Up until now, the explosion that many sides have anticipated in the principal cities has not occurred. Police and military authorities seem to only have avoided street battles in several cities by bowing to the conditions of the masses of the people; by letting the imprisoned go free and allowing the demonstrators complete hegemony on the streets. Whether or not this lenience betrays the powerlessness of authority, whether the police and troops could not be trusted, or whether an unusual restraint was imposed because it was thought that hunger would drive the strikers back into the factories in the end, cannot be clearly discerned. It is, however, probable, that possibly reckoning on hunger forcing the breakdown of the movement is an error. The crisis is by no means over, and moves daily into a more acute phase. Not only does the general strike hold its own everywhere, it continues to stretch and expand.
Now, for example, 100,000 workers are striking in both the city and region of Łódź. The spirit that possesses the souls of these workers is evident not only from their heroic perseverance in the strike, but also from the contents of their proclamations, and the applause that greets their revolutionary speeches. Wide classes of the intelligentsia and of the bourgeoisie are being torn forth toward the same revolutionary decisiveness by the workers’ imposing methods. Which is why it is extremely likely, if the tsarist representatives don’t manage to agree upon last minute, far-reaching concessions, that heavy street fighting can be expected.
However, there appear to be valid reasons for assuming that, if it comes to clashes, the trust in the armed forces is shaky. Sources say that hundreds of soldiers have been arrested in Łódź, because they refused to shoot at the demonstrators. Similar happenings are reported from other localities. And it is not only the sons of the working people who appear to have gained consciousness of the disgraceful role that is imposed upon them—many officers are also said to be contributing to revolutionary propaganda.
And this is how a Russian correspondent reports about the following Pamphlet of the Revolutionary Officers:
Comrades! We are experiencing a difficult and earnest moment in our fatherland’s interior politics. At the very least, it would be dishonest to stand apart as a cold-blooded and non-empathetic observer while this series of incisive experiences unfold, happenings that fly over us faster than the wind, and catch up all classes of society, from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high, in their wake. Each and every social class of our fatherland offered up its representatives, gifted warriors for this shared, holy, dear and now-unstoppable cause, the liberation of our fatherland and of the people from the Tatar-Turkish despotism of the disreputable, florid, hyper-thieving, spiritually and morally desensitized bureaucrats of every rank and position, from the field usher—the drunk, thief and robber of soldiers in a company—to the general of supplies, from the master-sentinel, who accepts “small gifts” for forbidden “enterprises,” to the powerful police leaders, who have to receive “visiting presents” according to their rank, from the popes who steal from the peasants, to that creature, who twists Christian teaching in Russia, and martyrs 130 million people in religious and moral terms, and whose name is [Konstantine] Pobedonostsev.*
And what is happening now in holy Russia? The blood of brothers is being spilled everywhere! The whole of Europe is shaken by an impression of scandalous bestial acts. And we, the representatives of a well-organized and tremendous power, continue to sleep in our swamp—with its thick crust on top of us—of caste interests, small-minded office politics, romantic adventures, staged historical plays—a small garrison’s iniquities! Comrades! We are playing a despicable and unworthy role. We, who are so proud of our officers’ honor, we, who form the height of the armed forces of a country who has trusted to us the protection of the inviolability of our imperial territory and of the moral and material interests of the nation, we, who in our vocation should hold high the flag of the chivalrous virtues of protecting the weak, and of supporting the rule of law, the legal system, and justice—what are we now? Where have we been brought to recently by our utterly shaken government, which continues to only consist of a heap of creatures—omnipotent purely as a result of our incomprehensible support—courtiers, knights, cowering behind the ramparts, and at its head a policeman, with a nightstick in his hand and a nagaika† down his boots?
And we’re meant to serve such a government? A government that is bankrupt and beaten in all positions of domestic and foreign politics, a government, which curses and humiliates us, not only as army officers but also as human beings, which, with its dreadfulness, tactlessness, baseness and cruelty of soul, insults us, only to hide behind our bayonets and cannons in moments of utter confusion and panic. Is such a government worthy of our support, a government by the police force, a government of violence, despotism, of theft and of murder?
