By the 80th anniversary of the 1905 - 19071905-1907 revolution in Russia-had a major impact on the workers ' liberation movement around the world. For the first time, the proletariat emerged as an independent political and ideological force capable of exercising its hegemony. His role as leader of the working masses was embodied in the Leninist Party, which "raised the revolutionary banner high, resolutely defended Marxism in the struggle against Revisionism, and creatively developed Marxist teaching, combining it in the course of the revolution with the mass proletarian and democratic movement." 1 The Proletarian newspaper wrote in an editorial: "To become a socialist, one needs knowledge; proletarian psychology, it is true, predisposes one to this knowledge, but it does not eliminate its necessity. Socialism is a positive, scientific content, not a mood. " 2 In Marxism, the vanguard proletarian strata drew irrefutable proofs of the exploitative nature of modern society, the necessity of a revolutionary struggle against capitalism, the inevitability of its demise and the victory of the new system. V. I. Lenin called for educating workers "in the spirit of a broad understanding of the class struggle and the socialist tasks of the proletariat"3 .

The most important direction of the social policy pursued by the Bolsheviks during the years of the revolution was to explain the true essence of the so-called workers ' question, which by that time had taken full root. Back in the 70s of the XIX century, the newspapers Moskovskoe Obozrenie and Birzhevye Vedomosti stated:" We don't have a working question, " workers are an exception, not class 4 . But even the Morozov strike of 1885, according to Lenin, made a very strong impression on the government, for the mass of workers working together put forward their demands directly .5 In the first months of the revolutionary year 1905, several government commissions took up the "workers ' question". Thus, it took 30 years for the Russian proletariat to grow and form itself into an" original force " that was socially, politically and ideologically opposed to the old world, and was able to start independently solving its "question".

The Rabochy Vopros was the focus of the most acute ideological conflict and division in Russian and international social-democracy. In the uncompromising struggle for influence over the working masses, Lenin-

1 CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee. Ed. 8-E. T. 11, p. 474.

2 Proletarii, 17 (4). VII. 1905, No. 8.

3 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 12, p. 235.

4 See: O. Markova. Responses to "Capital" in Russia in the 1870s. In: Chronicles of Marxism. T. I. (XI). Moscow, 1930, p. 116.

5 See Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 2, p. 23.

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the fifth party exposed the anti-national nature of the interpretation of the "workers ' question" by ideologists of the autocracy and bourgeoisie, reformist and revisionist theorists. The attitude of political parties and trends to the "workers' question " determined their place in the class struggle.

The study of the" workers 'question" during the first Russian Revolution is given special attention in the literature on the history of Marxism-Leninism in Russia, on the ideological work of the Bolshevik Party , 6 and on the revolution of 1905 - 1907 .7 The authors of the research reconstruct the picture of the economic situation of the workers in the first decade of the XX century in connection with their class struggle, based on statistics and other sources, and rightly focusing on the solution of political tasks by the working class during the revolution. However, as a rule, the content and significance of the Bolsheviks ' propaganda of the Marxist economic justification for the emergence, essence and revolutionary solution of the "workers ' question", which was a powerful means of mass mobilization, are not considered.

The purpose of this article is to show the theoretical justification and propaganda of the Leninist party in the proletarian masses for a scientific, revolutionary understanding of the following aspects of the "working question": the social and economic situation of the proletariat, the methods of its exploitation by capitalists; the social - democratic program requirement for an 8 - hour working day; the struggle against unemployment and lockouts; the need for unity of the working class. As the main source, the article uses about 40 organs of the revolutionary press of 1905 - 1907. These are primarily Bolshevik newspapers, trade union weeklies, and the general democratic press, which was directly influenced by the Bolsheviks. From the point of view of the chosen topic, printing has not yet been the subject of a special comprehensive study on an all-Russian scale. There are only studies on the propaganda of the "working question" in newspapers based on regional material .8
As a result of the development of the proletarian movement, the workers ' press was at the same time a means of raising it to a qualitatively new level. The press served as a channel for introducing socialist consciousness to the working masses, as a connecting thread between theory and practice.

6 Istoriya Kommunisticheskoi partii Sovetskogo Soyuza [History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union], Vol. 2, Moscow, 1966; Bolshevism and Reformism, Moscow, 1973; Kritika sovremennykh bourgeoisnykh i reformistskikh falsifikatorov marxizma-leninizma, Moscow, 1980; Istoricheskoe znachenie opyta opryta bor'ba CPSU vs pravogo i "lefevogo" opportunizma, Moscow, 1980; et al.

7 Istoriya SSSR. T. 6. M. 1968; Laverychev V. Ya.Tsarizm i rabochy vopros v Rossii [Tsarism and the working question in Russia]. M. 1972; Gegemoniya proletariata v trekh russkikh revolyutsiyakh [Hegemony of the proletariat in three Russian revolutions]. M, 1975; Problems of the hegemony of the proletariat in the democratic revolution. M. 1975; the Revolution of 1905 - 1907 in Russia, and the trade unions. M. 1975; Kirillov, V. S., the Bolsheviks led a massive political strikes in the first Russian revolution. 1976 M.; Kruse e, E. the condition of the working class in Russia 1900 - 1914 L. 1976; Kiryanov, Y. I. standard of Living of workers of Russia (the end of XIX - beginning of XX century). M. 1979; Cannon Reva I. M. the study of the labor movement of Russia in the period of imperialism. In: Questions of Methodology and History of Historical Science. Issue 3. M. 1981; The working class in the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907. M. 1981; Ushakov A.V. Struggle for the unity of the working class of Russia. M. 1981.

