Textile Industry

TEXTILE INDUSTRY encompasses all branches of production in which fibrous substances are processed. The most important types of fibers used in processing are obtained from plants (cotton, flax, hemp, jute, ramie, kenaf) and from animals (wool, silk); fibers of mineral origin (asbestos) have some significance; finally, one should point to artificial fiber, which is finding ever-wider distribution and is obtained from cellulose (artificial silk). In the USSR, according to data for 1932, the number of workers in the textile industry was 722,600; by the main branches, this number was distributed as follows: in the cotton industry—459,000, in the wool industry—87,500, in the linen industry—79,700, etc. Characteristic for the entire textile industry (especially for spinning and weaving) is the predominance of women—they constitute 55–60% of the total number of workers. This is explained by the complete mechanization of the processes of spinning and weaving and, consequently, the absence here of work associated with significant physical exertion. The latter circumstance also has an influence on occupational selection. The main stages of processing fibrous substances are: 1) extraction and production of fibers, 2) spinning, 3) weaving, 4) finishing (bleaching), 5) dyeing, 6) printing (engraving is associated with this), 7) dressing. The first three stages represent mechanical operations—they are included in the content of "mechanical technology of fibrous substances." Stages 4–7 constitute the field of "chemical technology of fibrous and dyeing substances" in their interaction. In Western European countries and in the USA, very little attention is still paid to the study of occupational hazards of the textile industry, which are very diverse and numerous (especially in the processing of cotton). In Russia, the classic work of Erisman, Dementyev, and Pogozhev, who published the results of a study of textile factories in Moscow Governorate in the 1880s, is widely known and has not yet lost its value; subsequently, their work was supplemented by studies of a number of sanitary physicians (Peskova, Zhbankova, Bogoslovsky, Uvarov, Svyatlovsky, and many others). At the present time, these works have only historical interest in view of the enormous revolution in the textile industry that has occurred since then. Systematic work, built on a deeper scientific basis, on the study of occupational hazards of the textile industry and the development of health-improving measures was begun in the USSR only after the October Revolution; in the years 1925–1930, the Central Institute of Labor Protection did much work in this area; at the present time, this work is being continued by the Ivanovo Institute of Organization and Labor Protection. In the second five-year plan, in connection with the expansion of the textile industry and the increase in its production by 2.5–3 times, a large number of new enterprises are being built, where working conditions—in comparison with those at old enterprises—will be radically improved. Of the many types of textile industry, the most important in the USSR are: cotton (concentrated in the Moscow and Ivanovo industrial regions), wool (Moscow, Volga region, partly Ukraine), linen (Ivanovo region), silk (Transcaucasia, Central Asia), hemp, and knitwear. In recent years, the production of artificial silk has been finding ever-wider development. Regarding working conditions in various branches of the textile industry and measures to combat occupational hazards, see Spinning Industry, Weavers, Dyeing, Bleaching, Linen Industry, Hemp Industry, Wool Industry, Silk Industry, etc. Literature—see literature for the articles Bleaching, Dyeing, Linen Industry, Hemp Industry, Spinning Industry, Weavers, Silk Industry, Wool Industry.