Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/58

 with the factories and who got their information from journalists who were spreading such information throughout the world's Press.

Cases of real downright, evident ill-will rarely occurred. We mean by that, that there were few cases of factories producing less because the workmen deliberately limited the output. Large employers of labour have told us, on the contrary, that in the main the workmen are better disposed to-day than they were before the Revolution to help in the national defence by making every effort to increase their output.

But good-will on the part of the workmen does not count for much in a question of industrial production unless it is combined with perseverance, and whatever may be the good qualities of the Russian, perseverance has never been among the most striking. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The needs of the army and of the nation have been made plain to them, they understand the necessity for increased production if they would save their country, and they set to work with unaccustomed