The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-02-03
form of government, II constitution,

form of government. II constitution.
parliament.
In 1901 the popular agitation became Sc
Widespread that the government began tc
snow signs of alarm The year began in
auspiciously for the government First
the holy synod saw fit to cXcommunicat s
Count Tolsto This act was followed by
riots in st. Petersburg, in which the Cos
sacks charged the crowds and attacked
Inc people with ,hc lSnout. Seven hundred
students were arrested in St. Petersburg
and 1900 in Moscow, odessa and KharkoT
The student riots continued through the
greater part of 1901, and eventually the
czar. Nicholas H., appointed General
Nannofsky. liberal, as minister of in
struction, with permission to grant con
CcaSlonS to the students ana to reopen
the universities.
The year 1902 brought still louder de-
mand for representative government. Fol-
the first time In the history of the agita-
ton the Workingmcn began to organize
and to join In the demands for freedom of
the people
a revolutionary demonstration In the
Ncvsky prospect. In St. Petersburg. March
IL. was made by the students and the
Workmcn, in order ito make the govern
ment acquainted with the demands Of the
people" AS a result of this demonstra-
tion nncty-ive students were exiled to
Siberia and 800 or more sent to the prisons
at Archangel. though later in the year
many of these were set at liberty.
NJ. Slpiaguine. minister of the interior,
was assassinatcd April 10. 1902, by stu
dent at kieff, who afterwards was hanged.
Sipiaguine was succeeded by Won Plehwe,
the leader Of the reactionary party.
Workmen Are Aroused.
In May, 1902, the workingmen OF the
nj 90 II
strike. and the situation became so
threatening that martial law was pro-
claimed In five districts. The workingmen
struck because they were refused the right
to form trade unions.
In September, 1902. began the move
ment which resulted in November, 1904.
In the assembling Of the national con-
gress of the Zcmstvos In st. Petersburg.
The impending collapse Of many large in
dustrlal undertakings was reported. A
commission set to work to draw up long
list Of social, financial. and even constitu-
tional reforms which 1t considered to be
necessary. The chief complaint of the
commission was of the bureaucratic sys-
tenn of local government and Of the crush
Ing burdens Of indirect taxation.
All this was declared to be revolution
airy by the reactionary advisers of the
cZar, and in December 1902 it was re-
steps to prevent the Revolutionary" dis
cusslon of affairs, some of the more prom
inent members of the commission being
sent to prison.
Tho year 1903 brought the reactionary
party to the flood of its tide 1t opened
with the downfall of NJ. Witte-whcn the
control and inspection of factories was
transferred to the hands of Nj. Won Plehwc.
the chief agent of the reactionary party.
Gear Promises Reforms.
But the demands Of the people were
making themselves heard. On March II
the car, inspired apparently by memoir
undum on the condition of the country,
frankly exposing the intolerable bureauc-
racy. epionage, and corruption existing,
drawn up for him, at his command by M.
n scientific journalist. Is
sued manifesto in which he said:
I'VE have decided to satisfy without de-
lay the needs for which the state has be-
come ripe, and have deemed it expedient
to strengthen the undertaking observance
of the principles of tolerance laid down
by the fundamental laws of the empire,
which, recognizing the orthodox church
as the ruling one, grant to all our sub
jects Of other religions, and to all foreign
confessions, freedom Of creed and of wor-
ship according to their own rites. In ac-
cordance with the impending labors for
the consolidation Of the national econ
omy, the efforts of the state credit insti-
tutions. and especially the Mobiles and
Peasants banks, should be directed to
and developing the well
fare and the fundamental pillars of Rus
sian village life, and Of the local nobility
and peasantry.'
The revision Of laws affecting the rural
population was promised. with the aid of
persons enjoying the confidence of the
y. oil vol dove tNy, or
the special needs of various localities The
principle of property in common was to
be held inviolable, but facilities for the
peasant to leave his community were
promised. Other measures were indicated
for releasing the peasants from liability
to forced labor, and for reforming the pro-
vincial and district administration.
commission which NJ de Plehwe as
president met at once to carry out the
proposed reforms, and an imperial ukasc
(25th) abolished the system by which the
peasant communities We're collectively
held responsible for the taxes of their
members, and gave the zemstvos priority
over the state in the collection of taxes.
1t was agreed later on that the control
of all local administrative institutions in
province should be vested in a council
presided over by the governor of tho prov
ince, and this made 1t pretty evident that
the promised reforms would simply be
changes in the direction of strengthening
and centralizing the control of the bu-
reaucacy. The pettionary rights Of the
zemstvos were afterwards seriously cur
tailed.
People Becoming BoIder.
The closing months of 1908 brought In
creasing boldness to the people of Russia
in their demands for reforms. Labor
troubles combined with strikes, political
demonstrations and revolutionary out
breaks, reached proportions amazing, not
only to the government. but to the revo-
lutionists themselves. In the last strike
at Rostov-on-t he-Don. which took place
in the government railway shops in No
vember, 1903, as many as 10000 people as
sembled at open air meetings addressed
by revolutionary leaders, shouting Down
with autocracy!" and cheering for liberty
in the presence Of armed gendarmes, and
of the military and civil authorities of
the city, who did not dare to arrest the
leaders or disperse the meetings for over
a week.
Revolt Against Bureaucracy,
In vain Won Plehwe sought to stem the
rising tide Of the peoples democracy, At
the beginning of 1904 the popular move
ment had become an avalanche, in which
mobiles. peasants, workingmen farmers.
shopkeepers and students united to sweep
bureaucracy out of existence.
The zemstvos moved first. Their repre.
sentatives met In secret sessions In all
parts of the empire, and movement was
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