STREET FIGHTS IN MOSCOW
Moscow, December 24 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). Today the insurgents rebuilt the barricades at all the points where they were destroyed yesterday. Brest Street is full of barricades right up to the train station. Cannons have been brought into action again on Strastnoi Square. At the Patriarch Ponds, on Bronnya Street, at Karetnyi Rjad, the Petrovka, and the Tverskaya, rebels are exchanging fire with troops. In the plundered Von Thorbeck arsenal, an “infernal machine” exploded last night, causing the neighboring Hotel Metropole to be set on fire.† The fire was soon extinguished. An attempt made to plunder the Van Brabetz arsenal turned out, however, to be unsuccessful. The shooting let up this morning. Two hundred had been counted wounded by early this morning. The number of dead has not yet been determined. The artillery has been firing against the barricades since early this morning. Firemen set fire to the barricades. Clashes, which kicked off on the Tverskaya and on other streets, became particularly heavy on the Tverskaya Boulevard and the surrounding streets. The rebels wounded twenty gendarmes. There were also clashes in the suburbs this evening. A bomb was thrown on the Sretenka. The stations are occupied by troops. The Union of Unions passed a motion to maintain the general strike, but not to participate in the armed rebellion.
Moscow, December 25 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). Three hundred men from a revolutionary militia arrived here this morning at around 11 a.m. on a special train into Perovo station belonging to the Moscow–Kazaner railroad: 2,000 striking workers gathered in this railroad’s locomotive depot, including a few hundred men belonging to revolutionary militias. The crowd then occupied a neighboring grocery store, and shot at troops standing beside the station, who returned cannon shot. At around 1 p.m., the building burned down in which the grocery store was housed. Meanwhile, revolutionaries in the Yaroslavl railroad workshops fired at the Nikolayevsky railway station, in the vicinity of the store. A detachment of grenadiers responded from the roof of the station. Lyubertsy and Perovo stations, where red flags are flying, are currently in revolutionary hands.
The Local Advertiser publishes the following private report: Petersburg, December 26, 11:40 p.m. Terrible news has arrived from Moscow about the street battles from the last few days. Around 10,000 dead and wounded are said to have been counted in the city. The battle is still going on, especially around the train stations and the factories of the Prokhorovs, where 3,000 armed workers engaged in combat with the military who wanted to disarm them.* The battle lasted all day long, resulting in many dead and wounded. Then the revolutionaries fired at the prison, whereupon the military guard returned fire. The revolutionaries are building barricades ceaselessly, which the artillery then shoots down. The military is staying loyal to the government; the soldiers who haven’t sworn the loyalty oath are locked into their barracks. The instigators intend to build a ring of barricades around the center of the city, in the hope that the military will finally join them. The artillery destroys the barricades with grenades, while the fire brigade sets light to wooden obstacles. During one meeting with 10,000 participants, it was said that soldiers were also present. It was proposed to give them an ovation, applauding their attendance. Yet in doing that, a rumor started, spreading the misunderstanding that the military were coming, and a terrible panic ensued. Everyone started running away, leading many to be crushed and wounded. It was decided during the meeting to lock up Admiral Dubasov, the governor-general of Moscow, and the city’s chief of police, Baron Medem.
The following report from London: London, December 27, 12:20 p.m. According to the latest news that has arrived in Petersburg by railroad via Odessa and from Moscow, as telegraphed to the Times, the revolutionaries have captured the Sukharev Tower on Sadovaya Street and have positioned machine guns there. On the Red Square, enormous crowds have gathered, where a heavy battle is being fought out. The First Don Cossacks, the Tver Dragoons, and the Resoizer Infantry have mutinied and are being held under arrest at barracks. Attempts to capture Nikolayevsky station failed. At least 2,000 persons had been killed by Sunday. On Monday, Admiral Dubasov telegraphed that 15,000 persons are dead and wounded, with him calling the situation very serious. According to the latest news, the situation has not essentially changed. The revolutionaries are not making progress, but they are not yet showing any signs of exhaustion.
GENERAL STRIKE AND STREET BATTLES IN SOUTH RUSSIA
Petersburg, December 27. The Petersburg Telegraph Agency disseminates the following report: The general strike began in Kharkiv on the twenty-fifth of this month. Artillery fired two shells destroying the walls of the Helfreich factory, where workers had locked themselves in. Workers rushed to the scene from the locomotive factory to relieve their comrades, and threw two bombs. There were also armed clashes at the train station and in the middle of the city. According to the official report, nine persons were killed, more than 200 wounded, and 138 arrested. There were many disturbances during the night. A strike broke out yesterday in Odessa. Even the pharmacists are on strike. Work has stopped in the port. Steamers cancelled their trips. Goods trains are not departing: passenger trains are traveling as far as Zhmerynka. The port workers have decided to protect the population in the event of disturbances. At Kozaityn Station clashes erupted between workers and troops. Six rail employees were killed, and roughly fifteen wounded. The arrests are continuing in Saratov.
