What would change if work week became three days?

Labor relations retrospective

The five-day work week is the result of the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Then there was a transition from the agrarian economy to industrial production, and many factories and manufactories appeared, the work of which had to be regulated. At first, their workers worked during daylight hours, 12 hours a day. However, with the advent of electricity, the volume of working hours increased; this resulted in protests and led to the formation of the first labor associations - for example, the National Labor Association in the United States, which advocated a reduction in the working day.

Saxon Engineering Factory 1868 © wikipedia

In an agrarian society, only Sunday was a traditional day off - on this day it was customary to go to church. The industrial world also at first adhered to the established six-day system, but then Western society began to gradually move away from it under the pressure of public protests and the authors of the first scientific research who confirmed: a ten-hour working day without a lunch break leads to exhaustion, which has a bad effect on labor results. As early as 1926, Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford began closing his factories on Saturday and Sunday. By this point, the number of working hours per week in the United States had already fallen from 80 to 50. Ford concluded that it was easier to divide this work into 5 rather than 6 days, freeing up more time for leisure - and growing consumer demand.

Henry Ford © wikipedia

In Russia, the picture was different. At the end of the 19th century, the working hours here were still not regulated in any way and amounted to 14-16 hours a day. Only in 1897, under the pressure of the labor movement, especially the weavers of the Morozov manufactory in Ivanovo, the working day was for the first time legally limited to 11 and a half hours from Monday to Friday and up to 10 hours on Saturday for men, as well as up to 10 hours every day for women and children. However, the law did not regulate overtime in any way, so in practice work time remained unlimited.

Changes took place only after October revolution 1917. Then a decree was issued by the Council of People's Commissars, which determined the work schedule of enterprises. It stated that working hours should not exceed 8 hours per day and 48 per week, including the time needed to care for the machines and the workroom. Nevertheless, the working week in the USSR after that moment remained six-day for another 49 years.

From 1929 to 1960, the Soviet working day went through several major changes. In 1929, it was reduced to 7 hours (and the working week - to 42 hours), but at the same time they began to switch to a new timesheet calendar - in connection with the introduction of a continuous production system. Because of this, the calendar week was cut to 5 days: four working days, 7 hours each, and the 5th is a day off. In the country, even pocket calendars began to appear, on one side of which the Gregorian week was printed, and on the other, the time card. At the same time, since 1931, the schedule has become special for people's commissariats and other institutions: here the calendar week was six days, and within its framework, the 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th and 30th days of each month, as well as 1 March were non-working.

Five-day calendar © wikipedia

The Gregorian calendar is back Soviet Union only in 1940. The week again became seven days: 6 working days, one (Sunday) is a day off. At the same time, working hours have again increased to 48 hours. Great Patriotic War added to this time mandatory overtime work from 1 to 3 hours a day, and vacations were canceled. Since 1945, wartime measures ceased to operate, but only by 1960 did the work week regain its former volumes: 7 hours a day, 42 hours. Only in 1966, at the XXIII Congress of the CPSU, it was decided to switch to a five-day week with an eight-hour working day and two days off: Saturday and Sunday. IN educational institutions the six-day period was preserved.

1968 Rudkovich A. Do not waste working minutes! © wikipedia

“The idea of ​​introducing a 40-hour workweek in the world took shape around 1956 and was implemented in most European countries in the early 60s,” says Nikolay Bai, professor at the Department of Civil Law Law Institute RUDN. - Initially, this idea was proposed by the International Labor Organization, after which the leading and developing economies began to put it into practice. IN different countries, however, the amount of working time still remains different: for example, in France, the week is 36 hours. The main reason is that the degree of economic development differs from country to country. In a developed economy, it does not make sense to drive people, and there a shortened work week is possible so that people can devote more time to themselves, their health and family. By the way, in the recent past in Russia, Mikhail Prokhorov proposed introducing a 60-hour work week in Russia. In response, the government asked the question: "Do you want another revolution to take place in our country?"

On July 14, 1897, Sunday in Russia was declared an official day off. Sunday was declared a public holiday for the first time on March 7, 321. It was on this day that the Roman emperor Constantine I the Great proclaimed Sunday a day of rest. Markets closed that day government agencies stopped all activities.

