ry effort, so the Communists, faced with
a need at least equally vital, did not turn at once to industrial
conscription. It was understood from the beginning that the Communists
themselves were to set an example of hard work, and I dare say a
considerable proportion of them did so. Every factory had its little
Communist Committee, which was supposed to leaven the factory with
enthusiasm, just as similar groups of Communists drafted into the armies
in moments of extreme danger did, on more than one occasion, as the
non-Communist Commander-in-Chief admits, turn a rout into a stand and
snatch victory from what looked perilously like defeat. But this was
not enough, arrears of work accumulated, enthusiasm waned, productivity
decreased, and some new move was obviously necessary. This first move in
the direction of industrial conscription, although no one perceived its
tendency at the time, was the inauguration of what have become known as
"Saturdayings".

Early in 1919 the Central Committee of the Communist Party put out a
circular letter, calling upon the Communists "to work revolutionally,"
to emulate in the rear the heroism of their brothers on the front,
pointing out that nothing but the most determined efforts and an
increase in the productivity of labor would enable Russia to win through
her difficulties of transport, etc. Kolchak, to quote from English
newspapers, was it "sweeping on to Moscow," and the situation was pretty
threatening. As a direct result of this letter, on May 7th, a meeting
of Communists in the sub-district of the Moscow-Kazan railway passed
a resolution that, in view of the imminent danger to the Republic,
Communists and their sympathizers should give up an hour a day of their
leisure, and, lumping these hours together, do every Saturday six hours
of manual labor; and, further, that these Communist "Saturdayings"
should be continued "until complete victory over Kolchak should be
assured." That decision of a local committee was the actual beginning of
a movement which spread all over Russia, and though the complete victory
over Kolchak was long ago obtained, is likely to continue so long as
Soviet Russia is threatened by any one else.

The decision was put into effect on May 10th, when the first Communist
"Saturdaying" in Russia took place on the Moscow-Kazan railway. The
Commissar of the railway, Communist clerks from the offices, and every
one else who wished to help, marched to work, 182 in