Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/134

 without the bureaucrats. Then the plan was conceived of dismissing everybody who had not offered their services before a certain day. As no one came forward, it was announced that all were dismissed. And now when whole groups of functionaries were arrested for their "sabotage," they simply referred to the fact that they had been dismissed. And there was no help for it but to let them go again. Some specially indispensable subordinate officials were forced to work by threats and violence. Some escaped and concealed themselves as best they could, others took more energetic measures. Thus a young lady who was employed in the office of the Bank of Finland at Kotka took a revolver, and fired it through her right hand, in order to become unfit for work in this way. This action did not at all impress the Red; on the contrary, a close investigation was set in train, for a thing like that expressed an appalling counter-revolutionary temper.

The unemployed subordinate officials were, however, considered to be too tantalising, and they were annoyed as much as possible. Those who lived in houses belonging to the State were put into the street—a measure felt greatly, owing to the great shortage of housing accommodation—and one proposal after another was made in the committees of the Red. Now it is a suggestion to take all food cards from a striker, now again to demand cards as members of the Labour Party, of all who have the right of getting fuel from the public supplies, etc. All these measures were, however, at last crystallised into the appointing of a Working Duty Committee which commenced its activities on the first days of April. It sent out printed forms to the Government offices requesting information about striking subordinate officials. It was intended to put them all to compulsory work for the account of the Red Guard, but the plan was