Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-01-27
THE STORY OF A
RUSSIAN REV0LUTI0NIST.


in the Russian peasantry a knowledge Of
their rights and to arouse them to revolt,
has lately visited New York. Her story
and "reminiscences, as gathered by Ernest
Poole and contributed by him TO The
outlook, are intensely interesting. Mr..
Poole first describes the personality Of
this remarkable woman-Katharine Ber-
eshkorsky: Her hair once cut in prison,
has grown again. A great wavy mass Of
gray frames face broad heavy, deep
lined with suffering. Her eyes, deep
under high -arched brows, now flash the
fires of her dream, now beam forth the
warm affections of one whom hundreds
! call endearingly "Babushka" little grand
| mother. Her voice. al she spoke through
| our Interpreter ran swiftly over her own
sufferings, but rose passionately describ-
| ing her country's degradation. Daughter
of a nobeman and earnest philanthropist
then revolutionist, hard-labor convict. and
| exile for twenty-three years in Siberia;
! and now heroic old woman of siXty-one
she has plunged again into the dangerous
| struggle for freedom The Russian revolu-
| tionary movement is embodied i'm this one
| heroic figure"
In beginning her story Madam Beresh-
| korslSy told how, from childhood, she had
| hated the Russian government for its
drifted along until in 1871, came the ar
rest, trial and Punishment of a group OF
! Liberals whose only crime was that they
had taught the peasants their legal rights.
| Along the Great Siberian Road the pro-
cession of politicals began"
Il was at this time twenty-six years
old. My husband. like me, had a whole
|. life before him, and therefore | thought
| it only fair to speak frankly. l asked
him If he were willing to suffer exile or
death in this cause of freedom. He said
that he was not Then / left him.
Il went to Kief, Joined a revolution
! airy group, and travelled from town to
| town, spreading our ideas among the
| Liberals, both Jews and Russians. AS our
| numbers swelled we resolved to reach the
peasants themselves. We divided into
groups-the Lavrists, who believed in
slowly educating the peasants to revolu-
ton; the Bacuninites who believed in
| calling on the peasants to rise for freedom
at once. To the -Bacuninites l belonged
as did most of those who had lived close
to the peasants.
I'VE put on peasant dress to elude the
police and break down the peasants
cringing distrust. I dressed in enormous
bark shoes, coarse shirt and drawers and
heavy cloak. l used acid on my face and
hands / worked and ate with the peas
ants; learned their speech; / travelled on
foot, forging passports: l lived Illegally
by night 1 did my organizing You de-
sire a picture? A low room with mud
floor and walls Rafters just over your
head, and still higher, thatch. The room
was packed with men, women, and chill
dren. Two big fellows sat up on the high
brick stove, with their dangling feet
knocking occasional applause. These peo-
pie had been gathered by my host-a
brave peasant whom picked out-and he
in turn had chosen only those whom
Siberia could not terrify. When | recall
IL
who were crippled for life: to women
whose husbands died under the lash
then men would cry out so fiercey that
the three or four cattle in the next
room would below and have to be quieted.
Then l told them they themselves were
to blame. They had only the most wretch
| ed strips Of land. To be free and live, the
people must own the land, From my
cloak | would bring a book of fables writ
ten to teach our principles and stir the
love OF freedom. And then far into the
night the freight showed a circle Of great
broad faces and dilated eyes staring with
all the reverence every peasant has for
that mysterious thing-a book
These books, twice as effective as oral
work, were printed in secrecy at heavy
expense. But many Of us had Libraries
Jewels costly gowns and furs to sell: and
new recruits kept adding to our fund
We had no personal expenses.
"Often, betrayed by some peasant spy
I left a village quickly. before completing
my work. Then the hut group was left
to meet under a peasant who could read
aloud those wonderful fables So they
dreamed, until a few weeks later another
r leader in disguise came to them
In that year of 1874 over two thousand
: educated people Travelled among the peas
ants. Weary work, you say Yes. wher
the peasants We're slow and duh and the
spirit of freedom seemed an Illusion. But
rl.,, hot afrif
8 from weary. Then. too, we had occasiona
grippings of hands with comrades W,
could always encourage each other, fol
, all had found the peasants eager: TO owl
the land had been the dream of theii
| fathers; their eagerness rose, and stou
words of cheer were sent from one grouI
: to another. An underground system wa.
, ! started. a correspondence cipher was in
4 ! vented, the movement spread through
o I'thirty-siX great provinces of Russia anC
became steadily better organized. So tn,
: Peoples Party was established.
THE System, alarmed by their spies
made wholesale arrests. ! was under
peasants. name in Pondolia. In my wal
o let was our manifesto, also maps show
ing the places already reached and thos
a next to be organized. A servant-girl spiet
I. them and told the servant of the loca
police agent An hour later he came rush
:. ing in and jerked the manifesto from m,
y wallet. His eyes popping with excite
ment he read the paper in loud, thicl
o voice. As that simple but stirring proc
: lamation of freedom. equality. and low
d was read, the poor. ignorant peopl
:. thought it the longed-for proclamation
from the Gar The news spread. Men, wo
men. and children rushed up The Dis
trict Attorney came. and he too read
aloud. Then suddenly the chief OF polio
J. arrived, glanced at the wild, joyous face
8 around, and seized the document VIVA
u is this?' he asked me, roughly. 'Propa
ganda, replied, with which the attorney
J. the gendarme and the priest are viciousl
e. melting the people,
/ I'm jail l was led down to the 'Blac
Hole. AS I came down, two besotte
/ wretches were stumbling up. l wa
y pushed in, the heavy door slammed an
bolts ratified in total darkness. At ono
y / was sickened by the odor. l took a ste
= forward and slipped, for the floor was sol
-, with filth. I stood still until deadly sicl
T. / sank down on a pile of straw and rag
IS A minute later l was stung sharply bac
to consciousness, and sprang up covere
5, with vermin. l leaned against the wal
80 and found them damp, So l stood up a
night in the middle of the hole. And tn
was the beginning of Siberia.
Il awaited trial in a new st. Peters
burg prison My cell was nine feet lonl
m five feet wide and seven feet high.
was Clean and a hole above gave plent