Chapter 442 Parade

Montovsky is a senior engineer in a machinery factory in St. Petersburg. He earns twice as much as ordinary workers and enjoys various subsidies and holidays. He was a middle-upper class before the war.

But the good days were only before the war. After the outbreak of the war, prices in Russia rose at an alarming rate. The salary that Montovsky was proud of could barely maintain the food and clothing of himself and his family.

You know, this was only possible under the premise that Montovsky's wife also worked in the machinery factory.

If only one person had an income, I'm afraid the living standard of Montovsky's family would drop a level.

On a morning when the sun was not bright, Montovsky came to the factory early and went to his workstation.

As a senior engineer in the machinery factory, Montovsky's status was higher than that of ordinary workers, but only a little higher.

Except when there was a problem with the factory machinery or when new machinery and equipment were installed, Montovsky's status would be higher. In other cases, he was no different from ordinary workers.

They also need to work overtime, work on the production line, and be deducted wages for various reasons, or even directly deduct most of their wages.

But there is no way, Montovsky needs to make a living, and he can't give up this job that is several times higher than the average income.

Just after arriving at his workstation, the factory manager issued a message that the factory needs to work two more hours of overtime tonight.

Overtime in this era is different from that in later generations. Not only is there no overtime subsidy, but even overtime is free.

But there is no way, no one dares to refuse the overtime proposed by the factory manager unless he wants to lose his job.

What's more terrible is that these capitalists who opened factories have some power and connections in the local government.

If you offend your boss to death, you will not only find no job in the entire region, but you will even be targeted by those capitalists. At the least, your family will be broken up, your wife and children will be separated, and at the worst, your family will die without a burial place, becoming another dead soul in the chaos of Russia.

In this cannibalistic era, money and power are the most important things. If you have money, you have power, and if you have power, you have money.

Whether it is capitalists or high-ranking nobles, they all have unparalleled rights in Russia. Ordinary people are like lambs to be slaughtered. In addition to enduring the exploitation of the government and capitalists, their lives are in danger at any time.

In particular, some capitalists colluded with local officials. During the war, they could easily accuse anyone of deliberately destroying the production of war materials.

This crime is a capital crime for ordinary people, and what fate they will end up in depends on the mood of the capitalists.

Montovsky sighed quietly, but he was helpless in the face of the requirements of the factory managers.

Ironically, Russia openly implements an eight-hour work system, which is a world apart from the actual working hours of Montovsky's factory.

Montovsky's normal working hours are about 12 to 14 hours. Including overtime, the working hours are at least about 14 hours.

This working time level is nearly double the working time system in Russia.

This also means that on the premise of completing the standard eight-hour work system every day, most Russian workers have to "voluntarily" work overtime for more than six hours without pay.

In fact, this is nothing. At present, all the major European countries involved in the war generally have a high intensity of overtime, and the average working time per person exceeds eleven hours.

But the problem is that European countries will at least give a little symbolic overtime pay for overtime, instead of compulsory unpaid overtime like Russia.

Even if a little living supplies or food is distributed, it is enough to calm the hearts of restless workers. Unfortunately, Russian capitalists can't see the current situation of workers at all, and even if they see them, they won't care at all.

"Hey! Montovsky, will you participate in the run the day after tomorrow?" The middle-aged man next to Montovsky asked Montovsky carefully after seeing the factory manager walk away.

"Running? What is that?" Montovsky had a question mark on his face. At this time, who is still in the mood to run?

"It's a strike organized by the Workers' Union. This is extremely confidential news. Man, don't tell others." The middle-aged man looked around again with a cautious face, and then whispered.

Although strikes and marches can be seen everywhere in Russia, it does not mean that doing so is legal.

As the Tsarist government had strongly suppressed several demonstrations before, people who participated in the demonstrations, especially those who organized the demonstrations, would be sentenced to death.

Even ordinary workers who participated in the demonstrations would face imprisonment. If they were discovered by the factory managers, they would not only lose their jobs, but also be in danger of their lives and those of their families.

"Workers' Union? Is this a new political party?" Montovsky asked curiously.

Although Russia is a Tsarist autocratic country, there are many political parties in Russia, and they can even be called diverse.

