Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/57

 special army services of a large number of skilled workmen had still further reduced the supply of skilled labour. The quality and quantity of the output could not but suffer. That is undoubtedly one of the causes of the decrease in industrial production of which the public has been so often informed in the Press. There are other causes, such as the ever-increasing lack of raw material, the transport difficulty, the impossibility of renewing or repairing worn-out machinery. But for the moment we shall only deal with the decrease in production resulting from the shortage of labour, which is supposed erroneously to be the chief cause.

Was there any real evidence of ill-will on the part of the work-hands? We have questioned many people on this subject, to obtain as accurate information as possible—industrials, engineers, officials, workmen. The replies, as one might expect, varied greatly. They were, however, much more favourable to the workmen than the rumours current in Petrograd would lead one to think, rumours emanating from persons who came into no actual contact