THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE SELF-DISCOVERY 
 OF RUSSIA
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 SIDELIGHTS ON SIBERIA. 
 
 HENRY DRUMMOND. 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION 
 OF NATURE.
 
 A POPULAR PICTURE POSTCARD EMBLEMATIC OF THE REPLACING OF THE: 
 CROSS ON ST. SOPHIA BY RUSSIA IN ROOM OF THE CRESCENT. 
 
 "LET THE SACRED DREAMS OF RUSSIA BE REALIZED. 
 
 LET THE GREATNESS OF VICTORIES RAISE HER! 
 
 OUR TZARGRAD IS THE CROSS ON ST. SOPHIA. 
 
 THE ENEMIES ARE DEFEATED, NOW PEACE FOR EVER!'
 
 THE 
 
 SELF-DISCOVERY 
 OF RUSSIA 
 
 BY 
 
 J. Y. SIMPSON 
 
 NEW YORK 
 GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
 
 Printed in Great Britain
 
 DK 
 
 TO 
 
 RUSSIA 
 
 MERCIFUL IN VICTORY 
 
 PATIENT AND CALM IN TRIBULATION 
 
 AND WITH THE VISION 
 
 TO ACT AND TO ENDURE 
 
 1084601
 
 PREFACE 
 
 rtlHE following pages deal with some aspects of the 
 -J- self-discovery of Russia, as these were visible in 
 the summer of 1915. Part of the second section of Theme 
 III has appeared in " The Contemporary Review," and 
 Theme IV is substantially as it was published in "The 
 Hibbert Journal." Any suggestion of dogmatism in the 
 passages relating to foreign affairs is simply due to the 
 fact that they are based upon conversations with two or 
 three of the highest Russian authorities on that subject. 
 Where many are concerned who have aided me in various 
 particulars it is difficult to make detailed acknowledg- 
 ment, but I cannot refrain from expressing my gratitude 
 to a friend through many years, Mr. A. N. Koulomzine, 
 President of the Council of the Empire, without whose 
 interest some of the following experiences would not 
 have been possible. At the same time he is not respon- 
 sible for any of the opinions stated in the book. 
 
 Edinburgh, February, 1916.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Prelude .... 
 Theme I. Through Union to Victory 
 Interlude. By little Mother Volga . 
 Theme II. Some Economic Problems 
 Theme III. The Prohibition of Vodka 
 
 (1) Russia's Initial Victory 
 
 (2) In the Country 
 
 (3) In the Towns and Factories 
 
 (4) From the Physician's Point of View 
 
 that of the future 
 
 Theme IV. On the Galician Front 
 Theme V. The Future of Poland . 
 
 Interlude. Great Elms 
 Theme VI. Religion in Russia To-day 
 Theme VII. Russia and Constantinople 
 Postlude .... 
 
 AND 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3 
 11 
 33 
 43 
 
 57 
 
 57 
 67 
 90 
 
 113 
 123 
 157 
 178 
 179 
 199 
 219
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 A popular picture postcard emblematic of the replacing of 
 
 the Cross on St. Sophia by Russia in Room of the 
 
 Crescent ...... Frontispiece 
 
 Facing page 
 " A single old man sitting outside the Volostnoye Pravlenie " 38 
 
 " Ornamented with carving and lattice work " 38 
 
 " A picture is gained of Tarnopol " .... 126 
 
 " The villages are practically intact " . . . .126 
 
 " Sanitary Train No. 303 " 128 
 
 " Little encampments of refugees " . . . .128 
 
 The old Schloss viewed from the back . . . .130 
 
 Village beside the Schloss . . . . . .130 
 
 " The largest building . . . had been a distillery " . . 132 
 
 " A tailless dog of a peculiar breed " . . . .132 
 
 " Peasant women were working in the fields " . . .134 
 
 " Passed over immediately into a communication trench " 134 
 
 " The first-fine trenches " 136 
 
 " Mimicking the surrounding shocks of grain " . . . 136 
 
 " Leaflets of a seditionary character " . . . 138 
 
 " At the end was a binocular range-finder " . . .138 
 
 " In parts through open country " . . . . .140 
 
 " Special dug-outs were made for the rifles " . . . 140 
 
 " In the centre were the colours " . . . . .144 
 
 " Another got up on his shoulders on the saddle " . . 144 
 
 " With three Austrian prisoners a German deserter " . 148 
 
 Company returning from the trenches to the village . 148
 
 PRELUDE
 
 THE SELF-DISCOVERY 
 OF RUSSIA 
 
 PRELUDE 
 
 IN a recent charming essay entitled " The Soul of 
 Russia " (Dusha Rossii), Nicolai Berdyaev pictures 
 his country, hitherto separated and apart from the cul- 
 tural life of Europe, misunderstood and unappreciated 
 in the West except by " a few select individuals," as face 
 to face with the hour of her showing forth unto the world. 
 " That which has worked ceaselessly in the depths of 
 the Russian spirit is no longer to be provincial and con- 
 fined in its manifestation : the Slav race with Russia 
 at its head is henceforth called to a defining role in the 
 life of humanity. Yet the realisation of the world tasks 
 of Russia cannot be left to the arbitrament of the ele- 
 mental forces of history : there is a call to creative effort 
 on the part of the national will and spirit." Then sud- 
 denly the writer is afflicted with a doubt. " But even if 
 the peoples of the West will in the end be forced to see 
 the unique image of Russia and to acknowledge her 
 mission, is it so clear that we ourselves know what 
 Russia is, and to what she is called ? Even for us Russia 
 remains an unsolved mystery, Russia, so contradictory 
 and full of antinomies." And then he falls back on 
 Tiutchev's lines : 
 
 " You cannot understand Russia by the intelligence ; 
 You cannot measure her by the ordinary foot-rule ; 
 She has her own peculiar conformation ; 
 You can only believe in Russia."
 
 4 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 Now it is just because Berdyaev is right that it is 
 possible to speak of the Self-discovery of Russia. She 
 has been surprising the world, but she has also been 
 surprising herself. Under the stress of a war that is 
 popular, as the Russo-Japanese War never was, the 
 country is being educated in a way that pages of Imperial 
 Rescript or months of Duma debate could not have done. 
 There is a very real sense in which Russia will gain more 
 out of the war than any other of the Great Powers in- 
 volved, since she will hav e evolved politic ly in its few 
 years through stages that have taken other countries 
 centuries to pass". "VeTy" noteworthy is the intensification 
 of life that expresses itself in a myriad forms, yet is not 
 everywhere in evidence, for there are vast domains of 
 life that have been not so much paralysed as weakened 
 by the war. Apart from this, however, the war is a great 
 national effort with incalculable moral consequences. It 
 has further revolutionised the economic life of the villages 
 in particular, through the vodka prohibition. Small 
 wonder that the biggest German miscalculations since 
 the commencement of hostilities have been about Russia. 
 Again, in the essay to which reference has already been 
 made, Berdyaev quotes the well-known legend from the 
 dawn of Russian history, which tells how that people sent 
 an invitation to the foreign Varyags to come and adminis- 
 ter their territory : " Our land is vast and plentiful," 
 they said, " but there is no order in it." And the essayist 
 continues : " How characteristic that was of the fatal 
 incapacity and lack of desire on the part of the Russian 
 people to produce order in their land ! It is as if the 
 Russian people did not wish a free empire, did not so 
 much wish freedom in their empire as freedom from 
 empire, freedom from all care of earthly management. The 
 Russian people does not wish to be a domineering superior ; 
 its nature is passive, rather gentle, ready to obey, more 
 like that of a wife than that of a husband. Passive, 
 receptive in its relation to imperial matters and power, 
 
 \
 
 PRELUDE 6 
 
 such is the character of the Russian people and of their 
 history. There are no limits to the meek patience of 
 the long-suffering Russian people." Just in the degree 
 in which the truth of these words is realised is the mind 
 of the observer filled with admiration as he studies the 
 details of the process under which Russia has discovered 
 her capacity for organisation, as evidenced in the work of 
 the Unions of the Towns and Zemstvos (County Councils). 
 It is perhaps the most characteristic feature in the activi- 
 ties of Russia to-day. Hitherto she has been accustomed 
 to a Government that has done everything for the people, 
 but under the pressure of the war that Government has 
 sought the assistance and co-operation of the people, 
 and they have been learning how to organise. What 
 above all was necessary in Russia was not so much liberty 
 of speech or of the Press as liberty of sound action, and 
 that she has been given as at no other stage in her history. 
 Too often the internal relations of Russia have been 
 depicted in this country as those of a bureaucracy and a 
 democracy continuously in conflict, with the former as a 
 kind of evil genius. There could be no profounder mis- 
 take. Bureacraucy is not necessarily an evil. Every- 
 thing depends upon its spirit, and a bureaucracy can be 
 improved and changed if its spirit is changed. To-day 
 there is a great struggle going on in the Russian bureau- 
 cracy itself between the more progressive and the more 
 conservative elements. That bureaucracy is very far from 
 being a mere homogeneous mass of reactionary outlook. 
 To return to Berdyaev once again. " Imperial power," 
 he says, " was always an external, not an internal prin- 
 ciple in the mind of the unimperialistic Russian people. 
 It did not grow out of them but came to them from the 
 outside, as a bridegroom comes to his bride. And that 
 is why power frequently produced the impression of 
 something foreign, a sort of German power." One very 
 characteristic feature in this process of self-discovery 
 has been the awakened sensitivity to everything that is
 
 6 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 distinctively Russian, and the humiliation with which it 
 has been realised to what a degree the economic and mental 
 life of the nation has been permeated by the German 
 influence. That this should have been so is in no kind 
 of a way remarkable on geographical or ethnographical 
 grounds. What we are apt to forget is that there was a 
 long period when this end was deliberately sought by 
 Russia, an era during which, in short, she was endeavour- 
 ing to come to a lasting understanding with Germany. 
 The policy of Alexander II was a policy of alliance with 
 Germany, and the development of it was placed in the 
 hands of one of the noblest of living Russians. England 
 was " the natural enemy." Of the behaviour of republican 
 France Russia could never be sure, thinking that her 
 desire for alliance was simply part of a scheme to aid her 
 in the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine. Allied with Germany, 
 Russia would be safe : she could follow her own ends and 
 retain her interests in the East in spite of her one adver- 
 sary, England. The alliance with Germany ensured the 
 neutrality of Austria. France would not move for fear 
 of an attack by Germany. 
 
 Upon the death of Alexander II, his son Alexander III 
 succeeded him, and would have nothing to do with Ger- 
 many. It was he who inaugurated the alliance with 
 France. There were two main reasons for this profound 
 change in foreign policy. The first was that Alexander 
 III came to believe that if Russia and Germany were 
 allianced there would be no counterpoise, that Germany 
 and Russia together would be too strong for any other 
 combination of Powers that might seek to maintain an 
 equilibrium against them, and that after Germany, with 
 the assistance of Russia, had succeeded in her aims, she 
 would then turn upon her ally and rend her. The second 
 reason for the change was that at the very time that the 
 Russian Ambassador was engaged in conversations with 
 Bismarck at Berlin, the latter was plotting with Austria. 
 If Germany had not gone in with Austria, Alexander III
 
 PRELUDE 7 
 
 would have followed his father's policy. The discovery 
 of Bismarck's duplicity was the actual cause or stimulus 
 that led to the change in policy. Germany and Austria 
 entered into alliance in 1878. From that date it was 
 clear that there could not be perfect friendship between 
 Russia and Germany, inasmuch as the Slav question hope- 
 lessly sundered Austria and Russia. The forceful absorp- 
 tion of Bosnia -Herzegovina made the Austrian policy 
 unmistakable. Germany homologated the action of her 
 ally in that issue, and Russia sheered off. 
 
 There has been, then, a very complete reversal of 
 policy which is being followed out not merely on the 
 battlefront, but in every avenue of Russian public and 
 commercial life. The war with Germany so far as Russia 
 is concerned, is a war between two peoples, not a war 
 between two Governments, as was the Russo-Japanese 
 War. It is a war between two ideals of life, for even 
 more sharply than our own, the whole Russian attitude 
 to life stands in completest contrast to the German. The 
 intensity of the feeling may be gathered from a conversa- 
 tion in a peasant home. " I have a foreboding," the old 
 woman said one evening, " that our Ivan is going to be 
 taken." Her husband comforted her thus : " If he is 
 going to be taken, it means that he ought to be taken : 
 we have to beat the Germans, and a man can only die 
 once." Thomas Chalmers once wrote of " the expulsive 
 power of a new affection." There is no doubt of the 
 expulsive power in Russia to-day, and there are many 
 indications of where the " new affection " lies, but the 
 " abhorred " vacua must be filled. One of the great 
 problems before our nation is, how far, and in what 
 spirit, we can fill them.
 
 THEME I 
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY
 
 THEME I 
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 
 
 ON the 1st day of January, 1864, there came into 
 existence by law one of the most characteristic of 
 Russian administrative institutions, the Zemstvo. Dis- 
 tinctive in inception, constitution, and control, the 
 Zemstvo nevertheless executes functions broadly similar 
 to, if perhaps more inclusive than, those undertaken by 
 our County Councils. 1 It concerns itself with the imposi- 
 tion and collection of the county and provincial rates 
 and taxes, with the construction and upkeep of roads and 
 bridges, with primary education, with questions of public 
 health and public relief, with providing banking and 
 insurance facilities for the peasants, in short with every- 
 thing that directly concerns the general well-being of 
 country and, more particularly, agricultural conditions. 
 So far it has been limited to the more developed parts of 
 Russia, and is not known e.g. in Archangel, the Don 
 Territory, the Caucasus, or even Siberia. Its member- 
 ship is chiefly drawn from the landed proprietors, great 
 and small (i.e. roughly, the nobility and the middle class) 
 with a certain representation of clergy and peasants. 
 
 As a simple matter of fact there had been very little 
 united action on the part of the Provincial Zemstvos 
 if we except arrangements between groups of two or three 
 for loans or concerted buying of iron, or the introduction 
 of industrial machinery till the Russo-Japanese War, 
 
 1 The District Zemstvos send representatives to compose a Zemstvo 
 of the second degree, the Provincial or Government (Guberny) Zemstvo. 
 
 11
 
 12 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 when a definite Union of all of them took place to supple- 
 ment the work of the Red Cross Society in the care of 
 the sick and wounded. This work was most efficiently 
 done, and in the course of it there developed an organisa- 
 tion of first-rate importance which did not lapse at the 
 close of the war, and continued to find scope for its 
 activities in connection with furnishing relief during famine 
 and in other ways. Accordingly when war broke out in 
 August, 1914, in addition to the Red Cross Society, Russia 
 had this other organisation which immediately got ready 
 to take up its old role. The necessity for this became 
 quickly apparent as the organisation of the Red Cross 
 Society was not on a scale to admit of its coping with 
 the situation as a whole. 
 
 On the other hand, the Towns of Russia, which had 
 been invested by statute in 1870 with powers of self- 
 government corresponding roughly to those previously 
 granted to the Zemstvos, had not taken any united action 
 in the Russo-Japanese War. However, soon after the 
 commencement of the present war, members of the 
 Moscow municipality realised that owing to the disposi- 
 tion of the railway trunk lines, their city would become 
 the principal centre for the reception and distribution of 
 the wounded, and the Town Council offered to call in 
 the assistance of other towns and co-operate with the 
 Government on the same general lines as the Union of 
 the Zemstvos. The difficulty of foreseeing the scale upon 
 which operations would take place was in part responsible 
 for the limitations under which these offers of assistance 
 were at first received by the Government, e.g. the 
 Unions were forbidden to operate west of the line Petro- 
 grad Moscow Kiev, which was reserved for the military 
 and Red Cross establishments. The stream of wounded, 
 however, quickly overflowed the Government channels 
 prepared for their reception : numbers of men were 
 brought from the front practically untended and unfed. 
 The Union of the Towns was then authorised to proceed
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 13 
 
 with its programme, and immediately started to enlarge 
 its work. The towns are grouped round six centres, 
 Petrograd, Moscow, Kiev, Voronesh, Tiflis, and Irkutsk. 
 
 The work of the Unions of the Towns and of the Zem- 
 stvos in this war has been one of the most remarkable 
 features in the process of self-discovery which has been 
 stimulated by the war. And it is all the more remarkable 
 because organisation has never been a distinctive feature 
 of Russian life, and anything savouring of mechanism is 
 really abhorrent to the genius of the people. They co- 
 operate readily enough on the basis of equality, for pur- 
 poses of self -aid, where authority is not imposed on 
 them, as the success of their artels and co-operative 
 societies shows ; but they have never naturally taken 
 to mechanical organisation whether imposed from with- 
 out or developed from within. Nevertheless in Moscow 
 alone preparations were made by the Union for some 
 65,000 beds. 1 The resources in equipment at the dis- 
 posal of the Unions enabled them to outstrip the strictly 
 Governmental agencies in provision for the care of the 
 sick and wounded. Their organisations crept nearer and 
 nearer to the actual fighting line in the form of field hos- 
 pital and hospital train, tea and coffee -stalls and field 
 shops. They were welcomed by the army, and subjected 
 to ever increasing demands, because of their efficiency. 
 
 The Unions of the Towns and of the Zemstvos alike 
 work under the aegis of the Red Cross Society, but the 
 relationship is purely formal. The Russian Red Cross 
 Society may be said to be de facto, though not de jure, a 
 Government organisation. It is directly under the 
 patronage of the Dowager Empress, and claims the active 
 interest of many members of the aristocracy and bureau- 
 cracy. It receives money from both Government and 
 private individuals. Although not strictly on the basis 
 
 1 The figures given throughout this account are representative of the 
 situation at the close of the first whole year of the war, except where 
 the context shows the case to be otherwise.
 
 14 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 of a business undertaking, for its officials are normally 
 men with many other interests, it now has a monopoly 
 of the administration of such work, in the sense that 
 individuals cannot take it up apart. Active alike in 
 peace and war, it has always appealed with success to 
 the Russian heart, but had never any hope of being able 
 to meet the situation developing at the front single- 
 handed, although immediate efforts were made to in- 
 crease its capacity for service. Accordingly its chief 
 administrators were glad to secure the assistance of other 
 organisations of kindred purpose, even when it was clear 
 from the first that the latter would be able to work on 
 a much larger scale. The Unions of the Towns and 
 Zemstvos, accordingly, are granted the privileges and 
 protection of the Red Cross Society. They are empowered 
 e.g. to use the Red Cross symbol on their writing paper, 
 to frank their letters, to send goods free by railway. 
 Officials working and representing the Unions have to go 
 as members of the Red Cross, receiving that right from 
 the Society. Apart from this the Unions have nothing 
 to do with the Red Cross : their relations are perfectly 
 correct but separate. The Red Cross Society has no 
 authority over them. 
 
 The two Unions of the Towns and of the Zemstvos 
 have, generally speaking, the same objects. The differ- 
 ence between them lies in the character of their member- 
 ship, which in the one case is urban and in the other 
 drawn from the country districts. So far as their work deals 
 with the care of the sick and wounded, they are separate 
 institutions. For this there is an historical explanation, 
 as there has been rivalry between the Municipalities and 
 the Zemstvos for many years. They differ on questions 
 of taxation and other matters. Yet perhaps into the 
 reason for the two separate organisations there also enters 
 a certain psychological element. The Zemstvo is for the 
 most part composed of landed proprietors, great and 
 small, whose tradition of fifty years, on the whole, has
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 15 
 
 been to work with the idea of giving back to the peasant 
 in another form that which has been taken from him. 
 There is a philanthropic note in the Zemstvo work : it is 
 done with heart, as in the free distribution of medicine 
 to women in child-birth. On the other hand, the towns 
 never had the problem of the serfs. The merchants have 
 always had the prominence in the organisations there, 
 and the tendency of their more strictly business arrange- 
 ments has been in the interests of the towns themselves 
 considered as a whole, rather than in those of their more 
 needy inhabitants. Yet such a distinction cannot be 
 stressed. 
 
 The method of organisation adopted by the Union of 
 the Zemstvos was to find out what each district was 
 able or prepared to do, for some of them can do little 
 and others much. With regard to the sick and wounded, 
 the question was definitely put to the provinces involved, 
 How many beds can you supply ? and then the wounded 
 were sent there in these numbers. But such simplicity 
 of working depends on many circumstances. The Govern- 
 ments of East Russia, e.g. Astrakhan, are at a great dis- 
 tance from the western frontier, and it was not so easy to 
 transport the wounded there. The greatest number of 
 wounded are disposed, therefore, in the west and south- 
 west of Russia ; but every Zemstvo has been asked how 
 many beds it can supply. 
 
 The numbers handled in this way come to be very 
 great. In the month of December, 1914, 280,000 wounded 
 men were treated by the Union of the Zemstvos. From 
 the beginning of the war to July 1st, 1915, 715,879 sick 
 and wounded 60 per cent of the whole passed through, 
 or stayed in, the Moscow Zemstvo institutions alone. The 
 heavy end of the burden falls there, the unequal distribu- 
 tion being mainly due to the circumstance that there is 
 not a sufficient network of railways to broaden the 
 assignment of the wounded. This involves enormous 
 centralisation, which in turn proves to be a very costly
 
 16 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 method of carrying on the work. A more equal distribu- 
 tion would have made it possible to do the work more 
 cheaply. In the districts under martial law, the dis- 
 tribution of the wounded is under the joint control of 
 the Unions and the Ministry of War. The Ministry of 
 War also, for example, decides, on considerations of 
 effective control and centralisation, that wounded shall 
 not be sent to the Governments of Archangel or Vologda. 
 The greater part of the funds some three-quarters is 
 given by the Government : the balance is supplied by the 
 Zemstvos. The Government money is given to the 
 Zemstvos through the Union. 
 
 The same holds true of the Union of the Towns. It 
 collected sufficient funds to form the Union, but the 
 actual budget provided by the cities is not large. All 
 the aid given to the sick and wounded, their hospital 
 trains and field hospitals, etc., are organised with funds 
 supplied by the Government. In some cases the field 
 hospitals are supplied by groups of individuals. Thus 
 the advocates of Moscow, or a group of Siberian towns, 
 or a tribe of Buryats would collect a sum of, say, fifty to 
 sixty thousand rubles, and give it to the Union of the 
 Towns saying, Take this money and organise a field 
 hospital and call it by our name. If the sum was in- 
 sufficient for the purpose, the Union supplied the balance 
 out of its own funds, or in certain cases from the Govern- 
 ment contributions. 
 
