Date: 1918
Source: ru:LS/v26

Source: Lenin Collection, Volume 26
Pages: 146–148

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AMONG THE LIBERALS

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AMONG THE LIBERALS · fThe Protests of the Liberals and Their Mood .]
While the representatives of our educated society and the bourgeois classes—those who had long shown but limited capacity to fight for freedom—nonetheless expressed, in one way or another, their sympathy for the workers’ struggle. On Sunday evening, according to a correspondent for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, a gathering of roughly 1,000 people convened at the Imperial Free Economic Society. “There was no discernible leadership, no unity of action. The mood of the assembly was one of cautious waiting and fatalistic resignation.”
It is reported that on Sunday evening, during a performance at the Alexandrinsky Theatre, a lawyer addressed the audience, declaring that now was not the time to entertain themselves with spectacles while blood flowed in the streets. His speech—and the wave of revolutionary cries it provoked—stirred such deep emotion that the police did not dare intervene. [(The Times, Friday, January 27).]
[The same correspondent (Mr. Dillon) reports that on Monday a group emerged, styling itself as the future provisional government of Russia and tasking Mr. Dillon—with, of course, no names disclosed—to publish an announcement regarding this development, along with the group’s decision not to assume responsibility for any state loans contracted after January 9 (22). “I am transmitting this news,” Mr. Dillon telegraphed to his newspaper, “fulfilling my duties as a correspondent, without offering any commentary.” From our side, we might note that this report serves less as a factual account than as a telling indication of the shifting political landscape. Interestingly, Mr. Dillon himself compared the group—consisting of some 15–20 literary figures who had traveled on Saturday evening to plead with Witte and Stolypin to refrain from firing upon the people—to the “Jacobin Club” of the Great French Revolution! Needless to say, it was highly unwise for certain Russian [illegal] émigré writers to treat this comparison as a genuine piece of news—especially since it was based on a brief dispatch from Dillon’s telegram, published in the Geneva-based Tribune—a local Swiss newspaper.]
On Tuesday, some lawyers began to refuse to participate in court proceedings and to request that judicial hearings be postponed. It is said that in many cases the judges acceded to these requests, and it became evident that many were sympathetic to the popular movement. That same Tuesday, a meeting of journalists was held to protest against censorship, and on Wednesday a delegation was sent to Stolypin-Mirsky with a petition bearing the following content [(according to English-language sources)]: “The assembly of editors of daily newspapers in St. Petersburg insists


that, at least in the difficult and turbulent times we are currently experiencing, the press must be granted full freedom to report [the facts] concerning events and occurrences in public life and to discuss them openly. At the same time, the editors feel bound to point out that, in their deepest conviction, the only way out of the present situation lies in convening a Zemsky Sobor to restore order within the Russian state. This Sobor should be composed of freely elected representatives from all estates and social classes, and it must enjoy unrestricted freedom of [deliberation], consultation, and decision-making. The sessions of this Sobor must be absolutely public. The editors of the newspapers Pravo, Nashi Dni, Syn Otechestva, Birzhevaya Gazeta, Novoe Vremya, Novosti, Rus’, Peterburgskaya Gazeta, Svet, Peterburgskiy Listok, Petersburger Zeitung, Peterburgskie Vedomosti have signed.” Suvorin delivered a speech on behalf of all the editors and warned, it is said, that next time it would be impossible to rely on officers and soldiers who might turn to the side of the people. According to reports, Stolypin-Mirsky received the delegation in a rather curt manner, remarking that first and foremost the strike must come to an end and the revolutionary movement must subside—and when asked for a direct response, he mumbled something about needing to consult with Governor-General Trepov!
The funeral of student Savinkin served as a powerful expression of public sympathy for the victims of the tsarist executioners. “He was killed,” foreign newspapers reported, “near Palace Square by five bullets.” The director of the Polytechnic Institute, Gagarin, and all the students attended the funeral. The coffin was carried by the students, and at the cemetery one of them delivered a speech that went as follows: “We bury a comrade whose innocent blood was shed through the fault of the autocratic government. He has died, but his spirit lives on within us and calls upon us to continue our steadfast struggle for the right to live and to think freely.” Many wreaths were laid upon the coffin. The institute was closed that day.
At the same time, the newspapers reported the resolution passed by fourteen members of the Simbirsk provincial zemstvo. The resolution stated that it was now impossible to remain silent; that the people had been reduced to a state of servitude; and that it was imperative to summon freely elected representatives of the people. The chairman of the assembly did not permit [a vote on] the discussion of this resolution. The Taurida zemstvo, however, unanimously adopted a similar address to the Tsar.*

AMONG THE LIBERALS

On Wednesday, January 12 (25), at a session of the St. Petersburg City Duma, Councilor Nabokov [proposed] the following resolution, signed by fifteen members: “The official report confirms what all residents of the capital have seen with their own eyes: on January 9, troops opened fire on workers marching toward the Winter Palace with a petition addressed to the Tsar. Deeply outraged by this event, the St. Petersburg Duma declares that such brutality [(atrocities)] undermines the very foundations of public order—namely, the safety of citizens’ lives—and considers it its duty to assist the victims by allocating 25,000 rubles to aid the wounded and the families of those killed.” Chairman Durnovo refused to allow discussion of this resolution. Then Councilor Baron Korff proposed that, without taking a position on the justice or guilt of the victims, the Duma simply allocate this sum to provide assistance to them.
This proposal was adopted by a substantial majority.
The Moscow City Duma passed a series of resolutions in light of the outbreak of unrest in Moscow. Among other things, it was decided to urge the authorities not to resort to the use of military force against women, children, students, and workers—as long as they confined their protests to peaceful demonstrations. It was resolved to petition for the granting of the right to workers to freely organize peaceful strikes aimed at improving their living conditions, as well as to grant workers’ unions the right to hold meetings. (Some sensible capitalists are beginning to recognize, quite evidently, that police prohibitions on workers’ unions are both absurd and futile.)
The Assembly of the Agricultural Society [(Agricultural Society)] in Moscow adopted a resolution condemning the shedding of the people’s blood by the government in St. Petersburg on January 9 [(The Times, January 30, 1905)].
In St. Petersburg, on January 16, a gathering of lawyers was held to discuss measures to assist the population that had suffered during the recent events. A resolution was adopted stating that the only way out of the current situation lay in convening popular representatives from all estates.
English-language newspapers had just released the text of the resolution adopted by the address passed at the Kharkiv assembly of noblemen and members of zemstvo institutions. (It remains unclear whether this was a zemstvo assembly, a noble assembly, or a special congress convened by the zemstvo.) The language of the liberals grew bolder as the movement developed and the proletariat moved toward direct struggle. The address states