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Abstract. The article is devoted to the first measures taken by the Soviet government aimed at replacing capitalist relations in the industrial sector with new relations that were perceived by the initiators of transformations as socialist. Discussions on labor control, struggle between the principles of the socialist development from below – on the basis of industrial self-governance, and from above – based on centralized state regulation of the economy, are discussed in detail. The contradictions between supporters of the expansion of the factory committees and trade unions power are also considered. It is demonstrated that two poles, ideologically related to anarcho-syndicalism and menshevism, stood out among the debaters, mostly Communists. Lenin, who supported the initially syndicalist trend, was occupied with other issues, but hoped that the grassroots initiative would successfully unite with rational regulation of the economy. When it became clear that initiatives from below and from above within the «control» do not match well, Lenin, with his inherent determination and uniqueness, made a choice between the moderate etatism and a radical grass-roots initiative in favor of the third option – radical statism. Prior to this, the industrial self-governance was an important factor in socio-economic development, the efficiency of the management arranged by factory committees and other bodies of self-government was different, there were successful and unsuccessful examples – as it was in the capitalist management system.
Keywords: Socialism, self-management, regulation, worker's control, factory committees, the Supreme Council of national economy, syndicalism.