 A good example of the initiative and enterprise exerted 
 by the Union of Towns may be seen in Petrograd. The 
 Mayor is President of the Committee, on which there 
 are, beside others, two generals, to advise especially in 
 connection with military details. The Municipality has 
 provided 25,000 beds for the wounded, and 15,000 others 
 have been furnished between the Red Cross and the 
 military, 40,000 in all. Something more distinctive may 
 be seen at the Warsaw station, where most of the wounded 
 were arriving in Petrograd in the summer of 1915.
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 17 
 
 The hospital train comes in on one side of a long plat- 
 form whose offices and sheds have been transformed 
 into a series of communicating barrack rooms, with the 
 adjuncts necessary for bathing, feeding, clothing, and 
 attending medically to the men who have just come in. 
 In one of the long halls stand tables on which are black 
 bread and ewers of tea, so that the men can be fed as 
 soon as they come off the trains. Those that can walk 
 about do so, and the more serious cases are taken to beds 
 in another of these waiting-rooms. The whole treatment 
 is most efficient ; for as soon as the men come off the 
 trains, their clothes are taken from them to be cleaned 
 and disinfected, they can wash, and enjoy a spray, and 
 are then given new clothes. After that they are moved 
 out on the other side of the platform with the assistance 
 of " sisters " and university students, where ambulance 
 trolley cars from the city tramways are waiting, in which 
 they are transported to the principal hospitals. Men 
 wounded in their limbs sit in the ordinary cars : other 
 cars are specially fitted out for those who are still lying 
 on stretchers. 
 
 Even more successful was a whole new series of two- 
 storeyed wooden buildings which had been erected along 
 the length of the platform immediately across the line 
 from this older one. There provision was being made 
 for 1000 beds, with special quarters for officers, together 
 with magnificent kitchen, large boilers for the treatment 
 of soldiers' linen, rooms for doctors, nurses, servants, and 
 a very complete installation of Russian baths, sprays, 
 bunches of fibre for washing and buckets. At whatever 
 hour of the day or night the soldiers arrive, they can thus 
 be straightway looked after, while any serious case can 
 receive immediate attention. 
 
 The same ingenuity is revealed in buildings that have 
 been adapted for the use of the wounded as, e.g. tram- 
 way depots. There, in one instance, by covering over 
 the docks between the cleaning platforms with boards, a
 
 18 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 great area has been secured in which 800 beds have been 
 placed. They stood two together with a little table 
 between each couple, six in such a row, with passages up 
 and down between the ranks. Here also every accessory 
 had been installed, kitchen, operating rooms, and baths, 
 admirably planned. The men lay in different postures 
 differently engaged, one who had been " gassed " abso- 
 lutely motionless with swollen face and chest, another 
 reading the Evangile, one playing a game against himself 
 at draughts, others reading newspapers, all showing that 
 wonderful patience and cheerfulness that impress every- 
 one who has to do with them. " How lovable they are, 
 just like great children," said an English Red Cross nurse 
 to me. It was much the same sort of thing in another 
 adapted institution, a primary school. Of these five 
 have been taken over in this way, and about twenty 
 gymnasia. Each class-room had sixteen beds ranged 
 round the wall, feet out towards the centre. Of the 
 thirteen doctors attached to it, eleven were women : 
 most of the men are away at the front. 
 
 But the Union of the Towns even in the towns them- 
 selves does not deal simply with the sick and wounded. 
 It makes considerable provision for the wives and families 
 of soldiers. Thus the Municipality of Petrograd has 
 given 2 million rubles to this cause, while the Govern- 
 ment allowance for Petrograd alone was about the same 
 figure. Further, the Municipality has organised a number 
 of places where work can be got by those who require it, 
 e.g. making shirts and hospital slippers for the soldiers. 
 The city has been divided into twenty sections, in each 
 of which there is an institution for dealing with the relief 
 of all special cases arising out of the war. " No man 
 or woman need die from starvation in Petrograd," was 
 the proud statement of those in charge. The Mayor 
 took me to one of the institutions where the Municipality 
 had arranged for such work, primarily for the wives and 
 daughters of soldiers, but also for any women who were
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 19 
 
 in distress. The building had been a museum, but "all 
 the objects had been removed from it. Instead long tables 
 ran down the galleries, covered with light oilcloth. At 
 these women were engaged in work on respirators, making 
 them out of muslin and treating them with chemicals. 
 There are several stages in the preparation of these 
 respirators, and to each stage a separate table is devoted, 
 the simpler stages being entrusted to the younger girls. 
 They had already made more than 600,000 in that build- 
 ing alone. Employment was given in this way to six 
 hundred women, and the Municipality intends to open 
 many more such places. These women work for six 
 hours a day and receive 85 kopeks a day. The periods 
 of working are from 7 to 12, after which there is a break 
 of an hour ; then from 1 to 4 and again from 9 to 12. 
 Two different lots of women were at work. A preference 
 is manifested for the afternoon and night shifts, so that 
 the workers have to be changed into the morning groups 
 occasionally. As they pass into the building, they are 
 compelled to put on white cotton overalls, and a white 
 handkerchief, sister-fashion, over their heads, and also to 
 show that their hands are clean. They worked as if they 
 enjoyed it. 
 
 The efforts of the Unions of the Towns and Zemstvos 
 did not end, however, even with their care of the sick 
 and wounded, and the organisation of provision for 
 the wives and families of soldiers. Great numbers of 
 refugees at first from hostile territory, but latterly from 
 their own, had to be looked after as they moved away 
 eastwards by slow stages, fleeing from the seat of war. 
 There was no other agency that could face a situation 
 which involved the charge of hundreds of thousands of 
 human beings, and once again the work was delegated to 
 the Unions. The Unions not merely took in hand to tend 
 the local groups of five to ten thousand (including many 
 Jews), abandoning their homes in Poland with their 
 children, their sick ones and their aged during the first
 
 20 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 winter of the war. They also looked after some seventy 
 to eighty thousand fugitive Armenians in the Caucasus, 
 giving them food, shelter and medical treatment. 
 
 Gradually also there was laid upon the Unions a great 
 share in provisioning and clothing the army itself. Thus 
 a large number of food stations was established in Poland 
 for wounded soldiers and destitute refugees : accordingly 
 if a hospital train did not have its kitchen, the defect 
 could be easily remedied. The Government pays for the 
 assistance given to the wounded soldiers, but the expense 
 of feeding the destitute refugees is met out of the funds 
 of the Unions. The Union of the Zemstvos placed orders 
 abroad for two million pairs of boots, and further occupied 
 itself with procuring warm winter clothing. The Moscow 
 Committee devised a scheme whereby all secondary work 
 on, for example, such boots as were not according to 
 contract or spoiled in any way should be given to these 
 wounded soldiers to work on at home. All such arrange- 
 ments of distribution of work amongst humbler individuals 
 are made by the Committee, who pays to the workman 
 direct the whole of the sum received from the Govern- 
 ment for his labours. The middleman is done away with 
 in these cases, and wherever the city seal is set upon goods 
 by the Committee, they are taken forthwith by the army 
 without further enquiry. 
 
 Again, the whole organisation against the outbreak 
 of infectious disease was put in the hands of the Unions, 
 the country being divided up between them for this pur- 
 pose, with joint commissions where the assistance of 
 both was required. The possibility was recognised of 
 many of the towns being unable with their scant revenues 
 and limited powers to carry out the requisite degree of 
 sanitary reform to meet certain abnormal conditions, 
 and steps were taken to aid them. The main endeavour 
 of the Unions was to secure sound internal organisation 
 in order that the work entrusted to them might be effi- 
 ciently carried out. The lack of such organisation had
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 21 
 
 caused a great and quite unnecessary increase in the 
 price of various commodities. Thus in some districts 
 there were shortages of flour and oats which could quite 
 well have been supplied from other districts where there 
 was a surplusage : some cities and districts were on the 
 brink of famine. Accordingly, by summoning confer- 
 ences for enquiry and in other ways, the Unions set them- 
 selves to assist the Government in the rearrangement of 
 transport, and in combating enhanced prices generally. 
 Through all this the relationship between these Unions 
 and the army has come to be one of mutual confidence 
 and understanding, so much so that orders for goods were 
 not infrequently sent direct to them by the " intendants " 
 (commissariat officers) of regiments instead of round by 
 the War Office, and the Government showed its belief in 
 the efficiency of the Unions by overlooking these irregu- 
 larities and continuing to pay. 
 
 One other great task was, however, still to be laid upon 
 the Unions of the Towns and Zemstvos. From the 
 beginning of the war it was realised on every hand that 
 Russia could not herself produce all the munitions and 
 other requirements for a long war. Still it was believed 
 that, unprepared as she was, she was in a position to 
 face a short war if only certain necessary provision were 
 made. As the war proceeded military commissions were 
 appointed in connection with the drawing up and placing 
 of orders abroad. A certain uneasiness in the country 
 on the matter of sufficiency of munitions was lulled for 
 the time being by various statements of the late Minister 
 of War to the Duma in the early months of 1915. The 
 realisation that these statements had been absolutely 
 misleading, and that the army was faced with a serious 
 shortage of munitions, moved the country as no other 
 incident in the war had done, not even excepting the 
 Battle of Tannenberg. The Unions voiced the popular 
 demand for the formation of a committee including 
 members of the Duma to control the orders for muni-
 
 22 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 tions. Men coming back from the front plainly said, 
 "If we do not take immediate steps to organise for the 
 production of munitions, we shall be beaten." The 
 Government once again turned to the Unions and asked 
 for their assistance. Out of this arose the Military- 
 Technical Committees of the two Unions, which were at 
 first formed separately, but latterly have united, and 
 become independent of the Unions. To their assistance 
 also came committees of merchants and business men in 
 the big cities who were willing to organise themselves 
 and transform their factories into workshops for the out- 
 put of munitions. The Unions of the Zemstvos and 
 Towns, whose Military -Technical Committees had a more 
 disinterested relation to the proposals in view than these 
 other committees, worked for a definite scheme, according 
 to which the Ministry of War should form a commission 
 or council on which there should be representatives of 
 the Unions, as also of the committees of the merchants 
 and other responsible bodies willing to act in a co-opera- 
 tive way for the common end. Their suggestion was that 
 this commission should have full control, should find out 
 what was needed and should then distribute the work, 
 seeing to it that the larger factories did what they could 
 do and not simply what was easiest and most profitable 
 to do, difficulties of this nature arising early in connec- 
 tion with the making of the larger shells and guns. Ulti- 
 mately a Special Munitions Council has been formed with 
 representatives from the Council of Ministers, Council of 
 the Empire, Unions of Towns and Zemstvos and the 
 Duma, to unify and control the munitions work of all the 
 different organisations, Government and other. 
 
 The Military-Technical Committee of the All-Russia 
 Zemstvo and Town Unions had then in these earlier 
 days as function to deal with the furnishing of munitions, 
 guns, automobiles, and other war material. On it were 
 three members of each of the Unions and a number of 
 technical experts. Its business was to supply whatever
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 23 
 
 was needed as quickly, as cheaply, and as well as possible. 
 It had to decide two great questions about each demand 
 for a specific necessity, Can we make it ? and, Can we 
 obtain it by purchase as quickly as we can make it ? In 
 each Government there are small local provincial com- 
 mittees working in co-operation with the Central Com- 
 mittee. There are, for example, great numbers of small 
 factories up and down the country employing a small 
 number of hands. The principles and aims of the Central 
 Committee are made clear to them. A small factory 
 finds itself unable to make a complete shrapnel shell. It 
 is then set to work to make a part : another part is made 
 by another small factory in the district, and so on. Then 
 the different parts are assembled together. All this is 
 done by the local Government (Provincial) Committees. 
 In the words of a member of the Committee, " The 
 question might be asked of the little factory, What can 
 you do ? They may reply, We do not know. Thereupon 
 the question is, What sort of machines have you ? They 
 reply, and then an engineer is sent to inspect them. All 
 the drawings and designs for stock material are public 
 now, and given even to these little factories. The ques- 
 tion is again put, Can you do this or not ? And the reply 
 comes, Yes, but we must receive an instructor, and we 
 need certain machinery. They are then given advances, 
 and sometimes we buy for them and sometimes they buy. 
 " We are able to effect a certain economy of machines 
 in this way. Every one of our river steamers has a 
 turning-lathe. They are not all in commission just now, 
 so their engines have been taken out and their machinery 
 employed in the manufacture of munitions. Again, in 
 the city of Moscow we have taken over large establish- 
 ments that ordinarily make for the tramways and water- 
 works, and we are arranging them not for producing 
 shells, but for producing turning-lathes to supply to the 
 other factories. This kind of thing again is organised by 
 the local committees.
 
 24 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 " So far we have had only one difficulty. We can 
 only ask ; we can propose ; we cannot say, You must. 
 We want a right of disposition over every factory. The 
 best workmen are all away at the war. We have just 
 received Government authorisation to prevent any more 
 being drafted off. 
 
 " A factory says, We think we can make that and 
 that and that. We cannot say to them, At what price ? 
 The thing must be made by them in the first instance 
 so that we can see its quality. Then we say, The price 
 is so and so. We have our own factories where every- 
 thing is made first for precise information, and we can 
 therefore calculate what price includes a fair profit for 
 the factory owners and the artel. But the point is that 
 everything is done empirically. In many cases there are 
 no such goods as we require on the market, and we have 
 to organise. The Government supplies us with all the 
 funds that we require. We deal principally with the 
 smaller factories. The larger ones are more commonly 
 associated with the Committee of the Merchants." 
 
 Such then, in brief outline, is the work of these two 
 great Unions, 1 under the symbol of the Red Cross. As 
 yet, however, these Unions have not been judicially 
 organised : they are only co-operations or societies. 
 Indeed, the judicial character of these Unions is not quite 
 clear. It raises many perplexing questions : hence so 
 
 1 Their importance in comparison with other organisations can be 
 judged by the following figures (quoted in " The Times Russian Supple- 
 ment" for December 17th, 1915), representing the amount of financial 
 assistance given by the Government for the care of the sick and 
 wounded from the beginning of the war to June 30th, 1915 : 
 
 All-Russia Union of Zemstvos . . . 71,305,050 rubles. 
 
 All-Russia Union of Towns .... 28,158,448 
 
 Russian Red Cross 28,167,736 
 
 Several Individual Zemstvos . . . 7,406,000 ,, 
 
 Petrograd Municipal Administration . . 9,500,000 ,, 
 
 Moscow Municipal Administration . . 13,656,000 ,, 
 
 158,193,234 rubles. 
 (16,700,000).
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 25 
 
 far the rights of the Unions are not very defined. With 
 regard to the rights of property, it is the case that property 
 belongs to the Unions, but they do not have a strong 
 juridical hold over it. The Union of the Zemstvos cannot 
 be said to be more than a particular form of the con- 
 solidation of these self-governing County Councils. 
 
 Yet it is to these Unions that there has been suc- 
 cessively delegated by the Government the greater share 
 in the care of the sick and wounded, the charge of re- 
 fugees, the provision of supplies for the army, and last 
 of all the production of munitions. It has only been 
 possible on their part because of organisation, yet it 
 was just because of this organisation that the Govern- 
 ment has feared to legalise the Unions. On the other 
 hand, the Unions know what they have done. The Union 
 of the Towns practically grew up in a week. It corre- 
 sponds very closely to that which urban life demands, 
 not merely for the moment, but for the future. The towns 
 thus linked together in territorial sub-centres will not 
 hereafter individually commence any large undertaking 
 without consulting their own central organisation. The 
 whole scheme is absolutely voluntary, yet few of the 
 towns have held aloof from it. 
 
 The Unions also know that they have won the com- 
 plete confidence of the present armies of the reserves, 
 and that by their joint insistence the Duma was summoned 
 in the summer of 1915, when Russia was face to face with 
 the most serious crisis of the war. The Government has 
 seen great organisations working harmoniously with it 
 and giving no occasion for suspicion. All that is neces- 
 sary for the future political progress of Russia is to recog- 
 nise that what has been brought about in the direction 
 of trustful co-operation between the people and the 
 Government under the pressure of the war is not some- 
 thing to go back upon : thus from the heart of a great 
 evil a great good may be wrested. 
 The Zemstvo is the basis of political freedom in Russia,
 
 26 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 and appears to be the element with which liberal govern- 
 ment can best be associated. In the Zemstvo perhaps 
 the natura rerum is stronger, and the practical results 
 are better even, than in the Duma, because the local 
 interests are not so complex and they are more real. 
 Shipoff, who had so much to do with organising the 
 Union of Zemstvos, wanted the Duma to be representative 
 of the Zemstvos to be, in short, the greatest Zemstvo, 
 that of the third degree. His idea was to make the large 
 towns electoral units in the District and Provincial 
 Zemstvos. It is not at all certain, however, that the 
 local Zemstvos would take altogether kindly to the 
 organisation of the Union as a superior body, for the 
 former represent the idea of decentralisation ; they are 
 independent and do not want to be dependent on a higher 
 body. Duma and Zemstvo alike realise that to work at 
 all productively, they must work with the Government : 
 their ideal is to help the Government to do its work. 
 With a certain measure of reform in the basis of election 
 to Duma and Zemstvo alike at present it is very oli- 
 garchical in both, much like our own before the Reform 
 Bill of 1832 the march of Russia towards the most 
 brilliant period in her history is assured. 
 
 Already her publicists and statesmen are occupying 
 their minds with some of the problems of the future. 
 The greatest of these will be the provision for her soldiers. 
 It is not difficult to find out by conversation in hospital 
 and otherwise how the wounded soldier himself is planning 
 out that future. He wants a piece of land of his own on 
 which he can settle down. The love of the land has 
 always been a dominant characteristic in the Russian 
 peasant's mind. " The land," he says, " belongs to God, 
 like the water and the air : to possess it is the reward 
 of the man who works it." When Stolypin gave the 
 peasant the right to compel the Mir to surrender to him 
 his share of the commune land so that he could then sell 
 or do with it what he wanted, he introduced a reform
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 27 
 
 whose implications are only beginning to be realised. 
 The peasant may feel that there are abuses in the care 
 of its land by the commune, and may wish to have his 
 own plot to work it himself. The Government and com- 
 missioners decide what is his share, and if he wishes to 
 sell it eventually because he wants to go and work in a 
 city factory, or is driven thereto by some misfortune, he 
 can only dispose of it to a member of his own or some 
 neighbouring Mir. As a matter of fact, the Mir system of 
 land management is really equivalent to eternal poverty, 
 and affords a very striking argument against socialistic 
 views. Between five and six hundred thousand desiatines x 
 of land are even now annually bought in this way by the 
 peasants, with the aid of the Government Bank. The 
 soldiers then, wounded and unwounded, will wish to be 
 in the position of peasants under Stolypin's law, but with 
 the land given to them. But if you give land to the soldiers 
 you must give it to the other peasants also. The Govern- 
 ment will have to divide up its own holdings and also 
 buy land from the landowners and give it to the soldiers. 
 Another important element in the determination of 
 future conditions in Russia are the prisoners of war. 
 When we consider that there are some 800,000 Germans 
 and Austrians interned in Central Russia from Vologda 
 onwards into Siberia, the fact is astounding in itself with- 
 out the further statement that " interned " is quite the 
 wrong word to be used in this connection. When the 
 first German prisoners were brought into Petrograd the 
 populace did not turn out to stare or jeer at them. They 
 brought them flowers and food. The captives were no 
 longer enemies because they were prisoners of war, and, 
 as such, deserving of compassion. In fact the atten- 
 tions of the populace became so embarrassing that the 
 Government had to put a stop to them. Even now in 
 Siberia the prisoners of war can hardly be said to 
 be guarded. In some villages there are actually more 
 
 1 1 desiatine = 2-7 acres.
 
 28 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 prisoners than male settlers, but this has sometimes led 
 to conditions demanding stricter segregation. On the 
 whole, however, they go about, speak, insinuate them- 
 selves into the life of the community, and introduce new 
 ideas ; as a result they already exercise a definite amount 
 of influence. Incidentally it may be stated that authorita- 
 tive neutral inspection has borne witness to the very 
 generous treatment of their prisoners by the Russians. 
 German and Russian have been often in the same ward in 
 a hospital without discrimination. In the concentration 
 camps there has been an abundance of good food and 
 remuneration for work done. Engaged in building boats 
 for river transit, these prisoners of war receive food and 
 15 kopeks a day, a few very highly trained men receiving 
 as much as 1| rubles a day. In the Siberian villages 
 they get 50 kopeks a day and food if they are working for 
 the Government : if they do not work they receive 21 
 kopecs and shelter. But in the villages in the summer 
 of 1915, with 21 kopeks you could buy two eggs, a good 
 slice of brown bread, a piece of sausage and some tea, 
 sugar and butter. Some were busily engaged at work all 
 the time ; others could not find work. The commandants 
 gave neutral visitors the impression of being kindly dis- 
 posed to their charges. At every point the contrast is 
 most marked when compared with the treatment of the 
 Russian prisoners by the Germans. Finally, it is necessary 
 to recollect that these Russian prisoners in Germany, of 
 whom there are a million, will come back, whatever 
 their treatment, with many western ideas. They will have 
 seen how the German peasant lives in his neat and ordered 
 cottage, cultivating his own land. They will have seen 
 things done with method, they will have seen them done. 
 At the close of the war, then, Russia will probably 
 move rapidly in the matter of agrarian reform. The old 
 traditions still remain with a great measure of their 
 power, but even now in the Zemstvos they are giving 
 place to a more democratic view-point. The world of
 
 THROUGH UNION TO VICTORY 29 
 
 the pomyestchik * is slowly passing away ; the great 
 noblemen are selling or disposing of their lands and no 
 longer staying in the villages. In the Governments of 
 Samara and Saratoff there has recently been a fall of 
 30 per cent in the value of the land, probably in part due 
 to this cause. The price used to be 500 rubles a desiatine : 
 now it is more nearly 350 rubles. Yet whatever the 
 readjustments and they are bound to be numerous 
 before the new stage of internal equilibrium is reached, 
 they will surely be of the nature of that increased mutual 
 co-operation between the Government and its people 
 which the war brought about, and which the end of the 
 war cannot finally take away. 
 
 1 Smaller landed proprietor.
 
 INTERLUDE 
 
 BY LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA
 
 INTERLUDE 
 
 BY LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA 
 
 VERY much what " the strength of the hills " is to 
 the Waldensian people, that and something more 
 is the Volga to the peasants who have lived within the 
 manifold influence of its waters. For a river is the most 
 " living " thing in inorganic nature, and the Volga is not 
 merely inspiration and protection, but companionship to 
 these children of nature. To their " little mother " they 
 bring their joys and sorrows, finding in her different 
 moods some faint and subtle reflection of what is in their 
 own minds. 
 
 " Far away, far away across the Volga 
 Lie the steppes which freely breathe ; 
 And on the steppes across the Volga 
 The free, free spirit lives. " l 
 
 In its power and efficiency, its unceasing determined 
 achieving, lessened perhaps owing to extraneous causes 
 at one season but renewed with increased force at another, 
 the Volga may be held to symbolise the Russian army, 
 which retires only to advance once again. It even seemed 
 probable that in the regions adjacent to it there might 
 well be found examples not merely of efficient Zemstvo 
 administration and so of the best spirit and purpose 
 behind the army, but that also the economic changes in 
 country life due to the war would be clearly noticeable. 
 
