dissertation on social enterprises

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Speaker 1: In this video, we're going to look at the ever popular qualitative analysis method, thematic analysis. We'll unpack what thematic analysis is, explore its strengths and weaknesses, and explain when and when not to use it. By the end of the video, you'll have a clearer understanding of thematic analysis so that you can approach your research project with confidence. By the way, if you're currently working on a dissertation or thesis or research project, be sure to grab our free dissertation templates to help fast-track your write-up. These tried and tested templates provide a detailed roadmap to guide you through each chapter, section by section. If that sounds helpful, you can find the link in the description down below. So, first things first, what is thematic analysis? Well, as the name suggests, thematic analysis, or TA for short, is a qualitative analysis method focused on identifying patterns, themes, and meanings within a data set. Breaking that down a little, TA involves interpreting language-based data to uncover categories or themes that relate to the research aims and research questions of the study. This data could be taken from interview transcripts, open-ended survey responses, or even social media posts. In other words, thematic analysis can be used on both primary and secondary data. Let's look at an example to make things a little more tangible. Assume you're researching customer sentiment toward a newly launched product line. Using thematic analysis, you could review open-ended survey responses from a sample of consumers looking for similarities, patterns, and categories in the data. These patterns would form a foundation for the development of an initial set of themes. You'd then reduce and synthesize these themes by filtering them through the lens of your specific research aims until you have a small number of key themes that help answer your research questions. By the way, if you're not familiar with the concept of research aims and research questions, be sure to check out our primer video covering that. Link in the description. Now that we've defined what thematic analysis is, let's unpack the different forms that TA can take, specifically inductive and deductive. Your choice of approach will make a big difference to the analysis process, so it's important to understand the difference. Let's take a look at each of them. First up is inductive thematic analysis. This type of TA is completely bottom-up, inductive in terms of approach. In other words, the codes and themes will emerge exclusively from your analysis of the data as you work through it rather than being determined beforehand. This makes it a relatively flexible approach as you can adjust, remove, or add codes and themes as you become more familiar with your data. For example, you could use inductive TA to conduct research on staff experiences of a new office space. In this case, you'd conduct interviews and begin developing codes based on the initial patterns you observe. You could then adjust or change these codes on an iterative basis as you become more familiar with the full data set, following which you develop your themes. By the way, if you're not familiar with the process of qualitative coding, we've got a dedicated video covering that. As always, the link is in the description. Next up, we've got deductive thematic analysis. Contrasted to the inductive option, deductive TA uses predetermined, tightly defined codes. These codes, often referred to as a priori codes, are typically drawn from the study's theoretical framework, as well as empirical research and the researcher's knowledge of the situation. Typically, these codes would be compiled into a codebook where each code would be clearly defined and scoped. As an example, your research might aim to assess constituent opinions regarding local government policy. Applying deductive thematic analysis here would involve developing a list of tightly defined codes in advance based on existing theory and knowledge. Those codes would then be compiled into a codebook and applied to interview data collected from constituents. Importantly, throughout the coding and analysis process, those codes and their descriptions would remain fixed. It's worth mentioning that deductive thematic analysis can be undertaken both individually or by multiple researchers. The latter is referred to as coding reliability TA. As the name suggests, this approach aims to achieve a high level of reliability with regard to the application of codes. By having multiple researchers apply the same set of codes to the same data set, inconsistencies in interpretation can be ironed out and a higher level of reliability can be reached. By the way, qualitative coding is something that we regularly help students with here at Grad Coach, so if you'd like a helping hand with your research project, be sure to check out the link that's down in the description. All right, we've covered quite a lot here. To recap, thematic analysis can be conducted using either an inductive approach where your codes naturally emerge from the data or a deductive approach where your codes are independently or collaboratively developed before analyzing the data. So now that we've unpacked the different types of thematic analysis, it's important to understand the broader strengths and weaknesses of this method so that you know when and when not to use it. One of the main strengths of thematic analysis is the relative simplicity with which you can derive codes and themes and, by extension, conclusions. Whether you take an inductive or a deductive approach, identifying codes and themes can be an easier process with thematic analysis than with some other methods. Discourse analysis, for example, requires both an in-depth analysis of the data and a strong understanding of the context in which that data was collected, demanding a significant time investment. Flexibility is another major strength of thematic analysis. The relatively generic focus on identifying patterns and themes allows TA to be used on a broad range of research topics and data types. Whether you're undertaking a small sociological study with a handful of participants or a large market research project with hundreds of participants, thematic analysis can be equally effective. Given these attributes, thematic analysis is best used in projects where the research aims involve identifying similarities and patterns across a wide range of data. This makes it particularly useful for research topics centered on understanding patterns of meaning expressed in thoughts, beliefs, and opinions. For example, research focused on identifying the thoughts and feelings of an audience in response to a new ad campaign might utilize TA to find patterns in participant responses. All that said, just like any analysis method, thematic analysis has its shortcomings and isn't suitable for every project. First, the inherent flexibility of TA also means that results can at times be kind of vague and imprecise. In other words, the broad applicability of this method means that the patterns and themes you draw from your data can potentially lack the sensitivity to incorporate text and contradiction. Second is the problem of inconsistency and lack of rigor. Put another way, the simplicity of thematic analysis can sometimes mean it's a little too crude for more delicate research aims. Specifically, the focus on identifying patterns and themes can lead to results that lack nuance. For example, even an inductive thematic analysis applied to a sample of just 10 participants might overlook some of the subtle nuances of participant responses in favor of identifying generalized themes. It could also miss fine details in language and expression that might reveal counterintuitive but more accurate implications. All that said, thematic analysis is still a useful method in many cases, but it's important to assess whether it fits your needs. So think carefully about what you're trying to achieve with your research project. In other words, your research aims and research questions. And be sure to explore all the options before choosing an analysis method. If you need some inspiration, we've got a video that unpacks the most popular qualitative analysis methods. Link is in the description. If you're enjoying this video so far, please help us out by hitting that like button. You can also subscribe for loads of plain language actionable advice. If you're new to research, check out our free dissertation writing course, which covers everything you need to get started on your research project. As always, links in the description. Okay, that was a lot. So let's do a quick recap. Thematic analysis is a qualitative analysis method focused on identifying patterns of meaning as themes within data, whether primary or secondary. As we've discussed, there are two overarching types of thematic analysis. Inductive TA, in which the codes emerge from an initial review of the data itself and are revised as you become increasingly familiar with the data. And deductive TA, in which the codes are determined beforehand based on a combination of the theoretical and or conceptual framework, empirical studies, and prior knowledge. As with all things, thematic analysis has its strengths and weaknesses and based on those is generally most appropriate for research focused on identifying patterns in data and drawing conclusions in relation to those. If you liked the video, please hit that like button to help more students find this content. For more videos like this one, check out the Grad Coach channel and make sure you subscribe for plain language, actionable research tips and advice every week. Also, if you're looking for one-on-one support with your dissertation, thesis, or research project, be sure to check out our private coaching service where we hold your hand throughout the research process step by step. You can learn more about that and book a free initial consultation at gradcoach.com.

