Once, after ten years had passed, Ernest made a calculation from figures furnished by the chiefs of the Fighting Groups, and his conclusion was that the average life of a man or woman after becoming a member was five years.

The comrades of the Fighting Groups were heroes all, and the peculiar thing about it was that they were opposed to the taking of life.

They violated their own natures, yet they loved liberty and knew of no sacrifice too great to make for the Cause.* * These Fighting groups were modelled somewhat after the Fighting Organization of the Russian Revolution, and, despite the unceasing efforts of the Iron Heel, these groups persisted throughout the three centuries of its existence.
Composed of men and women actuated by lofty purpose and unafraid to die, the Fighting Groups exercised tremendous influence and tempered the savage brutality of the rulers.
Not alone was their work confined to unseen warfare with the secret agents of the Oligarchy.

The oligarchs themselves were compelled to listen to the decrees of the Groups, and often, when they disobeyed, were punished by death--and likewise with the subordinates of the oligarchs, with the officers of the army and the leaders of the labor castes.
Stern justice was meted out by these organized avengers, but most remarkable was their passionless and judicial procedure.

There were no snap judgments.