Page:Georges Sorel, Reflections On Violence (1915).djvu/189

 Rh the idea of the general strike among professional politicians. Many people were surprised at the results produced by great concerted stoppages of work; but what really happened and what followed from these disturbances is not very well known. People who are acquainted with the country believe that Witte was hand in glove with many of the revolutionaries, and that he was delighted at being able to obtain, by terrifying the Czar, the dismissal of his enemies and the grant of institutions which, in his opinion, would put obstacles in the way of any return to the old regime. It is very remarkable that for a long time the Government seemed paralysed, and in the administration anarchy was at its height, while, from the moment Witte thought it necessary in his personal interests to act vigorously, repression was rapid; that day arrived (as several people had foreseen) when the financiers needed to revive Russian credit. It seems hardly probable that previous insurrections ever had the irresistible power attributed to them; the Petit Parisien, which was one of the French newspapers that had advertised the fame of Witte, said that the great strike of October 1905 came to an end on account of the hunger of the workers; according to this newspaper, the strike had even been prolonged for a day in the hope that the Poles would take part in the movement, and would obtain concessions as the Finns had done; then it congratulated the Poles for having been wise enough not to budge, and for not having given a pretext for German intervention (Petit Parisien, November 7, 1905).