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PhD THESIS - SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: SOCIALITY, ETHICS AND POLITICS

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Developing a Social Enterprise : An Investigation of Promoters and Barriers

• Artur Steinerowski
• Division of Rural Health and Wellbeing

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy (awarded by OU/Aberdeen)

File : application/pdf, 4.31 MB

Type : Thesis

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Social enterprise and community development: theory into practice in two cambodian villages.

Social enterprise (or business driven by social objectives) is a prominent focus of development. In higher income countries it is a strategy for regional development or regeneration by creating optimal levels of social value from under-utilised resources. In developing countries, social enterprise offers hope for sustainable development by reducing dependency on aid and by developing markets and improving economic growth. Social enterprise is widely linked to ‘business at the bottom of the pyramid’, there is particular attention to heroic 'social entrepreneurs'. But critical literature shows a tension between the top-down ‘development’ driven view of social enterprise and a bottom-upwards grassroots community development approach driven by wellbeing. This thesis explores the second agenda in the context of Cambodia, a post-colonial and post-conflict, aid dependent developing country that has undergone rapid economic transition since the late 1990s. The thesis asks – How are social enterprises likely to be understood at the grassroots community level in Cambodia? and What discourses of social enterprise are likely to yield sustainable effects at this level of society? This research is multi-disciplinary, drawing from economic geography and substantive economic anthropology as well as the social enterprise management and social entrepreneurship literature. It engages with and critiques some of the most widely held theoretical approaches concerning social value and economic value, social capital, collectivity and solidarity, the attributes and naturalised ethics of social entrepreneurs. Theoretically, I make the case for social value in pragmatic terms as an embodied process that is situated in context. This allows for an historicised analysis of reciprocity and mutual self-help oriented to contextualised outcomes vis-a-vis wellbeing. The actions of some socially entrepreneurial actors give hope for social economies at the grassroots but they also call ethics into the question. It has to be appreciated that economic solidarity is processed through a host of competing interests and obligations. This thesis was undertaken using an action research project in two adjacent peri-urban villages in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The project was undertaken in collaboration with ten villagers with different skills and a partially shared interest in community development. It began with activities to stimulate new economic subjectivities and to amplify latent subjectivities and moved onto opportunities for social enterprise development that could foster sustainable and democratic development pathways. Significant barriers to grassroots led, cooperatively managed social enterprises were encountered. But in the research process ‘little narratives’ were uncovered, embodied within everyday economic activities that underwrite villagers’ survival while also having stabilising effects within the villages. The findings court controversy, as far as past traumatic events are found to have an enduring impact on economic subjectivities and grassroots reciprocity which intermeshes with the more recent impact of development strategies including microfinance and ‘free trade zones.’ The research has implications for how projects to promote social enterprise development within village communities might be approached by Third Sector organisations in Cambodia.

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Lyne, I. 2017. Social enterprise and community development: Theory into practice in two Cambodian villages, PhD thesis, Western Sydney University, Australia.

