The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-20
FOR EIGHT-HOUR DAY
RUSSIAN RADICALS MAKE FIGHT
 IN COUNCIL.
Conservative Leaders Are Again yicto- rfous in Resisting Effort to Att tempt Betterment of Condf-
 tlOns by Revolution.

St. Petersburg. Nov. 2o.-(s:1o a. m.) The conservative leaders in the council of workmen are again victo- rious. At 2:55 o'clock this morning they carried resolution against any attempt to introduce a movement for an eight-hour day.
 St. Petersburg, No. 2o.-t1:35 a. m.)- After the severe reverse which they suffered early yesterday morning when, at the end of a seven-hours debate the council of workmen decided to aban- don the industrial strike. the leaders of the extremist socialist factions of the St. Petersburg workmen are engaged again in a hard and apparently hOpe- less fight in defense of resolution for an eight-hour day, which was the slogan of last weeks strike, but which
 was abandoned at the last moment in
 favor of an appeal for the lives of the mutineers at Cronstadt and the liberty of Poland.
 When the council convened last night socialist representative introduced an amendment to the resolution calling off the strike, providing that the men in returning to work should hereafter Ia-
 bor only eight hours. laying down l their tools at o'clock in the after
 
 sisting on the same rate of pay. Encouraged by their earlier victory,
 the conservative leaders at once opened a vigorous opposition to the Resolution, pointing out the determination of the employers to regard any attempt to obtain shorter hours by revolutionary
 means as the signal for a lockout of
 the great mass of the workmen of St. Petersburg and that they were in no TnGiftnn tn nn Q a
 bat of endurance at the very outset of a long, cold winter.
 A number of orators even questione ed the wisdom of an eight-hour day itself, declaring that Russia at present was
 not ripe for 1t, while others who are
 in sympathy with the movement for a shorter day, declared that it would not be wise to fritter away their strength at this time, when a great and decisive
 combat in January was imminent. At o'clock this morning the debate was on in full swing, with no signs of abatement, the decision seeming largely to hinge on the question as to whether the owners would stand to their guns and shut down rather than reduce the
 number of hours.
 Apprehensions that the defeat of the reds" in the council might inspire them to take violent measures yester- day against the troops or the mer- chants, who refused to close their places of business Saturday. when or dered by the leaders, were happily
 without foundation. though rumors of collisions between workmen and troops in the Vasili Ostrov and Putiloff dis tricts were in circulation. At police headquarters, however, it
 was said that there had been no disor- ders and at the strike headquarters the Associated Press was informed that there were no casualties, though a few shots may have been fired in the air by exuberant demonstrations. Neverthe- less the patriots in the streets were doubled. These were generally com
 manded by n-commissioned officers, showing that in spite of rumors of dis ffestion among the troops the Govern
 ment was not afraid to trust the sol-
 diers of the Government at large with out command officers.
 The high-sounding proclamation,
 with which the council of workmen
 announced the end of the strike declar-
 ing the demonstration had served it's
 purpose by saving the lives of the mu-
 tineers at Cronstadt. while. of course,
 1t is practically a blind to cover de-
 feats after the trials of the mutineers
 are still in progress, Is at the same
 time shrewd tactics for propaganda which the council Is actively pushing among the army and navy.
 The refusal of the affiliated organi- nations in the interior to respond to the call and the revolt of many of the better class of workmen here against the dictation of political agitators and walking delegates by no means repre- sents the full measure of real defeat of the strike movement.
 The strike, by alienating public sym pathy and opening the eyes of intelli- gent liberals and moderates to the fact that the first duty of the house was to stand by the government in its ef- forts 10 tranquilize the country and to make head against the tide of social ism and revolution which was threat ening Russia with anarchy aided greatly in the formation of the new law and order" party which has now sprung into formidable being.
 Interest has now shifted to Moscow, where the zemstvo congress opened yesterday The members of the new party from all parts of the country have gone there to make a fight in the congress for a union of all the con- servative and liberal elements to hold up the hands of Count Witte to con- demn the political strike and seek fur ther political salvation through the doors opened by the manifesto, though 1t is neither expected nor desired that the constitutional democrats will ab- Jure their program while joining in the movement to aid in the restoration of tranquility.
 It Is expected that sharp combat will develop with the large faction of the Zemstvoists who are arrayed with the Socialists to continue the fight against the Government to the bitter end. The result of the congress Is awaited with the deepest interest.
 The failure of the strike has shown the country as a whole how little sym pathy there Is with Poland in her de- mand for complete autonomy. At Moscow the railroad men refused to strike on the ground that they did not sympathize with the people in their | trouble. It seems that in that part of | Russia the people remember orly too | well the war with the Poles and can not forget that the white eagle of Po- | land once waved from the pinnacles | of the Kremlin, so sacred to Moscow | The possibility of the revival of the an cient Kingdom of Poland is therefore | viewed with displeasure while the pan i Slavic band, even the Liberals, are | afraid of the specter of a possible dis | of the Empire.