Nevertheless, they now had many things in common. They were suffering the same ordeal, living in the same jail, being bound in similar chains, doing the same menial work, eating the same unsavory food, wearing the same blue uniforms, and enduring the grip of the same hostile government and jailers. Leading a life that was perforce largely collectivized and maddeningly leisured, they were gradually drawn to one another, especially the better educated and more experienced among them. After all, different as their backgrounds had been, they were politicized intellectuals whom the government saw fit to put together behind bars. Therefore, it was plausible that they might find it convenient to share their diverse intellectual interests