the paintings of a Raphael, the statues of a Thorwaldsen, the music of a Paganini.” [247•* Man’s musical ear, his eye which registers the superb loveliness of nature, his subtle taste and other sense organs emerged and developed in work. In the process of work man acquired an amazing gift, the ability to think and speak.

Work is man’s greatest wealth. It is a vital condition for his life and all-round development. The joy of existence is the aim of man’s life. This joy is born only in work, and only in work does it find its full manifestation and development. Only in work does a person feel the fullness and diversity of life, acquire the dignity of a man and citizen and feel the friendship of his fellow men and the unity of his people and country. The purport of a person’s life is to work for the welfare of society, and therein lies genuine human happiness.

“Cherish labour,” Maxim Gorky wrote. “Nothing makes man greater and wiser than work—collective, friendly and free work....

“Man is great in work and only in work, and the more passionately he loves his work the more majestic he becomes himself and the more productive and beautiful becomes his work.”

Labour is the most intricate complex of physical and mental efforts and of deep mental and aesthetic experiences; a person who does not work loses his best human qualities and, essentially, ceases to be himself. Disdain for work, and idleness corrupt man, enfeeble his mind and body and cause him to lose his sense of human dignity and civic duty.248

Work has always been a factor of man’s development. However, the influence of work as a factor forming the qualities of a personality depend on social and economic conditions, on the division of labour in society and on labour’s technical equipment and organisation. In capitalist society, for instance, the chaining of people to one profession frequently leads to a lop-sided, ugly development of man who is then unable to engage in activities of any real diversity. “In the division of labour,” Engels wrote, “man is also divided. All other physical and mental faculties are sacrificed to the development of one single activity.” [248•*

Socialism has emancipated labour from exploitation and created the social, technical and organisational prerequisites for the all-round development of the individual.

The role of labour in the moulding of the new man increases in proportion to the progress achieved in building communism, the shaping of a communist attitude to work, the growth of the technical equipment and efficiency of labour and the improvement of the system of labour organisation. The formation of a communist attitude to work is the foundation for moulding the all–sidedly developed individual. Communist labour, which is highly productive and creative, facilitates the development of the talents and capabilities of the individual.

Let us see why.

First. Communist labour is founded on the latest scientific and technical achievements, which require a creative attitude to work, erudition and a high cultural and technical level. Inasmuch as under communism there are no bounds to technical and scientific progress, the possibilities for developing man’s intellectual qualities and for his special and general educational training are likewise boundless.

Secondly. The absence of a permanent attachment to some one profession creates for man the possibility of changing his occupation, of selecting his occupation according to his interests. This is a powerful incentive for improving the personality, for raising the level of the individual’s special and general knowledge.249

Thirdly. The high level of organisation of communist labour, the collectivist nature of labour relations, and the harmony of personal and social interests are an important factor forming lofty moral qualities, chiefly collectivism and comradely mutual assistance, a lofty sense of civic duty and concern for multiplying social wealth. Real friendship and comradeship, sincerity and the sharing of production know-how cannot help but enrich the spiritual life of the citizens of communist society.

Fourthly. The aesthetical attractiveness of the process, conditions and results of labour and its lofty creative spirit help to form in man lofty aesthetical feelings and thoughts.

* * *

Leisure Time and the Development of the Individual

Comprehensively mechanised and automated communist labour will be distinguished for its extremely high productivity. The attainment of a productivity level higher than in any capitalist country is the prime condition for the triumph of communism, and not only because this high level will make it possible rapidly to create and constantly maintain an abundance of material blessings and thereby satisfy the requirements of all citizens. Highly productive labour will give the people the maximum free time, which is so necessary for the development of all their intellectual and physical capabilities.

A large measure of leisure time is that priceless wealth that the working man could not even dream of in an exploiting society. “Then,” Marx wrote, “the criterion of wealth will no longer be working time but leisure time.”

Leisure time should not be confused with non-working time, i.e., time free from work directly in production. In one way or another, part of a person’s non-working time is linked up with production, for example, the time spent in going to and from work, the time needed to turn the work over to the new shift, and so on. Another part of this non-working time is spent on matters concerning dayto-day life and on the care for children. Yet another portion is spent on satisfying the organism’s natural requirements (eating, sleep, toilet, and so forth). The time left over after the discharge of production and family duties and the satisfaction of physiological requirements is leisure lime proper.250

When we speak of leisure time we must, first and foremost, note its influence on labour productivity and, correspondingly, on the formation of an individual’s personal qualities. The quantity of leisure time depends on the productivity of labour. In its turn, labour productivity depends to a certain extent on the quantity of leisure time, because part of this time is spent by people on improving their production skills, their intellectual and physical development and their cultural level, which unquestionably help to boost labour productivity and stress its creative, intellectual aspect.

Moreover, leisure time enables people to engage in social activities and thereby learn to direct social affairs, which is extremely important in communist society, and also to follow interests in science, technology or art, or take up physical culture and sport, and so on, thus improving themselves culturally and physically. Leisure time opens the door to science, art and sports. “As less and less time is spent on material production,” states the Programme of the C.P.S.U., “the individual is afforded ever greater opportunities to develop his abilities, gifts and talents in the fields of production, science, engineering, literature and the arts. People will increasingly devote their leisure to public pursuits, cultural intercourse, intellectual and physical development, scientific, technical and artistic endeavour. Physical training and sports will become part and parcel of the everyday life of people.”

By itself leisure time only provides the possibility for the individual’s all-round development. Therefore, the main thing is to make the best use of this time. In the old days it used to be said that time was money. Today we can say that time, particularly leisure time, is dearer than money, for by wasting his leisure time man robs himself, impoverishing himself intellectually and physically.

The profitable use of leisure time is thus an important condition for moulding the all-sidedly developed individual.

Notes

[246•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, p. 475.

[247•*] K. Marx and F. Engels, Selected Works, in two vols., Vol. II, p. 82.

[248•*] Frederick Engels, Anti-Duhring. Herr Eugen Duhring’s Revolution in Science, 2nd ed., p. 403.

[242•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 19, p. 62.

[239•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 517.

[239•**] Subbotniks—voluntary labour performed after working hours without remuneration.