By Sergey Sokolov, of Rabochaya Demokratiya, in Moscow
The story of “The Flour Company Nastiusha”, formerly one of the main players of the market in seeds, flour and baking, provides a classic example of the disaster of the capitalist economy in Russia today. The owner of the company, Pinkevich, decided to try his luck in a more profitable field and invested in property construction, but overestimated his resources, building stalled and Nastiusha went bankrupt.
Pinkevich was sent to prison for fraud worth the best part of £1bn (60bn roubles). As a result, the deceived investors of the block of flats called Tsaritsyno, who have still not moved in, and the workers of the flour company were both hit. The systematic non-payment of wages became the rule in the factories and the assets were prepared for auction. The administrators as a rule want to take care of their own interests, not the interests of the workers and the enterprises. The factories have been working on credit and the administrators have tried to extract the last ounce of profit, while the workers have been trying to survive. Let’s see how this battle for bread with Nastiusha has panned out.
“We need one victory”
In the last issue of Rabochaya Demokratiya we wrote about the situation that developed at the bread-making factory in Sergiev Posad, a town about 150km north east of Moscow. On 13 May 2019, the enterprise stopped running due to debts for electricity and gas. At that moment the workers had not received their wages since February. It is difficult to find new work locally and impossible to find work in the same sector as it is the only bread factory in town. Our activists learnt about the situation through local media. On 20 May and 6 June, the administrators held meetings with the workforce. After each meeting our comrades discussed with workers who often gave in to their emotions after being upset by the latest round of empty promises. We managed to learn that workers were planning to declare a hunger strike if their demand for the back-payment of wages was not realised by 17 June.
We explained to the workers that hunger strikes are not an effective means of struggle, that they exhaust people and take place on the territory of the enterprise, which limits access to the media. Hunger strikes are a method of people in despair who are not able to struggle and who are not organised. Active protest is much better: strikes if the enterprise is working, meetings and pickets, the collective submission of declarations to the authorities if labour laws have been broken.
It is absolutely crucial to attract the media and publicise the dispute as much as possible because public opinion is a powerful instrument. It is even better if workers can organise a trade union or re-elect the leadership of an existing but passive union. The employer is far more afraid of such actions than a hunger strike, because the workers are organised, united, conscious, their actions are not spontaneous and it is more difficult to pacify or talk them out of collective action.
Promises of management not kept
On the morning of 17 June a meeting was held. The promises of management had not been kept, the workforce went to the entry point and demanded that Rabochaya Demokratiya and other journalists be allowed to enter the site. Without waiting for approval, we entered. After a sharp exchange with the director and his assistant, the workers unanimously agreed to a hunger strike in the canteen, which can hold 50 people.
Our activists joined in the hunger strike but continued to explain to workers the ineffectiveness of this approach. In the evening, the director and his assistant turned up. They tried to persuade the workers to go home and sit it out while the administrators find an investor who would buy the enterprise and re-start production. They also promised to get the ovens going the next day. Our activists warned the workers not to believe the announcements of management but to move on to more determined actions and go for an official meeting in the centre of town. The workers decided to continue their hunger strike and stay on site overnight, as we did with them.
Late that evening, the local Minister of Agriculture turned up. The workers demanded that he deal with the situation but he replied that he could “help only with a kind word.” Who needs a minister like that?
We slept on boards and chairs
The first night was difficult; people slept on boards and chairs, the windows were open to provide some fresh air, but this meant that the place was thick with midges. We drank a lot of water to lessen the pangs of hunger. But the mood was militant. We sang “we need one victory,” joked a lot and talked among ourselves.
At 10 the next morning the head of Sergiev-Posad district, Tokarev, turned up. He said that he was ready to find people alternative work. In response, he got howls of protest because the workers wanted to save their factory. He also said that if workers are going to “make a noise”, then no investor will come along and they won’t see their wages – as the proverb has it, “money loves silence.” He ended by saying that big enterprises are not profitable in a capitalist economy and listed the factories in the town that had closed, thereby showing the bankruptcy of the capitalist system.
