New about the manufacturers of Batashevs
These strikes in 1903 were not only an expression of the spontaneous discontent of the masses, they were directed, also organized by the will of the party. The new year 1904 did not bring peace to the authorities. The working masses continued to worry.
In February 1904, in the guise of telegrams on the course of the war over the Cartridge Plant, the Tula Bolsheviks scattered and distributed proclamations: "To All Russian Workers", "Autocracy in the Dock" and "On the Patron Factory Workers" printed on the hectograph.
Appeal "To the workers of the Cartridge Factory" -workers read aloud in the workshops.
The agitation of the Bolsheviks for the strike was accepted willingly, inclined to stop work. The reason for the strike was then that the lower administration of the Master Cartridge Factory, by virtue of the subsequent order, was overly strict in accepting old sleeves after washing them.
The masters demanded very often the impossible. The workers spent a lot of time in vain, that with the piece-rate payment of their labor reduced their earnings.
There were other circumstances that weighed down the chamber and evoked in them an angry resentment at the then existing state of affairs.
February 26, 1904 The cartridge factory stopped, the workers had already given up work, but then the administration intervened and prompted the workers to continue their work.
The Tula workers were impressed by the grandiose demonstration of workers in Tver, successfully passed Tver example called for struggle.
After the failed strike on February 26, the Tula Bolsheviks planned a strike in a week, which they decided to start on Patronnoye, and then, in case of luck, extend it to other factories and factories.
Among the requirements worked out then were: 9-hour working day and an increase in wages.
Considering that the Patron Plant took an urgent order from the naval department, they believed that the strike should have yielded victorious results.
But the strike in March did not take place.