Approaches to the Study of Factors Stimulating the Development of Cooperation Between Large and Small Businesses in Russia and the Republic of Belarus

• First Online: 25 September 2020

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• Alexander N. Maloletko   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6055-5740 7 , 8 ,
• Olga V. Kaurova   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7763-1703 8 ,
• Anna N. Ermilova   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2895-1628 8 ,
• Valery A. Oganyan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5168-4236 8 &
• Yulia V. Steklova   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6830-7285 8  

Part of the book series: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control ((SSDC,volume 316))

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The authors understand the cooperation of small and large enterprises as a model of synthetic knowledge, individual judgments of which, being within the boundaries of the economic theory of cooperation, lose their former autonomy. And individual judgments of synthetic knowledge integrate with new approaches to answering big challenges and become elements of a new system. A specific fundamental task is the initial development of a number of new provisions derived from the theory of economic cooperation, which substantially express answers to objectively arising external situations. As such provisions, the authors propose to develop the following. First, Russian and Belarusian economists are still mistakenly considering small businesses exclusively as subordinate elements of their national economies. At the same time, modern researchers often do not consider an objective change in the role and importance of cooperation between small and large businesses against the backdrop of constantly changing economic conditions and consumer preferences. Second, large-scale production both in Russia and the Republic of Belarus continues to satisfy the demand for standard consumer goods. They recognize the advantages of small businesses in responding to the individualization of consumer demand. Moreover, shifts in socio-economic structures, changes in consumer sentiment require a significant reevaluation of the importance of cooperation of small and large enterprises for the economies of Russia and Belarus. Third, the declared economic internationalization in Russia and Belarus, in the context of the actual centralization of production, on the one hand, creates the prerequisites for cooperation between large and small farms. On the other hand, disintegration processes that are becoming apparent, as well as the growth of small business observed both in Russia and Belarus, create prerequisites for cooperation between large and small enterprises. Therefore, the following becomes necessary: rethinking the forms of interaction between large and small enterprises, conducting a comprehensive analysis of the advantages of cooperation and its disadvantages, identifying the specifics of the interaction of large and small businesses in the economies of Russia and the Republic of Belarus. The authors propose research approaches that fill the stated problems.

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Acknowledgements

The study was funded by RFBR according to the research project No. 20-510-00020: “The comparative study of factors stimulating the development of cooperation between entrepreneurship and businesses in Russia and the Belarussia.”

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Alexander N. Maloletko

Russian University of Cooperation, Mytishchi, Russia

Alexander N. Maloletko, Olga V. Kaurova, Anna N. Ermilova, Valery A. Oganyan & Yulia V. Steklova

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Higher School of Economics, National Research University, Moscow, Russia

Aleksei V. Bogoviz

Doctor of Economics, The Council of the Central Union of the Russian Federation on Science and Education, Moscow, Russia

Alexander E. Suglobov

Doctor of Economics, Russian University of Cooperation, Mytishchi, Russia

Alexandr N. Maloletko

Olga V. Kaurova

Doctor of Economics, Altai State University, Barnaul, Russia

Svetlana V. Lobova

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Maloletko, A.N., Kaurova, O.V., Ermilova, A.N., Oganyan, V.A., Steklova, Y.V. (2021). Approaches to the Study of Factors Stimulating the Development of Cooperation Between Large and Small Businesses in Russia and the Republic of Belarus. In: Bogoviz, A.V., Suglobov, A.E., Maloletko, A.N., Kaurova, O.V., Lobova, S.V. (eds) Frontier Information Technology and Systems Research in Cooperative Economics. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 316. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57831-2_34

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V. I.   Lenin

Draft theses on the role and functions of the trade unions under the new economic policy [2].

Written: Written December 30, 1921—January 4, 1922 Published: Published with amendments January 17, 1922 in Pravda No. 12. Printed from the manuscript. Source: Lenin Collected Works , Progress Publishers, 1971 , Moscow, Volume 42 , pages  374 b -386 a . Translated: Bernard Isaacs Transcription\Markup: R. Cymbala and D. Walters Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive (2004). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source. • README

The Plenum of the C.C., R.C.P. on 28.XII.1921 considered the question of the role and functions of the trade unions under the New Economic Policy. The plenum heard the reports of Comrades Rudzutak, Andreyev and Shlyapnikov (the planned report by Comrade Lutovinov was not made owing to failure to call the reporter out in time). After an exchange of opinions it was decided to submit the original draft theses of Comrades Rudzutak and Andreyev to a committee of these two comrades with the addition of Lenin and to charge this committee with drafting theses for endorsement by the Politbureau.

( Several lines will be added to this after approval of the draft by the committee and then the Politbureau.)

1. The New Economic Policy and The Trade Unions

The New Economic Policy introduces a number of important changes in the position of the proletariat and, consequently, in that of the trade unions. These changes are due to the fact that in their entire policy of transition from capitalism to socialism the Communist Party and the Soviet government are now adopting special methods to implement this transition and in many respects are operating differently from the way they operated before: they are capturing a number of positions by a “new flanking movement”, so to speak; they are drawing back in order to make better preparations for a new offensive against capitalism. In particular, a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control, are now being permitted and are developing; on the other hand, the state enterprises are being put on what is called a profit basis, i.e., they are in effect being largely reorganised on commercial and capitalist lines.

