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

STRIKE STATISTICS IN RUSSIA409In 1905 there was not a single month when the number ofstrikers dropped below the minimum per year during thedecade 1895-1904; there were but two such months in 1906and two in 1907.It is to be regretted that the treatment of the monthlydata, as well as of the data for the separate gubernias, isvery unsatisfactory in the official statistics. Many summariesneed to be worked out anew. For this reason, and also forconsiderations of space, we shall confine ourselves for thetime being to the quarterly data. With regard to the breakdowninto economic and political strikes, it should be notedthat the official statistics for 1905 and for 1906-07 are notquite comparable. Strikes of a mixed nature—in the officialstatistics Group 12 with economic demands and Group 12 bwith economic demands—were classified as political in 1905and as economic in the subsequent years. We shall classifythem as economic strikes in 1905 too.Number of strikers (in thousands) 145Year 1905 1906 1907Quarter I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV{Total 810 481 294 1,277 269 479 296 63 146 323 77 193Of which Econ. 604 239 165 430 73 222 125 37 52 52 66 30Polit. 206 242 129 847 196 257 171 26 94 271 11 163The boxes indicate the periods during which the wave rosehighest. It is obvious from even a cursory glance at the tablethat these periods coincide with political events of cardinalimportance that are characteristic of the entire triennium.1905, first quarter—January 9 and its consequences; 1905,fourth quarter—the October and December events; 1906,second quarter—the First Duma; 1907, second quarter—theSecond Duma; the last quarter of 1907 shows the least riseoccasioned by the November political strike (134,000 strikers)in connection with the trial of the workers’ deputiesof the Second Duma. Hence this period, which completes thetriennium and represents a transition to a new stage in Russianhistory, is just that exception which proves the rule:the rise of the strike wave in this case does not imply a generalsocial-political upsurge, but on closer examination we