Division of labor in society. Division of labor, commodity production and market relations

Consider the types of social division of labor:

General division of labor involves the process of isolation of various types of labor activity within the framework of the whole society.

Private division of labor is the process of separating various activities into industries and sub-sectors.

Single division of labor means the separation of various types of work within the organization, enterprise, within its structural divisions, as well as the distribution of work between individual employees. nineteen

There is a classical scheme according to which the division of labor in an organization is carried out in the following forms: technological, functional, professional, qualification.

Technological division of labor - this is the division of the production process into technically homogeneous works; division of the production process into stages, phases, operations.

Within the framework of the technological division, there are operational, subject and detailed division of labor.

Operational division of labor involves the distribution and specialization for the performance of individual operations or stages of the technological process for individual workers, the placement of workers to ensure their rational employment and optimal loading of equipment.

Substantive division of labor assigns a whole range of works to a specific contractor, allowing to fully manufacture the product.

Detailed division of labor is a specialization in the production of individual parts of the future finished product.

The technological division of labor determines the distribution of workers in accordance with the technology of production and to a large extent affects the level of content of labor. With a narrow specialization, monotony appears in the work, with too broad specialization, the likelihood of poor-quality performance of work increases. The responsible task of the labor organizer is to find the optimal level of technological division of labor. 20

Functional division of labor - the separation of various types of labor activity and the performance of specific work by the relevant groups of workers specializing in the performance of production or management functions of various content and economic significance.

The functional division of labor in real conditions acts as a division of workers into separate functions.

On this basis, the staff is divided into workers and employees. Employees are divided into managers (linear and functional), specialists (employees performing certain economic, legal and other special functions) and technical performers (employees performing office functions). In turn, workers can form functional groups of the main workers, service workers and auxiliary workers.

the main ones, engaged in the direct production of products or the performance of basic work;

auxiliary, which provide their labor for the work of the main ones;

service, which are not directly involved in the technological process, but create conditions for the work of the main and auxiliary workers. 21

The classification of operations that meets the requirements of the division of labor between managers, specialists and technical performers consists of three interrelated groups of functions:

1) organizational and administrative - their content is determined by the purpose of the operation and the role in the management process. Performed mainly by managers;

2) analytical and constructive functions are predominantly creative, contain elements of novelty and are performed by specialists;

3) information technology functions are of a repetitive nature and are associated with the use of technical means. Performed by technical staff. 22

Professional division of labor consists in the fact that within each functional group there is a division between workers depending on their professions.

As a result of the professional division of labor, there is a process of separation of professions, and within them - the allocation of specialties. A profession is a kind of activity of a person who owns certain theoretical knowledge and practical skills obtained as a result of professional training. Specialty - a kind of profession, specialization of an employee within the profession. 23

Based on this form of division of labor, the required number of workers of various professions is established.

Qualification division of labor - division of labor of performers depending on the complexity, accuracy and responsibility of the work performed by them, in accordance with professional knowledge and work experience. 24

An expression of the qualification division of labor is the distribution of jobs and workers by category, employees - by position. The division of labor is carried out according to the level of qualification of workers, based on the required qualification of work. From this division, the qualification structure of the organization's personnel is formed.

In addition to those noted above, there is also a vertical and horizontal division of labor.

Vertical division of labor in an organization results in a hierarchy of management levels. The top-level manager manages the activities of middle and lower-level managers, i.e. formally has more power and a higher status. 25 With a vertical division of labor, each leader has a field of activity for which he is responsible (sphere of control) or a certain number of employees who are subordinate to him. The so-called pyramid of control is formed. On fig. 1 shows four such levels of workers.

Rice. 1 Vertical division of labor

The diagram shows that there is a higher, middle and lower level. Top-level managers (or senior managers) are the general directors and their deputies. The work of senior managers is large and complex. They carry out administrative management, carry out general strategic planning.

Solutions of tactical tasks prevail in the work of middle-level managers. This category of personnel includes managers who head structural divisions, departments of the organization.

Middle-level managers are the conductors of the organization's policy and at the same time exercise direct control over the execution of processes and operations. Some of the most important jobs they perform include:

management and control over the progress of work;

transfer of information from top to bottom and from bottom to top;

work planning;

organization of work;

motivation of employees;

maintaining internal and external contacts;

making report. 26

In connection with the trend towards delegation of authority, middle-level managers often have to solve the problems of developing a policy for the development of departments; in addition, they bear a great responsibility for organizing the work of executors to implement plans for organizational change, descended from above. 27

Managers at the grass-roots level communicate directly with the performers (workers). Their responsibilities include solving primarily operational tasks. Most often, the work of grassroots managers is of a routine nature: decisions related to the implementation of tasks and optimization of the use of resources allocated for this. 28 Therefore, it is they who are directly responsible for the work of the executors. Also, the duties of lower-level managers include not only resolving the entire set of questions and tasks that arise here, but also analyzing operational situations and timely transfer of the most important information to the next, middle level for making decisions that are important for other subsystems or the organization as a whole.

In the textbook N.I. Kabushkin “Fundamentals of Management” states that in the course of the vertical division of labor: “... relations of subordination are formed - relationships between the highest and lower levels of management (that is, between those who make decisions and those who carry them out). Relations of subordination appear after the decision is made by the top manager and transferred to a lower level for execution. Someone should take over the duties of the captain in order to determine the responsibilities of subordinates, plan, organize, coordinate and control all structures and links of the organization. There are always two moments in such work: intellectual (preparation and decision-making) and volitional (implementing them). 29

Horizontal division of labor - this is a division of labor in which the entire amount of work is divided into small groups. Such a division involves the formation of functional subsystems. Figure 2 shows a classic example. These are such functional subsystems as marketing, production, finance, personnel, R&D. With a horizontal division of labor, specialists are distributed among various functional areas and they are entrusted with the performance of tasks that are important from the point of view of this functional area. thirty

Rice. 2 Subsystems of the horizontal division of labor

All organizations implement a horizontal division of labor, breaking down all work into its component tasks. Larger organizations make this division by creating departments or divisions, which are further subdivided into smaller units. Management is necessary to coordinate all the tasks of the organization. 31

N.I. Kabushkin notes that “in the process of horizontal division of labor in the labor collective, coordination relations (coordination relations) are invested. They assume the coordination of actions of employees and managers of subdivisions that are not subordinate to each other, belonging to the same level of management and carrying out joint activities to achieve a common goal. These relationships are not administrative; the common goal of the organization forces all employees to enter into such relationships. An example would be the relationship between the heads of departments of one governing body or the heads of structural subdivisions of one department. 32

Based on the foregoing, it should be noted that the division of labor means the simultaneous coexistence of various types of labor activity and plays an important role in the organization of labor, because:

It is a necessary element of the production process and a condition for increasing labor productivity;

Allows you to organize sequential and simultaneous processing of the object of labor at all stages of production;

It contributes to the specialization of production processes (each production is limited to the manufacture of a certain type of homogeneous product) and the improvement of the labor skills of the workers involved. 33

Division of labor- an economic phenomenon in which professional specialization occurs, narrowing and sometimes deepening the functions of an individual specialist. The overall production process is divided into extremely simple operations, each of which is performed by a separate person or mechanism.

