Just as the commercial and industrial elements of Russia demand
equality for the Jews on economic grounds, so the intellectual elements
of Russia demand it on broad human grounds.
The great manifesto issued at the beginning of the war by 225 of the
leading publicists and writers of Russia, declares:
“Russia, in the present great war, is straining all her physical
and intellectual forces to an extraordinary degree. All the peoples
of Russia are taking part in the war, sharing equally in all the
labors. We believe that the blood of the fighters is not being shed in
vain. We believe that after having borne the horrors of the war, the
population will return with increased energy to the work of building
for a better and brighter future. This we believe, and we hope that
the relations between the different peoples that inhabit Russia will
be built up in the future on the eternal foundations of wisdom and
justice.
“But at this moment, so important in history, we see with sorrow and
consternation that to the sufferings of one of the nationalities
inhabiting Russia new distress and new vexations are added. The
limitation of the right of education is now felt with particular pain
by the Jewish youth. As the Western frontiers are closed the usual
exodus to the foreign schools is checked, while in Russia itself the
percentage limitations against the Jews in the schools are maintained
in force. The Jews of the destroyed towns have no right to leave the
Pale of Settlement, a measure which often leads to a disintegration
and a division of members of families, wives and children of wounded
soldiers not being allowed to visit their husbands and fathers,
and being at the same time exposed to all sorts of chicanery. =The
sorely-tried Jewish nation which has given to the world such precious
contributions in the domain of religion, of philosophy, of poetry;
which has always shared the travails and trials of Russian life; which
has been hurt so often by prejudice and insult; which more than once
has proven its love for Russia, and its devotion to her cause, is now
again exposed to unjust accusations and persecutions.=
“The Russian Jews, who are industriously working with us in all
spheres of labor and activity that are accessible to them, have
given so many convincing proofs of their sincere desire to be with
us, to render service to our cause ... that the limitation of their
right of citizenship is not only a crying injustice, but also reacts
injuriously upon the very interests of the State. The Russian Empire
can, and must, draw its strength from the complete union of all
the nationalities inhabiting Russia, and only by the placing of
all citizens upon an equal footing will the power of Russia become
indestructible.
=“Russians, let us remember that the Russian Jew has no other country
than Russia, and that nothing is dearer to a man than the soil on
which he is born. Let us understand that the prosperity and power of
Russia are inseparable from the well-being and the liberty of all the
nationalities which constitute its vast Empire. Let us understand
this truth, act according to our intelligence and our conscience, and
we may be certain that the ultimate disappearance of persecutions
against the Jews and their complete emancipation will form one of the
conditions of a truly constructive imperial régime.”=