Labor-Union Problems in Russia
In special correspondence published in the San Jose Mercury Herald, a European author, after calling attention to the hundred and thirty thousand men in St. Petersburg alone who went on strike on May-day, tells of the excessive quantity of liquor in which they had indulged. He says: “Such wide-spread drunkenness has never before been observed among the working men. Apparently the constant strikes are exercising a demoralizing influence.” Character of the Labor Movement
He states that in the discussions in the Duma, regarding the labor movement, “a striking speech was delivered by M. Purishkevitch,” in which “he produced documents disclosing the character of the labor movement.” Among the things he presented “was a letter from one of the labor leaders, outlining a plan for capturing naval shipyards and war-ships.” Another document was in the form of “an appeal from the Polish socialists in Galicia to their countrymen within the Russian borders, issued in February, 1913, calling upon them to organize and direct all their energies against the Russian empire. The emancipation of the kingdom of Poland from the Russian yoke was to be their task in the event of war between Russia and her two neighbors. The Jews were promised that under the new dispensation they would enjoy the fullest freedom and equality.” Keep Them Down with Iron Hand
In replying to this speech, the leader of the monarchist organizations said “that all labor organizations should be kept down by an iron hand, and that the monarchist organizations and their organs in the press should be supported out of the state treasury.” The correspondent says that labor organizations in Russia are unable to exist openly, and that they have in consequence been thrown “under the sway of a secret committee, whose will is law.” “No man dares to dispute their orders. Short shrift is given to the recalcitrant ones, and vengeance pursues them, even if they choose to return to their villages. Attempts to disobey the committee are not numerous. Taken between the upper millstone of the secret committee, the Russian working man has very little choice except to obey the latter.” Wide-Spread Influence of the Committee
The perfect control and the wide-spread influence of this secret committee were recently illustrated by an intimation made to the authorities that a certain casting pertaining to a battle-ship could not be produced. It was taken from one shop to another; and soon as it appeared, the men, without warning, went on strike. This secret committee is where the police can not get hold of it nor find out the persons that compose it. But its powerful hand is seen through the work it is performing. Greed at the Bottom of It
Many people are disposed to blame the laboring man for such conditions; but the facts are that greed, not only in Russia, but in all the countries of the world, has continued to oppress labor until the laboring man is beginning to cry out. In saying this, it is not our purpose to endorse the many wrong things that are done by the great leaders in labor movements. But the oppression of the laborer is there, just the same, as is shown not only in Russia, but in our own beloved America, where ten million people are shown, by reliable statistics, to be living below the “bread line”—in other words, to be suffering want. The reason we know for a certainty that the poor are oppressed and repressed in this time is because one of the prophecies of the divine Word, applying to these conditions, says, “Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.” James 5:4. This whole world, through the oppressions that have been accumulating for nearly a generation, is facing conditions that may well make the stoutest hearts tremble. But there is a rift of light in the dark cloud; for in this same fifth chapter of James we read the divine statement, “Behold, the Judge standeth before the door.” Eternal justice will soon be meted out by the great hand of the Omnipotent; and when that time comes, those who will stand under the protection of the Almighty will be those who are not a party to any of this strife, but who have clearly seen, through the prophecies, what it all portends.