It is the reason for the increase in the overall productivity of an organized group of specialists (synergistic effect) due to:

Development of skills and automatism of performing simple repetitive operations

Reduced time spent transitioning between different operations

Allocate the social division of labor- the distribution of social functions among people in society - and the international division of labor.

The division of labor has led in the modern world to the presence of a huge variety of different professions and industries. Previously (in ancient times), people were forced to provide themselves almost completely with everything they needed, it was extremely inefficient, which led to a primitive life and comfort. Almost all the achievements of evolution, scientific and technological progress can be explained by the continuous introduction of the division of labor. Thanks to the exchange of the results of labor, that is, trade, the division of labor becomes possible in society.

The division of labor is the first link in the entire system of labor organization. . Division of labor- this is the separation of various types of labor activity and the division of the labor process into parts, each of which is performed by a certain group of workers, united according to common functional, professional or qualification characteristics.

The division of labor, the qualitative differentiation of labor activity in the process of development of society, leading to the isolation and coexistence of its various types. R. t. exists in different forms, corresponding to the level of development of the productive forces and the nature of production relations. R.'s manifestation of t. is the exchange of activity.

There is R. t. within society and within the enterprise. These two main types of R. of t. are interconnected and interdependent. Separation social production into its large genera (such as agriculture, industry, etc.) K. Marx called the general production of production, the division of these types of production into types and subspecies (for example, industry into separate branches) - private production of production, and, finally , R. t. within the enterprise - single R. t. General, private and individual R. t. are inseparable from professional R. t., specialization of workers. The term "R. t." is also used to designate the specialization of production within one country and between countries - territorial and international R. t.

As a result of the fragmentation of labor, its transformation into private labor and the emergence of private property, the opposite of the economic interests of individuals, social inequality arose, society developed in conditions of spontaneity. It has entered an antagonistic period in its history. People began to attach themselves to certain tools of labor and various types of increasingly differentiated activities against their will and consciousness, due to the blind necessity of developing production. This main feature of antagonistic R. t. is not an eternal state, as if inherent in the very nature of people, but a historically transient phenomenon.

Division of labor - this is a historical process of isolation, consolidation, modification of certain types of activity, which takes place in social forms of differentiation and implementation of various types of labor activity. The division of labor in society is constantly changing, and the very system of various types of labor activity is becoming more and more complex, since the labor process itself is becoming more complex and deepening. division of labor(or specialization) is the principle of organizing production in the economy, according to which an individual is engaged in the production of a particular good. Thanks to the operation of this principle, with a limited amount of resources, people can get much more benefits than if everyone would provide himself with everything he needs.

They also distinguish between the division of labor in a broad and narrow sense (according to K. Marx). In a broad sense, the division of labor- this is a system of different in their characteristics and at the same time interacting with each other types of labor, production functions, occupations in general or their combinations, as well as a system of social relations between them. The empirical diversity of occupations is considered by economic statistics, labor economics, sectoral economic sciences, demography, etc. The territorial, including international, division of labor is described by economic geography. To determine the correlation of various production functions from the point of view of their material result, K. Marx preferred to use the term "distribution of labor". In a narrow sense, the division of labor- this is the social division of labor as a human activity in its social essence, which, in contrast to specialization, is a historically transient social relationship. The specialization of labor is the division of the types of labor according to the object, which directly expresses the progress of the productive forces and contributes to it. The diversity of such species corresponds to the degree of development of nature by man and grows along with his development. However, in class formations, specialization does not take place as a specialization of integral activities, since it is itself influenced by the social division of labor. The latter divides human activity into such partial functions and operations, each of which in itself no longer has the nature of activity and does not act as a way for a person to reproduce his social relations, his culture, his spiritual wealth and himself as a person. These partial functions lack their own meaning and logic; their necessity appears only as requirements imposed on them from the outside by the system of division of labor. Such is the division of material and spiritual (mental and physical), performing and managing labor, practical and ideological functions, etc.

An expression of the social division of labor is the singling out as separate spheres of material production, science, art, etc., as well as the division of them themselves. The division of labor historically inevitably grows to a class division. Due to the fact that members of society began to specialize in the production of certain goods, professions appeared in society - separate types of activities associated with the production of any good. Degree of division of labor But the division of labor does not at all mean that in our imaginary society one person will be engaged in one kind of production. It may turn out that several people will have to engage in a particular type of production, or so that one person will be engaged in the production of several goods. Why? It's all about the ratio of the size of the population's need for a particular good and the productivity of a particular profession. If one fisherman can catch in a day just enough fish for all members of the society, then there will be just one fisherman in this economy. But if one hunter from the mentioned tribe cannot shoot quails for everyone and his work will not be enough to satisfy the needs of all members of the economy in quails, then several people will go hunting at once. Or, for example, if one potter can produce so many pots that society cannot consume, then he will have extra time that he can use to produce some other good, such as spoons or plates. Thus, the degree of "division" of labor depends on the size of the society. For a certain population (that is, for a certain composition and size of needs), there is an optimal structure of occupations, in which the product produced by different producers will be just enough for all members, and all products will be produced at the lowest possible cost. With an increase in the population, this optimal structure of occupations will change, the number of producers of those goods that have already been produced by an individual will increase, and those types of production that were previously entrusted to one person will be entrusted to different people. In the history of the economy, the process of division of labor has gone through several stages, differing in the degree of specialization of individual members of society in the production of a particular good.

Types of division of labor. The division of labor is usually divided into several types, depending on the characteristics by which it is carried out. vNatural division of labor : the process of separating the types of labor activity according to gender and age. vTechnical division of labor: determined by the nature of the means of production used, primarily machinery and technology. v Social division of labor: the natural and technical division of labor, taken in their interaction and in unity with economic factors, under the influence of which there is an isolation, differentiation of various types of labor activity.

In addition, the social division of labor includes 2 more subspecies : branch and territorial. Sectoral division of labor is predetermined by the conditions of production, the nature of the raw materials used, technology, equipment and the product being manufactured. Territorial division of labor- this is the spatial distribution of various types of labor activity. Its development is predetermined both by differences in natural and climatic conditions and by economic factors. Under geographic division labor we understand the spatial form of the social division of labor. A necessary condition for the geographical division of labor is that different countries (or regions) work for each other, that the result of labor is transported from one place to another, so that there is a gap between the place of production and the place of consumption. In a commodity society, geographical the division of labor necessarily implies the transfer of products from farm to farm, i.e. exchange, trade, but under these conditions, exchange is only a sign for "recognizing" the presence of a geographical division of labor, but not its "essence".

