The Revolution in the Factories
8. The Question of Overseers.
It was against the overseers and the foremen that the workman first made use of his newly acquired power. The duties of an overseer are as thankless as those of a non-commissioned officer. The rigid discipline of the workshop, the inexorable punctuality, may be necessary for the carrying on of the work, but the enforcing of it is hardly pleasant, and the position of the man who must constantly remind the workmen of their duties is not to be envied. The overseer is rarely popular, even when he is just, and is heartily disliked when he is unjust, brutal, or when he abuses his power, which is very great, to benefit those who curry favour and make life impossible for such as refuse to sacrifice their manly dignity. Now this happens more frequently than one would think in every country, and no one will be surprised when we say that in Russia it was more frequent than in any other country, first because political and police tyranny favoured it, even invited it in a sense, for abuses of power in all forms were prevalent;
45