 This is certainly the case in the Government of Kos- 
 troma, where can be studied, perhaps at its highest de- 
 
 1 Translation, Josephine Calina. 
 d 33
 
 34 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 velopment, that interested oversight which wraps around 
 the life of its peasants, one might almost say from the 
 cradle to the grave. I wanted to see something of the 
 country under a Zemstvo that e.g. hires out good steel 
 ploughs to its peasants at 15 kopeks a day, harrows and 
 sowers at 50 kopeks, and a reaper at 1 ruble a day ; that 
 sends around its thrashing-machines, charging the 
 peasants half a kopek a pood, x and loans them 50 rubles 
 for as many kopeks a month, half a day's wage in 
 place of the 12 per cent exacted by the Jews. 
 
 I started from the district town of Kinyeshma, which 
 had made a very patriotic response to the summons for 
 aid to the army. The local committee acting with the 
 Union of Towns had agreed to arrange for 570 beds for 
 sick and wounded soldiers on funds provided by the 
 Union. In addition the wealthier merchants and other 
 private individuals got together and added 500 beds at 
 their own expense. Then the District Zemstvo arranged 
 for another 150, and finally a local committee of the 
 Red Cross Society arranged for yet 225 beds more, and 
 actually works in this instance under the local committee 
 of the Unions, who have absolute autonomy in connection 
 with the arrangements, whether these are paid for by the 
 Government or not. Fifty thousand rubles were also 
 collected locally for a Red Cross Field Hospital, and the 
 town has likewise supplied its own hospital train. A 
 district committee was also formed to aid the soldiers' 
 families. All this is just the fruitage of its ordinary 
 activities. 
 
 In the local Zemsky hospital in Kinyeshma, which 
 might draw on a population of 170,000, there are some 
 50,000 visits per annum ; the institution is supported at 
 an annual cost of 40,000 rubles. In the whole District, 
 of which there are twelve in the Government or Province 
 of Kostroma, there are fifteen hospitals. With regard to 
 veterinary work, the uyezd or district is subdivided into 
 1 =40 lbs. Russ.
 
 BY LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA 35 
 
 six regions. The Zemstvos give all the necessary treat- 
 ment free. For example, at the moment, a peasant had 
 his horse in the local establishment undergoing treatment 
 for a month. He paid nothing : all he had to do was to 
 supply its feeding. Again, if the Head of the Department 
 has to go for purposes of enquiry to any point on a sum- 
 mons from the villagers, his mission is conducted at the 
 expense of the Zemstvo. He even extends his interests 
 to looking after stray dogs, thus preventing disease, and 
 makes a standing offer of 5 rubles for every wolf's tail 
 brought in by a peasant. The budget of 1,422,000 rubles 
 is in part subsidised by the Government. In the same 
 way the District Zemstvo takes a direct interest in the 
 peasants' horse-breeding in the district, and has estab- 
 lished ten centres to aid them. As the result of its repre- 
 sentation, the Government commandeered only 600 out 
 of the 22,000 horses in the district for war purposes. 
 Further, the Zemstvo sells 4000 copies daily of a broad- 
 sheet with war news at the nominal price of 1 kopek. 
 
 This District Zemstvo likewise looks well after education 
 within its boundaries, having 152 primary schools, to which 
 should be added a further twenty-two that are distinc- 
 tively church schools. In these the course lasts three to 
 four years. There are, besides, twelve schools directly 
 under the Ministry of Education, distributed mainly in 
 the towns a higher class of primary school, for which the 
 Government pays in part, with a five years' course of 
 training. There is still a higher type of school (secondary) 
 found only in the towns, where the course is from seven 
 to eight years. Throughout the district there is a school 
 on every three-verst circle drawn from the principal towns 
 as centres, and similarly a hospital on every ten-verst 
 circle. 
 
 Further, there are within a radius of twelve versts some 
 ten points at which the peasants can obtain agricultural 
 implements on hire. In Kinyeshma itself there is an 
 admirable little department with models and demon-
 
 \ 
 
 36 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 strations of the main points of practical interest in con- 
 nection with agriculture and farming generally. Mention 
 should also be made of the twenty-two " Credit Com- 
 panies," and of the local Zemstvo bank that aids them. 
 Its balance stood at 220,000 rubles in midsummer of 
 1915, above the normal. 
 
 It was a Committee of the Zemstvo likewise that under- 
 took the organisation of the smaller factories in the 
 district for munitions. At the first meeting the factory 
 owners thought that they could turn out 100 shells a day 
 between them, but after some arrangement and organisa- 
 tion they suggested they might attempt several hundred : 
 after having actually got to work they found that they 
 could do even more. One individual offered to make four 
 shells a day, and found he could do fifty when he under- 
 took nothing else. So gradually, all over, each man, as 
 he tried, found he could do more than he thought at first 
 was possible. 
 
 A journey through several villages in the district 
 those smaller villages without a church that are known 
 as derevnya, and the larger type of village with a church 
 that is called selo disclosed many interesting data. In 
 particular the evidence of the growth of the co-operative 
 movement was very striking. In one village a member- 
 ship of ninety had bought provisions to the value of 5000 
 rubles in a year : in another, 124 members had bought 
 to the value of 15,000 rubles. The membership fee is 
 5 rubles. From the Zemstvo the store may receive credit 
 for 1000 rubles, but the credit may not be greater than 
 the amount of the foundation capital. There are forty 
 such stores in two districts in the Kostroma Government, 
 turning over 380,000 rubles worth of business in the year. 
 Although the Government had much to do with the 
 starting of the co-operative movement, yet it is some- 
 what afraid of its powers of organisation, while the Jews 
 likewise oppose it as tending to take business out of their 
 hands. The co-operative movement may, however,
 
 BY LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA 37 
 
 become an important factor in the solution of the Jewish 
 problem. Through its rapid growth, as well as through 
 the spread of education, and the additional impulse to 
 life in all its forms that has resulted from the prohibition 
 of vodka, the Russian will be better able to hold his own / 
 against the often unscrupulous Jew, and be relieved from f- 
 the necessity of employing adventitious means to assist 
 him in the struggle with his more enterprising neighbour. 
 In one village, even in these days of war, a fine new 
 school was being put up with equipment for scholars of 
 two grades, and with quarters for the teachers in the 
 same building. More symptomatic of the times was a 
 single old man sitting outside the Volostnoye Pravlenie ; * 
 ordinarily many young men would have been seen stroll- 
 ing about in the quiet of a Sunday afternoon. In the 
 remainder of the long village street women only were in 
 evidence, except when a wounded man with a little boy 
 to assist him limped across the road. Many of the houses 
 were ornamented with carving and lattice-work of a 
 rather high order. Outside another village in a pine wood 
 a sanatorium for the consumptives in the district was in 
 process of construction. Three wooden houses, each 
 capable of accommodating ten patients, had been already 
 built, while other three were in process of construction, as 
 also separate quarters for physicians, kitchen and dining- 
 room, etc. At another point we turned aside from the 
 main road to visit one of the new district hospitals. It 
 was a small up-to-date building, fitted throughout with 
 its own telephone and electric light installations. It com- 
 prised four " wards " and a perfectly lighted operating- 
 room with blue tiled floor, and white tiles of English make 
 all round the walls to a distance of 5 feet from the floor. 
 Such a hospital to accommodate fifteen patients is erected 
 within a radius of ten versts from each of certain central 
 points. Then once again we crossed the Volga and 
 
 1 Government Administration Bureau for a volost (sub-division of a 
 uyezd or district).
 
 38 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 regained Kinyeshma by a first-class chaussee made at a 
 cost of 700,000 rubles to 100 versts. Twenty-eight versts 
 of this road were under actual construction at the moment, 
 and it traversed a tributary of the Volga by a bridge 14 
 sajens 1 in length, which cost 40,000 rubles. All these 
 activities are Zemstvo work. 
 
 The journey ends in a summer home, on a day that 
 happened to be the golden wedding of the owner, Secre- 
 tary of State, and landowner. There is a wealth of 
 evidence of affectionate remembrance on the part of 
 those who share his friendship and his interest. Moving 
 about on the lawn are all those different elements that 
 go to compose the varied aspects of country official life, 
 together with some life-long friends who have made a 
 tedious journey from different centres to celebrate the 
 day. Towards evening a repast is spread under the trees, 
 at which with exquisite graciousness the first public 
 tribute from the host is to his country's British ally. 
 Later, his words returning thanks for the toast of the 
 evening are interrupted by loud cries of " Gorko, Gorko," 
 "The wine is bitter, you must sweeten it" which he does 
 in the recognised fashion by embracing his partner of so 
 many lustrums. The artificial lighting on and around the 
 long table seems to gain in strength as the light of day 
 vanishes, and the stars work their way through the 
 branches of the overhanging trees. Talk continues brightly, 
 engaging your interest in the immediate surroundings, 
 until in some pause you look up and see not ten yards 
 off, standing in rows beside the trees along the whole 
 length of the table, white-kerchiefed heads, some of them 
 bent, regarding the feast in ghostlike quiet, peasant 
 women and a few men who have crept up unnoticed like 
 the spirits in Dante's word-pictures, that patient, silent 
 and enduring throng that will one day become vocal in 
 the development of Russia. The supper is over, and they 
 1 1 sajen = 7 feet.
 
 r 
 
 A SINGLE OLD MAN SITTING OUTSIDE THE VOLOSTNOYE PRAVLENIE. 
 
 ORNAMEN
 
 BY LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA 39 
 
 move on to the lawn, young girls made to look older 
 than they are by reason of their dress, men always with 
 their leather-peaked blue or black cloth cap, red or blue 
 rubashka hanging free and sometimes covered by a coat, 
 and dark blue trousers tucked into their long black boots. 
 Under the solvent influence of the balalaika 1 and their 
 master's invitation, their serious demeanour begins to 
 vanish, the brighter side of their natures with its engaging 
 mischievousness appears, and finally they have to be 
 reminded that it is the small hours of the morning ere 
 they can be prevailed upon to cease their singing and 
 their dancing. 
 
 1 Characteristic three-stringed lute.
 
 THEME II 
 
 SOME ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
 
 THEME II 
 
 SOME ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 
 
 ACCORDING to the Ministerial Report on the 
 -a_ Financial and Economic Position of the Russian 
 Empire, 1 the State Revenue for the seven first months 
 of 1915 showed a deficit of some 482 million rubles com- 
 pared with the revenue for the corresponding months of 
 the previous year. Of this deficit 460 millions are due to 
 the suppression of the liquor monopoly. Figures such as 
 these, together with the question of our whole economic 
 and financial relationship to our ally, not merely at 
 present but also as regards the future, demand earnest 
 and sympathetic consideration. 
 
 The situation can be most helpfully understood if we 
 attempt, in the first instance, to approach it from the 
 Russian point of view. With that object, it may be useful 
 to attempt to reproduce the tenor of a conversation 
 with a leading Russian university professor of Economics. 
 He started from the position that Russia could not win 
 this war without the help of France and Britain, any 
 more than Britain could win it without the assistance of 
 France and Russia. Having been detained a3 a prisoner 
 in Germany during the first six months of the war, 
 although with a degree of freedom that was not accorded 
 to British subjects similarly circumstanced, he was able 
 to speak with a measure of knowledge and experience 
 possessed by few. The significance of his statements is 
 deepened when we recollect the serious efforts that 
 
 1 See " The Times Russian Supplement," January 15th, 1916. 
 
 43
 
 44 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 Germany has made more than once during the past few 
 months to detach our Russian allies. Germany would 
 make peace at once with Russia if the latter country 
 gave the slightest hint of wishing to retire from the con- 
 test : she has counted on this from the beginning. Ger- 
 many would ask no indemnity of Russia ; she would even 
 be prepared to retire from all the Russian territory already 
 occupied, and make a new trade treaty with that country 
 that would be fair to both sides. The last trade treaty, 
 made under the pressure of Russia's situation during the 
 Japanese War, was notoriously one-sided and unfair. 
 It is difficult to imagine the manifold nature of the 
 attempts that have been made upon the loyalty of our 
 Russian allies attempts not merely due to the obvious 
 fact that, should they succeed, Germany would be in a 
 position to devote all her energy to the struggle with 
 France and Britain, but to the more important, because 
 more fundamental, fact of a well-developed German 
 consciousness that Russia is the one nation amongst her 
 adversaries with whom she could whole-heartedly co- 
 operate in economic and political endeavour. 
 
 But to return. " Starting from these premises," con- 
 tinued my friend, " what should we aim at, as a com- 
 munity of allies, in order to win the war ? " He assured 
 me that determination to carry the war to a victorious 
 conclusion was the leading characteristic of the Russian 
 body, commercial and political, to-day. Referring to 
 the unfairness of the past conditions of trade between 
 Germany and Russia, he said that his fellow-countrymen 
 looked upon the war as a struggle with a nation ungrate- 
 ful to the people that had practically fed them during 
 the last thirty years. " Not only did we export grain 
 to them without their having to pay duty on it, but also 
 food for cattle, so that their cattle industry flourished, 
 while on all chemical products and on all machinery taken 
 by us a special tariff was fixed favourable to the Germans. 
 More than half of our imports came from Germany, and
 
 SOME ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 45 
 
 under tariff conditions that were solely in her favour. 
 America, of course, sends us machinery, but then she 
 does not want our grain. 
 
 " To-day the situation is like this. There is much 
 hatred of the Germans, not only of those belonging to 
 that nation, but also of their descendants in our country, 
 because in their hands is a great part of the German trade. 
 Germans, when they came to Russia, became naturalised 
 here, or married Russians, and so formed a special class 
 amongst the Russian people. That is to say, they are 
 not Germans from the standpoint of the State, but they 
 are Germans by creed and origin. Such conditions as 
 you find here would be practically impossible in any 
 other country in the world e.g. the existence of a great 
 colony of Russian subjects who are Germans by creed 
 and language and birth. There are hundreds of families 
 in Moscow who cannot speak Russian at all. The Rus- 
 sians call the Germans ' nyemtsi,' i.e. ' the dumb,' 
 those who cannot speak Russian. Indeed there is a 
 special society in Moscow to propagate the German 
 language, manners and ideas, and to it belong many 
 Russian subjects of German origin. The present hatred 
 of Germany is directed not only against true Germans, 
 but also against those Russians of German descent. Can 
 it be, then, that in place of this German influence in our 
 industry we may feel the influence of Britain and of 
 France, of America and of Sweden ? What are the 
 special possibilities of this being achieved in one case 
 more than in the other ? 
 
 " Consider the conditions of the economic development 
 of any country in the world to-day. Without the aid of 
 foreign capital such development is absolutely impossible ; 
 especially is this so in the case of a country financially 
 ruined by war. Everybody knows that the first great 
 capitalists in England were Italians, until Whittington 
 and others financially expelled them and they were re- 
 placed by English merchants. The same thing occurred
 
 46 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 in France, whose industry had its origin in German 
 capital. Likewise Italian and Dutch capital was origin- 
 ally of foreign origin, and the same is true of America. 
 The present development of German industry could 
 never have been accomplished without* those five milliard 
 marks of (1870) French origin. And the same is true of 
 Russia. She stands under the same necessity for foreign 
 capital, particularly seeing that German capital here will 
 go back to Germany, or rather that no fresh German 
 capital can come in. German capital was exceedingly 
 well placed in Russia in the banks, so that it could be 
 taken away at once. We spoke of it as ' boarding-house 
 capital ' (kapital penzionat). Now all this and other 
 forms of German capital we have to replace, and we shall 
 not be in the same financial situation, of course, for years 
 to come, wherever the capital comes from. The feeling 
 against Germany is, however, so widespread and pro- 
 found that there is no great probability of German capital 
 being welcomed for a long period after the war. Our 
 great pressing necessity, however, is that of having better 
 conditions for purchasing the foreign articles necessary 
 for our army. Now there are only two conditions of 
 obtaining rates for foreign bills, either by buying with 
 gold or by exporting. There is, indeed, a third possibility 
 that of paying by sending back funds, e.g. in the case 
 of Britain, in the shape of consols and other securities. 
 But in Russia there is no considerable quantity of British 
 securities, as she had not enough capital to purchase 
 foreign investments. Accordingly, only the first two 
 methods are really open to Russia. 
 
 " Now with regard to the first possibility, Russia has 
 at present 150 million sterling in gold in the State Banks, 
 but this she cannot send away because she requires it 
 in order to be able to re-establish her currency after the 
 war. In Russia itself the currency has not depreciated 
 at all. The depreciation of the Russian currency on the 
 world's markets must not be confounded with the real
 
 SOME ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 47 
 
 value of the Russian currency in the country itself. So 
 that when you consider that Russia has about 5 to 7 
 sterling in gold for every Russian family, it really means 
 that she has so much gold that at any time the Russian 
 gold circulation can be re-established. But this can be 
 only under one condition, viz. that the foreign rates of 
 the pound sterling, as of American, Swedish, or French 
 money, are at such a standard height that they are not 
 dangerous to the Russian gold accumulations. Sufficient 
 credit must be opened abroad for the payments that have 
 to be made in Britain, France, Italy, etc. We have to 
 pay 40 million sterling abroad annually without being in 
 a position at present to export anything, and we have to 
 keep on doing this till we have the possibility again of 
 exporting. What is the prospect that we can continue 
 to do this ? " 
 
 In answering his self-imposed question, my friend 
 never let the other question of the relation of British to 
 Russian trade remain very long in the background. For 
 to his mind the two ought to be, in great measure, one. 
 He seemed to think that the British business world was 
 in some danger of too often opening credit with private 
 Russian enterprise of a somewhat speculative character, 
 instead of opening a credit under the direction of the 
 Russian Government, where they could ensure conditions 
 demand and get them such as could not be given in 
 private undertakings. The present high rate of exchange 
 was an abnormal condition, and the English business 
 world should be willing to try and reasonably come to 
 some understanding with the Russian business world 
 with regard to this, as also when the latter gave orders 
 for goods in a form that did not exactly suit the British 
 firms. 
 
 " It is well known," he said, " that Russian merchants 
 have endeavoured to secure from Britain the importa- 
 tion of raw (Australian) wool. The answer that our people 
 received was that the British trading world preferred to
 
 48 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 send us cloth. That type of answer is sometimes difficult 
 for us to understand. Our merchants tend to think, 
 ' Britain evidently does not want us to develop that kind 
 of industry over here : indeed she wishes to do every- 
 thing for us ; all that she wants us to do is to pay.' Per- 
 sonally I would prefer that some of the Russian factories 
 should be closed down : their standard of production is 
 so poor that they would be better closed. And we have 
 such a high protective tariff that, as a matter of fact, I 
 am not wearing at this moment a single Russian article 
 of clothing. I can buy underwear in London for 7s. 6d. 
 that will cost me ten rubles here." 
 
 " Are we then to do away with our protective tariff ? 
 I do not know. There are hundreds of factories in Russia 
 to-day which were established to work under the pro- 
 tection of our tariff. Machinery has been bought at twice 
 its real cost under this tariff. And if you pay more for all 
 your raw materials (e.g. coal) than in other countries, 
 you cannot expect to produce cheaply. I think on general 
 principles that it would be good for Russia to do away 
 with protection : practically, at present, she is not in a 
 position to do so." 
 
 " The essential point is, however, our need of foreign 
 capital in the immediate future : without it Russia can- 
 not develop. Therefore it is necessary that capital loaned 
 to us during the war by you should be allowed to remain 
 with us, and not be repaid immediately after the war, 
 otherwise you simply leave us alone again to engage in 
 an economic warfare with Germany. If there is credit, 
 not merely individual and private but also national 
 and international, then economy would be better under- 
 stood and practised : in fact, it must be guided by the 
 State. 
 
 " There is little that Russia can do for Britain at 
 present : there is much that Britain can do for Russia 
 both financially and politically. Amongst our labouring 
 classes it is sometimes said, ' This war was necessary for
 
 SOME ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 49 
 
 the ideas and schemes of Britain,' but that, of course, is 
 the mere suggestion of pro-German influences at work 
 amongst them which will prove futile. Is not the line 
 of sound and large-hearted action to realise that we are 
 linked together in a great struggle for noble ends, and let 
 the realisation of that fact determine our relationships 
 with one another, not merely in the present but for the 
 future ? Are we not fighting together simply to ensure 
 that Europe does not lose her real culture, otherwise she 
 will be lost indeed ? Our country has not always been 
 wisely guided, and it may be badly guided in the future. 
 There is a certain insecurity of life and property in Russia, 
 which all intelligent Russians are striving to have re- 
 moved : you can aid us in that. I think I can see much 
 that requires reform even in Britain, much that could be 
 changed in the common interests of Britain, France, and 
 Russia, points where in some cases we could help you with 
 our experience. Are not these the general lines along 
 which we should strive to move together, and carry the 
 spirit of them into the details ? " 
 
 As the situation began to shape itself in my mind 
 under the informing tuition of my friend, it seemed to 
 become increasingly clear that the best way to help 
 ourselves was really to help Russia. " Give us your 
 munitions, we have the men," said a Duma party leader. 
 " Give us your capital ; we need it, and have the best 
 field for its employment," my Economics friend seemed 
 to be saying, thinking both of the present and of the 
 future. It is interesting to note that Mr. Shingarev, 
 Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Duma, in a 
 recent speech bore out indirectly many of the above 
 contentions. " The situation of Russia," so he said, "is 
 not exceptional, compared with that of France and Ger- 
 many, since at this moment Russia holds the greatest 
 cover in gold for her paper money, with the exception 
 perhaps of Great Britain, where free exchange has never 
 ceased. . . . We are proud to proclaim aloud that in
 
 50 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 the whole financial history of Russia there has not been 
 a moment when she has delayed in paying her creditors." 1 
 
 One factor that lends itself very easily to misunder- 
 standing is the conditions produced by an abnormal rate 
 of exchange. When the Russian has to put down 170 
 rubles to meet a payment of 10 sterling, as was done in 
 Moscow in the month of July, 1915, it is not to be wondered 
 at if he tends to think that some advantage is being 
 taken of him by his ally. The whole situation is probably 
 clear to the economist, but the average man is not a 
 trained economist. It is, probably, too late to meet it 
 by fixing a general rate of exchange, say 12 J rubles to 
 the 1, with an agreement to settle up differences, which- 
 ever way they may be, three months after the war, or 
 by the more heroic suggestion of a Moscow banker that 
 we should continue to buy and pay for such a material 
 as wool, and leave it in Russia till it can be exported. 
 Something has been done in the former direction, but there 
 is scope for more detailed and thoroughgoing team work 
 amongst the Allies here as in other directions. And in 
 any case there is an attitude that we can adopt which 
 will go far towards alleviating the situation, and be 
 helpful in regard to the future business relations between 
 Great Britain and Russia. 
 
 In the first place, we should remember the peculiar 
 situation of Russia. In blockading Germany we can yet 
 make profits, because we trade with the whole world. 
 To France and Italy likewise the seas are open, with 
 their possibilities of gain. But Russia, with one insignifi- 
 cant exception, has no sea free and so cannot export. In 
 so far as Russia blockades Germany, she blockades herself. 
 