There are 3 forms of social division of labor :

General division of labor characterized by the isolation of large genera (spheres) of activity, which differ from each other in the shaping of the product.

Private division of labor- this is the process of isolation of individual industries within the framework of large types of production.

Single division of labor characterizes the isolation of the production of individual components of finished products, as well as the allocation of individual technological operations. Forms of manifestation of the division of labor. Differentiation consists in the process of isolation of individual industries, due to the specifics of the means of production, technology and labor used. Specialization It is based on differentiation, but it develops already on the basis of focusing efforts on a narrow range of manufactured products. Universalization is the opposite of specialization. It is based on the production and sale of a wide range of goods and services. Diversification- this is an expansion of the range of products.A. Smith on the division of labor. The first and main statement put forward by A. Smith, which determines the greatest progress in the development of the productive power of labor and a significant share of the art, skill and ingenuity with which it (progress) is directed and applied, is a consequence of the division of labor. The division of labor is the most important and unacceptable condition for the progress in the development of productive forces, the development of the economy of any state, any society. A. Smith gives the simplest example of the division of labor in small and large enterprises (manufactory in contemporary society) - the elementary production of pins. A worker who is not trained in this industry and who does not know how to handle the machines used in it (the impetus for the invention of machines was given precisely by the division of labor) will hardly be able to make one pin a day. With the organization that exists in such production, it is necessary to subdivide the profession into a number of specialties, each of which is a separate occupation. One worker pulls the wire, the other straightens it, the third cuts it, the fourth sharpens the end, the fifth grinds it to fit the head, the manufacture of which requires two or three more independent operations, in addition, its nozzle, polishing the pin itself, packaging the finished product. Thus, labor in the production of pins is divided into a multi-stage series of operations, and, depending on the organization of production and the size of the enterprise, they can be performed individually (one worker - one operation), or combined into 2 - 3 (one worker - 2 - 3 operations). ). Using this simplest example, A. Smith affirms the undoubted priority of such a division of labor over the labor of a lone worker. 10 workers worked out 48,000 pins a day, while one is capable of 20 pieces at a high voltage. The division of labor in any trade, no matter how much it is introduced, causes an increase in the productivity of labor. The further development (up to the present day) of production in any sector of the economy was the clearest confirmation of the "discovery" of A. Smith.

From the history of the division of labor Strictly speaking, the division of labor in human societies could always be found. After all, people have never existed alone, and cases of the emergence of a society and an economy consisting of one person (such as the economy of Robinson Crusoe) were a rather rare exception. People have always lived at least as a family or tribe. But the development of the division of labor in the economy of any society goes through several successive stages from a primitive state to an extremely complex scheme of distribution of duties. Schematically, this evolution can be represented as follows.

First stage. This is a natural division of labor within primitive society. In such a society there has always been a certain distribution of duties, determined partly by the nature of each person, partly by custom, and partly by economies of scale you know. As a rule, men were engaged in hunting and war, and women watched the hearth and nursed children. In addition, in almost any tribe one could find such "professions" as a leader and a priest (shaman, sorcerer, etc.).

Second stage. As the number of members of society grows, the need for each good increases and it becomes possible for individuals to concentrate on the production of individual goods. Therefore, various professions appear in societies (artisans, farmers, cattle breeders, etc.). The process of identifying professions begins, of course, with the production of tools. Even in the Stone Age (!) there were craftsmen who were engaged in hewing and grinding stone tools. With the discovery of iron, one of the most common professions in the past, a blacksmith, appears. A characteristic feature of this stage is that the manufacturer produces all (or almost all) possible products associated with his profession (as a rule, this is the processing of some type of raw material). For example, a blacksmith does everything from nails and horseshoes to plows and swords, a carpenter does everything from stools to cabinets, etc. At this stage of the division of labor, part of the family members of the artisan or even the whole family helps him in production, performing certain operations. For example, a blacksmith or a carpenter can be helped by sons and brothers, and a weaver or a baker = a wife and daughters.

Third stage. With an increase in the population and, accordingly, the size of demand for individual products, artisans begin to concentrate on the production of any one good. Some blacksmiths make horseshoes, others only knives and scissors, still others only nails of various sizes, fourth only weapons, etc. In Ancient Russia, for example, there were the following names of woodworkers: woodworkers, ship-builders, bridgers, woodworkers, builders, city dwellers ( fortification of cities), vicious (production of battering rams), archers, godfathers, barrels, sleighs, charioteers, etc. Labor cooperation. An important factor affecting labor productivity is labor cooperation. The deeper the division of labor and the narrower the specialization of production becomes, the more producers become interdependent, the more necessary is coherence and coordination of actions between different industries. To operate in conditions of interdependence, labor cooperation is necessary, both in the conditions of the enterprise and in the conditions of the whole society. labor cooperation- a form of labor organization, work performance, based on the joint participation in a single labor process of a significant number of workers performing various operations of this process. A form of organization of social labor in which a large number of people jointly participate in the same labor process or in different, but interconnected, labor processes.

division of labor

international division of labor: the concentration of production of certain types of goods in those countries where their production is economically feasible due to geographical location, climate and the availability of natural resources, as well as labor and capital resources. Such a division of production due to the subsequent exchange of goods turns out to be beneficial for the countries participating in it and contributes to a better satisfaction of needs, an increase in employment, but leads to mutual dependence of states;

differentiation, specialization of labor activity, leading to the allocation and implementation of its various types. With the vertical division of labor, there is a division into levels, for example, production and production management are separated. With a horizontal division of labor, the types of work are divided within the same level, for example, manufacturing, processing of product parts and assembly of products from these parts are distinguished.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

division of labor

differentiation, specialization of labor activity, coexistence of its various types. The social division of labor is the differentiation in society of various social functions performed by certain groups of people, and in connection with this, the allocation of various spheres of society (industry, agriculture, science, art, the army, etc.). The technical division of labor is the division of labor into a number of partial functions, operations within an enterprise, organization. The social and technical division of labor finds expression in the professional division of labor. The specialization of production within a country and between countries is called the territorial and international division of labor. Initially, the division of labor - sexual and age. In the future, the division of labor in conjunction with the action of other factors (property inequality, etc.) leads to the emergence of various social groups. In the modern era, the international division of labor is growing, which contributes to the development of world integration processes.