2. State Capitalism in the Proletarian State and the Trade Unions

The proletarian state may, without changing its own nature, permit freedom of trade and the development of capitalism only within certain bounds, and only on the condition that the state regulates (supervises, controls, determines the forms and methods of, etc.) private trade and private capitalism. The success of such regulation will depend not only on the state authorities, but also, and to a larger extent, on the degree of maturity of the proletariat and of the masses of the working people generally, on their cultural level, etc. But even if this regulation is completely successful, the antagonism of class interests between labour and capital will certainly remain. Consequently, one of the main tasks that will henceforth confront the trade unions is to protect in every way the class interests of the proletariat in its struggle against capital. This task should be openly put in the forefront, and the machinery   of the trade unions must be reorganised, modified or supplemented accordingly; strike funds, and so on should be formed, or rather, built up.

3. The State Enterprises that Are Being Put on a Profit Basis and the Trade Unions

The conversion of state enterprises to what is called the profit basis is inevitably and inseparably connected with the New Economic Policy; in the near future this is bound to become the predominant, if not the sole, form of state enterprise. Actually, this means that with the free market now permitted and developing, the state enterprises, will to a large extent be put on a commercial, capitalist basis. This circumstance, in view of the urgent need to increase the productivity of labour and make every state enterprise pay its way and show a profit, and in view of the inevitable rise of narrow departmental interests and excessive departmental zeal, is bound to create a certain conflict of interests between the masses of workers and the directors and managers of the state enterprises, or the government departments in charge of them. Therefore, it is undoubtedly the duty of the trade unions, in regard to the state enterprises as well, to protect the class interests of the proletariat and the working masses against their employers.

4. The Essential Difference Between the Class Struggle of the Proletariat in a State which Recognises Private Ownership of the Land, Factories, etc., and where Political Power is in the Hands of the Capitalist Class, and the Class Struggle of the Proletariat in a State which Does Not Recognise Private Ownership of the Land and the Majority of the Large Enterprises and Where Political Power is in the Hands of the Proletariat

As long as classes exist, the class struggle is inevitable. In the period of transition from capitalism to socialism the existence of classes is inevitable; and the Programme of the   Russian Communist Party definitely states that we are taking only the first steps in the transition from capitalism to socialism. Hence, the Communist Party, the Soviet government and the trade unions must frankly admit the existence of a class struggle and its inevitability until the electrification of industry and agriculture is completed— at least in the main—and until small production and the supremacy of the market are thereby cut off at the roots. It follows from this that at the present moment we can under no circumstances abandon the idea of the strike struggle, we cannot, as a matter of principle, conceive the possibility of a law that makes compulsory state mediation take the place of strikes.

On the other hand, it is obvious that under capitalism the ultimate object of the strike struggle is to break up the state machine and to overthrow the given class state power. Under the transitional type of proletarian state such as ours, however, the ultimate object of the strike struggle can only be to fortify the proletarian state and the state power of the proletarian class by combating the bureaucratic distortions, mistakes and flaws in this state, and by curbing the class appetites of the capitalists who try to evade its control, etc. Hence, the Communist Party, the Soviet government and the trade unions must never forget and must never conceal from the workers and the mass of the working people that the strike struggle in a state where the proletariat holds political power can be explained and justified only by the bureaucratic distortions of the proletarian state and by all sorts of survivals of the old capitalist system in the government offices on the one hand, and by the political immaturity and cultural backwardness of the mass of the working people on the other. When the law courts and all other organs of the state are built on a class basis, by the working people themselves, with the bourgeoisie excluded from the electorate, the normal method of settling conflicts between labour and capital, between employed and employers, will more and more often find expression in the working people turning directly to the state authorities.

5. Reversion to Voluntary Trade Union Membership

The compulsory wholesale signing up of all workers for membership in the trade unions is no longer consistent with the present degree of socialisation achieved in industry or with the level of development of the masses. Compulsory membership has moreover introduced a certain degree of bureaucratic distortion into the trade unions themselves. It is absolutely essential to revert for a fairly considerable length of time to the practice of voluntary membership in the trade unions. Under no circumstances must trade union members be required to subscribe to any specific political views; in this respect, as well as in respect of religion, the trade unions must be non-partisan. All that must be required of trade union members in the proletarian state is that they should understand comradely discipline and the necessity of uniting the workers’ forces for the purpose of protecting the interests of the working people, and that they should keep faith with the working people’s government, i.e., the Soviet government. The proletarian state must encourage the workers to organise in trade unions both for legal and material reasons; but the trade unions can have no rights without duties.

