The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-03-19

Poles. 1t was not the fault of the Rus
sian teachers they were used to reading
lies which the government told them, and
1t was contrary to their own ideas and
perhaps former traditions. And so l was
total stranger to any general wants, and
without any formed ideas of the existing
laws of Russia. If | had any sort of hum
antarian opinions to these l am wholly
indebted to Russian literature and school
has nothing to do with them.
Went to Moscow.
AZ went to Moscow university yearnlng
for knowledge with the idea of passing
several faculties so that in the end L
could be zemslle DOCTOR doctor absol-
utely for the poor ] was compelled to Of
fend my father seriously because | would
not follow his advice and enter some
special high school In order to make
brilliant career as an engineer. The word
career was hateful to me. The knowledge
which | got in the university and in the
public literary made total revolution In
my mind. A few months changed my
former ideas. But this was only an In
tellectual revolution My first year In
the university | read the 'Viedomostf
and the 'Svet.' I never thought Of re-
volution and If | die know sopaet hing
about it, it was only from what OCCASION
ally appeared in the papers | took no In
| terest in il and found the ido@ to be not q
correct one. In the year 1899 when the
students were demonstrating l was abb
sent from such demonstrations. What the
! students wanted l could not really under
stand To their meetings ! did not go
and only from pure friendly feeling L
refused to take the examination Tor the
second standard / was a man more or
| Ia,,f M |
ashamed to leave my friends on the first
standard who were involved in the dem
| onstration.
Came Across Books.
"Only during my second year at the uni
versity | happened to come quite acci-
IDENTIFY across questions of social charac-
ter. thanks to reading books of plttical
economy and university history | was
well yersed in general commerce, taking
| part in the business of my parents even
| while at school, That Is why | know by
what means riches are created. can re-
gard conscientiously all questions which
are supposed to be social signs. AS de-
vaIoped and my opinions took concrete
| form nv ideas became idealistic and lber-
! al in a humanitarian more than poll
| teal sense. / did not read any more with
! faith the 'Svet' and 'Vidomostf. Preach
| ing of corporal punishment and nate OF
mankind reyolted me. The second year OF
life at the university passed very well
with me. did not take part in the meet
| ings and did not know where they had
| their clubs. About the question and ex-
| istence of labor problems In Russia l
was ignorant Illegal literature had
never seen. | was so naive that the ac-
| o,afntanee of a Moscow workman was
NOT of any use to me- This workman
| wanted to learn from me poetry and arr
| thmetic | met i'm openly and dld not
| know that such kind of acquaintance
couId be called suspicious and conld lead
~ disapreeable consequences for both Of
ms. 7 taught this man arithmetic, but
do not remember ever having mentioned
politics to him.
Revolutionary Life in 1901.
my revolutionary life began In the be-
ginning of 1901 when | took part con-
seientiously in the students movements
which began from the time the Kieff and
st. Petersburg students were sent to
serve in the army. At that time | was
neither socialist or revolutionist. At
most | was simply a liberal. The first
Illegal literature which came to my not
Ice was the students proclamations MY
comrades knew we with what difficulty
| was brought to take part in the protest
against the breaking OF laws and the mill
tary service which was forced on other
students. ! already knew that If ] decid-
ed to protest / would go to the end and
for this I-would be compelled to serve In
the army
cat that time there was a rumor that
several hundred students had been shot
who refused to swear allegiance and
would not obey orders. The Russian
press was forbidden to write about the
students Only the Moscow Viedomosti
occasionally wrote something. 1t seem
ed to me as If a sheet had fallen over
Russia and through this sheet could be
seen verious things which ! could not
understand. ! plunged into the DEM
onstsation notwithstanding the prayers of
my father TO be catious. The year 1901
was fatal to ME as well as to many others
When the first shot in Kharoff was heard