The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-31
PROPAGATION OF DUMA TESTED THE
 RUSSIAN PATRIOTS But for Loyalty of Men Who Guided Body Would Have Caused Disaster of Far
 Reaching Import

London, October 20-(Correspondence ol
 the Associated Press )-The propagation of the Russian Duma, according to ac- counts that have reached London from members of the Octoberist and progress
 sive parties, was one of the severest tests which representative government in Rus sia has nc since it came into being. Only
 the shee patriotism of the men who guided the majority in that body prevent ed the propagation from becoming dis
 aster of the most far-reaching import At one time it threatened to precipitate a general strike in all the factories sup plying the army. a strike which would have left the army practically helpless. The following account of the crisis comes from a member of the progressive group:
 First of all, it is necessary to realize exactly what this Duma meant to the Russian people. That people were endur- ing the heavy mental strain of long pe- riod of retreat a retreat on a scale so gigantic that its effects were obvious even to those many hundreds of miles from the front. Wounded soldiers returning to the heart of the country brought to town and village stories that made the
 lack of ammunition more than an intel lectual problem. The result was that the common people were clamorous for open criticism and some sort of control of the bureauracy which it felt was responsible, and the Duma seemed to all classes the only hope of such criticism and control. For time it was refused to them Then, ba of ba fa of saw, the government decided to yield and summon the Duma.
 ."rhe Duma, conscious that the na- | ton for once was united behind it, as- tonlshed everyone by the thoroughness 1 and frankness with which it attacked in | q hundred speeches the problems that l had been in the minds of all. It soon became evident that this was to be a
 different sort of Duma from those which | had precede it. It was to be Parlia- ment in fact as well as name, for the membership, always heretofore broken up 1 into tiny political groups, which made anything like concerted action well night | impossible, began to weld itself into two or three parties and a real majority party began to appear for the first time III history.
 There are IA so-called parties repre- sented in the Russian Duma, as follows: Extreme right, nationalists, progressive ma tionalists right Octobrists, zemstvo De- tohrists, left Octobrists. Poles, Mohamme- dans peasants, progressives, cadets, la bor members, social democrats. social democratic minority party.
 'While thus dsunited. the Duma was weak But things began to assume a very different aspect when Miliukov, the leader of the cadets, and Guchkov, lead CT of the Octobrists, working together, succeeded in forming what was called the | progressive bloc. They combined all the parties in the preceding list except the | first three and the last two Then, Tor l the first time, the government was faced | by Duma with the power of making | itself felt The majority enjoyed by the | progressive bloc was absolutely over whelmng.
 .aThe next stage in the story was the result of the peculiar character or the | Russian politician No sooner do any two
 Russians agree on anything than they sit down to draw up a platform or pro- eramme dealing not only with the mat 1 ter in hand but extending far afield to | all the subjects upon which they are able | to agree So with this progressive bloc l No sooner had the constituent parties agreed to unite for their work in the | Duma than, in spite of the Tact tha' | every man was solely concentrated or doing what should be done for the win ! 1 serious programme which should show
 all the subjects on which they were
 agreed. They produced programme em' bodying about dozen points. incudmt 1 such untimely matters as the reform o1 | tba zemstyos or municipal councils. a
 broadening of the electoral franchise, rec l ognition of trade unions, and the estap' 1 Iishment of a ministry not recruited rom
 the ranks of officialdom.
 l ..It ia obvious that the few points noted
 are enough to constitute the widest pos
 gible reformation in the Russian sys
 tenn of government. Leaders of the bloc
 have since declared that they did no
 mean this programme but anything bu
 l a statement of ultimate hopes.' and thai
 for the moment they were content to con
 centrate their attention on matters or wal
 legislation. But the publication Of the
 programme gave the conserVauVe gov
 a,.,;ng classes tremendous shock, ant
 officialdom took the opportunity to say