6. The Trade Unions and the Management of Industry

Following its seizure of political power, the principal and fundamental interest of the proletariat lies in securing an increase in output, an enormous increase in the productive forces of society. This task, which is clearly formulated in the Programme of the Russian Communist Party, is particularly urgent in our country today owing to post-war ruin, famine and economic dislocation. Hence, the speediest and most enduring success in restoring large-scale industry is a condition without which no success can be achieved in the general cause of emancipating labour from the yoke of capital and securing the victory of socialism. To achieve   this success in Russia, in the conditions at present obtaining in that country, it is absolutely essential that all authority in the factories be concentrated in the hands of the management. The factory management, usually built up on the principle of one-man responsibility, must have authority independently to fix and pay out wages, and also distribute rations, working clothes, and all other supplies; it must enjoy the utmost freedom to manoeuvre, exercise strict control of the actual successes achieved in increasing production, in making the factory pay its way and show a profit, and carefully select the most talented and capable administrative personnel, etc.

Under these circumstances, any direct interference by the trade unions in the management of the factories must be regarded as positively harmful and impermissible.

It would be absolutely wrong, however, to interpret this indisputable axiom to mean that the trade unions must play no part in the socialist organisation of industry and in the management of state industry. Their participation in this is necessary in the following strictly defined forms.

7. The Role and Functions of the Trade Unions in the Business and Administrative Organisations of the Proletarian State

The proletariat is the class foundation of the state making the transition from capitalism to socialism. In a country where the small peasantry is overwhelmingly predominant the proletariat can successfully fulfil this function if it very skilfully, cautiously and gradually establishes an alliance with the vast majority of the peasantry. The trade unions must collaborate closely and constantly with the government, all the political and economic activities of which are guided by the class-conscious vanguard of the working class—the Communist Party. Being a school of communism in general, the trade unions must, in particular, be a school for training the whole mass of workers, and eventually all working people, in the art of managing socialist industry (and gradually also agriculture).

Proceeding from these principles, the trade unions’ part in the activities connected with the business and administrative organisations of the proletarian state should take the following main forms:

(1) The trade unions should help staff all the business and administrative bodies connected with economics by nominating their candidates for them and casting a consultative vote; the trade unions take part in these bodies too, not directly, but through the members of the higher state bodies, the members of business boards, members of the factory managements (where collegiate management is practised), managers, their assistants, etc., nominated by them and endorsed by the Communist Party and the Soviet government. (2) One of the most important functions of the trade unions is to promote and train factory managers from among the workers and the masses of the working people generally. At the present time we have scores of such factory managers who are quite satisfactory, and hundreds who are more or less satisfactory, but very soon, however, we must have hundreds of the former and thousands of the latter. The trade unions must much more carefully and persistently than hitherto keep a systematic register of all workers and peasants capable of holding posts of this kind, and thoroughly, efficiently and from every aspect verify the progress they make in learning the art of management. (3) No less important is the participation of the trade unions in all the planning bodies of the proletarian state. In addition to participating in all cultural and educational activities and in production propaganda, the trade unions must also, on an increasing scale, enlist the working class and the masses of the working people generally for all branches of the work of building up the state economy; they must make them familiar with all aspects of economic life and with all details of industrial operations—from the procurement of raw materials to the marketing of the product; give them a more and more concrete understanding of the single state plan of socialist economy and the worker’s and peasant’s practical interest in its implementation. (4) The drawing up of wage rates and scales of supplies, etc., is one of the essential functions of the trade unions in the building of socialism and in their participation in the management of industry. In particular, disciplinary courts should steadily improve labour discipline and proper ways of promoting it and achieving increased productivity; but they must not interfere with the functions of the People’s Courts in general or with the functions of factory managements.

This list of the major functions of the trade unions in the work of building up socialist economy, should, of course, be drawn up in greater detail by the competent trade union and government bodies. The most important thing is that the trade unions should consciously and resolutely avoid direct, inexpert, incompetent and irresponsible interference in administrative matters, which has caused no little harm, and should start persistent, practical activities calculated to extend over a long period of years and designed to give the workers and all the working people generally practical training in the art of managing the economy of the whole country.

8. Contact with the Masses—The Fundamental Condition for all Trade Union Activity

Contact with the masses, i.e., with the overwhelming majority of the workers (and eventually of all the working people), is the most important and most fundamental condition for the success of all trade union activity. In all the trade union organisations and their machinery, from bottom up, there should be instituted, and tested in practice over a period of many years, a system of responsible comrades—who must not all be Communists—who should live right among the workers, study their lives in every detail, and be able unerringly, on any question, and at any time, to judge the mood, the real needs, aspirations, and thoughts of the masses. They must be able without a shadow of false idealisation to define the degree of their class-consciousness and the extent to which they are influenced by various prejudices and survivals of the past; and they must be able   to win the boundless confidence of the, masses by a comradely attitude and concern for their needs. One of the greatest and most serious dangers that confront the numerically small Communist Party, which, as the vanguard of the working class, is guiding a vast country in the process of transition to socialism (for the time being without the direct support of the more advanced countries), is isolation from the masses, the danger that the vanguard may run too far ahead and fail to “straighten out the line”, fail to maintain firm contact with the whole army of labour, i.e., with the overwhelming majority of workers and peas ants. Just as the very best factory, with the very best motors and first-class machines, will be forced to remain idle if the transmission belts from the motors to the machines are damaged, so our work of socialist construction must meet with inevitable disaster if the trade unions—the transmission belts from the Communist Party to the masses—are badly fitted or function badly. It is not sufficient to explain, to reiterate and corroborate this truth; it must be backed up organisationally by the whole structure of the trade unions and by their everyday activities.

