Date: 1902
Source: ru:LS/v16

LEPSHISKY COLLECTION
They did not fight; rather, they were made to fight.
They engage in bargaining.
Rumors and Facts. Shipov and Treпов.
Providence‑related rumors.
Military tales (about the Japanese War) and their outcomes.
This particular ending—Shipov and Treпов, Treпов and Shipov—is highly probable.
ft
* UNFINISHED DRAFT OF AN ARTICLE.
As the vanguard of our bourgeoisie coalesces into the “Constitutional-Democratic Party,” a grave responsibility falls upon the conscious representatives of the proletariat: to closely monitor this party’s policies and to enlighten the working class about those very policies. We have already pointed out on numerous occasions the mercenary dealings between the Zemstvo Fraction and autocracy—and between the Liberation Union and the Zemstvo Fraction. Now we must acknowledge yet another instance of this same kind of bargain‑making. The rumor that Mr. Shipov had been nominated for the post of Minister of Internal Affairs had already begun to circulate in the foreign press. Now, correspondents from France and England—among the most influential bourgeois newspapers, Le Temps and The Times—report on this development in detail.
Here is what the former of these newspapers reported from St. Petersburg on July 7th, according to its own account: If proof were needed to confirm the Tsar’s genuine desire to carry reforms through to completion, then the fact that Mr. Shipov was offered the portfolio of Minister of Internal Affairs would serve as such proof. Mr. Shipov, who had belonged to the Zemstvo anti‑constitutionalist minority and had drafted a proposal for a system of popular representation—largely influenced by Mr. Bulygin—had declared at the May Congress that he aligned himself with the views of the majority of so‑called constitutionalists. Thus, this man represents the golden mean—a figure capable of satisfying both extremes of the political spectrum, and who, moreover, had long since learned how to adapt himself to the extraordinary police powers vested in none other than Mr. Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Treпов.
“As they say, Mr. Shipov has made it clear that the sole condition for his agreeing to assume this post is that the Tsar grant freedom of the press.”