Part III: Chapter 1-5 Summary

As time goes by and with a lot of help and advice from Catherine, Etienne Lantier becomes a good and respected hewer. Their friendship solidifies, despite the events of the first days of Lantier's career. While he stays at The Advantage, Etienne meets with Souvarine, a Russian anarchist who has taken refuge at the tavern of Rasseneur. The three men hold long discussions concerning the future of the workers. Souvarine is an extremist; he pleads that the only solution to the political problems of the working class is through total destruction of everything.

After consulting with his friend Pluchart, Etienne Lantier creates a new local division of the "International". During the celebration of the Ducasse (a local tradition in the north of France), Lantier tries to convince the workers to join along and help him fight capitalism...