It was unquestionably one of the largest demonstrations that Warsaw had ever witnessed. In the narrow streets there was packed an innumerable crowd. Suddenly from all sides the soldiers charged the demonstration.... A frightful panic—such as I have never before seen—seized the crowd. Resistance was not to be thought of—it was a sauve qui peut!
In mad fear of death, every one began to scream, and to seek refuge in the houses.... At the doors of the houses there ensued a frightful pressure. Many were thrown to the ground; these were trodden to pulp. On the ground-floor the windows were broken in, and people crawled through them into the houses. Meanwhile, the Cossacks were raging up and down, cutting people down with their sabres. There were deafening screams of fear, and with these and with the groans of the wounded there mingled the bestial “Süiy” of the Cossacks, so as to produce a nerve-lacerating concert of hell. And around one could see the unnaturally dilated pupils, the widely opened eyes, and the faces distracted with anxiety, of those who were seeking safety in flight.
The same excitement had seized on me also; with a wildly beating heart, and an unbearably distressing feeling of contracture in the loins, which produced in my entire organism a kind of “anxious ecstasy,” I began to hope.... But it would not come....
XVI.
In Odessa, which was exhausted by unceasing fights and strikes, the strength of the reaction began to make itself felt, and there were fears of a “pogrom” (an attack on the Jews). The forces of the reaction in these pogroms always made use of the Lumpenproletariat (the blackguardly element of the mob).
Since the most trustworthy of our Odessa associates were Jews, and thus had no influence with the Lumpenproletariat, they urged me to go to Odessa, and, as a non-Hebrew, to use my influence to prevent the pogrom. It was not possible for me to refuse, although in secret I rejoiced at the prospect of the pogrom.
In Kiew, where I had some business, I met by chance an acquaintance belonging to my more prosperous past. This man knew nothing of my revolutionary activities. He, for his part, was an arch anti-Semite. In consequence of the disturbances, his business had been completely ruined. He described the whole revolution as the work of the Jews, and also abused the Government, which, in his opinion, was to blame for the weakness which it exhibited in dealing with the revolutionary forces.
“But,” he continued, with a wink, “if the Government does nothing, we shall know how to help ourselves a little!” I pretended to be entirely of his opinion, and he told me in confidence that there already existed in Odessa a secret committee, which was to take the matter in hand. He also was a member. A large sum of money had already been collected, in order to pay certain persons who were to arrange the entire “Hetze.” If I wished, I could be his guest, and he would make me a member of the committee. I agreed.
The next day I was actually enrolled in the committee. Who the members really were I did not learn. One characteristic was common to them all—a frightful indolence.... Everything was ready. They would arrange for patriotic demonstrations, and would then throw proclamations amongst the people, to tell them that the Jews had sworn an oath to combine with the Japanese for the destruction of Holy Russia; that the revolution had been begun by the Jews in order that the Little Father’s army must meet enemies on both sides at once. Thus, for all the present misery the Jews only were to blame, etc.... Everything had been arranged already, and was in the hands of people who were prepared to undertake the whole affair. The only thing now wanting was the proclamation.
My acquaintances now began to praise my genius as an author, and they all pressed me to begin immediately to compose the required leaflet. The proposal suited me; I do not need to say why. With zeal I threw myself upon the task, and the proclamation was a masterpiece of demagogic art, and a crowning example of the “appeal to the beast in man,” as it is ordinarily called.