The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-19

I reality Indifferent. if only the people
| had the right TO talk freely and fight
for their own interests, and were these
rights not taken away from the social
lists Where the public. and declared
socialists have that right equally the
conditions of the states do not suffer
from the sOcialistic propaganda, but
there also. of course the rich cry out
against the struggles of the interior
Of the country.
Some fractions of the German So
cialists so much hate the word 'revolu-
ton that they try TO do away with it.
declaring this conception as prejudice
of the events Of by-gone times. Lucky
are the German socialists.
us it our fault if we Russian So
cialists are forced TO become revoIu-
tionists? All our efforts at peaceful
activity are met with persecution OH
the part of the state. There was
time in the nineties when many of the
sOcialistic fractions abstained from
talking with the wOrkmen on politics
These were merely economists and did
not leave the narrow limits of the
workmen's needs. However, for their
work they were also declared state
criminals.
Russian socialists have learned b.
experience that the right of speaking
ones mind freely is not to be had in
the Russian empire ConSequen to-
gether with their aims the Russian so
cialistS have made it their duty TO try
to attain such conditions in the en-
pire as viii make it possible to talk and
write freely in accordance with indi-
Vidual views.
Warnings for Freedom.
such right is not only dear to us
socialists, but also for the whole of
| Russia. Even if we socialists did not
exist the need would nevertheless eX-
list Social opinion has no adequate
means of making itself heard in Rus
STA. That which the Russian press
| speaks of daily cannot be called an
| expression of Russian social opinion,
because only one party can talk freely,
and so freely that it becomes for intel
| Hgent people a joke OF the Russian
social opinion one can judge only by
those occurrences where the press is
subject TO punishment. Social opinion
] yearnS for freedom to speak of those
! questions which are forbidden to the
press. Social opinion speaks eloquent
/ ~ in those cases where newspapers are
| blackened out by the censor, when they
! are stopped. and when they are sub
/ jected to reDrimand and finally sup
| pressed. The Russian social opinion
/ objects when the presidents of the
/ ZemStVO towns at the meetings forbid
! the speakers 70 treat vital questions in
! accordance with their views and oDin-
| ions. Russian social opinion is only
! free when il is handcuffed and speaks
! elOquently only when it is silent
| Therefore, we Russian socialists and
! revOlutiOniStS count ourselves in the
| moral right to assert that in Russia the
| government does not allow the major
| ity of the people to speak freely, that
| il does not represent their opinion and
| acts against the wishes and the wants
| of the majority and that ii does not
\ fulfil its purpose.
| "Of this last we are compelled to
tell the people We are compelled to
! spread the idea of changing the existing
/ order Of things in Russia We preach
what is essential for the people the
| right freely to air their needs through
| the press and meetings; the right to
| discuss and make laws, the right to
| control the state expenses. Yes. we So
| cial revOlutioniSts preach this and con-
Sequently preach a. totally different
condition than that existing at present
| in Russia But at present we are only
preaching. Our weapons are the print
! ing press and word of mouth. Where is
| the forcible doing away with the exist
| ing regime Who is it that uses force?
! We or somebody else?
Prison or Siberia.
I'VE have not time to make ourselves
! heard before Our mouths are shut. and
| for a word we are sent to prison or
! Siberia our press is called illegal. The
| authors of the articles, even the ty-
| pographists know of the sad life in
| Siberia. The simple reading of our
| brochures is regarded by the state as
| criminal.
We are prosecuted as government
| criminals and subject to punishment
| for participation in club meetings
! where we discuss our tasks. We are
! subjected TO humiliaung corporal pun
! ishment, beaten with kuOutS, trampled
! over by horses and fred on when we
/ decide to come out into the Air to de-
| clare publicly our views and express
! our demands.
/ We are debarred the protection OF
! the law We are declared interior enc
! mics of the people and political Grim
! inals, although this is not one and the
! same thing.
Yes, there is much force used. far
/ too much. but which side uses it2
| Therefore. let them not say that the
| party of social revolutionists is trying
! To obtain something by means of force.
| Neither in the aim of the party nor III
! the means Of attaining its ends, is there
! anything like force. Perhaps force
refers to that moment when the final
ideals Of the party VIII be near attain
/ ment. when the social conditions viii
| be replanned on the ruins of the pres
ent government and Russians will be-
! come not only subjects but citizens OF
! their country. Perhaps the accusation
means that the party viii first attempt
/ a political change in Russia and then
| a social one. To this 1 reply that the
| party does not decide the question as
/ to how the present conditions will be
! changed to those wished for. OF the es-
! Establishment of the social conditions TO
| which our party is pledged il is impOs-
/ sible TO talk even seriously. The or
| ganiZatiOu of the social conditions OF
| the empire on the basis of socialism
| would be an impossibility even for the
| powerful bureaucracy The tasks of
( our party are sometimes understood.
| but for understanding them you are
| sent TO goals. Russia viii get social
! istic reconstruction possibly when the
| name of Russia viii not exist longer on
| the earth. SO far as the final triumph
! of our ideals is concerned, this tri-
! umph viii take place not only here in
/ Russia. but over the whole world. But
| il viii undoubtedly not take place any
! where while the Russian autOcratiC
! empire exists, because M to now the
| progressive movements Of the best in
| formed people have broken to pieces
/ against this strength In the mean
| time we are fighting in other states
! under the banner of socialism and have
! advanced further than any bOurgeoise
| party. and we Russian socialists are
| doing the same. We demand serious