THE LIBERALS START TO WAVER
Every judicious observer of party relationships in Russia should have been able to predict what is happening now, a matter referred to many times in this column—the Russian “liberals” are changing sides already to join the counterrevolution! These upright citizens had already taken sides after the Bułyginist† miscarriage of the first “Duma” project. Their participation in elections—conducted under an electoral law akin to a bloodstained Cossack parody of the Prussian and Austrian systems of electoral injustice—cemented their resolve to bring the period of open and revolutionary mass conflicts to a close. The grandiose and unanimous rising of the urban proletariat, and the unprecedented general strike called by the railroad workers, shook the racketeer band of tsarism and all liberal circles for a while. The absolute ruler of all police spies and pimps coughed up a new constitutional manifesto, but the gentlemen liberals merely made faces and held their tongues, as implacable as rock when faced with the demand of at least granting universal and equal suffrage.
And now the general strike has ended, for the simple reason that a single general strike cannot continue indefinitely. In smashing the “Duma” smugness it has done its job, and now the class-conscious proletariat is gathering strength and ordering its ranks, before swinging to deliver a new and yet more conclusive blow. This momentary laying down of arms is sufficient for both the absolutist Black Hundreds and the liberals to recover, and for them to swing, more decisively than before, to join the counterrevolution. As soon as the first shock resulting from the proletariat’s display of power is over, the angst and the hatred of property owners and of the privileged toward revolutionary high-handedness comes into its own. And just as the greatest manifestation of the industrial proletariat known to date exits, the dreadful spectere of the peasants’ revolt takes the stage! The result of this rapid transformation is the Zemstvo Congress currently taking place in Moscow.
One after the other, from north and south and east and west, the gentlemen representatives of the zemstvo rush in with hasty, trembling votes of confidence for the remnants of absolutism, for this government of arsonists, thieves, and contract cut-throat killers; and of [today’s] Louis [XVI].‡ Landowners, threatened and quivering with angst, are seeking shelter under the zemstvos’ wings against the revolution, in which, just in accordance with the Communist Manifesto’s old recipe, the question of ownership is being pushed ever-more into the foreground. Just as the government gang have done, the gentlemen liberals have chosen the same “constitutional” cover as the medium of transition to the hegemony of counterrevolution—shifting the constitutional question, including the question of electoral law, onto the “Duma,” elected through unjust elections by curiae* to the exclusion of the revolutionary mass proletariat, and to the exclusion of the democratic intelligentsia. The concessions of the last manifesto shall yet again remain a tsarist lie, the “Duma” shall take power as a result of a sham electoral law, and in that house, in the name of “the people’s will,” the people shall get another square blow to the head.†
This whole lovely sum will most certainly be nullified by the determined attitude of the proletariat, and by the peasants’ movement, whose momentum cannot now be stopped. The Zemstvo Congress is itself an important symptom for the ferocity of class and party struggle that will soon take pole position in the Russian Revolution. The emergence of two camps becomes ever clearer. More and more peasants and members of the armed forces are moving under the banner of the industrial proletariat, while all bourgeois elements of the opposition move ever-more openly under the banner of “order.” This can only serve the cause of both the revolution and the proletariat. History wants to serve us up the purest wine. So much the better.
THE SECOND DAY OF THE ZEMSTVO CONGRESS
Moscow, November 20. The Zemstvo Congress is continuing its negotiations today about relations with the government and with Count Witte. The representatives from Chernihiv and Saratov tabled the motion to grant the government a vote of confidence on condition that they convene a Constituent Assembly. The representative from Orel stated that he would only grant the government a vote of confidence if they abolished state of emergency legislation. The representative from Stavropol drew attention to the threat posed by the agrarian movement, and added that this movement is going to destroy Russian civilization(!). A Saratov representative countered that claim, explaining this movement is no cause for concern; the peasants are being led by agitators. The initiators of this unrest must be treated with contempt, and an objection must be voiced against the strikes. Prince [Pyotr Nikolaiyevich] Trubetzkoi added that if the congress didn’t support the government it would generate the impression that everyone was dissatisfied with the manifesto of October 30(!!). Everyone must rally round this manifesto, as the alternative is a rule of terror. Redner proposed requesting the government to build a commission made up of representatives from the zemstvos, the towns and cities, and upper secondary schools, who should draft an electoral law for the Imperial Duma. The Kazan representative then added that the population is against the Constituent Assembly(!). The Petersburg representative moved for support for the government and a period of waiting for the Duma to meet, that being the only institution suitable for creating laws to protect freedom. The Novgorod representative tabled the motion that the fundamentals of the October 30 manifesto be accepted, and that we align ourselves with the government. This was seconded by a representative from Saratov. The Tver representative only wanted to grant the government a vote of confidence under certain conditions. The sitting was then postponed until the following day.
The congress for peasants is composed largely of town-dwellers, low-level employees, and journalists, with only a small group of peasants themselves. The managing director of a petrol company has been chairing this conference.
Petersburg, November 20 (report from Petersburg Telegraph Agency). In Kostroma an assembly of the Constitutional Party passed a motion that all zemstvos and municipal authorities must attest to their confidence in Count Witte, that being the only method of pacifying the disturbances and strikes.
ON THE STATE OF SIEGE
Łódź. November 20. A number of confectioner’s shops were occupied by the army this evening; all guests were interrogated and many were arrested.
THE JAPANESE DEFEND RUSSIAN “ORDER”
The Daily Telegraph reports from Nagasaki: Peace has been re-established on Russian prisoner transport ships. Admiral [Zinovy Petrovich] Rozhestvensky decided to dispense with further Japanese protection. However, Japanese torpedo boats are still guarding the transport steamer Tambov that went to sea today. Disaffection is evident among Russian prisoners in Kokura, Fuknoka, Kurume, and Kurmamoto.
REPARATIONS FOR CHINA
Washington, November 21. China has demanded reparations worth 20 million dollars in compensation for the damages that China incurred during the Russo-Japanese war.*