8 Gazizullin F. G. the issue of working in the newspaper "Ural" - the body of the Tatar social Democrats. - Proceedings of the Kazan Aviation Institute, Department of Social Sciences, 1958, vol. 42; Samedov V. Y. The spread of Marxism-Leninism in Azerbaijan. Ch. 1-2. Baku, 1962-1966; Vateyshvili D. L. From the history of the legal working press of Transcaucasia. Tbilisi. 1963; Gainullin M. H. Tatar literature and journalism of the early XX century. Kazan. 1966; Khasanov Kh. Kh. Bolshevik newspaper "Ural". Kazan. 1967; Epifanov V. M. Tribune of the Bolsheviks of Turkestan. Tashkent, 1968; Rozhin N. V. Gazeta "Severo-Zapadny krai". Minsk. 1970; Agamirov M. M. From the history of the struggle for the Marxist-Leninist doctrine in Azerbaijan. Baku. 1971; Kirtovsky I. H. Essays on the history of Latvian economic thought. Riga. 1976; Beisembiev K. B. Essays on the history of socio-political and philosophical thought of Kazakhstan. Alma-Ata, 1976; Barseghyan H. A. History of the spread of Marxism-Leninism in Armenia. Book 1. Yerevan. 1978; Kabdiev D. K. Development of economic thought in Kazakhstan. Alma-Ata. 1978; and others.

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practice. In 1905 - 1907, more than 150 Bolshevik publications were published .9 They reflected the rhythm and content of the proletarian movement in its various manifestations, and conducted Marxist propaganda. The Bolshevik press revealed the Rabochy vopros as the main link in the proletarian political and social program. The richest material - factual and analytical - is contained in the Bolshevik newspapers and weeklies Novaya Zhizn, Proletariy, Vperyod, Volna, Vestnik Zhizni, Maltsovsky Rabochy, Samarskaya Luka, Severny Rabochy, Ural, and others. It is concentrated not only in program articles, but also in the headings "Chronicles of the labor movement and letters from factories and factories", "Among the unemployed", "From the life of workers", "In trade unions", etc.

The local press was not uniform in the level of published materials. The development of the proletarian movement in different regions, on the national borderlands, was not uniform. But in general, the Bolshevik press shows a high level of interest in theoretical materials, and its knowledge of the basics of economic analysis in party journalism. There was no newspaper, legal or clandestine, whether it numbered dozens or only a few issues, that did not reflect in one way or another the struggle of the proletariat against the autocracy and the bourgeoisie, and the problems of the "workers' question." Relying on the central press, local newspapers implemented Lenin's ideas about educating the political consciousness of the working class. Most often, they turned to examples showing the socio-economic situation of the proletariat. The central press of the party focused its attention on the strategic problems of the political struggle. Local newspapers focused more on disclosing specific economic situations, covering the struggle of workers in various industries and regions, getting as close as possible to their needs.

The press organs of the trade unions of Russia that emerged in 1905-1907 mostly defended the class interests of the proletariat and carried out revolutionary ideas. The party sought to establish permanent organizational ties with trade unions and their printing bodies, including such newspapers and weeklies as "Metal Worker", "Leaf of the Union of Tailors, Tailors and Furriers 'Workers", "Pechatnik", "Bread and Work".

During the rise of the revolutionary movement, the Leninist Party made extensive use of the general democratic press, subjecting it ideologically and, when possible, organizationally to its influence. On the ground, the Bolsheviks collaborated in such newspapers, kept a working chronicle, reviewed the press, and wrote editorials on economic problems. The Proletarian newspaper noted that now in Russia legal newspapers are actually able to publish much information that previously only appeared in the columns of the illegal press, and as a result they provide abundant and up-to-date material about the revolutionary movement .10
The development of the revolution alternately brought forward and placed at the center of ideological work various aspects of the" workers 'question" - the 8-hour working day, unemployment, lockouts, etc. But his Bolshevik propaganda has always been holistic. New methods of educating the masses changed and appeared. The increasing flow of popular revolutionary energy, Lenin emphasized, does not mean, of course, that"sustained preparation and systematic teaching of the truths of Marxism should be left in the background." 11 The print allows us to show the most important aspects of the Marxist-Leninist propaganda of the "worker of Military Education".-

9 See The Bolshevik Periodical Press (December 1900-October 1917). Bibliographic index, Moscow, 1964.

10 Proletarian, 16(3). XI. 1905, No. 25.

11 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 9, pp. 302-303.

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rosa": its content; extent of distribution; exposure and criticism of anti-Marxist concepts.

