Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-03

was to have no authority. except to call
spondence center. while the greatest pos
sfnle freedom was given TO each group
The congress adopted q proaram which
union was to be strictly non-partlsan;
II would simply act as the Spokesman
Of the peasants and not try to instruct
them The program does not directly
attack the czar nor the orthodox church:
but 1t expresses the absolute necessity
OF more land for the peasants and de-
minds the immediate summoning OF q
constitutional assembly. based on uni-
versal, direct and secret ballot. The
land question Is one Of the most se-
ri0us that faces Russia. Everybody adj
mits that the peasants aIlotments arc
top small. but even the peasants them
serves are divided as to the remedy. Some
think that the church and crown estates
should be confiscated, others favor the
appropriation OF the lands held by the
grand proprietors-' However. they ex-
pressly state that this question must be
decided by the will of all the people. and
they bind themselves to accept the de-
cision of the representative assembly.
Other parties--reactionary and revolu-
tionary-are telling the Russian peas
ants what they ought to do. There is
none of this dogmatism in the Peasants
Union Their "raison d'etre" Is simply
to formulate the desires that this pre-
/
already have and bring some unity ana
defniteness Into their actions.
To carry out their idea they printed a
leafiet expressing certain demands. which
they considered to be universal To
these demands were added draft con-
statutfon for the local organization. This
paper was accompanied by another ex-
planning in the simplest way what each
paragraph meant and stating that 1t was
only prepared as a suggestion. Each
group Of peasants which joins is perfect
~ free to accept this constitution and set
of demands, as drawn up by the COM
eress, or to substitute anything in their
place, as they desire.
Effort to Suppress Union.
This mild program became public DUR
ing the short period Of the freedom of
the press. when the revolutionary papers
selves against the autocracy, and were
wildly preaching bloodshed and revolt
The government Immediately recog-
nfzed the danger with which this organfZa-
ton threatened it. For the government
relies mainly on the support Of the rural
communities, and 1t knows that this sup
port depends on the ignorance and isola-
ton of the peasants, SO any movement
watch might unite them is menace. Re-
allzing this, they attacked the union saw
agely and relentlessly, and within week
of the publication Of the cars manifesto,
which promised liberty of assembly and Or
genfzatton the whole central bureau of
six men were arrested. Kurneen. who was
thought to be dying of consumption, was
released on condition that he stay in his
house and sever all connections with the
union. His comrades are now afraid to
communicate with him-even to send him
greetings-for fear that 1t will result In his
rearrest.
The arrest OF the original bureau did
not seriously cripple the work of the union.
Another was Immediately found to take its
place. At first the members had an office
in the Psychological Institute, but this was
raided by the police and much Of their
literature conflscated; and now the organi-
cation is entirely "conspirative." All the
meetings are held in the strictest secrecy
and the printing done underground"
The work has, of course, been interfered
with by the railroad and postal strikes. 1
asked the secretary how many peasants
were enrolled in the union. He said that
it was impossible to tell definitely, as the
postal strike was not over, and he had
no doubt that many hundreds of letters
were waiting to be delivered to them but
from the returns that they had already re-
ceived he estimated that there were about
one million members. Some of the peasants
had accepted the printed form which had
been sent them, and had added their names
to it, just as it stood. Others had drawn
up demands of their own. The letters from
the Volga Vailay, for instance generally
added to the demands for more land and
universal suffrage demand for free rights
to fish. But there was a striking similarity
among them all. Coming from districts
separated by thousands OF miles, and from
peasants OF different ethnic stock, the de-
mands were always fundamentally the
same-crude and unpublished declarations
of the rights of man. Many of these docu-
ments were quaint in their wording, and
they were generally accompanied by Curl
Gus letters from the organizer frequently
the only man in the village who could
write.
I'VE have taken this writing to the Nat
ehalnik government officiaD and he told
US not to send 1t, but we have decided to
do 1t anyhow" said one letter. The spon-
taneity of the movement is shown by an
other letter, which read: Il have never
seen any one from the union, but I read
in the Sviet that there is such q union, and
as l thought 1t would be good thing I
called the elders OF the village together
and we want all to join. Please write and
tell me what 1t is
The Sviet is bitterly reactionary and
would not have spoken of the union with
out savagely attacking 1t. A letter of great
interest came from village priest In the
province of Novgorod. He had heard of the
union and started to work to organize the
peasants in the neighboring villages. His
work attracted the attention of the police
and he was arrested The news scattered
through the district, and in the middle of the
night he was awakened by a nowling mob
of 900 peasants who had come to release
him. The jailer was frightened and al
lowed him to stand upon table and talk
to the peasants through a window. He says
that 1t was necessary for him to talk to
them for two hours before they would
go home to their beds, and he ends his let
ter asking for advice as to how he shall
act, for his trial was to take place In
few days, and he was afraid that many
of the peasants would be killed in their
efforts to liberate him.
Elements Of the Union.
In this secret meeting of the central
bureau In Moscow were types of the DIFF
ferent elements making up the power of
this great union. Here was dramatlst
whose plays have been produced in Ameri-
ca; here man well known In international
scientific circles for the ethnographical re-
searches he made during his exile to north
ern Siberia Others were peasants OF the
type Of Kurneen, men who had overcome
all the Instructions with which the govern
ment opposes any effort to rise from one
class to another.
The women were all "intellectuals;" and
most Of them had Travelled extensively in
western Europe. All of them were inspired
by the one idea that the future of Russia
depends the peasantry. For they make
up SO per cent of the population, and in
the democracy, which cannot long be post
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