New-York tribune., 1906-06-25
THE DAWN lin RUSSIA
Mr. Neunson's Impressions Of a
Struggle from Darkness to Light
London luna IN

!
sia." published here this week by the Harpsrs
Is volume Of journalistic impressions OF row.
oiutionary during the last year. and bear,
evidence of accurate observation and painstay
ing effort to explain a series OF extraordina-v
events which has eliminated In the establish
ment of the Douma- IL Is journalism Of tba bas.
order. written with lucidity OF style and inter-
the candor of an honest observer. who bo.
known that he toying with the fringe ~ =
great subject Perspective is lacking for a com,
prehensive survey of the revolutionary rnovs
ment as a whole and the author does M, o..
tempt to estimate events in the order O, i'm
portance. He makes the outbreak OF the w..
with japan his starting point. well knowing tina,
previously there had been nihilist crimes upr,..
ings of students. outbreaks among peasant.
mutinies among soldiers. zemstvo reform n-o
grammes and other signs that the masses vva-a
feeling their way from darkness to light H.
content with furnishing a bare outline a, a,,sr,~
since the opening OF the fatal campaign. uh,c,
was not regarded by the people as their wa
but as a badly managed government affair: ana
then he passes rapidly to the industrial and rail-
way strikes. Father Gapon's leadership. the rsv
olutionary press and cartoons. administration IN
the open country. the old and new orders in
Moscow. rioting in Kief and Odessa, the bloody
assize in the Baltic provinces the disorders IN
Poland and other scenes witnessed by him In thu
stirring drama of freedom until the assembling
of the first Russian parliament
One of the best features Of this volume IA trs
reproduction of suppressed Russian cartoons
This has been done in the startling coIors OF thu
originals in several instances The design on ths
cover. depicting woman with revolver and
flag. is taken from the revolutionary paper
THE Machine Cum which was suppressed for
printing Of the Cars manifestoes with the
fn1DreSsiO, of blood stained hand s+ar,pa5 ,r.-.
it and the superscrption Signed and Sealed"
Three OF the colored cartoons are from "JupeP'
or Sulphur" and. while lurid as the title
they not without artistic qualities. One 10
satirical Christmas picture entitled "Paeihca-
ton with the Krenln afioat in a sea Of bloo,!
above which rise the crosses and pinnacles OF
Christian temples, while sky with sulphurous
clouds is spanned by bow of red and white
Another is positively savage in its irony-"An
Autumn Idyl' with house walls and pavement
smeared with blood and a childs doll as the sole
survivor Of massacre; and third. The New
Era" is even more brutal. with skeleton
Death red handed and enveloped IN fame
leaping over the street barricade where soldiers
are firing upon a mob of workmen. II is not
strange that cartoons so terrible as these in
volved the immediate suppression of the Illus
trated sheet. Perhaps the most artistic OF these
colored cartoons is one representing the i'm
perial government as hideous vampire bend
ing and gloating over the body OF a Russian
girl and kissing Il think she's quiet at last"
Pictures like these illustrated the situation so
broadly that the revolutionary sheets produc-
ing them were suppressed as soon copies
were seen in the streets Of ST. Petersburg. Other
cartoons In black and white represent Witte
with a constitutional pipe which he could not
play: Dubasoff as a butcher calling the death roll
in the streets. or the bells IN the church towers
ringing out God with u.s. while above and be-
low them were rifiemen where they could shoot
working people the pavement These pic
torial summaries of the political situation were
hawked about when railway traffic and postal
facilities were suspended and towns were so-
lated from one another and the empire cut of
from the world. The cartoon the grim
word Of freedom to nation In outer darkness
and the strike was the blow by which liberty
was TO be gained, because 1t made men and
women os every class rebels against authority
revolutionists with a common stock OF griev-
ances
Mr.. Nevinson, without striving TO be theatrical
in his descriptions. gives most vivid account
of a period OF intoxicatton when Russia. after
centuries of suppression, revellng in a
debauch OF words and ideas. A new paper was
started every day. and meetings were held every
night. with crowds fighting for entrance in order
government. Without practice or tradition men
who had never spoken on any stage found them
selves orators addressing breathless audiences;
and for the mass of the people the privilege OF
listening TO a political harangue was like an
escape from prison For few weeks after the
manifesto freedom of meeting and press was
complete and ex1les who had been bounded OUT
Of the empire reappeared in Moscow and 81
Petersburg. Vera Sassoulitch. the assassin VINO
had escaped conviction in girlhood. returned
from Geneva, old. gray and wrinkled. and almost
any night was to be seen at a revolutionary
meeting with a beanfng smile her witherea
face. The reople were drunken with IDEAS anu
everybody was on strike for grievance or a
principle Not only were the workmeh' 'le
trainrnen and the postal clerks in revolt ouI
even the house cooks were parading IN the
streets and the hotel walters were striking 1or
higher wages, the nursemaids for Sundays ou"
the housemaids for rooms with WINDOWS Inv
schoolboys for lighter lessons and their masters
for pleasanter pupils After social 1nsuFIee1IO" @
came repression ard massacre: and as reacu0"
sgaw stronger the cartoons might have oeen
panted in blood and the faith Of orators IN tn'
promised institutions written in water
The sequel 10 the joyous revel OF tntoxicat'On
with liberty is well told in the authors eioSl.s
charters. The general strike. which was thS
only genuine weapon OF the people. was an II
resistible weapon so long as II was used sinu'-
taneously and seldom. The government COM
PEELED the leaders to use IL piecemeal ana oi'0lN
1t starved the women and children by connsca'
ing the strike funds. and employed CossacA anu
Hunger to shake the determination OF the men
1t discovered the aghting weakness or rreeooHi
and the security with which men IN uEloi"
could be trusted TO kill at command AS SOU"
as the Moscow rising was crushed troops We
,.a-o ,,Do-, Caucasus and thc