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

414V. I. LENINNumber of strikes(in thousands)1905, Quarters I II III IVGroup A Economic 120 42 37 31(metal-workers) Political 159 76 63 283{Total 279 118 100 314{Group B Economic 196 109 72182(textile-workers) Political 111 154 53 418Total 307 263 125 600Here we see clearly the distinction between the advancedsection and the mass of the workers. Among the advancedsection those involved in purely economic strikes were aminority from the very beginning, and this holds good forthe whole year. Even in this group, however, in the firstquarter of the year the number of workers involved in purelyeconomic strikes was very high (120,000). Clearly, amongthe metal-workers too there were considerable sections whichhad to be “stirred up”, and which started off by presentingpurely economic demands. Among the textile-workers wesee a very great preponderance of those taking part in purelyeconomic strikes in the initial stage of the movement (inthe first quarter of the year). These become a minority duringthe second quarter, only to become a majority again in thethird quarter. In the fourth quarter, when the movementreached its zenith, the number of metal-workers involvedin purely economic strikes was 10 per cent of the total numberof strikers and 12 per cent of the total number of metalworkers;while among the textile-workers the number ofthose involved in purely economic strikes represented 30 percent of the total number of strikers and 25 per cent of thetotal number of textile-workers.The interdependence between the economic and politicalstrike is thus quite obvious: no really broad, no really massmovement is possible without a close connection between thetwo; the concrete expression of this connection consists, onthe one hand, in the fact that at the beginning of the movement,and when new sections are just entering it, the purelyeconomic strike is the prevalent form, and, on the other, in