V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:LS/v16;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

AN OUTSIDE OBSERVER ON RUSSIA

[May, before 18, 1905. Geneva]

It will probably not be without interest for the readers of Vperyod to learn how enlightened European bourgeois circles now judge Russian affairs. We quote a dispatch from St. Petersburg, dated April 12, New Style, which appeared in the solid Conservative newspaper, The Times, usually well-informed:

“Although no one doubts the sincerity of the Tsar’s promise to summon representatives of the people to a consultative assembly, nevertheless the opinion is now openly expressed on all sides that the courtiers and all persons personally interested in the prolongation of the present chaotic dispensation, having succeeded in preventing the fulfilment of the Tsar’s promises made in the Rescript of March 3 (February 18), will delay the reform unless the highest spheres intervene quickly, and will delay it until it is too late to avert a national catastrophe.

“The sincere friends of the people feel that the time has come to speak frankly. Their voice can no longer be unheard even within the fastness of the palace at Tsarskoye Selo. Newspapers of all political shades, with the sole exception of the Moskovskiye Vedomosti, representatives of the liberal professions, marshals of the nobility, workers, bishops, officials, all with one voice declare that the assembly of representatives of the people must be summoned without delay. Yet a small and compact group of reactionaries is able to set at defiance both the Tsar’s promise and the undoubted will of the whole people, regarded as a thinking entity, and is able to postpone the reform by inventing one pretext after another.

“The main pretext of these reactionaries is the danger of granting freedom all at once to the peasant, who is quite unaccustomed to freedom. This circumstance is adduced as the reason why the Rescript has so far been kept from the knowledge of the rural inhabitants, who, on the other hand, have been acquainted with the Tsar’s Manifesto and whom the authorities are inciting to attack the supporters of reform. The same pretext is adduced to explain Bulygin’s silence on the work of his commission, but such arguments no longer deceive anyone. Nor do the subterfuges of the Moskovskiye Vedomosti deceive anyone; by a quibble on the wording of the Rescript they declare that the Emperor never promised to summon representatives of the people, but only elected persons from the people: that means representatives elected by the government, not by the people. Such arguments do not deserve serious attention, for they clearly betray a desire to deceive the people.

“One of the Tsar’s ministers recently told a group of aristocrats in one of the most exclusive St. Petersburg clubs: ‘We do not really intend to grant these reforms. Our only aim is to gain time.’ This minister spoke not on behalf of his colleagues, but on behalf of the above-mentioned reactionary clique. And indeed, the real hopes and aims of the reactionaries are precisely that. They have persuaded themselves to believe that the movement for reform is spurious, that it is artificially inspired from outside, and that the first Russian victory will restore the pristine submissiveness and obedience of the people. They will yield nothing except under stress, and even then they will yield only with the secret intention of rendering the whole concession nugatory.

“Members of the Russian legal profession, fully realising the danger of such a policy, have decided to save the government against its will” (the English bourgeois has inadvertently spoken a great truth about the Russian liberals!). “The lawyers’ organisation throughout Russia numbers 120,000 supporters in various professions. These 120,000 doctors, lawyers, chemists, teachers and engineers will all go on strike at once if the government does not break its Sphinx-like silence.” (The correspondent is obviously reporting St. Petersburg talk here.) “Another interesting movement aims at uniting the leading Liberal statesmen and high officials. The initiator of this movement is Count Toll, former Governor of St. Petersburg. The idea is to submit shortly a memorandum to the Council of Ministers, in which the signatories recommend the convocation of an assembly with legislative powers, with the right of interpellation and control over the budget. These proposals practically coincide with the recent memorandum of the marshals of the nobility who met in Moscow, which is now being discussed and adopted by the nobility in various gubernivas.”

It is from the outside that things are seen more clearly! The English correspondent appraises the real intentions of the reactionary clique that really rules in Russia with remarkable accuracy. All that remains for us is to repeat his conclusion as an edifying piece of advice to all friends of freedom:

“They (=the autocracy) will yield nothing except under stress of the direst necessity, and even then they will yield only with the secret intention of rendering the whole concession nugatory.”