ABSTRACT
The cost of the Five Year Plan falls entirely on the people. The wretched conditions of life now prevailing are the result of the sacrifices they have been called upon to make. Now the proletariat has become the ruling class there should be no need to fight for better conditions. Workmen will not do the heavy labour of loading timber ships under the prevailing conditions. The function of "organized labour" is, of course, fundamentally altered in theory under the Soviet régime. A large proportion of the labour engaged in the various construction works under the Five Year Plan is peasant labour. The bulk of the labour in the timber camps probably consists either of kulaki, and similar political offenders, or of nominally "free" labour recruited under pressure. It is not surprising if women are employed, as they habitually perform heavy labour in Russia, and are encouraged to do so under the Soviet system.
