Justice May 1908
Source: Anon, “4,000 Stocking Workers in Wilno and Witebsk (Russia) on Strike. Appeal for Help,” Justice, 23rd May 1908, p.4;;
Transcribed: by Ted Crawford.
The foreign committee of the Bund appeal to the comrades, the workers of all countries, to come to the aid of the 4,000 strikers in the provinces of Wilno and Witebsk. The ridiculously low wages have during the last two or three years been further out down by the employers from 20 to 30 per cent., so that lately a third of the employees earned only from two to three shillings weekly, and half of them from four to five shillings. It is unnecessary to prove that existence becomes impossible under such conditions. The employers, however, rejected the demands of their workers to increase their wages to their former level, with the result that 1,500 workers went out on strike in February last, and in the following weeks the rest joined them. All of them have declared their determination rather to die quickly of starvation than submit to conditions which mean nothing but slow torture.
The time is very favourable for the struggle, as the season has commenced and the firms are unable to carry out their orders, thanks to the determination and unity of all the strikers. Unfortunately however, all their means are exhausted, and it is but the duty of their brothers in other countries and trades to come to the rescue quickly and thus enable them to continue the struggle and carry it to victory, which is now in sight. Contributions (stating that the same are for the strike fund) to be sent to Imprimerie Israelite, Rue de Carouge 81, Geneva Switzerland.