Kiev, December 27. Attempts to initiate a general strike have succeeded. Factories, schools, [drivers of] horse-carriages, and railroad administrations are all striking; the newspapers, too, are absent. On three separate occasions during recent nights, the gendarmerie forced entry into the apartments of the most highly regarded families and searched the properties. The mass arrests have continued. This has caused such a stir that the general public has killed two spies on the streets, in broad daylight. The military have posted sentries on all streets. The Black Hoard is being held at the ready; they have slaughtered two Jews. A bloody confrontation played itself out at the train station, between revolutionaries, strikebreakers, and the military.
BLOODY BATTLES IN CENTRAL RUSSIA
Tambov, December 24 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). The cities of Tambov and Kozlov and the administrative districts belonging to them have been declared to be under the rule of martial law. A state of siege has been imposed on more than ten other municipalities and their districts. The brigadier, Lieutenant General Klawer, has been granted the authority and powers of the governor-general. Bombs and weapons were sequestered during the arrest of a crowd of armed people.
GENERAL STRIKE AND STREET BATTLES IN THE CAUCASUS
Tbilisi, December 26. Here, the Mohammedans and the Armenians* have agreed peace with each other, while the strike of the postal civil servants, however, continues and has developed into a general strike since yesterday. The Social Democrats have seized the railroad. Transports have been reduced to a bare minimum. Street battles are taking place in other localities between Socialists and Cossacks.
UPRISING IN LIVONIA
Königsberg in Prussia, December 26. The following news has been received from Liepāja via Chernyshevskoye. by courier and from a reliable source, and dated December 23. From it we conclude that the situation in Liepāja must be seen as very serious. Due to the strike of the post, telegraph, and rail civil servants, which recommenced recently, the city is more-or-less entirely cut off from the rest of the country and from abroad. Utter anarchy prevails in rural areas, and remote country districts are in complete disarray.
SEMI-OFFICIAL PACIFYING LIES
Petersburg, December 27 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). All newspapers appear again in the city today; a large section of the factory workers is still on strike. Murders of police officers in working-class districts occur often, and small clashes with Cossacks also occur. Operations have not yet started on all routes of some rail companies, for example on the Baltic Railroad. Attempts are being made on the border to disrupt services on the Warsaw Railroad. Government circles are of the opinion, as communicated in Slovo [The Word], that peace will be restored in Moscow in two or three days. The destruction caused by cannon shot is very large indeed. Yesterday evening, the closure of the sprawling Ushnerov printing works was begun, in which insurgents had held police officers and other persons captive. The bombardment was still continuing at 11 p.m.
ARRESTS
Petersburg, December 26 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). During a meeting last night, the whole general staff of Petersburg’s “armed cohorts” was arrested: a total of forty-nine men including Engineer Schulman, the staff leader. The authorities sequestered plans, official papers, infernal machines, and other weapons.
Petersburg, December 23 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). In view of the strike, all assemblies of a public or private character in the city at which political or economic matters are discussed have been forbidden until further notice.
The right to vote for the Imperial Duma has been granted to the following categories by imperial ukase: (1) Owners of real estate which is liable to taxation, providing that they have owned the same for at least one year; (2) owners of industrial enterprises which are liable to taxation; (3) persons who pay personal property tax; (4) persons who pay business tax; (5) persons who possess a property in their own name; (6) persons who receive a salary from the state, the zemstvos, municipal councils, or the railroads; these persons also have the right to participate in the urban voters’ conferences. Workers from factories with fifty or more workers have the right to send delegates into the electoral assemblies on the following basis: workers from factories that employ between fifty and 1,000 workers may send one delegate; and workers from factories that employ over 1,000 workers may send one delegate per 1,000 workers. The actual voters will then be voted by these delegates.
The first Duma sitting can be opened after the senate has published a list containing at least half of the total number of members of the senate. The emperor* has ordered the votes to be speeded up, so that the minister of the interior can take measures ensuring that the Duma can assemble as quickly as possible, and so that the same institution can announce special instructions concerning co-option votes.