The sun., 1905-12-20
WITH THE RUSSIAN STRIKERS
GLANCE AT THE MILL DISTRICT
WHERE DISORDER STARTS.
sixty Thousand Men There Out OF Work
Many OF the Mills Hacked by English
men-In These the Men Have Won
Concessions By the Recent strikes

tne way tne TOdu luHs tlOSe DtSiho 'ho
great stream OF the Neva, still pouring
down in flood though full Of floating Ice
1t is the Schldsselburg road, leading from
st. Petersburg along the whole course OF
the river up to that i'll omened fortress in
the Ladoga Lake where 80 many OF the
noblest champions OF freedom have won
the death or imprisonment which are nus
sia's rewards for greatness. For six or
seven miles the road passes through
series of villages now united into one long
and squalid street, inseparable from the
city, though only few hundred yards
behind the mills and workmen's dwellings
lie fat fields and woods and open country.
This is the largest manufacturing district
Of the capital 1t was here that the work
mems party was organized and the 'Unlon
of Unions" or strike committee first formed
and it IL here that the most serious dis
t,irbances are likely to arise until Russia
gains some kind Of freedom and peace.
The mills stand on both sides OF the river,
but as a rule the work people live on the
south or left bank, where the road runs
for there is no passable road on the other
side. In winter they walk across the ioe
TO their work, in summer they pay farthing
toll to farryboats, and between whiles
tnDTp COUlt u IeN udNS WICh tupy Suiiiot
20 to work at all. Those days ought to
have come by now, but the frost Is late this
year.
Everything is strange this year For
months together no work at all has been
done and though some Of the mills have
Just reopened the road is crowded with
SHABBY men and women who gather at the
corners or tramp up ar down in the filth
.Ip c.ite in, dirty aa
rooms or quiet their hunger with drink.
1t is said that 90 900 are out Of work.
Backward and forward among them
stroll little sections of six or seven soldiers
In their warm brown coats, their bayonets
fixed, their rifles ready and groups Of four
or five Cossacks go trotting to and fro with
carbine and sword, while close under the
right hand on the saddle hangs the terrible
nagaiFa, or Cossack whip. 1t is made
of solid or twisted hide, like a short and
thckened sjambok, and often it is loaded
with lead. When the Cossaok rises in his
strrups and strikes he can break a skull
right open and any blow would cripple a
woman or child for life.
Manifesto or not. both Cossacks and SOL
ders are still used to crush out freedom
Of speech and action. Last week there
was meeting Of workmen to discuss the
strikes and there was some talk Of again
stopping the steam trans which run along
the road. But the Cossacks had received
orders not to allow the trans to be stopped.
A large force of them trotted down to the
meeting. Ii is said that pistol shot was
heard behind fence. Instantly the Cos
sacks dashed in among the confused and
helpless crowd with swords and nagaikas.
The number of killed and wounded is vari-
o,lsly given. 1t Is always variously given
In massacres.
But rather in defiance than in terror the
workmen themselves are arming and have
organized a kind of volunteer service which
will, at all events, continue to attract the
Governments attention. Almost every
night there are encounters between them
and the soldiers. and firing il quite common
in the street. The factories, whether at
wo x or not, are all guarded by sentries, in
side and out. The Government iron works,
which were closed down yesterday. were
at ono filed with strong body Of troops,
and the hands, who are said to number 5000.
remain outside to increase the ragged and
Indignant crowd upon the street.
These iron workers were naturally the
best paid of all the workmen in the district.
It is rather fine old factory, built, | believe,
originally for guns, but long used for loco
motives on the Moscow railway. | do not
know what high personages draw their
income from it, but like everything of the
kind in Russia it has been shamelessly mis-
managed, and for some time past it has
heen cheaper to buy new locomotives from
abroad than even to repair them here.
BEING charitable with the taxpayers money
it readily made concessions, till yesterday
7 suppose the thing became too ludicrous
and the gates we're shut. II ia thought
however that by the logic OF a rake's prog
ress the management will open again
soon, because the hands have always had
I per cent Ia kopeok in ruble) stopped
out Of their wages for pension fund. This
fund is now estimated at something like
e2,Ooo, 900, and the Government may prefer
to go on losing several thousands year
rather than pay away a solid e. 900, 900
now that nothing more can be fogged out
of the peasants and even France looks twice
at sou before lending 1t to Russia
Some will say, "Ah, but there remains
that immense treasury of golden ingots in
the palace vaults so impressive to many
iournahsts!' Yes, ! suppose those golden
ingots remain as solid as they ever were
But the other mills which do not rest
upon State credit tthat is to say, on the
fogging Of peasants, and are struggling
not to keep shut, but to keep open, occupy
quite different position. There are cot
ton mills wool mills, paper mills. Many
of them are run on English capital and man
aged by English overseers. In most, all
the machinery is also English, and but for
the greater spaciousness, owing to the cheap
ness Of land one might think oneself in a
Lancashire or Yorkshire mill.
1t is in mills like these that those labor
questions have arisen which are really at
the bottom Of the strikes, and therefore
have done most to shake the central tyranny
of Russia. / do not mean that political
questions have had nothing to do with 1t.
The strikers have shown what part they
take in condemnation Of the war scandals,
in all the extreme progressive demands,
In Polish home rule and In amnesty for
all political offences, even in the army. But
in the end revolution, like war, goes upon
its belly, and it would always be difficult
TO get working men to move II they were
fairly content with their daily life, and still
more difficult to get working women to
vnnua