The party saw the prospect of a radical solution of the "workers ' question" in combining the struggle of the proletariat to improve its economic situation with the goals of overthrowing the autocracy and destroying capitalism. The working class was taught the direct connection between the economic and political factors of its oppression, the need for organized resistance to the class enemy, and the destruction of exploitative relations. The propaganda of the "workers ' question" was based on Marxist-Leninist economic theory. The idea was constantly carried out in the press that Marx's ideas help the proletarians to understand their position in the world of profit, awaken in them self-consciousness and the ability to fight. The Social-Democrats revealed to the workers the main thing in the alignment of class forces, the essence of the capitalist production mechanism, the inevitability of exploitation while maintaining private ownership of the means of production. An understanding of why the proletarian is forced to sell his labor power was introduced into their consciousness: "He is separated from the Means of Production. It has nothing but its own workforce... like any product-boots, hats, etc. - and he, a person, becomes a commodity"12; capitalists and workers represent two opposite poles-capital and wage labor 13 .

The press propagated Marx's doctrine of surplus value. "Marx discovered the true source of entrepreneurial profit. He showed that the worker in the factory creates more value than he receives in return, that this surplus value, the unpaid labor of the worker, is appropriated by the capitalist and is the source of his enrichment. With the theory of surplus value, Marx revealed the innermost secret of capitalist production, " wrote the trade union organ Metalworker in an article dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Capital. The theory of surplus value helped to realize the open and ever-growing hostility of the capitalist system to the working class. Under capitalism, the labor process is transformed into the process of exploiting human labor power. No emancipation of the proletariat from exploitation can take place under the conditions of this society, which "processes the blood and brain of the worker into entrepreneurial profit."14 Capitalist slavery cripples and kills the worker. Lenin wrote in Novaya Zhizn: "The economic oppression of the workers inevitably causes and gives rise to all kinds of political oppression, social degradation, coarsening and obscuring the spiritual and moral life of the masses."15. In the propaganda of the Rabochy vopros (workers ' question) in the press, an exposition of the theoretical foundations of Marx's political economy was combined with factual material about the situation of the Russian proletariat, the methods of its oppression and exploitation, which led to political conclusions about the need to destroy capitalism.

The year 1905 brought the 8-hour working day to the forefront of Bolshevik print propaganda among the program requirements. Throughout the revolution, the press covered the struggle for it, explaining its meaning and importance. Articles and special collections introduced readers directly to the text of Das Kapital, while simultaneously promoting the slogan itself and its fundamental development by Marx, arousing workers ' interest in independent study of the 8th chapter of the First volume of Das Kapital ("Working Day"). The print explained the meaning

12 Barracks, St. Petersburg, 16. II. 1906, N 1.

13 The Next One, Moscow, February 1907, N 1.

14 Metal worker, St. Petersburg, 26. VII. 1907, No. 18; 27. VI. 1907, No. 16.

15 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 12, p. 142.

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an 8-hour working day for the social, political and cultural development of the proletariat. The use of "Capital" in this case contributed not only to the propaganda of a particular demand, but also to the general process of spreading Marxism.

In presenting the theoretical part of the question of a normal working day in Kapital, the newspapers used examples from the life and work of Russian workers. Russian capital, which at first experienced little resistance from the proletariat, exploited the labor force almost uncontrollably. One thing was important - to squeeze out as much work as possible. "There is no limit to the capitalist's degree of squeezing out, and the human feeling before profit [recedes], goes into the realm of good wishes" 16 . Newspapers noted excessively long working hours at many enterprises. In Moscow Province at the beginning of 1905, 53% of the factory proletariat worked 11 1/2 hours, "i.e., the highest measure permitted by law," 17% - 11 and 10 1/2 hours, and only about 80% - less than 10 hours. In the Donetsk basin, where there were many foreign workers who were ready to hire on any terms, local breeders and mine owners brought exploitation to unprecedented proportions, forcing people to work without any breaks for 12 hours 17 . The newspapers gave a lot of concrete information about the length of the working day and, summarizing them, wrote that capitalist exploitation "disfigures the worker, making him half-human, turning him into an appendage of machines, turning his whole life into working time "18, that" the length of working time is the surest indicator of the degree of poverty and slavery in which he lives. there is a people " 19 .

The demand for an 8-hour working day was closely combined in newspaper articles with an explanation of the need to eliminate overtime work. The published materials showed that the issue of overtime work was not simple and needed painstaking clarification. Sometimes it was necessary to overcome the hostile attitude of workers to agitation against overtime. The long-term processing of the minds of the bourgeoisie, the pressure on the backward strata of the working people by the factory administration clouded their consciousness. It was necessary to convince the workers that the way to improve their well - being and emancipation was not through exhausting overtime, "evening parties", but through a consistent struggle for a normal working day, for higher wages. Overtime work was common in piecework-based industries. The newspaper Zheleznodorozhnik wrote about the differences among workers when discussing the issue of abolishing overtime "as one of the fundamental evils in the life of the working class," but noted that awareness of their harm is beginning to penetrate even the darkest layers of the workers, so the demand for an 8-hour working day and the elimination of overtime is becoming more and more audible .20
Workers ' newspapers called the hopes of increasing earnings through overtime "a false consolation", because the degree of exploitation remained the same. The capitalist will not allow earnings to rise above the minimum that he believes is necessary to maintain the life of the worker and his family, and concrete calculations have been made to support this idea. The "Railway Newspaper" devoted a special article to" trust money", for which the railway worker works day and night, literally"lives on a steam locomotive". The earnings of the driver and his assistant consisted of two parts - a monthly salary and " trust money "(depending on the distance).

