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Updated: June 7, 2025
It was long after midnight when Jurgis lay down upon the floor of Ostrinski's kitchen; and yet it was an hour before he could get to sleep, for the glory of that joyful vision of the people of Packingtown marching in and taking possession of the Union Stockyards! Jurgis had breakfast with Ostrinski and his family, and then he went home to Elzbieta.
There were his Packingtown experiences, for instance what was there about Packingtown that Ostrinski could not explain! To Jurgis the packers had been equivalent to fate; Ostrinski showed him that they were the Beef Trust. They were a gigantic combination of capital, which had crushed all opposition, and overthrown the laws of the land, and was preying upon the people.
Ostrinski explained the organization of the party, the machinery by which the proletariat was educating itself.
He had had more of his share of the fight, though, for just when Socialism had broken all its barriers and become the great political force of the empire, he had come to America, and begun all over again. In America every one had laughed at the mere idea of Socialism then in America all men were free. As if political liberty made wage slavery any the more tolerable! said Ostrinski.
"You must excuse me, comrade," he said. "I am just tired out I have spoken every day for the last month. I will introduce you to some one who will be able to help you as well as I could " The messenger had had to go no further than the door, he came back, followed by a man whom he introduced to Jurgis as "Comrade Ostrinski."
That all this wonderful machinery of progress had been created by his fellows Jurgis could not believe it, it seemed too good to be true. That was always the way, said Ostrinski; when a man was first converted to Socialism he was like a crazy person he could not' understand how others could fail to see it, and he expected to convert all the world the first week.
So far, the rule in America had been that one Socialist made another Socialist once every two years; and if they should maintain the same rate they would carry the country in 1912 though not all of them expected to succeed as quickly as that. The Socialists were organized in every civilized nation; it was an international political party, said Ostrinski, the greatest the world had ever known.
The man thought for a moment, and then turned to his friend. "Who is there, Walters?" he asked. "There is Ostrinski but he is a Pole " "Ostrinski speaks Lithuanian," said the other. "All right, then; would you mind seeing if he has gone yet?" The other started away, and the speaker looked at Jurgis again. He had deep, black eyes, and a face full of gentleness and pain.
Comrade Ostrinski was a little man, scarcely up to Jurgis's shoulder, wizened and wrinkled, very ugly, and slightly lame. He had on a long-tailed black coat, worn green at the seams and the buttonholes; his eyes must have been weak, for he wore green spectacles that gave him a grotesque appearance. But his handclasp was hearty, and he spoke in Lithuanian, which warmed Jurgis to him.
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