V. I.

Lenin

Factory Owners on Workers’ Strikes

I

P. P. Ryabushinsky’s press in Moscow has published an interesting book
entitled The Association of Factory Owners in the Moscow Industrial Area in 1912 (Moscow, 1913). The price is not given. The factory
owners do not wish their publications to be put on sale.

Yuli Petrovich Guzhon, the president of the association, when opening
this year’s annual meeting on March 30, congratulated the industrialists
“on the beginning of the seventh operative year” of their organisation
and declared that the industrialists had “by their unity created for
themselves a conception of the might of the industrial corporation that
could not be ignored”. “The present main task of new members of the
association must be the strengthening of the prestige of that might,” said
Mr. Guzhon.

As you see, the speech was not what one might call literate, it was
reminiscent of the speech of some army clerk; nevertheless it was full of
arrogance.

Let us look at the sections of the book dealing with facts. More than
one-third of it (pp. 19–69) is taken up by the section devoted to
strikes . The industrialists give us the following picture of the
total number of workers taking part in strikes in 1912.

| Category of strike | Number of striking workers |
| --- | --- |
| 1912 | 1911 |
| Economic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 207,720 | 96,730 |
| Metal goods industry . . . . . . . . . . . | 64,200 | 17,920 |
| Textiles ” ” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 90,930 | 51,670 |
| Other branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 52,590 | 27,140 |
| Political . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 855,000 | 8,380 |
| Over Lena events . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 215,000 | |
| May Day celebrations . . . . . . . . . . . | 300,000 | |
| Autumn political strikes . . . . . . . . . | 340,000 | |
| Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1,062,720 | 105,110 |

It is easy to see that the industrialists’ figures are an understatement . But for the time being we shall not deal with that
(the Lena strike of 6,000 workers has been omitted because the Lena
Goldfields do not come under the Factory Inspectorate), but we shall
examine the factory owners’ statistics.

The number of workers who took part in strikes in 1912 was more than a half of the total number of industrial workers in Russia, to be
exact, 51.7 per cent. Economic strikes, furthermore, accounted for only
one-tenth of the workers (10.1 per cent) and political strikes for
more than four-tenths (41.6 per cent).

“ Typical of the past year,” write the factory owners, “was the
extraordinary growth in the number of political strikes that time and again
interrupted the normal course of work and kept the entire industry in a
state of tension.” This is followed by a list of the most important
strikes in the second half of the year—August, in Riga, against the
disenfranchisement of workers; September, in Warsaw, over the events at the
Kutomary Penal Colony; October, in St. Petersburg, over the annulment of
the elections of representatives, in Revel, in memory of the events of
1905, and in St. Petersburg, over the well-known verdict in the case of
naval ratings; November, in St. Petersburg, over the Sevastopol verdict and
on the day of the opening of the Duma, and then a strike On the occasion of
the second anniversary of Leo Tolstoy’s death; December, in St. Petersburg,
over the appointment of workers in insurance institutions. From this the
factory owners draw the conclusion:

‘ The frequency of the demonstration strikes, which occur
one after another, and the unusual variety and difference in the importance
of the motives for which the workers considered it necessary to interrupt
work, are evidence, not only of a considerable thickening of the political
atmosphere, but also of the decline of factory discipline.” Then follow
the usual threats of “severe measures”—fines, stopping of bonuses,
lock-outs. “The interests of the country’s production,” declare the
factory owners, “urgently demand the raising of factory discipline to the
high level at which it stands in the West-European countries.”

The factory owners wish to raise “discipline” to the “Western”
level but do not think of raising the “political atmosphere” to the same
level....

We shall leave for subsequent articles the data concerning strike
distribution over various areas, and in various branches of industry and
according to the degree of success achieved.

II

The 1912 data of the Moscow Factory Owners Association on the incidence
of strikes in various areas and branches of industry are very badly
compiled. It would do no harm if our millionaires were to hire, say, some
high-school boy to help them compile their books and check the
tables. Mistakes and absurdities leap to the eye when we compare, for
example, the data given on pages 23, 26 and 48. Oh yes, we love talking
about culture and “the prestige of the might” of the merchants, but we
can’t do even the simplest job half-way decently.

