The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-07
THE CZARDOM OF MOUJIKs.
An Extreme Democratic Type of Government
Within the Autocrat's Domains.

THE CZARDOM OF MOUJIKS.
An Extreme Democratic Type of Government
Within the AutOcrats Domains.
st. Petersburg Letter in New York Press
In Russia there are two distinct and even in
compatible czardoms that of the Car and that
of the moujiks The former is an extreme type
of the patriarchal, monarchical, and despotc
state. and the later is extreme type of democ-
racy. A natural and inevitable collision between
the two, particularly after the liberation of the
serfs is at the bottom of the revolutionary move
ment of Russia, known under the name Of
Nihilism. The whole world has witnessed how
in a decade the Cars autocracy, the most abso-
lutte government of our time, has dwinded into
a shadowy power, such as formerly was pos
sessed by the Mikado of Japan. Indeed it is a
curious historical fact that while the Mikado was
getting transformed into veritable Czar, the
Gar was shrinking into an invisible and i'm
potent Mkado.
When people abroad speak of Russia they usu-
ally mean the czardom of tn Car, for the ear
dom of the moujiks remains terra incognita and
yet in it lie the strength, wealth, and hope of all
the Russias People say here that the Gar is
going to reform the peasantry. 1t seems to me
with medieval armor leading robust country
youth of our day There are many unmistakble
signs that even if the Nihilists were petrifed
the czardom of the Czar would pass away and
the czardom of the moujikS expand and flourish
For over five years an imperial commission
has been sitting here, charged with the duty OF
revising and reforming the local government;
and yet. except collecting some crude material
on the question 1t has done nothing And, iE
fact, if it should sit twenty-five years more Il
would be no nearer the attainment of it's object
than it is now. The trouble lies III the very ma
ture of the undertaking. The moujiks by them
selves constitute an organized and solid political
body, which existed before the Cars appeared in
history, and which will live after the Cars have
along with the Pharaohs become historical bal
last. To bring about perfect harmony and un-
derstanding between the moujiks and the Gar
would practically amount to the same thing as
reconciling the people of the United States to a
king. Russian village is republic in l,inia-
ture. Its administrative, judicial and econom-
cal affairs are conducted by the villagers them
selves and on plan III direct opposition to the
spirit and letter of the imperial laws Now
what the commission is expected to accomplish
is to place the village under the immediate con
troll of the crown officers That would be job
to which even the anti Nihlist struggle could
not hold candle. Two years ago four scnarors
together with number OF learned Professors
and lawyers and scores Of clerks, were sent to
study the mouJiks and their system OF govern
menL IneE nave brought back here Sons OF
written papers. The substance Of their weighty
record is that 1.-The in0ujk is unmanage ble.n
But it was an urgent question how to manage
the moujik and so the government ventrred to
call few little parliaments in order to solve
that momentous issue number of governors
We're ordered to come here and give their views
The governors answered that they needed big
ger salaries, for it was hard task to manage the
moujiks. The governors were dismissed, and Il
number of former serfholders were called IN
They limited at policy which amounted almost
to the restoration of the old regime. In theiI
turn the moujiks ought to be consulted. Bur
who does not know their mindo '.Let US aloner
that is what the moujiks have repeated fo
centuries
With each century the number of mddcmen
that swarm around the mouiiks has increased
A hundred thousand clergymen stand between
the moujks and their God. Hundreds of thou-
sands of civil and military officers stand between
them and their hereditary conqueror, the Car
Hundreds of thousands OF merchants stand be-
tween them and the consumers of their products
These middlemen would have eaten the moujiks
all up long ago if they had not possessed almost
miraculous vitality
The Genus of Russia in 1882 showed that there
2l ,203. 307 horses in that country. and that
of this number the peasantry owned only 2437.-
800. AS there over 10, 000, 900 peasant fami-
les therefore out of every FIVE families only one
has horse. But farmer who has no horse OF
his own cannot conduct his farm with profit n
himself. If the moujtks did not hold land il
common they would certainly have become
body of boggars long ago. As the imperial tax
collectors seize and sell for taxes horses. oxen,
cows, sheep and pigs, so the number of domestic
animals is rapidly decreasing among the peasan-
try. Nevertheless the husbandry of the mcu-
iiks is far better developed than that of the Gar
Nearly all the arabic lard Of Russia is now in
the hands of the peasantry chiefly owned and
partly rented. They buy the land collectively,
either as communes or as associations.
In places where the moujiks manage to sava
something, after paying tho imperial tax col
lectors, they appear at their best. There they
have schools hospitals loan and savings insti~
tutions, granaries modern agricultural imple-
ments, and some factories. Thus in the Novor-
jew district of the Pskov province, where the
moujiks dstil spirits out of potatoes they save
their grain for themselves. Their public gran
aries are full, and they have loan and savipg
institution from which every villager can gee
both seeds and money. They also in com.
mon agricultural machines, which only rich lan0
owners could afford to have In Wow of such
facts the imperial government finds it more al
vantageous to loan money to the peasants than
to somebody else During the last two Years,
through the socalled Peasant Land Banks the
government haa loaned TO various village come
munes and moujik associations over ten millioI
rouhles.
The mouiik GASES to be found in the wider
ness of the empire give us some idea how things
will be managed when the cZardom of the mou-
jiks at last gets ridof the Gar. Being born
democrats OF an extreme type, the mouiiks will
show the world something original With thelE
alteration of Mir, the People their scomClunal
system Of land possession, and their admirable