The Washington herald., 1917-03-25
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
ENDS JEWISH SLAVERY
Means Lifting of Weight Of Oppression
From Prosecuted Race.

OF q long tragedy of prosecutions, hu-
mutations. untold martyrdom and mas
sacres. says Herman Bernstein, In the
New York Evening Sun.
The great empire. fettered and knouted
kept in darkness and in bondage. has
nous empire about 100000 Jews, one
half Of the Jewish people Of the world.
were slaves of the slaves, deprived Of all
human rights. -.
During this war Russian Jewry was
made the scapegoat for the reverses OF
Inc autocracy. The Russian government
that has just been overthrown was or
ganizing q new conspiracy against the
Jewish people in order to rob them of
tne opportunity of an effective demand
Tor equal rights even at the close Of the
war in the readjustment at the peace
conference.
For many years before the war the
Russian government sought to solve the
Jewish question in various ways. 1t en-
deavored to solve it through baptism and
through massacres, through brutal force.
through medieval conspiracies and in
trigues against the entire Jewish people.
In 1905 the Jews of Russia were held
responsible for the revolutionary move
ment in Russia. Then the government
organized a counter revolution in the
form OF pogroms throughout the pale OF
settlement. Men. women and children
were put to death by infuriated mobs in
hundreds of places in Russia on the same
day by order Of the authorities.
Legend Circulated.
At the outset Of the war a legend
was circulated in the press of the world
TO the effect that the Gar had issued a
manifesto addressed ITO my dear Jews"
promising them human rights. The Jews
m he oil "A
cruel prosecutions directed against them;
they were willing to forget the Kishi-
nen massacres and the countless other
pogroms throughout the Russian en-
ptre; they were ready to forget even that
most shameless conspiracy against the
Jewish people devised by the Russian
government in the form Of the notori-
Gus ritual murder case known as the
Bells affair. With the rest of the
liberal elements of the Russian peo-
pie the Jews responded to the call of
Russia in her critical hour. They were
carried away by a passionate loyalty to
Russia that to the outsider seemed more
than strange. They gave proportionateIy
n greater number of soldiers to the army
than any other element OF the Russian
population; they established hospitals
and gave large sums of money for the
wounded soldiers: they fought and died
for Russia, where it was so hard for them
To live.
But the legend Of the Cars promises
turned out to be nothing else than a cruel
myth.
Thousands OF Jews. relatives OF those
four hundred thousand Jewish soldiers
In the Russian armies. were executed by
the Russian troops without trial on the
general charge that they had betrayed
Russia. About a million and a half of
Jews were driven from their homes BY
the Russian armies. which burned, plum
dered and destroyed Jewish settlements
Jewish children were killed in these ex-
pulsions. Jewish women were outraged.
many old and young people were driven
insane. and Jewish houses Of prayer were
desecrated and demolished by the Rus
sian troops.
Expulsion of Jews,
The Russian military Authorities caused
the expulsion OF the Jewish population
from many provinces in Russia, decIar-
ing this to be a military measure for
safeguarding the Russian armies against
the Jews, whom they branded as spies
and traitors. They spread these false ac-
cusations against the Jews through mill
tary orders in every nook and corner of
the Russian land.
Though the Russian government an
nounCed some time ago that 1t had re-
solved to abolish the pale of settlement
it never fulfilled its promise. A half
hearted order was issued by the council
Of ministers to the governors. but each
governor was permitted to interpret the
order in his own way. Thus the new re
fcrIn' became a new source of graft for
the Russian officials, who were pro-
verbally known as past masters in the
art OF graft.
During the past year thousands OF Jews
were driven from province to province
without any cause by various governors
and police officials. Wounded Jewish
soldiers were not admitted to hospitals In
Moscow and PetroGrad because they had
no hght of residence there Mothers OF
Jewish soldiers wounded on the battle
field were not allowed to visit their sons
in the hospitals of certain Russian cities
on the same ground.
All avenues of Industrial, commercial
and educational opportunity were closed
the war. as well as before the outbreak
Of the war.
But the liberal and radical elements OF
Russia, through their courageous repre-
sentatives in the Duma, defended the
Jews against the reactionary govern
mental outrages. They made the eman-
cipation of the Jews Of Russia an impor-
tant part of the program of the move
ment for the liberation Of Russia.
Defended Jewish Race.
Just a year ago the famous Liberal
deputy OF Wilma. NJ. Shingaryeff. defend
ed the JEWISH people in the Duma
against the wholesale accusations and
ISLANDERS directed against them by the
dark forces behind the Russian throne.
NJ. Shingaryen then charged the Rus
sian bureaucracy with treason and cor
ruption. In the course of the speech
in the Duma he declared:
Gentlemen, you should have fear at
such terrible and grave moment as this
to slander a whole nation. What woul1
you say IL the Germans were to tell you,
Your minister OF war was a traitor
therefore the entire Russian people Is
a people of traitors That would be
madness. that would be a falsehood, In
these terrible moments the deputies who
come upon this tribunal should not dare
to lie. should not dare to slander a whole
nation which, like ourselves, Is bearing
all the burdens in the service Of the coun-
try. But what has the government done
to this nation? 1t has deprived II of
the freedom OF movement from place
to place. 1t has kept it away from the
schools. 1t has humiliated 1t in every
way, abused and Knocked 1t. The Jew
had no right to teach his child. the Jew