Division of labor

qualitative differentiation of labor activity in the process of development of society, leading to the isolation and coexistence of its various types. R. t. exists in different forms, corresponding to the level of development of the productive forces and the nature of production relations. R.'s manifestation of t. is the exchange of activity. There is R. t. within society and within the enterprise. These two main types of R. of t. are interconnected and interdependent. K. Marx called the division of social production into its major branches (such as agriculture, industry, etc.) the general production of production, and the division of these types of production into types and subtypes (for example, industry into separate branches) is called the particular production of production. and, finally, R. t. within the enterprise - individual R. t. General, private and individual R. t. are inseparable from professional R. t., specialization of workers. The term R. t." It is also used to designate the specialization of production within one country and between countries—territorial and international R. t. In social science, R. t. has received various interpretations. Ancient authors (Isocrates, Xenophon) emphasized its positive significance for the growth of labor productivity. Plato saw in R. t. the basis for the existence of different classes, the main reason for the hierarchical structure of society. Representatives of classical bourgeois political economy, especially A. Smith (he coined the term "p. t."), noted that P. t. leads to the greatest progress in the development of into a limited being. In J. J. Rousseau, the protest against the transformation of people into one-sided individuals as a consequence of R. t. was one of the main arguments in his denunciation of civilization. F. Schiller laid the foundation for the romantic criticism of capitalist R. t. His ideal is the “whole and harmonious person” of ancient Greece. The utopian socialists, while recognizing the necessity and benefits of R. t., at the same time sought ways to eliminate its harmful effects on human development. A. Saint-Simon put forward the task of organizing a coordinated system of labor, which requires a close connection of parts and their dependence on the whole. C. Fourier, in order to maintain interest in work, put forward the idea of a change in activity. From the middle of the 19th century the apology of R. t. O. Comte and G. Spencer noted the beneficial value of R. t. for social progress, and the negative consequences considered it necessary and natural costs or attributed them not to R. that is, by itself, but to distorting external influences (E. Durkheim). Modern bourgeois sociology, on the one hand, continues to apologise for capitalist R. t., and on the other, criticize it, emphasizing the fact that R. t. bureaucratic organizations and the state, into an impersonal element of "mass society". However, the bourgeois-liberal critics of capitalist R. t. Marxism-Leninism gave a truly scientific assessment of R. t. He notes its historical inevitability and progressiveness, points out the contradictions of antagonistic R. t. in an exploiting society, and reveals the only correct ways to eliminate them. At an early stage in the development of society, there was a natural R. t. - according to sex and age. With the complication of the instruments of production, with the expansion of the forms of human influence on nature, their labor began to be qualitatively differentiated and certain types of it began to stand apart from each other. This was dictated by the obvious expediency, since R. t. led to an increase in his productivity. V. I. Lenin wrote: “In order to increase the productivity of human labor, directed, for example, to the production of some particle of the entire product, it is necessary that the production of this particle be specialized, become a special production that deals with a mass product and therefore allows (and challenging) the use of machines, etc.” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 1, p. 95). From this Lenin drew the conclusion that the specialization of social labor "... by its very essence, is infinite, just like the development of technology" (ibid.). Production is unthinkable without cooperation, cooperation of people, which gives rise to a certain distribution of activity. “It goes without saying,” K. Marx wrote, “that this necessity of distributing social labor in certain proportions cannot in any way be destroyed by a certain form of social production, only the form of its manifestation can change” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch ., 2nd ed., v. 32, pp. 460≈46

The forms of distribution of labor find direct expression in the distribution of labor, which also determines the existence of historically determined forms of property. “Different stages in the development of the division of labor,” wrote Marx and Engels, “are at the same time different forms of property, i.e., each stage of the division of labor also determines the relationship of individuals to each other, in accordance with their relationship to material, tools, and products of labor. ”(ibid., vol. 3, p. 20).

The process of distributing people in production, connected with the growth of specialization, takes place either consciously, according to plan, or takes on a spontaneous and antagonistic character. In primitive communities, this process was systematic. The tools of labor here were strictly individualized, but labor and the use of its results could not then be fragmented - the low productivity of people's labor excluded their isolation from the community.

Since in the entire previous history of mankind the process of production consisted in the fact that people wedged a tool of production between themselves and the object of labor, themselves becoming a direct component of the production process, then, starting from the primitive community, the individualization of tools of labor led to the “attachment” of people to them and certain types differentiated activities. But since all members of the community had common interests, such “attachment” was of a natural nature, was considered justified and reasonable.

With the development of the tools of production, the expediency and necessity of the relatively isolated labor of individuals arose, and more productive tools made it possible for individual families to exist separately. This is how the transformation of directly social labor, as it was in primitive communities, into private labor took place. Describing the rural community as a transitional form to complete private property, Marx noted that here the labor of individuals acquired an isolated, private character, and this was the reason for the emergence of private property. “But the most essential thing,” he wrote, “is parcel labor as a source of private appropriation” (K. Marx, ibid., vol. 19, p. 419).

In pre-capitalist formations, ≈ wrote Engels, ≈ “means of labor ≈ land, agricultural tools, workshops, handicraft tools ≈ were the means of labor of individuals, designed only for individual use ... But for this reason they, as a rule, belonged to the producer himself. ... Consequently, the right of ownership of products rested on one's own labor” (ibid., pp. 211, 213).

Antagonistic R. t. leads to the alienation from a person of all other types of activity, except for the relatively narrow sphere of his work. The material and spiritual values created by people, as well as the social relations themselves, go out of their control and begin to dominate them. “... The division of labor,” wrote Marx and Engels, “gives us also the first example of the fact that as long as people are in a spontaneously formed society, as long as, consequently, there is a gap between private and general interests, as long as, consequently, the division of activity takes place not voluntarily, but spontaneously, "a person's own activity becomes for him an alien, opposing force that oppresses him, instead of him dominating it" (ibid., vol. 3, p. 31).

Such a state can end only under two indispensable conditions: first, when the means of production, as a result of the socialist revolution, pass from private into public ownership and an end is put to the spontaneous development of society; second, when the productive forces reach such a stage of development that people cease to be chained to strictly defined instruments of labor and types of activity, cease to be direct agents of production. Two fundamental changes are connected with this: first, the isolation of people in labor ceases, labor becomes directly social in full measure; secondly, labor acquires a truly creative character, turns into a technological use of science, when the subject acts alongside the direct process of production, masters, manages and controls it. These are two indispensable conditions for achieving true freedom, comprehensive development and self-affirmation of man as a rational being of nature.

Marx pointed out that productive labor must simultaneously become the self-realization of the subject. “In material production, labor can acquire a similar character only in the way that 1) its social character is given and

that this labor has a scientific character, that at the same time it represents universal labor, is the tension of man, not as a force of nature trained in a certain way, but as an object that appears in the process of production not in a purely natural, naturally formed form, but in the form activity that governs all the forces of nature” (ibid., vol. 46, part 2, p. 110). Of course, the specialization of labor processes will inevitably continue along with the expansion of people's influence on nature. For example, a biologist will always differ in object and activity from a geologist. However, both of them, like all other members of society, will be engaged in freely chosen creative work. All people will cooperate, complementing each other and acting as subjects that intelligently control the forces of nature and society, i.e., true creators.

The reduction of the working day and the enormous increase in free time will enable people, along with professional creative work, to constantly engage in their favorite activities: art, science, sports, etc. Thus, the one-sidedness caused by antagonistic R. t. will be completely overcome, and the all-round and free development of all people will be ensured.

