New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-08

| Texas What he wants his readers 10 ho''N
that in 1864 three years after the emahcip"''o"
! of the serfs master and slave were sittihB s'' ~
! side in the provincial assemblies fro'". -
( viatka and Perm. where there was haruS 49,
landed nobility. and where. consequently 'he
| peasant delegates formed the majority
| among those where the zemstvos worked pest
1,,,, .bo LOYALTY of these peasants to the car
has the strength OF superstition say tnose VIM
doub, the possibility OF anything short OF au'oc-
rac, In Russia True, replies, Stepnlak, Out INC
! sunerstition Is Of precisely the same KIND 'ha'
| prevails in all lands where monarchy eNis'7'
REGARDLESS Of all proofs to the contrary wv
peasant Is firmly persuaded that the Gear means
! TO give him. some day. plenty or iand anu '
| hogos and Tho hest of everything. and that his
land is held back from him only by the wicheu
| officials" In this respect the Russian yoKei Is
not the only grown-up child on earth. lheie
are others who cannot understand why parma
| monte and congresses ard diets exist, and whose
| imarinations glow at the thought o! an an
nowerful benefcent monarch. This legend OF
royal goodwill toward the humble subject I'M
gers. saws stepniak. in the rural districts OF
| italy and Austria as well as in Russia III I'M
bued the French people even after the monarchy
| fol- and It shortened the career of the Com
| ,nonvealth of England. 1t is so nearly nstinc-
| five in humanity that monarchs themselves teei
! II as in the case of Alexander Ill, VINO prlueu
| himself on being the Peasant Gar and really
thought himself in sympathy with the io"es'
| classes of his people
! If this Conversations reverence for the monarch
has not prevented revolutions nor interlered WIZ
| constitutions in other countries. Stepniak arguN
! that 1t Will never be an obstacle IN Russia ii
| does not expect the peasants TO resist oppres'
xxin
without hesitation whatever changes are made
| IN the political system. The revolution must De
! brought about BY the educated minority, and
| the question whether Russia is fit for freedom IS
| narrowed in fact 70 tAe question whether the
| educated class as a body is able and WILING TO
| carry on 4 free government for the benefit or
! the nation Though a minority, this class Is
| numbered by millions. and ii Is this class only
| which makes Russia a European instead OF an
| As:atic country. In fact, there are more people
| of culture and Of nigh special training IMAM 'he
| nation has use for in its present social ana IN
| dustrial condition Out of hundred people who
| die only four have a physician With agricu'-
| ture at the level Of the sixteenth century. nun
| dreds OF scientific men look in vain for the OPP
| portrnities which the land would Offer them. /!
| IT we're properly cultivated. But nation cam
| not be called uneducated which publishes more
books IN the solid branches of literature There
| may have been time when the official class
ard the.edueated class were the same But that
| time SAYS Stepniak, Is past. 1t was not the
| official class but the educated Russian world
| outstr .af The bureaucracy. which made the re-
forms of Alexander II possible
Bnf .stSpniak's readers Will think Of the fact
that the crimes in Russia against authority as
| shocking In their way the crimes OF the Of
| fcials were committed by representatives OF
| Russian culture He has foreseen this, and his
| CHAPTER on "Nihsm'' is an effort to show that
| change has come over the minds OF educated
! Russians His first endeavor Is 20 relieve Nj
/ hl.sm Of some Of the opprobrium cast upon H.
| 1t was at the outset tho mere reaction against
| ALI constraint which attended the abolition o.
| serfdom and might have Keen as evsnescent as
| the "Sturm and Draug' period OF the Germans.
| Indeei, this old NihilisH. which abhorrel poetry
ana loved ugliness and uttered blasphemy on
principle was dead whole decade before the re'-
| oluticnary Nihilism Tho latter Is not
| merely ndvidualism, but individualisTu eager
TO sacrifice itself for society. II is no longer an
| anarchc theory. In reading Comte and Spencer,
particularly the latter. Russian university stu
DEF: . conceived ar idea OF duty to the community
1 which was to say the least exaggerated when
| this idea was colored by the notion OF Slavophi-
| ism, it inspired very strong patriotism 1t was
I opposed to the autocracy and to the Church and
| it paid almost divine honors to the peasantry.
| ".
Stepniak has to explain that there is nc arts
tocracy in Russia in the Of the word as
| understood outside OF Russia. There were no
| artificial barriers between classe1, and the no.
| bility have always been more democratic even
than the peasants To relieve the peasants from
| the burden OF a needless ohicialism, educated
| enthusiasts by the thousands were willing TO
sacrifice wealth and life. To governmental efforts
| at repression they responded by a system of ter
rorisn. AS result autocracy was strengthened
! for the moment though the auocrat himself in
| the person Of Alexander III lived life which no
other man need envy. Meanwhile the desire for
| freedom increased. and the vague longngs Of
earlier times became definite. Without seeking
1t the revolutionIsts Of Russia have found agree
| ment upon programme which no longer includes
/ assassination Not even absolutisnl, Stepniak
| thinks, can stand out forever against demand
| for a permanent and supreme representative as
! sembly for provincial self-government, for com
| munal independence liberty of conscience. man
hood suffrage. for territorial militia in place of
| a standing army, for the naturalization Of land
| and the ownership Of works by the workmen.
Leaving out the last two, which are theoretical
| in every country well as in Russia nothing
| is asked that has not been awarded to people
Of other nations. The Russian Nihst seems to
| be getting to the surface of the earth at last
| For arguments drawn from the oppression and
misery OF the people the agitaors need not seek.
These are thrust upon them in the form OF re-
| Eg:ous persecution as in the case Of the Russian
! Stundists or Baptists in race persecution as in
| the case Of the Jews in the endless deportation
! Of Innocent and guilty alike 10 Siberia in the
l foegings 10 which even delicate women are sub
| tected in massacres by the military; in whole
| sale suicide Of prisoners to escape uncomfortable
| insult and misery In his chapters these
,on,oa Stenniak ONLY adds 10 the horrors Of which