16 Samarskaya: luka, 11. XI. 1906, N 16.

17 Vestnik truda, Ekaterinoslav, 5. XI. 1906, N 5.

18 Metalworker, 26. VII. 1907, No. 18.

19 Voice of the Printer, St. Petersburg, 3. X. 1906, N 7.

20 Railway worker, Kiev, 15. XI. 1906, N 1.

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The newspaper considered an example of arbitrariness on the state-owned Nikolaev road. The administration slightly increased the salary, but lowered the size of the "trust". In an effort to prevent a reduction in earnings, railway workers were forced to increase the number of trips, which dramatically lengthened the working day. Such labor is worse than hard labor, the newspaper wrote, the only difference is that "in hard labor, a person is chained to a wheelbarrow, and here to a locomotive; there by force ,and here as if of their own free will" 21. Newspaper and weekly articles pointed out the particular harm of overtime during periods of acute unemployment. At their meetings, the unemployed passed resolutions against overtime. On April 21, 1906, Moscow printers demanded "that overtime work be stopped in all factories." The resolution noted that overtime increases the number of unemployed people and increases the competition of workers .22
The Bolshevik press organized the struggle for the introduction of the 8-hour working day. Reviewing the history of this struggle, the newspapers noted that the laws of the 1980s and 1990s restricting the exploitation of women and children's labor and the size of the working day were a direct result of the proletariat's resistance and the "grandiose strikes of St. Petersburg workers." The highest achievement of this struggle was the introduction of an 8-hour working day in enterprises of St. Petersburg, first, and then in other cities of Russia, by a decision of the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies of October 31, 1905. By the beginning of November, a new working day was introduced at 25 of the largest and most advanced factories in St. Petersburg .23 In the same days, at a meeting of the Soviet of Workers 'Deputies, it was noted that" the energetic struggle of the St. Petersburg workers for the immediate introduction of the 8-hour working day proved irrefutably to what extent this reduction in working hours is a burning need of the working class. " 24
According to the Bolshevik periodicals, no demand of the workers met with such opposition from entrepreneurs as the demand for an 8 - hour working day. The Voronezh Rabochaya Gazeta wrote that it "infuriates the capitalist directly." 25 This demand was the cause of the most open and acute conflicts between the interests of labor and capital. For the time being, the ruling classes flattered themselves that the seditious idea was imported from foreign countries. But soon the bourgeoisie had to mobilize all the forces of its economists and sociologists to oppose this idea. The bourgeoisie confused the proletariat in a scientific manner, veiled, with references to the West, or, without concealing its self-interest, intimidated it. The approaches were different, but they invariably came down to one thing-the uselessness and impossibility of an 8-hour working day in Russia was proved.

The Bolshevik and trade union press fought against this bourgeois lie, exposing the secrets and methods of bourgeois propaganda that tried to convince the workers that reducing the working day would limit their freedom and worsen their economic situation. The 8-hour working day was declared by the apologists of capital to be "an attack on personal freedom, an unacceptable restriction on the precious ability of a person to work physically and spiritually." 26 The Workers ' press replied that all the arguments of the bourgeoisie about the welfare of the exploited and their freedom were self-serving concerns about profits. The bourgeoisie covered up and dispersed-

21 Zheleznodorozhnaya gazeta, St. Petersburg, 22. IX. 1906, No. 1.

22 Pechatnik, Moscow, 23. IV. 1906, N 1.

23 Novaya Zhizn, 10 (23) .XI. 1905, No. 9; Izvestiya Sovetskogo rabochikh deputatsii, SPb., 3. XI. 1905, No. 5.

24 Izvestiya Sovetskogo rabochikh deputatsii, 7.XI.1905, No. 7.

25 Golos truda, Voronezh, 10. VI. 1906, N 3.

26 Metal worker, 28. IV. 1907, N 13.

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thieves say that the 8-hour working day is death for domestic industry, because its introduction will increase production costs, Russian industry will not be able to compete with foreign ones, factories and factories will have to be closed, and mass unemployment will begin. In short, an 8-hour working day is bad for the workers themselves .27 The capitalists were echoed by the luminaries of cadet science - the "scientific" echo of the guttural cries of entrepreneurs. " 28

The factory owners declared that a short working day - the "mad demand" of the proletariat-would ruin them and send them flying around the world. Next came the cadets: "You can force a manufacturer to close his factory, but you can't force him to work at a loss." 29 The newspapers denounced that the bourgeoisie declares the defense of its unusually high profits to be a patriotic matter (the whole nation feeds!), and that "the self - defense of the proletariat against excessive exploitation is unpatriotic, anti-social, and undermines the foundations of national well-being."30 Most of all, capitalists fear that the proletariat will use the short working day to prepare for the fulfillment of "the great tasks that lie ahead of it in the future."31 Almost every article devoted to the 8-hour working day emphasized that this demand is part of the class struggle of the proletariat, and capital can hinder it and delay it, "but it cannot stop it."

