V. I. Lenin

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

THEY DID NOT FIGHT, BUT WERE FOUGHT.
THEY ARE HAGGLING.
RUMOURS AND FACTS. SHIPOV AND TREPOV.
PROVIDENTIAL RUMOURS.
WAR TALES (ABOUT THE JAPANESE WAR) AND RESULTS.
THIS PARTICULAR END IS VERY PROBABLE = SHIPOV AND TREPOV,
TREPOV AND SHIPOV.

As the advanced section of our bourgeoisie crystallises into a “Constitutional-Democratic Party”, the class-conscious representatives of the proletariat are faced with the serious duty of closely following the policy of this party and of enlightening the people concerning that policy. We have more than once noted the haggling of the Zemstvo faction with the autocracy, and of the League of Liberation with the Zemstvo faction. Now we have to record a new instance of this haggling. The rumour about the candidature of Mr. Shipov for the post of Minister of the Interior has long since appeared in the foreign press. Now the correspondents of the most influential bourgeois newspapers in France and England, Le Temps and The Times, give detailed reports on the subject.

This is what the first of these newspapers is informed from St. Petersburg under date of July 7, N.S.: “If proof were required of the sincerity of the Tsar’s desire to carry through [mener à bien] reforms, such proof is afforded by the fact that Mr. Shipov was offered the portfolio of Minister of the Interior. Mr. Shipov, who belonged to the anti-constitutionalist minority in the Zemstvo and who drafted a plan of popular representation which was extensively used by Mr. Bulygin, declared at the May congress that he associated himself with the opinion of the majority, i.e., the constitutionalists. Thus he is a man of the golden mean [juste milieu], who could satisfy both extreme parties and who would at the same time be able to adapt himself [s’accomoderait] to the extraordinary police powers with which the Assistant Minister of the Interior, Trepov, is invested.

“It is said that Mr. Shipov makes the sole condition of his consent to occupy this post that the Tsar should grant [l’octroi] freedom of the press.”

The Times correspondent telegraphs: “The latest news, which today eclipses all other events, is the offer of the portfolio of Minister of the Interior to Mr. Shipov. The possibility of such an offer had been indicated before, but nevertheless this event comes as a complete surprise. Mr. Shipov has lately made his peace with the Zemstvo majority, and it was therefore quite natural to think that his candidature for the ministerial post was impossible. The Tsar’s sudden decision to hand over to him the inheritance of Mr. Bulygin after the almost completed appointment of Ignatyev, indicates a serious change in the Tsar’s plans. It is thought that the Tsar was influenced by the latest tragic events in the south of Russia, which eloquently testify to the spread of revolutionary ideas even among the most reliable defenders of the Tsar’s authority.

“It is pointed out, however, that the choice of Mr. Shipov was not made without an ulterior motive: perhaps, with the aid of a liberal figurehead, the old order will acquire some semblance of popular popularity. Perhaps, at least, the Bulygin franchise, which is in fact borrowed from Mr. Shipov’s first draft, will no longer meet with the ruthless opposition of the Zemstvo. There is a grain of plausibility in this argument, for it would be too much to expect that the bureaucracy would suddenly abandon its policy of obstruction and dissimulation.

“But the main question connected with Mr. Shipov’s candidature is whether his appointment can be reconciled with the retention of the police dictatorship. Mr. Shipov himself has put an end to all speculation on this score by declaring that he is ready to obey the Tsar’s will on one condition only, namely, that His Majesty should guarantee freedom of the press.”