Prior to this, the citizens of the Roman Empire celebrated on this day the "day of the Sun" - dies Solis. The tradition of celebrating has been preserved in the modern name of this day of the week in many European languages Sunday (English), Sonntag (German), søndag (Danish and Norwegian) and söndag (Swedish).

Why did the emperor order to rest on Sundays?

Emperor Constantine in 321 AD issued a special decree that ordered every Sunday to be a day off. According to legend, the emperor had a dream. On the night before the battle, which was to take place on Sunday, Constantine saw in a dream the sun, and on it - a cross and an inscription that foreshadowed the victory of the emperor. The battle really went well for the emperor's troops. Constantine the Great, returning home and remembering the vision, ordered to ban all physical labor on Sundays.

By his order, on this day of the week, markets did not work and all state institutions stopped working. But at the same time, no restrictions on agricultural labor, in which the vast majority of the population took part, were provided.

Another 50 years later, with Emperor Theodosius I(388-395), a decree was issued according to which on that day no one could demand payment of a public or personal debt. At Theodosius II In 425, an imperial decree forbade circus and theatrical entertainment on the day of the Sun in order to emphasize the special holiness of this day. And in 538, during the third Synod in the city of Orleans, it was decided to ban all work, including in countryside, on Sundays.

Was Sunday considered a day off for the Slavs?

The concept of "Sunday" appeared in Rus' after the adoption of Christianity, and at first only one day was called Sunday (the beginning of the celebration of Easter) - the Bright Resurrection of Christ on the third day after the crucifixion. Only in the 16th century did Sunday appear as a separate day of the “week”.

In all Slavic languages, except for Russian, Sunday is called a “week” (Polish - niedziela, Ukrainian - week, Belarusian - nyadzelya, Czech - neděle, etc.), that is, during the day when “they don’t do it”, they don’t work. Also, the word "week" is a tracing paper from the Greek apracos, that is, "not-doing", "non-working", idle.

In Russian, this name - "week" - has been preserved in Orthodox church terminology, for example, in the combination "Fomin's week".

What did "Sunday" mean in Old Church Slavonic?

The verb "to resurrect" in the Old Slavonic language is derived from "krѣsati", or "to resurrect", "kresѣ" - revival, health. The word "kresalo" is also closely related, which means "they will create fire with a blow."

Is Sunday a public holiday in all countries?

In most parts of the world, the work week usually runs from Monday to Friday.

In Israel, the main day off is Saturday, the work week begins on Sunday and ends on Thursday or Friday afternoon. On Saturday, Shabbat is sacred, on this day all offices, shops are closed, public transport does not work (except for taxis).

IN Muslim countries Friday is the main day off. Muslims devote this day to visiting the mosque and praying. The working week lasts from Saturday to Wednesday (Algeria and Saudi Arabia), from Saturday to Thursday (Iran), or from Sunday to Thursday (Egypt, Syria, Iraq, United Arab Emirates).

On October 29 (November 11), 1917, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) in Russia established an 8-hour working day (instead of 9-10 hours, as it was before) and introduced a 48-hour working week with six workers and one day off afternoon. Works that were particularly harmful to health were subject to reduced working hours. On December 9, 1918, the Labor Code of the RSFSR was adopted, which consolidated these provisions.
From January 2, 1929 to October 1, 1933, in accordance with the decision of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, a gradual transition to a 7-hour working day was carried out. The working week was 42 hours.
On August 26, 1929, by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the transition to continuous production in enterprises and institutions of the USSR", a new personnel calendar was introduced, in which the week consisted of five days: four working days of 7 hours, the fifth was a day off.
In November 1931, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution in which it allowed the people's commissariats and other institutions to switch to a six-day calendar week, in which the 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th and 30th of each month, as well as March 1, were non-working.
On June 27, 1940, the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR came into force on the transition to an 8-hour working day with a "normal" working week according to the Gregorian calendar (6 working days, Sunday is a day off). The working week was 48 hours.
On June 26, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree "On the working hours of workers and employees in war time", in accordance with which mandatory overtime work from 1 to 3 hours a day was introduced and holidays were canceled. These wartime measures were canceled by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 30, 1945.
At the end of the post-war recovery period in 1956-1960. working day in the USSR gradually (by industry National economy) was again reduced to 7 hours with a six-day working week (Sunday is a day off), and the working week was reduced to 42 hours.
At the XXIII Congress of the CPSU (March 29 - April 8, 1966) it was decided to switch to a five-day working week with two days off (Saturday and Sunday). In March 1967, a series of decrees and resolutions of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the Central Committee of the CPSU introduced a standard "five-day work" with an 8-hour working day in the USSR. IN general education schools, higher and secondary special educational institutions a six-day work week with a 7-hour working day. Thus, the working week did not exceed 42 hours.
On December 9, 1971, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR adopted a new Code of Labor Laws (Labor Code), according to which the length of working time could not exceed 41 hours. The Constitution of the USSR adopted on October 7, 1977 (Article 41) legitimized this norm.
In Russia, the law of April 19, 1991 "On increasing social guarantees for workers" reduced working hours to 40 hours a week. On September 25, 1992, this norm was enshrined in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In this form, the working week exists in Russia to this day.