Inextricably linked with the issue of limiting the working day, the problem of wages was considered. Aspects of the interpretation of this topic and the grouping of specific materials in the press included: the very concept of "wages"; the amount of wages of Russian workers; its comparison with the level of earnings of the proletariat in other countries; and the forms of wages. As a rule, the issue of wages appeared in articles and reviews on economic topics. First of all, it was determined what wages are and what their size depends on: the capitalist landlord "appropriates the products created by the workers and only returns a part of them back to him in the form of wages." The smaller it is, the more it goes to the capitalist, and so he reduces it to the extreme limits "which barely enable the worker not to starve to death." This is called "embezzlement of labor by the manufacturer" 33 . The proletarian does not sell labor, but his own labor-power, and the manufacturer does not give him all the value created, but only a part of it, in the form of earnings, appropriating to himself "the surplus, the so-called surplus value."34
To emphasize how low wages are, and therefore what the level of labor exploitation is, the newspapers compared data for Russia and other countries. In the 90s of the 19th century, the wages of Russian workers were 2.5 - 3 times less than those of English workers, and 5 times less than those of American workers .35 In 1906, this difference increased: "The monthly earnings of an American worker are almost equal to the annual earnings of a Russian." 36 The conclusion was drawn that the Russian worker receives beggarly wages, both nominal and real, that he is " a stepson among stepsons." The newspapers noted that wages are higher in industrialized countries, where the labor movement is more organized than in other countries.-

27 Golos truda, 10. VI. 1906, No. 3.

28 Vperyod, St. Petersburg, 9. VI. 1906, N 13.

29 Ibid.; Vestnk zhizni, SPb., 23. V. 1906, N 6.

30 Rabochy, Riga, 12. VII. 1906, N 7.

31 Golos truda, 10. VI. 1906, No. 3.

32 Tkach, St. Petersburg, 19. VIII. 1906, N 5.

33 Samarskaya luka, 13. X. 1906, N 9.

34 Zheleznodorozhnaya gazeta, 22. IX. 1906, No. 1.

35 Saratovsky rabochy, 1899, N 2.

36 Severnaya rech, Yaroslavl, 24. VI. 1906, N 5.

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called, has strong trade unions 37 . The above materials showed that for many regions of Russia at that time, the words from Capital about national differences in wages did not lose their relevance.: "On this Russian soil, so rich in all sorts of outrages, the old horrors of the infancy of the English factory system are in full bloom."38
The press's materials on piecework wages as the most "outrageous form of exploitation of labor by capital"contributed to the deepening of the political and economic knowledge of the working class and the growth of its revolutionary actions. The stress of daily pay, the newspapers explained, was determined by the speed of the machines and the supervision of the foremen and overseers. With a piece-by-piece payment, each worker becomes an overseer of himself: "The capitalist can sleep in peace: the workers themselves are squeezing out the last of their strength. No overseer can do this with such skill. " 39 At the same time, the worker was explained why exploitation in one form or another cannot be eliminated as long as private ownership of the tools and means of production exists. No matter how much wages rise and the working day is shortened, the capitalist remains a capitalist and "steals from the workers a part of their unpaid labor"40 . Therefore, the struggle to improve the position of the proletariat must end with the abolition of the capitalist form of property.

The revolutionary press focused its attention on the most pressing demands of the working class. In 1906, the problem of combating unemployment was raised. "Overproduction, the crisis, and unemployment are all the fruits of your greedy pursuit of profit," the Rabochaya gazeta accused the propertied classes .41 The predatory nature of the bourgeoisie was particularly evident in unemployment. It is unlikely that there would be a newspaper in the party's publishing arsenal that did not write about this. In 1905 and 1907, the struggle against unemployment formed an extremely important part of the revolutionary proletariat's resistance to autocracy and capitalism. Unemployment was described in the newspapers as" the eternal curse of the proletariat"," the plague of the working class"," the plague of working people","the central issue of working life" 42 . Although unemployment was a constant manifestation of the contradiction between labor and capital, and thousands of Russian workers experienced its most severe blows, for many of them its causes remained hidden, especially since the counter-revolutionary press attacked the proletariat, accusing it of exacerbating unemployment, directing discontent against striking workers or female workers-competitors to male labor.

The press argued that unemployment was the brainchild of the capitalist system. Only its destruction will free the working class from unemployment. "When something is wrong in the body, they usually resort to a thermometer: an increase in temperature is a symptom of soreness. There is also a thermometer in social life: this is the state of labor, "the article" On unemployment "in Vestnik Zhizni began. For the worker, the right to work is the right to life. Modern society is criminal because it deprives the masses of workers of this right .43 The "industrial reserve Army" renders a double service to the bourgeoisie: "it supplies its 'spare' soldiers to the factories and factories in cases of expansion.-

37 Kievskaya zarya, 18. VIII. 1906, N 147.

38 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 23, p. 572.

39 Leaflet of the Union of Working Tailors, Dressmakers and Furriers, St. Petersburg, 1. IV. 1906, N 5.

40 Cit. by: Kirtovsky I. H. Uk. soch., p. 39.

41 Bread and work, St. Petersburg, 22. X. 1906, N 4.

42 Novy Luch, St. Petersburg, 27. II. 1907, N 7; Kostroma Voice, 4. II. 1906, N 12; Questions of the day, Moscow, 2. XII. 1906, N 4.

43 Vestnik zhizni, 18. IV. 1906, N 3.

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and "by its competition lowers wages and lengthens the working day of the "standing army" of employed workers. " 44 A "reserve army" is always necessary for capital: "The workers have balked - he points out to them the crowd of unemployed: there are so many of them, they will go for any price." 45 In the general anarchy of production, when production alternately expands and contracts in the pursuit of profit, unemployment gives capital an opportunity to maneuver.