Of course, a considerable number of political parties are illegal, and members of these parties will also be suppressed by the government.

"It's actually the Bolshevik Party, you know." The man explained with a smile.

Although Arthur had already asked the Royal Security Intelligence Agency to clean up the political parties in Russia, it was impossible to completely eliminate these revolutionaries.

These political parties thought that the Tsarist government had purged them, so they chose to hide their identities and use new party names to carry out activities.

The workers' party headed by the Bushevik Party still has a considerable position in the hearts of most Russian workers.

It was not just Montovsky. A large number of Russian workers were quietly drawn into this big march, and it has even spread to other areas outside St. Petersburg.

While the undercurrent was surging, Nicholas II was also making his own plans in St. Petersburg.

Since Nicholas II became the commander-in-chief of Russia, the Russian army's offensive has not made any achievements, making the situation on the Russian front and in the country worse and worse.

The army and the people pointed their spearheads at Nicholas II. After all, he was the supreme leader of the army and a well-deserved scapegoat.

Although Nicholas II's military talent was not high, in terms of political ability, Nicholas II was definitely a qualified monarch.

In order to minimize one's own responsibility, it is necessary to find a scapegoat.

On October 19, 1916, Nicholas II convened a military meeting in St. Petersburg, nominally to study Russia's offensive plan for the next year.

This meeting attracted a large number of Russian military leaders, including the commander-in-chief of the Russian Southwestern Front and the commander-in-chief of the Northwestern Front.

The discussion on the operational plan for the next year that the Russian military leaders imagined did not happen. Instead, at the beginning of the meeting, Nicholas II loudly questioned the two commanders-in-chief of the Russian front, questioning why the Russian army had not achieved significant results so far.

The two commanders-in-chief immediately broke out in cold sweats, and they also understood at this time that Nicholas II wanted them to take the blame.

Before the two commanders-in-chief could make any excuses, Nicholas II looked at other military leaders again and asked meaningfully: "Everyone, are you determined to seek justice for the dead soldiers, your brothers, subordinates, and comrades, and investigate the real reasons for the failure of the war?"

"Yes!"

The military leaders' answers were very quick, although a little uneven.

It was actually time for the military leaders to take sides. Nicholas II's attitude was very clear. He wanted to let the two commanders-in-chief take the blame and put the responsibility for the failure of the war on the former Russian commander-in-chief, Grand Duke Nicholas, and the two front-line commanders-in-chief.

Others had only two choices: either become Nicholas II's accomplices and help Nicholas II to confirm the guilt of the two front-line commanders-in-chief.

Or, the military united as one and opposed Nicholas II's blame-shifting behavior, but it was very likely that Nicholas II would be dismissed.

Their positions or the lives of their colleagues, these Russian military leaders quickly made a choice.

Soon, all kinds of reasons were thought up by these military leaders. Not only did the two front-line commanders bear the crime of poor command, but even the logistics department, which had been cleared before, was also charged with withholding supplies and colluding with domestic and foreign capitalists.

In the announcement issued by the Russian government the next day, it can be seen that Nicholas II and the Russian government shirked most of the responsibility for the unfavorable war and put all the pot on the front-line commanders and the logistics department.

Because the government announcement stated that the logistics department colluded with domestic and foreign capitalists, many Russian factories were also investigated. The owners of these factories were all well-known Russian capitalists and the culprits who colluded with the Russian logistics department.

But this made the workers in those factories suffer. Because the factories where they worked were investigated, they temporarily lost their jobs.

Greedy capitalists would not pay their workers when they could not go to work, which also caused about tens of thousands of workers to be affected and temporarily lost their source of income.

Although the government announcement stated that the investigation of these factories and capitalists would only take a short time, the factories would reopen soon.

The temporary lack of income still made many Russian workers panic. If they did not go to work for a day, their wives and children would not have food for a day.

At such a moment, the Workers' Union took the opportunity to introduce a regulation that all workers participating in the march would be given a certain amount of food for free.

This can be said to have solved the urgent needs of those workers, and in a very short time, it also attracted more workers to participate in this large-scale march that was about to break out.

Attracted by the food, many workers signed up enthusiastically, and the number of people expected to participate in the parade quickly exceeded 100,000.

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