Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution
brutally, but he is given to understand that he is a source of trouble to the committee, and employment is found for him outside the factory. In a machine factory employing upwards of two thousand workmen, the manager explained to us that workshop committees had thus led to the departure of about sixty undesirables, greatly for the good of the establishment, where now there reigns an atmosphere of peace and good-will. Even now the employers in general state that it is much easier to deal with the committees elected by the workmen than directly with the workmen, individually or in groups. The claims presented by the committees are generally less exacting than those of the delegation who have first submitted them, and when they are exaggerated it is generally easier to make them admit it.
It often happens that the committee is disavowed by the workmen, its resignation exacted, and thereafter they proceed to new elections. There is one such factory where, during the first weeks of the application of this system, the committee was renewed four times, but at each renewal
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