Legislative basis of the norms of the employment and labour laws was developed in the early 1920s (the Labour Code as in force in 1922 including later amendments) and had a clear socially-oriented nature for the benefit of working class. Under the auspices of the People's Commissariat of Labour, a system of conciliatory and arbitral bodies (rates and disputes commissions, courts of conciliation, corts of arbitration) was put in place and acted to seek reconciliation in the course of disputes between employees and employers. The field of labour conflict management developed dynamically. Newly formed practice of negotiability ensured the tension was removed by finding compromises and mutual concessions from the parties in dispute. However, since 1928 the system of social and labour relations has met with considerable deformation. The potential of trade union structures to protect workers' labour rights decreases sharply; the functions of the Labour Commissariat as a regulator of labour relations are limited and curtailed; priority in resolving disputes for their own benefit is obtained by economic and management institutions with their directive goals in the sphere of economy. This specific tendency is pronounced during the conflict in the spring and summer of 1929 between the trade unions and the board of Soyuzzoloto concerning surge in food prices at the gold-mines of Khakassia, when business executives in fact ignored the obligatory arbitrate award in favour of the employees by the court of arbitration. There is dramatic simplification of the enforcement of labour legislation in the interests of implementing a model of mobilization-type economy. The same logic of events predetermines loss of significance and later disappearance of conciliatory-arbitration bodies in the early 1930s as regulators of labour relations.

Krasilnikov Sergey Aleksandrovich, Doctor of Sciences (History), Leading Research Scientist, Department of the History of Social and Economic, Development Institute of History SB RAS, Professor, Department of National History, Novosibirsk State University, 8, Nikolaev st., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation, tel.: 8(383) 330-13-49, e-mail : krass49@gmail.com

Krasilnikov S.A. At the Changing Point of Labour Conflictology: Labour Relations Law in the Late 1920s. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series History, 2018, vol. 26, pp. 73-82. https://doi.org/10.26516/2222-9124.2018.26.73 (in Russian)