9. The Contradictions in the Status of the Trade Unions Under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat

From all the foregoing it is evident that there are a number of contradictions in the various functions of the trade unions. On the one hand, their principal method of operation is that of persuasion and education; on the other hand, as participants in the exercise of state power they cannot refuse to share in coercion. On the one hand, their main function is to protect the interests of the masses of the working people in the most direct and immediate sense of the term; on the other hand, as participants in the exercise of state power and builders of the economy as a whole they cannot refuse to resort to pressure. On the one hand, they must operate in military fashion, for the dictatorship of the proletariat is the fiercest, most dogged and most desperate class war; on the other hand, specifically military methods of operation   are least of all applicable to the trade unions. On the one hand, they must be able to adapt themselves to the masses, to their level; on the other hand, they must never pander to the prejudices and backwardness of the masses, but steadily raise them to a higher and higher level, etc., etc.

These contradictions are no accident, and they will persist for several decades. For one thing, these contradictions are inherent in every school. And the trade unions are a school of communism. We cannot count, until the lapse of several decades, on the majority of the workers achieving the highest level of development and discarding all traces and memories of the “school” for adults. Secondly, as long as survivals of capitalism and small production remain, contradictions between them and the young shoots of socialism are inevitable throughout the social system.

Two practical conclusions must be drawn from this. First, for the successful conduct of trade union activities it is not enough to understand their functions correctly, it is not enough to organise them properly. In addition, special tact is required, ability to approach the masses in a special way in each individual case for the purpose of raising these masses to a higher cultural, economic and political stage with the minimum of friction.

Second, the aforementioned contradictions will inevitably give rise to disputes, disagreements, friction, etc. A higher body is required with sufficient authority to settle these at once. This higher body is the Communist Party and the international federation of the Communist Parties of all countries—the Communist International.

10. The Trade Unions and the Specialists

The main principles on this question are set forth in the Programme of the Russian Communist Party; but these will remain paper principles unless constant attention is paid to the facts which indicate the degree to which they are put into practice. Recent facts of this kind are: first, cases of the murder of engineers by workers in socialised mines not only in the Urals, but also in the Donets Basin;   second, the suicide of V. V. Oldenborger, chief engineer of the Moscow Waterworks. [1]

The Communist Party and the Soviet government as a whole bear a far greater share of the blame for cases of this kind than the trade unions. It is not a question now of establishing the degree of political guilt, but of drawing certain political conclusions. Unless our leading bodies, i.e., the Communist Party, the Soviet government and the trade unions, guard as the apple of their eye every specialist who does his work conscientiously and knows and loves it—even though the ideas of communism are totally alien to him—it will be useless to expect any serious progress in socialist construction. We may not be able to achieve it soon, but we must at all costs achieve a situation in which specialists—as a separate social stratum, which will persist until we have reached the highest stage of development of communist society—can enjoy better conditions of life under socialism than they enjoyed under capitalism insofar as concerns their material and legal status, comradely collaboration with the workers and peasants, and in the intellectual plane, i.e., finding satisfaction in their work, realising that it is socially useful and independent of the sordid interests of the capitalist class. Nobody will regard a government department as being tolerably well organised if it does not take systematic measures to provide for all the needs of the specialists, to reward the best of them, to safeguard and protect their interests, etc., and does not secure practical results in this. The trade unions must conduct all the activities of the type indicated (or systematically collaborate in the activities of all the government departments concerned) not from the point of view of the interests of the given department, but from the point of view of the interests of labour and of the economy as a whole. With regard to the specialists, on the trade unions devolves the very arduous duty of daily exercising influence on the broad masses of the working people in order to create proper relations between them and the specialists. Only such activities can produce really important practical results.

11. The Trade Unions and Petty-Bourgeois Influences on the Working Class

Trade unions are really effective only when they unite very broad strata of the non-Party workers. This must give rise—particularly in a country in which the peasantry largely predominates—to relative stability, specifically among the trade unions, of those political influences that serve as the superstructure over the remnants of capitalism and over small production. These influences are petty-bourgeois, i.e., Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik (the Russian variety of the parties of the II and II 1/2 Internationals) on the one hand, and anarchist on the other. Only among these trends has any considerable number of people remained who defend capitalism ideologically and not from selfish class motives, and continue to believe in the non-class nature of the “democracy”, “equality” and “liberty” in general that they preach.

It is to this socio-economic cause and not to the role of individual groups, still less of individual persons, that we must attribute the survivals (sometimes even the revival) in our country of such petty-bourgeois ideas among the trade unions. The Communist Party, the Soviet bodies that conduct cultural and educational activities and all Communist members of trade unions must therefore devote far more attention to the ideological struggle against petty-bourgeois influences, trends and deviations among the trade unions, especially because the New Economic Policy is bound to lead to a certain strengthening of capitalism. It is urgently necessary to counteract this by intensifying the struggle against petty-bourgeois influences upon the working class.

