The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-01-24
A GREAT NIHILIST AT HOME.
How "Stepniak" Lives and Works in a
Dingy Dwelling-House in London.
A Broad Minded, Sincere Man, Who Is Thor
oughly in Earnest-What Russia Wants
His Mission to England.

London Letter In New York Tribune.
In one of tho dingisst squares in the West
Central district of London lives "Stepniak, the
famous Russian writer and reyclutionist. In a
dingy dwelling next to a dingy church-a dwell
ing which well represents the average lodging
house OF this region-the first floor is allotted to
tho use of the author of Underground Russia, "
and what was evidently a drawingroom in a
painter age is set apart as the study of this
latter-day apostle Of freedom, who
has mysteriously masqusraded through
Europe. Books, papers, pamphlets and
magazines in half dozen languages comprise
the chief furniture of the apartment and at a
corner desk, toiling over the manuscript of his
forthcoming volumes, sits the man whom the
myrmidons of tho White Car long to immune In
the subterranean dungeons of the Fortress of
Peter and Paul. There is nothing about ''Step-
MAX to suggest the conspirator or political
plotter, nothing that smacks of dynamite or
terrorism. or that reminds you Of the pyramidal
hats and black cloaks of the vocal villains
in LA File de Madame Angot" "Stepniak" is
aneducated gentleman, and one is not surprised
to find that in appearance he is typical
bushy haired andl bearded broad faced and fiat
nosed Russian, or that, like all of his instruc ted
countPymen, he shares the natural linguistic
gift expressing himself in English, French.
German, Italian. Latin, Greek and his own
strange tongue with equal ease. Indeed he is
the last man in the world whom one would take
for an upsetter Of dvpasties.
He is genial even jovial. in manner, and his
high voice and near sight compel one to wonder
how, in a land where every inhabtant is watched
by the police as a mouse is watched by the cat,
this outlawed man has worked with safety for so
many years, has eluded Identification, and how.
even now, he passes, when he chooses, unframed
through the country where price is set upon his
head. The conclusion is natural that if the Rus
sian police are clever 'Stepniak" is equal to
them in this respect and that DISCUSSES are NO
Less potent in real life than they are in romance
or the drama. But the chief reason why the
American or the average European would not
take ''Stepniakn to be Nihilist is that. outside
of Russia, the general idea regarding Nihists
and nihiiism is entirely at fault. and that the
category Of the ODonovan Rossas and Herr
Mosts of contemporary crime.
'Stepniak" is an admirable representative of
what are perversely called "Nihilsts." He is a
bHoad-minded man, thoroughly in earnest and
wholly devoted to his cause. Though he looks
older, he has not seen more than thirty four
years, and fully half of that period
has been devoted to the cause Of
he is-that is to say, his real name and family
history-win remain long, perhaps forever,
unknown. To the world and his own
associates he is ''Stepniak." 1t is a. com
mon thing for members of his society to sink
their identity under some assumed name. and to
live and die with it. 'The Bird, so called from
his peculiar voice was a compassion on the secret
press in St Petersburg. For two years he lived
In the printing Office never going outside the lit
tie room in which he lived and.worked This
self-abnegation was necessary to the cause. His
co-workers knew nothing Of him save that he
came to them from distant town with creden-
tials from the local organization. His faithful.
but self imposed confinement caused his death,
and for lack Of any other name he was buried as
he had lived, under the name of ''The Bird"
Such instances are frequent among the 'Nihil-
ists"
"'Stepniak," like all members of the order re-
fuses to talk of his own history or of his own
share in the active work of the revolutionsts.
Absolute secrecy is the only safeguard. But
have reason to believe that he is member of the
lesser nobility of Little Russia aud that one
OF his reasons for concealing his identity is to
spare his family the prosecutions of the Gar
But he is anxious to educate American opinion
on the subject of Russia, and in a twelvemonth
he hopes to visit the States and lecture though
ne shrinks from the task of addressing an audi
ence, oratory being unknown in Russia, where
the right of public speaking is denied. For the
present he is living in retirement and working
upon his books, and though he is in free England.
he thinks it best to keep his address as much of
a secret as possible
every
iunct of the writing craft. for ''Stspniak" has
been professional Journalist. It is chill,
driZzy morning, with the FOG coming down as it
can come down ouiy in London, and "Stepniak"
sits by bright open fire which is doing its best
to add to the dismal pail Of smoke that covers
the metropolis in the winter time. As he talks
ais eyes glisten, his whole frame becomes ami
mated. and from time to time he will rise from
his chair aud pace the floor with a firm, heavy
tread and determined mien. He is thoroughly in
eaxnestness Is his chief characteristic, as it must
be with a man who has sacrificed every worldly
prospect in a long struggle with the dynasty of
tho Romanoffs.
Western Europe, and it is more difficult still for
the people Of that greater West, America, to
realize :he condition of things in Russia. for the
land OF the Gar is like no other country. Every
thing in Russia Is original, and everything that
Is original in Russia is an anomaly. With US
freedom is but the name of an unknown state,
and government only another word for plumber
corruption and unparalleled tyranny. You
wonder that the Russian people have submitted
30 long2 They could do nothing else. And, be-
sides, my countrymen are, above all
others, patienk race. Indeed, one may ask
If their patience has not ceased to be a virtue
and become fault. The Russian people may be
divided into two classes the oppressors and the
oppressed Everyone who is not with the gov.
eminent is against it. and the government is only
gigantic system of bureaucracy which exists
by robbery. outrage, and every other form of
rampant despotism. It is system of unbridled
officialism. From first to last, from the highest
70 the lowest the officials are tyrannical and cor
rupt, with power almost autocratic, seeking and
holding their positions merely for tho sake of
plumber, and responsible only to their superiors,
who wink at their misdoings be-
cause they receive the larger share
of spoils. Why do not the people risel How is
it possible for the people To rise in a country
where the right of assembiage is forbidden,
whore the press is gagged; whore the priests are
henchmen Of the court; where the schools are
little better than barracks, and the universities
are under martial law; where so serious crime
as petitioning the Gear is punishable with DEATH
while the most viliainous murderer is imprisoned
for only fifteen years at most; where child of
ten can be arrested for holding false political
opinions: where the sanetity Of the
home is unrecognized by the authorities
and violated by than auaru hour nf