 In the second place, as a trading community, we must 
 realise that while there will be very much business to 
 transact in our own country and in the Empire after the 
 war, yet we are not merely citizens of the British Empire, 
 but members of another community that embraces 
 1 Reuter's Telegram of September 1st, 1915.
 
 SOME ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 51 
 
 Russia, France, and Italy, and that we have to settle 
 together questions of the greatest importance. We must 
 have a clear idea of a common policy, an idea that shall 
 be above the unworthy outlook that would simply regard 
 Russia as a sort of trading colony. There must be a 
 genuine co-ordination of interests and of foreign capital. 
 
 This means that it is essential that all British capital 
 lent to Russia during the war should be allowed to 
 remain there after the war, otherwise she will be in grave 
 danger of becoming economically involved again to her 
 detriment with Germany, in spite of the present tremen- 
 dous determination to put the Teutonic influence out of 
 her national life. 
 
 Finally, we must bear in mind, before all thoughts of 
 material gain, that we are fighting together with this 
 particular country amongst others in the interests of 
 true culture. If some of the material fruits of our ulti- 
 mate victory are garnered by other nations without 
 their having, so to speak, paid for them, it is an enormous 
 pity for these nations. We, of the Entente, are a com- 
 munity fighting for culture in its truest and highest sense, 
 as Europe has often done before, and other countries 
 will gain by it. But consider what this means. Germany 
 is losing every day great numbers of her really cultured 
 people. Out of 2000 students in Carlsruhe Polytechnicum 
 only 128 were left by the end of July, 1915, including 
 women and foreigners. What will remain to Germany 
 of any kind of culture if figures such as these are at all 
 general ? From the standpoint of the highest culture we 
 have to fight together to ensure its persistence, otherwise 
 Europe is lost. Surely the nations that have been linked 
 together to secure so high and noble an aim should be 
 prepared to carry its spirit into the adjustment of 
 secondary and more mundane matters. 
 
 If now this general point of view commends itself to 
 the British trading public, it would seem imperative to 
 begin to act upon it at once. Some of the specific Russian
 
 52 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 suggestions made to one could not very easily be accepted. 
 Thus it was said : " Our export trade has been mainly 
 to Germany, and we have now to find new outlets for 
 the 500 million rubles that we used to place with her. 
 In particular we desire Britain and France as new outlets. 
 Could Britain during the war period, after the opening of 
 the Dardanelles, not prefer Russian to American grain ? " l 
 Nevertheless the spirit of that point of view can always 
 be maintained. The need for prompt action lies in the 
 circumstance that thousands of Germans who are now in- 
 terned in Russia will attempt to return to their businesses 
 there as soon as peace is declared, just as if nothing had 
 ever happened. 
 
 There is one feature, however, in which those who are 
 willing to pursue this line of action feel themselves to be 
 heavily handicapped by their own Government. Their 
 subject of complaint is an Act of Parliament 2 for the 
 existence of which there may be sound reasons, but whose 
 specifications contrast very sharply with the facility 
 given from Berlin for German residents abroad to retain 
 or resume their German nationality and thus assist 
 in Germanising the world. In order to give some idea 
 of the degree of feeling caused by this legislation amongst 
 sections of British communities in Russia, I quote from a 
 document issued to business firms at home under date 
 May, 1915, by two British residents in Russia of long 
 standing, who have interested themselves particularly in 
 the extension of British trade there. " There are at 
 least," they say, " three million British subjects in foreign 
 countries, most of them as loyal and patriotic as anybody 
 in the British Isles, and amongst these voluntary exiles, 
 whose sons are joining Kitchener's army and fighting 
 the nation's battles, our authorities are carrying on a 
 veritable persecution. On January 1st of this year a 
 most incomprehensible Act of Parliament came into force, 
 whereby the second generation of foreign-born Britishers 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 1. 2 See Appendix, Note 2.
 
 SOME ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 53 
 
 are indiscriminately deprived of their natural birthright. 
 Such an extraordinary measure must have been com- 
 pletely overlooked by the British public, who could cer- 
 tainly have no conception of the havoc which it was de- 
 stined to produce. The wording of the Act is most 
 obscure, we trust inadvertently so, but the above-men- 
 tioned interpretation is the one adopted by the British 
 authorities. It was bad enough before, when children of 
 the third generation born abroad of British parents were 
 made outcasts by the action of the British Government. 
 This further curtailment of British nationality is an in- 
 tolerable outrage on British patriotism and common 
 sense. It counteracts and defeats the very purpose for 
 which the Board of Trade is appealing to the British 
 Trading Community, for who are amongst the chief sup- 
 porters of England's trade and prestige if not loyal 
 Britons residing abroad ? It divides the allegiance of 
 British families, it turns the children of faithful British 
 subjects into aliens before they are old enough to choose 
 for themselves, and as regards Russia in particular, it 
 makes outlaws of infant Britons, whom the Russian 
 Government very properly refuses to accept as Russian 
 subjects. In very many cases in which the parents can 
 afford it, their outcast children are sent to be educated 
 on British soil, nevertheless they can apparently only 
 regain their lost British citizenship by becoming natural- 
 ised like real aliens at the discretion of a Secretary of 
 State. This is simply adding insult to injury. All English- 
 men who suffer, or see others suffer from this objection- 
 able and iniquitous piece of legislation, are very justly 
 indignant and demand its early repeal. Only Germany 
 can profit by this restriction of British allegiance, which 
 will clear the way more than ever for the advance of 
 German nationality when the war is over." If indeed all 
 the facts are so, there would seem to be a call for dis- 
 crimination in legislation which while possibly of sound 
 application to certain conditions and in certain districts
 
 54 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 of the Empire, produces such apparent hardship under 
 other circumstances. 
 
 One final remark may be added, suggested by what 
 might have been seen at Torneo on the Finnish frontier 
 in June, 1915, while yet the Russo-Finnish railway staff 
 was struggling with the masses of material passing by that 
 route into Russia. Everything had to be improvised at 
 the beginning. And now to-day the conditions are very 
 different, and large wooden sheds have been built to house 
 the goods as they rest there. But at the time in question 
 there were acres in the vicinity of the railway station 
 covered at one point with bales of cotton from Memphis, 
 U.S.A., at another with boxes full of typewriters ; here 
 sacks of sulphur, there cases of electric lamps, and close 
 by stacks of boxes of manganese or shellac. Yet even 
 more impressive was the lack of vision that stencilled in 
 
 English the phrase " Return when empty to " all 
 
 over cases about which the one thing certain was that 
 they would never reach their primary destination full, 
 because not clearly addressed or insecurely put together. 
 Imagine the heavy-featured Finn as he gazes wonderingly 
 at the enormous cards tacked on to boxes with the strange 
 signs " Glass," " This side up," " Fragile," " With great 
 care," and his efforts to find anything suggestive of an 
 address in a language familiar to him. Is it worth while 
 stencilling all over a wooden case the intimation that it 
 is "fastened with so-and-so's patent clasps," if it adds to 
 the difficulty of the stevedore in trying to find why the 
 case is there at all ? I do not know. But it is possible 
 to imagine that if these 12 by 6 inch cards, inscribed with 
 these English legends in large lettering, had the size of 
 the type reduced by a half, and the free space utilised 
 for the Russian equivalent of these directions, the cases 
 would probably be handled with greater understanding, 
 and therefore with greater care and consequent satisfac- 
 tion to the sender.
 
 THEME III 
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA
 
 I 
 
 RUSSIA'S INITIAL VICTORY 
 
 ANYONE visiting Russia after a year of the war, 
 XA_ and able to compare the conditions as he sees them 
 there to-day with those that obtained during previous 
 decades, must quickly have become aware of three very 
 striking changes. In the first place, he would notice that 
 an intensely passionate love of country a deep and 
 tender feeling for Russia has developed, which tends 
 to take precedence of all other loyalties, and become the 
 ultimate test of all activities. In the second place, he 
 would realise how the will of the people was rapidly 
 becoming a determining factor in Russian politics, and 
 how the Duma, as expressing this, had secured for itself 
 a growing and lasting place in their affections. And 
 finally, he could not fail to observe the remarkable results 
 following the prohibition of vodka. Of the latter, some 
 were easily calculable in advance ; others were unex- 
 pected ; yet others have not had time to develop, 
 although there are hints of them. The views, moreover, 
 of those who are opposed to the measure are very in- 
 structive, while even the untoward results to date are 
 interesting when subjected to examination. 
 
 Although only one full year has passed since the in- 
 troduction of prohibition in Russia, enough has been 
 achieved to show that the place of Nicholas II is secure 
 in history. They speak of Alexander II as the Liberator 
 Tsar because he brought about the emancipation of the 
 serfs. But in a far deeper and larger sense should the 
 title belong to Nicholas II, for while the former liberated 
 
 57
 
 58 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 a class, the latter has freed a nation. Or as a village 
 correspondent puts the matter in reply to an official en- 
 quiry : " Judging by the results of four months, it may 
 be said with confidence that if temperance becomes in- 
 separable from our Russian life, this prohibition manifesto 
 will in its issue prove to be a very great reform, which can 
 be compared only with those of Peter the Great." 
 
 At the same time it should not be forgotten that there 
 had been a movement in this direction throughout various 
 districts in Russia previous to the order of July 18th, 
 1914 (O.S.). Before the Government once again took 
 over the spirit trade in 1894, all the village communes had 
 the right to interdict the existence of the public-house. 
 After the monopoly was re-established, this privilege was 
 contested by the Government. " Nobody has the right," 
 said the Minister of Finance (Kokovtzeff) in effect in the 
 second Duma, " to oppose this." Many peasant com- 
 munities protested. The Government gave way, and in 
 the end recognised the right of the village communities 
 to shut up a public-house or refuse to have one set down 
 amongst them. 1 These things are cited to show that the 
 movement had commenced amongst the people them- 
 selves. The Emperor, however, had the vision that saw 
 his kingdom without vodka, and the sympathetic con- 
 fidence in his people that trusted them to support him. 
 
 " There has indeed been a revolution in Russia, you can 
 see it in the people's faces." The verdict was that of the 
 man whom the Russian nation wished to have as its 
 Minister of Munitions. Nor is it an isolated judgment. 
 " Every aspect of our village life has been changed," said 
 the leader of one of the parties in the Duma to me. 
 " Latterly the old men did not come to the village as- 
 
 1 The exact facts show that the existing law only allowed the Mirs 
 to present a petition for the closing of the vodka shops. The petition 
 was granted or not, just as the authorities preferred. On March 11th, 
 1914, that is five months before the war, by the ministerial circular No. 
 2293, the order was issued to give effect always and at once to all 
 petitions of this character.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 59 
 
 semblies because they were continually submitted to 
 insult by the half-drunken younger men. Now these 
 listen to the older men, so that the latter say, ' We have 
 again become fathers, for the young men respect us.' 
 The women are enthusiastic ; no longer are they insulted 
 or beaten. They receive their husbands' wages now. In 
 the villages close to the towns the women used to meet 
 their husbands at the entrance to the village on Saturday 
 in order to get the remainder of their wages before they 
 had spent them all in drink. Now they remain quietly 
 at home. It is the children who go to meet their fathers, 
 sure that they have brought some little gift for them. 
 The whole life of the village communities has been trans- 
 formed. The chief of police in a district in the Govern- 
 ment of Moscow said to a friend of mine the other day, 
 ' The conditions of my service will have to be altered ; I 
 have had nothing to do for two months.' The people are 
 gladly co-operating with their Emperor, for the move- 
 ment had already in a measure begun amongst them. 
 But human nature is feeble, and there were many who 
 regretted the restored powers of local option. The em- 
 ployes of the monopoly, who received an increase in 
 wage in proportion to the increase in their sales, were 
 very interested to influence members of the village com- 
 mune to carry on propaganda against prohibition. 
 Tchelyshev 1 asked the Government to forbid its employes 
 to conduct this kind of agitation. Accordingly, while 
 everybody thought that we were in for a long preparatory 
 campaign, perhaps of a century, there was fortunately 
 accomplished a miracle. Like all miracles, it had in a 
 measure to be prepared for ; but Russia drinks no more." 
 I have discussed the question with very many open- 
 minded men whose positions entitled them to speak with 
 authority. I did not meet one who spoke disapprovingly 
 of vodka prohibition, and most of them had reached 
 
 1 Member of the third Duma and extreme temperance advocate : 
 died 1915.
 
 60 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 their conclusions simply on empirical grounds because 
 of the results. 
 
 What is the nature of these results ? Briefly, they 
 affect every aspect of human life, so that before it is 
 possible to appreciate the far-reaching character of these 
 changes, it is necessary to listen to the insurance agent 
 as well as to the physician, to the trader at the same time 
 as to the chief of police. In some cases it may be that 
 a knowledge of Russian conditions is required to trace 
 the direct line of cause and effect between the vodka 
 prohibition and the result, but they are all clear to the 
 Russian mind. 
 
 " In consequence of this prohibition," said the mayor of 
 one of the capital cities, " we have quite a different sort 
 of people." And it was not difficult for him to substan- 
 tiate the statement. On the day on which he made it 
 (July 7th, 1915), his principal prison with 500 cells, 
 " always filled to overflowing," had 37 occupants. His 
 regular city hospitals have 14,000 beds. Not only were 
 these always all occupied before prohibition, but they 
 had to put in extra beds often to the number of 2000. 
 Since prohibition they have usually had on an average 
 1000 beds free. With the banishment of drink there had 
 also been an improvement in the moral tone of the 
 community. The suicide rate had dropped ; ordinarily it 
 averaged two or three cases a day in summer, and in 
 winter a little less. For some weeks past there had not 
 been a case. Hooliganism had practically disappeared. 
 The price of labour had gone up in a very remarkable 
 manner. This was one of the more unexpected results 
 which, however, are not claimed as always wholly due 
 to prohibition. Before the war the pay of an unskilled 
 labourer in Petrograd was 80 kopeks a day, now it is 
 1 ruble 65 kopeks. The skilled artisan got 8| rubles as 
 against about 3 formerly. The mayor of a Government 
 (Provincial) capital stated that before the war they could 
 get mujiks to do all sorts of jobs for 30 kopeks a day,
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 61 
 
 now they had to pay them a ruble and a half. Several 
 causes have, of course, combined to produce this result, 
 but the principal cause is the simple fact that the 
 labouring classes are all richer as the result of the vodka 
 prohibition. The peasants do not require to work so 
 hard as usual, because they have saved money, and 
 since their constitutional laziness tends to assert itself, 
 greater inducements are required to make them work. 
 The Russian peasant is not like the French peasant in 
 his love of work : the Russian does not like to work long, 
 as a rule. Previously, what little they got was spent at 
 once on vodka, and they had to work on any terms for 
 more. 
 
 The evidence of large employers of labour is uniformly 
 favourable to the good results of prohibition. One 
 Petrograd factory owner employing 4000 hands said that 
 the efficiency of his men had noticeably increased from 
 10 to 15 per cent. In his mills they were not working 
 longer hours, as in some cases they are empowered to do, 
 but they did better work in the same time. He also 
 observed an improvement in their dress, and a marked 
 increase in self-respect. Another large employer also 
 testified to the great improvement in the character of his 
 men's work. They now came regularly every day, and 
 did steady work. Formerly it might happen that a 
 design in connection with some new machinery was 
 shown to a man by the foreman late in the afternoon. 
 The man went off and got drunk on the way home : 
 perhaps he stayed away for two days. When he returned 
 he had forgotten part of the explanation about the 
 machinery and was afraid to ask. Consequently his 
 work was imperfectly done. All that sort of thing had 
 come to an end. He had not noticed any marked differ- 
 ence in the number of accidents and disablements but 
 for this reason. Ordinarily his was a ten-hours' day. In 
 the production of munitions, however, his men were 
 allowed to work as much longer as they liked, and acci-
 
 62 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 dents tended to occur which were due to fatigue. He 
 also stated that the relations between master and men 
 had visibly improved since prohibition had been intro- 
 duced. 
 
 If now we pass to the country, we find the same general 
 results. "In a little town that I know, one hundred 
 versts from Moscow," said a member of the Duma, " you 
 cannot now find a man who does not work. The people 
 used to close their outside shutters at night for fear they 
 would be robbed : they do not do so any more. It is also 
 very noticeable how they take an active intelligent in- 
 terest in questions relating to the war, domestic politics, 
 and ideals for the future." Look into the life of the people 
 from any angle you please, and some expression of en- 
 hanced well-being meets you. The changes may not all 
 be directly and solely due to prohibition, but in the new 
 atmosphere life has taken on a new form. As the pub- 
 lished statement of an official correspondent puts it : 
 " I simply cannot describe the good results, because 
 with the shutting of the Government shops the people 
 are as if they were born anew, or as if they were freed 
 from servitude, as it was in 1861." 
 
 Take a district town like Kinyeshma, to which refer- 
 ence has already been made. They show you that the 
 average monthly deposits in the twenty-three district 
 Zemsky banks were 170,000 rubles previous to the war : in 
 July of 1915 they were 300,000 rubles. In the Imperial 
 Savings Bank in the same district there were, on August 
 1st, 1914, 7,165,000 rubles : on July 1st of 1915, 7,941,000 
 rubles. You enter the large store for the sale of agricul- 
 tural and other implements, and find that while in 1913 
 they did 230,000 rubles' worth of business, in 1914 the 
 figure was 390,000 rubles. The remarkable contrast is 
 increasingly apparent of villages never so rich, and a 
 Government, in recent times at any rate, never so poor. 
 In the towns the economic advantages from prohibition 
 are largely nullified by the increased prices, due in part
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 63 
 
 to lack of transport. Finally, you turn down another 
 street into one of the police detention houses. It has but 
 a single occupant. The records for 1914 show that 220 
 men and 35 women had been under detention there. 
 For seven months of the following year the figures were 
 63 men and 5 women, and five months of 1914 were 
 temperance months. 
 
 If now we widen the area of observation and push our 
 investigations in different directions, we are confronted 
 with the same kind of result. For forty-three Governmental 
 districts the Zemstvo insurance statistics show that while 
 there were 7436 outbreaks of fire with damage estimated 
 at 1 ,708, 158 rubles during the first three months of the war, 
 the figures for the corresponding period of 1913 gave 
 13,216 outbreaks with damage computed at 3,850,906 
 rubles. In the Yekaterinoslav Government in 1913 there 
 were 310 fires with damage estimated at 28,893 rubles, 
 while for 1914 the figures were 147 fires with 13,287 
 rubles' worth of damage. In the Government of Tamboff 
 the diminution in fires is even more striking. The average 
 number of cases in September for ten years previous to 
 1914 was 148 : in September, 1914, it was 65. For the 
 month of August, the average for five years previous to 1914 
 was 960 : in August, 1914, the actual number was 630. 
 Statistics for all the Governments of Russia show that 
 there was during the first three months of the war a 
 diminution of 47 per cent in the number of fires, and of 
 56 per cent in the amount of damage done. So also 
 was it found with regard to railway accidents. In con- 
 nection with the railways in the district of Moscow, 
 statistics showed 805 accidents for a year, in which the 
 percentage due to alcohol was 4*34 : after prohibition, 
 the proportion due to drunkenness had fallen to 0*95. 
 
 With regard to crime, the Reunion (Industrial Assur- 
 ance Company) makes the general statement that it has 
 diminished 62 per cent. Certainly in all Russia crime 
 had diminished during the first three months of the war
 
 64 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 by 25 per cent. In some areas the percentage was much 
 higher. Thus, during the first four months of the war in 
 certain districts of the Moscow Government, " correc- 
 tion " cases showed a diminution of 29 per cent, and in 
 " disorders " or more serious crimes, the reduction varied 
 from 51 to 76 per cent. In the Government of Tamboff 
 during the first nine months of the war the number of 
 cases had declined from 4000 to 2400, i.e. 36 per cent. 
 Within a sub-district near Moscow, the cases for disci- 
 pline in the factories had diminished between 60 per cent 
 and 80 per cent : absenteeism had diminished by 60 per 
 cent. In a printed document by a member of the Ex- 
 treme Right Party in the Duma, summarising results in 
 his district, he notes amongst other points : " Great 
 diminution of fires and of criminal cases, peace and har- 
 mony in families, no more insults from drunken people, 
 public assemblies calm and reasonable, hardly any 
 bribery registered now, labour more productive, the 
 great sums which were spent before on vodka from ten 
 to fifteen thousand rubles in each large village now go 
 to increase the well-being of the population, pauperism 
 and vagabondage have absolutely disappeared." As a 
 result throughout the different Governments, the peasant 
 banks are full of money, loans have been paid off, and 
 agricultural implements formerly purchased on the in- 
 stalment plan have been bought outright, and arrears 
 paid off. Having supplied themselves with gramophones 
 and watches and new clothes, the peasants now employ 
 their money more productively, in buying land and even 
 securities, or starting little businesses. One hundred 
 million rubles per month used to be spent on vodka ; 
 to-day it remains in the economy of peasant life. On 
 all hands the people demand that it shall be banished 
 for ever. The last speech I heard in the Duma was 
 that of a peasant delegate insisting that the permanent 
 prohibition of vodka be embodied in legal enactment 
 now.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 65 
 
 This well-being of the peasants has in turn affected 
 the food supply. Articles like cultivated berries and 
 eggs and even meat, which he did not eat formerly 
 except on holidays, have become dearer because he and 
 his children either feed on them themselves, or because 
 he can now afford to wait and watch the ever-rising 
 prices. Finally, the death rate from drunkenness has 
 risen since prohibition was introduced. This paradox 
 finds its solution in the fact that dipsomaniacs have 
 turned to methylated spirits and other fatal substitutes. 1 
 
 It is not pretended that every Russian is pleased with 
 prohibition, but it can be said, so far as the evidence 
 goes, that the great majority of the people are alive to 
 the results, and that a majority, at any rate, consider that 
 permanent prohibition of vodka is not merely possible 
 but desirable. The complicated agony of the past months 
 in Russia has called for powers of endurance whose moral 
 source has been in large measure the consciousness, ad- 
 mittedly present in varying degrees in different indi- 
 viduals, that a serious issue was faced and met in the 
 only possible manner. " If it had not been for this 
 decisive measure, my firm conviction is that our war 
 would already have turned into a revolution, without 
 speaking of our armies, that would never have been able 
 to carry out their gigantic retreat, keeping up through 
 it all their wonderful spirit of reasoned self-sacrifice that 
 has now become historical." 
 
 Many Russians will agree with these words of one of 
 their distinguished diplomatists. In Russia the army 
 and the nation are one, in a degree with which there is no 
 comparison in Britain, fused together in the fire of a 
 common sacrifice. One of our many national self- 
 deceptions of the day is that we have a choice of action 
 in the matter ; in reality we have none. For the history 
 of life throughout the ages of its slow ascent clearly shows 
 that there have been recurrent periods of environmental 
 
 1 See succeeding Sections II and IV.
 
 66 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 stress during which the forms that survived were those 
 which proved to have the requisite alert awareness and 
 plasticity, enabling them to adapt themselves to the 
 changing environment. To-day we find ourselves in such 
 a time of stress, and it is only as we have the under- 
 standing and the courage to effect the changes which 
 will produce more efficient adaptation that we can hope 
 to maintain our position in the forefront of the nations. 
 Russia has had the vision, has acted and confidently 
 endures. And we ?
 
