The mighty struggle against tsarism has now been set al.ight across the board. The general strike by the railroad workers, at present the Russian proletariat’s storm troops, has struck out explosively in every direction, halting transport throughout almost the whole country. One group of the post and telegraph civil servants has also joined the strike. This also has the effect of markedly decreasing the flow of news about events in the tsar’s empire. What does get reported is evidence of the present struggle catching fire across a much wider front and with much greater determination than before.
In the country’s principal cities, in Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw, the general strike prevails. Trade is also largely quiet and even the drug stores are closed. Train stations and post offices have been occupied by the military. There is a threat that basic foodstuffs and heating fuel could run out. There have been no clashes as yet, but this is merely the calm before the storm. The bourgeoisie are panicking, and there’s a general dread that awful disturbances will break out. The tsar himself is apparently in a state of utmost agitation and is determined to escape the threatening storms by fleeing abroad.
Despite this, the government persists with its politics of stubbornness. No one talks now about the convocation of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of general and equal suffrage. In its place, they really believe that they can placate the masses by handing out little cubes of sugar. Mr. Witte is going to proclaim the freedom of the press on Friday, and other “further important concessions” are being considered. But that will not be enough to fob off the people. Under the guise of press freedom, they are attempting to intoxicate the masses on a grand scale, just as the government itself has managed to leak in a corrupt kind of open-heartedness. The revolutionaries have already gone and seized press freedom for themselves anyway, as they have done for freedom of speech, despite all the spies and tsarist thugs. And what use is unlimited freedom of the press to the people, if it should not be the means to fight to gain the rights to legislate, that they are currently demanding? That is why the “liberal” Mr. Witte’s methods of baiting and placating will only serve to pour oil on the flames, and fan the flames of the masses’ “covetousness” even further.
Tsarism has missed its chance. Too often has it used false promises to fool the people, and too frequently has it brutally administered blue pills to those demanding bread and freedom. The former naive trust in Little Father Tsar is, since the Petersburg blood bath, long buried, and the amount of respect accorded to the power of bureaucracy and the bayonets is no less shaken. The proletariat and those bourgeois classes that have united themselves with it are utterly resolved. If absolutism wants to try its luck in a bloody test of its power, then the folk will not even shirk street battles!
IN AN ARMORED TRAIN AGAINST THE STRIKERS
Scherl’s newspaper* received the following from Petersburg on October 26: On the Nicholas line, five versts† from Petersburg, a 5,000-strong bunch of striking workers began to destroy the railroad line, aiming at stopping every connection to Moscow. The telegraph and telephone connections were destroyed in the same manner. Just as this had been achieved, the postal train from Moscow came flying toward them—the train driver noticed the demolition job and was able to stop the train on time. The raging crowd gave the train’s staff a good hiding, yet did not touch the passengers. They shut off the engine’s steam, and the travelers had to hike on foot to Petersburg, their hand luggage on their backs. Military staff dispatched an armored train to repair the demolished railroad, with the railroad-cars at the front and the locomotive at the back.‡ The soldiers were ready to shoot immediately, if the strikers harassed them. Engineers were able to repair the rail line.
ON MOSCOW’S STREET BATTLES
The previously cited paper received the news yesterday that Count Khilkov, the Transport Minister, wanted to leave the city yesterday evening, but nobody was prepared either to drive the locomotive, or to accompany the train. Whereupon the minister stated that he would drive the train himself. After a small train had been made available, Khilkov got everything in the train ready for departure, and then got into the locomotive. However, a group of rebels then shot at the train, forcing Khilkov to turn back. It was not until midnight that the count was able to finally leave the city. The railroad workers are now starting to proceed more actively. They are using violence to thwart every attempt to restore traffic. The clashes with the military and the police result in heavy street battles. Work has been stopped in the main post office in all departments since yesterday evening; the telegraph office continues to function, but only under strong military protection. The destruction of the waterworks had triggered a panic, but now, after a short interruption, they are working again. Water is available. However, the water workers are saying they would now strike, if the revolutionary leaders demanded that of them. Municipal workers and lower-level employees are threatening more general strike action, to include nursing staff at municipal hospitals and technicians at the central electricity works. October 28 will be the decisive day. Many engineers have already gone out on strike, as have all pharmacists. The police have closed down the Pharmaceutical Society and sealed off their local meeting hall. A number of pharmacists have been arrested. The employees are also prepared to join the movement.* Workers have walked out in many factories starting from today, including in the brandy distillery. Terrible ferment is everywhere. Colossal meetings and assemblies are taking place daily, especially at the university. Political leaders consider that the time is ripe for a general strike, and open revolution may become reality inside the shortest space of time.
