Abstract
Long before Revolutions of 1917, the eminent Russian scholar L. J. Petrazycki pointed out that with transition to socialism there would be greater emphasis on the system of compulsion and rewards in work.1 When the government becomes the supreme monopolist and arbitrator of all earnings and prices, when the livelihood of all its citizens is placed in direct dependence on the state, the stimuli of acquisition, gain, and risk lose their power. The incentive to work is derived either from disinterested devotion to national and humanitarian causes, or from anticipation of favors from the powers that be. However, lofty ideals and altruistic psychological motives are not common among the masses. Therefore, in order to stimulate people to work various rewards are widely used. On the other hand, any impairment of personal interests produces indignation, retaliation, and sabotage. Then the authorities, on their side, have recourse to harsh measures for dealing with the ‘enemies of the people/ Thus a lavish distribution of rewards as encouragement to devoted and zealous workers, and ruthless reaction against sabotage and even laziness or neglect become ordinary phenomena.
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References
Prof. L. J. Petrazicki, Teoria prava (Theory of Law), (St. Petersburg, 1910), vol. II, pp. 709–10.
Ukase of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 10, 1940.
This Ukase is incorporated into the Criminal Code of the R.S.F.S.R. in the form of an amendment to paragraph I of Art. 128 (a). Although several Union Republics have their own criminal codes, they do not differ essentially and it is usually sufficient to refer to the Penal Code of the R.S.F.S.R. of 1926 (referred to hereafter as Crim. C). See English edition, The Penal Code of the R.S.F.S.R., Text of 1926 (with amendments up to December I, 1932) with three appendices. London, H. Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1934.
Art. 58, Crim. C.
Even capital punishment is not excluded in especially severe cases. The death penalty was abolished by the Ukase of May 26, 1947 (Izvestia, May 27, 1947), but was once again restored by the Ukase of January 12,1950 (Izvestia, January 13,1950).
Crim. C, Art. 131. Early in 1948 (Izvestia, No. 89) there began a series of prosecutions against engineers, and factory and plant managers for the production of poor quality goods. Engineer Vykhota of the Grodno factory was sentenced to five years imprisonment for the production over a long period of bicycles of poor quality; in Leningrad, Malinovsky, a chief engineer, was sentenced to two years imprisonment for producing felt boots of poor quality (valenki) ; the manager of the Totsk Bakery in the Chkalov region was sentenced to five years imprisonment for baking poor grade bread, etc. At the same time the Prosecutor General’s office instructed all its local organs to prosecute mercilessly all those responsible for manufacturing inferior goods.
Ukase of June 26, 1940, part 2, Art. 5. (See Izvestia and Pravda, June 27, 1940; Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta, July 5, 1940, No. 20 and August 22, 1940, No. 28. Liability for leaving military enterprises during the war was determined by the special ukase of December 26, 1941 (Vedomosti, 1942, No. 2). Cf. Gsovski, Soviet Civil Law, Ann Arbor, 1948, pp. 816–820. Since 1953. violators are usually fined.
The failure to get on a street car or train because of its being accidentally detained, or the cars being overcrowded, the illness of one’s children or wife, or the necessity of standing in line for articles of primary necessity, are not considered justifiable reasons for being late or for non-appearance at work. Osnovy sovetskogo gosudarstva i pravá, (referred to hereafter as Osnovy), pp. 428–431.
U.S.S.R. Ukase, June 26, 1940, Art. 6. Resolution of the Supreme Court of August 15, 1940, No. 29/15/u (See Sbomik deistvuiushchikh postanovlenii i direktivnykh pisem verkhovnogo suda S.S.S.R., 1924–1944, Moscow, 1946, pp. 29, 30).
Prof. P. Haensel in his article ‘A Survey of Soviet Labor Legislation : 1917–1941’ (Illinois Law Review, vol. 36, 1942, pp. 529–544) cited the following facts: ‘For instance, a chief of transport in a factory was sentenced to a two-year prison term for having sent home several times a worker who came to work intoxicated, instead of prosecuting him.
Izvestia, August 16, 1940. An apprentice was found loafing during working hours. In revenge he attacked his master in the street and beat him. Izvestia, August 17, 1940. Several judges were deprived of their positions for rendering too mild sentences or for delaying in passing sentences. Izvestia, August 9, and 13,1940.’ (Haensel, op.c, PP- 539–540 note 46).
Sobranie zakonov S.S.S.R., 1933, No. 59, Text 356; cf. Sbornik (referred to in note 8), Resolution of the Plenum, March 17, 1934 (pp. 37–38).
A farmer excluded from the kolkhoz is completely dependent on the state, which gives him work when it is profitable to the state, and when not, exiles him to a correctional labor camp. (Osnovy, p. 504).
