Then there suddenly
arose another sinister figure which threatened to upset all our
calculations--namely, a well-timed revolt of the railway workmen,
calculated to cripple our communications and make the movement of troops
and supplies impossible.
CHAPTER XVI
RUSSIAN LABOUR
General Dutoff, as I have previously recorded, had informed us that
Bolshevist agitators had passed through our lines on this treacherous
mission, and for months nothing had been heard of these emissaries of
mischief. Now that we were approaching the critical point of the 1919
operations rumblings of an unmistakable character were heard in all
directions. The necessary military measures had been taken, but in our
English eyes suppression was not enough. We have learnt in our country
that the workmen are the backbone of the State, and that when labour is
badly paid the heart of the State is diseased. Russia has no ideas about
labour at all. The autocracy never gave it a moment's consideration. The
last Tsar's idea of labour reform was to abolish good vodka, and he lost
his life. The officer class, that forms so large a proportion of Russian
life, never gave the subject five minutes' consideration. There is not a
single general labour law upon the statute book of Russia, and the
horror of it is that those who have hitherto pretended to lead the
Russian workman refuse to demand laws to protect their labour.
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