Marx, in Das Kapital, wrote about the devastating consequences for the worker not only of excessive labor, but also of underemployment. The capitalist can " destroy all regularity of labor... to replace periods of monstrous excessive labor with periods of relative or even complete unemployment. " 46 This situation was illustrated by the system of "buzz days", a special type of unemployment, which is widely practiced in the mining enterprises of the Urals. The situation of the Ural workers was particularly difficult: the "close connection of the factory-industrial side with the agricultural side"was affected47 . The allocation of land to the artisans working in the factories made them both workers and peasants. If there were orders at factories, the working day stretched to 12-16 hours. per day. During periods of" hiccups " in production, workers were not dismissed (it was advantageous to keep qualified workers), but were forced to work in turn. At almost every factory, workers" rested " involuntarily for one or two weeks a month. During the" ghoul days", workers did not receive wages 48 . Of the 81 factories surveyed by zemstvo agencies, only 22 did not use "gulevye" ones. For the rest, they accounted for 10 to 75% of the working time 49 .

The "industrial reserve army" is being formed and is constantly growing as a result of the displacement of workers by machines, the competition of child and female labor, and the ruin of small farms in the city and countryside. These processes are objective, and under capitalism there are no means capable of stopping them, of improving the position of the working class permanently, wrote the Ekaterinoslav Bolshevik newspaper 50 . Not content with the size of the available "reserve army", capitalists often, as V. V. Borovsky noted, artificially increased it by importing workers from backward countries and national suburbs. The competition created by this surplus of workers was immediately used by the employers to lower wages and lengthen the working day, to incite national hostility, to divide the working class, and to weaken its resistance to exploitation .51
Many newspapers have written about the special nature of unemployment in Russia. The consequences of the prolonged industrial crisis were compounded by the predatory management of Russian capital, the ruin of the countryside, and the political arbitrariness of tsardom. By the spring of 1906, unemployment had become widespread. According to newspaper data, there were 40 thousand unemployed people in St. Petersburg, 30 thousand in Moscow ,and about 15 thousand in Odessa. 52 The Bolshevik newspapers considered the question of unemployment as a political one. It was called "the most painful wound on the body of the Russian proletariat"," the fruit of the mad policy of the autocracy","the provocateur policy of the reactionary bourgeoisie" 53 . Unemployment was considered capital's revenge for the proletariat's conquest of the 8-hour worker in 1905

44 Kostroma voice, 4. II. 1906, N 12.

45 Bread and Work, 15. IX. 1906, No. 2.

46 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 23, p. 556.

47 See: Third Congress of the RSDLP. Protocols, Moscow, 1959, p. 391.

48 Ufa worker, 1. I. 1907, N 9.

49 Matushkin P. G. Lenin about the Urals. Chelyabinsk. 1961, pp. 31-32.

50 Current moment, Ekaterinoslav, 5.VI. 1907, N 1.

51 Forward, Geneva, 9 (22). V. 1905, N 17.

52 Vperyod, St. Petersburg, 8. VI. 1906, No. 12; Rabochy, Riga, 24. IV. 1906, No. 4.

53 Proletariy, 25. III. 1907, No. 15; Vestnik Zhizni, 18. IV. 1906, No. 3.

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working days and wage increases, "for the political strikes of 1905-1906" 54 . A St. Petersburg newspaper wrote about the workers ' struggle on two fronts - against the bourgeoisie and the autocracy. These are two enemies of the proletariat, "both of them enter into a friendly alliance in order - each in his own way: one-by prisons, executions, shootings, the other - by throwing workers into the streets - to suppress the vanguard of the working class." The newspaper published personal data of unemployed people in the City district of St. Petersburg: almost all of them are professional workers, "literate, intelligent, intelligent"; the majority are metalworkers; the reasons for dismissal are "for the unauthorized introduction of an 8-hour working day", "for political beliefs", "for politics", "for campaigning", "for strikes". The author of the article cited the survey result: politika accounted for 63% of the dismissed employees .

In 1906, the movement of the unemployed, led by the Bolsheviks, became widespread. The headline "Among the unemployed"appeared in the newspapers 56 . At the end of March 1906, on the initiative of the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP, an elected democratic body , the Council of the Unemployed, was created to unite all workers to fight this scourge .57 The newspapers sought to awaken and encourage a sense of proletarian solidarity among the workers, explaining to them that unemployment can only be defeated together: "Let the workers never forget one elementary truth, that by supporting the comrades of the unemployed, they are at the same time strengthening their position. In this support, every landlord and every administration quite correctly sees the class consciousness and solidarity of the proletariat, and in such cases they strike less frequently and less decisively at the working class. " 58 It was constantly reported in the press about the help that working comrades provided to the unemployed.

