being Communists) worked in the heavy artillery shops, shifting

materials, cleaning tramlines for bringing in fuel, etc.
Then there was a "Saturdaying" the main object of which
was a general autumn cleaning of the hospitals for the
wounded. One form of "Saturdaying" for women is going
to the hospitals, talking with the wounded and writing letters
for them, mending their clothes, washing sheets, etc. The
majority of "Saturdayings" at present are concerned with
transport work and with getting and shifting wood, because
at the moment these are the chief difficulties. I have talked
to many "Saturdayers," Communist and non-Communist,
and all alike spoke of these Saturday afternoons of as kind of
picnic. On the other hand, I have met Communists who
were accustomed to use every kind off ingenuity to find
excuses not to take part in them and yet to preserve the good
opinion of their local committee.


But even if the whole of the Communist Party did actually
indulge in a working picnic once a week, it would not suffice
to meet Russia's tremendous needs. And, as I pointed out in
the chapter specially devoted to the shortage of labor, the
most serious need at present is to keep skilled workers
at their jobs instead of letting them drift away into non-productive
labor. No amount of Saturday picnics could do that, and it
was obvious long ago that some other means, would have to
be devised.