S. M. Kovalev.

The history of the development of the division of labor. The defining condition of the R. of t. is the growth of the productive forces of society. “The level of development of the productive forces of a nation is revealed most clearly in the degree to which the division of labor is developed in it” (K. Marx and F. Engels, ibid., vol. 3, p. 20). At the same time, the development and differentiation of the tools of production play a decisive role in the deepening of the production of t. In turn, R. t. contributes to the development of productive forces, the growth of labor productivity. The accumulation of production experience and skills in people for work is directly dependent on the degree of labor productivity and on the specialization of workers in certain types of labor. Technical progress is inextricably linked with the development of social R. t.

The growth and deepening of R. t. also influence the development of production relations. Within the framework of the primitive communal system, the first large-scale social trade union (the division of pastoral tribes) historically arose, which created the conditions for regular exchange between the tribes. “The first great social division of labor, together with the increase in the productivity of labor, and consequently also in wealth, and with the expansion of the sphere of productive activity, under the then historical conditions, taken together, necessarily entailed slavery. From the first major social division of labor arose the first major division of society into two classes—masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited” (Engels F., ibid., vol. 21, p. 161). With the emergence of the slave-owning system, on the basis of the further growth of the productive forces, a second major social trade union developed—the separation of handicrafts from agriculture, which marked the beginning of the separation of the city from the countryside and the emergence of an opposition between them. The separation of craft from agriculture meant the emergence of commodity production (see Commodity). The further development of exchange brought about a third major social trade union—the separation of trade from production and the separation of the merchant class. In the era of slavery, the opposite appears between mental and physical labor. The emergence of territorial and professional R. t.

The emergence and development of the machine industry was accompanied by a significant deepening of social production and the spontaneous formation of new branches of production. One of the most important manifestations of the process of socialization of labor under capitalism is specialization, an increase in the number of branches of industrial production. Under the conditions of capitalism, there is also R. t. within enterprises. The spontaneous development of commodity production under capitalism exacerbates the antagonistic contradiction between the social nature of production and the privately owned form of appropriation of the product, between production and consumption, etc. Describing the antagonistic basis for the development of industrial production under capitalism, K. Marx from the very beginning involves the division of labor conditions, instruments of labor and materials ... and thereby the split between capital and labor ... The more the division of labor develops and the more accumulation grows, the stronger develops ... this split” ( ibid., vol. 3, p. 66).

The development of capitalism determines the economic rapprochement of peoples and the development of international trade. But this progressive trend under capitalism is carried out by subordinating some peoples to others, by oppressing and exploiting peoples (see Colonies and colonial policy, Neocolonialism).

Under socialism, a fundamentally new system of trade unionism is created that corresponds to its economic system. On the basis of the dominance of public ownership of the means of production and the abolition of the exploitation of man by man, the exploitative foundations of labor productivity have been eliminated. The differences between mental and physical labor, and between town and country, are gradually decreasing. Planned R. t. is one of the necessary conditions for expanded socialist reproduction. The system of retail trade in the USSR and other countries of the world socialist system is inextricably linked with the structure of socialist society. Under socialism, trade unionism takes the form of cooperation and mutual assistance of people who are free from exploitation.

Under socialism, social stratification finds its manifestation in the following forms: stratification between branches of social production and individual enterprises; territorial R. t. (see. Placement of productive forces); R. t. between individual workers, associated with R. t. within enterprises. The development of socialist production in accordance with the basic economic law of socialism and the law of planned, proportional development of the national economy determines the continuous growth of branches of socialist production, the differentiation of old branches and the emergence of new ones. The planned development of trade between sectors and enterprises gives socialist society enormous advantages over the capitalist economic system.

The socialist economy also introduces changes in trade unionism within an enterprise and in labor unionism between people of different professions and specialties. Under socialism, the cultural and technical level of workers and collective farmers is growing rapidly, and their qualifications are being raised.

Comprehensive polytechnic education and the transition to universal secondary education ensure the free choice of professions for members of socialist society and facilitate the combination and change of specialties and professions. At the same time, polytechnic education does not exclude professional education and specialization of members of society. The possibility of a free choice of profession contributes to the transformation of labor into the first necessity of life, which is one of the conditions for the transition to the highest phase of communism.

A fundamentally new, international socialist division of labor has taken shape between the countries of the world socialist system, which differs fundamentally from the international division of labor in the capitalist economic system and takes shape in the process of cooperation between states with equal rights moving toward the same goal—the building of communism. Thanks to socialist international economic development, the elimination of the economic backwardness and one-sidedness of economic development, inherited by individual countries from capitalism, is facilitated, their economic independence is strengthened, their economy develops more rapidly, and the well-being of the people rises. At the present stage, socialist economic R. t. receives further development and deepening in the course of socialist economic integration (see Socialist economic integration).

L. Ya. Berry.

Wikipedia

Division of labor

Division of labor(also - Association of labor) - the historically established process of people performing their specialized activities in a common cause for all, accompanied by isolation, modification, consolidation of certain types of labor activity, which proceeds in social forms of differentiation and implementation of various types of labor activity.

Distinguish:

general division of labor according to branches of social production;
private division of labor within industries;
a single division of labor within organizations according to technological, qualification and functional characteristics.

It is the reason for the increase in the overall productivity of an organized group of specialists (synergistic effect) due to the development of skills and automaticity of performing simple repetitive operations, as well as by reducing the time spent on the transition between various operations

The concept of the division of labor was first systematically described by Adam Smith in the first three chapters of his treatise An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

The division of labor has led in the modern world to the presence of a huge variety of different professions and industries. In ancient times, people were forced to almost completely provide themselves with everything they needed, it was extremely inefficient, which led to a primitive life and comfort. Almost all the achievements of evolution, scientific and technological progress can be explained by the continuous introduction of the division of labor. Thanks to the exchange of the results of labor, that is, trade, the division of labor becomes possible in society.

Social production activity of people is carried out in the form of division and cooperation of labor.

Division of labor- this is a qualitative differentiation of labor activity in the process of development of society, leading to the isolation of its various types. The forms and patterns of the division of labor are determined both by the level of development of the productive forces and by the prevailing production relations. The law of division of labor is one of the important laws of labor economics.

In the division of labor, two sides are distinguished - the specialization of labor and the exchange of activities. The specialization of labor characterizes the state of the productive forces. The relations of exchange of activity, isolated by the specialization of labor, belong to the relations of production.

The division of labor is characterized by qualitative and quantitative features. The division of labor on a qualitative basis involves the separation of types of work according to their complexity. Such work requires special knowledge and practical skills. The division of labor on a quantitative basis ensures the establishment of a certain proportionality between qualitatively different types of labor. The totality of these features largely determines the organization of labor as a whole.

Depending on the type and variety of work, the following forms of division of labor are distinguished: functional, professional, qualification and technological. In addition, the division of labor occurs on a territorial basis between large and small units, as well as within the unit.