Comrades, enough! Reflect and remember how they maltreat us every minute and every step of the way. One hint from some miscreant from the gendarmes or the police, stating that the public is “restless,” suffices to lead us demonstratively onto the streets to curse and violate the embittered crowd that then expresses its hate against us. We are kept under arms without a break, and left prey to the uncontrollable power of the police, who do with us as they will, as if we were their servants, and servants without honor or a sense of shame at that.
Comrades! We cannot reanimate the colossal corpse of autocracy, which has started to rot, and all our bayonets are nothing in comparison to the people’s cudgel. We therefore do not want to wait for the end of autocracy, but to cross over instead to the side of truth, of the law, of the oppressed people, before it is too late. The well-being of the people is our well-being, the happiness of the nation is our happiness, and its unhappiness is our unhappiness. We therefore want to stretch out our hand to our younger brothers in order to drive away our common enemy, insulter and oppressor. Comrades, arise!
CATCHING UP WITH THE TSAR, OR A DEMONSTRATION OF THE FLEET
A private dispatch brings us the following report from Kiel. The Schleswig-Holst[einische] Volkszeitung has reported: The Third Torpedo Boat Division, Lübeck, the turbine cruiser and the Hamburg cruiser all received commands yesterday, via an imperial cabinet order, to be ready to sail. The cruiser Hamburg and the torpedo boats would pick up the royal family in Peterhof; the cruiser Lübeck would be stationed in Klaipeda, in order to ensure the safety of the route. The royal family would then be transported to Kiel.
This attention-grabbing headline has meanwhile reached several Berlin papers. Yet one interpretation is that the flotilla has set sail in order to protect the German embassy, as that latter institution is already lost at sea.
The deployment of the German aid fleet—did Russia request it, or does it result from Germany’s own initiative?—casts a very dim light on the Russian situation. Have we come to this, that the “Admiral Over the Peaceful Ocean” has to be saved from the wrath of his own people by foreign ships? As it happens, it is highly probable that the tsar will feel even safer in Copenhagen than he would in Kiel.
Yet we do not want to suppress a final assumption in this regard. Perhaps the purpose of dispatching the fleet has been completely misunderstood, as it possibly has nothing to do with saving the tsar. Perhaps it rather has to do with a demonstration of the fleet against the impertinent maltreatment of both Germans at the hands of those same brazen border Cossacks,* who later threatened to arrest the district commissioners leading the investigation [against them].
VICTIMS OF FREEDOM
Odessa, October 30. It is impossible to determine the numbers of victims of yesterday’s disturbances with any degree of accuracy, as the cemetery and hospital administrations are strictly banned from giving out information. The police removed the corpses and the wounded themselves, the number of which must be very substantial. The authorities are showing no confidence in the infantry, and are confining them to barracks; they are only using Cossacks and the gendarmerie. From behind a barricade, a student shouted to a group of Cossacks rushing by that instead of shooting at their brothers, who are fighting for the freedom of a common fatherland, they’d do better joining the fighters instead. To which the Cossacks responded with four salvos, killing one person and injuring around forty. Whereupon the remaining persons—numbering several hundred, and until this point still uninjured—dove, chased by the Cossacks, into the nearest houses, barging into strangers’ apartments or hiding themselves in the lofts, or on the rooftops. Turning many private apartments into field hospitals in the process.
Kiev, October 29. Despite the governor-general threatening to bombard the city, the revolutionary movement endures. At the university, the military and a large crowd of the people clashed. More than 1,000 persons were wounded. The authorities arrested the leader of the radical party, Attorney Ratner. News from the provinces is alarming. There are reports of large-scale bloodshed in Poltava.
THE FERMENT GROWS
Moscow, October 28 (report by the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). The excitement among the population persists. This morning, the authorities’ lackeys forced all stores to close, with the exception of the little colonial goods stores. Clashes with the police broke out at several locations, particularly at the Panagia Portaitissa Gate, where many people were wounded. Armed students have barricaded the university and are guarding it. In the interior of the building a group of students are ready to go into action, in case a bunch of reactionaries from the Okhotny district of the city—who already mugged and mistreated students this morning—should renew their attacks. The telephone service in the city is suspended. Members of several theaters are contributing to the political strike. After an enquiry from the city administration, workers’ delegates have declared their readiness to ensure that the operations of the municipal waterworks will be resumed, but only under the condition that the workers have complete control over the waterworks, that these workers may select appropriate engineers, and that they have the right to themselves determine when they interrupt operations. The city administration plans to communicate their response this evening. A large assembly took place at 3 p.m. this afternoon, with participation from the local council, representatives from the zemstvo, the nobility and academic societies, the press, and, finally, associations and executives of all parties. In passionate talks, the speakers argued for the armed struggle and the introduction of a welfare committee. Telegraphic communication with Petersburg is only possible through a single wire from the governor-general’s house. Various groups of workers, particularly the printers, have joined the strike.
