The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1920-06-03


landlords at fabulous prices. The
aggregat, value Of the redemption and
land taxes often reached 1876 TO 25l
per cent of the normal value of the
allotment, not to speak of the taxes
for recruiting, the churches, roads and
local administration, chiefly levied
from the peasants. The peasants have
sunk deeper into debt every year. The
scheme was a quicksand-the harder
they worked and struggled the deeper
into debt they fell. Increasing arrears
have driven one-fifth of the inhabit-
ants from their houses. Every year
more than half the adult males Tin
some districts three-quarters OF the
men and one-third of the women) are
forced to quit their homes and wan
der throughout Russia in search OF
work. In the governments Of the
black earth region the state Of mat
ters Is hardly better.
The phrase "cass distinction" was
more than rhetoric In Russla-it was
part of the chains, II handcuffed des-
tiny, bolted the door of opportunity.
The great mass Of the people, 81.6
per cent peasants; 10 per cent made
up the nobility; 8 per cent the
clergy; 9.3 per cent the burghers
and merchants; 81 per cent the mill
tary; thus 147,000.000 of the Russians
were peasants.
The slavery I'm Russia consecrated
by law In 1909 was partly abolished
In 1861. The\Act only pretended to
liberate the serfs. Even under the
best landlords conditions continued to
be terrible. Household servants or de-
pendents attached to the personal serv-
ice of their masters were re-
leased. They Joined the town pro-
letariat. The peasants were given al
lotments of arabic land. These al
lotments were not given to the indi-
viduals, they were given over to the
rural commune called the Mir, which
was made responsible as a whole for
the payment Of allotments. 1t was
sort of land communism, except that
the title did not pass even to the Mrs.
The enormous charge against the land
made them tenant serfs. The Mir
was a mortgaged community. The re-
demption charge was not calculated
on the value Of the land, but was con-
sidered as payment for the loss of the
compulsory labor of the serfs. The
enslavement of the peasant was rec
ognized in the Act which pretended
emancipation.
Peasants systematically Cheated.
Many propretors of land saw to IT
that the allotments did not give the
peasants the needed pasture lands
around their homes. This craftily cal
culated scheme compelled the peasants
to rent pasture land from the land
lords at any price. The landlords
held them up.
1t was only as late as 1904 that the
landlord was forbidden by law to in
flict corporal punishment on the peas
ant. Even this law was winked at
and the practice of treating human
slaves as brutes treat tired domestic
animals, continued. The peasant was
q chattel and the cheapest farm fix
ture. There were plenty of peasants.
Notwithstanding the barbaric life In
Russia, the population continued to
grow.
The peasants only participation in
government was in the assembly
called the Mir. With its quaint GUS
TOMS it is of immemorial antiquity.
The assembly of the Mir consisted of
all the peasant householders of the viii
lage. These elected a head man and
collector of local taxes. 1t was the near
est Russian peasants ever got to free
dom. 1t was the clearing house for
the troubles, a socialism of sorrows,
a touch of local self government which
gave no rights; 1t simply provided
means of cooperating In burden
bearing.
Copyright. 1920. western Newspaper Union)