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Title: America and the Soviets
Author: Alexander Berkman
Date: Feb, 1931
Language: en
Topics: United States, Soviets
Source: Online source http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=1239, retrieved on November 17, 2020.

Alexander Berkman

America and the Soviets

A great deal is being written now in the Soviet Press about the new

American law against convict or forced labor. The United States has

recently passed a statute according to which no goods can enter the

country that are the product of unfree, forced or convict labor. The new

law went into effect in January and there is much discussion in Russia,

as well as in the United States, as to what effect the new legislation

will [have] on Russian industrial conditions and on its foreign trade.

The unusual feature of the law is that the burden of proof is laid upon

the accused. That is, if Russia attempts to bring its manufactured goods

into the United States, it will [be] up to the Soviets to prove that the

goods are not the product of forced or convict labor. Thus, for

instance, the United States needs only to charge the Russian importer

with bringing in products of forced labor, and then the importer is at

once placed under the greatest handicap. Practically it may be equal to

debarring the Soviet imports, by burdening the importer with unusual and

extraordinary difficulties, for it is almost impossible for Russia to

prove that its products are made by “free” labor.

Indeed, how can it be proven that a certain product is the result of

free labor? This distinction between so-called “free” labor and “unfree

or forced” labor opens the door for endless quibbling and hairsplitting.

The interpretation of such a law will depend entirely on the attitude of

a given judge or court. One unfriendly to the Soviets would naturally

decide against the Russian importer on the mere basis that the Bolshevik

Government is an absolute dictatorship, without freedom of action or

movement,

and that for that very reason labor in Russia cannot be considered free.

Such an attitude on the part of the American courts would not be

surprising in view of the prevailing American opinion about Russia and

also because of certain known facts concerning the Russian workers.

On the other hand, such an interpretation of the law should apply with

equal effect to other countries that import goods to the United States.

The unprejudiced American citizen may argue that if political

dictatorship in Russia involves unfree or forced labor, the same should

apply also to importers from other countries that are ruled by

dictatorships. In fact, there are today quite a number of land[s] in

Europe whose political form is a dictatorship in this or that form, some

of them as absolute as the dictatorship of the Communist Party in

Russia. Italy, Poland, Rumania — to mention but a few countries — all

belong to the same class of political autocracy, however their forms

vary.

Further more, most European countries import to the United States

products of their colonies. In certain of those colonies labor is not

only “unfree”, but directly and positively forced, in some places even

actual slavery, peonage, and other forms of forced toil. It will be seen

therefore that such a law involves the greatest complications. Even with

the most judicious and liberal application of such a law there must

result contradictory decisions, constant friction and a wide-spread

disorganization of the entire world market.

Under such conditions the question would inevitably [sic] come up sooner

or later as to a final and conclusive decision as to what constitutes

“free” and what “unfree, forced” labor. That would indeed be a most

interesting problem, but at the same time a veritable Gordian knot. Such

a decision could in the last instance be decided only by the Supreme

Court of the United States, which is the highest tribunal in that

country, charged with interpreting the meaning

of laws. On that bench, which consists of 9 persons appointed for life,

there often happens to be one or two members, like the late Justice

Holmes and now Brandeis, who look at things radically. And so it may

happen that a Brandeis may analyze the question of “free” labor and

inquire what labor can really be free under existing conditions. For if

the proposed new law bars products of unfree, forced labor from other

countries, a Brandeis may want to examine if the workers in Europe are

so situated that their condition does not force them to labor, as many

hours as they are compelled and for such pay as is given them.

It can be seen therefore what ramifications the law under discussion

will affect if it becomes a statute and is to be enforced. Just now the

bill is before the United States Congress. It is debatable whether that

body will take the step that necessarily must very seriously aggravate

the great crisis on hand in the United States. For the economic

situation there is at present the worst that America has seen in a

century, with over seven millions out of employment. Russia is doing now

150 millions worth of business (in dollars) with the United States, and

the amount is growing with each year, and that is a considerable item

for a country whose warehouses are bursting with mountains of products

that it cannot sell at home. Russia is now one of the best customers for

America and the latter country will hardly risk losing that customer by

passing a law that would alienate from it Russian business.

The Soviet Government, on the other hand, can also not ignore the danger

that threatens it from such a law. To lose its export trade to the

United States would be a tremendous blow. Furthermore, other countries,

as England, for instance, might follow the example of the United States,

and then the barring of the world markets to Russia would bring the

worst crisis to her. Russia must look to the matter of forced labor, for

that implies work

performed by people whose freedom of movement and of choice of

employment is restricted by an outer force. It may take the form of

prison labor, of toil in concentration camps and lumber clearings, and

mass servitude at assigned tasks. In short, it covers all cases where

the workers are deprived of liberty, are compelled into a certain

environment and deprived of the right or opportunity to alter the

conditions under which they labor.

It cannot be denied that to a great extent the workers of Russia are

just in that situation. Theoretically, of course, the workers in Russia

are their “own bosses”, their own employers; they are the “proletarian

dictatorship” and they might say, “L’état c’est moi!” But unfortunately

the reality is quite different. In the establishments that are owned

privately in Russia, the workers are, generally speaking, in the same

situation as any other workers holding a job with some employer; except

that the pay of the Russian worker is much less and his standard of

living lower. But the great majority of industries and other factories

belong to the State, and there the worker is forbidden by law even to

strike. Nor can he leave his job if the conditions do not suit him.

Under the 5-year plan migrations of workers have been entirely stopped,

and a worker is forbidden to change from one industry to another. He

cannot give up his job at will, for in the majority of cases the workers

have to sign contracts by which they are pledged to remain at their

present jobs until the 5-year plan is completed. Compelled to stay on

his present job, the Russian worker is practically a bondsman, without

any recourse to striking and without a chance to appeal to his union for

redress of grievances, since the union is under the direct control of

the Party and the Government.

This situation considered, the proposed American law would indeed be a

great blow to Russia. A law debarring products of forced labor could be

so interpreted and applied as to exclude from the United States not only

the manufactures of Russia but also its products of agriculture. All

Marxian theory and Bolshevik arguments notwithstanding, it would be

altogether impossible for Soviet Russia to prove to the satisfaction of

the world that her labor is “free”.

February, 1931