Good-by—I give you both my hands.”
(Signed) Marie Spiradonova.
CHAPTER IX
WATCHING THE DUMA AT WORK
The famous October manifesto—Skepticism of Russian people toward promise of Constitution—Difficulties placed in way of honest voting—Czar’s insincerity and duplicity—Fundamental and exceptional laws—Ministerial change on eve of Duma—St. Petersburg possessed by troops—The Winter Palace spectacle—The throne speech—Disappointment of deputies—“Amnesty! Amnesty!”—“The first shot”—Make-up of first Duma—First session—Zeal of representatives—Hostile attitude of government—Work of Duma—Governmental policy of obstruction—Dissolution—The Viborg manifesto—The present peril—The promise of the future in the light of the attitude of the Czar.
HE famous manifesto granting representative government to the Russian people was issued October 30, 1905. After brief delays and one postponement the date for the meeting of the first parliament (to be called Duma, which is to say “Think”) was set for May 10, 1906.
“Forty days of freedom” followed the manifesto, when the world at large accepted the promise contained in the October manifesto as genuine. Then black reaction shut down over all Russia and the people began to understand that all is not gold that glitters even when molded into royal insignia. Prince B——, a well-known courtier, told me, a month before the day appointed for the convocation, that he knew absolutely there would be no parliament in Russia for many years to come. The Czar had been coerced into promising representative government by Count Witte at a time when a wave of revolt, mutiny, and rebellion had caught the imperial camp napping, and to stay this tide for the nonce the manifesto was issued. One week before the meeting a general in command of one of the most important branches of the army said in my hearing: “Duma?” There will be no Duma. Or if it meets it will merely be that we may capture the members on our bayonets.” The people themselves had but little more faith in the royal pledge. Both of the revolutionary parties—the Social Democrats and the Social Revolutionaries—openly mocked the gullibility of the intellectual constitutionalists (who pretended to believe in the manifesto), and boycotted the elections. The elections, therefore, were often farcical. The situation was not improved by the discriminating rules governing the voting issued by the government, nor by the menacing attitude of the military and police authorities on balloting-days. I was in Rostoff-on-Don, for example, on the day set for the voting and the guard of Cossacks stationed at the polling-places was so large and the men were so hostile in their attitude that the Rostoff citizens could not be hired to approach the voting-booths. About noon a proclamation was issued setting another day for the elections.
When a local governor was displeased with the electors chosen, or with the deputy finally selected to go to the imperial Duma, he sometimes declared the entire election “illegal,” or found a slender and often ridiculous pretext for annulling the vote cast for the man actually chosen, or even for exiling the candidate to the North or to Siberia.
Two months later, when this Duma had been dissolved, the Czar said in the presence of Prince T——, a good friend of mine: “I believe Russia can run for twenty