Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 16 - From Marx to Mao

402V. I. LENINas a percentage of the number of establishments was 42times as great in the towns as in the rural districts. In 1905this ratio was approximately 8:1; in 1906 it was 9:1; in 1907—15:1 and in 1908*—6:1. In other words, compared with thepart played by the factory workers in the villages, the partplayed by the urban factory workers in the strike movementwas considerably greater in 1905 than in the previous years;moreover, their role became greater and greater in 1906 and1907, i.e., proportionately the part played in the movementby the village workers became less and less. The factoryworkers in the villages, less prepared for the struggle by thepreceding decade (1895-1904), showed the least firmness andwere the quickest to retreat after 1905. The vanguard, i.e.,the urban factory workers, made a special effort in 1906,and a still greater effort in 1907, to halt this retreat.Let us now examine the distribution of the strikers accordingto industries. For this purpose we single out fourmain groups of industries: A) metal-workers; B) textileworkers;C) printers, wood-workers, leather-workers, andworkers in chemical industries; D) workers in the mineralproducts industries and food industries. Here are the figuresfor the different years:Groups of industriesTotal numberof factoryworkers in1904(thousands)Number of strikers (in thousands) forthe year1895-1904 1905 1906 1907 1908totalA 252 117 811 213 193 41B 708 237 1,296 640 302 56C 277 38 471 170 179 24D 454 39 285 85 66 55Total 1,691 431 2,863 1,108 740 176The metal-workers were best prepared by the decade preceding1905. During that decade nearly half of them took* The figures for 1908 include 228 strikes., and the figures for 1907include 230 strikes, in the oilfields, which for the first time came underthe Inspectorate in 1906.