THE ELECTIONS
MOSCOW, _March 19th_.
“Public affairs,” Dr. Johnson once said, “vex no man.” And when Boswell
objected that he had seen Dr. Johnson vexed on this account the sage
replied thus: “Sir, I have never slept an hour less, nor ate an ounce
less meat. I would have knocked the factious dogs on the head, to be
sure; but I was not vexed.” This seems to me to be an exact definition
of the attitude of the Russian public towards politics at this moment.
They are not vexed, but they are anxious to knock the factious dogs on
the head. The trouble is that each party considers the other parties to
be the factious dogs, and the Government considers nearly all the
parties to be factious dogs; and all parties without exception (Radical,
Extreme, and Conservative) consider the Government to be a factious dog.
I will describe briefly the present position of principal parties and
their more important subdivisions.
The Right (the monarchical party and the Alliance of Russian People) is
for the Throne and the Altar and against all compromise. They consider
constitutional promises to have been exacted by the terrorism of
factious dogs.
In the Centre there are, slightly towards the Right, the party of Law
and Order, the party of Commerce and Industry, and slightly veering
towards the Left the Alliance of October 17th. At this moment the two
branches I have mentioned first (Law and Order and Commerce and
Industry) have veered from the Right towards the Left; they say that the
Government is their common enemy. However, the main fact with regard to
them is that these three branches of the Centre, of which the Alliance
of October 17th is far the most important, are all constitutional and
all moderate. There are further subdivisions in the Centre about which
we need not trouble ourselves.
These three parties are united in desiring the preservation of the
Monarchy on a thoroughly constitutional basis and that of the Unity of
the Empire. They differ on various other questions. The Alliance of
October 17th is in favour of universal suffrage.
The Constitutional Democrats, or Cadets, are in favour of universal
suffrage, local autonomy for Poland (which they wish placed in the same
position as Finland), and one Chamber. They say nothing of the Monarchy.
They are a very strong and active party, and their leaders are notable
men, such as Professor Milioukov, MM. Struve, Rodichev, and
Petrunkevitch, nearly all of whom are brilliant orators. The Government
has been so active in repressive measures against this party that it is
difficult to foresee how strongly they will be represented in the Duma.
The Moderate parties accuse them of promising more than they can give
and of saying less than they mean; in fact, of being Federalists and
Socialists in disguise, and not having the honesty and the courage to
admit the fact for fear of arousing hostility among the peasants. On the
Left of the Left are the Socialists, the Social Democrats, and the
Social Revolutionaries.
The elections are taking place now. I tried during the whole of
yesterday to grasp thoroughly the working of the franchise law. I failed
to grasp it. I asked one Russian how many degrees there were in the
suffrage. He said four. I asked another; he said three. I asked a third;
he said two.
However, what has happened in twenty-five Governments as far as the
peasants are concerned is this: the peasants have elected delegates for
their districts. Each district elects a delegate. The delegate elects an
elector and the elector elects the member. That is one part of the
process. Three degrees. The result of these elections was that out of
222 districts in 23 Ouiezds 99 districts elected supporters of the
Government, and 123 more or less Progressive candidates. Yesterday the
small landed proprietors elected their representatives in the Government
of Moscow; out of 100 candidates returned 20 Constitutional Democrats
only were elected. Yesterday also, in St. Petersburg, elections were
held among the working men of the factories. This led to nothing, since
the working men boycotted the proceedings.
The first peasant who was chosen as a delegate for his district in the
Government of Moscow was arrested on the 13th inst. It happened like
this: The peasants met to elect a representative. Amongst them there was
one man who, without having any definite political convictions, was able
to make a fair speech. He was unanimously elected. The police, who were
present, confronted with this apparently unforeseen contingency (that
some one would be elected), and in doubt as to what to do, arrested him.