The collective farmer is not a hired worker and is not subject to the Labor Law of 1940. However, in conformity with Article 18 of the Charter of Collective Farms, a collective farmer may be prosecuted in accordance with the Crim. C. for a ‘betrayal of the common cause and aid to enemies of the people.’ (See above, Ch. XII).
People’s Commissariat of Communal Economy (Ministry of Communal Economy later).
The decree of the S.N.K. of the R.S.F.S.R., on October 10, 1940, established that for late payment of rent and for payment of fines, the members of the tenant’s family having independent incomes, as well as the tenant himself, are jointly and severally liable. (See Zhilishchnye zakony (Dwelling-House Laws), published by the Ministry of Communal Economy, Moscow, 1947. Collections of decrees about securing timely payments of apartment rents).
Prof. S. T. Goliakov, Ugolovnoe pravo (Criminal Law), Moscow, 1947, pp. 278–279.
Almost entire space of a four-page Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta is usually filled with citations of various awards.
Descriptions of uniforms and epaulets occupy a prominent place in Soviet papers and collections of laws. (See Sbornik Zakonov S.S.S.R. i Ukazov Presidiuma Verh. Soveta, 1945–1946; Moskva, 1947, pp. 142–144).
General Statute on Decorations of the U.S.S.R. of May 7, 1936, Articles 10–16, U.S.S.R. Laws, 1936, text 220 (b). See also Administrativnoe zakonodatelstvo (Administrative Legislation), sbornik vazhneishikh postanovlenii, Ogiz. 1936, pp. 90–106.
Some benefits, however, were repeated in the Ukase of September 10, 1947. Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta, No. 41.
Statute on the title Hero of the Soviet Union of the U.S.S.R., Collection of Laws, 1934, text 168, and of 1936, text 357 (b).
Statute on the title of Hero of Labor of July 27, 1927, U.S.S.R. Laws, 1927, text 456 (amended in 1930, text 1, and in 1931, text 118). Statute of Order of Lenin, May 5, 1930, U.S.S.R. Laws, 1930, text 269.
The Order of the Red Banner is granted for outstanding heroism, unselfishness and valor displayed on the field of battle. The Order of the Red Star is awarded for outstanding service for defense in time of peace or war. Statute of The Order of Red Star, U.S.S.R. Laws, 1932, text 74.
Decree of the TsIK of the U.S.S.R., Sept. 7, 1928, Laws, 1928, text 524.
Decree of the TsIK of November 25, 1935, U.S.S.R. Laws, 1936, text 223.
68 per cent of the deputies in the Council of Nationalities and 78 per cent in the Council of Union are holders of government awards; among these are 102 Heroes of the Soviet Union, 52 Heroes of Socialist Labor, and 35 Stalin Laureates. See Izvestia, March 15,1946 ; in 1950, in the Council of Nationalities there were 93 and, in the Council of the Union — 91 per cent deputies bearing decorations (Th. Rigby, Political Quarterly, July-September, 1953, p. 314) Cf. Ch. XVII, note 18.
General Statute on Decorations, Art. 18, and special statutes of particular Orders provide regulations on the right of TsIK (at present of the Supreme Soviet) to remove rights to decorations and titles.
The Ukase of March 29, 1947 (Vedomosti, 1947, No. 12) ‘concerning the conferring of the title “Hero of Socialist Labor” and the awarding of orders and medals of the U.S.S.R. to kolkhoz, M.T.S., and sovkhoz laborers for obtaining large crops of wheat, rye, corn, sugar beets and cotton.’
This system of encouraging diligence among farmers by individual rewards for record harvests was extended still further by the Ukase of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet on April 24, 1948. A similar system of awards is established for the outstanding achievements in live-stock breeding. Ukase of Sept. 17, 1947 Vedomosti, No. 35. Recently extended by the Ukase of Oct. 23, 1953.
‘A laborer making bricks had to produce 16,000 bricks a day; if he produced up to 10 per cent more, his wage was raised by 50 per cent; up to 20 per cent, the wage was increased 100 per cent; above 20 per cent, the wage was increased 150 per cent, i.e. progressively.’ P. Haensel, ‘A Survey of Soviet Labor Legislation: 1917–1941,’ Illinois Law Review, vol. 36, 1942. Cf. also Gsovski, vol. I, Ch. 22, note 63, and pp. 810–811. See also above, Chapter XIII, Section 4 (Wages).
Osnovy, pp. 426–427.
Ukase of September 1, 1945 (Vedomosti, 1945, No. 65). There are three classes of badges for Stalin Laureates. Description is given in the ukase of the Supreme Soviet of December 10, 1946. The amount of prizes was limited later to 100,000 rubles. Prizes were made free of tax.
‘There is a shortage of everything in the Soviet Union,’ remarks one of its citizens, ‘except works of Lenin and Stalin, decorations and medals, and fantastic promises.’
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© 1954 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Guins, G.C. (1954). Penalties and Rewards as Incentives for Work. In: Soviet Law and Soviet Society. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-0869-8_15
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