The less militant workers who had not gone on hunger strike but only came to the meetings with management believed management and went home. The more militant group decided that management was probably lying again and would not pay them anything, and then blame workers for disrupting negotiations with potential investors.
Not wanting to appear in the eyes of their fellow-workers as provocateurs, these more advanced workers ended their hunger strike. But since it was impossible to retreat, it was decided instead to organise a meeting in town, as we had suggested. The local authorities and local press were informed about the decision to hold a meeting and because of the attention it generated a criminal case was opened into the factory’s director. As if by magic, the next day money for the back-payment of wages was found. They paid for only one month, but found the means to pay the debt for energy and the factory was able to set to work again.
At the present moment the workers are still due two months-worth of wages but for current work they are being paid on schedule. Thanks to our involvement in the hunger strike, we earned authority among the workers and were able to persuade them to move onto more determined actions, attract the attention of the media and help the workers achieve a victory.
…They don’t pay workers in Moscow either
The next episode of the battle was the situation in the flour factory at Sokolniki in the city of Moscow. On 30 September, a hunger strike began at the enterprise. Our party found out about it only on the following morning and we went straight there. 50 workers were taking part. They had not received wages for a whole year! And this is, remember, Moscow.
They were each due between 400,000 and a million roubles, depending on their seniority. The struggle began at the factory that stopped production back in July. The factory was closed on purpose, in order to knock it down and build elite flats. This meant undermining the food security of the city as there is only one other flour factory in Moscow. The factory’s security was beefed up with a police patrol, in order not to let activists and journalists on site. In order to generate publicity, we organised a meeting with Elena Yanchuk, a Communist Party of Russia (CPRF) deputy on the Moscow city council. The meeting attracted interest from all sorts of media.
Again we tried to persuade the workers to choose more determined actions rather than going on hunger strike. A local deputy from the “United Russia” Party arrived and directly told the workers “if you continue with this, the riot police will come to disperse you.” This did not frighten them however, but merely prompted a protest.
The offer of giving each of them 50,000 roubles each, in exchange for them going home, also did not work. People were prepared to stick it out to the end.
Publicity in the media, pressure via Moscow city council and the militant mood yielded results. On 4 October negotiations began between investors and the workers. It was decided to put the factory up for auction and for it to be sold as a going concern, and that after its sale the back-payment of wages would be paid, with 20% to be paid with immediate effect. In case of the capitalists reneging on their promises, the workers would renew the struggle, but next time in the area of street protests.
Enough is enough
Out of all this campaign it is possible to draw a few conclusions. Our Russian working people are extraordinarily patient. They are prepared to wait months to receive their hard-earned wages and even a whole year. Only the most desperate situation can reduce them to struggle, when needs must. But this has the effect of reducing the chances of seeing their wages.
As long as the enterprise is working, it is possible to go on strike. After factory closure, it is much harder to achieve success. If you are not ready for a strike or a meeting, then there is always the absolutely legal possibility of writing a declaration of stopping work if your wages have not been paid for 15 or more days, preferably to do this collectively. It is essential to give all the violations of the employer maximum publicity. Those parasites are afraid of their misdemeanours coming out. Energy, organisation and solidarity – this is the basis for the victory of the working class!
A paradoxical situation emerged at the Nastiusha company. To all appearances there are factories, workers, raw materials and ready consumers, but the factories stand idle. The workers sit with pockets empty, and the prices of products grows. A businessman who was only bothered about his fortune got caught up in a financial machination and fleeced his own factories.
In the anarchy of the market the strongest wins, the one who speculates the most. The workers are always the ones who foot the bill. As long as capitalism exists, inequality, unemployment and poverty will only grow. The liberals would have us believe that only “a strong boss” is capable of getting production going and providing jobs, but in fact the workers have to fight just for factories to exist. We cannot leave things like this – join the struggle! February 4, 2020