1. Technological division of labor involves the separation of groups of workers on the basis of their performance of technologically homogeneous work in separate phases, types of work and operations. Within the framework of the technological division of labor in relation to certain types of work, for example, assembly, depending on the degree of fragmentation of labor processes, there are operational, detail and subject division of labor (at machine-building and metalworking enterprises - foundry, forging, machining, assembly and other works; at mining enterprises - Mining and preparation and cleaning works.

The technological division of labor largely determines the functional, professional and qualification division of labor in the enterprise. It allows you to establish the need for workers by profession and specialty, the level of specialization of their work.

2. Functional division of labor differs in the role of individual groups of workers in the production process. On this basis, first of all, two large groups of workers are distinguished - the main and service (auxiliary). Each of these groups is divided into functional subgroups:
- · between the categories of workers that are part of the personnel of the enterprise (workers, managers, specialists and employees). A characteristic trend in the development of this type of division of labor is an increase in the proportion of specialists in the production staff.
- · between the main and auxiliary workers. The share of workers engaged in the adjustment and repair of machines and mechanisms, as well as those engaged in the manufacture of tools and technological equipment, is growing. The proportion of workers employed in loading and unloading, warehouse operations, etc. is decreasing.

The first of them are directly involved in changing the shape and condition of the processed objects of labor, for example, workers in foundries, mechanical and assembly shops of machine-building enterprises, engaged in the performance of technological operations for the manufacture of basic products. The latter do not directly participate in the implementation of the technological process, but create the necessary conditions for the uninterrupted and efficient work of the main workers. Ensuring at enterprises the correct ratio of the number of main and auxiliary workers on the basis of a rational functional division of their labor, a significant improvement in the organization of labor of service workers are important reserves for increasing labor productivity in industry.

3. Professional division of labor is carried out depending on the professional specialization of workers and involves the performance of work at the workplace in a particular profession (specialty). Professional division develops depending on the tools used, objects of labor, production technology. Based on the volume of each type of these works, it is possible to determine the need for workers by profession for the site, workshop, production, enterprise and association as a whole.

Observations show that changes in the professional division of labor are characterized by an increase in the absolute number and proportion of mechanized labor professions, a reduction in the number of narrow professions and specialties, and an increase in the number of broad-profile professions.

There is a close relationship between the professional division of labor and the transition from one stage of technical and technological development of production to another (partial mechanization, complex mechanization of labor, automation)

4. Qualification division of labor depending on the complexity of the work, requiring a certain level of knowledge and experience of workers. It has the closest connection with raising the cultural and technical level of workers, leading to a reduction in the share of low-skilled labor.

Qualification differences between groups of workers are objectively due to the varying complexity of the work performed. Employees of the same profession or specialty may have different knowledge, skills and work experience. All this is expressed in qualification - the quality of work (labor) and underlies the distribution of workers by qualification groups - categories, categories, classes, etc.

For each profession, the composition of operations or work of varying degrees of complexity is established, which are grouped according to the assigned working wage categories. On this basis, the number of workers in each profession is determined according to their qualification categories. The names of professions and specialties of workers are regulated by the Classifier, which has the force of the state standard, and the content is determined by the Unified Tariff and Qualification Reference Book of Works and Professions of Workers (ETKS). cooperation labor division

It should be noted that the division of labor, meaning the simultaneous coexistence of various types of labor activity, plays an important role in the development of the organization of production and labor: firstly, it is a necessary prerequisite for the production process and a condition for increasing labor productivity; secondly, it allows organizing sequential and simultaneous processing of the object of labor in all phases of production; thirdly, it contributes to the specialization of production processes and the improvement of the labor skills of the workers participating in them. But the division of labor as a process of specialization of workers cannot be considered only as a narrowing of the sphere of human activity by performing more and more limited functions and production operations. The division of labor is a multilateral, complex process, which, changing its forms, reflects the operation of the objective law of labor change.

At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the existence of expediency limits in the process of division of labor, ignoring which may adversely affect the organization and results of production.

There are the following divisions of labor:

1. Economic boundaries are determined by the fact that when they are reached, further deepening is not economically feasible, since it leads to a decrease in the level of efficiency in the use of production factors. This is due both to the irrational lengthening of the production cycle for the manufacture of a particular product, and to an excessively narrow economically unjustified specialization of commodity producers, which often leads to sharp fluctuations in market demand for their products.
2. Psychophysiological border determined by the allowable physical and psychological stress. The duration of operations should be within acceptable limits and contain a variety of labor techniques, the implementation of which ensures the alternation of loads on various organs and parts of the body of the worker. The monotony of the labor process, associated with the duration and repetition of monotonous methods and actions of performers during a certain period, depends on the number of elements in the operation, the duration of the repeating elements, the repetition of monotonous methods and actions.
3. social border is determined by the minimum necessary variety of functions performed, ensuring the content and attractiveness of work. The employee must not only see the results of his work, but also receive a certain satisfaction from it. Labor, which is a set of simple movements and actions, reduces interest in it. It is devoid of creativity, does not contribute to the growth of the qualifications of workers.

It should also be noted that:

1) the division of labor should not lead to a decrease in the efficiency of the use of working time and equipment;
2) it should not be accompanied by depersonalization and irresponsibility in the organization of production;
3) the division of labor should not be excessively fractional, so as not to complicate the design and organization of production processes and labor rationing, and also not to reduce the qualifications of workers, not to deprive labor of content, not to make it monotonous and tedious.

The monotony of labor is a very serious negative factor that manifests itself in the process of deepening the division of labor in production. Means against monotony can be a periodic change of jobs, the elimination of the monotony of labor movements, the introduction of variable work rhythms, regulated breaks for outdoor activities, etc.

It is important to note that the division of labor at enterprises should take into account not only the growth of labor productivity, but also the conditions for the comprehensive development of workers, the elimination of the negative impact of the production environment on the human body and the increase in the attractiveness of labor. The degree of division of labor largely depends on the specific conditions of the enterprise: belonging to the industry, type and scale of production, level of mechanization, automation, output volume and specifics of products, etc.

In this regard, the following requirements are important:

the importance of the division of labor: it is a necessary prerequisite for the production process and a condition for increasing labor productivity;
allows you to organize sequential and simultaneous processing of the object of labor in all phases of production;
· contributes to the specialization of production processes and the improvement of the labor skills of the employees participating in them.

Division of labor

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DIVISION OF LABOR - a form of cooperation in which separate groups or individual participants in the production process perform various labor operations that complement each other. The social division of labor arises at the early stages of the development of human society and develops along with the growth of production, with the development and improvement of the tools of labor, the growth of the population, the development and complication of social life. The beginning of the social division of labor was...

DIVISION OF LABOR- a form of cooperation in which individual groups or individual participants in the production process perform various labor operations that complement each other.

The social division of labor arises at the early stages of the development of human society and develops along with the growth of production, with the development and improvement of the tools of labor, the growth of the population, the development and complication of social life.

