배급과 노동, 그리고 사회정의: 러시아 내전기(1918~1921년) 페트로그라드의 노동자와 배급

Abstract

This article aims to examine the policies relating to rations introduced by the Bolshevik regime and workers` reaction to them in Petrograd during the Russian Civil War. The economic dislocation occurred in the Revolutionary Russia due to the fierce civil war and the ensuing disorder. The situation was worsened by the blockade imposed by the capitalist powers. The workers in Petrograd underwent the extreme shortage of food and other necessities. The soaring prices of goods led to a continued fall of the value in money. As a result, most workers in Petrograd began to receive ration instead of money as wages. The ration of food and other necessities given out to workers was far from being equal. The Bolsheviks government took a line to give out the better rations to those workers who worked in the industrial enterprises which were thought to be vital for the maintenance of economy and the war effort. In other words, only a small portion of workers was entitled to the privileged rations. Such a ration policy caused the serious indignation over the inequality amongst the mass of workers. They demanded that they should be entitled to the higher category of ration on the ground that their labour was also useful to the society. And they went so far as to raise their voice for the equalisation of ration. Under the circumstances where the economy was completely dislocated, in their eye, the ration was not so much wages as social security. Moreover, the labour productivity of those industrial enterprises entitled to the privileged ration was not higher than that of those plants and factories which did not enjoy such a privilege. Such a situation led the workers to consider the policy of ration taken by the authorities as a sort of the complete denial of social justice.