Differentiation of Wages of Industrial Workers at the End of NEP: Between Equalization and Labor Incentives

Abstract

During the NEP years, the task of regulating wages of industrial workers was one of the priorities of Soviet social policy. Wages at state-owned enterprises during the NEP period were regulated by the state, which was supposed, on the one hand, to implement the new principles of social policy (a policy towards equalizing wages), and on the other hand, to ensure production efficiency. The main tools for regulating wages were the tariff scale and terms of collective agreements. The policy pursued by the state regarding wages of industrial workers during the NEP years and the practice of its implementation are considered in this article, as is the reaction of workers to the ongoing processes of regulating the differentiation of wages among both skilled and unskilled workers. It is shown that no consistent equalizing (leveling) of workers’ wages was achieved. The workers’ attitude to the policy pursued in this area is analyzed on the basis of declassified materials from a multivolume publication of documents—information reviews and summaries of the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU). Various forms of protest and discontent of workers regarding the regulation of wages are identified, which manifested themselves in different groups of workers, in different regions of the country, at enterprises of different industries, and for different reasons. The most characteristic ones were conflict situations generated by the policy of equalizing wages, which meant a decrease in labor motivation for skilled workers and caused their dissatisfaction.