He protested, saying that he had been unanimously chosen as the people’s
delegate. “Oh!” said the police, “you are a _kreekòon_, are you? The
Circular of the Minister of the Interior tells us to arrest all
_kreekòons_; to prison you go.” A _kreekòon_ means a person who is
turbulent, who cries out, objects, or makes any kind of disturbance. So
arrested he was. The peasants, left without a candidate, thought that
this time they would elect some one who could not possibly be accused of
being a _kreekòon_, so they chose a very old man over ninety years of
age. This man, although admirably fitted by the suavity of his demeanour
to fulfil the necessary conditions, could neither read nor write, nor
even hold a pen so as to scratch his mark. So he was disqualified. In
his place another octogenarian, who still had strength enough left in
his palsied fingers to scratch a mark on paper, was chosen. In other
districts the peasants, hearing of this proceeding, elected the village
elder or the policeman so as to avoid possible trouble. This, however,
is against the rules, so they had to fall back on octogenarians. In
mills and factories the employers encourage this plan so as to avoid
friction with the authorities. It is perhaps fair to add that the
elections are probably not in all cases so farcical as they are made out
to be. But in one case some workmen who wished to boycott the elections
and were frightened into voting elected a man who was deaf and dumb.
The general feeling prevails that the Duma, whatever the result of the
elections may be, will be a profoundly unsatisfactory machine. The
Socialists look upon the situation with hope. They say that the Duma
will either be red, in which case it will be dissolved by the
Government; or black, in which case it will be destroyed by the
Revolutionaries; or moderate, in which case it will be composed of such
conflicting elements that the confusion which will ensue will render its
existence impossible. Most of the Moderate Central Parties are veering
towards an alliance with those of the Left, owing to the intense
exasperation which is felt against the Government. At the meetings held
by these Central Moderate Parties violently anti-Governmental speeches
are made, and greeted with thunderous applause.
MOSCOW, _April 8th_.
The elections have taken place here to-day; and, as in St. Petersburg
last week, the struggle lies between the Constitutional Democrats or
Cadets and the union of the three Moderate parties (the Alliance of
October 17th, the Party of Commerce and Industry, and the Party of
Rightful Order), which calls itself the “Block.”
In Moscow the conservative element, represented by the Party of Commerce
and Industry, is said to be strong; there are strong conservative
elements in the town; on the other hand the Cadets are exceedingly
hopeful. The result of the elections will be known to-morrow night. When
the results of the elections were made public in St. Petersburg the
attitude of the Right and of the October Party was curious. They said
with one voice that it was not fair, that many of the electors had not
received their voting cards, and that the elections should be cancelled.
It was pointed out that possibly many of the Cadets had not received
their voting cards either, but that they had taken the trouble to go and
fetch them. Every possible explanation was given for the victory of the
Cadets save the one that the majority of voters were in sympathy with
their programme, and had therefore elected them. The situation recalled
the state of feeling after the last General Election in England. During
the weeks that preceded the elections the Cadets complained, and in many
cases with good grounds, that their efforts in canvassing and electoral
agitation generally were being seriously impeded by the police. Their
one cry has been all along: “We are not revolutionaries. We are a
political party. And we are being treated as revolutionaries.” (The
Social Revolutionaries are not taking part in the elections at all.)
Somebody lately pointed out to me that if, in spite of all the measures
taken against the Cadets, they still succeed in obtaining a majority,
the result of the repressive measures will have been to secure a
representative Duma. He meant that whether the Cadets are right or
wrong, it is evident that they are infinitely more energetic and more
capable of action than their adversaries, so that if they obtain a
moderate success we shall be justified in concluding that, had they been
in no way impeded, they would have obtained an overwhelming success; in
which case the Duma would have been representative exclusively of the
more energetic opinion in Russia, and not, therefore, fairly
representative of the whole opinion.
To understand their success one has only to read their programme. It is
a little book which costs three kopecks, _i.e._, two-thirds of a
halfpenny. It lays down shortly, precisely, and in perspicuous language
everything which those people desire who wish for a radical change of
_régime_ in Russia: (1) The equality of citizens before the law. (2)
Freedom of religion. (3) Freedom of speech and of the Press. (4) The
right to hold public meetings. (5) The right to form clubs and unions.
(6) The right of petition. (7) The inviolability of the individual and
his domicile (_habeas corpus_). (8) Abolition of illegal punishments and
extraordinary Courts. (9) Freedom of the citizen to leave his country
and abolition of the passport system. (10) The incorporation of the
above-mentioned rights in the fundamental laws of the country. These ten
clauses, which could be written on less than half a sheet of notepaper
(I have just copied them from the official programme), form the basis of
their creed. Besides these there are further and more detailed articles
concerning the political organisation of the State; among which there is
one which lays down that the representatives of the people should be
elected by universal, equal, direct suffrage carried out by ballot,
without distinction of religion, nationality, or sex. (There is a
qualifying clause as to whether the introduction of woman’s suffrage
shall be immediate or not, which is not very clear.) The Cadets
themselves say that their future behaviour depends entirely on the
Government, and that they have no wish to go further to the Left unless
the Government push them thither.