 II 
 
 IN THE COUNTRY 
 
 TO the general impressions of the previous section 
 it is now possible to add opinion based upon a 
 more uniform and ordered method of investigation. Com- 
 petent Russian authorities, both individuals and societies, 
 have recently begun to make serious studies of the great 
 experiment. It was not possible to undertake this earlier, 
 since in the first instance it was necessary that sufficient 
 time should elapse in order to allow definite results to 
 develop, and in the second place responsible bodies had 
 to be found which were free to undertake such an in- 
 vestigation in a judicial way, and on a fairly broad scale. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the activities of the 
 Zemstvo in the Government (Province) of Kostroma as ex- 
 emplifying the kind of work that is done by the wealthier 
 and better organised of these institutions in its home terri- 
 tory. 1 Amidst a multitude of other duties, the Statistical 
 Bureau of this particular body issued a questionnaire to 600 
 correspondents in different districts of the Government 
 dealing with various aspects of the effect of the war upon 
 country life. A portion of this questionnaire dealt with the 
 results of prohibition. The answers have been studied and 
 summarised with extracts in a booklet entitled " War and 
 Country Life in the Government of Kostroma," and the 
 net effect is a very interesting human document. 
 
 The part devoted to the effects of vodka prohibition 
 opens with the statement that this measure was really 
 the last link in a chain of measures, Government and 
 
 1 See p. 33 ff. 
 
 67
 
 68 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 other, that had been instituted in connection with the 
 struggle against drink. The results of drinking were so bad 
 that it had come to be generally realised that sooner or 
 later the whole question must be faced. The war simply 
 fixed the time. Society and Government alike saw that 
 when the war called for sacrifices on the part of the people, 
 they must be helped in every way to retain their physical 
 powers and energy, and that the Government also must 
 fall into line in surrendering its drink profits. The 
 figures from the 600 country districts show that the 
 people understood this themselves. The results cover 
 official statistics from November, 1914, to January, 1915, 
 based upon the four to five months' observations of the 
 different correspondents. 
 
 The first question submitted to the correspondents 
 was as follows : What are the results of the stoppage of 
 the sale of vodka on the economic life of the country ? 
 Replies were received from 501 out of the 600 corre- 
 spondents. Of these, 267, or 53-3 per cent, replied generally 
 that the results were " very good " ; 203, or 40-5 per 
 cent, submitted that the results were " good " ; 29 gave 
 in answer that there were no results, and 2 replied that 
 it was difficult to say, a percentage of 6-2 ; 99 sent in 
 no reply. The redactor notes in this connection that 
 while 29 affirm that there have been no results, those, 
 on the other hand, who give positive replies point out 
 that it is impossible, even within four or five months, to 
 estimate what will be the total good results from the 
 change. 
 
 Again, the replies are not always strictly to the point, 
 some of the correspondents taking up the general question 
 of the results of a bad harvest in connection with pro- 
 hibition, others giving particular results in individual 
 cases. From the replies wholly in favour of the change, 
 a few excerpts may be given : " Owing to prohibition 
 you cannot see the bad effects of the war." " Owing to 
 this temperance movement we do not feel the bad effects
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 69 
 
 of a bad harvest." "The stoppage of the sale of wine 1 
 has been very good for our economic life : it is as if our 
 people have awakened from a dream." " The war itself 
 cannot ruin the agricultural life so much as did the wine." 
 " As a little river retains the water by the help of a dam, 
 so by the stoppage of the sale of wine, money is kept in 
 the hands of its owners." Some of the correspondents 
 who do not observe any influence of temperance on 
 economic life indicate that it is not reasonable to expect 
 to see any influence in so short a time : a year hence 
 better results may be noticeable. In some districts the 
 reporters state that they do not see any improvement, 
 but add that the reason for this is simply that practically 
 only women are left to work there. Even in the case 
 of the 29, the correspondents usually speak of the good 
 results of prohibition in individual cases. 
 
 Two or three questions were directed to obtaining more 
 concrete answers. To the question, " Has any improve- 
 ment been noted in the case of those peasants whose 
 homes were previously ruined by their drunkenness ? " 
 532 replies were given of which 68 were in the negative, 
 while 4 replied, " It is difficult to say." That there was 
 such improvement is maintained by 460 correspondents, 
 or 85 per cent, a smaller proportion than in the case of 
 the first question. The replies, however, are full of con- 
 crete cases. Many of the correspondents note a very 
 great increase in the number of those who come back 
 from the towns to their villages at the end of the winter's 
 work. Formerly such men were practically lost to their 
 families as they remained on in the towns to drink. 
 
 The following extracts from correspondents in the 
 factory districts bear upon this point. " Many came 
 back from Petrograd who had been away for several 
 years without word of any kind : they came back quite 
 respectable, bringing with them money." " We had a 
 
 1 Unless the context indicates otherwise, by "wine" is meant vodka 
 throughout this section. The word in the original is " vino."
 
 70 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 glazier who came home ; he used to have absolutely 
 nothing because of the drink, and now you cannot 
 recognise the man ; he is quite a respectable householder." 
 " All the drunkards are working now. They build new 
 houses and buy cattle." " All those who drank freely 
 before are now very busy with their work, and in every 
 village there are some peasants who are quite different 
 without wine." A peasant writes : " Wonderfully good ! 
 Joy everywhere ! Quite habitual drunkards are well- 
 dressed now, and have repaired their houses." " The hea- 
 viest drunkard," they write from the Kinyeshma district, 
 " who only worked one day in the week is now the best 
 workman, and is well-dressed." Another writes : " You 
 cannot see drunkards anywhere, like as it was before. 
 Now they all work in the district factories." " We seldom 
 hear of thieves nowadays : everywhere our professional 
 thieves have disappeared." " The influence of temper- 
 ance on the life of the population is so great that pre- 
 viously you could not have imagined how great the 
 change would be." " Many about whom they thought 
 before that they were quite lost because of their drunken- 
 ness are now getting on, and if it were a better year, the 
 prohibition would have given wonderful results." " You 
 can't conceal the good results of prohibition : the people 
 themselves see them, but they themselves could not 
 have stopped drinking." Even the negative answers 
 usually introduce a saving explanation : e.g. "It is 
 difficult to see the results, because a completely ruined 
 holding cannot be set right in four months." 
 
 The fourth question was in these terms : Is there 
 increase in the productiveness of labour as the result of 
 prohibition ? In most cases the correspondents report 
 that the peasants begin to work now and to work more 
 intensively. The efficiency of the labour is higher ; every- 
 where you can see they work better. Pay is higher 
 because of temperance. The factory districts, however, 
 provide the best area for clear elucidation of this point.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 71 
 
 Some say that the influence is not very great. Yet others 
 testify : " The rejoicing peasants cannot believe in their 
 new life. Everyone knows what was the principal thing 
 in all their life, everyday life and holidays. You could 
 see wine everywhere before. The power of vodka was so 
 great that you could not do anything with it." Such 
 opinions of the people themselves have more value than 
 those of the mere outsider. " Now vodka has quite 
 disappeared from the life and consciousness of the 
 people." " They do not drink now either from joy or 
 from sorrow." 
 
 Another question cleverly brings out the feeling of 
 the correspondents upon prohibition in relation to the 
 social side of life, How do they get on without vodka 
 at their holiday celebrations, weddings, and so forth ? 
 In 502 answers out of 539 these vodkaless gatherings are 
 described as " good," " quite good," " quiet," " reason- 
 able," and " much better without vodka." All these 
 answers show approval. Only in 37 answers does it come 
 out that the peasants miss their vodka. " What is to 
 be done ? We must do without." " At festivals and 
 weddings we feel awkward without it." " They say 
 jokingly, ' We are dull and miss it,' but after all they are 
 quite pleased with temperance." " For holidays it is all 
 right, but not for weddings." These 37 answers show, 
 then, that they sometimes miss it. On the other hand, 
 others report that vodka is never mentioned now, indeed 
 is quite forgotten. " They are getting quite accustomed 
 to be without it." " As if they had never known it." 
 The war itself has, of course, had its influence on their 
 festivals. 
 
 The question as to whether the correspondents had 
 noticed the use of any substitutes for vodka brought 
 out much interesting information. The elaboration of 
 the topic of the use of substitutes seemed peculiarly con- 
 genial to those correspondents who were opposed to pro- 
 hibition. In answer, 456 stated that they had not seen
 
 72 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 any substitutes in use, 79 admitted that there were such 
 substitutes, and 65 made no reply. 
 
 It appears that substitutes are more in use in the 
 southern districts of the Government, where the mills 
 are. One such substitute is home-made beer, like kvass. 
 The correspondents do not consider this bad where it 
 was used formerly. But it is otherwise where such beer 
 has been introduced for the first time. " They try to 
 make it here of a higher strength " : so 18 report. In 6 
 instances the report is, " They prepare very strong beer " : 
 in others, "They use it more." In 5 cases it is reported 
 that the peasants are beginning to use it. Some wish 
 measures taken against this, and in some cases this has 
 been done by the local authorities. 
 
 Of real substitutes, " lak " and " politura " (i.e. 
 coloured, and colourless spirit varnishes) are mentioned 
 in 64 reports, as also " kinderbalsam " and methylated 
 spirits and sometimes eau-de-Cologne and " drevesny " 
 spirit (from wood). The correspondents say that only 
 "very hopeless drunkards use such spirits," "lost 
 people." " Only one or two in the whole village use 
 these things." " Sometimes they use lak, mainly 
 joiners who used it before." " Some use red wine, and 
 try to make it stronger with pepper." All these corre- 
 spondents say that in the beginning they tried to find 
 substitutes but tend to give it up, even calling themselves 
 fools for trying to use such " awful stuff." " Most of all 
 they used substitutes during recruiting, not so much to get 
 drunk as to boast that they could find a substitute." 
 In Kostroma Government it would certainly appear that 
 on the whole substitutes have not been used very much, 
 even in the first months after prohibition, when the lack 
 of vodka must have been most strongly felt. It is obvious 
 from the reports that measures against such substitutes 
 will be quite successful, since the people themselves 
 understand the harm of them. "So we have hope that 
 our struggle against the people who are opposed to pro-
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 73 
 
 hibition will be successful," who by magnifying the 
 effects of varnish drinking, etc., try and say, Better to 
 give them wine and beer, since the population prove in 
 this way that they wish to have substitutes. 
 
 In the questionnaire no questions were put about beer 
 and wine, but some correspondents go out of their way 
 to say that prohibition of these would be very useful 
 also. " They will spend more money because these are 
 dearer, and they will need to drink more." ..." The 
 results of the prohibition of all kinds of wine give very good 
 results here, and everyone wishes to have no kind of drink 
 again in the future." In some cases this specific reason 
 is added, " In order not to increase our expenses." 
 The mobilisation period was quiet and without excess as 
 the result of prohibition. " No confusion, no quarrels," 
 not even (later) with prisoners of war, to whom they are 
 kind. Few reports, however, deal with this particular 
 period. If they had had vodka, some of the correspon- 
 dents say, the mobilisation would not have been so 
 good. 
 
 The replies to another question let us see the influence 
 of prohibition upon the public life of the village com- 
 munity as evidenced in the Assemblies. The reports 
 speak of these as " reasonable," and " more quiet than 
 before." " Such Assemblies have more members now, 
 and they discuss their questions seriously." " The 
 Assembly is more conscientious because there is no vodka 
 as a bribe " (distributed by interested parties). " Now 
 they understand their own interests : previously they 
 would sell everything for vodka." " The business of 
 the Assemblies is decided more quickly, because those 
 who formerly shouted, being full of vodka but empty of 
 ideas, are now quiet." " You cannot imagine anything 
 better now from the Assemblies : the decisions are quiet 
 and judicial and free from the pressure of those who 
 shouted, and tried to get decisions by their voices for 
 those who give them vodka." " Before you could get
 
 74 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 anything from the Assembly for vodka. They were quite 
 ready to sell their own property for it." 
 
 In relation to the misspending of the commune funds 
 under the influence of vodka, one correspondent writes : 
 " All the Assemblies are quite reasonable now : they 
 transact their business without quarrelling. Formerly, 
 the old people did not come to them because the young 
 peasants did not allow them to voice their opinion ; 
 they considered them too old." "All these Assemblies 
 used to make their decisions under the influence of vodka. 
 I know one village where more than 200 rubles were spent 
 on vodka in one year in connection with the business of 
 the Assembly. Now if they have money at the credit of 
 the commune, they keep it for some useful purpose." 
 " Before, they often drank away their standing timber 
 and standing corn. All the commune business was 
 decided by vodka, e.g. engagement of cowherds, etc. 
 Formerly all surplus commune money was spent on 
 vodka." " Drunkards were like bees near a hive in the 
 old Assemblies " : now all are sober and reasonable, and 
 " even the hopeless drunkards are for temperance," 
 testifies a peasant. So the village atmosphere is being 
 purified, and every side of social, personal, and family 
 life becomes more wholesome. " The village street to-day 
 is pure, where formerly on the holidays or on big business 
 days of the Assembly the tide of drink was covering 
 everything, creeping into every little house, while above 
 was an atmosphere heavy with the vapourings and songs 
 of foul-mouthed men." 
 
 More detailed information is sought through another 
 question as to the influence of prohibition on the moral 
 life of the community. The answers are usually very 
 decided. " You cannot hear any bad language ; it has 
 ceased." That is the opinion of 136 correspondents, 
 against 2 who " see no influence ; the young people are 
 as wild as before and retain the same habits ; they are 
 so accustomed to use bad language." The redactor sees
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 75 
 
 the element of truth in this. " They can continue un- 
 consciously to use bad language," he admits, but hopes 
 that after consciously trying a temperate life, they will 
 continue to try and keep this purity. 
 
 In recent years the question of hooliganism (under- 
 standing by that term " wildness and mischief without 
 reason ") had been much discussed in the country. " Hooli- 
 gans have quite disappeared," say 37 correspondents, 
 and 121 also say that such unreasonable mischief has 
 quite disappeared. A priest writes: "You cannot see 
 hooligans. The women are grateful ; the children 
 rejoice. They all thank God for such good results of 
 temperance. And I, priest of my church, am rejoicing 
 too, and should like complete permanent prohibition of 
 everything." " Police houses of detention are empty 
 now : there are no drunkards." " Everyone is very glad 
 because of prohibition. The wild young people are quite 
 calm and different, showing that vodka was the reason 
 of their wildness. Before, even the little children (of 
 drunkards) were trying to drink : now they have no bad 
 examples." From many districts the same opinion 
 comes. " In one word, life is quite different." There 
 are correspondents, however, who recognise that it is 
 necessary to go more deeply to find the cause of this 
 hooliganism. One in particular notes that not only 
 vodka, but lack of education and capacity to work were 
 causes. Drunkards are better now, he says, but the 
 young people sometimes continue their hooliganism, 
 simply because they have nothing to do. If they are 
 sober constantly, however, they will learn to spend their 
 leisure to better purpose. 
 
 The same question dealt with the effects of prohibi- 
 tion upon crime. In 73 replies it is stated that crime 
 has quite disappeared, or decreased. Fifteen reports 
 intimate that theft has lessened ; three mention the fact 
 that murders have decreased. Law-breaking has de- 
 creased everywhere. Not all the correspondents, how-
 
 76 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 ever, consider that this is due to prohibition alone. Their 
 logic and general knowledge, however, are not always 
 particularly sound. Thus one of the correspondents who 
 believes that the cause of crime is not so much drunken- 
 ness as ignorance, writes : " After the prohibition, when 
 there is less drunkenness on the holidays, you notice the 
 people becoming more religious, and there is less rioting 
 and bad language. Such law- breaking (as formerly 
 existed) was due to ignorance and looseness of morals, 
 not only to drunkenness." He then continues : "In 
 the words of the Apostle, ' Wine is not a bad thing in 
 itself, but drunkenness is.' But at the right time vodka 
 can help a workman as medicine, and in some cases 
 vodka helps people to socialise, but of course not taken 
 in a large quantity. For children, prohibition has a 
 good effect, but the root of the evil is in the secret sale 
 of vodka, and such sale has now been stopped." 
 
 The writing on the affirmative side is much more im- 
 pressive. Thus a peasant delivers his soul : " Many of 
 the dark sides of life have disappeared with vodka, 
 thefts, murders, quarrels, immorality, pauperism, and 
 usury. All vices have disappeared. God, let our 
 Government understand the necessity of permanent pro- 
 hibition, because from this hellish poison Russia was on 
 the verge of ruin." Another peasant writes : " With 
 prohibition we don't meet with fightings, murders, and 
 bad language. Everyone feels himself safe now, because 
 the sober man, even if he is still wild and rough, cannot 
 commit a crime." " No crimes, no breaking of the law, 
 and you cannot expect them so far as there is no vodka." 
 " The morality of the people has advanced by a hundred 
 years. No hooliganism, no crimes." One added to his 
 list, " no frozen people," lifting the veil from a once 
 typical Russian winter scene. A priest writes : " The 
 moral standard of the men is now much higher our 
 women do not drink. The men are more polite, ready to 
 help, and more kind. Bad language has ceased. Hooli-
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 77 
 
 ganism and law-breaking are at an end." Another says : 
 " All are as if they were born anew. They are reasonable, 
 gentle, and more capable for work : and as a result, 
 crime has disappeared." " All crime, etc., has lessened 
 by 90 per cent. The village is quite different." Such 
 reports are very numerous. 
 
 As a result of prohibition the number of fires has les- 
 sened. Law processes have also markedly declined in 
 number. Seven correspondents say : " The police have 
 nothing to do." One concise report runs : " Before 
 prohibition there were 30-40 cases every month in the 
 district court : now there are none. I (who write) am 
 the judge." " The district court only meets half as often 
 as it used to do." A clerk of a district court writes : 
 " Formerly, we had 130 criminal cases every year, an 
 average of 11 a month. Now, from July till the present 
 date (4-5 months), we have only had 7, and not one of 
 the most serious degree." 
 
 Besides the above there are 118 reports where the 
 correspondents answer quite shortly that prohibition 
 has had a very good influence on the conduct and morality 
 of the people. " Very great " ; " Very good " ; " Cannot 
 expect better " ; such are some of their verdicts. This 
 really is a universal opinion. Indeed, the good results of 
 prohibition are particularly well seen in the peasant 
 families. " As all their life is a life without rights, when 
 there was vodka their life was poor in spirit, and women 
 suffered most of all, drunkards could do what they 
 liked at home. The family home had to accept what the 
 policing of the street would not permit there. With 
 temperance what the peasants call ' an unexpected joy ' 
 has come." First of all, it is explained, the women can 
 breathe more freely. " Women and children who were 
 formerly suffering from beating, tortures, and injuries, 
 as the poet Nekrasov writes, ' peasant woman's life 
 so hard and difficult, worse cannot be found ' can now 
 see the light of hope and redemption." As compared
 
 78 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 with this life, the reports of the correspondents refer very 
 much to the new conditions. " Nobody on earth ever 
 had such rejoicing before, as the women have now." 
 " All the women are quite delighted." " Women are 
 rejoicing." " God has heard their prayers." " Women 
 thank God." For what are they so grateful, and about 
 what are they praying ? " The women are very grateful 
 for this good deed which has made them human beings 
 and not slaves." " Before, women were treated like 
 animals ; now, they are treated like human beings." 
 "In a word, the country is preparing for a new life." 
 " You can say without exaggeration that for the wives 
 of such peasants as drank before, this year has been 
 the happiest." Many of the correspondents show also 
 how the changed conditions affect the life of the children. 
 A priest writes : " A mother is quite safe now, and the 
 children are merry and gentle." " Children don't see 
 quarrels between their parents now, and don't hear bad 
 language." " Even the attendance of the children at 
 school is better." " Children have better things to eat, 
 and sweeties in their pockets." " There is a great influence 
 on the children, because some drinking parents gave 
 drink to their children ' for health ' : the children are in 
 better condition now." " Now they have no bad ex- 
 amples." " Now the children get presents from their 
 parents when they come from market." More attention 
 is paid to the children. 
 
 There was a definite question about drunkenness 
 amongst women and children. Some correspondents say 
 such cases are not infrequent. " Women by the bad 
 examples of their husbands try to drink and become 
 drunkards too." " There were such cases also amongst 
 children, especially boys and girls from 10 to 14." One 
 report mentions drunkenness in children of 6. "The 
 parents being drunk gave drink to their boys and girls. 
 Now all this is changed." " Women are quite pleased 
 with the war, because owing to it they have got pro-
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 79 
 
 hibition and temperance. They say ' War is not so bad 
 as the Government vodka shop.' They are afraid that 
 perhaps the shops will be opened afterwards. They do 
 not like to see the signboards staying up : they are hoping 
 for a time when these awful shops will have quite dis- 
 appeared." We conclude this paragraph with extracts 
 from two peasant letters. " I wish to write." (He was 
 not one of the enlisted correspondents), " When we had 
 the sale of wine and vodka, it was a terrible life for 
 women and children, hunger, cold, lack of clothing, 
 beating, sometimes murder. How many tears were shed 
 by women and children ! It was such a struggle, my God. 
 You can hear everywhere, ' We are preparing our sons 
 and husbands for the war, but still it is much better 
 than before when we were suffering so much for drunken- 
 ness.' Everyone thanks God that the Government has 
 given this prohibition, and everyone exclaims, ' O God, 
 if vodka could disappear for ever.' " The second testifies : 
 " You cannot see a woman now with bark shoes, nor 
 children going to school in tatters. ' We have war and 
 sorrow, but we have no wine : that is our joy,' say the 
 women. And I must say, * If we have no wine, we 
 have no sorrow.' " 
 
 The foregoing questions were designed to elicit the 
 benefits or otherwise conferred by the prohibition measure 
 on individual households and peasant economy generally. 
 The answer is given in no uncertain tone. Further 
 questions are devoted to finding out whether the corre- 
 spondents think it possible to have permanent pro- 
 hibition. Is there any tendency amongst the population 
 that would help in this direction ? The redactor intro- 
 duces the subject thus : Realisation of the great harm 
 of drunkenness stimulated the peasants to struggle in 
 some districts for temperance, but formerly the profit 
 from the sale of drink went to the Government, and there 
 was no idea that such a struggle could be successful. 
 There were movements towards temperance, but they
 
 80 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 were stopped at once because of obstacles, Government 
 and other. Another reason of the lack of success of the 
 temperance movement was that it needed organisation 
 among the people, but under present conditions, such 
 could not be undertaken. The change, therefore, in 
 the drink-politic in the beginning of last year, meant 
 one obstacle less, because the people had now the 
 right 1 to stop the sale of drink by the decision of 
 their Assemblies. 
 
