people worked better and harder when working thus than
under any of the conditions (piece-work, premiums for good
work, etc.) imposed by the revolution in its desperate
attempts to raise the productivity of labor. For this reason
alone, he wrote, the first "Saturdaying" on the Moscow-Kazan
railway was an event of historical significance, and not for
Russia alone.




Whether Lenin was right or wrong in so thinking, "Saturdayings"
became a regular institution, like Dorcas meetings in Victorian
England, like the thousands of collective working parties
instituted in England during the war with Germany. It
remains to be seen how long they will continue, and if
they will survive peace when that comes. At present

the most interesting point about them is the large proportion
of non-Communists who take an enthusiastic part in them.
In many cases not more than ten per cent. of Communists
are concerned, though they take the iniative in organizing the
parties and in finding the work to be done. The movement
spread like fire in dry grass, like the craze for roller-skating
swept over England some years ago, and efforts were made
to control it, so that the fullest use might be made of it.
In Moscow it was found worth while to set up a special
Bureau for "Saturdayings." Hospitals, railways, factories, or
any other concerns working for the public good, notify
this bureau that they need the sort of work a "Saturdaying"