THE RED REIGN
THE TRUE STORY OF AN
ADVENTUROUS YEAR
IN RUSSIA
BY
KELLOGG DURLAND
AUTHOR OF “AMONG THE FIFE MINERS,” ETC., ETC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
BY THE AUTHOR AND OTHERS
NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1908
Copyright, 1907, by
The Century Co.
——
Published, September, 1907
THE DE VINNE PRESS
TO
MY MOTHER
The author desires to make cordial recognition of the fact that some of the material used in Chapter IX was also used in articles which appeared in Harper’s Weekly and Colliers Weekly; that certain passages in several other chapters were used in letters to the New York Evening Post and the Boston Evening Transcript; that part of Chapter XI appeared in the Independent. At the same time he would express his grateful appreciation to Mr. Hamilton Holt, of the Independent, for the courtesy of supplying him with credentials of representation which were exceedingly useful on several occasions.
CONTENTS
| Page | |
| [Introduction] | [xix] |
| Importance of movement called Russian revolution—Itsvaried aspects—Inevitableness of revolution in Russia—Causes—Thedisease of autocracy—Insincerity of manifestoof October, 1905, seen in gradual withdrawal of constitutionalrights then guaranteed—Elements of disintegrationin Russian state—Ninety per cent. of Russianpeople now oppose existing régime—Startling record ofkilled and wounded in 1906—Compared to French Terror—Lengthof Russian struggle compared to other revolutionsin history—Author’s qualifications for present undertaking—Variedexperience among Cossacks, terrorists, and peasants. | |
| [Chapter I. Into the Shadow] | [3] |
| The White Terror—My first conspiracy—A frontier episode—Amixed company—“Vive la Revolution!”—The“Quiet Capital”—A courtesy to Americans—A friend’snarrow escape—A midnight incident—Early bewilderment—Witte“more a stratagem than a man”—The ministerialcrisis—The deposed minister—Significant telegramsfrom the provinces—Off to the Caucasus. | |
| [Chapter II. Among Officers of the Czar] | [25] |
| Welcomed by officers of the guard—Being Cossackized—Aninterrupted sleep—Presentation to the Governor-General—Anamusing interview—The General’s vanityand how it was tickled—The story of the Cossacks—AnIngoosh brigand—An expedition into the mountains. | |
| [Chapter III. At Home With Cossacks] | [48] |
| A Cossack village—An exhibition of horsemanship—Anaccident—How Cossacks are trained for service—Cossacklocal government—Basis of Cossack loyalty—Their attitudetoward massacres—Cossacks of the Caucasus, like othertribes of the mountains, still unconquered—Back to Vladikavkaz. | |
| [Chapter IV. Under Martial Law] | [75] |
| The journey to the “Oil City”—First view of the Caspian—Armeniansand Tartars—Russia’s monstrous misrule—Tiflisblood-stained and battered—How to wield a Caucasiandagger—Daily perils—Chiaroscuro of officers’ life—Astirring departure. | |
| [Chapter V. With the Army of “Pacification”] | [95] |
| Arrival in Kutais—A siege city—“The very walls haveears”—Cossack barracks—Loot—“Bloody” Alikhanoff—Adramatic interview—Justification for burning homes—Militaryoutrages—Why the inhabitants of the Caucasusare revolutionists and terrorists. | |
| [Chapter VI. Courting Arrest] | [121] |
| A journey in the interior—Warned back—The start—Atypical Volga province—Causes of the famine—Arrival atTsaritzin—Two medical students—“Open! Open to thePolice!”—The search—Condition of the peasants—Pesky—Agroup of remarkable personalities—Village customs—Adramatic meeting—A night ride—A sudden interruptionin our plan. | |
| [Chapter VII. In Prison] | [138] |
| Questioned by the Police—Taken—Five charges to accountfor—Accused of being an agitator—Eighteen verststo the gendarmerie—A tedious night—Back to Saratoff—“Takethe dogs away”—Prison—Clamoring for freedom—Discouragement—Parole—Release. | |
| [Chapter VIII. A Visit to Marie Spiradonova] | [155] |
