political power, the role of the trade unions naturally underwent a change. Hitherto, for example, they had engaged in strikes against the capitalists. Now the capitalists no longer existed as ruling class, as masters, as entrepreneurs. Hitherto, the principal aim of the trade unions had been to effect the destruction of the system which then prevailed in the factories. But after November, 1917, the time had arrived for the establishment of the new order.
The organisation of production — this was the new task of the trade unions in the epoch of proletarian dictatorship. The unions were able to bring together immense numbers of the proletariat. They were the most powerful of all the proletarian organisations, and they were directly associated with the work of production. In Russia, moreover, at the time of the revolution, they were in entire agreement with the idea of the proletarian dictatorship. It is not surprising, therefore, that it proved necessary to hand over to these organisations the actual responsibility for the management of production, including the management of the most important of all the elements of production — the management of labour power.