The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-12-20
REDS EXPECT TO
GAIN AID OF ARMY
Proletariat Organizations Believe
They Will Break Govern
ment' Back.
Tie-up of Industry Will Begin
Thursday All Over the
Empire.

There was very panicky feeling on
the bourse today and a great rush to
sell everything. Imperial tours fell
three points closing at rs. There We're
? rumors on the bourse that M. Suchkott,
the conservative leader, will succeed
Count Witte as premier.
The inhabitants are hurrledly laying
in supplies Of food as if to stand
siege.
St. Petersburg, Dec. 20.-1:20 pm
The proclamation of general strike
for tomorrow at noon has created the
most intense excitement. Ii 1t can be
successfully inaugurated and main
tanned, the revolutionaries are conhdent
that it will break the government s
back.
IN government circles, however, con-
Gdence is expressed that the proletariat
organizations cannot effect complete
te-up and that the strike must be of
short duration. This hope seems based
on the theory that the extreme program
of the reds has alieEated the sympathy
, of a large proportion of the real work
men and also upon what they claim to
be absolute knowledge that the organ1-
cations are without funds.
The government s calculations, how
ever, have proved deplorably at vari-
= ance with the true situation in the past
T. and the strike leaders declare the gov
ornment is again hopelessly ignorant of
the magnitude of the struggle confront
ing it.
Their plans are exceedingly ambi-
Plan Crisis in the Army.
From the nature of the appeals of the
leaders to the troops it is evident that
they expect to precipitate crisis in
= the army.
The central committee Of the railroad
men of Moscow, which determined the
s issue last night by voting in favor Of
road lines that the employees of TWEEN
4 ty-tWo roads are ready to stop all
traffic The direction is to close
everything in the empire, railroads,
manufactures, wholesale and retail
stores and all government works, ex-
q cept the waterworks. The bakeries in
= the cities, However, will not be closed
ii 50 long as they do not raise their
prices. If they raise the price of
bread, even the bakeries will be closed.
81 Tt was proposed in Moscow to exempt
+ the electric light plants, but this was
81 defeated
Not by Single Stroke.
Altho the blow is timed for tomorrow
noon, on account of the difficulty Of
q communication the strike leaders do not
4 a standstin by a single stroke, but they
will labor for a gradual extension of
Z the strike movement.
The nature Of the manifesto Of the
workmen s council of Moscow to the
army is so infammatory. that even the
Il radical papers are afraid to print it..
During the strike it is proposed to
q stop all papers and to print and distrib-
ute only the organ of the workmen 8
council.
The police are hunting down and az
resting the strikeleaders as rapidly as
Il they can be found but comparatively
few captures have been made, as the
leaders keep in hiding, avoiding their
residences and meeting in secret, each
II time at q different locality.
Government Helpless.
The helplessness of the government
in this crisis is demonstrated by the
inability of Interior Minister Durnovo
last night to get thru instructions to
! arrest the members of the workmen s
council Of Moscow. He attempted to
use the railroad wires, but the operat.
ors Obeved the dictum of the council
and refused to send the message.
The government is even unable to
: forward instructions to General Line
witch, commander Of the Manchurian
army Five operators in succession on
s. the railroad lines declined to send i
cipher dispatch signed by the emperor
Ad1Q w dSGG kAlUuuu
The consul of continental power
s. who arrived here from Riga this morn
ing on train heavily guarded by
troops says that turnout the district ex
tending l2O miles on this side of Riga
= the land has been laid waste, all build
Z ings belonging to landlords having beer
burned to the ground.
# The situation in Courland, the consu
III says, is even worse.
#A Piuo tho rr,co, +, +o, e,,,n
81 attempt to wrest the power from tn,
%A hands of the workmen, who have organ
In lied q police force and are administer
& ing the affairs of the city. The work
men have sent a .deputation to Govern
been deposed. The city is terror-strick
en-, but comparatively ,quet:
II Several killings take place. in tn
a streets daily, but the workmen s militi
81 is successfully preventing pillage, show
&E ing no mercy to rowdies, several O
4 whom have been shot or hanged.
II Seeks Witte's Fall.
III The Felva in an editorial today say
81 the only possibility of saving the situa
ton is the suppression Of Premie
Witte and Finance Minister Shipoff.
Should the final decision at Tarskoe
selo, where the cabinet resumed consid
q Grafton Of the election law today, be i
81 favor OF universal suffrage it nigh
have considerable influence on the Sit
uation. .' >.
l. Universal Suffrage.
The advocates of universal suffra o
had the upper hand at Tsarskoe-Sel
II yesterday. When the meeting assemble
the emperor, who presided, espresso
the wish that the representatives of til
zemstvoo congress should first preser
# III their views. .
Thereupon Dmitri shipoff in an e,
ceedinglY earnest speech, pointed OF
the terrible gravity of the present stu;
ton. He urged not only the theoretics
advantage of granting system of I'm
versal suffrage, but also its absolut
necessity from tactical standpoint, 3
the only common ground upon which
would be possible for the country t
* unite. NJ
On the conclusion Of the speech til
Continued on I'd Page, 9Th Column.