The Labor enquirer., 1886-03-13
THE HlHILlsTsl
rcsncluded .trsn nrst pass.1

WnOl0 clV1lI8oQ V0IIu - ~ mu
interest3d in Russian affairs.
Every demonstration against the gov
ernment is an open revolt and rebellion,
but owing to the lsck Of means for
proper organisation tits suppre ssed at
the very start and given to the world as
q local affair.
The Nihilists have declared OF en- hos
tility and made such demands as would
satisfy the most conservative people OF
Europe or America. The executive
committees letter to Gar Alexander
TT. reouested nothing more than call
on the part OF the government for ma
tional assembly, the delegates to be
elected by the people to whom at least
for that purpose free speech and free
nress be granted, and whatever such an
assembly shall determine, be their plan
radical or most conservative, the Nlnn-
lists would agree upon.
Since that demand was made the
baneman's work has been increased.
That alone should have been sufficient
for the whole civilized world to enlist
their sympathies and help the Nihillsts,
but alas TIE most civilized country,
free America. had at that very time on
her soil a Nihilist whose life
was in danger if not hidden; Jim Blaine
hel d the portfolio of secretary OF state
and was inclined to surrender the very
man who wanted md did no more than
Jim himsef is ex pected to want ana do
as an American citizen. Hartman had
to flee from the land of the brave and
Mr.. Blaine was rewarded by nomina-
ton to the highest Office of public trust.
Whose sympathies should the Rus
sian people expect? Bismarck's. King
Williams or Francis Joseph's2 That OF
France, Switzerland and America? The
former two little republics are them
selves liable to be crushed bV their tY-
rannicle neighbors England, is occu-
pied with the Irish question Ireland
in turn fiatters the czar in conflicts with
England; Bismarcks and kings are, to
say the least, enemies to any adyanc-
ment of Revolutionary ideas, and our be-
loved America is bound by customs,
treaties and reciprocities to congratulate
the czars whenever their majestic MUIR
dersh1p escape punishment like as If
murderer is adored by us because he
wears crown!
What, then, can help the Russians?
The pressP
Yes. it could. 1t is power in this
country, but unfortunately for Russia as
well as for this land it is monopolized
by few and its editorial rooms and
printing offices are filled with slaves
who dare not, from fear of Starvation, I,
say whatever their masters, ignorant,
and inhumane as thev are, do not want
them to say In the very town where
I have heen publishing little paper
imploring the, Nihilistic cause, daily
paper scientifically spoke of the origin
of the word "Nihilism," stating that it
was known over 800 Yeare ago and that
the Nlhilists then as their namesake Of
the present age were destructionists.
What lie, what audacitY for a daily
paper to misrepresent facts in view Of
dispatches arriving almost daily of some
murder committed by the czar and'in
face of Nihilist declaration that they
were not anything of, that kind, but
wished to surrender themselves to any
decision of the nations representatives.
Ofwhat use was my replying IN an ls-
sue of only few hundred copies while
that daily issues tho sands upon thou
sands and its scientific articles are
copied by the whole country press? l
did reply, however. and with the next
issue my little paper died from lack of
support, while 1 myself would have
shared Its fate had 1 not stopped before
the clutches Of want got firmer hold on
me. l,-, a.
No, the press won't do anything un-
less paid for or compelled to do so.
The pulpit?
Oh, yes;t it could do much. Why
don't it do it in Russia?
We have no pulpit in Russia. The
people have no church. they have never
established any. Religion of any kind
was imposed upon them by their great
est tyrants. Over l 900 years ago Vlaadi-
mir drove the citizens of Kieff into the
Dnieper. Rose who did not obey orders
and refused to believe in whatever that
murderer said he believed, never left
the river. Since then many changes
have occurred but still the clergy them
selves, though they claim the invisible
Jesus as the head of their church, a, e
subject to the cars appointment to
serve as such and upon him depends
their deposition. The czar has the right
to hang Jesus himself if he happens to
reappear, as some Christians believe,
provided it was even only matter Of
mere caprice on the part of the ezar.
The clergy are actually, with a very
insignificant exception, merely band
of thieves and spies, their churches are
conducted under the control of the
cars officials to darken the slightest
appearance of light and to prostitute the
minds of the people; their cloisters are
houseso torture for political and other
uo colla5 or;p,;nals ,Tbar ,ra- tbn,a