cast of his
speech. I understood why, when he began to speak. He led off by a direct
and furious onslaught on the railway workers in general, demanding
work, work and more work, telling them that as the Red Army had been
the vanguard of the revolution hitherto, and had starved and fought and
given lives to save those at home from Denikin and Kolchak, so now it
was the turn of the railway workers on whose efforts not only the Red
Army but also the whole future of Russia depended. He addressed himself
to the women, telling them in very bad Russian that unless their men
worked superhumanly they would see their babies die from starvation next
winter. I saw women nudge their husbands as they listened. Instead
of giving them a pleasant, interesting sketch of the international
position, which, no doubt, was what they had expected, he took the
opportunity to tell them exactly how things stood at home. And the
amazing thing was that they seemed to be pleased. They listened with
extreme attention, wanted to turn out some one who had a sneezing fit
at the far end of the hall, and nearly lifted the roof off with cheering
when Radek had done. I wondered what sort of reception a man would have
who in another country interrupted a play to hammer home truths about
the need of work into an audience of working men who had gathered solely
for the purpose of legitimate recreation. It was not as if he sugared
the medicine he gave them. His speech was nothing but demands for
discipline and work, coupled with prophecy of disaster in case work and
discipline failed. It was delivered like all his speeches, with a strong
Polish accent and a steady succession of mistakes in grammar.

As we walked home along the railway lines, half a dozen of the
railwaymen pressed around Radek, and almost fought with each other as to
who should walk next to him. And Radek entirely happy, delighted at his
success in giving them a bombshell instead of a bouquet, with one stout
fellow on one arm, another on the other, two or three more listening in
front and behind, continued rubbing it into them until we reached our
wagon, when, after a general handshaking, they disappeared into the
night.

THE TRADE UNIONS

Trade Unions in Russia are in a different position from that which is
common to all other Trades Unions in the world. In other countries the
Trades Unions are a force with whose opposition the Government must
reckon. In Russia the Government reckon