Below we give the factory owners’ strike statistics—for economic strikes only—by areas for 1912 as a whole and for the last seven
months of that year:

| Areas | For all 1912 | For the last 7 months of 1912 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Number of strikers | Number of days lost (000) | Number of strikers | Number of days lost (000) |
| Moscow . . . . . . . . . | 60,070 | 799.2 | 48,140 | 730.6 |
| St. Petersburg . . . . . | 56,890 | 704.8 | 35,390 | 545.7 |
| Baltic . . . . . . . . . | 18,950 | 193.5 | 13,210 | 153.6 |
| South . . . . . . . . . . | 23,350 | 430.3 | 22,195 | 427.0 |
| Kingdom of Poland . . | 21,120 | 295.7 | 12,690 | 249.9 |
| Totals . . . . | 180,380 | 2,423.5 | 131,625 | 2,107.4 |

A glance at the figures for the South is enough to show how useless,
i.e., extremely incomplete, the factory owners’ statistics are. The figures
for the last seven months of 1912 seem to be more reliable, because here,
and only here, the distribution of strikers is given in detail according to
areas, major industries and the results achieved.

The area data show us that the St. Petersburg workers are in advance of
all the workers of Russia in the economic struggle as well (to say nothing
of the political struggle). The number of strikers in the St. Petersburg
area (35,000 for the last seven months of 1912) is about three-quarters of
the number of strikers in the Moscow area (48,000) although the number of
factory workers there is about four times that of the number in
the St. Petersburg area. In the Kingdom of Poland there are slightly more
workers than in the St. Petersburg area but the number of strikers there
was little more than a third of the St. Petersburg figure.

As far as Moscow is concerned, there is, of course, the need to
consider the worsening marketing conditions in the textile industry,
although in Poland two-thirds of those participating in economic strikes
were textile workers and we shall see later that these textile strikes in
Poland were particularly successful.

In 1912, therefore, the St. Petersburg workers to a certain extent drew
the workers of other parts of Russia into the economic strike movement.

In respect of determination , on the other hand, the strikes in
the South and in Poland take first place; in these areas nineteen days per
striker were lost, whereas in St. Petersburg and Moscow the figure was
fifteen days (in the Baltic area 12 days per striker). The average for all
Russia was sixteen days on strike per striker. The gentlemen who compile
the factory owners’ statistics give the figure for the whole of 1912 as
13.4 days. It follows from this that the persistence of the workers and
their determination in struggle were greater in the second half of the
year.

Statistics show, furthermore, the increased persistence of the
workers in the strike struggle. From 1895 to 1904 the average number of
days lost per striker was 4.8, in 1909 it was 6.5 days, in 1911 it was
7.5 days (8.2 days if political strikes are excluded) and in 1912,
13.4 days.

The year 1912, therefore, showed that there is a growing persistence among workers in the economic struggle and that the number
of strikers—compared with the number of workers—is greatest in
St. Petersburg.

In our next article we shall examine data on the degree of success
achieved by strikes.

III

The factory owners’ statistics give the following figures for strikers
(in economic strikes) for 1912 according to branches of industry:

| Branch of industry | For all 1912 | For the last 7 months of 1912 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Number of strikers | Number of days lost (000) | Number of strikers | Number of days lost (000) |
| Metalworkers . . . . . | 57,000 | 807.2 | 40,475 | 763.3 |
| Textile workers . . . . . | 85,550 | 1,025.8 | 66,590 | 930.6 |
| Others . . . . . . . . . | 37,830 | 590.5 | 24,560 | 413.5 |
| Totals | 180,380 | 2,423.5 | 131,625 | 2,107.4 |

Here the extreme insufficiency of the factory owners’ statistics and
the extreme carelessness with which they have been compiled are still more
apparent—the number of strikers for the first five months (which was
79,970) added to that for the last seven months gives a total of 211,595,
and not 180,000, and not 207,000!

