The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-05-10

| district agricultural committees, in which
/ the zemstxo was able TO express itself
! sufficiently fully and clearly, bore wit
/ ness to the unanimty of views upon
/ the existing order of things The work of
1 the committees possessed d great agita-
| tory significance in provincial circles and
was stimulant to the further consolida-
| ton and organization of the progressive
i provincials in the liberal polietoal party.
/ In the commission "on the improvement
/ of the centre in autumn, 1904, to which
were invited the zemstvo representatives,
/ was again shown the unanimity of the
/ provincials in their collective declaration
| to the government of the necessity of
radical reform.
| The close of 1868 and the beginning of
! 1903 are marked by two meetings of pub
| lie workers in st. Petersburg, that of
the workers in technical educa ton and
! the Pirogovsk meeting of physicians. The
| sessions were a sort of public meeting at
which the advanced workers from the
| whole country unanimously agreed that
there was no possibility of peaceful pro-
| gressive activity with the existing gov
ernmental organization al We're one in
| the demand for INN ate radical re-
form. These meetings were a significant
sign of the complete political maturity
of the liberal classes of society and rep
| resented a further step forward In the
open political agitation and propa ganda
| of constitutional ideas in the broad cir
ces of the educated classes.
Movement Grew Irresstably.
The movement FOR freedom grew ire
sistibly In extent and broke through the
surface. But the government was not
asleep. Led by Plehye, it inderatigably
carried on an energetic and one might
say heroic fight with the internal
enemies" Prisons, deportation. the gal
ley. logging, bullets and galows-all
were brought into play against. the reyo-
| lutionary movement. Thousands of work
men, peasants, educated reyolutionaries
| hlled the prisons or were deported. Adj
| ministratiye order and bureaucratic "tri-
| bunals' could hardly keep pace. Over
! the corpses of its own faithful servants
the government marched inhexibly to the
| gloomiest reaction The radical proVin-
! Gals, leaders of the liberal movement
/ like the revolutlonaries, were subjected
| to punishment. The government deprived
| them of a share in public work, and even
deported some. In January. 1904. the TVer
! zemstvo was dsbanded. In the autumn
of 1903 the Moscow zemstvo underwent
a revision; in the summer of 1904 the
! Vyatka and KursS zemstvos The object
| of the revisions was the search for anti
1
zemstvos But all was in vain: in spite
of all the terrible repressons the discon-
tent rapidly spread. broader and deeper;
| the opposition of the zemstvos and the
liberal classes became stronger, the
hydra of revolution" was not to be
killed.
Clouds of War Lowered.
In the fall of 1903 the clouds of war low
| cred over the far east. The possibility OF
war with Japan approached. BY means
of wise concessions Russia could have
avoided it, But, over the volcano of wide
spread public discomfort, the government
| allowed itself to be seduced by extrava-
CANT plans of an utra-a aggressive foreign
policy, cherishing the hope In this way
of guarding and even strengthening its
prestige In the international concert and
its credit on the European bourses. In
addition there Is reason to suppose that
Plehve who exercised a tremendous In
nuence on the entire governmental policy,
was for war. lie had perhaps. his def
mite object. namely by means of war to
crush the internal liberal and revolution
airy troubles He probably thought to
drown and extinguish in the streams of
the peoples blood and in the flame of
ehauvinism the understandable thirst Tor
freedom among the people. The war was
decided upon, but the stupendous task of
| 1essness of the bureaucracy, which had
laid claim TO omnipotence War demand
ed popular support and this the souless,
dead departmental mechanism, could not
give. The result was terrible defeat af-
ter defeat on land and the complete de-
struction of the feet on the sea industrial
paralysis at home. three external loans,
the fall of the prestige in Europe and the
still stronger growth of the movement
for freedom in interior
Increased Peoples Interest.
The war increased the interest among
the people in questions of government.
and awoke among all classes a desire for
citizenship. The continuous military re-
verses prepared the way for thorough
criticism of the existing order. The dis
content spread, and went deeper. And
then the explosion of the bomb on July
Is, 1904 which destroyed a strong, en-
ergetie leader of the reac..on. Plehve.
broke the thckening clouds of public
discomfort. The iron determination of the
government hesitated. The word ''conh-
dence' pronounced by the new minister
was a spark which kindled "a magnih-
cent. widespread fire of open political
agitation. The public clearly saw, heard,
understood that the government had
weakened in the intense struggle on two
fronts with the internal and external
support and desired to make truce with
the people and had therefore turned TO
them with an appeal for confidence. The
public also understood perfectly how in
sincere and false was the governments
move, Therefore it at once voted its lack
of confidence. The district provincial coun-
ellis. municipalities and other public or
CARNATIONS sent greetings of demands
Tor liberal reforms. Others raised the
question point blank Of radical reforma-
ton of the state. The press. taking adj
vantage OF new found liberty. categor-
icaly set up the cry for political free
dom and constitutional organization. With
the assent of the government there took
place in st. Petersburg November 1904,
a meeting of zemstvo representatives. in
the celebrated eleven points of whose
memorandum are formulated the demands
tor political freedom and a constitution.
At this meeting the provincial workers for
the first time openly appeared as united
party with definite political programme.
Then the constitutional democratic
press entered upon the scene Cthe former
Pravo,' the new ''Nasha Zhizn." Syn
| 5techestva.' NASH Dni.') sharply criti-
| Using the existing organization and max
!. ing an extensive agita zion for its reforma-