Decree on the Eight-Hour Working Day
8시간 노동제 법령
Adopted by the Council of People's Commissars on 11 November (29 October O.S.) 1917, four days after the October Revolution, this decree was the first in the world to establish the eight-hour working day and 48-hour week as a universal state law. It mandated a minimum one-hour break after six hours of work, banned the employment of children under 14, limited minors under 18 to six hours, regulated night work, and guaranteed a minimum 42-hour continuous weekly rest. The text was largely adopted from a draft prepared by the Ministry of Labour of the Provisional Government. It was incorporated into the 1918 Labour Code and became the foundation of Soviet labour legislation, later reduced to a seven-hour day in 1928 before wartime re-extension.
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) Russian Wikipedia: decree adopted 29 October (11 November) 1917; established 8-hour day, 48-hour week, break requirements, child/minor labor limits, night work regulations, and holiday rest provisions
- Marxists Internet Archive Full text of the Decree on the Hours of Labor as published in Sobranie Uzakonenii 1917, pp. 7–10; shows 8-hour/48-hour limits, recess rules, child labor ban, minor restrictions, and holiday schedule
- Wikipedia (EN) Soviet Union: the eight-hour day was introduced four days after the October Revolution by decree; further reduced to seven hours in 1928
- researchrepository.ilo.org ILO International Labour Review article 'The Problem of Hours of Work in the Soviet Union': confirms the decree gave legal fixity to conditions already achieved by the spontaneous movement of summer 1917; notes the text was prepared by the Provisional Government's Ministry of Labour under Prof. Bykov and published by the Bolsheviks with minor modifications