Maxim Gorky, in his tale Twenty-Six Men and A Girl,  gives a vivid description of the appalling conditions under which the bakers lived and vorked in pre-revolutionary Russia. Here is a passage: 

Day after day, in the flour-laden atmosphere, amidst the filth brought in from the courtyard by our boots, in the stifling, redolent heat, we kneaded the dough and turned it into pretzels, moistening them with our sweat. We hated our work with a passionate hatred. We never ate what we produced with our own hands, preferring black bread to pretzels.   

Mechanical dough mixer at Bakery No. 11, Moscow. 

But look at these pictures. This is a kneading trough in a Soviet mechanical bakery. Hands of steel mix the stiff dough and never know what fatigue is. Bread is made in these bright, sunlit halls without ever once being touched by human hands. In the laboratory precise instruments are used to test and analyse the flour, water and yeast, guaranteeing a product of high-grade quality. 

Gorky s twenty-six bakers never even dreamed of the life their sons are leading, now that they have cast off the yoke of exploitation. The workers in the Soviet bakeries have a seven-hour day. They take a shower before starting work and are regularly manicured. Their working overalls are as white and clean as a surgeon s. 

Automatic round oven, Bakery No. 11, Moscow.