The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-06-03
CHAPTER OF DISASTERS
Distinguished Student of Russian Af- fairs Reviews Events Since the "Bloody Sunday, of 1905.
 Counter

llo1 ana real lnViola biiity of personal rights? The answer to this question in- wolves the story of badly managed rev olution, a successful counter revolution, a bloody campaign of official terrorism and vengeance and a gradual return to the discredited and hateful administra- tive methods of the past A part of this story has been given to us by MT. Kel- logg Durland, in "The Red Reign," and another part has come to us, in frag- mentary form, by cable; but the more or less uncornected and unexplained tel egraphic reports of pogrom, assassina- tions executions, barrieade fighting
 bomb throwing, volley firing arson, pill lage and destruction, have seemed l xe momentary f1ash-light glimpses of the storming and saeking of some great city in the night, and have given us little accurate knowledge concerning the se- quence. inter-relatDn and historical sig nificance of events, or the nature of the final outcome.
 The revolutionary movement, from it's very beginning, had the support of three powerful classes: First. the "intelligen- sia," consisting mainly of cultivated pro- fessional men and the representatives of the people In the zemstovs, or local as- sembles; second, the large and more or less organized body of factory operatives in the cities, and third, the overwhem- ingly greater but much less enlightened body of agricultural peasants in the country. Against it were arrayed, se- praf1U nr ba inf al
 bility; the church; the greater part of the bureaucracy. and a comparativel, :, small number of reactionary merchants and landed proprietors whose political at titude was determined mainly by selfish considerations. The army and navy were divided, but a majority of the officers and men in both services supported the czar and autocratic government.
 As political strikes, street demonstra- tions, armed conflicts and agrarian dis orders became more and more prevalent, and the revolutionary movement gradu- ally developed In extent as we'll as in energy, the minister of the interior, Bully gin. and the notorious General Trepoff
 then governor general of St. Petersburg and virtual head of the national de- fense'D redoubled their efforts to restore order by means of coercion and intimi- dation. In the early months of 1905 hun dreds of factory operatives. and peasants were killed by the tSoops and thousands
 more were arrested, imprisoned or exiled I but the seyerest repression only increased the destructive violence of the movement | Tn April and May the lighting bands | of the social revolutionists made 116 suc- eessful or unsuccessful attempts to assas- sinate government officials; agrarian dis orders-arson, robbery, pillage and not in- frequently murder-extended over sixty two uyezds. or administrative districts; strikes paralyzed manufacturing industry everywhere, and Poland again burst into a flame of insurrection In dozens of towns there were fierce conflicts between strikers and troops, and in Lodz. the working men erected and fought behind ten street barricades; organized a pro- cession of 50, ,000 mourners, with hundreds of black or red flags, to escort the bodies of their killed to the cemeteries; and when, their way back, they were again attacked by the troops, they fought and continued to fight at intervals, day and night until their total aggregate loss, in killed alone, was more than 400. To the arguments of the premier and the tremendous pressure of events the czar was finally compelled to yield. and on October 30 he issued the freedom man ifesto, which had been prepared by Count
 
 least, everything that a reasonable na- ton could possibly expect. Not only did it "extend to the people the immutable foundations of civil liberty, based on real invioability of person. with freedom of conscience. speech, assembly and as- sociation," but 1t declared that no law should be enforceable without the con sent of the duma, and that the repre- sentatives of the people should "actu- ally participate in the supervision of the legality of the acts of officials
 Never, apparently, was a revolution brought to d triumphant conclusion by people more united In it's determination to have liberty, and never did a change of government seem more likely to be permanent; but never, unfortunately. were appearances more deceptive. When it became necessary to decide the next step, the people were not united; the czar had no intention of making his officials carry out the reforms promised in the freedom manifesto, If he could possibly avoid doing so. and General Trepoff, the court nobility, the provin- cial reactionists, the police and the true Russians of the black companies, had planned and organized a counter revolu- tion, and were all ready to strike the first blow at the critical moment. Their weapon was that distinctively Russian combination of assault, robbery, arson, pillage and murder-the pogrom.
 The freedom manifesto was received, of course in all parts of the empire with enthusiastic manifestations of triumph and satisfaction. Liberals, social revolu- tionists and people of all the anti-gov- ernment parties paraded the streets with flags. or assembled. In crowded meetings. to congratulate one another and celebrate their victory. But the celebrations and street demonstrations were soon turned into tragedies In hundreds of cities, towns and villages, from Siberia to the borders of Poland and the Baltic prov inces. the black companies, reinforced by thousands of hoodlums and roughs, and supported by the police and troops, at- tackled the processons, set fire to the buildings in which the celebrations were being held, and beat or shot the revolu- tionists to death by the hundred. The barest possible description of the counter revolutionary pogroms in Russia would completely fill an entire number of The
 Century, including all the advertising pages, in the city of Tomsk, in western Siberia. the black companies. carrying national flags and portraits of the czar, surrounded the theatre and the oflca building of the Siberian railway. where meetings of celebration were being held set fire to them both, and then, pro- tected by a circle of police and troops, who drove away the fire brigade. beat or shot the inmates as the latter were driven out by the flames.
 General Azanchefski. the governor of the province lived only 200 yards from the burning buildings, but did not inter- op of the Holy Orthodox church. who ,,,os asked to come tO the aid of tho