The Jungle eBook   Chapter 9   Also the union made another great
difference with him—­it made him begin to pay attention to the
country.  It was the beginning of democracy with him.  It was a
little state, the union, a miniature republic; its affairs were
every man’s affairs, and every man had a real say about them. 
In other words, in the union Jurgis learned to talk politics. 
In the place where he had come from there had not been any
politics—­in Russia one thought of the government as an
affliction like the lightning and the hail.  “Duck, little
brother, duck,” the wise old peasants would whisper; “everything
passes away.”  And when Jurgis had first come to America he had
supposed that it was the same.  He had heard people say that it
was a free country—­but what did that mean?  He found that here,
precisely as in Russia, there were rich men who owned
everything; and if one could not find any work, was not the
hunger he began to feel the same sort of hunger?   Project
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