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

STRIKE STATISTICS IN RUSSIA413Number of strikes(in thousands)1905 1906 1907Economic strikes 1,439 458 200Political strikes 1,424 650 540Total . . . 2,863 1,108 740The first conclusion to be drawn from these figures is thatthere is a very close connection between the economic andthe political strikes. They rise simultaneously and dropsimultaneously. The force of the movement in the periodof the offensive (1905) results from the fact that thepolitical strikes are built, as it were, on the broad basis ofthe no less powerful economic strikes which, even taken bythemselves, far exceed the figures for the entire decade of1895-1904.During the decline of the movement the number of thoseengaged in economic strikes drops faster than the number ofthose engaged in political strikes. The weakness of the movementin 1906, and particularly in 1907, is undoubtedly theresult of the fact that the broad and firm base of the economicstruggle was absent. On the other hand, the slower drop inthe number of workers involved in political strikes, in general,and the particularly insignificant decrease in that numberin 1907 compared with 1906, apparently testify to thephenomenon with which we are already familiar: namely,that the advanced sections were exercising their utmostenergy to halt the retreat and to turn it into an offensive.This conclusion is fully corroborated by the data showingthe interrelation between economic and political strikes inthe various groups of industries. In order to avoid overburdeningthe article with figures we shall confine ourselves toa comparison of the quarterly data for the year 1905 withreference to the metal-workers and the textile-workers, usingin this instance the summary of the official statistics,*which, as mentioned before, classified the mixed strikesthat took place that year as political strikes.* According to this summary, 1,021,000 workers took part in economicstrikes and 1,842,000 in political strikes in 1905. The proportionof the workers who took part in economic strikes thus appearsto be less than in 1906. We have already explained that this is wrong.