The work of the War Industries
Committee which controlled organizations engaged in the manufacture of
war-supplies which employed hundreds of thousands of workers was hampered
in every way. It is the testimony of the best-known and most-trusted
working-class leaders in Russia that the vast majority of the workers,
while anxious for a general democratic peace, were opposed to a separate
peace with Germany and favored the continuation of the war against
Prussianism and the co-operation of all classes to that end. The pacifists
and "defeatist" Socialists represented a minority. To the minority every
possible assistance was given, while the leaders of the working class who
were loyal to the war, and who sought to sustain the morale of the workers
in support of the war, were opposed and thwarted in their efforts and, in
many cases, cast into prison. The Black Hundreds were still at work.
Socialist leaders of the working class issued numerous appeals to the
workers, warning them that Protopopov's secret police agitators were trying
to bring about strikes, and begging them not to lend themselves to such
treacherous designs, which could only aid Germany at the expense of
democracy in Russia and elsewhere.
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185