 How did the peasants use this right in the Kostroma 
 Government ? The investigation does not give good 
 material to answer this. In some places the sale had been 
 stopped before the proclamation. Sometimes the de- 
 cision was taken " for ever " : in two cases for " during 
 the war," and " for three years." Previous to the war 
 a decision of Assembly had been reached in 51 out of 
 243 volosts in the Government of Kostroma. While some 
 of the Assemblies were in process of deciding, the war 
 broke out, and prohibition came. In 12 more they 
 answer that they had no time to decide themselves because 
 there was prohibition by the Government. Many volosts 
 made no decision because the matter was taken out of 
 their hands by the Government. " We took no decision 
 because the people are quite sure that even without 
 their decision vodka has disappeared for ever." " From 
 some villages where there were no decisions, the corre- 
 spondents write about the question : ' We should very 
 much like the stoppage of wine ' : ' there is great need 
 of it ' : ' everyone would like it.' " In some cases no 
 decision was taken because there did not happen to be a 
 Government shop in the village. The correspondence is 
 full of sidelights on the situation. A priest writes : 
 " There was no decision, but there was a petition from 
 the peasants themselves about the stoppage of vodka for 
 ever." Another correspondent gives a copy of such a 
 petition : " 1914 year, 29th day [sic]. We, the under- 
 
 1 Granted March 11th, 1914.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 81 
 
 signed, even during a very short period of prohibition, 
 can see very well the good results, material and spiritual, 
 for the whole population, and on this holiday in honour 
 of temperance, we all agree to request your Excellency 
 to ask His Majesty for permanent prohibition as a neces- 
 sity for all Russia, and that for every kind of spirituous 
 drink." In four volosts only were decisions refused or 
 not arrived at because of difference of opinion. " The 
 Assembly was gathered, but many were against the 
 stoppage of the sale." " We had such a question up in 
 the Assembly, but could not get a decision because of 
 those who like drink." " There were proposals to stop 
 the drink, but we could not agree." In one case the 
 failure is explained by the bribe of the salesman, who 
 gave the peasants 50 rubles. " There was no decision, 
 because even sober people need wine for their health." 
 The attitude is sometimes quite unambiguous : " We 
 cannot think about such a decision : we are waiting for 
 the opening of the shop." 
 
 To the questions, Is it possible in your opinion to 
 stop the sale of drink permanently, and, What results 
 do you expect if this is accomplished? there are 579 
 answers. To the first part of the question, 531 reply in 
 the affirmative, and 8 in the negative. Twenty-five 
 answer, " Such prohibition is not necessary " ; 4 reply, 
 " We cannot say " ; and in 11 instances the answer is 
 indefinite. 
 
 The answers to the second part of the question bring 
 out not merely the possibility of, but an actual desire 
 for, permanent stoppage of the sale of vodka. In 29 
 instances only is there, out of 531 answers, no answer 
 to the second question. All the other replies (502) are 
 of this general type : " The permanent stoppage of the 
 sale of spirits is quite possible and actually desired, as 
 it will give good results in the future." 
 
 It is peculiarly important to study the reports showing 
 shades of opinion amongst those who yet believe in the
 
 82 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 possibility of permanent prohibition. Of such reports 
 there are 104. " From most of them it is apparent," says 
 the redactor, " that there are people who are discontented 
 with prohibition, but only in 20 instances is any light shed 
 on the point as to who these individuals are." It is clear, 
 however, that they comprise, first, those who had profit 
 from the sale (for there were shops with licence to sell 
 vodka other than the Government shop, but which 
 bought the commodity from the Government shop) : 
 the owners of restaurants with the sale of wine : and rich 
 peasants who exploit their poorer brothers. 1 Finally, 
 " the owners of premises used as drink shops are for the 
 renewal of the sale." " Rich peasants are against the 
 stoppage more than the poor ones. The rich ones also 
 sell drink on the sly, and bribe the police." " There 
 are some people who are very fond of drink, and they 
 are for the reopening." " Only the old, ' dark ' (i.e. 
 uneducated, not well read) people are for the sale," this 
 correspondent sees a certain connection between lack of 
 education and drinking. " Some who have hard physical 
 work, e.g. carters and brick workers, miss vodka because 
 they feel the need of it for their strength even in a little 
 dose." From another report we learn that the stoppage 
 " is desired only by women." In short, for the stoppage 
 are those who did not drink very much, the poor, those 
 who are fairly well off, and all women. For the renewal 
 or reopening stand the rich peasants, hopeless drunkards, 
 and winesellers. In most cases even these correspondents 
 say that the discontented are really few. Only in a 
 very small number of reports is it stated that the majority 
 of the people are discontented with prohibition. So if 
 the majority of correspondents see that the stoppage of 
 the sale is desirable and possible, then there is more 
 reason for giving the more detailed explanations of the 
 minority. 
 
 1 They run private loan businesses, and do better the more their 
 weaker brothers drink themselves intr>incapacity and debt.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 83 
 
 Some very human situations are depicted in this group 
 of replies. " Before giving the answers to the question, I 
 gathered 20 householders from our village, and I read 
 to them a little pamphlet upon temperance. After dis- 
 cussing some questions about the influence of temperance 
 on our life, I could see that everybody understood the 
 harm of vodka, but nobody wanted to deprive himself of 
 it. And on my question, What shall I write about the per- 
 manent stoppage of vodka ? nobody gave any answer." 
 A priest writes : " Many think that after the war, even 
 if there is still prohibition, they will use substitutes, and 
 in general they all believe in the private sale of drink 
 after the war. They really do not miss it, but this is 
 because of the war : at the end of the war perhaps the 
 old conditions will begin again." Another priest writes : 
 " I do not believe in absolute prohibition ; it is quite 
 impossible to be in mourning for ever." One correspon- 
 dent is very argumentative. " Some peasants are in 
 favour of permanent prohibition, but some are against 
 it, because they think vodka is very often used not as a 
 drink but as a medicine, especially in home-made medi- 
 cines (e.g. from berries). They can cure themselves in 
 this way without the help of doctors. That is their 
 opinion about vodka. Those who live in the large cities 
 and have never been in the country think that the Russian 
 people are very intemperate, but this is not correct. 
 Of course the Russian peasant is quite ready for a drink, 
 but there are many reasons for this, e.g. climate and hard 
 work, and after all it is not very often that he has this 
 pleasure. Those who know how poor the Russian peasant 
 is, and how difficult it is for him to earn a little money, 
 will understand that he cannot afford to drink con- 
 tinually. He buys vodka for Christmas, Shrovetide, 
 Easter, and Church holidays, but does not buy it par- 
 ticularly for himself but rather for his friends. Of course 
 he drinks himself as well, but there are not so many such 
 holidays in the year. Vodka is necessary not for drunken-
 
 84 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 ness, but because of its utility. During the war, pro- 
 hibition is very good. . . . 
 
 " I think, as the people do, that vodka is necessary 
 as medicine for cattle (external application), and for 
 people. Temperance is a very good thing, but for people 
 who have to work very hard it is difficult to get on with- 
 out vodka." 
 
 Some are afraid that with permanent prohibition, 
 the people will try to make their own drink and suffer 
 from it. Others fear the financial deficit, and the conse- 
 quent imposition of new taxes. " Don't introduce per- 
 manent prohibition. If the sale of vodka is stopped for 
 ever, where will the imperial budget get its revenue ? 
 We shall have taxes on the necessary commodities with- 
 out which we cannot live. But we can do without vodka ; 
 not everyone wants it." Two or three correspondents 
 do not like the implied restriction of the liberty of the 
 individual. " Such a measure as prohibition is not at 
 all right as a method in upbringing. Such measures 
 can be used for quite hopeless people, but even in these 
 cases it would be better to adopt some more positive 
 educational method ; a measure like prohibition should 
 only be employed temporarily. Our sobriety was forced 
 upon us, and at a time when every good person, even 
 without prohibition, cannot enjoy life ; therefore such a 
 change in the life of the people is due not only to temper- 
 ance but to the expectation of something terrible and 
 indefinite that is going to happen. In spite of all the news- 
 papers which talk about the victory of Russia, every- 
 one realises the cost of this victory for every family. 
 How can they enjoy such victory if their dearest are miss- 
 ing ? These thoughts, I think, make people sober much 
 more than any prohibition." Or again : " Permanent 
 prohibition is impossible. Even in the Scriptures we 
 read that ' Wine makes glad the heart of man,' especially 
 at weddings, holidays, and winter work. The peasant's 
 body and that of the workers is not in a good condition
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 85 
 
 from lack of nutritious food, and when they feel cold, 
 vodka helps, because it quickens the activity of the heart : 
 of course not for a long time, but it helps men to feel 
 better, and that is very much for the working people. 
 Of course it would be possible to have permanent 
 prohibition if we had good theatres, schools, lectures, 
 excursions, and evening classes. But without all these 
 things, the peasant does not know what to do during 
 his long winter evenings. He has nowhere to go but to 
 his neighbour who is also uneducated, and the only place 
 for them to go is to this Government shop. They go 
 there for vodka, and drink till they forget themselves." 
 So then, the dangers of substitutes, fear of new taxes, 
 and the necessity of vodka for working people are the 
 arguments most commonly employed by those in favour 
 of the renewal of the sale after the war. 
 
 On the other hand, these considerations have no weight 
 with the great majority of correspondents. " The pos- 
 sibility of new taxes should not frighten them," says 
 one, " because with temperance the people will be better 
 off." In some reports the people are described as quite 
 prepared for new taxes in place of the profit from 
 drink. One peasant says he is quite willing to pay 50 
 kopeks a year per head of his household as a substitute 
 for the Government drink profit. Others say they will 
 pay more. A priest writes : " They don't miss vodka, 
 and many peasants who liked it very much before are 
 quite willing to pay 10 rubles a year in order not to have 
 the temptation of vodka." " Any kind of tax is better 
 than vodka." " Prohibition is quite possible. Of course 
 the Government will lose its profit, but if we have new 
 taxes, not very heavy, this gap in profits will be filled, 
 and there will be the clear heads of the people into the 
 bargain. There will be less absence from work, and we 
 won't need money to drink away our drink-headaches." 
 We must then balance opinions about the utility of vodka 
 for working people by the statements about the improved
 
 86 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 conditions of peasant life. The views about substitutes, 
 taxes, and the utility of vodka are not so serious as the sug- 
 gestion about the implied deprivation of liberty. " Yet," 
 as the redactor remarks, " some kind of deprivation is 
 quite inevitable when the interests of individuals or 
 separate groups are compared with the interests of the 
 whole. For the individual it would be the same depriva- 
 tion of liberty if this decision (of prohibition) had been 
 voted by the people itself." 
 
 From many of the reports it is evident that fresh 
 educational measures are considered necessary to aid 
 continued prohibition, because a new sober country needs 
 culture, and every kind of such measure will be accepted 
 with great joy. " I cannot say," writes a correspondent, 
 " what will be the case in the future, but they need 
 something instead of wine. (He noted that some are 
 taking to gambling instead.) The need is so great that 
 even the local ' intelligentsiya ' cannot meet the need 
 (i.e. even if they put all their strength into providing 
 entertainment, lectures, etc)." " Entertainments are 
 quite necessary ; but the libraries (of the Government) 
 do not give the people anything : they need good books, 
 good lectures, good theatres, etc." " The people want to 
 open their own (free) libraries, and get books, etc., of their 
 own choosing." Yet others fall back ultimately on pro- 
 hibition : " Prohibition is quite necessary for everything ; 
 for economical wealth, for their health, physical and moral 
 improvement, and for the stoppage of hooliganism and 
 crime : without it the people will be quite lost. Schools 
 or hospitals cannot help." A priest writes : " You can 
 expect improvement in the people's life only from per- 
 manent prohibition : all other measures and expendi- 
 tures by Government or societies are quite useless. Now 
 crimes are decreasing, and the reason of it I see in pro- 
 hibition. ' We could not get such results by education. 
 Prohibition is the only salvation for Russia." 
 
 The results of prohibition according to another corre-
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 87 
 
 spondent, are decrease of crime, stoppage of hooliganism, 
 increase of labour capacity, and decrease of poverty ; 
 these are undoubted. Prohibition, he says, is the only 
 measure to get people temperate, especially for those who 
 cannot withstand the temptation from lack of will. " I 
 spoke with many who used to drink very much, and every- 
 one is pleased now." " Two or three years more," says 
 another, " and our country will be unrecognisable." 
 Another correspondent sees a great change in everything. 
 " It is evident the Russian people have suffered so much 
 that it is very difficult for them to believe such a great 
 benefit can be given to them permanently. They do not 
 complain, they have great sorrow and think it is a neces- 
 sary part of their existence ; as Nekrasov says, ' this 
 poor unknown people are carrying their great sorrow 
 hidden in their hearts.' " A peasant says : " Permanent 
 prohibition is possible, but the population doubt if the 
 Government will continue to surrender this source of 
 profit. In the beginning of the war there was news of 
 our great losses at the front, and the people only said, 
 ' That is the will of God ' : but when in the beginning 
 of November there were rumours about the renewed sale 
 of beer and other kinds of wine, the people were quite 
 disappointed and considered it as a great misfortune. 
 But now they again have hope and believe in permanent 
 prohibition." A priest writes : " It was interesting to 
 see the disappointment of hopeless drunkards at the rumour 
 about reopening beer shops on the 1st November. Evi- 
 dently they understood themselves that they were in 
 that plight simply owing to their impaired wills. They 
 say : ' It was so good : there was no vodka and we did 
 not need it ; and now it is to begin again ! How can we 
 stand such temptation ? ' " A peasant who says of him- 
 self that he was a heavy drinker continues : " I believe 
 in permanent prohibition and good results from it for all 
 sides of peasant life. Not everyone believes in these 
 good results, because they are personally very much
 
 88 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 devoted to vodka : they think that without vodka it 
 would be difficult to live. But if the Government can 
 give permanent prohibition, it will be a great benefit 
 to our district. I used to drink very much and could not 
 help drinking, but I am very pleased with prohibition. 
 Now I have more money and more leisure, and not only 
 I, but the whole population is sober." Another peasant 
 writes : " What is impossible with man is possible with 
 God. I used to drink very much to keep company and 
 for my own health. But with prohibition, without vodka, 
 I feel much better physically and morally. Also I have 
 heard from those who used to drink very much, that vodka 
 is so harmful that it is difficult to calculate all its harm- 
 fulness." Another is peculiarly frank in his exposure of 
 his fellows' lives. " Some people try to justify themselves 
 by pleading inherited alcoholism, but now they have to 
 stop drinking without any medical assistance or help from 
 any of the quacks, who are quite idle without vodka. 1 I 
 am for permanent prohibition. Sazonoff." 
 
 The majority of correspondents are therefore agreed 
 in principle about the possibility and desirability of per- 
 manent prohibition. The reports show that the country 
 no longer approves of its dark, drink-sodden past. If 
 it continued so any longer, it would in the opinion of 
 many of the correspondents be quite " ruined," and 
 " degraded." " I cannot believe," writes a peasant, 
 " that the Government will begin again the sale of vodka. 
 Why, it is prohibited to spread cholera or Siberian 
 plague or rabies, but the drink cannot be prohibited for 
 ever ! " The consciousness that the country can avoid 
 this allows some correspondents to consider permanent 
 prohibition as " the greatest reform, and a most beauti- 
 ful action." Or as a peasant puts it : " With the declara- 
 tion of mobilisation we conquered our first and worst 
 enemy, vodka, from which all the Russian people 
 
 1 He means that people who drank used to go to them for charms or 
 simples against drunkenness.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 89 
 
 suffered so much. Now Russia can have relief, and we 
 shall have the holy joy of the resurrection of the nation." 
 The last question was formulated thus : " What does 
 the country expect from absolute prohibition ? " Besides 
 short answers like, " for the best," " prosperity," " the 
 best of futures," there are fifty longer answers with ex- 
 planations of this " best future." " They are quite 
 accustomed to the idea of the shutting of the Govern- 
 ment shops. Seeing only good results from it, they all 
 want vodka prohibited for ever. In general, prohibition 
 will bring us to general wealth, to a sober labour-life as 
 we see it even now after the beginning of prohibition. 
 We ask God to take vodka from us for ever." Another 
 peasant writes : " Prohibition is possible and desirable ; 
 it will bring us economical wealth, education and moral 
 regeneration." " The wish of one from the country : 
 Let prohibition be for ever ; long live the vodka-free 
 labour of the Russian people." " With permanent pro- 
 hibition we shall have quietness in our lives, and the 
 very nature of the people will be changed. We shall 
 have a new generation without drinking traditions." 
 " What will our descendants say ? They will erect a 
 monument, and keep holiday on the anniversary of pro- 
 hibition." A priest writes : " When I was filling up the 
 schedule about temperance, a peasant entered the room, 
 and when I read to him what I had written, he said, ' I 
 should like everyone to know how good our life is without 
 vodka. Let it disappear for ever.' " " With this wish," 
 concludes the redactor, " we finish our article, with 
 the hope that a temperate people will find the way to 
 a free and joyful life."
 
 Ill 
 
 IN THE TOWNS AND FACTORIES 
 
 THE unique social experiment conducted on the 
 scale of an empire in the Russia of to-day has 
 already been the subject of various local studies, of which 
 the most exact and detailed, up to the present time, 
 has undoubtedly been that undertaken by the Statistical 
 Bureau of the Society of Mill and Factory Owners in the 
 Moscow District, in conjunction with the Tchuproff 
 Economical Society. The one element of the combina- 
 tion provided a guarantee of reliability in the furnishing 
 of statistics ; the other ensured accurate and discerning 
 study of them. The investigation resolved itself into 
 two parts. The first, dealing with the effects of prohibi- 
 tion on the whole mass of workers, had under review more 
 general questions relating to their status, working-time, 
 non-appearances, accidents, and fines. The second in- 
 vestigation attempting to reach more accurate answers, 
 particularly with regard to working-time, non-appear- 
 ances, and piece-work wages, was restricted to certain 
 suitable groups of workers. 
 
 (a) 
 The first investigation opens with the observation that 
 in Russian commercial and industrial circles there is an 
 opinion that home industry ought to be protected against 
 the industrial encroachments of neighbouring countries, 
 and as argument is cited the low productivity of the 
 Russian workman, which makes commodities dearer in 
 Russia than abroad. Without taking into consideration 
 the intensity of labour of the Russian and foreign work- 
 man, it appears that in a comparison between the length 
 
 90
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 91 
 
 of the normal working day in Russia and abroad, the 
 disadvantage lies with Russian industry. Official and 
 local holidays make the working year of the Russian 
 workman 4 per cent shorter than that of the English, 
 and 6 per cent shorter than that of the German workman. 
 This difference alone makes competition with foreign, 
 and especially German, imports difficult. 
 
 Now one of the principal causes of the low productivity 
 in the Russian mills and factories has always been 
 widespread drunkenness. Constant intemperance has 
 had disastrous effects not only on the intensity and con- 
 tinuity of the output, but also on the quality and per- 
 fection of the work, as also on internal organisation, and 
 the relations between worker and employer. The leaders 
 of the Russian industrial class have long understood the 
 greatness of the evil caused by intemperance, but their 
 voice was silenced by the influence of the other classes 
 and by the interests of the Imperial budget. The mill- 
 owners fought against the evil at their own risk by em- 
 ploying only sober workmen or by enforcing the signing 
 of the pledge. But such measures were of little or no 
 avail : it needed the trials of war-time to bring about the 
 realisation of a sober nation. It is quite evident that the 
 members of the Society have been so impressed with the 
 results of prohibition that they have felt it their duty, 
 in face of great difficulties, not merely to make these 
 investigations but to publish the results, in order that 
 an unequivocal answer may be at hand wherewith to meet 
 the opposition that they anticipate may be offered afresh 
 to the reform after the end of the war. " The success of 
 the undertaking (answers were received within a month, 
 covering one-fourth of all the mill- workers of the District) 
 shows us that the temperance movement has many sup- 
 porters among manufacturers, and has already produced 
 wonderful results." The aim of the investigation was to 
 determine the extent of the evil and to furnish statistics. 
 We must bear in mind, however, the short time devoted
 
 92 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 to the enquiry, as well as the fact that many aspects of 
 economic life cannot be expressed in figures. 
 
 The evil of intemperance is most clearly seen when we 
 take up the question of " non-appearance." This term 
 (" progul ") ordinarily covers every kind of absence from 
 work, however short, as coming late, absence due to ill- 
 ness, strikes, leave of absence, etc. In itself the term 
 means curtailing of the normal working-time, and there- 
 fore must be considered as a lowering of productivity. 
 Drunkenness as a cause of non-appearance comes second 
 only to illness, but that very illness is often due to drunken- 
 ness. That is why non-appearances form such an im- 
 portant factor in this investigation. Another reason of 
 their importance is that an exact record of non-appear- 
 ances is always kept by mill and factory managers. As 
 non-appearances show the amount of time lost and there- 
 fore the lowering of productivity, the decrease of non- 
 appearances enables us to determine what temperance 
 has done, and shows the increase of productivity from 
 the very first day of the prohibition. 
 
 This investigation not only tried to determine the 
 increase of productivity, but also to show the influence 
 of prohibition on the health and morals of workmen : on 
 this account illness, accidents, and fines must be taken 
 into consideration. 
 
 All these points were the subject of the first investiga- 
 tion. The reports deal with the months August, Septem- 
 ber, and October, 1913 and 1914 respectively, and thus 
 provide comparison of the first three months of prohibi- 
 tion with the corresponding period in the previous year. 
 
 Answers were received from 172 factories with a total 
 of 214,700 workers, i.e. one-fourth of all the mill-workers 
 of the Moscow District. 1 In view of the fact that some 
 answers were inadequate, a group of 189.250 was taken 
 concerning which there are full answers as to working 
 hours, all kinds of non-appearances, and accidents. 
 1 The Moscow district here comprises ten governments.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 
 
 93 
 
 
 Number of workers 
 
 in the first 
 
 investigation. 
 
 Total number of workers 
 in the Moscow district 
 in 1913 according 
 to statistics of the 
 mill inspection. 
 
 Percentage. 
 
 Men 
 
 106,379 
 
 454,082 
 
 23-4 
 
 Women 
 
 69,328 
 
 329,993 
 
 210 
 
 Boys and Girls 
 
 12,293 
 
 78,159 
 
 15-7 
 
 Children 
 
 1,250 
 
 14,153 
 
 91 
 
 Total 
 
 189,250 
 
 876,387 
 
 21-5 
 
 This table refers to the period of three months (August- 
 October, 1913), a time of normal working order. The 
 small number of boys, girls, and children may be ex- 
 plained by the fact that the investigation chiefly con- 
 cerned large factories with an average of 1200 workers, 
 while the average for the district is 250 : children are not 
 employed so much in the larger factories. 
 
 The total number of workers concerned in the investi- 
 gation varied according to the months as follows : 
 
 Total number of 
 workers in 1913 
 
 Total number of 
 workers in 1914 
 
 August. 
 
 186,800 
 
 September. 
 
 189,400 
 
 October. 
 