A telegram submitted to the Petersburg Correspondent yesterday evening reports about the character of this mass movement. Following a motion at the mass assembly at the university yesterday, all workers on all Petersburg railroads have joined the strike today. The workers from the Putilov Works† assembled this evening, and will probably join the strike on Monday. Everything has been proceeding peacefully until now, with the leaders seeking to avoid street skirmishes. All train stations are now guarded by troops, and gendarmerie patrols are moving through the streets. People are expecting a general hike in foodstuff prices that, in case the strike goes on for long, could lead to conflicts on the street in the end. The atmosphere among the workers is very sophisticated, and the mass assemblies held recently at the higher education institutions have contributed considerably to this. Speeches with utterly revolutionary contents are made at these assemblies.
For the first time, the new movement is assuming forms of a really deep-reaching mass movement. The government, which had intended to publicize the four freedoms and legislation for the Duma, has now postponed this action. The current railroad workers’ strike has put it into a state of substantial anxiety, and it is now discussing ways and means of emancipating itself from the current situation. It now also appears to be tending toward the use of violent means. Witte continues to take the stage in the name of moderate liberalism, but the speech he gave yesterday made an extremely bad impression.
DREADING THE IDEA OF PROLETARIAN RULE
London, October 26 (Laffan’s News Agency).* The Times reports from Petersburg that panic is spreading throughout Petersburg’s population. People fear that the government could be toppled, and that the rule of the proletariat could be announced. Open outrage dominates proceedings in southern Russia. The workers are putting up barricades and barbed wire fences.
THE TSAR FLEES ABROAD:
London, October 26. The Standard reports from Petersburg, that the tsar, currently in Peterhof, is considering leaving for Denmark, where he wants to stay for two months, in order to recover after the recent excitement. Provisionally, the tsar plans to remain with his family in Denmark until Christmas. During his absence, Witte is to be trusted with the widest powers of attorney and to be equipped with a regent’s decision-making powers.
According to one interpretation, the tsar intends to recover from his overstrained nerves in Darmstadt.† The only strange thing is that he envisages his stay abroad as only lasting two months. Has he really tricked himself into thinking that peace will have come back to Russia inside two months? The kind of revolution that has broken out in Russia nurtures itself by stretching for years and assuming an ever-more radical character. Little Father should rather use his idleness abroad to study the English and the French revolutions!
WITTE AS PROPHET?
London, October 26 (Laffan’s News Agency). According to a report from Petersburg in the Daily Mail, Count Witte concluded a speech held before a delegation of strikers on Tuesday by stating, “I only see two ways out of the present situation. Both are bloody. The state must either use military force to suppress the revolt, or civil war between the people and the rebels must be declared—as it is not entirely impossible, that the current breaches of the peace could lead to the fall of the Russian government.”
It is quite possible that Witte thinks things of this sort, but it does seem pretty improbable that he should have articulated it so frankly to the strikers!
THE STRIKE EXPANDS
Wolff’s [Telegraph Office] communicates the following semi-official Russian news items:
Petersburg, October 26. The rebellion spread this morning into the world of trade, meaning that stores were shut.
Petersburg, October 26. All warehouses and stores are closed in the Vassilevsky-Ostrov district. The post and telegraph offices are under military guard. The printing works are still operating.
Moscow, October 26. The situation gets worse by the day, with the number of fluctuating protests constantly growing. The Muscovite Rayon has reserves of coal for his factories for a month, and there is only enough wood to last for the next ten days. All drug stores were closed yesterday.
Petersburg, October 26 (report by the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). At an assembly of railroad employees held yesterday evening, they announced that the administrative staff of the southeast lines in Vologda have also joined the strike, together with the First Societies of Local Lines.
Kharkiv, October 26. Two thousand people assembled in the university barricaded themselves inside after seeing that military forces had surrounded the building; they were released after long negotiations between the professors and the military authorities. Participants then continued the planned assembly in the open air with the approval of state forces.
Kursk, October 26. After receiving the strikers’ demands, governmental institutions—along with other, self-governing institutions—have suspended their activities.