Russian workmen of to-day are capable of sudden and
temporary increase of output. The "Saturdayings" (see p. 119)
provide endless illustrations of this. They had something in
the character of a picnic, they were novel, they were out of
the routine, and the productivity of labor during a "Saturdaying"
was invariably higher than on a weekday. For example,
there is a shortage of paper for cigarettes. People roll
cigarettes in old newspapers. It occurred to the Central Committee
of the Papermakers' Union to organize a "Sundaying"
with the object of sending cigarette paper to the soldiers in
the Red Army. Six factories took part. Here is a table showing the
output of these factories during the "Sundaying" and the average
weekday output. The figures are in poods.

Made on Average week
Factory the Sunday Day Output

Krasnogorodskaya.........615...............450
Griaznovskaya.............65................45
Medianskaya..............105................90
Dobruzhskaya.............186...............250
Belgiiskaya..............127................85
Ropshinskaya..............85................55]


But this uneven working temperament was characteristic of
the Russian before the war as well as now. It has been said
that the revolution removed the stimulus to labor, and left the
Russian laziness to have its way. In the first period
of the revolution that may have been true. It is becoming