Warsaw, October 30. Today, the factories, banks and other institutes are closed. Streetcars are thrown over or set alight from time to time. Strikes are starting in provincial cities. The situation is especially critical in the city and region of Łódź. Over 100,000 workers are celebrating there. In the Suwałki Governorate, armed bands have destroyed eleven shops that enjoyed the monopoly on spirits.
Warsaw, October 30. A gendarme has been killed in the suburb of Praga.
Łódź, October 30. All the stores are closed here. A few businesses that had opened were smashed up. Several thousand workers processed through the streets and tore up flags that had been hoisted to mark the court holiday today. Military patrols fired off blanks. A bloody confrontation is expected.
Łódź, October 29. Three bombs were discovered today during a house search. The owners were arrested after firing at the police.
Warsaw, October 29. Employees of the Vistula Railroads have responded to management demands to recommence work by stating that this cannot be negotiated, until their delegates, imprisoned in Petersburg, are released. Newspapers in the city weren’t published; special supplements with the dispatches from the Petersburg agencies were the only thing that was published; these supplements have to pass a particularly strict censor. The authorities have officially informed local homeowners that they will be held responsible for excesses that take place in their houses.
Riga, October 29. The excitement continues to grow. All educational institutions, warehouses and factories are closed. The streets have been filled with workers, who impede every form of transport. All business is at a standstill. A colonel has been shot on the street.
WORKERS’ DEMANDS IN PETERSBURG
A sitting of the municipal Duma was held on Sunday in Petersburg. The public had packed in tightly; the entrances were manned by numerous police officers. Thirty workers’ delegates presented themselves before the Duma, lodging the following petitions:
(1) The workers insist upon their general, well-known demand for rights of freedom. (2) The city should provide for nourishment for the workers for the duration of the strike. (3) Although the workers do not want to see the water supply being destroyed, they demand the immediate withdrawal of the troops guarding the water supply. If this doesn’t happen, the water supply should be destroyed. (4) In the future, the city should no longer carry the costs either for the state police, or for the Cossacks, who are deployed against the citizens. (5) The city should guarantee the personal safety of the delegates, as it is possible that the governor-general will order their arrest. (6) The city should give the workers weapons and constitute a citizens’ militia, enabling the workers to guarantee peace, safety and order. The Duma promised to give its response to these demands by Tuesday. The strike was also proclaimed yesterday on the Finland railroad from Petersburg to Beloostrov,* on the Russia–Finland border.
WILL A REAL CONSTITUTION BE GRANTED?
Petersburg, October 30 (report by the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). An imperial manifesto is due to be published this evening, appointing Count Witte as prime minister, charged with the task of unifying functions of government that will in turn grant bourgeois freedoms, a law-enacting Duma and the extension of the right to vote.
STREET FIGHTS
Petersburg, October 30. Reports continue to reach us from the provinces regarding the spread of the strike and the ferment, which has led to bloody clashes in several localities. In the Baltic Sea Provinces, Riga and Tallinn are the stage for bloody scenes. Several confrontations with the troops occurred yesterday in Riga, with injuries inflicted by shots and by close-combat weapons. In Tallinn, the rebels passed the motion to enforce their political demands at all costs. During the confrontation, troops fired off two salvos, killing forty-five persons and wounding roughly the same number again. In Odessa, the disturbances took on a much more serious character, with the military blocking off any access to the university. The mass of workers flooded into the streets, closed the shops, cafés and restaurants, and threw over streetcar compartments. The police removed the field hospitals from the city. On Richelieu Street, Cossacks clashed substantially with rebels, who had erected barricades. Several people were wounded. Barricades were also constructed at other points in the city, and around twenty persons were killed and roughly 200 wounded. The Cossacks took down the barricades toward evening, but access to the port remains blocked by the military.