THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
By Frank Alfred Golder
The intelligent public that has been watching the erratic courses which the Russian ship of state has been sailing during the last few years suspected that something was wrong with it, but not until after the March revolution did it become fully known what incompetent and irresponsible officers were in command. It was then learned that a great part of the time the Emperor was either drunk or doped, that the Empress was hysterical and on the verge of a mental breakdown, and that they were assisted by senile Sturmer, mentally unbalanced Protopopov, and profligate Rasputin, none of whom could read a compass nor lay out a course and steered the ship as they willed. All the passengers, first, second, and third class, grand dukes, intelligentsia, and laborers saw the danger and shouted warning but the officers neither saw nor heard. In order to save themselves and the vessel each class of passengers, quite independent of the other, resolved that at the first opportune moment it would throw the officers overboard and take charge of the ship; but while they were plotting the crew mutinied, arrested the officers, and left the ship to drift in sight of the breakers.
Nicholas Romanov is to blame for the plight of his country and for his own misfortunes. He was warned, he was given his chances, but he abused them all. When he entered on his reign he was popular and had the good will of his people with him. For some reason or other it was assumed that he was liberal minded and that under him the people would breathe a little more freely than under his autocratic father. This hope was so strong that it was unconsciously accepted as a fact. Stories were told that the Tsar fraternized with students and workmen and that he was determined to destroy the bureaucratic wall which kept the people from him. It was on the strength of this report that the Zemstvo of Tver petitioned him that in the future it might have direct access to him and have a say in the government. Here was a great opportunity but he turned it against himself. His reply was, "It has come to my attention that recently some people have been carried away by senseless dreams that the representatives of the zemstvos should take part in internal affairs. Let it be known to all that I shall guard the autocracy as firmly as did my father." This was his program and it deeply disappointed the people. On the top of this came the tragedy at Moscow on the day of his coronation when hundreds of people lost their lives in the attempt to obtain a loving cup which was promised them in commemoration of the event. Then followed the wholesale killing of the factory hands at Iaroslav, of the peasants in Kharkov, the miners on the Lena, and other such massacres and pogroms. Nicholas himself withdrew to his palaces and left the affairs of state in the hands of the court clique which dragged Russia into the Japanese war and brought on the revolution of 1905. Before it was over the Emperor promised a constitution but as soon as the disturbance was quelled he went back on his word.
It was known that he was weak and he now proved that he was also a liar. He dismissed one Duma after another, he created an upper house to act as a brake, he juggled with the electoral laws so that whereas according to the law of December 24, 1905 the working classes and the peasants were entitled to 68 per cent of the Duma's representation, by the law of June 14, 1907 they were allowed only 36 per cent, Poland's delegation was cut down from 37 to 12 per cent, Caucasus' from 29 to 9, Siberia's from 21 to 14, and Central Asia's from 23 to 1. In fact he did everything to make the Duma ineffective and a laughing stock. But that was not enough, his pride was hurt and he wanted to be revenged, and the number of people arrested, imprisoned, exiled, and executed for political crimes was greater than before.
It has been said that Nicholas was not cruel and the blame for the bloody deeds in his reign was laid to his ministers. Indeed, there is something in his face that is kindly and makes a very good first impression. But those who knew him better had learned to distrust that smile. When the Emperor was most gracious to one of his ministers it was a sign that his resignation would be called for the next day. In this respect Nicholas II was like Alexander I. The following story tells something of the real character of the man who had the lives of millions of people at his mercy. The committee appointed by the Duma to take charge of the papers of the Tsar found that many important documents of state, such as reports from the commanders-in-chief, ministers, and others, he had never read, and some he had not even looked at. They did, however, come across a notebook which had been carefully kept and guarded. On opening it they noted that Nicholas, with his own hand, wrote down the names of those revolutionists who, in 1905-06, were executed, the kind of execution, and other such details. [FN: This story was told to the writer by a member of the committee.] That interested him, but matters of state he left to his time servers, to his hysterical wife, yes, to Grigory Rasputin, a dirty, ignorant, and licentious peasant, until the country blushed with shame and it became a saying, "Now we have Grigory I [Rasputin] as tsar."
The present war was declared by the Tsar but the people approved it because they hoped that the defeat of Germany would mean the defeat of the German reactionary influence in Russia, especially about the court, and a closer union with democratic England and France. I was present at the capital at the time that the war broke out and heard the cheers when the Emperor made the declaration. It seemed as if Nicholas by coming out against Germany had redeemed himself in the eyes of his people who were willing to wipe out the past, and give him another chance. During the first months of the war he was as popular as during the first weeks of his reign. It was not like the Japanese war when the soldiers refused service; in this German war, the men called to colors went without a murmur, they hoped that something good would come out of it. Offers of help from individuals as well as commercial and civic bodies poured in on the Government. The ministers said that everything was ready, that in a few months the Russians would be in Berlin. At first, all went well, but soon news came of the catastrophe in eastern Prussia, of the traitorous acts of the Minister of War, of the campaign in the Carpathians where the Russians were slaughtered like sheep because they had no guns, no ammunition, and no supplies. Again the poor people were betrayed and a cry of horror and vengeance went up as on January 9, 1905, Bloody Sunday. The Tsar would probably have been overthrown there and then had it not been for the war and the hatred of Germany. The liberals and patriots of all kinds thought that all was not yet lost and they went to work with a will, giving themselves, their money, their strength, and their lives, but they soon became convinced that it was all in vain so long as Rasputin, the Empress, and their clique ran the government.
[FN: Several months before the revolution the following
confidential conversation took place between Alexeiev, the
Russian commander-in-chief, and a journalist:
ALEXEIEV: I can get nothing from them [ministers]. My
supplies are decreasing.... It is even necessary to think.
Through the Duma they begged the Emperor to put in ministers
whom the people could trust, but he, as if to show his
contempt for public opinion, selected men of low character,
one worse than the other, men with whom even decent
monarchists would not shake hands, and in shame withdrew
from court.]
[FN: about bread. We are already cutting down the allowance.
They have forgotten about food for the horses....]
JOURNALIST: What are you going to do about it?
A. What shall I do? With these people there is nothing that can be done.