Sixteen years in Siberia: Some experiences of a Russian revolutionist

by L. G. Deich

Colonel Orfenov spoke in the name of the military governor; and after he had explained to the assembly how scanty were the means of defence available to the military authorities, he proposed that he himself should undertake the organisation of affairs. Though it had been known that after the departure of the troops there could not be many soldiers left in the town, nobody had supposed that their number was as small as now appeared from Colonel Orfenov’s account. His frank statement made a great impression on his audience, and alarmed them considerably. Many turned pale or showed other signs of emotion, and the voices of the councillors, whose speeches followed, trembled with excitement. After a short discussion it was decided to call for volunteers. The town was at once divided into military districts, and a chief with two assistants appointed for each. Thereupon some members of the Council repaired to the military governor to inform him of their decision and to consult with him upon the situation.

As I was afterwards informed by one of those who spoke then with General Gribsky, he thanked the town’s representatives for their readiness to undertake the duties of defence, and tried to quiet their apprehensions of danger from the Chinese. When asked if he did not think it necessary to take steps with regard to those Chinese who dwelt in great numbers in Blagovèstshensk itself and its neighbourhood, he declared that in his opinion any such special measures would be unnecessary and inadvisable, as war had not been declared between Russia and China. The General further informed the deputation that he had already been approached by representatives of the Chinese in the town, with the question whether it would not be better for Chinese subjects to withdraw betimes from Russian territory. Whereupon (and this was his own account of the matter) he had told the delegates to inform their compatriots that they might remain where they were without anxiety, as they were on the soil of the great Russian Empire, whose Government would never allow peaceful foreigners to be molested. Finally, the governor stated to our representatives that he himself, with the remaining detachment of soldiers and the hundred Cossacks, would go on the following day to Aigùn, in order to free that place from the Boxers, to occupy it, and so to ensure free passage on the Amur for Russian vessels. This latter plan, however, was never carried out; for the active hostility of the Chinese towards the people of Blagovèstshensk manifested itself earlier than anyone had expected.

On that very same afternoon, when a great number of people of all classes had assembled at the municipal buildings to enrol themselves as volunteers, the noise of gunshots suddenly resounded from the Chinese shore; and from the windows of the town-hall, where I was myself, we saw people hurrying in crowds from the shore, crying, “The Chinese are firing! the Chinese are attacking us!”

The volunteers in the town-hall believed, when they heard these cries, that the Chinese were attacking the utterly defenceless town, and an indescribable panic ensued; some rushed into the street, others hurried to the armoury of the hall (where, as everyone knew, some hundred old guns were stored), crying, “Arms! give us arms!” The number of these weapons was of course insufficient to arm all the volunteers, and many, chiefly the poorer people, then rushed to the shops—which, as it was Sunday, were closed—broke in, and possessed themselves by force of any weapons they could lay their hands on. The entire community was overcome with terror. Numbers of the inhabitants packed up their valuables and fled from the town on foot or on horseback; or took refuge with friends who lived at a greater distance from the river and in stone houses, which could afford better protection from shot or shell. The idea that the Chinese might crowd into the defenceless town, set it on fire, and practise all manner of horrible cruelties on the inhabitants, drove many people into a state of positive desperation.

It would in truth have cost a disciplined army of small proportions but little trouble to destroy Blagovèstshensk in a few hours, but luckily for its citizens the Chinese were very bad marksmen; most of their shells never reached the town, but fell into the Amur, or else they failed to explode. Thanks to this there were only between fifteen and twenty of the townspeople killed and wounded during the whole bombardment.

On the second day of the siege Blagovèstshensk presented a forlorn appearance—shops closed; windows and doors fast shut; no horses and hardly any foot-passengers in the streets, people who had ventured out keeping close to the walls, and hurrying over the crossings for fear of stray bullets; all business at a standstill.

We had already organised a garrison of volunteers. All along the river bank, for a distance of several versts, shelters were dug out hastily and by night, in which volunteers of all ages and classes were posted to observe the Chinese on the opposite shore and so render a surprise almost impossible. Many people, however, saw danger in quite another direction, namely, from the Chinese quarter of the town itself. Here dwelt Chinese and Manchurians in considerable numbers—merchants, tradesmen, day-labourers—whose work had been most useful to the whole community. Industrious in the extreme, and modest in their requirements, these Chinese subjects had never given the smallest cause for complaint; honesty and conscientiousness were their leading attributes, and in many shops and commercial houses, and also in private dwellings, entire trust was reposed in them as employees. By many Russian families with whom the young Chinese were in domestic service they were looked on as friends; often they were taught the Russian language, which they would study with the greatest diligence. But by the lower and less cultivated classes of the Russian population the Chinese had never been regarded with favour; they were looked upon as foreigners who obstinately refused to amalgamate with the Russians, for the Chinese never, with the rarest exceptions, alter their customs or their outlook on life. The workmen saw in them dangerous competitors, for it is well known that before the Chinese came to the Amur wages were higher, (though, on the other hand, after the war, when cheap Chinese labour disappeared, many articles that had been within the means of the poorer classes became prohibitively dear).

From these causes, and also from sheer brutality—for coarse and cruel elements are to be found in every nation—it happened that even in peaceful times the Chinese were often maltreated by Russians when they met in the streets, hustled or knocked about, or their pigtails pulled. Some more flagrant instances of oppression of the humble, timid Chinaman even found their way into the columns of the local press; and there were further instances of this sort after the mobilisation order, when numbers of reservists, called in from their employments in the country districts, filled the streets, and would often (especially when drunk) fall on any Chinese they encountered, beat them unmercifully, and call after them, “It’s your fault, you dogs, that we’re taken from our work and our families and sent to our deaths!” In the eyes of the ordinary European the Chinese were not human beings, but “cattle,” “beasts”; and the state of things engendered by this feeling had caused the military governor to issue a proclamation, threatening with punishment those who molested peaceful Chinese subjects.

Trusting in the assurances of the highest local authority, the Chinese and Manchurians of Blagovèstshensk and its environs, to the number of several thousand souls, had remained on the spot. They were soon bitterly to rue having done so. Even on the 14th of July, when firing from the Chinese shore was in progress, and the frightened crowd was in panic-stricken flight, one could see how as they ran they would turn upon and maltreat any unlucky Chinaman who happened to be in the way. Chinese and Manchurians fled through the town in a most pitiable condition, seeking some safe corner in which to hide; and on the evening of the same day cases were reported of their being murdered in the open street. Persons whose word could be trusted asserted that the police officials themselves had advised citizens to kill any Chinese abroad in the town that evening; for many feared that those on Russian territory might come to the assistance of their compatriots by setting fire to the town. It was also supposed that there might be supporters of the Boxers in the town, and to this fear had been due the first suggestions of its being advisable to take measures with regard to the native population. The more temperate and reflecting thought it would be sufficient if those Chinese for whom Russian citizens would be surety—and of these there would be many—were left to the care of their European protectors, and if the rest were assembled together in one place and put under proper supervision. But it turned out that the local authorities were of a different opinion.

On the second day after the commencement of the bombardment Cossacks both mounted and on foot might be seen, together with police, going round to every house and inquiring whether there were any Chinese inmates. If asked what was wanted with them, they replied that all Chinese in the town were to be brought together and placed under the charge of the police. Suspecting that nothing good was intended, many people sought to conceal the Chinese who were with them, hiding them in cellars and attics; but often the neighbours informed the police of this, and then the Cossacks would insist, with threats and even with drawn swords, on their being delivered up. This process of arresting the Chinese lasted over several days.