...Probably, we should start with the fact that this year it opens today Maslenitsa!.. And at the same time ask: isn’t it time to make this glorious week a truly festive one - that is, a day off?.. No?.. Then we go to the past ...

... March 7, 321 Constantine the Great ordered to consider Sunday as a day off - as we remember, it was this emperor who legalized Christianity eight years earlier ... As if these events were interconnected - but in fact the edict gave rise to some confusion, about which nine centuries later Thomas Aquinas will say this: " In the new law, the observance of the day of the Lord took the place of the observance of the Sabbath, not according to the commandment, but according to the church establishment and the custom accepted among Christians "... One way or another - according to the modern European standard, Sunday is considered the last day of the week; and in Israel, the USA and Canada - on the contrary, the first. Also, according to the observations of scientists, in a month that begins on Sunday, it always happens Friday the 13th...

... It must be said that the tolerant Konstantin was consistent - and did not introduce any bans on labor activity, limiting himself to closing markets and government offices on Sunday. (By the way, the Romans once had an eight-day week - for unclear reasons they borrowed the “seven days” from the conquered Eastern peoples). Thus, initially the day off was distributed exclusively to the civil service - because the event went relatively unnoticed ...

... And remained so for many centuries - despite various restrictions of a "local character" ... even in a harsh Victorian England late XIX For centuries, working on this day was, it seems, forbidden - but with a number of exceptions. Russian "Craft charter" around the same time it says: “... there are six craft days in a week; but on Sundays and on the days of the Twelfth Feasts, artisans must not work without the necessary need. However, Sunday will become our official holiday only in 1897! (At the same time, an 11.5-hour working day will be legalized ... however, in those harsh times, this was a big relief).

The law on the day off took root in Rus' for a long time and hard ... and in the village - for obvious reasons! - and not at all. (Perhaps because of the name; in other Slavic languages ​​this day is called simply "a week"- that is, you can do nothing ... why our hardworking people called the whole seven-day period like that - a mystery! As you know, in most Germanic languages ​​Sunday is called "day of the sun").

The uncompromising Bolsheviks at first wanted to get rid of Sunday ... In 1930 they introduced four days with the fifth day off - moreover, it could be chosen independently; a year later the same six days. Finally, in 1940, they spat on the experiments - and returned Sunday with a seven-day week to its rightful places. And twenty-seven years later they became generous - and added Saturday to the weekend ...

... Coincidentally, this happened exactly on March 7 - in 1967, a resolution was issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions "On the transfer of workers and employees of enterprises, institutions and organizations to a five-day working week with two days off." So, after more than a millennium and a half, the edict of Emperor Constantine was significantly supplemented ...

PS: Nowadays, the most respectable public is working more and more, as it turns out - but, in fairness, the majority have warm feelings for Sunday ... However, this is a completely different story.

It is known from the Bible that God, having created the whole world in 6 days, rested on the seventh.

“And on the seventh day God finished His works which He did, and rested on the seventh day from all His works which He did.”

(Genesis 2:2)

Although this is not related to the topic of our article, it is interesting how the world looked like when God rested? Did he freeze for the duration of God's rest, like a freeze frame? Or maybe he was moving "on the machine"? After all, all the details are created and all connections are established. Water will flow from the sources to the mouth all the seventh day, and will fall on the waterfall, and the water dust will rise to the sky, and the rainbow will become entangled in drops, and the thunder of falling water will fly away to the nearby mountains and return from there with an amazing echo. In general, as the voice of the artist Kopelyan said in the cult Soviet film, food for thought.

