The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-05-02
By v. 1. LEN1N

NO1Iu dNSS, Vtb US CODSlQer OuI
situation carefully; let us contem-
plate the conditions under which
we lead our lives. What do we
see? We work hard, we produce
countless riches, gold and tissues,
brocade and velvet; we haul iron
and coal from the depths Of the
earth; we construct machinery. All
the riches of the world are created
by our hands, are produced by our
sweat and our blood. What COM
pensation do we get for our forced
labor? If we had our desserts, we
ought to live in good houses, wear
good clothes and, at any rate, not
want for our daily bread. Never
theleSs, we all know that our wages
hardly suffice to provide us with a
bare existence. Our masters re-
duce the rate of wages and force
US TO work overtime, they impose
unfair fines on US, briefly, they OPP
press us in every possible way and
II we are dissatisfied, they turn us
out without more ado.
We have often convinced our
selves that all TO whom we apply
for protection prove to be henchmen
and friends of the masters. We
workers are kept in the dark; we
are given no education lest we
should want to fight for the i'm
provement Of our condition. We
are kept in bonds, we are driven
out OF work, we are forbidden to
fight; anyone who resists the op-
preston is deported and arrested.
Darkness and bondage are the
means by which the capitalists and
the government, which does every
Hling for their advantage, hold us
aaptive.
What means have we for i'm
proving our position, for raising our
wages, for reducing our hours of
work, for enabling us to read in
structive books and for protecting
ourselves from insult? Everyone's
sand is against US; that of the
masters, who live all the better the
worse off we are, and that of their
Ackeys, of all those who live on
the crumbs which fall from the
capitalists table, and who keep us
in ignorance and bondage for their
advantage. We cannot look for help
from any quarter, we can only de-
pend on helping ourselves. Unity
Is our strength; our weapon is firm,
unanimous and unrelenting re-
sistance to the masters. They
themselves have known for long
time in what our force consists,
and use all efforts to keep us dis
united and to prevent las from real
izing that the interests OF us work.
ers are common interests. They re-
duce the rates Of wages, not all at
once but one step at a time; they
introduce foremen and payment by
piece work, even reducing the rates
OF wages arbitrarily, laughing in
their sleeve when they see that we
wear ourselves out at our work.
Every dog, however, has his day,
patience wears out In the end. Dur
ing the past year, the Russian
workers have shown their masters
that the submission Of the slaves
has been replaced by the Steadfast
courage OF those who do not yield
to the insolence and shamelessness
OF the capitalists who banker after
unpaid work Strikes have broken
out in q number Of towns; in Jaro-
slay, Tejkoy, IvRnovo- vossnessj ensk,
Bielostok, wilma, Mnsk, Kiev,
Moscow and other towns. The
majority Of tkae strikes ended with
the victory Of the workers but even
in those which fsaled, shs failure
WAS only apparent. As o matter
Of fact, t1As sexf1es Thoroughly
frishten ths msstsa1. cause them
great luasss and eosmpea them 10
make concessions 1cx 1sa9 Ct fpeGh
strikes.
Even he 1Aetory inapectow ~
beginning 10 ~ huuH md - ~
rrvap haosv,n - ~ auun~ - - 49,