Zola's tale of working life, "Germinal" (1885), exposes the inhumanconditions of miners in northern France in the 1860s. By Zola's death in1902 it had come to symbolize the call for freedom from oppression soforcefully that the crowd which gathered at his State funeral chanted"Germinal! Germinal!". The central figure, Etienne Lantier, is an outsiderwho enters the community and eventually leads his fellow-miners in a strikeprotesting against pay-cuts - a strike which becomes a losing battleagainst starvation, repression and sabotage. Yet despite all the violenceand disillusion which rock the mining community to its foundations,Lantier retains his belief in the ultimate germination of a new society,leading to a better world. "Germinal" is a dramatic novel of working lifeand everyday relationships, but it is also a complex novel of ideas,vigour and power.