The photograph shows the union committee of the Karl Liebknecht State Steel Mill in Katerynoslav [currently "Interpipe Lower Dnieper Pipe Rolling Plant"]. As of 1924, the plant employed over 2,000 people. Living and working conditions of the employees were difficult. In spite of the stable operation of the entreprise, there were fairly frequent wage delays. In many cases, the response of the workers to these delays has been to go on strike, which the authorities treated as stalling or shirking. A letter from the secretary of the local Party committee of May 3, 1924, contains the following lines: “Late payment of wages have become the reason for shirking; hence the failure to meet the plan, and the firing of unreliable elements who would not submit to the resolutions of the trade union organization …”. The plant’s equipment underwent substantial modernization in 1925: 10 latest construction nail machines were acquired; the plant began to make preparations for the production of pipes. Wages were raised and working conditions improved. The strike movement petered out, and the plant became one of the leading metallurgical enterprises in Ukraine.
