The camp of tsarist counterrevolutionaries is behaving like headless chickens, in a way apparently unparalleled in history. In the face of the obvious breakdown of the whole state machinery of absolutism, the stupid thugs cling rigidly to the inalienable vested right of the nagaika, still believing that [the truncheon] can impress somebody. A daily briefing from Minister Durnovo states categorically that the Association of Post and Telegraph Civil Servants will not be tolerated under any circumstances! Those civil servants who continue to strike will be “dismissed from service” at all costs, while those who “initiate disturbances” and cause damage to the networks and to expensive equipment will be prosecuted in court. Actions of this type would mean “public insurgency and rebellion.” Five hundred thousand roubles were allocated to support post and telegraph civil servants in mid-November. In distributing these funds, only those civil servants returning to duty will qualify, who have previously been recognized for their “industriousness.” They are intending to add insult to very real injury, and to bribe the rebellious slaves of the state with “support.”
These clumsy bellows of the reaction serve of course only to fire up the strikers. An assembly was held in Petersburg, attended by 2,000 people, in which a continuation of strike action was voted for by all but one participant.
The executive committee of the Council [Soviet] of Workers’ Deputies adopted a resolution, which declared that, in light of the unavoidable breakdown of the old system, it would be to the proletariat’s advantage to postpone the decisive blow. The Petersburg Workers’ Deputies Council is therefore not yet giving the signal for the general strike.
Rus’ reports on December 7 that those considering establishing a military dictatorship in Tsarskoye Selo have postponed introducing that institution until a larger uprising should break out. According to rumors circulating, the Black Hundreds are planning a rally, during which the Petersburg newspaper printing houses will be raided.
All these rumors should lead us to expect longer and more acute fighting in Russia. Yet it does give us the chance to see for the umpteenth time who is the author of the bloodshed, the abominations and the civil war, who is doing the provoking, and who is deliberately stretching out and exacerbating this terrible crisis—is it the revolutionary mass of folk, or is it the blindness, the selfishness, and the criminal lack of discernment displayed by the guards of the current “order”?
Petersburg, December 10 (via Chernyshevskoye). The peasants’ disturbances are taking on ever-more threatening dimensions, and some have now begun in the immediate vicinity of the Moscow–Kursk railroad. The peasants are not only setting fire to country residences but are also threatening the train stations. (As reported, please note, by the semi-official telegraph agency.) The empire’s “peaceful population” can see no other remedy for the “soothing of troubled souls” than the rapid convention of the Imperial Duma. In answer to requests of this sort, Count Witte replied that the Imperial Duma would assemble soon. An alteration to the voting law has however not yet been announced. In a similar vein, the world of trade is protesting against Durnovo’s position in the post and telegraph strike, which has already led to unrest on the streets of Moscow. The arrests of the organizers and the office members of the Association of Post and Telegraph Civil Servants in Moscow will more likely nourish the movement than cause it to stall.
From Moscow, Novoye Vremya [New Times] telegraphs: The stock exchange is very troubled by reports from Vyshny Volochyok, where workers have threatened factory overseers with death and have already stabbed one. (Obviously a semi-official, fake news item.) In the factory in Tver, workers have decided to take on the leadership of the works.
THE MILITARY REBELLION
The Frankfurter Zeitung has received this report: Petersburg, December 11. General Linevich has recommended that the army be withdrawn rapidly, otherwise military revolts in the Far East are unavoidable.
On the tenth of this month, the following report from Warsaw: Mutinies in individual parts of the military are now happening more often in Poland. Yesterday afternoon three military bands paraded through the city, playing peace songs and followed by a large crowd of folk bearing red flags. That evening, the fourth battalion of the Keksholm regiment of the Austrian Kaiser’s Royal Guard mutinied; it has been locked into the barracks. It is said that a large rally is being planned for tomorrow from the military’s side.
As reported from Moscow, the troops there are divided into two camps, one of which is loyal, the other—and the more significant—being revolutionary minded.
The officers of the latter camp attend meetings in uniform, at which they give speeches.
Warsaw, December 10. Police officers in the city have gone out on strike. The Chief of Police responded by removing all of them from their posts.
RAILROAD WORKER STRIKE BREWING
In Riga, an assembly of railroad civil servants was dispersed on Friday evening, using armed force. Machine guns were also put to use for this purpose. The number of dead is said to be significant. Machine guns have also been moved into position in the street. The train connection between Riga and Petersburg has been suspended.
A NEW PARTY NEWSPAPER
The prospectus for the first big daily newspaper of Social Democracy, which should be published in the next few days, has been sent to us from Warsaw. The paper will be called Trybuna Ludowa [People’s Tribune], and can count among its staff Bebel, Kautsky, [Paul] Singer, Clara Zetkin, and further leaders of French and Dutch Social Democracy.
We send the new comrades our most heartfelt, fraternal greetings!