The factory owners themselves prove that they underestimate
the number of strikers.

The metalworkers are in the lead both in the ratio of number of
strikers to the total number of workers and in the duration of the strikes;
18 days were lost per metalworker on strike, 14 days per textile worker and
16 days per worker in other industries. The better marketing conditions in
the iron and steel industry do not, as we see, relieve the workers of the
necessity of striking for a tiny wage increase!

As far as the results of the strikes are concerned, the factory owners’
statistics declare that 1912 was a less favourable year for the workers than 1911 had been. In 1911, they say, 49 per cent of
the strikers suffered a defeat and in 1912, 52 per cent were
defeated. These data, however, are not convincing, because the figures
compared are for the whole of 1911 and for seven months
of 1912.

The strikes of 1912 were offensive and not defensive in character. The
workers were fighting for improved working conditions and not
against worse conditions . This means that 52 per cent of the
workers did not gain any improvement, 36 per cent were fully or partially
successful and for 12 per cent the results are unclear. It is very
likely that the factory owners concealed their defeat in this 12 per cent
of all cases because every success of capital over labour arouses their
special attention and jubilation.

If we compare the outcome of strikes for the last seven months of 1912
by areas and by branches of industry, we get the following picture.

The least successful of all were the strikes in the Moscow area—75
per cent of the strikers failed (i.e., did not gain any improvement); then
follow the St. Petersburg area with 63 per cent, the South with 33
per cent, the Baltic area with 20 per cent and Poland with 11 per cent of
failures. In the last-named three areas, therefore, the workers
achieved tremendous victories. Out of the 48,000 strikers in these
three areas, 27,000 achieved improvements, they were victorious; 11,000 suffered defeats; the results achieved by 10,000
are uncertain.

In the first two areas (Moscow and St. Petersburg), on the contrary,
out of the 83,000 strikers only 20,000 were successful; 59,000
were defeated (i.e., did not achieve any improvement) and the results
achieved by 4,000 are uncertain.

Taken by branches of industry, the number of strikers who were defeated
was: textile workers, 66 per cent, metal-workers, 47 per cent, and others,
30 per cent.

Marketing conditions were worst of all for the textile workers. In the
Moscow area only 6,000 of the 38,000 strikers in the textile
industry were successful, 32,000 were defeated; in St. Petersburg there
were 4,000 successful and 9,000 defeated. Textile workers in Poland,
however, had 8,000 successful strikers and 400 defeated.

The financial results of the strikes (economic strikes) for the last
two years are shown as follows by the factory owners statistics:

| | Industrialists’ direct losses | Losses of wages | Losses in output for the country |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| (thousand rubles) |
| Iron and steel industry . . | 558 | 1,145 | 4,959 |
| Textile industry . . . . . | 479 | 807 | 6,010 |
| Other branches . . . . . . | 328 | 529 | 3,818 |
| Totals for 1912 | 1,365 | 2,481 | 14,787 |
| Totals for 1911 | 402 | 716 | 4,563 |

Thus the factory owners’ total losses for two years amount to
1,800,000, workers’ losses in wages to 3,000,000 rubles , and
losses in output to 19,000,000 rubles.

Here the factory owners place a period. How wise they are! What did the
workers gain ?

In two years 125,000 workers gained a victory. Their wages for
the year amount to 30,000,000 rubles. They demanded pay increases of 10
per cent, 25 per cent and even 40 per cent, as the factory owners
themselves admit. Ten per cent of 30,000,000 rubles is 3,000,000 rubles . And the reduction in the working day?

And what of the new (the factory owners expression) demands,
such as the demand “ not to discharge workers without the consent
of their fellow-workers”?

You are wrong, you gentlemen who own factories! Even in the economic
sense (to say nothing of political strikes) the workers’ gains are
terrifying . The bourgeoisie does not understand either workers’
solidarity or the conditions of proletarian struggle.

About 300,000 workers have sacrificed 3,000,000 rubles to the economic
struggle in two years. A direct gain was immediately achieved by
125,000 workers. And the whole working class made a step forward.