The San Francisco call., 1905-03-19

man wanted to learn from me poetry
and arithmetic. l met him openly
and did not know that such kind OF
acquaintance could be called sus-
picicuS and could lead to disagreeable
consequences for both of us. l taught
this man arithmetic but | do not re-
member ever having mentioned politics
20 him.
My revolutionary life began in the
beginning of 1901. when l took part
conscientiously in the students move
ments, which began from the time the
Kieff and st. Petersburg students were
sent to serve in the army. AT this
time l was neither socialist or revo-
luticnist. At most / was simply a lib
eral. The first illegal literature which
came to my notice was the students
proclamations. My comrades know
we'll with what difficulty / was brought
to take part in the protest against the
breaking of laws and the military SER
vice which was forced on the other
students. / already knew that If / de-
cided to protest l would go to the end
ana for this / would be compelled to
serve in the army. At that time there
was q rumor that several students had
been shot who refused to swear allie
glance and would not obey orders.
/ The Russian press was forbidden to
write about the students. Only the
Moscow Viedomosti occasionally wrote
something. 1t seemed to me as if a
sheet had fallen over Russia and
through this sheet could be seen va
rious things which 1 could not under
stand. l plunged into the demonstra-
ton, Notwithstanding the prayers of
my father to be cautious. The year
1901 was fatal to me as well as to
many others. When the first shot in
kharkoff was heard l got afraid. 1
had the idea that perhaps / also was
in some way to blame, but the next
occurrence, as If on purpose, reversed
my ideas. I saw how the police were
meGdling in the affairs and were play
ing spy. / had the pleasure of being
summoned before the local court,
where they tried to give me the idea
that the Government could not stoop
to the students and would not do so.
/ was in the Moscow menage, where
l was sent with many other students.
There we sat three days guarded by
! Cossacks and soldiers. There / heard
how outside the workpen and other
people tried to break the doors in
order to release US, but we saw that
against our deliverance there was a
row of soldiers ready to shoot our
| rescuers down. After that we were
sent to Butirshoe prison and I became
a convict. In this prison /, for the
first time, became acquainted with
books of revolution. For the first time
/ heard the brave word revolution.
At this time in Moscow there hap
pened a demonstration of the work.
men, who were helping the students
on the great battlefield of political re-
form. At this time the Holy Synod ex-
communicated the celebrated writer,
Tolstoy. I knew Tolstoy only as
balladist and did not know his reli-
gious opinions, and now learned that
this favored writer was cursed for sins
which were not known to me. The
priests cursed Tolstoy openly /
learned that there is no freedom of
speech in Russia At this time Peters
burg students were beaten unmerci-
fully with whips at the time of a
demonstration on Kazan Square. So,
after being involved in these affairs,
came out man with revolutionary
inclinations. My destiny was decided.