During 1896–1897, a long series of strikes forced the government to grant, on 16 June 1897, the law that lowered the duration of the working day to 11.5 hours. Commenting on those facts, the 7th issue of Rabochaya Mysl (July 1899) wrote that "a struggle of that kind, the struggle for the reduction of the working day, is a political struggle and constitutes an effective example of class consciousness".
