A Secret Service: Being Strange Tales of a Nihilist

by William Le Queux

Both father and daughter thanked me effusively, and I took a leaf from my pocket-book and wrote Goldberg’s name and address, at the same time promising to call personally and interest myself on his behalf.

Soon afterwards I bade them farewell, and walked homeward through the city in a very meditative frame of mind.

Within a week of my first meeting with Karelin, he was engaged by Goldberg, who found him an excellent workman. The delicate sense of touch that he had developed caused him to exercise far greater care over his work than the ordinary lapidary, and Goldberg expressed a belief that the old man was the best diamond polisher in London.

I was glad I had been enabled to render the blind man a service, while on his part he continually overwhelmed me with heartfelt gratitude. We met frequently, and although I refrained from explaining my connection with the Revolutionary Party, I introduced him to several minor Members of Parliament and other persons who were advocates of Russian freedom, and who made the National Liberal Club their headquarters. The old blind man and his daughter were invited to numbers of houses, and much sympathy was shown them. Elyòna was petted by the ladies, and her father appeared never tired of describing the terrors of administrative exile.

Once or twice he lectured; on the first occasion at the National Liberal Club, and afterwards at various halls in the metropolis. The title of his lecture was “My Life in Siberia,” and great crowds assembled to hear him, while the newspapers reported his observations and criticisms at unusual length.

Although he had been exiled as “a dangerous political,” he denied that he had ever entertained revolutionary ideas, and expressed his disagreement with the propaganda of the Nihilists. By reason of that expression I refrained from admitting that I was a Terrorist. Of course I had reported to the Executive, and my instructions were to watch him narrowly and penetrate the mystery enveloping his past.

At this period it chanced that we were unusually active with our propaganda, especially in Poland, and the Government viewed their futile efforts to suppress the circulation of revolutionary literature with increasing alarm. They were aware that the majority of the books, pamphlets, and manifestoes came from England, yet they were utterly unable to discover the means by which they evaded the censorship.

One noteworthy document which was being circulated by hundreds of thousands throughout the length and breadth of the Russian Empire was the new programme of the Executive Committee.

“By fundamental conviction we are Socialists and Democrats,” was the translation of the opening sentence. Then it proceeded as follows: “We are satisfied that only through socialistic principles can the human race acquire liberty, equality, and fraternity; secure the full and harmonious development of the individual as well as the material prosperity of all; and thus make progress. The welfare of the people and the will of the people are our two most sacred and most inseparable principles.” The document went on to criticise severely the condition of the country under the Tzar Alexander III., and pointed out that in view of the stated aim of the Party its operations might be classified under the heads of propaganda, destructive activity, the organisation of secret societies, and the organisation of the revolution.

Clause 2, headed “Destructive and Terroristic Activity,” was perhaps the one most calculated to inspire the Tzar and his Government with feelings of insecurity and fear. The intentions of the Party were expressed boldly in the following terms: “Terroristic activity consists in the destruction of the most harmful persons in the Government, the protection of the Party from spies, and the punishment of official lawlessness and violence in all the more prominent and important cases in which such lawlessness and violence are manifested. The aim of such activity is to break down the prestige of Governmental power, to furnish continuous proof of the possibility of carrying on a contest against the Government, to raise in that way the revolutionary spirit of the people, and inspire belief in the practicability of revolution, and, finally, to form a body suited and accustomed to warfare.”