The Party, through its newspapers, called on the workers to rally in the face of an increasingly organized reaction. In St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Western Region, the bourgeoisie created its own unions and general contribution funds, accumulating "energy to fight the 'immoderate' demands of the workers and strikes." The Russian bourgeoisie was preparing for a "crusade of capital against labor" and mass layoffs .59 And the party press explains to the workers what lockouts are, how they relate to the general laws of exploitation, and what their purpose is. Lockouts were defined as a violent and vivid expression of class struggle. It is no longer the individual capitalist, but the manufacturers of an entire industry, who have rallied against all the workers employed in it. For many months, the word "lockout" was in the headlines. "Lockout", " What do lockouts teach workers?""Petersburg Lockout"," Lockouts and Trade Unions "- the titles of articles devoted to this" foreign, and therefore incomprehensible to many "word, which contains"all the hatred of the capitalist system towards the industrial proletariat" 60 . A lockout is a capitalist strike aimed at forcing the proletariat to accept increased economic and political oppression, to break the resistance of the workers, and to break the bonds of their solidarity. 61
Newspapers wrote about the conditions that made it easier for the bourgeoisie to apply lockouts (the creation of trusts, syndicates), and cited specific facts of mass dismissals of workers in Lodz, Minsk, Berdichev, and Kremen-

54 Questions of the Day, 25. XI. 1906, No. 3.

55 Volna, St. Petersburg, 10. V. 1906, N 13.

56 Vperyod, St. Petersburg, 30. V. 1906, No. 4; Novy Luch, 21. II. 1907, No. 2; Proletariy, 8. IX. 1906, No. 3; and others.

57 Vestnik zhizni, 26. IX. 1906, N 21; Volna, 26. IV. 1906, N 1.

58 Current moment, 5. VI. 1907, No. 1.

59 Severnaya rech, 2. VII. 1906, N 11.

60 Severny rabochy, Kostroma, 11. II. 1907, N 5.

61 Borba, Riga, 17. I. 1907, N 12.

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Chug, Vitebsk, Odessa, Lithuanian cities, etc. 62 reported on "lockout unions" concluded by entrepreneurs. One of them, the St. Petersburg one, came into force on January 1, 1907. The manufacturers agreed to allocate 3% of their profits to the "anti-strike fund" and not to hire people who were dismissed from other enterprises. If a strike was declared by workers in a particular factory, the capitalists were obligated to dismiss a certain number of workers in a certain letter of the alphabet from all factories and plants. Economic sanctions were imposed on owners who failed to comply with the agreement .63
To crush all resistance of the workers, to stifle all protest against exploitation - this idea, this desire, united the Russian bourgeoisie, to use a well-known comparison, into a " truly Masonic brotherhood." They wanted to "degrade morally" the workers, to destroy their independence and organization, and to kill their sense of solidarity .65 Lenin wrote in Novaya Zhizn (article "Failed Provocation") on the "alliance" and "conspiracy" of the counter-revolution-the government and the bourgeoisie, which responded with lockouts to the introduction of the 8-hour working day by revolutionary means in the factories and factories of St. Petersburg, and on the need to unite all the revolutionary forces of Russia. 66 And the press showed that the proletariat of Russia staunchly resisted the desire of the bourgeoisie and the autocracy to turn it into a submissive slave.

The working class was not broken. The struggle against lockouts organized by the party and the disclosure of their political goals played a huge revolutionizing role. The Bolsheviks called for turning the lockouts-the sword in the hands of capitalists-against those who took it in their hands .67 Seeing in the lockouts an attempt by the bourgeoisie not only to exert economic pressure, but also to stop the growth of the class consciousness of the proletariat and paralyze its organization, the Bolsheviks wrote: "We resolutely declare, with scientific grounds for this, that even this means will not save either the old political system or capitalist economy. They will die. " 68
Comprehensive press coverage of the crises and unemployment under capitalism was an important part of the political and ideological struggle. The logic of the Marxist economic explanation of these inseparable companions of capitalism brought the struggle against them to the level of political protests against exploitation and oppression. The press refuted Bernstein's thesis that economic crises disappeared with the development of capitalism, and that Marx's theory of crises was outdated. One of the founders and leaders of the Latvian social democracy, F. Rozins, wrote in the magazine " Social Democrat "that crises are" a widespread disease of our time, which, periodically repeating itself, shakes our economic life to its very foundations... This disease is congenital and cannot be cured by any means. It cannot disappear until the modern economic and social order is destroyed. " 69 Organized resistance of the workers united around social-democracy, a direct call for the destruction of capitalist relations and autocracy in Russia-these are the main ideas of Bolshevik printed propaganda connected with this part of the "workers' question."

The proletariat's awareness of its own strength opened the way to a solution

62 Ibid.

63 Askhabad, 9. I. 1907, N 6.

64 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 25, part I, p. 217.