| A tyrannical régime—A young girl’s daring—Tortures andoutrages—Entertained by the governor—A kindly police-master—Grimprison walls—Difficulties—Appeal to thegovernor—Shackled prisoners—Marie Spiradonova—Aterrible tale—Interruptions—“Greetings to France, toEngland, and to America”—A Spartan mother—Lettersfrom the fair prisoner. | |
| [Chapter IX. Watching the Duma at Work] | [177] |
| The famous October manifesto—Skepticism of Russianpeople toward promise of Constitution—Difficulties placedin way of honest voting—Czar’s insincerity and duplicity—Fundamentaland exceptional laws—Ministerial change oneve of Duma—St. Petersburg possessed by troops—TheWinter Palace spectacle—The throne speech—Disappointmentof deputies—“Amnesty! Amnesty!”—“Thefirst shot”—Make-up of first Duma—First session—Zealof representatives—Hostile attitude of government—Workof Duma—Governmental policy of obstruction—Dissolution—TheViborg manifesto—The present peril—Thepromise of the future in the light of the attitude ofthe Czar. | |
| [Chapter X. A Conspirative Meeting] | [207] |
| A member of the military organization—Kronstadt—Revolutionaryheadquarters among the soldiers and sailors—Aconspirative gathering—Smuggling forbidden literature—Asurprise—Disguised as a Russian sailor—A thrillingexperience—An inspiring episode—Shadowed!—Flight—Planof escape—Capture deferred. | |
| [Chapter XI. The Kronstadt Uprising] | [223] |
| Kronstadt on the eve of mutiny—Influences encouraginguprising—Make-up of the garrison—Wild rumors—A grandplan for general army and navy uprising—A successfulbeginning—Silence—A momentous telegram—A suddensignal—Mutiny—Trapped!—Slaughter—Illuminating lessonsof the Kronstadt fiasco—The terrible cost in life andliberty. | |
| [Chapter XII. Governmental Terrorism] | [237] |
| Arrival in Bielostok—First impressions—Stories of theinjured—The crucifix as a weapon of death—The hospitalfired upon—Children victims—Failure of government toplace responsibility—Mass of evidence proving governmentalcomplicity in massacres—Other massacres officiallyinstigated—Prince Urusoff’s speech—The assassination ofProfessor Hertzenstein—A celebrated Moscow physicianmurdered—Warsaw horrors—Upon whom rests the responsibility?—Arrestof Pasha—Shooting a girl in prison—Bureaucracyguilty of murder and assassination—Placingthe responsibility on the Czar—The arch-terrorist andassassin of Russia. | |
| [Chapter XIII. Amid Warsaw Contrasts] | [265] |
| Seething Poland—Governmental lawlessness—Overwhelminglittle Poland by sheer force of numbers—Twice over thePolish frontier—A panic of Warsaw Jews—Russian oppression—Anervous populace—Campaign to exterminate Warsawpolice—Hopeless plight of latter—A pathetic incident—Wherepoverty stalks—Effect of era of misery and chaosupon Warsovians—Traffic in white slaves—Daily occurrences—AWarsaw hospital—Chiaroscuro in the Polishcapital—Parties of Poland—Poles traditional revolutionists—Hopeand optimism temperamental characteristics ofthe Polish people. | |
| [Chapter XIV. Among the Muzhiks] | [287] |
| Importance of the muzhik in the future—Ancient republicantraditions—Greek church and bureaucracy non-Russianinstitutions—Weight of the peasant vote in the Duma—Howthe peasant’s belief in “God and Czar” is waning—Strokesof disillusionment—Indifference to time—Muzhiknonchalance—Strange sects—Muzhik religion—Acharacteristic legend—Practical ethics—The muzhik notnecessarily lazy—Muzhik shrewdness—The dawning ofself-consciousness. | |
| [Chapter XV. The Peasant Awakening] | [311] |
| The period of repression following the Duma dissolution—Underarrest in Moscow—The cradle of the Romanoffs—Apeasant gathering—Outspoken muzhiks—A “constituentassembly”—Rational opinions of the Viborg manifesto—NijniNovgorod—The great fair—A disturbed province—Kazan—Ajourney to the interior—A visit to PrinceOuktomsky—Professor Vassiliev and his family—Advancedideas of the peasants—Simbirsk, the “Mountainof the Winds”—An illiterate government—What thepeasants want—Entering the famine belt. | |