But God not only rested on the seventh day, but also commanded man, created in His image and likeness, to make every seventh day a day of rest.

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, for in it he rested from all his works, which God created and created”

(Genesis 2:3)

Now it has become fashionable to believe in God, and many have succumbed to this fashion. Such people are sure that a person rests every seventh day at the command of God. Those who are indifferent to changes in ideological fashion, and who doubt the existence of God, the creator of the Universe, are more inclined to explain the existence of a day of rest in human society natural reasons. In addition to the daily cycle of changing the body's performance from minimum to maximum and back, there is also a weekly cycle, at the end of which performance decreases and more intense rest is required than on other days of the week. It is quite possible that this weekly cycle is associated with the movement of the moon across the sky, because the lunar month is 4 weeks. Physiologists also argue that there is a monthly cycle, and not only women, but also men are subject to this cycle. In general, room for research.

The first code in which the seventh day of the week was defined as a day of rest is the Bible. The observance of the Sabbath day is the fourth of the ten commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. At the same time, due to the importance of this commandment, it is repeated in the Bible three times in three different places.

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; work for six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: do not do any work on it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger, who is in your dwellings; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

(Exodus 20:8-11)

“Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you; six days you shall work and do all your works, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work in it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is with you, so that your servant may rest. yours, and your servant, as well as you; And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and a high arm, therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

(Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

“Six days you can do things, and on the seventh day the Sabbath of rest, the sacred meeting; do nothing; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”

(Leviticus 23:3)

The ban on work on the seventh day of the week was absolute. It was impossible to do anything that, one way or another, is connected with the creation of something new, it was impossible to light a fire. The transfer of items was allowed only within a limited area. Reading, singing without instruments, or talking on the Sabbath day were allowed, but writing was considered work. Indeed, in the process of writing, a new text appears.

The ban on work applied not only to free members of the community, but also to slaves, and even animals.

IN Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome There was no custom of not working once a week. And they themselves strained, and exploited the slaves. True, everyone knew about the stupid custom of the Jews. They also knew that neither with a whip, nor with a whip, nor with the threat of death, could you force them to deviate from the covenant of their own God. Therefore, Jewish slaves were not valued in the slave markets. Moreover, as a rule, their compatriots redeemed them from slavery. It was another stupid Jewish custom.

However, in 72 AD, after the suppression of the uprising in Judea, 100,000 Jewish slaves appeared in Rome. They were sent to an important imperial construction site, a huge circus, which we now call the Colosseum (from Latin word"colosseus" - "huge, colossal"). It would seem that here she found a scythe on a stone. All Jewish slaves refused to work on the Sabbath! And this is at a construction site of national importance! Which is controlled by Emperor Vespasian himself! And after all, you can’t execute everyone, you can’t replace them with others! Where to find another 100,000 slaves!?

I had to listen to the opinion of the Jewish priests. It seemed reasonable - if all weekly work is done in 6 days, then on the seventh day let the slaves pray to their wonderful invisible God. It turned out that after a day of rest, work was more productive. In fact, a weekly lesson could be completed in 6 days. So the day off entered Roman life.

Pretty soon, another Eastern teaching came to Rome, and also from Judea, which had already been safely renamed Palestine, so that there would be no memory of the Jewish uprising. Christians from the point of view of the Romans differed little from the Jews. Unless they prayed to some kind of God. About this God they told something utterly utter. Like, he was both God and a man at the same time, and was crucified like a robber on the cross, although he was not a robber, but a doctor, sage and miracle worker. And that a day after the execution, he was resurrected and ascended to heaven. But he will return and become the king of the world.

The Romans were positive people, not believing in fairy tales and not telling fairy tales. To do this, they had smart Greeks who were entrusted with the upbringing of children and therefore were called in Greek, "teachers."

Many Christians, as well as Jews, kept the Sabbath. Some of them also strictly observed the day of rest, but for some reason they moved it to the next day. None of them gave a sensible explanation of why they did it. Oh, Jupiter, this East is so strange! Every year, a new god is born there!

Years passed. Christians were first persecuted and destroyed. Then they were allowed to practice their strange religion. Then many Romans appreciated the sad story of the Christian god, which the Christians called the "good news", which in Greek sounded like "gospel", and which they told this way and that way.

