Editing Workers' Opposition (section)

====Positions of the parties====
Questions about trade unions became key at meetings of the [[All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions]] on March 8, 10 and 15, 1920. According to Kiselyov, by that time in the leading circles of trade union leaders, three political groups could be identified. The first could be attributed to [[David Riazanov]] and [[Mikhail Tomsky]], who believed that trade unions should withdraw from economic affairs and deal primarily with the organization of labor. The second group included those workers who advocated the “merging” of trade unions with the state apparatus. And the third group consisted of Shlyapnikov's supporters, who believed that trade unions should become the sole responsible organizations in the field of the national economy of the RSFSR. Thus, already in the spring of 1920, a heated discussion about trade unions began in Soviet Russia: it became open only in late 1920 - early 1921. At that time, a five-member “trade union commission” was created for the central committees, the tasks of which included both studying and verifying the practical experience of the trade unions, and developing abstracts that would express the Central Committee's point of view on this issue. However, [[Alexander Shlyapnikov]], [[Yury Lutovinov]] and [[Leon Trotsky]], initially included in this commission, refused to participate in it - which only aggravated the differences. Under these conditions, on December 24, the Plenum of the Central Committee decided to open a broad discussion on the question of trade unions.<ref name="Sandu"/>

On December 30, 1920, leaders of intra-party groups spoke at an expanded meeting of the communist faction of the [[All-Russian Congress of Soviets#Eighth Congress|8th All-Russian Congress of Soviets]] and [[All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions]], where they outlined their political platforms. The controversy unfolding at the meeting was accompanied by mutual accusations and almost immediately "acquired a bad character." From the beginning of January of the following year, party organizations joined in the discussion of issues: in particular, on January 3, at a meeting of the party's active in Petrograd, an “Appeal to the Party” was adopted, expressing full support for the Lenin-Zinoviev group, and Trotsky was accused of trying to split the party and professional movement, "in the desire to eliminate unions". At the same time, the resolution proposed to send representatives to the [[10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]] in proportion to the number of votes cast in support of each group. In addition, a desire was expressed to send agitators to the province who were obliged to provide propaganda and organizational assistance to local supporters of the Leninist group.<ref name="Sandu"/>