Labor army

This article is about the notion of the labor army in the history of the Soviet Union. For other uses, seeLabor army (disambiguation).

The notion of theLabor army(трудовая армия, трудармия) was introduced inSoviet Russiaduring theRussian Civil Warin 1920. Initially the term was applied to regiments ofRed Armytransferred frommilitaryactivity to labor activity, such aslogging,coalmining,firewoodstocking, etc.

Labor army in 1920,Mark V.

History

The first labor army (1я Трудармия, 1-я армия труда) was created after the defeat ofKolchakon the base of the 3rd Army located in theUralsregion by the initiative of the army commanderMikhail Matiyasevich(командарм Михаил Степанович Матиясевич).

Leon Trotsky,acting asPeople's Commissarof Army and Fleet Affairs and Chairman of theRevolutionary Military Councilof the Republic at this time, developed this idea further. He argued that the economic situation in the country required introduction of theuniversal labor duty.In the case of workers, this could be done with the help oftrade unions,while in the case of peasantry, Trotsky argued, it was possible only throughmobilization.

He argued further that"army-type organization is in fact inherently Soviet type of organization".

His critics argued that this idea was leading back to the times oftsarismandslavery.Trotsky retorted that unlike old times, workers were supposed to work not for exploiters, but for their own good, for their own state, i.e., labor duty is the fulfillment of the obligations of the liberated working class with respect to their "worker-peasant state" in the cases of emergency.

By the end of theRussian Civil Warand the introduction ofNew Economic Policythe idea of the labor army ended, especially afterJoseph Stalin's assumption of power and the implementation of his policies ofindustrializationandcollectivization,which effectively solved the problem ofworkforcemobilization both in industry and agriculture.

Later Trotskyists such asIsaac DeutscherandTony Cliffhave been critics of this policy butErnest Mandelasserted that a myth had been constructed around the role of Trotsky in thetrade-union debate.Mandel argued this controversy had been used byliberalcircles in Russia to claim that Trotsky’s proposals on the “militarization of labour” had provided the groundwork for more repressive andauthoritarianpolicies which were later adopted by Stalin against workers.Mandel believed this view overlooked historical ascertainable facts such as the extensiveunemployment,lumpenizationof workers and the fact there were no examples of repressive actions taken against workers in factories during the period of labour armies. Mandel further re-iterated that Trotsky's attitudes was driven by his concern about the need to prepare workers for key positions in factory management and he had proposed replacingwar communismwith theNEPa year ahead of the party leadership.

Nazi Germany

InNazi Germany,theReich Labour Servicewas established to help mitigate the effects ofunemploymenton theGerman economy,militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it withNaziideology. It was the official state labour service, divided into separate sections for men and women.

Later Soviet Union

During World War II certain categories of population, primarilyethnic Germans,were conscripted intoNKVD labor columns,in later literature informally referred to as "labor army".

Until the last days of theSoviet Union,theSoviet Armyincorporated the idea of the labor army. With obligatory military duty in the state, men deemed unfit for regular military duty but not unfit for other work, as well as many able-bodied ones, were assigned toconstruction battalions(стройбаты). This tradition continues in a number ofpost-Soviet states,notablyRussia,BelarusandTurkmenistan.

See also

• Alternative civilian service
• Bevin Boys
• Civil conscription
• Civilian Conservation Corps
• Construction soldier
• Hand and hitch-up services
• Labor battalion
• Reserve Army of Labour
• Reichsarbeitsdienst
• Workfare
• Unfree labour