 191,600 
 
 Average for 
 three months. 
 
 176,300 183,100 
 
 189,300 
 185,200 181,500 
 
 In August of 1914, owing to the mobilisation, there 
 was a shortage of workers as compared with August, 
 1913, to the extent of 10,500, or 5-6 per cent. On an 
 average during August-October, 1914, the number of 
 workers was 4 per cent less than in 1913. The average 
 number of men decreased 10,000, or 9-4 per cent, and the 
 number of women increased by only 2200. The number 
 of boys, girls, and children increased but slightly. 
 
 The highest percentage of decrease was found in the 
 chemical industry, i.e. about 18 per cent, in the wool 
 industry 15 per cent, cotton 13 per cent, and in the metal 
 industry only 3 per cent. The last small percentage is 
 due to the fact that in the metal industry the gaps caused 
 by the mobilisation had to be filled up without delay.
 
 94 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 We get a clearer picture of the difference in the output 
 of work since the beginning of the war from statistics 
 giving the number of normal working days 1 during each 
 of the months under consideration. (1 working day=l 
 calendar working day X 1 worker.) 
 
 Number of normal work- 
 ing days in thousands August. September. October. Total. 
 
 in 1913 . . . 4,400-0 4,383-8 4,814-1 13,597-8 
 Number of normal work- 
 ing days in thousands 
 in 1914 . . . 3,660-5 3,996-3 4,281-9 11,938-7 
 
 In August 1914, the number of working days de- 
 creased by 17 per cent as compared with August, 1913, 
 whereas the number of workers decreased only 5-6 per 
 cent ; in October the number of days was only 1 1 per 
 cent lower, while the number of workers decreased by 
 8-3 per cent. The average decrease in the number of 
 normal working days in August-October, 1915, was 
 12-5 per cent lower as compared with 1913. This de- 
 crease may be explained by the fact that in many (especi- 
 ally textile) factories the number of working days was 
 reduced to 4 or even 3 days a week. The greatest de- 
 crease was noticeable in the wool industry (23 per cent) 
 and in the cotton industry (15 per cent). In the chemical 
 industry it was 11 per cent, but in the metal industry 
 there was only a decrease of 4 per cent. The average 
 length of working time in August-October, 1913-1914, 
 in calendar days was 72 days in 1913 and 66 days in 1914. 
 Short time in the mills and factories in the autumn of 
 1914 was due not only to a decrease in the number of 
 workers and normal working days, but also to a decrease 
 in normal working hours. 2 
 
 1 By the term "normal working day" is understood the day as fixed 
 by the mill-regulations, but not the day really put in by the worker. 
 
 2 By the term " normal working hour" is understood the hour as fixed 
 by the mill-regulations, not the hour really put in by the worker.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 95 
 
 The statistics of the number of normal working hours 
 give us a real idea of the state of the mill and factory 
 industry during the first months of the war. (1 normal 
 working hour = 1 worker X 1 normal working day X 1 hour 
 of the normal working day.) 
 
 Number of normal work- 
 ing hours in thousands August. September. October. Total. 
 
 in 1913 . . . 40,420-7 41,450-3 44,507-7 126,378-7 
 Number of normal work- 
 ing hours in thousands 
 in 1914 . . . 33,333-7 39,902-2 39,159-8 108,395-7 
 
 In August, 1914, the number of normal hours, and 
 therefore the output of all mills and factories in the Mos- 
 cow District which underwent investigation, was 17-5 per 
 cent lower than that of August, 1913. In October, 
 1914, the number of working hours decreased only 12 per 
 cent. The total decrease in the number of working hours 
 during the three months in 1914 was 14-2 per cent lower 
 as compared with 1913. Besides this number of normal 
 hours the workers put in 3,487,700 hours overtime in 1913, 
 and 2,951,800 hours in 1914. Thus we have the following 
 figures showing the state of the mill and factory industry 
 of the Moscow District in 1914 as compared with 1913. 
 
 The number of workers decreased . . 4-0% 
 ,, ,, working days decreased . 12-5% 
 
 working hours decreased . 14-2% 
 
 After this short analysis of the changes in industry 
 produced by the war, we may turn to the analysis of the 
 changes brought about by the prohibition of the sale of 
 strong drink. 
 
 w 
 
 Under the term " non-appearance," the First Investiga- 
 tion comprised every case of non-appearance of workers,
 
 96 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 except those caused by strikes, mobilisation, leave of 
 absence, and temporary cessation of work at the mills. 
 Thus we have here only to deal with cases of non-appear- 
 ance due to intemperance, illness, home-circumstances, etc. 
 The following table gives the time missed by workmen 
 in hours : 
 
 Total number Of Average number 
 
 of non-appear- 
 non-appearances August. September. October. Total. ancesofone 
 
 in thousands of fen* matte 
 
 hours, 1913 . 1,4111 1,368-5 1,567-9 4,347-5 23-0 
 Total number of 
 non - appearances 
 in thousands of 
 hours, 1914 . 979-0 947-5 1,075-3 3,001-8 16-5 
 
 During the first three months of the war the non- 
 appearances of workmen decreased 1345-7 hours, or 31 
 per cent. Such a marked decrease, however, was not only 
 due to prohibition, but also to the fact that in the autumn 
 of 1914, the mills went on short time, which of necessity 
 gave less scope for non-appearances and made the latter 
 undesirable as wages were reduced to the minimum. 
 
 To determine the real extent of the decrease, we must 
 take the number of non-appearances to every 100 hours 
 of the normal working time in factories working normally 
 in the autumn of 1914, and in factories working short time. 
 
 In 1913, to every 100 hours of normal working time 
 there were 3-44 hours of non-appearance, and in 1914, 
 2-79 hours, so that in consequence of short time and 
 temperance amongst workers we find a decrease of 19 per 
 cent. The non-appearances of workers employed nor- 
 mally in 1913 amounted to 3-47 hours to every 100 hours 
 of normal working time, and in 1914, 2-57 hours a differ- 
 ence of 27 per cent. If we compare non-appearances in one 
 and the same branch of industry, always taking the same 
 number of workers, the influence of short time will appear 
 more clearly. Thus in cotton factories working normally
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 97 
 
 in 1914 there was a decrease of only 2 per cent, and in 
 factories on short time a decrease of 9*4 per cent. 
 
 The study of the statistics further demonstrates a 
 great decrease in the non-appearances of men, namely, 
 11,47,600 hours, or 36-8 per cent. Herein we trace the 
 first beneficial influence of the prohibition, i.e. of tem- 
 perance. Further, the industries which suffered most 
 from intemperance benefited most by temperance. 
 
 For greater clearness we now take factories working 
 normally both in 1913 and 1914, and compare the non- 
 appearances of men, women, and boys and girls in the 
 different branches of industry. Such comparison will 
 give us the increase of productivity in at least part of 
 the factories of the Moscow District under normal con- 
 ditions. The data 1 show that in some cases there is an 
 increase of non-appearances among women, which goes 
 to prove that the prohibition had no effect upon them, 
 But the striking decrease among men in 1914 proves that 
 their former non-appearances were mostly due to drink. 
 
 It is thus easy to calculate the percentage of increase 
 in productivity in the different industries dealt with 
 above. The reason of increased productivity is the 
 better use of normal working time : therefore the per- 
 centage of increase in productivity must equal the 
 increase of working time put in. The result of such cal- 
 culation is that owing to temperance and the consequent 
 decrease in non-appearances, the productivity of five 
 branches of industry under normal conditions should 
 show an increase of 0-52 per cent in the Moscow District 
 and 0-59 per cent for the whole Empire. This low rate 
 of increase in productivity (about half) may seem dis- 
 appointing to the friends of the temperance movement, 
 but we must not forget that the decrease of non-appear- 
 ances is not the only reason of increased productivity, 
 and also that this percentage applies to the whole mass 
 
 1 Considerations of space prevent their reproduction in detail at this 
 and other points : the results alone can be given.
 
 98 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 of workers, while men who benefited most by temperance 
 form only 62 per cent. 
 
 Most non-appearances naturally occur after the holi- 
 days and pay-days. In August-October, 1913, out of a 
 total of 4,347,500 hours of non-appearance, the non- 
 appearances after holidays were 1,017,100 hours, or 
 23 per cent. In August-October, 1914, non-appearances 
 after holidays formed only 18 per cent. In 1913 non- 
 appearances after pay-days occurred more frequently 
 than after holidays, and in 1914 they were almost equal. 
 
 As illness among workmen is very often the result of 
 intemperance, one would expect a decrease in non- 
 appearances due to illness after the prohibition, but 
 owing to various causes an increase was observed. In 
 1914 there was an increase of 20 per cent. This unex- 
 pected increase has been fully explained by the factory 
 owners themselves, as being the direct consequence of a 
 national scheme of sickness insurance of workers, which 
 was introduced in the autumn of 1914. Owing to this 
 insurance (1) the registration of non-appearances due to 
 illness was brought to a higher state of perfection, and 
 (2) workers no longer appeared in a state of ill-health but 
 applied for aid. Another cause of this increase was that 
 the stronger men had all joined the forces, owing to the 
 mobilisation, and their places were taken by men of 
 weaker physique or by women. 
 
 As stated above, non-appearances due to illness in- 
 creased 20 per cent in 1914 ; assuming that, compared 
 with 1913, there was no increase in 1914 (as the increase 
 was wholly due to national sickness insurance), we will 
 find that the total of non-appearances is 2-45 hours to 
 every 100 working hours instead of the actual 2-79 hours. 
 This last assumption makes it possible to raise the per- 
 centage of productivity from 0-52 per cent to 0-72 per 
 cent in the Moscow District, and from 0-59 per cent to 
 0-89 per cent for the whole Empire. 
 
 With regard to accidents, the statistics show that there
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 99 
 
 was not only no decrease, but even an increase in 1914. 
 This fact may be explained by the employment of un- 
 skilled workers in place of those who were called to the 
 colours. But it is interesting to notice that the number 
 of accidents after holidays shows a tendency to decrease. 
 Fines are entered in a special register under three 
 headings : 
 
 (1) For bad work ; 
 
 (2) For non-appearance ; and 
 
 (3) For disorderly conduct. 
 
 All three cases can be regarded as resulting from intem- 
 perance, and therefore the record of fines enables us to 
 form a good idea of what temperance did for the workmen 
 in the autumn of 1914. The total number of fines in 
 rubles is as follows : 
 
 
 August. 
 
 September. 
 
 October. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1913 . 
 
 . 14,042 
 
 14,671 
 
 17,335 
 
 46,048 
 
 1914 . 
 
 . 8,752 
 
 8,140 
 
 9,668 
 
 26,560 
 
 These data refer to 196,242 workers in 1913, and to 
 188,380 workers in 1914. The total number of fines 
 decreased considerably in 1914, but not equally in all 
 three categories : 
 
 1913. 1914. 
 
 1. For bad work . . 19,003 rubles 15,889 rubles. 
 
 2. For non-appearances . 21,667 8,098 
 
 3. For disorderly conduct . 5,378 2,573 
 
 Thus we come to the conclusion that the inner life of 
 the mills and factories went on more smoothly after 
 prohibition. 
 
 (c) 
 
 To determine the increase of intensity of labour (pro- 
 ductivity) due to temperance among workmen, the 
 Society of Mill and Factory Owners of the Moscow Dis- 
 trict dealt in their second investigation with the fluctua-
 
 100 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 tions in piece-work wages. Wages were chosen as a 
 standard whereby to measure the increase of intensity, 
 because they presented fewest difficulties. To avoid the 
 difference in valuation in 1913 and 1914, and the difference 
 caused by workmen exchanging one kind of work for 
 another, the second investigation, unlike the first, did 
 not deal with the whole mass of workmen, but confined 
 itself to a selected group. In each separate case the mill- 
 owners chose a group of workmen on the following con- 
 ditions : (1) That they had worked during the period 
 August-October in both 1913 and 1914 ; (2) that they 
 had been paid piece-work wages on the same scale in 
 both periods ; (3) only those workmen were selected who 
 had done (in both periods) the same kind of work with 
 the same material and machines. Such selection was 
 bound to give better results, but in some instances 
 extreme cases were cited, i.e. workmen with no non- 
 appearances both in 1913 and 1914, or workmen who 
 were the worst drunkards. 
 
 The number of workers taken into account by the 
 second investigation was 3358, of whom 2646 were men 
 and 712 women. Answers were received from 88 factories 
 with 158,782 workers. 
 
 The questions put by the second investigation con- 
 cerned : (1) the total number of working hours put in 
 during August, September, and October 1913 and 1914, 
 including all overtime, and excluding all non-appearances ; 
 (2) the total number of non-appearances during the same 
 period, excluding non-appearances due to mobilisation, 
 strikes, suspension of work, and leave of absence ; (3) the 
 number of hours put in in overtime ; (4) the sum-total 
 of piece-work wages, including pay for overtime work ; 
 (5) the sum total of piece-work wages for overtime 
 work. 
 
 Excluding from the sum -total data referring to over- 
 time work, we get the following figures for each workman 
 in the period August-October, 1913 and 1914 :
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 101 
 
 August-October, 
 1913. 1914. 
 
 Non-appearances of one workman in 
 
 hours 32-7 14-6 
 
 Time actually put in by one workman 
 
 in hours (excluding overtime) . 637 582 
 
 Non-appearance in hours to every 100 
 
 hours of normal working time (time 
 
 actually put in+non-appearance) . 4-9 2-4 
 
 Piece-work wages by the hour in 
 
 kopeks 13-5 14-1 
 
 The great decrease in non-appearances is very striking 
 55 per cent. This is partly due to the fact that work- 
 men with a high record of non-appearances were chosen, 
 and so we clearly see the effect of temperance in these 
 cases. 
 
 We get a more accurate idea of the decrease in non- 
 appearances when we take the figures for non-appearances 
 to every 100 hours, which amount to 52 per cent. We 
 here recall that according to the first investigation this 
 decrease was 19 per cent. The result of such decrease 
 was the better use of working time, owing to which the 
 productivity of workmen showed an average rise of 2-6 
 per cent. The average rise in piece-work wages of each 
 workman in 1914 was 0-6 kopeks an hour, or 4-4 per cent. 
 
 These two figures of increase (2-6 per cent and 4-4 per 
 cent) enable us to determine an increase of productivity 
 of labour in 1914 for 3358 workers, amounting to 7 per cent. 
 
 If the statistics are examined in more detail, we find 
 that the productivity of male workers increased 8 per 
 cent in 1914. In view of the fact that owing to the war 
 many factories were on short time and that men were 
 replaced by women, the intensity of labour was artifici- 
 ally lowered, and therefore we will further consider only 
 male workers in factories under normal conditions. In 
 the case of a group of 1505 working men employed in 
 normally working factories during August-October, 1914, 
 it appears that there was an increase of 2-9 per cent in the
 
 102 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 better use of working time, and a rise of 6-1 per cent in 
 piece-work wages per hour. Thus the productivity of 
 these workmen increased 9 per cent after the prohibition. 
 To determine the increase of intensity of labour, we 
 must take a group of workmen with an average number 
 of non-appearances before the prohibition. The second 
 investigation provides material for ascertaining the con- 
 nection between intensity of labour and the number of 
 non-appearances. For this purpose all the workers were 
 divided into four groups, according to the number of 
 non-appearances for each workman in 1913. 
 
 Group I comprised workmen without non-appearances 
 during August-October, 1913. 
 
 Group II comprised workmen having from 1 to 30 
 hours of non-appearances during the same period. 
 
 Group III comprised workmen with from 31 to 100 
 hours of non-appearance. And lastly, 
 
 Group IV comprised workmen with over 100 hours of 
 non-appearance. 
 
 For each group the average piece-work pay per hour 
 and the average number of non-appearances for each 
 workman were calculated. All these data refer to the 
 same 3358 workmen dealt with in the investigation. 
 
 August-October 1913. August-October, 1914. 
 
 Average number Average Average number Average 
 
 Groups of Number of of non-appear- wages in of non-appear- wages in 
 
 workmen. workmen, ances in hours, kopeks, ances in hours.i kopeks. 
 
 I 
 
 1195 
 
 
 
 12-9 
 
 5-9 
 
 13-4 
 
 II 
 
 1104 
 
 14-0 
 
 13-3 
 
 11-7 
 
 13-9 
 
 III 
 
 774 
 
 571 
 
 13-9 
 
 23-8 
 
 14-8 
 
 IV 
 
 285 
 
 175-9 
 
 150 
 
 34-2 
 
 15-3 
 
 This table shows us the absolute increase of intensity 
 of labour for all the groups in 1914. The average rise 
 
 1 The fact that non-appearances are recorded in 1914 in Group I 
 which had none in 1913, can be simply explained by illness. Their 
 average number of non-appearances differs but little from that of all 
 workers in 1914.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 103 
 
 of wages per hour was 0-5 kop., 0-6 kop., 0-9 kop., and 
 0-3 kop., respectively. We can also see an increase of the 
 average piece-work pay per hour in the groups with 
 higher average of non-appearances in 1913 and 1914. 
 Further, these workmen who suffered most from intem- 
 perance benefited most from the prohibition. The non- 
 appearances of the slackest workmen decreased as 
 follows : in textile factories from an average of 159-7 
 hours for each workman during three months to an average 
 of 11-0 hours ; in metal foundries from 172-1 hours to 
 63-1 hours. 
 
 Owing to prohibition many workmen wasted less of 
 their working time and took almost full advantage of it. 
 We may even suppose that the rise in wages due to longer 
 working time was so considerable that workmen did not 
 consider it necessary to increase their intensity of labour. 
 Perhaps they reserved their strength purposely, content- 
 ing themselves with the increase of wages due to decrease 
 of non-appearances. This is often seen in mills and 
 factories, especially among those who receive low wages. 
 If our supposition holds good, then we must admit 
 that among Russian workmen there are great latent 
 productive powers which temperance has set free 
 powers which Russia will make use of when the war is 
 over. 
 
 We may now attempt to determine the average in- 
 crease of labour intensity, applicable to the average man, 
 working under normal conditions. From the data of the 
 first investigation we learn that the average of non- 
 appearances during three months in 1913 in textile 
 factories was 18-2 hours, and in metal foundries 29-3 
 hours. If we calculate the average of non-appearances 
 for the workmen of the first three groups dealt with in 
 the second investigation, who worked under normal 
 conditions in 1914, we find that their former average for 
 the same period and the same year 1913 was 17-3 hours 
 in the case of textile operatives, and 28-1 hours in the
 
 104 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 case of foundry men. The very slight difference in the 
 averages is not accidental, but is due to the fact that the 
 workmen of Group IV, as the heaviest drinkers, were not 
 included. Therefore the average of non-appearances of 
 the first three groups is at the same time the average of 
 the average workman. If this is the case, then the in- 
 crease of average piece-work wages of these three groups 
 shows likewise the average increase of labour intensity 
 and also for the average workman. 
 
 Average piece-work pay J"^^ 
 per hour in kopeks. ^W ta?Ente. 
 
 1913. 1914 
 
 Textile-workers (730) . 11-6 11-96 3-1% 
 
 Metal-workers (497) . 22-14 24-14 9-0% 
 
 According to data of the first investigation the follow- 
 ing figures show what use workmen made of normal 
 working time in factories working normally both in 1913 
 and 1914 : 
 
 TEXTILE WORKERS. 1913. 1914. 
 
 Normal working time .... 662 641 
 
 Non-appearances in hours for one workman . 17-1 13-4 
 Non-appearances to every 100 hours of normal 
 
 working time ...... 2-6 2-1 
 
 METAL WORKERS. 
 
 Normal working time . 
 
 Non-appearances for one workman 
 Non-appearances to every 100 hours 
 
 Thus we see that the increase of productivity among 
 textile workers (due to lengthening of working time) was 
 0-5 per cent, and among metal workers was 2-1 per cent. 
 Therefore, in normal conditions, the average general 
 increase of productivity of labour among textile work- 
 men is 3-6 per cent, and among metal workers 11-1 per 
 cent. Such is the conclusion arrived at from the second 
 investigation with respect to temperance among workmen. 
 
 As was to be expected, prohibition made very little 
 difference to the labour intensity of women. In some 
 
 1913. 
 
 1914. 
 
 703 
 
 709 
 
 29-8 
 
 14-8 
 
 4-2 
 
 21
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 105 
 
 cases there was even a decrease, which, as was very well 
 explained in one of the reports, was due to the fact that 
 women were unable to concentrate their minds on their 
 work because of their anxiety for those at the front. 
 
 (d) 
 
 It may be safely argued that should temperance con- 
 tinue to be enforced after the war, it will give a great 
 impetus to the development of the productive powers 
 of Russia, and this is further borne out by the supple- 
 mentary reports often added by the manufacturers con- 
 cerning the general influence of temperance on the labour- 
 power, health, and life of the workmen. These reports are, 
 perhaps, of even greater importance than dry statistics 
 of non-appearances, accidents, etc., for they are the 
 testimony of those who have themselves witnessed the 
 great change which temperance has produced in the life 
 of workmen. Therefore we add extracts from some of the 
 most interesting reports received. These may be divided 
 into two groups, the first of which bears on the labour- 
 power of the workmen. 
 
 " The abolition of the sale of strong drink produced a 
 great decrease in the number of non-appearances among 
 those who used to drink heavily. These workmen express 
 their joy over the abolition, and fear lest the sale of drink 
 should be reintroduced." (Mindovsky and Bakakin, 
 Kinyeshma, Kostroma Government.) 
 
 " With prohibition the wages of workmen, at the 
 same valuation, increased. Workmen show greater dili- 
 gence." (Gorbunov Brothers, Ladigino). 
 
 " With prohibition the productivity of workmen has 
 increased considerably, which is proof of the good effects 
 of temperance. Fines for spoilt materials, non-appear- 
 ances, and disorderly conduct reach the minimum." 
 (Government of Tver.) 
 
 " In calculating the wages of workmen, we find an 
 increase of 20-25 per cent as compared with the period
 
 106 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 before the prohibition, and this, of course, is wholly due 
 to temperance." (Moscow firm). 
 
 " In dealing with the question of prohibition, we find 
 that the abolition of the drink monopoly raised the work- 
 men's budget, decreased the number of non-appearances, 
 heightened the quality of work, and in general brought 
 about an increase of productivity." (Moscow firm.) 
 
 " In view of the fact that only women are employed in 
 our factory, the evils of drink were not felt by us." (Silk 
 cord factory near Moscow.) 
 
 " Since the prohibition absence from work and non- 
 appearances have decreased considerably ; piece-workers 
 earn higher wages, and those who receive monthly or 
 daily payment show far greater productivity and 
 accuracy. With the sale of denaturalised spirit work- 
 men have begun to mix it with cider and other 
 beverages, which is most injurious to health and detri- 
 mental to their work." (Cloth mill in Moscow Govern- 
 ment.) 
 