The germ of the social division of labor was already the natural division of labor. "Within the family - and with further development within the clan - a natural division of labor arises as a result of sex and age differences" (Marx, Capital, vol. I, 8th ed., 1936, p. 284). It is the division of labor between men and women, between adults and adolescents; some are engaged in hunting, fishing (men), others - picking plants (women), etc.

The growth of productive forces, different geographical conditions that have an impact on the development of production among different tribes, clans, as well as their different levels of development, the emergence of conflicts between them and the subordination of one clan to another accelerated the growth of the division of labor. In turn, the development of the division of labor gives a powerful impetus to raising the productive forces to a higher level.

The first major social division of labor that arose historically was the separation of pastoral tribes from the rest of the mass of barbarians, the separation of cattle breeding from agriculture. Pastoral tribes, specializing in one thing - cattle breeding, increased labor productivity, and they produced not only more means of subsistence, but also other means of subsistence compared to non-pastoral tribes. This created the basis for regular exchange, which was originally carried out between the tribes, whose representatives were the elders of the clans, and later, when the herds began to become the private property of individual families, the exchange penetrated widely into the community and became a permanent phenomenon. Along with the growth of labor productivity in the field of animal husbandry, land cultivation improved, home crafts improved, and a need arose for additional labor. The growth of labor productivity on the basis of the first major social division of labor led to the fact that the worker already produced more products than he himself consumed, i.e., created a surplus product, which is the economic basis for the emergence of private property, the class of exploiters and the class of the exploited. If at previous stages of social development prisoners of war were killed, because with the extremely low productivity of social labor they could not create a surplus product, now it has become profitable to turn prisoners of war into slaves.

Thus, from the first major social division of labor, which played a huge role in the decomposition of the primitive communal system, the first antagonistic class slave-owning society arose: given historical conditions, necessarily entailed slavery. From the first major social division of labor also arose the first major division of society into two classes - masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited ”(Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, in the book: Marx and Engels, Soch., vol. XVI, part 1, page 137).

Metal played a great revolutionary role in the further growth of the division of labor. Iron enabled the craftsman to produce sharper and stronger tools, it made possible agriculture on a large scale. With the use of iron, handicrafts became much more diverse. But this diversity dictated the need for a new division of labor. Handicraft separated from agriculture. This was the second major social division of labor, which marked the beginning of the separation of the city from the countryside. “The basis of any developed division of labor carried out through the exchange of commodities is the separation of the city from the countryside. It can be said that the entire economic history of society is summed up in the movement of this opposition” (Marx, Capital, vol. I, 8th ed., 1936, p. 285). The separation of handicrafts from agriculture gave a new impetus to the development of exchange.

In the early stages of the development of human society, all production was based on the common ownership of land, on the direct combination of agriculture and handicrafts. The main mass of products was produced for direct consumption, and only the excess was exchanged, turned into a commodity. The work schedule was based on the traditions and authority of the best people of the family. With the division of production into agriculture and handicrafts, production for the purpose of exchange arose, trade developed, not only internal and border, but also maritime. The new division of labor led to a new division of society into classes. In addition to the free and the slaves, there were the poor and the rich.

At the next stage of social development, the third major social division of labor took place, which consisted in the separation of trade from production, in the allocation of a special class that specialized only in the exchange of goods - the class of merchants. Under feudalism, the serfs and dependent peasants, who represented the main productive force of this mode of production, were engaged in cultivating the land in small parcel farms and feudal estates; they also produced industrial products. The division of labor in the cities between workshops was extremely insignificant, and within the workshops between individual workers it was completely absent. Feudal fragmentation, the weak connection between cities and feudal estates, limited needs, the dominance of guild organizations, which artificially inhibited competition, were an obstacle to the growth of the division of labor.

Primitive human society did not know the separation of mental and physical labor. The division of labor in the beginning was only “a division of labor that took place by itself, “naturally arising” due to natural inclinations (for example, physical strength), needs, accidents, etc., etc. The division of labor becomes a real division only from the moment when there is a division of material and spiritual labor” (Marx and Engels, Nemetskaya Ideologiya, Soch., vol. IV, p. 21). In a class society, spiritual activity becomes the privilege of the ruling classes. In a slave-owning society, spiritual activity was the privilege of slave-owners. The lot of slaves was hard physical labor. During the period of domination of the feudal mode of production, the main productive force of the countryside - serfs and dependent peasants - was deprived of the possibility of cultural growth and development. The division between mental and physical labor, between city and countryside, led to the spiritual savagery of the peasant, caused "the idiocy of village life." The most acute form is taken by the division of mental and physical labor under capitalism. Under capitalism, millions of proletarians are deprived of the opportunity to receive an education, to develop and show their strength and abilities. They are doomed to exhausting, monotonous work, the fruits of which are reaped by parasites. Capitalism turns education and science into its monopoly, into an instrument of exploitation in order to keep the vast majority of people in slavery. Only the proletarian revolution, destroying forever the foundations of the class division of society, creates the conditions for the destruction of the antithesis between mental and physical labor.

The development of the social division of labor was a necessary prerequisite for the development of a commodity economy and capitalism. Lenin characterizes the social division of labor as "the common basis of the commodity economy and capitalism." “A commodity economy,” says Lenin, “develops in proportion to the development of the social division of labor. And this division of labor consists precisely in the fact that one after another branch of industry, one after another type of processing of a raw product come off from agriculture and become independent, thus forming an industrial population” (Lenin, Soch., vol. II, pp. 215 and 85). And back. The development of the commodity-capitalist economy, by raising the level of the productive forces, by splitting the production process more and more into independent parts, gives a powerful impetus to the further progress of the social division of labour.

During the period of domination of the capitalist mode of production, the division of labor develops widely both within society and within each individual enterprise. A feature of the division of labor within society is the fragmentation of the means of production between individual independent commodity producers, the connection of which is carried out through the exchange of goods. Within the enterprise there is a manufacturing division of labor, a feature of which is the concentration of the means of production in the hands of capitalist owners and the organization of production based on wage labor. Marx writes: "While the division of labor in the whole society - whether it takes place through the exchange of commodities or independently of it - belongs to the most diverse socio-economic formations, the manufacturing division of labor is a completely specific creation of the capitalist mode of production" (Mark s, Capital , vol. I, 8th ed., 1930, p. 291). A necessary prerequisite for the emergence of the manufacturing division of labor was the isolation of the means of production, which opposed the worker as capital. Arising at a certain stage of social development, with a certain degree of maturity of the division of labor within society, the manufacturing division of labor, in turn, influences the social division of labor, developing and dividing it further.