Discuss together with the theses.

Give this to Comrade Molotov without rewriting .

This is the end of the publishable theses, i.e., the draft of them that is being submitted to the commission and then the Politbureau.

I suggest that the resolution contained in Comrade Rudzutak’s draft be adopted by a special decision of the Politbureau in the following wording:

Not for publication The Politbureau directs the Orgbureau to set up under the Orgbureau of the Central Committee a special commission to check and replace some of the leading officials (and if possible all communist functionaries) in the trade union movement for the purpose of intensifying the struggle against petty-bourgeois, S.R., Menshevik and anarchist influences and deviations. This commission to complete its work (or most of it) by the next, Eleventh, congress of the R.C.P. and submit its report to the Party congress. [3]

[1] Here is the report about this in Pravda for 3.I. 1922: ((quote the full text on p. 4)). [4] — Lenin

[2] Lenin started writing the Draft Theses on the Role and Functions of the Trade Unions Under the New Economic Policy soon after the plenum of the C.C., R.C.P.(B.) on December 28, 1921. The draft theses were discussed by members of the commission (A. A. Andreyev and Y. E. Rudzutak) and members of the Politbureau; in the course of the discussion amendments and addenda were introduced. On January 12, 1922, the draft was discussed at a meeting of the Politbureau, which resolved that “the text of the theses proposed by Lenin be adopted as a basis.... The theses with all the amendments to be referred to an editorial committee consisting of Comrades Lenin, Zinoviev, Andreyev and Bukharin for final endorsement and publication in the name of the Central Committee with mention that the theses are   supported by the Bureau of the Party group at the A.C.C.T.U. (Central Party Archives, Institute of Marxism-Leninism).

The final text of the theses was published on January 17, 1922, in Pravda as a decision of the Central Committee, R.C.P., representing the C.C.’s draft theses on the question of the trade unions for the Eleventh Congress of the Party. The congress adopted the C.C.’s theses as a basis; during their discussion in the committee several amendments were introduced (see The C.P.S. U. in the Resolutions and Decisions of Congresses, Conferences and Plenary Meetings of the Central Committee , Part I, 1954, pp. 603-12).

Volume 33 of this edition gives the final text of the Central Committee’s decision on “The Role and Functions of the Trade Unions Under the New Economic Policy”. The present volume gives Lenin’s draft of the theses.

[4] Pravda for January 3, 1922, published a news-item reporting the “Suicide of Engineer Oldenborger” which stated: “The Moscow Soviet, in agreement with the Moscow Committee of the R.C.P., appointed a special commission to investigate the causes of the suicide of V. V. Oldenborger, Chief Engineer of the Moscow Municipal Waterworks. The Commission found that the deceased was not only a highly skilled employee, but a man utterly devoted to his work. The cause of suicide were the difficult conditions, which interfered with the daily routine of Oldenborger’s work. Some of the members of the Waterworks Special Trio, instead of trying to improve things at Moscow’s Waterworks, made them more difficult and complicated than ever; Engineer Semyonov, Chief Inspector of the People’s Commissariat for Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection, who is a member of this Trio, was rude, cavilling and bureaucratic in his relations with Oldenborger; Makarov-Zemlyansky, Chief Inspector of the same commissariat and a former clerk at the Waterworks, carried on a ceaseless persecution of Oldenborger; and Yelagin and Merkulov, workers of the Alexeyevsk Pump-House, accused Oldenborger groundlessly of technical disorganisation of the Waterworks and of an attitude of disrespect towards the communist group on the part of the employees. All this was bound to have its effect on the emotional state of the deceased. The commission considers the continued employment of Makarov-Zemlyansky impermissible not only in the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection, but in Soviet service generally, as being a person who is alien to the spirit of Soviet service, an intrigant who has earned among the employees of the Waterworks the reputation of being a dishonest man. The commission also found that engineer Semyonov of the W.P.I. should not be allowed to continue work at the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection or to have anything to do with the Moscow Municipal Waterworks, and likewise considers it necessary that Yelagin and Merkulov should be dismissed from the Waterworks and transferred to some other enterprise."

See also pp. 386-87 of this volume.

[3] Lenin’s proposal that a commission be set up to check and replace some of the leading personnel in the trade unions was based on the fact that the trade unions were honeycombed with former Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries and that it was necessary to fix a longer record of Communist Party membership for leading trade union officials in keeping with the resolution of the Eleventh All-Russia Conference of the R.C.P. “On the Question of Strengthening the Party as a Result of the Verification of Its Membership” (see “ The C.P.S.U. in the Resolutions and Decisions of Congresses, Conferences and Plenary Meetings of the Central Committee ”, Part I, 1954, p. 596).

