The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-01-03
II Russian an Democracy

sS6NVe mayo upon more tittll DIV
made reference to the Russia = demo craI cty,3
and nave said that It Is vIng e1xi'actlng
force, which THE Car must reckon with
Eat Isl according Ito II pr, Janrls Taylor
who writes IN instructive article on the
subject IN the january number Of the
North American Review, 4: greater force force
and I al moro Intelligent force thar Sollt ~
Psldcrs generally think. emplla-I
sizes tho fact that although Russia iss ar
absolute monarchy, the unit of state or r.
ganizatlonis5 the5villag go community known '
as tic mir. whose constitution Is iden-{
teal with that Of tho Z eutonic marx Or
township {as IT, appeared centuries ago: 3
that the Russian mir as 1T appears til
tho traveller to day Isl a. vivid lllustral--is
ton 81 the village L lie 4 OF the founders
OF the English Kingdom at the time the
migration into Br tain be gam VI 5S3
Says Sir Donald Mao Ilenzie Wallace,
In his recent book on Russia: VI fss:
TN tho great stronghold Eof Caesarlun5
l2despotlsln and centralized bures,ucrncy,'
these Village communes, containing about
hve-slxths3 OF the population, nres capital
specimens OF representative constitutional
government OF tho extreme democratic
TYPE! When / say that the rural com
mune Is a good specimen of cons tltutionall
government, Il yllso the phrase In tho Eng
| glish, and not, Iii. tho ontinental. sense
nj. ,rheir cons ltution Is or {tlle Eng
| llsh type--h X body 4 or Eunwrittcn, tradls-
tlonal* conceptions. which, have grown IN
| and modified themselves under tho inlu-l
ence Observation-Disclosures Ing prncti cal necessity
i If the functions and mutual lions o
i Village elder and tho village assembly.
have over been defined. neither the elders
i nor tho members o e the assembly know
\ nnythlng of such dennitlons; and Yet
j every! peasant knows, ms # by Instinct,
Il what each OF these authorities can do
4 and cannot do, The commune is, In fact,
4 a living institution, whose spontaneous
4 vitality enables 4 t to dispense With II he
Il assistance and guidance OF tho written
law, AN to Its S thoroughly democratic
character, there can be no possible doubt.
Tho elder represents merely tho execu-
tive power. All the real authority re-
!, sides In the assembly. Of which nll heads
( OF households arc members, Theoretically
speaking, tho village parliament has "a
3 speaker in the person Of the village
elder, The elder comes prominently
\ forward only when tits necessary to take
! the sense OF the meeting, On such occa-
! sions, he may stand back n little from
/, the crowd and say; 'IVe OIL, orthodox, have
3 you decided so?1tand the crowd will Sprobr
h ably shout: 'Ladno! adno!'--that Is 10
, say: Agreed. agreed !'S Communal meas,
: l,res are generally carried III this way by
reclamation; but 1t sometimes happens
+ that there is such a decided diversity Of
X opinion that 1t Is difficult to tell which
n OF the two parties has n majority. In this
l case, tho elder requests the ono party Il
! stand to the right and the other 70 the
J left.Ei The two groups are then count ed
q and tho minority submits, for no one ever
& dreams Of opposing openly the Will 81
q the MIR ~ So M Ks 4 81 ID 4 lS }64
J 33''Who can read that description" says
Or, Taylor, without compar ring the rus
I sian YNlrgo with a New England tow
\ meeting, which Is simply a reproductio.
4 on AniericanSsdil OF the DID Eng llsh town
Il ship. as i appeared before Il w2s eve
t overlaid Wy ceeesiastcal and feudnl or
q ganizatonsg' pr Taylor then proceed
ii to say that OF. Me 6s, 80, 90 who fornses
d the rural popnla, lon OF European 3Rpssl
S IN 1882. the greater part were settled \
q tSf,s7S Villages, whpre this form Of demo
y cratic rule obtains.SThc unit Of state 81
n Eanlzatlon Is still the NJ lage coInnunit
4 lknoWn as The mir a union q sue