New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-13
RUSSIA IN RETOLUTION
I'aco Wdys of Treating a Question
n Good and Bad Woy.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
and at the request Of the euthor. svo. pp. XVI,
e65 E. p. Dutton g. Co.
THE TRUTH ABOUT The TsAE; and the Pres
ent State OF Russia. By Carl Jouoert svo, pp
265. J. B. Lippincott Company.
It would be difficult TO find two volumes writ
ten on the same general subject and with the
same general purpose that differ more funda-
mentally In scheme and In effect than these two
books on the present situation in Russia. Mr..
ziIliacus treats the Russian revolutionary move
ment in restrained and orderly fashion. His
original purpose was to present to his Fin
nish compatriots statement of actual condi-
tons in Russia that should convert them to the
revolutionary cause. Finland had suffered little
at the hands Of the Cars in times past, and It
remained for Nicholas II TO rsvolutionize the
relations, mainly pleasant. that had existed be-
tween Russia and the grand duchy for the last
ninety years. Threatened with humiliation as
an autonomous state and with absorption as
people into the Russian body polite, the Firms
recognized their inability single handed to cope
with the autocratic power. Yet It evident
that no help could be looked for from any Of the
Western nations, no matter how greatly they
might synpathize with the Firms or how
strongly condemn the faithlessness Of the Car
and his government. The only allies possible
were TO be found IN Russia itself, among the
men who had been for years struggling against
the despotism Of the Cars and the bureaucracy,
men who, in the words Of the author, were in
Finland regarded as criminals at best as
utopians of dangerous kind, wholly incapable
Of anything but destructive work"
To prove to the phlegmatic Firms that the
Russian revolutionary party was an ally worthy
Ill
organized with q consistent and persistent his
tory, that It counted among its supporters men
and women of all classes from the highest and
most enlightened to the humblest, and was i'm
bued with truly patriotic spirit that aimed
ever for the best good of Russia and the Rus
sian people was the task undertaken by Mr..
zilliacus in his book. He had accordingly, not
only to overcome the prejudice but to appeal to
the reason Of his audience, and SO convincingly
that they would not only accept the aid OF the
revoIutionists, but, what was also involved in
the alliance, espouse their cause It must be
admitted that the author is not entirely in
genuous in his statement Of the case in regard to
Finland For should the revoIutioaists be sue
cessful without Finland's aid they could not
consistently withhold from her her Independence
Yet It is not to be doubted that the enlistment
of the Firms IN the ranks Of revolution would
Of Finnish emancipation
Consistently with his avowed purpose il was
important for the author to present the RevoIu-
tionary party in its most dignified and respect
able aspect, and at the same time to avoid over
stating the other side Of the question retaining
from personalities, ascribing the Ills from which
Russia has suffered and is suffering rather to
its form OF government than to the inherent
evils of the Russian character, Mr.. Zillfacus
mas admirably carried out his work on these
lines. In order to give a comprehensive idea
OF the relation Of cause and effect ne has de-
scribed the internal policy pursued by the diff
ferent rulers Of Russia, as well as the revolu-
tionary opposition that this policy has engen-
dered. He begins by stating that 1.-The seed of
the social evolution in Russia which in our day
has brought Carbon to the verge Of revolu-
ton must be considered having been sown
by none other than Peter the Reformer. or the
Great, he is styled. He it was who by force
flung the then thoroughly barbarous Russian
Empire into the stream of Western civilization.
and with fire and sword compelled it to flow
onward until European ideas and culture had
taken far too deep root for them to be ever
again eradicated." The metaphors are
what confused but the meaning is apparent.
Peter sought to improve his peoples condition
materially and mentally in order the better to
equip them to aid him in carrying out his
schemes OF personal and territorial aggrandize-
nnent- And this has been the germ of all the
troubles that have arisen within the empire ever
since The Cars have been unable to under
stand that a great empire cannot maintain itself
In the present era unless the people are so en-
lehtened as to merit, demand and eventually
obtain a voice, at least, in its government. The
author traces the growth of the revolutionary
movement from the first outbreak, that of the
'eDekabrists," in 1925. down to the present day
In temperate, conservative terms treating the
movement historically rather Controversially.
while 1t is of course. impossible to verify all
his statements, his style is that carries con-
v,otion. however partisan may know him to
he The book contains Of the best presenta-
+ions of the revolutionary movement and its
causes that have yet been made.
Very different in style and temper is Mr..
1,,bert,s sHThe Truth About the Tsar" It may
Re +ba truth, every word Of it, though we have
on1v the authors word for a great deal Of it;
~ b,s attitude and mode of expression are
,,,o, as 70 dscredit almost everything he writes.
I5n Is personaI, bitter and vituperative. inham-
inc the imagination, playing upon the emotions,
a,e+urb,ng the Judgment. The book is readable
epoueh but it is simply journalism. and saffron
,,a6 journalism at that Mr.. Joubert claims to
he an E,nglishrnan ana to have taken up the
caus. of the revolutionists from purely disin-
terested motives. His unsolicited partisanship
&c as detrimental to the which he espouses
as "a the gratuitous violence OF the strike sym
pathizer" which discredits the orderly purpose
of those really interested. and more often than
not ercItes reprisals on the innocent. Mr.. Jou-
bert acknowledges that he has been for years a
SPY in Russia, not acting IN behalf OF any
government or movement, but apparently solely
f,-n ,+l7u af-