65 Borba, Riga, 17. I. 1907, N 12.

66 See Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 12, p. 108.

67 Borba, Moscow, 20. III. 1907, N 1.

68 Severny rabochy, 11. II. 1907, N 5.

69 Cit. by: Kirtovsky I. H. Uk. soch., pp. 42, 43.

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challenges facing the Russian revolution. It was impossible to allow the anti-labor parties to drag the proletariat "to their professional quarters," to pit one section of it against another, to isolate the factory proletariat, thereby weakening it, and narrowing the social base of both the working-class movement and the revolution. The press called on the workers to unite in a common struggle against capital. The exploitation of the entire working class by capital, and the consequent necessity of class resistance-this is the basis for unity. Russian proletarians lived and worked in various conditions - in industry, agriculture, transport, in large and small cities, etc. "But no matter how different these conditions may be," one of the newspapers emphasized, " they do not give a significant difference of interests. Wherever the worker works, he is equally interested in the elimination of exploitation, and everywhere he has only one means to achieve this goal - an organized struggle against entrepreneurs. " 70
Of course, the working class is not homogeneous. It must be borne in mind that surplus value is created only in industry and agriculture, but workers in the sphere of circulation are also exploited. This is the key to the unification of the proletariat 71 . Undoubtedly, the industrial worker is distinguished from the whole class: he "works in social enterprises, processes the social product with social instruments of production, and works in the masses." But this is not a reason for its separation from other categories of wage workers. On the contrary, it should become the core around which the entire class will rally. The whole class must be imbued with the" social psychology " of the industrial worker. 72 The organization, ideological character, and revolutionary character of the factory proletariat must become the property of the entire class.

During the revolution, bourgeois ideologists tried to persuade the workers to fight not for their own class interests, but for "national"ones. The Bolshevik Novy Luch wrote that the non-Proletarian parties, instead of a general policy of the working class, impose on it a special policy of railway workers, clerks, etc., and instead of unification, they preach " fragmentation and alienation of one stratum of workers from another"73 . Vestnik Truda exposed the Cadets 'attitude to the "workers' question." In the old days, the proletarian was treated as a creature of the lowest order. Now the worker stands with his head held high, straightened his bent back, realized his strength and rights, and formed his own party. And the worker was "courted": "There is almost no political party that does not try to win him over to its side. Work-loving behavior is becoming an epidemic." The cadets are particularly trying to divide the workers and tear them away from the Social-Democratic Party. "But an alliance between the workers and the Cadets is unnatural." 74
The process of consolidation of the proletariat was facilitated by press coverage of the strike movement of 1905 and 1907. The universality of economic and political demands, the persistence in achieving them, the course of strikes, and the government repressions to which the strikers were subjected-all this aroused and instilled in the workers a sense of militant solidarity, and gave them a clear understanding that the revolution taking place in Russia by means of struggle was proletarian. The powerful actions of the proletariat revealed its class consciousness and organization-

70 Metal worker, 27. VI. 1907, N 16.

71 Ural, Orenburg, 27. I. 1907, N 7.

72 Maltsovsky rabochy, 16. II. 1906, N 5.

73 Novy Luch, 24. II. 1907, N 5.

74 Vestnik truda, Ekaterinoslav, 29. X. 1906, N 4.

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This is a new feature. A review of the strike movement in the first weeks of 1905 enabled many newspapers not only to show the successes of the working class, but also to discern the direction of the future struggle and express confidence in its final victory. It became traditional for the press to summarize the May Day holidays, celebrated in Russia by workers ' militant actions.

The general strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers played a huge role in raising the class consciousness of the proletariat and in understanding how the "workers ' question" should be solved. Almost all the newspapers wrote about it. The correspondence reflected the ideological struggle for the masses that marked the strike. By mid-June, many speakers arrived in the city, who opened the "free People's Faculty of Social Sciences" on the Talka River. Naturally, the first open resistance to the economic and political domination of capital, such as this strike, made the Talka rallies the scene of a real battle for the minds and hearts of the masses. Under the influence of Bolshevik agitation and propaganda work, the political consciousness of the strikers grew. If in the first few days the workers did not even want to hear anything "about the tsar," then two weeks later political speeches began to prevail, then they turned into detailed economic and historical lectures on the 8-hour working day, surplus value, American trusts, and so on. 75 The general strike in Ivanovo-Voznesensk stirred up the entire mass of the working class and changed their traditional worldview.

Consistent and persistent press coverage of the "workers ' question" in 1905 - 1907 helped the working class and the broad masses who belonged to the proletarian vanguard to realize the depth of the revolutionary processes and the goals of the revolution. The task of the Leninist party was to form a revolutionary proletarian consciousness and expand the ranks of ideologically mature workers who were actively engaged in uncompromising class struggle. "This is the greatest and last of the great bourgeois revolutions," wrote the Bolshevik newspaper. "In its thunderclaps, one can already hear the echoes of another, even more beneficent thunderstorm that is approaching the entire capitalist world and is bringing about its complete collapse - the complete renewal of humanity." 76
The Bolsheviks put forward social alternatives that went beyond the existing relations of ownership and political domination. Marxism "gave the proletariat the most powerful tool for organizing the vast masses - a correct scientific theory." 77 The Marxist interpretation of the" workers 'question" called for a revolutionary transformation of the world. The Bolshevik press, which , according to Lenin, should and did reflect all aspects of the working - class movement , 78 shows that in the course of the revolution "the leading role of the proletariat was fully revealed,"79 and the second social war of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie was manifested. The press makes it possible to trace the direct interaction of the ideological work of the Bolsheviks with the practical task of mobilizing the advanced proletarian masses to fight for the development of the democratic revolution into a socialist one, which opened up the historical prospect of the birth of a new social system in Russia.

75 See Rozhkov N., Sokolov A. About 1905. Memoirs, Moscow, 1925, pp. 37-38

76 Novaya zhizn, 11 (24) .XI. 1905, N 10.

77 Proletarian, 18(5). III. 1908, N 24.

78 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 4, p. 328.

79 Ibid., vol. 3, p. 13.

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