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Soviet Union [USSR] SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
Social organizations were strictly controlled by the party and
government except for a small number of unofficial groups that
continued to be tolerated by the authorities in the late 1980s. The
largest social organizations in the country were the trade unions
and
DOSAAF (see Glossary); next in line were the youth and sports
organizations.
Trade Unions
The trade union system consisted of thirty unions organized by
occupational branch. Including about 732,000 locals and 135 million
members in 1984, unions encompassed almost all Soviet employees
with the exception of some 4 to 5 million collective farmers.
Enterprises employing twenty-five or more people had locals, and
membership was compulsory. Dues were about 1 percent of a person's
salary. The All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions served as an
umbrella organization for the thirty branch unions and was by far
the largest public organization in the Soviet Union.
Like the CPSU, the trade unions operated on the principle of
democratic centralism (see Glossary), and they consisted of
hierarchies of elected bodies from the central governing level down
to the factory and local committees. Union membership influenced
union operations only at the local level, where an average of 60
percent of a union's central committee members were rank-and-file
workers.
Unlike labor unions in the West, Soviet trade unions were, in
fact, actually governmental organizations whose chief aim was not
to represent workers but to further the goals of management,
government, and the CPSU. As such, they were partners of management
in attempting to promote labor discipline, worker morale, and
productivity. Unions organized "socialist competitions" and awarded
prizes for fulfilling quotas. They also distributed welfare
benefits, operated cultural and sports facilities, issued passes to
health and vacation centers, oversaw factory and local housing
construction, provided catering services, and awarded bonuses and
prepaid vacations.
Although unions in the Soviet Union primarily promoted
production interests, they had some input regarding production
plans, capital improvements in factories, local housing
construction, and remuneration agreements with management. Unions
also were empowered to protect workers against bureaucratic and
managerial arbitrariness, to ensure that management adhered to
collective agreements, and to protest unsafe working conditions.
After the Polish labor union movement, Solidarity, had achieved
some success in Poland, Soviet labor unions became more vocal in
protecting workers' interests.
Data as of May 1989
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