DEATH OF A SHOP
and would not support a capitaltst war. He said that if all the
workers quit making ammunition and uniforms, the soldiers
couldn't go on and the war would stop.
The old guard said his ideas were good but they were not
practical. Now they oiled their machines more often. They
shortened the lower straps and the machines grunted and rode
on the goods without a hitch.
Soldiers were killed and the dollars of the Pretifit Com–
pany multiplied by the thousands. The Toporovs now owned
a hotel in the Catskills, cottages with fluted columns in Mount
Vernon, stocks in Wall Street, and bottles of whiskey in the
pigeonholes of the office desk.
Nathan, Karpov, and Tony Maspero married and bought
victrolas with painted panels of Cupid and Psyche and Athenian
warriors. One of the pocketmakers who could "fling in' - fifty
pockets an hour, broke down at the bench. He was crazed by
the terrific strain.
1\1
ax Silverberg was taken into the shop
again to replace the broken man.
l\lax was a fast pocketmaker too. But he was not as fast
as the other. His hair was grey. His moustache, too, showed
streaks of grey. Only his eyebrows were still black as charcoal
and the glitter remained in his eyes. He was married and had
a little girl whom he called "the comforter of myoid years."
He theorized a lot, cutting the air with his thumb, like a
Talmud student. The shop called him "Radek." He always
spoke of the World Revolution. He said he was a member of
the Communist Party. . I-Ie said the Anarchists were doomed
to disappear from the labor movement because of their con–
tempt for organization. According to him the United States
was rive for socialism. Only, the workers' minds had to be
prepared. He was very happy in the company of the old guard:
;'>;athan Golub, l'vlaxim Karpov, Tony
Ma~pero
and the two
women growing old in the Pretifit Shop.
III.
About this time the Pretifit Company said the workers
37