Lenin’s motion was adopted by the Politbureau. On January 20, 1922, a commission was set up consisting of M. P. Tomsky, A. A. Andreyev and S. I. Syrtsov. The commission reported its findings to the Eleventh Congress of the R.C.P.(B.) (see The Eleventh Congress of the R.C.P.(B.) Verbatim Report ., 1961, pp. 246–52).

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Thomas C. Owen collection on Russian social, economic, and business history since 1800. (1972-2005)

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About Thomas C. Owen

Publications by thomas c. owen.

Thomas C. Owen (PhD in history, Harvard, 1973) is an Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University (since 2005) and a former professor of history at Louisiana State University (1974-2005). He became interested in Russian social history as a graduate student at Harvard, and he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the social and ideological evolution of the Moscow merchants, 1840-70 ( The social and ideological evolution of the Moscow merchants, 1840-1870, HOLLIS Number : 003894231 ). His collection of materials on Russian social and economic history after 1800 began in 1971, when he, then a PhD student seeking primary sources for his research, purchased from the Lenin Library (Moscow) a microfilm of the 1850-73 portion of Fedor V. Chizhov's diary which was relevant to the dissertation.

After the publication of his first book, on the Moscow merchants in 1981 ( Capitalism and politics in Russia : a social history of the Moscow merchants, 1855-1905 , HOLLIS Number : 000949332 ), Owen widened the scope of his research to include corporations and business organizations throughout the Russian Empire. He continued his study of primary materials during subsequent visits to Moscow again in 1980, 1992, and 1996. Gaining access to and obtaining copies of the desired materials often meant facing challenges that were unusual for a Western researcher, as well as seeking the help of American library professionals. Thus, Marianna Tax Choldin, of the University of Illinois Library, was instrumental in helping Owen obtain the microfilm copies of Chizhov’s diary (the 1825-50 and 1873-77 portions) from the Lenin Library. Eventually, Fedor V. Chizhov became the subject of Thomas C. Owen's fourth book ( Dilemmas of Russian capitalism : Fedor Chizhov and corporate enterprise in the railroad age , HOLLIS Number : 009439804 )

Dilemmas of Russian Capitalism: Fedor Chizhov and Corporate Enterprise in the Railroad Age . Harvard Studies in Business History, no. 44.  Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005. HOLLIS Number : 009439804

Russian Corporate Capitalism from Peter the Great to Perestroika .  New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. HOLLIS Number : 005835322

The Corporation under Russian Law, 1800-1917: A Study in Tsarist Economic Policy .  New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. HOLLIS Number : 002072257

Capitalism and Politics in Russia: A Social History of the Moscow Merchants , 1855-1905 .  New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981.  Japanese trans. Tokyo: Bunshindo Press, 1987. HOLLIS Number : 000949332

Selected Articles

“Measuring Business Cycles in the Russian Empire.” Economic History Review 66, no. 3 (Aug. 2013): 895-916.

“The Death of a Soviet Science: Sergei Pervushin and Economic Cycles in Russia, 1850-1930.” The Russian Review 68, no. 2 (Apr. 2009): 221-39.

“Chukchi Gold: American Enterprise and Russian Xenophobia in the Northeastern Siberian Company.”  Pacific Historical Review 77, no. 1 (Feb. 2008): 49-85.

“Autocracy and the Rule of Law in Russian Economic History.”  In The Rule of Law and Economic Reform in Russia , edited by Jeffrey D. Sachs and Katharina Pistor, 23-39.  Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1997.

 “Impediments to a Bourgeois Consciousness in Russia, 1880-1905: The Estate Structure, Ethnic Diversity, and Economic Regionalism.”  In Between Tsar and People: Educated Society and   the Quest for Public Identity in Late Imperial Russia , edited by Edith W. Clowes, Samuel D. Kassow, and James L. West, 75-89.  Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.

“A Standard Ruble of Account for Russian Business History, 1769-1914: A Note.”   Journal of   Economic History 49, no. 3 (Sep. 1989): 699-706.

“The Russian Industrial Society and Tsarist Economic Policy, 1867-1905.”  Journal of Economic History 45, no. 3 (Sep. 1985): 587-606.

“Entrepreneurship and the Structure of Enterprise in Russia, 1800-1880.”  In Entreprepreneurship in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union , edited by Gregory Guroff and Fred  V. Carstensen, 59-83.  Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.

RUSCORP: A Database of Corporations in the Russian Empire, 1700-1914.  Ann Arbor, Mich. : Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, [1993]. HOLLIS Number :  007702503 Internet Link : Data File http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:harvmitd

Edited Publications

Polunov, Aleksandr.  Russia in the Nineteenth-Century: Autocracy, Reform, and Social Change, 1814-1914 .  Translated by Marshall S. Shatz.  Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2005.  (Co-edited with Professor Larissa G. Zakharova of Moscow State University.)

Roosa, Ruth A.  Russian Industrialists in an Era of Revolution: The Associa­tion of Industry and Trade, 1906-1917 .  Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1997.

Russian Studies in History 35, no. 1 (Summer 1996), on entrepreneurship in the Russian Empire, 1861-1914, and 34, no. 1 (Summer 1995), on tsarist economic policy, 1893-1914. 

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