Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/60

 in the controversy, with all the machinery stopped. It is not unusual, moreover, for the audience to be increased by men from other factories in the neighbourhood. It has been said that Russia has become the Kingdom of Speech, and nowhere assuredly is speech more honoured than in the factories.

Strange as it may seem, Russian employers make very little attempt to prevent this happening, much less than would be made in the same circumstances by their colleagues in the West. They seem to think the conduct of their employees quite natural in a way, and though they may not approve of it, they show, as a rule, less annoyance than one would expect. One of our party had occasion to remark this under rather amusing circumstances.

He had been asked to address the workmen of a large ironworks with a view to bringing home to them how important it was for Russia and the Revolution to maintain or, better still, increase its production, indispensable to the army. It had been arranged that the speech would be delivered at three o'clock, and that the