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

STRIKE STATISTICS IN RUSSIA415the fact that the political strike rouses and stirs the backwardsections, generalises and extends the movement, andraises it to a higher level.It would be extremely interesting to trace in detail preciselyhow new recruits were drawn into the movement duringthe whole three-year period. The main material containsdata relating to this subject, for the information obtainedwas entered on cards dealing with each strike separately.But the analysis of this information in the official statisticsis very unsatisfactory, and a wealth of material containedin the cards has been lost, since it was not included in theanalysis. An approximate idea is given by the followingtable showing the number of strikes as a percentage of thenumber of establishments of different sizes:Number of strikes as a percentage of the numberof establishmentsTotal forGroups of establishments 10 years 1905 1906 1907 19081895-190420 workers or less 2.7 47.0 18.5 6.0 1.021 to 50 workers 7.5 89.4 38.8 19.0 4.151 to 100 ” 9.4 108.9 56.1 37.7 8.0101 to 500 ” 21.5 160.2 79.2 57.5 16.9501 to 1,000 ” 49.9 163.8 95.1 61.5 13.0Over 1,000 ” 89.7 231.9 108.8 83.7 23.0The advanced section, which we have so far observed fromthe data dealing with the different districts and differentgroups of industries, now stands out from the data dealingwith the various groups of establishments. The general rulethroughout these years is that as the size of the establishmentsincreases there is an increase in the percentage ofestablishments in which strikes occurred. The characteristicfeatures of the year 1905 are, firstly, that the bigger theestablishment the larger the number of repeated strikes,and, secondly, that compared with the decade 1895-1904 therise in the percentage is the steeper the smaller the establishments.This clearly indicates the especial rapidity withwhich new recruits were drawn into the movement, and withwhich sections that had never before taken part in strikeswere enlisted. Rapidly drawn into the movement in the periodof the greatest upsurge, these new recruits proved the