After 250 years, the entire Roman Empire, which was then ruled by Emperor Constantine I, became a Christian empire. The cults of pagan gods, which had flourished earlier, were abolished. A March 7, 321 by order of the same Constantine I, Sunday was officially declared a day off for the first time.

When, 300 years later, another monotheistic doctrine, Islam, arose in Arabia, it inherited from Judaism the custom of not working on the seventh day of the week, but dedicating this day to God. But Friday, the day preceding the Jewish Sabbath, was chosen as the day off. Why? Because it was on Fridays in Mecca that there was a market day. A lot of people came there. Therefore, it was on this day, with a large crowd of people, that the Prophet Muhammad preached his teachings.

Russia, although it positioned itself as an Orthodox country, but Sunday was not recognized as a day off here very soon. Only from the 17th century began to introduce official bans on working on Sundays. It was forbidden on Sundays to force serfs to work in corvee. However, sometimes work for the master took so many days a week that the peasant had to work on his field on Sunday - otherwise it was impossible to survive. A similar case - already ugly at that time - was described by A.N. Radishchev in his “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”. Sunday was finally declared a public holiday quite late - on July 14, 1897.

In the 1930s, the USSR did not reach the abolition of days off. However, the so-called "continuity" was introduced. The continuous working week consisted of five days. The sixth was a day off. All working days were divided into five groups. Each group was marked with its own color: yellow, pink, red, purple, green. Each group had their day off. Non-working days it got bigger, but it was inconvenient. A husband and wife (or worse, a guy and a girl) could work on different five-day days. And when do you meet?

True, the industry "spun" continuously. True, it did not bring happiness. And even elementary prosperity did not increase.

In general, on June 26, 1940, the previous week was returned to the workers. The workers breathed a sigh of relief. Those who survived the transition to winter time and back will understand this relief.

vvm1955 to the Heritage of the USSR - two days off

On October 29 (November 11), 1917, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) in Russia established an 8-hour working day (instead of 9-10 hours, as it was before) and introduced a 48-hour working week with six workers and one day off afternoon. Works that were particularly harmful to health were subject to reduced working hours. On December 9, 1918, the Labor Code of the RSFSR was adopted, which consolidated these provisions.
From January 2, 1929 to October 1, 1933, in accordance with the decision of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, a gradual transition to a 7-hour working day was carried out. The working week was 42 hours.
On August 26, 1929, by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the transition to continuous production in enterprises and institutions of the USSR", a new personnel calendar was introduced, in which the week consisted of five days: four working days of 7 hours, the fifth was a day off.
In November 1931, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution in which it allowed the people's commissariats and other institutions to switch to a six-day calendar week, in which the 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th and 30th of each month, as well as March 1, were non-working.
On June 27, 1940, the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR came into force on the transition to an 8-hour working day with a "normal" working week according to the Gregorian calendar (6 working days, Sunday is a day off). The working week was 48 hours.
On June 26, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree "On the working hours of workers and employees in wartime", according to which mandatory overtime work from 1 to 3 hours a day was introduced and holidays were canceled. These wartime measures were abolished by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 30, 1945.
At the end of the post-war recovery period in 1956-1960. the working day in the USSR was gradually (by sectors of the national economy) again reduced to 7 hours with a six-day working week (Sunday is a day off), and the working week was reduced to 42 hours.
At the XXIII Congress of the CPSU (March 29 - April 8, 1966) it was decided to switch to a five-day working week with two days off (Saturday and Sunday). In March 1967, a series of decrees and resolutions of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the Central Committee of the CPSU introduced a standard "five-day work" with an 8-hour working day in the USSR. In general education schools, higher and secondary specialized educational institutions, a six-day working week with a 7-hour working day has been preserved. Thus, the working week did not exceed 42 hours.
On December 9, 1971, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR adopted a new Code of Labor Laws (Labor Code), according to which the length of working time could not exceed 41 hours. The Constitution of the USSR adopted on October 7, 1977 (Article 41) legitimized this norm.
In Russia, the law of April 19, 1991 "On increasing social guarantees for workers" reduced working hours to 40 hours a week. On September 25, 1992, this norm was enshrined in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In this form, the working week exists in Russia to this day.