these early "Saturdayings," which gives a clear picture
of the infectious character of the proceedings, telling how
people who came out of curiosity to look on found

themselves joining in the work, and how a soldier with an
accordion after staring for a long time open-mouthed at
these lunatics working on a Saturday afternoon put up a tune
for them on his instrument, and, delighted by their delight,
played on while the workers all sang together.


The idea of the "Saturdayings" spread quickly from railways
to factories, and by the middle of the summer reports of
similar efforts were coming from all over Russia. Then
Lenin became interested, seeing in these "Saturdayings" not
only a special effort in the face of common danger, but an
actual beginning of Communism and a sign that Socialism
could bring about a greater productivity of labor than could
be obtained under Capitalism. He wrote: "This is a work of
great difficulty and requiring much time, but it has begun,
and that is the main thing. If in hungry Moscow in the
summer of 1919 hungry workmen who have lived through
the difficult four years of the Imperialistic war, and then the
year and a half of the still more difficult civil war, have
been able to begin this great work, what will not be its
further development when we conquer in the civil war and
win peace." He sees in it a promise of work being done not
for the sake of individual gain, but because of a recognition
that such work is necessary for the general good, and in all
he wrote and spoke about it he emphasized the fact that