for single days. In February the same workmen were absent
for the greater part of the month. The invariable excuse was
illness. Many cases of illness there undoubtedly were, since
this period was the worst of the typhus epidemic, but besides
illness, and besides mere obvious idleness which no
doubt accounts for a certain proportion of illegitimate
holidays, there is another explanation which goes nearer the
root of the matter. Much of the time filched from the State
was in all probability spent in expeditions in search of food.
In Petrograd, the Council of Public Economy complain that
there is a tendency to turn the eight-hour day into a four-hour
day. Attempts are being made to arrest this tendency
by making an additional food allowance conditional on the
actual fulfilment of working days. In the Donetz coal basin,
the monthly output per man was in 1914 750 poods, in 1916
615 poods, in 1919 240 poods (figures taken from
Ekaterinoslav Government), and in 1920 theoutput per man
is estimated at being something near 220 poods.
In the shale mines on the Volga, where food conditions are
comparatively good, productivity is comparatively high.
Thus in a small mine near Simbirsk there are 230 workmen,
of' whom 50 to 60 are skilled. The output for the unskilled
is 28.9 poods in a shift, for the skilled 68.3. But even there
25 per cent. of the workmen are regular absentees, and
actually the mine works only 17 or 18 days in a month, that
is, 70 per cent. of the normal number of working
days. The remaining 30 per cent. of normal working time is
spent by the workmen in getting food. Another small mine
in the same district is worked entirely by unskilled labor,
the wokers being peasants from the neighboring villages. In this