PARTISAN REVIEW
their wives during the war. Only Max declined to take a
"share" in the business. He said he could not be a boss 'and a
communist at the same time. He was ready to quit; but he was
a good pocketmaker and they let him stay in the shop.
The worker-bosses watched one another suspiciously. They
remained in the shop every evening, fingering the coats, putter–
ing about the fitting table, admonishing the finishers, acting
like real bosses, relieving the Toporovs of the slave-driver's
task. They worked extra hours and counted the number of
coats produced each day. In the street they talked coats. They
came home late in the evening and talked coats to their wives.
They talked of the "corporation" even in their sleep. Many
of them discovered they were "bookkeepers." They wrote
figures on greasy scraps of paper which they carried about in
their vest pockets.
But the profits did not come. The workers were told to
increase production. They were bewildered. The young men
complained that they had never been driven like this before.
They quarrelled among themselves. The shape-sewer ac–
cused the pocketmakers of slowing up the work. The pocket–
makers said the stitcher was sabotaging on the pocket flaps.
The seam-presser complained that the seams were so narrow
they couldn't be ironed atall.
The bosses insisted they were losing money. They said
they were unwilling to tax the workers' investments and in–
stead demanded that a per capita charge be levied on the pay
envelopes every week until the losses were covered.
Max Silverberg protested that the Pretifit had become a
racket. The workers threatened to strike to get their money
back. As an answer to the strike threat, the Toporovs brought
in two machinists who began dismantling the plant. Truckmen
carried the machines down to a truck. The workers stood with
bowed heads.
M ax and some of the others who were the heart of the
rank and file committee in the shop decided to hold an open-
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