MUSCOVITE LABOUR TROUBLE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7719, 23 January 1905, Page 3

MUSCOVITE LABOUR TROUBLE

;" STRIKES EXTENDING. Appeal to 'The Little Father." St. PETERSBURG, Jan. 20. The strikers' petition to the Cz a r complains of the workers' desperate ' condition through the deprivation of J their human rights, ami expresses ' loyalty to the throne. It adds : i "Be merciful, and let us live. If ' left in.our present condition we pre- .' ?*? to die." t ! Crowds parading the streets coin- j! pellcdTOe owners of many factories J to close. The strikers entered one | Government printing oflice and fore- i ed the employees to leave. i' Five thousand men at the works, j' seven thousand at the cartridge f a c- ' tories, eight thousand at the rail- , way carriage works, and many tex- i s tile operatives have struck. I Seven arrests have been made of I: students and Jews rioting with a red .' flag at Riga. " DISSATiSFAGTiOii SPREADIHG. A COMMERCIAL AXD POLITICAL CRISIS. (Received. Jon*. 22, 4.19 p.m.) St. PETERSBURG, Jan. 21. The strike is rapidly spreading. * Seven thousand men employed in the l Alexandrovsky machine works and ' the Baltic cartridge factory came J out, also thousands of Stiegliz's and Thornton's cloth weavers and other operatives, as well as thousands of other workmen employed in the paper mills. State playing cards factory, State and private distilleries, rubber factories, soap works, the Imperial glass factory, and civil employees from the arsenals. Every industry is paralyzed, and when disturbances occur the police i are powerless, and do not attempt to ( stem the movement. L Owing to frequent threats of vio- , lence and incendiarism troops are '■ , kept under arms, but are ordered to !. do their utmost to prevent bloodshed. Several quarters of St. Petersburg are in darkness owing to the strike, which has affected the electric lighting. No newspapers were published in St . Petersburg to-day. The printers struck, and threatened to smash the machinery if the managers attempted to defy them. When six thousand steel workers at the Government metal works at ' Ohutkofl struck General Vlassieil, the ' director, vainly emphasised that 800 of them who were reservists would I not be sent to the far East because ' they were needed at the factory, al- ; thjugh they were liable to service. MINSTERS REFUSE MEDIATION. STRIKE LEADER ENUMERATES ' POSSIHLE RESULTS. (Received Jan. 22-, 4.20 p.m.) ' St. PETERSBURG, Jan. 21. ! The Russian Ministers for Finance ' and the Interior have refused to receive a strikers' deputation, and the ' strike is now rapidly becoming a political movement. A great demonstration opposite the Winter i Palace is being organised for to- j morrow, under the auspices of the 'i priest Garpon, who has tremendous 't influence amongst the workers. i Garpon, on being interviewed, ad- I mitted that) he was formerly an agentof the Holy Procurator," but since M. de Piehve's death he had become tt sincere reformer. The strike was not commenced until the Prefect , of Police had intimated that the demands would be rejected. Political reforms must precede economic concessions. "If," said Garp o n, "the police or Cossacks olistruct the way to the Palace I shall be the first to fall ; but our blood shall accomplish more than the most successful * agitation. We go as loyal citizens ' to obtain a hearing from the Czar, 1 and if we fail we will have proved to • the world that a peaceful agitation ' is useless, but that we must try ' some other means. We have not I- < lied Prince Mirski that we desire to meet the Czar. If we are refused there will be a terrible uprising, for we expect half a million people in the vicinity of the Palace, including ] one hundred and. thirty thousand i workmen." The Prefect of Police has warned the people that neither gatherings , nor processions will he allowed. I Strikers coerced one hundred and , seventy factories into joining them 1 on Friday. Eighty-eight thousand i men have now struck. DEYELOPKG INTO POLITICS. DIRECT SPEECH WITH CZAR WANTED. (Received Jan. 22, 4.30 p.m.) St. PETERSBURG, Jan. 21. Representatives of the workers, at a meeting in the Winter Palace Square on Sunday, will seek to pre- j sent a petition stating that the limits , of endurance have been reached, and ', that the workers are being stifled ] by the despotism of the bureaucracy, which is ruining the country. The workers were not consulted with regard to the shameful war which is bringing about the country's downfall. The Czar is urged to destroy the wall of officialdom, and to rule with the people through a constitutional assembly elected bv secret ballot. . The strikers fUeclare thait despite the warning of the authorities that they will employ, forcej they intend : to meet unarmed, and wish the Czar personally to receive their petition. : They decline to transmit it through i', official channels. j The 'priest Garpon (or, as he is ' also called, Sapon) will head the J procession, carrying a cross. I A detachment of the Moscow Regiment, stationed at St. Petersburg, i refused to interfere at the Schap- ' schel tobacco factory, and returned to barracks. Although fifty thousand troops nrc on duty night and day, the strikers boast that they do not fear violence since the soldiers and workmen are at one. The middle classes also sympathise with the strikers.