The social and manufacturing divisions of labor are closely linked, mutually conditioned and influence each other. But there are significant differences between them. “The division of labor within society is served by the buying and selling of the products of the various branches of labor; the connection between the partial works of manufacture is established by the sale of various labor powers to the same capitalist, who uses them as a combined labour-power. The manufacturing division of labor presupposes the concentration [concentration] of the means of production in the hands of one capitalist, while the social division of labor presupposes the division of the means of production among many commodity producers independent of each other. In manufacture, the iron law of strictly defined proportions and relations distributes the working masses among various functions; on the contrary, the whimsical play of chance and arbitrariness determines the distribution of commodity producers and their means of production among various branches of social labor ... The manufacturing division of labor presupposes the unconditional authority of the capitalist in relation to the workers, who form simple members of the aggregate mechanism belonging to him; the social division of labor opposes to each other independent commodity producers who do not recognize any other authority than competition, other than that coercion that is the result of the struggle of their mutual interests ”(Marx, ibid., pp. 287-288).

In a capitalist society based on private ownership of the means of production, on the exploitation of one class by another, the division of labor, like the entire process of social reproduction, takes place spontaneously. Anarchy and despotism reign here at the same time. In capitalist manufacture, the entire process of labor necessary for the production of this or that product is split into separate operations between individual partial workers. Each worker now performs only one operation, and the entire product is performed by a collection of many sub-workers that complement each other. Accordingly, there is a differentiation and adaptation of the tools of labor in relation to partial operations. Thus, the manufacturing division of labor transforms the worker into a partial worker, and his tools into partial tools. “The specific mechanism for the manufacturing period remains the collective worker itself, composed of many partial workers” (Marx, ibid., p. 281).

The invention and use of machines deepens and develops the manufacturing division of labor. Machines are increasingly replacing the worker performing the same mechanically repetitive processes. The development of machine production has turned the worker into an appendage to the machine, while labor has been deprived of any content, has intensified the exploitation of the worker, has led to the fact that the spiritual forces of the material process of production oppose the worker as an alien force dominating him. The manufacturing division of labor thus led to an even sharper separation of mental labor from physical labor.

The invention of machines and the organization of machine production resulted in a further division of labor within society, led to the final separation of industry from agriculture, and increased the division of labor not only between individual branches within a country, but also between individual countries. Before the invention of machinery, the industry of every country was directed to the processing of raw materials produced within the country. Thanks to the use of machines and steam, the division of labor assumed such proportions that large-scale industry became dependent on the world market, on the international division of labor. Machine production extended the division of labor to the entire world economy and turned production into social production. The division of labor between countries that produce different products—industrial and agricultural countries—connections between them, world trade, etc., are now the most important condition for the development of the industry of each country.

The most important consequence of the division of labor is an increase in labor productivity. Thanks to the division of labor, there is an improvement in the use of labor power: each worker, adapting to only one operation, increases dexterity, dexterity, etc., he does not have to waste time moving from one operation to another; the unification of production creates an economy in the means of production; due to the simplification of individual operations, unskilled labor power is used, etc. Under the conditions of the capitalist mode of production, all the benefits from the division of labor are used by capitalists in order to increase capital and increase exploitation. The division of labor was a powerful means capital accumulation (cm.).

In an antagonistic class society, the growth of the social division of labor, causing the distribution of productive forces in accordance with the interests of the ruling class, contributing to the expansion of the market, the expansion of the domination of capital, leads to an increase in contradictions, to a rupture between individual groups of society. Already the second major social division of labor, which led to the separation of the city from the countryside, doomed the rural population to a thousand years of stupidity, and the townspeople to the enslavement of everyone to his craft; it created a gulf between the city and the countryside. The division of labor in capitalist society inevitably leads to a deepening of the contradictions of capitalism, to a deepening of the gulf between labor and capital, and develops on an antagonistic basis. “The division of labor already from the very beginning involves the division of labor conditions, tools and materials, and thereby the fragmentation of accumulated capital between different owners, and thus the splitting between capital and labor” (Marx and Engels, German Ideology, Soch., vol. IV, p. 56). Under capitalism, everyone has his own circle of activities, from which he cannot get out if he does not want to lose his means of subsistence.

The division of labor in the modern capitalist factory, the capitalist use of machinery, intensifies the exploitation of the worker. The introduction of the conveyor and the automation of production turn the worker into an appendage of an automatically operating mechanism. The new technical improvements introduced by the capitalists are a new bondage for the worker, because under capitalism the machine does not free the worker from labor, but deprives his labor of any content. This enslavement of man can only be abolished with the destruction of the capitalist mode of production.

The Great October Socialist Revolution, which was victorious in 1/6 of the globe, established the dictatorship of the proletariat and destroyed the capitalist mode of production. Basically, a socialist society has been built in the USSR. The means of production no longer stand in opposition to the worker as capital, they constitute public socialist property. The exploitation of man by man has been destroyed forever. In the socialist economic system, all production, both in town and in the countryside, the distribution of labor between individual branches and within production, is regulated and directed by a single state national economic plan, in the interests of the whole people, the whole of society. Work and the attitude towards work of the worker himself have changed radically. Instead of forced labor for the capitalist, labor has become a social matter, a matter of honor, glory, valor and heroism. The dictatorship of the proletariat marked the beginning of the destruction of the opposition between mental and physical labor and created all the prerequisites for its final destruction. During the years of socialist construction, the USSR has been transformed into a country of highly productive labor, a country with an abundance of products. The USSR has the shortest working day in the world; the working people are provided with all conditions for all-round cultural and intellectual development.

One of the most important prerequisites for eliminating the opposition between mental and physical labor is raising the cultural and technical level of workers to the level of engineering and technical workers. In this regard, the growth and development of the Stakhanov movement, which is one of the most important conditions for the elimination of the opposition between mental and physical labor, is of great importance. Tov. Stalin pointed out that the Stakhanov movement was preparing the conditions for the transition from socialism to communism. The most important factor in the cultural and technical upsurge of the working class is the combination of education with industrial labour. The Stakhanovites are the true bearers of the new, socialist labor culture, innovators in the field of science and technology; the rich practice of the Stakhanovites enriches Soviet science and moves it forward. The most important prerequisite for the destruction, the opposition between mental and physical labor, is the final destruction of the opposition between town and country.

The planned organization of socialist production is expressed primarily in unprecedented rates of development of the productive forces, in the convergence of the rates of development of town and countryside, in the rapid elimination of the distinction between town and countryside. The collectivization and mechanization of agriculture have turned agricultural labor into a variety of industrial labor. The huge new growth of the productive forces of the country of socialism, the mass development of the Stakhanovist movement for mastering technology, the mass cultural and technical growth of the working people, the high, genuinely socialist productivity of labor create all the conditions for the final elimination of the opposition between mental labor and physical labor engendered by a class exploiting society, for the transition from the first phase of communism (socialism) to the highest phase - communism. Only a communist society finally abolishes "the subjugation of man to the division of labor" (Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, in the book: Marx and Engels, Soch., vol. XV, p. 275).

I. Granin.

TSB, 1st ed., v. 48, room 116-122

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