| [Chapter XVI. Through the Hungry Country] | [341] |
| Heart of the famine region—Terrible pictures of starvation—Peasantsfeeding the thatch from the roofs of their housesto cattle—Auctioning cattle and horses for a song—Howthe workers and breadwinners suffer first—Inabilityof the government to cope with situation—Peasantspledge their labor for years to come to secure food for theirfamilies for the present time—Another arrest—Expulsionfrom the province. | |
| [Chapter XVII. In the Land of Lost Leaders] | [360] |
| Across the Urals—Into Siberia—The Treimen waiting-prison—Firstexiles—The journey to Tobolsk—Secretnight meeting of politicals—Hardships of exile—Splendidpersonnel of prisoners—Forced into daily contact withfoul disease—Starvation—Life among the Ostiaks—Lackof medical aid—Siberia, a monumental crime—The journeyback. | |
| [Chapter XVIII. My Friends, the Terrorists] | [387] |
| “Terrorism” almost universally misunderstood in America—Terrorisma philosophy based on logical, intelligent,dispassionate reasoning—Exceptional incidents that merelyprove the rule—Relation of terrorists to whole revolutionarymovement—Differentiation of the several leading revolutionaryparties—Thoughtful and humane methods ofrecent terrorists—Capture of “The Bear”—Two girl terroristsexecuted at Kronstadt—The daring Maximalists—“Flyingbands”—Rigid morals of terrorists—Total abstainers—Personnelof the Maximalists—A famous “expropriation”—Ploton the Duma—Bomb in the home ofPrime Minister Stolypin—The most daring plot of all. | |
| [Chapter XIX. A Close Call] | [410] |
| A midnight meeting—An unusual request—Four womenof “the movement”—A sharp engagement—How the plotwas carried out—Plans for escape—Disappointment—Aneducated cab-driver—A bold scheme—A unique “bridal”party—No news—Alarm—On the trail—A gendarme companion—Suspiciousincidents—A night alarm—Caught—Adesperate chance—“Au revoir”—Found—Back to thefight—Watched—Final escape. | |
| [Chapter XX. With the Russian Workman] | [433] |
| Yusofka for a week-end—An exciting journey—A latewelcome—Guarded slumber—The story of Yusofka—TheBlack Country of Russia—Time of small consequence toRussian workmen—Russian holidays numerous—Theworking-day—Cost of living not low—Coal-mines—TheArtel—Morality—The drink question—Through a Russiancoal-mine—The Russian engineer an obstacle to progress—Child-laborlaws good—Conditions compared with Scotlandand Pennsylvania—Comparative wage scale—Standardsof living—Departure from Yusofka. | |
| [Chapter XXI. Tolstoi—Odessa—Constantinople] | [456] |
| A visit to Russia’s grand old man—An interesting yamschik—Tolstoi’sviews on the present struggle—His world-wideinterests—The varied and interesting Tolstoi household—Onto the Crimea—Odessa—The Black Hundred organization—Promotingmassacres—Quitting Odessa during adock strike—A Black Hundred crew—Difficulties at sea—Backto Odessa—A fresh start—A motley cargo of passengers—Bokharapilgrims bound for Mecca, Central AsiaJews journeying to Jerusalem, German Lutherans—Crossingthe Black Sea—Arrival in Constantinople. | |
| [Chapter XXII. The Trend] | [481] |
| Whither? The future of Russia—Why the revolution hasnot yet succeeded—Probable outcome of the struggle—Inevitablenessof eventual overthrow of present régime—Attitudeof foreign Powers—The Russian people duringthe period of rebellion—Effect upon national character—TheCzar and the people—The Czar and the world—Whatwe may expect. | |
| [Appendices] | [497] |
| [A—Caucasian testimony;] [B—The Duma’s Reply to theThrone Speech;] [C—M. Lopuchin’s letter to M. Stolypin;][D—Report on Siedlce pogrom;] [E—Notes on Wages andCost of Living.] | |
| [Index]:[A],[B],[C],[D],[E],[F],[G],[H],[I],[J],[K],[L],[M],[N],[O],[P],[R],[S],[T],[U],[V],[W],[X],[Y],[Z] | [529] |