How did Soviet law distinguish workers in state enterprises from collective-farm workers?

Under Soviet law, workers in state enterprises and collective-farm workers (kolkhozniki) were treated as distinct categories with significantly different legal protections and rights.1

• Labor Protections: Employees at state enterprises were covered by the Labour Codes, which provided protections against arbitrary discipline or discharge. In contrast, peasants on collective farms were not protected by the labor code for most of the Soviet period.1
• Freedom of Movement: While state-enterprise employees generally had the right to change jobs, collective-farm workers were long denied the identity documents necessary to move to urban areas, effectively placing them in a legal position similar to serfdom.1
• Representation: State-enterprise workers were represented by party-controlled "pseudounions," whereas collective-farm workers were denied the right to such representation until 1965.1
• Social Benefits: While both groups received free medical care, collective-farm workers were excluded from state pension systems for most of the Soviet era, unlike their urban counterparts who received state-funded, albeit subsistence-level, pensions.1

These distinctions highlight a systemic inequality where the state prioritized urban industrial labor over the agricultural workforce.1