I went to look at the voting in one of the districts this morning. It
took place on the third floor of a minor place of entertainment. A small
crowd was collected outside, getting thick around the door; at the door
and on the staircase were canvassers of the two camps, those of the
Cadets being mostly students. Upstairs a long string of people were
waiting to vote in alphabetical order, and in a further room, of which I
could get but a glimpse, I saw a green baize table and some respectable
people sitting at it. The whole proceeding was orderly in the extreme.
There has been nothing in the town to-day to tell the casual tourist
that elections are going on, although the interest in them is keen.
It is Palm Sunday, and therefore the customary fair is being held on the
Red Place in front of the Kremlin, and as it has been a lovely day the
crowd of strollers was immense. This fair is one of the most amusing
sights to be seen in Russia. Two lines of booths occupy the space which
stretches opposite the walls of the Kremlin. At the booths you can buy
almost anything: birds, tortoises, goldfish, grass snakes, linoleum,
carpets, toys, knives, musical instruments, books, music, cakes, lace,
ikons, Easter eggs, carved woodwork, &c. There are besides these a
number of semi-official stalls where kwass is sold to drink, and a great
quantity of itinerant vendors sell balloons, things that squeak, penny
whistles, trumpets, and chenille monkeys. The trade in goldfish was
brisk (people often buying one goldfish in a small tumbler), but that in
a special kind of whetstone which cut glass and sharpened knives and
cost twenty kopecks was briskest of all. The crowd round this stall, at
which the vendor gave a continual exhibition of the practical excellence
of his wares by cutting up bits of glass, was dense, and he sold any
quantity of them. At the bookstall the selection was varied in the
extreme; I bought two cheap copies of “Paradise Lost” in Russian with
wonderful illustrations, but there were also back numbers of _Punch_ to
be got, some fragments of the _Cornhill Magazine_, and the Irish State
Papers from 1584 to 1588. One man was selling silvered Caucasian whips
which, he said, had just missed being silver. One man sold little
sailors made of chenille, which, he said, represented the crew of the
_Potemkin_ without the captain. There was one fascinating booth called
an American bazaar where everything cost five kopecks, and where you
could buy almost anything.
I did not, to my regret, find at the bookstall a magazine which, I am
told, has recently been published for children—children in the nursery,
not schoolboys. It forms part of a series of publications resembling the
“Bibliothèque Rose” in France. This magazine, I am told, leads off with
an article on Herzen (the famous writer on Socialistic questions), and
then continues with a cartoon of a man in chains in a dungeon, having
dreamt of freedom, and waking to find he is bound; another cartoon
follows representing a gallows, or some other such cheerful symbol, and
it ends with an article on America, in which it is explained that the
children in the United States have initiated and are carrying on a
movement and agitation in favour of the extension of suffrage to the
nursery. This is what I think is called a sign of the times.
Certainly Russia is quite different from all other countries, and by
saying it is the most Western of Oriental nations you get no nearer an
explanation of its characteristics than by saying it is the most
Oriental of Western nations. You live here, walk about, talk, and forget
that you are in a place which is quite unique, until some small sight or
episode or phrase brings home the fact to you, and you say “This is
Russia,” as Vernon Lee in her exquisite book on “The Spirit of Rome”
exclaims, “This is Rome,” when driving towards Monte Maggiore she hears
the sound of the harmonium, and the school-children’s hymn issuing out
of a piece of broken ruin covered with fennel. Such a moment has just
occurred to me to-night, when driving home through the empty streets at
11 p.m. I passed a church as the clock struck, and I heard a voice
speaking loud quite close to me; I turned round and saw a policeman
standing on the pavement, having faced about towards the church. He was
saying his prayers in a loud singsong; his whole body was swaying as he
repeatedly crossed himself; in his arms he carried a twig of budding
willow, which is the symbol of the palm-branches of to-day’s festival;
these branches yesterday and to-day have been sold and carried about all
over Russia. Palm Sunday here is called the Feast of the
Willow-branches. When I saw this policeman saying his prayers I
experienced that peculiar twinge of recognition which made me think:
“This is Russia.”