The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-16

speeches and more Of these than
Of the first kind. Workmen and
Red Army soldiers walked ex-
citedly into the middle Of the arena
and, hampered by the unaccustomed
attention of the crowd, they made
clumsy speeches, upbraided Ziman,
but agreed that they ought to hold
out stoicaily. To sit with folded
hands, there was no stoicism in
that, and they sought a way out,
feeling for it, like blind men. But
the meeting did not understand
their disconnected words, and one
orator disputed with the one who
had spoken before him, tho both
meant the same thing.
And Ziman in the end stopped
making notes Of criticisms for his
concluding speech: small, wretched,
he jerked his head with nervous
ness, listening to the reproachful,
seeking speeches, and was worried
precisely by those of the speakers
who saw somewhere a way out.
He did not see it, and muttered,
angrily, "Demagogy. Meeting
stuff. :" And the orators went
on spasmodically humping into
glass walls, and could not tell the
meeting of their clear plans, but
tall1d Of some detail or other, of
how, from somewhere, ut would be
possible to get axes" The meeting
grew excited, and people shouted
from their places, regardless Of the
Presidents bell. And then a man
above middle height, round-shoul-
dered, came out, and took an old
blue cap from his square head, dis
closing a high forehead with a
deep wrinkle in it.
81 call on Comrade Robeiko,"
said the President, and the meet
ing tried to be silent in order to
hear a speech that would not be
loud.
For Robeikc must not speak. He
has consumption Of the throat. He
had not meant to speak, but had
listened, and for a long time had
been thinking, "Ziman is helpless
and cannot see the way out which
many of the speakers see but can
not put into words" He thought
regretfully, Why had the Party
Committee brought this report to
big meeting? And all the time
he had waited for somebody to
name the way out, to put it into
words and save Robeiko from I'M
necessary suffering. For Ro-
beiko must not speak. Sounds tear
his throat into rough red bleeding
scraps. But he must say a little,
just a few words, and the question
will be clear, and all will have
bright faces, for all will know how
to name the road, the way out,
that many dimly see.
He began to speak in low voice,
fearing to awake the pain which
just then was slumbering deep in
his throat. But nothing could
be heard, people stretched out their
necks like martyrs, and Robeiko
made up his mind :. his voice, as
it were, made jump, and all heard
every word, and all had grateful
faces. But every word, like a
sharp splinter of glass, rose to his
larynx and tore into scraps its
delicate fibre and it hurt him so
that tears slipped from his eyes,
the sweat stood on his forehead,
and his voice changed and broke.
He said that Ziman had told the
meeting the truth and that they
ought not to reproach him for this.
For not Ziman had created this
truth; he had told them of the
danger, and for that they owed him
thanks. Only there was no need to
lose their heads; they needed only
to look about them and somewhere
a way out would be found. It was
necessary quietly and calmly to
look about them. Surely the party,
in its day, had found the way out
from worse holes than this. Their
strength and wisdom lay in quiet
investigation and determined ac-
ton.
There was a way out. Many saw
it but did not know how TO talk Of
it. 1t was clear enough that the
whole difficulty was fuel. If they
could get a little fuel they could
at once bring wood from Nizhni-
Elansk. "And II we have the wood
we can in week bring the seed
for the sowing. Everything depends
on fuel, on a few hundred cubic
sazhins Of wood. Where can we
get them?"
Obviously, there were many gar
dens in the town, and twelve versts
outside, at the monastery, there
were big woods. There was wood
for them and plenty Of IL. In a
week the fuel from Nizhni- Elansk
would be there and they could
begin TO bring the seed. But all
must be done quickly and decisive
ly; they must themselves take axes
and saws, stand at the head, COM
pei the slackers and the bourgeoi-
sic, bring in the Red Army and all
the workers. Only, they must hur-
ry; II In two weeks the seed should
be here. then in a month the fields
would be sown.