# XV: The Trade Unions explained — My Disillusionment in Russia

> Chapter companion for My Disillusionment in Russia by Emma Goldman.

## What happens

In June 1920, as departure from Petrograd nears, the narrator reflects on the disillusionment with the Russian Revolution, questioning whether the Bolshevik political machine is crushing revolutionary ideals. Traveling to Moscow for the Second Congress of the Third International, the narrator encounters anarchist and syndicalist delegates, warns them about Cheka surveillance and imprisoned revolutionaries, and observes the suppression of the Printers' and Bakers' Unions. Through firsthand accounts of election rigging, Cheka intimidation, and worker resistance, the chapter reveals the stark contrast between official propaganda about powerful trade unions and the reality of government control and repression.

## Themes in this chapter

### Disillusionment with Revolution

The narrator questions whether the Bolshevik machine is crushing the Revolution, seeing only 'the agonizing end of a people' instead of the promised fulfillment.

### State Power vs. Individual Freedom

Trade unions are described as 'lackeys of the Government' doing police duty, with Chekists intimidating workers and suppressing independent union elections.

### Betrayal of Revolutionary Ideals

The official narrative of worker-controlled unions is contradicted by the reality of government-appointed management, arrests, and repression of worker choices.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The narrator reflects on disillusionment with the Revolution, questions the Bolshevik machine, and warns anarchist delegates about Cheka surveillance.

### Semashko

Commissar of Health who raves against workers for electing a non-Communist candidate, threatening them with the Cheka and ration cuts.

### Melnichansky

Chairman of the Moscow Trade Union Soviet who gives the narrator an official tour of the Dom Soyusov, praising worker management.

### Tsiperovitch

Chairman of the Petrograd trade unions who shows the narrator the Petrograd Labour Temple and describes worker ownership.

## Key lines

> Had I misunderstood the meaning and nature of revolution? Perhaps the wrong and the evil I have seen during those five months were inseparable from a revolution. Or was it the political machine which the Bolsheviki have created⁠—is that the force which is crushing the Revolution?

The narrator wonders if the evils witnessed are inherent to revolution or if the Bolshevik political machine itself is destroying revolutionary ideals.

_Central moment of disillusionment and questioning of Bolshevik rule._

> The trade unions are the lackeys of the Government; they have no independent function, and the workers have no say in them. The trade unions are doing mere police duty for the Government.

Workers describe the unions as government puppets with no real worker control, serving only to police labor.

_Direct contradiction to official propaganda about worker power._

> The bakers are 'Shkurniki,' they always instigate strikes, and only counterrevolutionists can wish to strike in the workers' Republic.

Authorities label striking bakers as counterrevolutionaries, implying strikes are illegitimate in a workers' state.

_Illustrates the suppression of labor dissent under Bolshevik rule._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xv-the-trade-unions
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters