In many companies, workers are paid piecework wages. But what is it, when is it established and what rules for its payment are provided for in the Labor Code of Russia?

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If the company has established a piecework form of remuneration, when calculating earnings you will need to adhere to special rules.

After all, there are several types of such payment, different working conditions, and tariff rates. Let's figure out what provisions of legislative documents address the issue of piecework wages.

General information

What is the essence of wages and who should choose how employees will be paid is the first thing you should understand. Let's consider the current provisions of legislative documents.

What it is

Salary is a remuneration (usually in cash) that a person receives for work performed in accordance with the agreement concluded with the employer.

Its size depends on the conditions, quantity, volume of work, and qualifications of the person. Remuneration should be understood as those relations that are associated with the definition of the settlement scheme of the company’s management with hired employees.

Many researchers are of the opinion that remuneration and salary are different concepts. Salary is an element of payment. But no less often such words are considered synonyms.

Who determines the type of remuneration?

Remuneration is characterized by a systemic nature, so that a company employee has an idea of ​​what and when he will receive money.

In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, a minimum wage may be established.

The regulatory documents of Russia do not indicate under what conditions they should be accrued.

Each company has the right to independently establish the requirements that its remuneration systems must meet.

There are the following types of payment systems:

• piecework;
• time-based;
• chords, etc.

If the employer retains the right to independently choose labor systems, what should he prefer? In the case when a company is engaged in the production of something, it is better to focus on the piecework form, in which the employee will receive earnings, which will depend on his productivity.

It is also suitable for a multi-industry company, when it is quite difficult to maintain piecework accounting. Management often combines various methods.

Normative base

How to understand piecework wages

You don’t know how piecework wages are? Let's try to figure it out. Piece wages are understood as a form of remuneration for hired workers, in which the amount of earnings is determined taking into account the quantity of goods manufactured or the volume of work performed.

Piece wages are introduced to increase staff productivity. Often it is chosen by enterprises that are engaged in the production of material assets.

With this form of payment, it is in the interests of workers to do as much as possible. But piecework wages are not desirable if the production of goods requires concentration and precision, since the number of defects will increase.

Let's list the situations of who receives the piecework form of salary and when:

• if there is a need to increase production volumes;
• if plans have been drawn up - quantitative indicators that are reflected in work productivity;
• if a volume growth strategy is used without compromising the quality of work;
• If possible, keep accurate records of work performed and services provided;
• if there is no downtime due to lack of material.

Disadvantages of piecework payment:

1. The quality of the product may decrease, as the employee strives to do more, not better.
2. Equipment may not be maintained conscientiously, since company employees do not want to waste time on this.
3. Safety precautions are violated (due to haste).
4. There are violations in production technologies.
5. Material and raw materials are overused. The employee is not interested in saving resources, since this will not affect his earnings.

On the Internet you can find a sample employment contract for piecework wages.

Division into types

Let's consider what types of piecework wages exist:

What does the size depend on?

The size of the piecework salary will depend on the standardized time and output. Taken into account:

• volume of work;
• time worked per month;
• quality of manufactured goods (presence/absence of defects);
• complexity of work;
• number of workers (the more a person works, the smaller the share each is entitled to);
• conditions under which employees worked.

Labor productivity is influenced by general technical, organizational, and economic training. This means that if a company wants to see the implementation of the piecework plan, it is worth organizing a work process.

How to correctly calculate the amount (formula)?

To calculate the rate, the employee’s hourly wage rate according to his category is divided by the hourly production standards or multiplied by the approved time in days or hours.

Work records should be kept by foremen or other workers. Documentation for calculating the amount - work acceptance certificates, work orders, etc., which are created by the enterprise itself.

For direct piecework wages, the following formula is used to calculate an employee’s earnings:

For piecework bonus:

With piecework-progressive:

With chord:

With indirect piecework:

Calculation example

Here are examples of calculating piecework wages in some situations.

Direct piecework salary

The piece rate for the employee is set at 32 rubles per unit of goods produced. During the month, the person produced 280 units.

The payment will be:
Piece-bonus

The employee fulfilled the plan - produced 300 units of goods. In addition, he reduced material consumption by 20 thousand rubles. The piece rate is 27.5 rubles. premium must be paid in the amount of 20%. Let's calculate.

Salary for completed volumes:

Total salary:
Indirect piecework

The salary of an employee serving a machine shop is 8.5 thousand. The production standard is 1 thousand goods. 1.3 thousand goods were manufactured at the site. The salary will be like this.

Indirect price:
Earnings for the volumes of goods produced on the site:
Piece-progressive

The production rate is 300 units of production. The worker produced 345. The piece rate rate is 27.5.

Local regulations of the enterprise provide for an increase in piece rates when the production rate is exceeded:

Let's calculate wages based on production volumes:
Percentage for overfulfillment:
Output is 115%, which means the amount increases by 25%.

The salary will be:

Emerging nuances

There are a number of questions that haunt the company's novice specialists. We will answer those that are most often asked on Internet resources.

The procedure for its calculation

Let's consider how wages will be calculated, for example, in a beauty salon:

Let's consider the last situation. The master gets a job. At first he has no clients, since he has not yet established himself.

So that such an employee does not lose the desire to work in the salon, the employer helps him - in the first month he pays a salary equal to the minimum wage, and additional interest from each client.

In the second month you can pay half the minimum wage (as the number of clients will increase) and interest. In the third month, pay 3 parts of the minimum wage with interest.

Later, the employee will form a client base and will be able to earn a sufficient amount, and he will no longer need to pay extra.

An additional payment can be used to support an employee during a recession, when the number of clients temporarily decreases. Such periods most often occur in the winter months and in May.

To do this, it is worth setting a certain minimum, up to which you will pay extra wages if the master does not earn it himself (and it is not his fault).

Where are the expenses included?

It says that the amount should be included in labor costs.

What is accrued at the tariff rate, official salary, piece rate or as a percentage of revenue in accordance with the approved payment system.

In order to recognize the costs of paying for work under the piecework system when calculating income taxes, it is worth drawing up primary documentation of production. It is necessary to carry out payroll calculations for this type of payment.

The rationale is contained in, which states that expenses that are supported by documents should be recognized as expenses.

Documents must be accepted for accounting if they are prepared in accordance with established rules.

Economic justification of costs is possible if:

• availability of primary documentation, which will confirm the accounting of the output of a certain employee;
• taking into account the specifics of the company’s activities, production technologies, etc.

Is it possible to calculate in Excel?

What calculation rules should I follow? Salaries can be calculated in Excel, and there are quite a few developed schemes.

Let's consider one of the methods of calculating payment on a piece-rate basis with funds. Its features:

1. Every month it is worth calculating the amount of goods produced.
2. Such funds must be consistent with plans, but may vary.
3. For all employees separately, a calculation is made of his share, which he is entitled to in the fund.
4. The fund's assets will be multiplied by such shares. In this case, the amount that will be given to the person is determined.

Setting up calculations for other systems is not difficult - you just need to set the formula. When calculating the fund, more than one parameter is taken into account. The source of hours worked can be a table recording such hours.

The estimate of the worker's share is calculated based on the labor participation coefficient, which is established by the foreman and foreman according to established rules that can be laid down in Excel.

The hours worked and KTU are reflected. To do this, it is possible to create another table, which is not very convenient. It’s better to go with this option - the management sets the hours worked and the KTU is here.

Then you will need to add columns to the “Brigades” page, and because of this, the structure of the table, where there are already different links, is broken.

You can add 2 pages - one for the masters, the other to reflect the KTU, which are copied from the first. The brigade page can be renamed to “Hours”, an input sheet and KTU are required.
Next, links are configured in the “Input” cells from the “Clock” cells. Enter the “=” sign in cell A5, go to “Enter”, click on the same cell and press Enter.

Then A1 is stretched from the “Clock” sheet to cells A5:AJ28. It is also worth making other cells. The fill is removed so as not to confuse the user.

The “KTU” page is designed in the same way - copy the items in “Hours” and paste them into “KTU”. The reference to the number of hours should be removed.

You will get the following table:

From the “KTU” sheet, remove the restriction on entering values ​​up to 12. The cells for the “KTU” indicators are highlighted, and click the column to check the information on the “Data” tab. “Any” is selected.

After setting up all the pages, add a salary sheet. The first few columns are links to the “Input” sheet. Next, the salary is calculated.

To do this, it is worth knowing what size it should be under normal conditions. The column will look like this:
The hours worked for the month are recorded:
To avoid using the production calendar every month, enter standard working hours for the year (in the “Lists”).

Hello! In this article we will talk about piecework wages.

Today you will learn:

1. What is piecework wages and where is it applied?
2. What types of piecework wages exist;
3. What are the prerequisites for transferring to piecework wages;
4. Advantages and disadvantages of this type of payment.

One of the most important aspects of organizing labor activity in a company is the choice of the form of monetary remuneration for employees. We are most familiar with the time-based form, when salaries are calculated depending on the salary and the number of days worked. However, such a scheme is not suitable for many types of activities where it is extremely important for the employer to motivate the employee to increase productivity, and also where it is possible to keep quantitative records of the work performed. Then another common form is used – piecework wages.

What is piecework wages?

Piece wages – This is a type of monetary remuneration for an employee where his earnings directly depend on the units of production he produces or on the volume of work performed, provided that the result of his work can be calculated and the quality can be tracked.

• Download a sample piecework wage agreement

For most types of work, only one of two forms of payment is possible. For example, administrators, doctors, accountants, security guards, and teachers are on temporary duty. Piecework wages are typical for such professions as turner, welder, taxi driver, and member of a repair team.

However, there are often cases when, to further motivate an employee, an employer uses a calculation procedure that is characteristic of both forms. The employee is paid a monthly fixed salary, most often small but guaranteed, so that the employee has something to live on in case of the “off season”. In addition, the employee receives payment per unit produced or a percentage of sales.

Example.

In many clothing or electronics stores, where sales volumes largely depend on the active work of the sales assistant, the company, in addition to the salary, may pay him a certain percentage of the cost of the goods sold. Owners have long come to the conclusion that using the carrot of a monetary reward is much more effective than threatening them with the stick of dismissal for being idle on the sales floor.

Concepts inextricably linked with the word “piecework” Production rate

- the number of units of products established by the company that must be manufactured within a certain time frame. Usually they talk about hourly, daily and monthly norms. Tariff rate (salary)

– minimum guaranteed monthly wage for a given skill level. Indicated in . The salary is only part of the salary, which, in addition to the salary, may include all kinds of bonuses and social benefits. Price

- this is the amount of earnings for one unit of work performed or products produced. It is calculated through the ratio of the tariff rate to the production rate. Tariff schedule

- tariffication of wages based on the complexity of the work and the qualifications of the employee. There are ranks or categories (for example, engineer of the first category or piece worker of the 5th category).

Calculation of piecework wages

Let us give two examples of such calculations. Example 1.

The daily rate of processing parts on a milling machine for a milling machine operator is 120 pieces. The daily rate for the tariff is 1200 rubles. In one month, the employee processed 2,400 parts.

The piece rate is calculated by dividing the daily tariff rate by the daily rate for parts:

R = 1200/120 = 10 rubles/pcs.

In this case, the monthly salary of the master will be:

Z = 10*2400 = 24000 rub. The calculation looks somewhat different when the standard determines not the number of products, but the time period.

The time limit for using the machine is set at 30 minutes per operation. The hourly tariff rate is 150 rubles. During the month, the employee performed 600 operations.

We calculate the piece rate:

R = 150*30/60 = 75 rubles/operation

Monthly earnings will be:

Z = 75*600=45000 rub.

Types of piecework wages for workers

The existence of several types of this payment is explained by the diverse specifics of existing work where piecework payment is used.

Let's look at its main types with examples:

The procedure for transferring to piecework wages

An enterprise can switch to piecework wages if the necessary prerequisites are met:

• Well-established accounting of manufactured products or services provided;
• Presence of an uninterrupted supply of materials and everything necessary for work;
• Effective quality tracking;
• Developed logical tariff systems and local standards;
• The ability to take into account quantitative data on the performance of each employee separately;
• The existing need at this level of company development is to increase the level of production (sales) many times over.

The conditions for piecework wages are specified in individual and collective labor contracts, work acceptance certificates, work orders, as well as in the Regulations on remuneration. The latter is understood as a normative act that is valid only within the enterprise, which stipulates the procedure for calculating wages, the timing of payment of remuneration to employees, the rules for paying bonuses and allowances.

When approving such a document, the employer proceeds from the financial capabilities of his organization and also takes into account the norms of the Labor Code.

All important information should be specified in the Employment Contract, preferably in as much detail as possible.

Advantages and disadvantages of piecework wages

If an employer transfers his workers to piecework, he must be prepared for some difficulties. However, the advantages of this form are also undeniable.

Let's look at them:

There is no ready answer as to what form of wages or what type of piecework will be best. Everything is very individual and, above all, depends on the type and conditions of the organization’s activities. The same system can work differently in two teams. It seems to us that only with experience, through trial and error, will the employer be able to develop the necessary scheme of monetary motivation for his employees.

Choose the correct answer

Russian language 11th grade |

Remuneration is a financial system that regulates monetary relations between employer and employee. According to established legislation, payments must be made on time and in the prescribed amount. Article 129 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation contains basic information about the rules for making payments.

Tariffs and wages are regulated by various legal acts and agreements. In controversial situations, federal legislation is recognized as dominant and decisions are made in accordance with it. For example, instructions for calculating the tariff rate are contained in Art. 143 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

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Piece wages

Piece wages – This is one of the types of wages, which involves the dependence of the amount of money on the quantity or volume of work delivered.

The volume of work delivered may be calculated in terms of the number of units produced, the number of tasks completed, or some other measurement. This takes into account the quality of work, the complexity of the task, working conditions and the required level of qualifications.

Advantages of piecework payment

From the employer's side:

• The employee's interest in performing the maximum amount of work.
• The employee is also responsible for fluctuations in output.
• There is no need to control the work process, since payment is made after the fact and before that it is possible to assess the volume of work and its quality.
• It is believed that if an employee is ready for piecework payment, he knows how to work productively.

From the employee's side:

• Has the opportunity to independently control your earnings and increase it by increasing the volume of work.
• Work on a piecework basis is available even to novice specialists and workers without a reputation.

Disadvantages of piecework wages

From the employer's side:

• Possible reduction in product quality to increase production volumes.
• Often the costs of product quality control are equal to the total costs of control in other production areas.
• Often, workers are in a hurry and violate safety regulations or rules for handling equipment, which leads to injuries and breakdowns.
• Workers don't care much about production costs.
• Psychological factor - the employee does not feel like he belongs to the company’s team and does not work for a common result, but only for his own enrichment.
• Some types of work are quite difficult to measure in all respects; accordingly, difficulties arise in determining the volume of work performed.
• High staff turnover, which stems from a psychological factor, rarely employees are focused on the prospect of long-term cooperation.
• The need to introduce any compensating payments to smooth out possible fluctuations in earnings.

From the employee's side:

• Earnings are unstable, this fact frightens many workers who do not like risks.
• The employer is not always able to take into account all the factors that influence the result, but often do not depend on the employee.
• The rate of wages may be lowered as output increases, so that the amount of work is not directly proportional to the amount of earnings.

Types of piecework payment

Payment at piece rates is divided into:

1. Direct piecework. It provides a direct relationship between the volumes completed and the amount of earnings. The prices (rate) are fixed, depending mostly on the specifics of the work, its conditions and the qualifications of the employee.

   It is worth noting that when using this type of payment, the employee is least interested in the company’s production growth and improving overall performance indicators. So this type of payment is more suitable for hiring temporary workers.

2. Piece-bonus. In essence, this is the same as direct piece payment, however, it implies the presence of incentive payments for work above the plan or for the high quality of the product produced.
3. Indirect piecework. It helps calculate wages for maintenance personnel involved in maintaining equipment or working places. It is quite difficult to determine the volume and quality of work performed. To calculate wages, you need to divide the rate by the production rate of workers using the equipment being serviced. Bonuses under such a system are usually awarded for trouble-free operation of equipment.
4. Chord. Such a system is designed to complete work with a limited deadline. Then the worker knows the price for the entire volume and knows in what period of time he needs to complete the work. If the task takes a long time to complete, an advance is paid. It is a common practice to pay bonuses for completing work ahead of schedule. It is used mainly in those areas where it is difficult to standardize labor in any other way: during repairs, construction.
5. Piece-progressive. Such a system involves paying for production norms at standard prices, and after exceeding the plan, prices increase. Typically, increased prices do not exceed standard prices by more than 100%. Typically, a progressive piece-rate system is introduced for a certain period of time in those areas of production where maximum performance is required. This payment method is quite expensive for the employer.

How is piecework wages calculated?

When making calculations, a system of fixed prices per unit of production or fulfillment of an agreed volume is usually used.

This approach allows you to take into account the maximum number of factors and set a stable price for labor.

Prices directly depend on temporary production standards, tariffs and type of work. To calculate the final price, divide the hourly rate (or daily or standardized) by the production rate for the same period of time. Payments can occur either individually or to a group of workers.

With a direct piece-rate wage system, calculate wages using the formula: Wages = Piece rate per unit of product (type of work) x Number of manufactured products (work performed)

Piece work and time work: what is the difference?
Time-based pay assumes that the employee spends his time in the most efficient way. The employer hopes that the result of the employee’s work will be more valuable than the time purchased.

When using piecework payment, time spent is not recorded. Often, the employer does not know how many hours it took to produce the product and has difficulty determining its cost. The employee bears all responsibility for the effective use of time, and bears the costs associated with irrational time management. Often, workers themselves set piece rates for their work.

Types of remuneration

At the moment, the legislation provides for several types of remuneration:

1. Main. It consists of:
   • payment for a specified period of time, payment for a specified amount of labor, subject to the calculation of payments according to the piecework system, as well as time-based or progressive payment;
   • overtime payments for work longer than the established period, for night work, for any work performed in excess of the norm specified in the contract;
   • payments for production downtime that occurred due to reasons beyond the employee’s control;
   • bonus payments, as well as incentives and incentives.
2. Additional. It consists of:
   • payment for time not worked for reasons beyond the employee’s control in cases where such a possibility is provided for in the contract and legislation;
   • vacation deductions;
   • payments to employees on maternity leave and nursing mothers;
   • teen benefits;

In addition to species, classification by form is also used. These include:

Time payment occurs based on the amount of time which the employee spent at work. Usually the contract specifies the number of working hours.

Time payment may include:

• hourly pay;
• tariffs (daily or hourly);
• a certain norm established by agreement and helping to make a different measurement of time worked.

Time payment consists of:

• simple– assumes that the worker is paid for a certain amount of time that he spent on the work process, regardless of how many and what kind of labor products were produced;
• premium– assumes that in addition to payments based on time worked, bonuses are provided for high quality work.

Piecework payment is divided into several subtypes. Read more about each type of payment below.

Legal norms

Guarantees for timely and complete transfer of payments are established by Article 130 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

According to the law, the state provides guarantees for:

• minimum wage level;
• control of the level of salaries of employees of budgetary institutions;
• regulation of the amount of tax deductions for wages;
• introducing restrictions on wages in kind;
• regulation of federal legislation in accordance with the interests of workers;
• exercising state control over the fulfillment of labor remuneration obligations;
• holding unscrupulous employers accountable;
• establishing rules regarding the timing and order of payments;
• control over the implementation of legislation.

Current page: 6 (book has 35 pages in total)

Chapter Ten

I AM WORKING

The next day, Sasha Devyatin and I went to the library. The library was located in a small, one-story house with windows overlooking the square. Closely placed bookshelves reached the very ceiling, filling the entire room, leaving only a small piece free where the table stood. On one side of the table sat the manager, Andrei Apollinarievich Modenov, and on the other, his assistant, Sasha. Books were piled on the window sills, bundles of books lay under the table, there were books everywhere: books in cheap covers and in old leather bindings, large and small, thick volumes and thin pamphlets. They gave off a special bitter smell, dust accumulated in them, rats, bugs, dampness and time attacked them. In their defense, Modenov, a small, dry old man in a warm cap on his bald head, and warm shoes, which he put on when entering the library, fought incessantly.

The library used to belong to the zemstvo, and Andrei Apollinarievich had been working in it for twenty years. Before the revolution there were one thousand two hundred or one thousand three hundred books. And there were, it seems, about fifty readers. After the revolution, it began to quickly replenish. Bazegsky, a local millionaire who owned the only two-story stone house in the city, had about two thousand books received from some insolvent debtor. The books were still in the boxes as they had been brought from the ship. The old man read only the Gospel and the Chetya Menaion. Then three thousand volumes came to Pudozh from monastery libraries. These were mainly church books, but there were historical and even old manuscripts, which Andrei Apollinarievich kept dreaming of doing properly. Several more smaller private libraries, left behind by officials and merchants who fled the city after the revolution, were transferred to Andrei Apollinarievich. All this had to be sorted out, put on shelves, and catalogued.

The old man worked tirelessly, sat until late, and came at dawn. Sasha also worked conscientiously, but how could they cope with such a pile of books! The contents of many boxes were not even known yet. There could be unexpected finds, rare publications, valuable manuscripts could be found, historical mysteries could be revealed. Dmitry Shemyaka once hid here in Pudozh. Nearby, in Kargopol, even under Ivan the Terrible, exiles lived; Old Believers hid in the forests, recording many secrets in their handwritten books.

Undiscovered treasures haunted the head of the library. If he could, he would sit all night long. But I had to sleep and eat; Readers, of whom there were already three hundred and twelve, took up a lot of time. Many of them had just learned to read, they had to be given advice, they had to be taught. I had to read the newly arrived books myself and look through magazines. Hardly a quarter of the collection has been catalogued.

Andrei Apollinarievich sought to be given another assistant, but he was refused. Petrozavodsk itself was choking on the most valuable monastic and private collections that entered the state libraries. Andrei Apollinarievich was never given a staff position, but funds were allocated to pay for piecework. It was with these funds that I was invited.

I had to sit on the third side of the table, sort through the drawers and write a card for each book.

My inexperience did not frighten the manager.

“Integrity is important here,” he said. “If you don’t know, ask.”

I had to receive money from my bills.

However, having learned from Sashka about my plight, Andrei Apollinarievich forced me to immediately write an invoice, dating it with a date that was due in another two weeks. Having imposed the appropriate resolution, he counted out twenty rubles to me. This caused terrible rejoicing in the commune. After heated debate, it was decided to buy me boots. We all followed them: the six of us, and Alexandra Matveevna. In the cooperative store, the cheapest cowhide boots cost nine rubles. It turned out that for thirteen you can also buy an iron bed. Misailov was given two rubles as a payday loan.

They immediately filled the hay rack. In the evening, Alexandra Matveevna sewed a breastplate from an old skirt. She had a lot of pens. And now there were six beds in the room. Someone could, say, come in and ask: “Whose bed is on the farthest?” They would have answered him: “If Nikolaev.” This thought made me very happy.

In the morning, Sasha and I walked to the library. All day long, pages quietly rustled, heavy bindings of old books opened, dust rose in clouds. Feathers creaked. Sometimes Sashka or I would ask Andrei Apollinarievich a question in a whisper, and he would answer in the same whisper. Outside the window the boys were playing and calling to each other, occasionally a cart would pass by with a knock, but here it was quiet. There was a bitter smell of antiquity.

On the third day of my work, in the morning, even before the delivery of books began, the door suddenly opened and a tall, thin man in a gray suit and a soft hat walked in, with a thick carved stick in his hand. Squinting his myopic eyes—it seemed dark to him from the street—he said quietly and cheerfully:

- Well, archival rats? Have you found a new chronicle?

“Close the door,” Andrei Apollinarievich said displeasedly. - It's blowing. And sit down. The chronicle is not a chronicle, but there is something interesting.

He began to talk about the monastery account books of the second half of the seventeenth century. The newcomer sat down on a chair, crossed his legs, and put his hands on the head of the stick. He listened, nodding his head.

- Curious! - he said. “If I were you, I would annotate the manuscript and send a message to the Public Library.” They might be interested. “Then he suddenly narrowed his eyes and, peering at me and Sasha, asked: “Am I seeing double or have you been given a staff position?”

“Neither one nor the other,” said Andrei Apollinarievich. - This is Kolya Nikolaev. He is still working overtime. If he works as hard as he does now, he will soon be on staff.

The newcomer nodded his head:

- Anything is better than nothing.

– What’s new with you, Yuri Alexandrovich? – our old man asked.

Yuri Alexandrovich sighed.

“Old age knows only sad news,” he said. - So I remain a nerd. My daughter is leaving me. The case is quite standard, but it’s offensive when it concerns you.

- When is the wedding? – our old man asked.

“It’s not me who decides,” Yuri Alexandrovich sighed. “This will obviously be decided by the general meeting of the Bachelors’ Commune.”

Sasha flushed and said, angry and embarrassed:

– The general meeting will not decide anything! People love each other - which means they can freely decide their own destiny.

“That’s right, Sasha,” Olin’s father said calmly. (I already realized, of course, that it was him.) - Don’t be offended, I was joking. By the way, even if I wanted to restrict their freedom, it is unlikely that I would have succeeded. - He turned to Andrei Apollinarievich: - Actually, I’m on business. Yesterday the committee secretary talked to me again about public lectures. Sorry, but I recorded a lecture for you on “Monastery farms of the Pudozh district.” You can tell me something about this. Somewhere in mid-June it's your turn...

- What did you take? – asked Andrei Apollinarievich.

- Middle Ages. Troubadours, trouvères and minnesingers. I don’t know whether the Pudozh public will be interested in this, but they will have to put up with my tastes... Well, goodbye, dear archivists!

The entire time Yuri Aleksandrovich Kamensky, Olga’s father, was talking with us, I sat, pretending to write, trying so that he would not see my face. He might recognize me. It would be terrible. My shame, which I did not dare tell anyone about, which made me blush even now, was known to this man. It was from him that I asked how to get to Kataikov.

Yuri Alexandrovich stood up, said goodbye to the old man, then to Sasha, and finally very politely extended his hand to me:

- Goodbye, young man, I wish you good luck. Maybe you'll really love the smell of archival dust. This old man,” he nodded at Andrei Apollinarievich, “has a lot to learn.” “He fell silent, peering intently into my face. - Excuse me, excuse me... I think we've seen each other. You asked me how to get to Mr. Kataikov.

I nodded my head silently.

- Well, how? Have you found it?

I nodded my head again.

“I hope your business was crowned with success...” Without waiting for an answer, he bowed to all of us and left.

Oh, what shame I was tormented by! Oh, how I was afraid that I would be expelled in disgrace from the “Commune of Bachelors”! Neither Sashka nor Andrei Apollinarievich asked me anything. This scared me too. This means, I thought, it’s a serious matter, since Sashka doesn’t even want to talk about it. I don't remember what cards I wrote. I'm afraid that during this day I caused a lot of confusion in the future catalog of the Pudozh City Library.

When we walked home, Sashka talked all the way about Yuri Alexandrovich and Olga.

As far as I understand, the story of teacher Kamensky was as follows: while still very young, he was appointed to Pudozh as a teacher at a higher elementary school. In Pudozh, the current labor school had such a contradictory name before the revolution. He was apparently a capable man and more educated than the local teachers usually were. He subscribed to magazines, went on vacation to St. Petersburg, studied at the Public Library and brought back whole stacks of books from there.

His lessons were much more interesting than the lessons of other teachers. He talked a lot beyond the program, and this even aroused the suspicions of the school inspector. However, after attending the lessons, he completely calmed down. Kamensky spoke beautifully and fascinatingly about the Middle Ages, this was his favorite topic, and in no way touched on politics.

Once or twice he published small articles in a St. Petersburg historical magazine. Everyone expected him to move to the capital, or at least to Petrozavodsk. Many were planning in advance to boast in their old age that, they say, the famous historian Kamensky, imagine, is ours, from Pudozh. He himself talked a lot about his upcoming departure.

None of this happened. He never left, and the two articles he published in the first years of his teaching career were the only things he published in his entire life. But he still read a lot, and literature on the Middle Ages took up an entire wall in his office. Perhaps he was completely satisfied with such a life: a remote province, bear life and nearby the fantastic world of the Middle Ages, satin and velvet, tournaments, courteous knights, noble ladies. The very contrast of this beautiful world with the bourgeois squalor of Pudozh became the meaning and content of his life. In his soul, it seemed to him that he was in a medieval, fantasy world. But in this fantastic world, he did not have to act and fight; this world passed before his eyes, requiring no sacrifices or efforts from him. Perhaps Kamensky did not leave simply because he was lazy, not fit for active struggle, and did not know how to overcome obstacles.

One way or another, it remained here forever, a striking exhibit in the poor collection of curiosities of a provincial town.

Sashka also talked about his marriage, but I already knew about it from Olga’s conversation with Misailov.

I was happy that Sashka, fascinated by the history of the Kamensky family, did not say a word about what tormented me most. When we approached the house, I stopped and said:

- Listen, Sashka, did you hear what Yuri Alexandrovich said about Kataikov?

And then I saw from the expression on Sashka’s face that he heard, and paid attention, and remembered that he was talking about something else all the time, because he himself didn’t want to think about it.

“Well, what did you hear,” he muttered, looking away from me. - You never know why you could go to him... Well, let's go.

We arrived just before lunch, and after lunch we gathered in the second room and began chatting. This time they talked about Vaska’s affairs.

Vaska did not want to move into the Kamenskys’ house. She and Olga decided to rent a room until the fall. In the fall they were supposed to go to Petrozavodsk. Vaska found a room, and a very good one. But the hostess was precious. So far, Vasya had only been promised an increase, but without an increase it turned out that there was no way he could pay as much as she requested. True, Yuri Alexandrovich wanted to give Olga a monthly allowance, but Vaska categorically refused. We decided, of course, to put our money together and pay at least part for the room. Vaska laughed it off, and then got angry, and we realized that we couldn’t insist.

Several times I met Sasha's gaze, and each time he looked away. Finally, after a pause, I said:

– Guys, I haven’t told you another story...

I started with the incident on the ship, described the strange festivities in the cabin, and the guys easily recognized the characters and named the names of Malokrochechny, Tishkov, Kataykov. Then I told the story of Savkin, how he howled on the deck. They listened to this in silence, looking me straight in the face, experiencing every detail. Then - how I came to my uncle. When I started talking about him, everyone smiled at first - obviously, he was known in the city as a comic figure - but, starting with four potatoes, with silent children, everyone again looked at me with attentive and very serious faces. We listened to the conversation with our aunt, barely breathing. I was worried myself, and my throat tightened several times. Then I told how I asked myself to cut wood. This caused laughter and speculation about who this woman was: Ostapovna or Lezhkina? They immediately recognized the loader. They decided that he was all lying and didn’t take anyone into the forest. He's a bad person. His last name, it turns out, is Gogin.

And then I came to the most important thing. I told how from the very beginning I understood that I could not do without Kataikov. They listened in silence. The smiles began when I told Kataykov how happy my uncle was with me. When Kataikov asked me if I was going to see him, and I was surprised that he lived here, everyone was very happy. When I told him that I was taking a walk and was going to walk through the forest, there was general laughter. It became even stronger when Kataikov said that there are a lot of mushrooms in the forest in the fall. Everyone here was just dying of laughter. They asked me about the details and laughed again.

As far as I understand, they imagined the matter in this way: Kataikov wanted to catch me, to deceive me, but I dodged and left him a fool. This brought a lot of pleasure to everyone.

They laughed, then started talking about something else, but sometimes they remembered Kataikov again and rejoiced at how I had deceived this almighty man. In the end, I myself began to consider the main thing not that I was going to go to him, but that I didn’t go. Sashka looked at me with shining eyes and probably wondered how bad thoughts could come to his mind.

Then Vasya and Kharbov sat down to study; We chatted some more, went for a walk and returned late. Vasya was not at home again. I couldn’t sleep, I lay motionless with my eyes closed.

When Vasya returned, the sun had not yet risen. Trying not to make noise, he undressed, the hay rustled in his hay barn - he lay down. It turns out that Kharbov was not sleeping either.

- Vasya! - he said in a whisper.

- Well? - he responded.

– We need to do something with Kolka’s uncle...

“I already thought,” said Vasya. “I’ll run over to you during a break tomorrow and we’ll discuss it.” Well, sleep.

Now I was firmly convinced that the fate of seven people in a small house would change dramatically for the better. I was also glad that I told the guys everything, and it turned out that there was nothing wrong.

Later I had to remember one more circumstance that I had kept silent about. It’s not that I forgot, I just didn’t consider it worthy of attention.

Chapter Eleven

"BACHELOR COMMUNE"

Only a few days have passed, but it seems to me that I have been living in the “Bachelors’ Commune” for a long, long time. Returning from work, I shout at the door: “Aunt Shura, can I have lunch?” I confidently knock my spoon on the table. I argue until I’m hoarse with the guys about upcoming purchases, together with everyone I discuss how to spend Kharbov’s bonus and Misailov’s raise.

This is when bachelors are at home. But they are not at home that much. Kharbov either goes to the village, then sits at Komsomol meetings, or is busy in his committee. Misailov is often late at work or trying to achieve something in Sevzaples, and all the guys are always busy with some kind of business in which I cannot take part and which I don’t even understand. I am often left alone. Luckily, I have something to do.

It turned out on one of the very first evenings that I read very little, much less than the other guys. Everyone read “The Week” by Libedinsky, and “Chocolate” by Tarasov-Rodionov, and “Rus” by Panteleimon Romanov, but I didn’t read it. Everyone has read “The Gadfly” by Voynich, “The Tunnel” by Kellerman, “The Trade Union Secretary” by Leroy Scott, but I haven’t. To tell the truth, apart from school textbooks, I didn’t read anything at all.

Sasha Devyatin was very upset about this. He compiled a list of fifty books. I have to read all these books in a month. And so, when I am alone, I settle down on the bearskin and immerse myself in a book. I don't have a reading habit. After reading about thirty pages, I get tired. I'm drawn out of the house.

I'm going to the sports ground. Komsomol members built this site only last year, and in the summer it is the center of social life for Pudozh youth. Rings hang, bars and a horizontal bar stand, and benches dug into the ground along the edges. There are no classes in the real sense. Just anyone who wants to exercise on the horizontal bar or on rings; whoever wants to, kicks the ball, and most sit on benches and chat.

I found myself very behind here too. Apparently I have enough strength, but I don’t have the habit. The audience laughs good-naturedly at my inept exercises.

Sometimes my guys show up. Lesha Tikachev will come running, play around with the rings and disappear. Vasya Misailov will come in,, to everyone’s delight, do a dozen “suns” on the horizontal bar, jump onto a mattress flat as a pancake, wave goodbye and run away. If none of my friends are there, I get bored and go wandering around the city.

The fast courier Sema Silkin is rushing with his next assignment. We greet each other as we go, and he rushes on with his courier business.

Lesha's workshop is located on the ground floor of a two-story house. The sign says that they repair stoves and pots here, and pick up keys. Inside, puddles of machine oil, kerosene and some other chemicals glisten on the earthen floor. Vices are screwed to the tables. On the tables there are stoves, pots, basins, blowtorches, files, pliers. Lesha, four other guys and a one-legged old man who heads the production team are publishing a wall newspaper. Somehow the corner of the table was cleared of oil, kerosene and soot, and a rectangle of white paper was laid out on it. The newspaper is called proudly: “The Voice of the Proletarian.” The header is painted with green leaves and pink daisies. It was drawn by a one-legged old man - a gentle soul. The notes are written by hand with an ink pencil, and each one brands one of the workers. The “Witness” reproaches one for being in church on Easter, the “Observer” accuses another of sloppy collection of professional contributions, the “Activist” accuses the third of not attending meetings. All these mysterious anonymous people are hiding among the six workers of the workshop. They are the same accused, six. It’s the six of them who publish the newspaper. They will also read it. Everyone is excited, everyone is very happy if the note turned out to be scathing, including the one against whom it was directed. Life in the workshop is in full swing. Everyone is passionate. Nobody cares about me. I'm moving on.

Sema Silkin is rushing towards me; he waves a sealed package in greeting and disappears. I'm going to the lumber mill.

The sawmill is standing. Damage again. Vasya Misailov, wearing a canvas overall with sewn-on pockets from which rulers, squares and scraps of paper protrude, is fiddling around in the engine. He looks angry. He gives short commands to the guys, who are satisfied with the modest role of assistants. Emerging from under the casing, Vasya nods at me and immediately forgets about me. I'm redundant here too. I'm going to Kharbov.

Ukom - three small rooms - empty. The working day is over. The cleaning lady hasn't cleaned things up yet. Scraps of papers and cigarette butts are everywhere - traces of a busy day's activity. Only in the third room - Kharbov's office - are there people. The secretary came from Ustkoloda. Ukomov residents listen to his story about local affairs. There is a dispute about some Timoshin brothers. The secretary believes that they are kulaks. Kharbov denies this and demands that the Timoshins be drawn into the Komsomol. The debate is probably interesting, everyone is passionate, but I don’t know the matter, I don’t have an opinion, and they don’t ask me for one. I get bored and leave.

And again Sema Silkin rushes towards us, shouting “Great!” as he goes. and disappears in the perspective of the street. I'm going home. Having rested, I am able to sit down to books with renewed vigor.

Around nine o'clock life in the city calmed down. The bachelors finally returned home. However, I don’t remember a time when we went to bed before twelve, or even one in the morning. Firstly, there were many topics to talk about; secondly, sleeping more than six hours was considered reprehensible. Bachelors were fierce debaters. They argued until they were hoarse, got personal, restrained themselves, calmed down and rushed into an argument again. The reasons for the controversy were the most unexpected. On the second day of my life in the commune, Lesha Tikachev unexpectedly turned to Devyatin.

“Listen, Sasha,” he asked, “are you and your old man figuring out what to give to Soviet workers to read?”

- And what? – Devyatin was wary. – Our library is well selected.

- Fine? – Lesha smiled sarcastically. - What is it?

- Uhland. Poems and poems. Well, a German classic...

- “Classic”! “Tikachev was gradually heating up. – Listen to what he writes, your classic!

Oh generous god, I’m not at all
Forgotten by you!

- "Generous"! For whom is God generous? For the proletarian? Yes? OK. What is this?

Source of your mercy
Equally open to everyone.

- You know, “equal.” For the capitalist and for the worker it is “equal”! For the peasant and for the landowner it is “equal”! You see where it's going. Or here:

You have a brother in the sky
He didn't upset me
Never, and God's angel
He took the little one to heaven.

- Like, don’t upset the capitalist, and God will take you to heaven. And this is how you like it:

The maiden fell before the icon
And silently hope
I expected it from the Most Pure One.

“You see, we are fighting against icons, but here it is on you!” This is the ninth year of Soviet power, and you are promoting religion! Well, your old man - okay. He's one of the former, so what can I ask him? And you? Are you a Komsomol member or not?

Sasha Devyatin became terribly worried.

- Wait wait! - he shouted. “That’s also not possible, you know.” Well, of course, Uland was a man of his time, of course, did not understand much, and underestimated the revolution. This is all true, but he’s a classic! You see, classic! He was ahead of his time.

- He's a spiritualist! – Tikachev was furious. – Spiritualist and mystic. Popov's servant. And you, Komsomol member, are helping him do his dirty deed, corrupting the proletarians!

“A classic,” shouted Devyatin, “an artistic heritage of the past!” The proletariat is the heir to all the best...

It was no longer possible to make out what Tikachev and Devyatin were shouting about. Only certain phrases sounded clearly. Tikachev emphasized “mysticism” and “spiritualism.” He liked both of these words very much. Devyatin operated with the cultural heritage and great minds of the past.

“Here, Efim,” shouted Tikachev, “a mechanic from our workshop, a proletarian, a Komsomol member, a man of the new world - and suddenly he’s reading this!” I looked and gasped. After all, he absorbs the poison drop by drop! Who gave him this poison? Komsomol member Sashka Devyatin brought him a cup of poison.

Sema Silkin rushed to help Tikachev. Sasha Devyatin, pale, excited, fought back as best he could, but it was clear that the advantage was not on his side. I, as a library worker, considered it my duty to stand up for him, but since I did not have a real argument technique, I was casually beaten by experienced fighters Sila and Leshka and that evening I was unable to regain my fighting form. The scream rose so loud that Kharbov and Misailov, abandoning their studies, ran to the second room. To my surprise, they did not finish off Devyatin. Quite the contrary. Kharbov attacked Tikachev and Silkin and called them vulgarizers.

They argued until late that evening in the Bachelors' Commune.

Olga often came to see us. Sometimes she called to us from the street and looked out the window, sometimes she simply knocked on the door.

- Hello, bachelors! - she said as she entered. - None of you got married?

She would sit in the corner on a bearskin and silently listen to our conversations. She herself rarely interfered, and if she did say something, it was somehow not to us, but as if to herself, so it was difficult for us to argue with her.

One day Sema Silkin came excited. It turns out that he caught several Komsomol girls who, having forgotten about their Komsomol membership, were waltzing with all their might to an accordion with the lumberyard guys. Moreover, some of them were wearing various trinkets - rings, brooches made of gold and silver. On one he even found earrings. Syoma was beside himself with rage and was very surprised at Misailov’s calmness.

- What kind of gold and silver there is! - said Vasya. - The girls put on all sorts of nonsense. Not out of malice, but for beauty.

Silkin took several deep breaths to regain his composure, but then immediately took on a high tone.

“And I think,” he began, “that such Komsomol members who think about jewelry, outfits and flirting reek of philistinism.” If they were real Komsomol members, they would have taken off all these pendants and handed them over to the MOPR, to help prisoners of capital. Today you will forgive them for their rings and earrings, and tomorrow you will make peace with perfume and powder.

- Well, what's the harm? – Misailov asked.

- Harm? – Silkin was surprised. – Do you know that many of them are politically illiterate? Instead of dancing pointlessly, they could read a newspaper or a few pages from a political literacy textbook. And with the money they spend on all sorts of luxury, they could buy useful books, magazines, newspapers, grow politically and culturally...

“In our cell,” Lesha Tikachev intervened, “we raised the question of dancing.” By majority vote we decided to fight against dancing. Less dancing - more physical education.

- Come on, guys! - Devyatin intervened. – In your opinion, Komsomol members should wear bast shoes, right?

“I also think that you are bending over backwards, Sila,” said Harbov, entering the room. He studied in the first room, but we argued so noisily that he had to give up on his studies. He sat down on the couch and continued: “We are really used to considering slobs and bunglers as examples of communism.” But I think that a communist and a Komsomol member should have a human appearance.

-Which one, which one? – Silkin became worried. – What do you consider the human species? Put on a frock coat or tailcoat, a top hat and yellow shoes, put a monocle in your eye, a cigar in your mouth, a cane with a gold tip in your hands? So, what do you think? Do you think this is a human species?

“Well, you know, Sila,” said Misailov, “you’ve already promoted Andrei to Chamberlain.”

“With such views, he will come to Chamberlain,” Silkin was not at all embarrassed.

“There’s no need for a cylinder, and it’s nonsense, but supports and bast shoes are also useless,” said Sasha Devyatin. – Andrey says correctly: you need to dress like a human being.

– He doesn’t like Komsomol women in bast shoes! - Silkin shouted. “They don’t look human, you see.” But we have thousands of them. These are real Komsomol members, the proletariat, the poor. They, you know, are hungry and cold, fulfilling their Komsomol duty, but in your opinion, they don’t look human?

- Come on, Sila! – said Harbov. - Why are you agitating us! Nobody here treats Komsomol members badly. But the only reason they made the revolution was so that workers could wear silk and velvet instead of bast shoes... What do you think, Olya?

Olga stood up and slowly began to put on the jacket she came in. The evening turned out to be cold.

“The Force is right,” she said calmly, buttoning her jacket. – But Andrey is also right. That's the trick. “She went to the door, but stopped at the door. – And personally, guys, I really want to be beautiful. Goodbye.

And she left. We didn't have time to answer her.

- Grandma said it in two! – Silkin shouted after her with caustic irony, but she obviously no longer heard it.

I have cited two disputes chosen at random simply to make it clear what issues concerned us at the time. The new world had to be built according to pre-conceived drawings. Naturally, any detail required discussion and caused controversy.

But most often, on one occasion or another, the conversation turned to the future. It’s not about which of us will study where, who we will become, or how much we will earn—we thought little and talked little about these little things. We couldn’t wait to finally find out in every detail the future of the country and the world.

At that time, my generation was growing and developing. Our fathers and older brothers made a revolution, seized power and defended it in the civil war. We turned out to be the masters - at least, the future masters of a huge country in which we were supposed to create a social system unprecedented in history. Of course, the elders were at the head of the state, but they also counted on us, on people not spoiled by the past, and we ourselves felt that great things lay ahead of us.

It seemed that everything was very simple: there is no tsarism, the power is ours, and after many eras of wandering in the dark, humanity has found an unusually clear solution to all issues. We were condescendingly surprised by the previous world history. Having read the popular presentation of Marx's theory, we could not understand how humanity had not thought of such simple truths earlier. But we knew them firmly, and we could not help but solve all the problems facing the world with the help of this universal theory.

We knew everything that would happen next. We argued about the details. The architect completed the house design, the materials were delivered, and construction began. Having looked at the project, we knew what room and what corridor would be, where the window would be and where the door would be. All that remained was to decide how to arrange the furniture. This is where the controversy began. Some believed that a closet should be placed on the right and a table on the left; others are the opposite. We argued endlessly whether there would be separate apartments under communism or not. Until what age will mothers raise their children at home and at what age will children switch to public education. How to properly rebuild Pudozh: should we build several buildings, with common kitchens and dining rooms, or adopt a different system and build a separate house for each family - of course, with a public dining room, a club and a nursery in each quarter. This may be convenient, but won’t it contribute to the development of individualism?

Then we did not know and could not know how complex and difficult what lay ahead of us would be, how far away we were from wallpapering and furniture arrangement. Later, when we realized this, we did not hesitate to undertake persistent, hard work. Not all. Many were afraid, and many wavered, but I am talking about the generation as a whole.

Now that I'm almost fifty, I can't help but think with pride and respect of my peers. In their youth, they were tormented because, as it seemed to them, their elders had done everything important and difficult for them, that all they had to do was reap the benefits; they supposedly did not have time to take part in the revolution and civil war. Then it turned out that the main battles were ahead, and they went to fight without hesitation. Did they make a lot of mistakes?.. Yes, of course. How many feats did they accomplish? Who counted them, these feats? Which award departments managed to record them?