 " Non-appearances, excepting such as were caused by 
 strikes and mobilisation, showed a general decrease of 
 30 per cent in 1914 as compared with 1913, and after 
 holidays a decrease of 50 per cent in proportion to the 
 number of workmen. After the prohibition a great in- 
 crease of productivity was noticeable." (Cotton-dyeing 
 factory in Moscow.) 
 
 " The prohibition has had a good effect upon the pro- 
 ductivity of workmen ; there is a decrease in non-appear- 
 ances, and cases of disorderly conduct occur less fre- 
 quently. The figures of the investigations, however, do 
 not prove this, as owing to the nature of our industry, 
 work passes from hand to hand, and many new workers 
 who were employed after the mobilisation have not yet 
 got into the way of things and thereby hinder the old 
 experienced workers and unfavourably affect the earn- 
 ings of others." (Gerhardy's Thread-mill, Smolensk.) 
 
 " Since the prohibition there is a considerable increase
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 107 
 
 of productivity and a decrease of illness." (Tannery near 
 Moscow.) 
 
 " On the whole the prohibition has brought about an 
 increase of productivity, and in spite of the fact that our 
 working hours have been reduced from 10 to 5| hours no 
 great material loss is felt, as would otherwise have been 
 the case." (Wool-weaving Factory, Moscow.) 
 
 " Non-appearances of men have ceased after holidays 
 and pay-days. Labour-power has increased both in 
 quality and quantity." (Machine-embroiderers, Moscow.) 
 
 " Labour productivity, since the prohibition, has 
 increased about one -sixth as compared with the standard 
 of previous years." (The International Society of Sleep - 
 ing-Cars, Moscow.) 
 
 " Owing to the prohibition of the sale of vodka and 
 beer, the labour productivity of our workmen shows 
 an increase of 20-25 per cent." (Cast-iron and Moulding 
 Foundry in the Government of Kaluga.) 
 
 " Before the prohibition there were artisans who, in 
 the course of a winter, had 2-3 non-appearances ; there 
 were even some who after every pay-day, i.e. the 1st 
 and 15th of the month, absented themselves for two or 
 three days, or even a week. This, of course, had injurious 
 effects on their pecuniary and domestic circumstances, 
 and it was often necessary to give them money in ad- 
 vance. Since the prohibition, however, there has not 
 been a single non-appearance ; besides, those who were 
 formerly addicted to drink have greatly improved in 
 health, and they are able to do more and better work 
 within a shorter time." (Gorojankine, Umbrella 
 Makers, Moscow.) 
 
 " Formerly about one-third of our workmen had to get 
 money in advance five or six days after pay-day, but 
 since the closing of vodka shops this is of the rarest 
 occurrence." (Zaitchenkoff's Saw-mill.) 
 
 " During the sale of intoxicating liquors non-appear- 
 ances were of frequent occurrence. Some workmen did
 
 108 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 not put in an appearance till two days after pay-day ; they 
 seldom worked the day after a holiday. Sometimes they 
 stopped working one or two days before big church 
 holidays, celebrated them at least three days, and it 
 generally took them other two days to get over it all. 
 At other times non-appearances due to intemperance 
 were not of rare occurrence ; weddings, funerals, etc., 
 also served as pretext for a week's non-appearance ; with 
 prohibition all this stopped. Workmen began to regard 
 their work more seriously, their productivity increased, 
 they set store by every hour of their time and leave their 
 work only in cases of dire necessity. We can say in general 
 that the results of prohibition are of the best, and it is to 
 be hoped that this prohibition will be permanent." 
 (Shipbuilding yards on the river Klyasm.) 
 
 The second group of reports deals with the effects of 
 prohibition on the life of the workers. From them we 
 see that prohibition has entirely reformed the working- 
 class. Hooliganism, roughness, disorderly conduct, rude- 
 ness, late-coming all this is practically disappearing, as 
 can be gathered from the statistics of the investigation 
 concerning fines : 
 
 August-October. 
 
 Coming late, non-appearance, dis- 1913. 1914. 
 
 orderly conduct, drunkenness, etc. 248 rubles 109 rubles 
 
 In 1914 cases of disorderly conduct due to drunken- 
 ness, as we see from the fines, decreased more than 56 per 
 cent. 
 
 Workmen who were formerly the heaviest drunkards 
 are now equal to the best. Their conduct leaves nothing 
 to be desired ; they have no craving for varnish, polish, 
 or any other stimulant ; they are all clean and well- 
 dressed. The actual reports notify as follows : 
 
 " Permanent prohibition, in normal conditions, will 
 create sensible, well-to-do workmen, who will be a boon 
 to the Empire, to the home, and to our industry." 
 (Baline & Co., Spinning Mills, Vladimir Government.)
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 109 
 
 " While sending you our investigation papers with 
 statistics of the harm drink does to industry, we would 
 likewise call your attention to the extent of the evil of 
 intemperance as seen in the life of workmen, namely, the 
 awful sufferings of their families. . . . The material well- 
 being of the workmen has improved considerably, but 
 the greatest difference is felt in the home-life. Formerly 
 in the days of intemperance 80 per cent of the workmen 
 looked dazed and went about in a kind of stupor. Con- 
 stant drinking had a bad influence on their moral char- 
 acter : their homes lost all homeliness and were turned 
 into centres of infection and misery. We could point 
 out instances where the parents carried off everything 
 to the public -house. This great scourge was felt most by 
 the children. These poor little things were crowded 
 together in cold damp houses underground, whilst star- 
 vation and other unfavourable circumstances made them 
 grow up into weak, delicate, and prematurely embittered 
 men and women. Now many workers have been able to 
 add to their home comforts : their fuller earnings enable 
 them to take better rooms, and to buy better food and 
 clothing." (Wool-spinning Factory of F. Dufurmantel, 
 Moscow.) 
 
 " Misunderstandings and disagreement between workers 
 and mill-managers are now almost unheard of. Labour- 
 power and productivity have increased to such an 
 extent that we would welcome the continuation of pro- 
 hibition after the war." (Mechanical Foundry, L. Plo. 
 Moscow.) 
 
 " Since prohibition there is a greater output of work, 
 and goods of better quality are produced ; accidents 
 occur less frequently. Those in charge no longer bring 
 forward complaints against the workmen, and hooliganism, 
 bad language, and disorderly conduct are things of the 
 past." (Shawl Factory, Moscow.) 
 
 " In the absence of vodka, productivity has increased 
 25 per cent. Without vodka, the workers have become
 
 110 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 more like human beings. There are no more so-called 
 ' Mondays ' and ' Tuesdays ' ; conscience is awakened, 
 people are ashamed to be bad workers, and it is now 
 possible to live and work with them. When vodka was 
 consumed we were forced to have as little as possible to 
 do with our own workmen, and had to buy goods partly 
 from other firms, but mostly from foreign markets. 
 Should vodka be reintroduced, we shall again be obliged 
 to sell other people's, or foreign, goods." (Balakine's 
 Factory, Moscow.) 
 
 " The abolition of strong drink has produced a very 
 favourable effect both on labour and productivity, and 
 on the moral conduct of the workmen, and we hope to 
 see this state of things continued in the future." (Paper 
 Mill, Vladimir Government). 
 
 " Intensity of labour has increased considerably. In 
 connection with current events, working time and wages 
 in consequence have been reduced, but owing to the 
 absence of vodka there is no great difference in the work- 
 man's budget. The usual non-appearance after pay- 
 days, with all their consequences, are not noticeable, and 
 this improves the morals, the health, the home life, and 
 the labour powers of the workmen." (Print-dye Works, 
 Moscow.) 
 
 " There is a marked improvement in the work produced; 
 workmen show greater diligence, and quarrelling and 
 fighting are at an end." (Moscow District). 
 
 " Relying on general observations and separate 
 impressions, we consider it our duty to point out the 
 undoubted and great benefit temperance has been to 
 the life and work of our employes. The firm establish- 
 ment of such a condition of things ought to be one 
 of the principal tasks of our time." (Tea Merchants, 
 Moscow.) 
 
 " There are now scarcely any misunderstandings be- 
 tween administrators and workers. There are no quarrels 
 nor bad language. In address workmen are always
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 111 
 
 polite. Not one, no, not even the worst drunkard, 
 expresses regret at the prohibition : all are pleased, and 
 as for the women, they are simply delighted." (Krasil- 
 shikoff and Co., Kostroma). 
 
 " The prohibition of the sale of strong drink has had 
 good effects on the conduct of workmen both during 
 working hours and when off work. Non-appearances 
 have decreased, especially on pay-days and the days 
 following. Workmen show greater mental equilibrium. 
 Quarrels in dwelling-houses have altogether disappeared, 
 and so have family squabbles. Policemen make fewer 
 arrests. Doctors are no longer called upon to attend 
 cases of sickness due to drunkenness. Fires in neighbour- 
 ing villages occur less frequently." (Cotton -weaving and 
 Spinning Mills.) 
 
 " Since the Government put a stop to the sale of drink 
 there has been exemplary order in our factory, and all 
 the workmen express satisfaction. There is no fighting, 
 no disorderly conduct." (Paper-mill in the Vladimir 
 Government.) 
 
 " The good effects of prohibition are clearly seen. 
 Workmen are more punctual, and non-appearances after 
 holidays have entirely disappeared ; earnings are higher. 
 Workmen are now well-dressed, well-shod, and are able 
 to send more to their homes in the villages or take part 
 of their earnings to the savings-bank. Since the prohibi- 
 tion there have been no cases of non-appearances, of ill- 
 ness, of slight and serious injuries, and earnings have so 
 far increased 25 per cent." (Wood Works, Moscow.) 
 
 The above are samples from the reports of many fac- 
 tories and foundries in the Moscow District engaged in 
 various industries, including the smaller factories where 
 patriarchal relations exist between owners and workers, 
 as also those larger factories which give employment to 
 thousands. It is scarcely possible to add anything to the 
 picture thus described. 
 
 The study concludes in this strain. " A few months
 
 112 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 ago, when the Society was engaged in the investigation 
 of drunkenness, no one thought with certainty that pro- 
 hibition would last any length of time, or felt sure that 
 no exceptions would be made. This uncertainty is 
 traceable in some of the reports. But now, when almost 
 a whole year has passed since temperance was enforced, 
 we may firmly trust that the prohibition will last on into 
 the future, and will cause the labour of the Russian 
 people to develop and thrive."
 
 IV 
 
 FROM THE PHYSICIAN'S POINT OF VIEW 
 AND THAT OF THE FUTURE 
 
 AN experiment so directly affecting public health 
 -XTjL could not fail to attract the attention of physicians 
 and surgeons throughout the area covered by it. In 
 particular, Dr. Alexander L. Mendelson, of Petrograd, a 
 distinguished neurologist and member of the Petrograd 
 Town Council, has investigated the matter in very many 
 of its aspects. His results were communicated in a report 
 made to the Russian Society for the Preservation of 
 National Health in March, 1915. I had an opportunity 
 of discussing his conclusions with him, and am able to 
 present the most striking of them, along with data col- 
 lected by him subsequent to the delivery of the paper. 
 
 The results of the prohibition of vodka in Petrograd 
 were immediately seen in a very sharp decline in the 
 number of arrests for drunkenness. These are best in- 
 dicated by contrasting periods of a half-year, thus : 
 
 'irst half-year. 
 
 710. 
 
 Second half-year. 
 
 1 
 
 First half-year. 
 
 Second half-year. 
 
 30,510 
 
 33,830 
 
 29,461 
 
 12,242 
 
 If we take a single district in the city during 1914, 
 and watch the arrests by the month, the following 
 descending scale is obtained : 
 
 May. 
 
 June. 
 
 July. 
 
 August. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 917 
 
 666 
 
 474 
 
 123 
 
 100 
 
 71 
 
 56 
 
 31 
 
 These figures indicate arrests simply for drunkenness ; 
 in Russia punishment would not follow for drunkenness 
 
 i 113
 
 114 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 alone unless the prisoner had proved disorderly. In view 
 of these remarkable decreases, it was no surprise to learn 
 that hardly any pledges were now being taken at the 
 Temperance Church near the Warsaw Station. 
 
 The next series of statistics relates to the Obukhov City 
 Hospital, which has special wards for the care of cases 
 of serious alcoholic poisoning such as are handed over 
 by the police for treatment. The number of deaths was 
 as follows : 
 
 
 
 1914. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1915. 
 
 
 July. 
 
 August. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 March. 
 
 52 
 
 25 
 
 27 
 
 29 
 
 33 
 
 46 
 
 56 
 
 53 
 
 36 
 
 It will be noticed that there was a sharp decrease in 
 the initial months of the war, but that the higher rates 
 again asserted themselves ; they mean, in fact, a higher 
 death-rate for a smaller number of drinkers. The anomaly 
 is, of course, explained by the character of the substitutes 
 used. Kvass, with its per cent of alcohol, was mixed 
 with methylated spirits, or the latter were swallowed 
 " neat." Now, while vodka has 40 per cent of alcohol 
 (and in 1910 some three million vedros 1 of vodka were 
 consumed in Petrograd alone), this " denatured " spirit 
 has an alcohol percentage of 93. Accordingly any 
 marked increase in its consumption is bound to have 
 very serious effects. The extent of the evil may be gauged 
 by the following figures, showing the increase in the 
 number of vedros sold during the first three months of 
 the years in question, the principal use being, however, 
 for burning purposes. 
 
 1913. 1914. 1915. 
 
 103,447 112,524 170,221 
 
 The sale of " denatured " spirit is now under very strict 
 control. " Politura," which, when mixed with shellac, 
 gives a varnish, can only now be sold under licence. 
 
 1 1 vedro 2-7 gallons.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 115 
 
 A third series of statistics shows the effect of pro- 
 hibition on cases of mental derangement directly due to 
 alcoholic causes. In the Obukhov Hospital the number 
 of cases for the first three months of the years 1913, 1914, 
 1915 was 114, 117, and 67 respectively. The death rates 
 were 7, 6, and 9 per cent respectively, the last highest 
 rate being due to the harder drinking of poisonous sub- 
 stitutes. The statistics for all mental cases for the whole 
 city (30 per cent of them being due to alcohol) was 998 
 for the last six months of 1913, and 794 for the corre- 
 sponding period in 1914. Of traumatic cases taken to 
 hospital, most of them drunken, the figures for the five 
 months July to November, 1913, were 710 ; the follow- 
 ing year, for the corresponding period, they had fallen 
 to 237. If we take the month of August alone in these 
 two years, the corresponding figures were 181 as against 
 30. Methyl alcohol, as is well known, especially affects 
 the optic nerves very profoundly, and may be a direct 
 cause of actual blindness. In the Eye Hospital in Petro- 
 grad there were treated 72 cases with impaired vision 
 due to this specific cause from July, 1914, to April, 1915, 
 eight of whom had become blind. Previously such cases 
 were absolutely insignificant in number. 
 
 Another series of statistics bore on the suicide rate in 
 Petrograd, limited in the first instance to poison cases (as 
 by acetic acid, etc.) brought to the Obukhov Hospital. 
 Of such, during the five months July to December, 1913, 
 there were 97 cases : for the corresponding period in 
 1914 there were only 16 cases. A larger series relates 
 to the total number of deaths by suicide in every form 
 in Petrograd. They are as follows for the year 1914 : 
 
 MEN. WOMEN. 
 
 First half-year. Second half-year. First half-year. Second half-year. 
 
 202 79 123 95 
 
 For the city of Warsaw the total number of suicides 
 and attempts at suicide for both sexes during the first
 
 116 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 half of 1914 was 442 : for the second half of the year 
 the total was 229. 
 
 The same general conclusions have likewise been 
 reached by other medical men and statisticians. Thus 
 Professor Bekhteriev notices a general diminution in 
 insanity, criminal cases and prostitution, and a court 
 physician reports that cases of insanity have markedly 
 diminished during the war. Amongst the troops there is 
 only 0-2-0" 25 per cent per thousand, whilst during the 
 Japanese War the rate was very high. 
 
 Dr. Mendelson has further included statistics dealing 
 with other aspects of the question than those that are 
 purely medical. The reduction in the number of small 
 loans (one to five rubles) mostly on clothing made by 
 the pawnshops in Petrograd is shown by these figures 
 for the second half-year in either case : 1913, 177,585 ; 
 and 1914, 113,306. 
 
 The increases in the deposits in the Imperial Savings 
 Banks were as follows for all Russia, in millions of rubles : 
 for July, 1914, the figure was 41*1 less than in the previous 
 year, but for the succeeding months to the end of the 
 year, the figures show these progressive increases, August 
 10-1, September 258, October 21-7, November 24-8, 
 December 35-2. These increases have been more than 
 maintained into 1915 where the total figures of difference 
 in millions of rubles compared with those for the previous 
 two years are as follows for ten months in each case : 
 
 1913. 1914. 1915. 
 
 +32-8 +35-3 +499-1 
 
 For Petrograd alone the corresponding figures for the 
 first three months were : 
 
 1913. 1914. 1915. 
 
 +2-1 +0-8 +12-3 
 
 And for Moscow : 
 
 1918. 1914. 1916. 
 
 + 1-8 +1-7 +8-0
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 117 
 
 All these figures are official. For the first five months 
 of 1915 the total savings represent a gain of 260 million 
 rubles. These are savings from drink and the allowances 
 payable to the wives of soldiers, but they do not represent 
 the absolute savings, because these are partly expressed 
 in better clothing and better feeding. When we consider 
 that some 840 million rubles were spent on vodka in 
 1914, and that the Government was counting on that 
 figure rising to 900 millions in 1915, we can realise what 
 an economic transformation must have taken place in 
 the country. 
 
 The actual cost of making a vedro of vodka was 
 80 kopeks, but additional rectification, transport, and 
 selling charges made the selling price of the distiller to 
 the Government 2 rubles a vedro. This the Government 
 retailed at 8 rubles 40 kopeks. On beer not over 3*6 
 alcoholic strength, the tax before the war was 1 ruble 
 60 kopeks per vedro, paid by the producer. Now it is 
 6 and 9 rubles according to the strength of the beer. If 
 the strength is not over 36 alcohol, the tax is 6 rubles ; 
 if above, the tax is 9 rubles. Further, if the production 
 of the brewery is not more than 2000 vedros annually, 
 the tax is only 3 rubles. 
 
 In any attempt to forecast the future a great number 
 of considerations has to be taken into account. The 
 permanent prohibition of vodka is generally assumed to 
 be bound up with promises of the Emperor to that effect. 1 
 So far as any indications go, this would be in accordance 
 with the desire of the great majority of the nation to-day. 
 When we pass to the consideration of the continued 
 prohibition of wine and beer the difference of opinion is 
 much more marked, as indeed is expressed in the varying 
 decisions of the different municipalities 2 with regard to 
 
 1 Conveyed in a rescript to the late Grand Duke Constantine 
 and in a dispatch to the Minister of Finance. 
 
 2 e.g. Odessa and Kharkhov permit the sale of wine and beer, 
 Petrograd and Moscow do not.
 
 118 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 their sale at present. " What I have seen of the advant- 
 ages of prohibition," said the Professor of Economics 
 already referred to, 1 " has brought me to believe in the 
 absolute restriction of beer as well as vodka. To fight 
 the intoxication produced by beer is ten times as difficult 
 as the fight against intoxication by vodka. Beer intoxica- 
 tion is one of the worst forms of intoxication in the world. 
 If we can arrange that for twenty or twenty-five years 
 the population will not have the opportunity to drink, 
 then the question is solved. If we can do that and I 
 am not unhopeful Russia will be saved. But if the 
 liquor interests prove too strong, then the outlook is 
 dark for Russia." As yet, however, no very clear idea 
 has been formed on the subject of the prohibition of beer 
 after the war. There is a tendency in some directions 
 to work in the direction of increasing the use of light 
 beers after the war. Even if this is approved, the price 
 will probably be raised as also the tax. On the other 
 hand, there is a fear that to permit the continuance of 
 even really light beer is to countenance a situation which 
 will be difficult to control. There are only some two 
 hundred million rubles of capital sunk in Russian brew- 
 eries, so that the trade can be easily bought out. The 
 question of the continuance of beer is then still very 
 open. The question of the continued prohibition of wine is 
 more complicated because of importation. Further, there 
 are wine-raising districts in Russia, e.g. Bessarabia, the 
 Crimea, and Caucasus. The wine-growers in the Crimea 
 are wealthy ; on the other hand, those who carry on the 
 industry in the other districts are mainly small proprietors, 
 so that to prohibit the culture of wine would involve 
 them in ruin. It is probable therefore that the wine 
 industry will continue as formerly, though possibly under 
 some restrictions. 
 
 From one little village known to me the annual 
 revenue from vodka was 80,000 rubles. When the 
 
 1 p. 43.
 
 THE PROHIBITION OF VODKA 119 
 
 peasants under the statute of March, 1914, received again 
 the power of local option, the decision was taken to have 
 the shop closed. Nobody opposed the decision because 
 in their hearts the peasants seemed to understand that 
 vodka was a bad thing, and that they really did not need 
 it ; in the words of one of them, it was " just a way of 
 being happy." It only requires to be added that almost 
 everything remains to be done by the Zemstvos and 
 other local bodies to provide other saner "ways of being 
 happy," particularly in view of any possible temporary 
 reaction after the war.
 
 THEME IV 
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT
 
 THEME IV 
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 
 
 IT is evening, and the platforms of the Kiev Station, 
 now ordinarily in the quiet possession of worn-out 
 refugees, become not merely additionally crowded, but 
 are transformed into an arena of intense activity. Porters 
 laden with the multitudinous small packages of the aver- 
 age Russian traveller storm the entries into the cars ; 
 orderlies pass along with officers' effects, and stand on 
 guard at a coupe for four which has been taken sometimes 
 for a single individual, and retained simply by the power 
 of the tongue. Later the officers themselves appear 
 walking leisurely, one with his wife leaning on his arm, 
 another gazing into the brave smiling face of his be- 
 trothed. One man is alone save for the companionship 
 of his black setter dog. The cry of a child rises above the 
 hurried din, like the true expression of it all, something 
 sore at the heart. The first bell sounds. The conversa- 
 tion becomes more rapid in some cases ; in others the 
 hand-grip tightens and words fail. Then those who are 
 going off slowly mount the steps and seek the windows 
 of the corridor. The second bell strikes, and with its 
 sound there passes a most exquisite pain into tender 
 hearts. The third bell goes and with it the train moves 
 out. You seek your corner. The compartments are 
 quieter now ; men are thinking ; they are not talking 
 so much. 
 
 At Zhmerinka two officers and a couple of soldiers pass 
 along the train examining permits and passports. It is 
 1.30 a.m., and we begin to meet trainloads of refugees 
 
 123
 
 124 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 travelling east. There is remarkably little excitement 
 amongst them or the many other people moving up and 
 down the platforms even at that late hour, although all 
 their movements are vigorous. Once more the train 
 starts off and rolls along, swinging from side to side. At 
 last towards 6 a.m. we reach Proskurov, where we wait 
 a considerable time. People are too intent to look up at 
 the carriage windows as they move hurriedly by. Several 
 families of refugees are lying about, camping out on the 
 platform for the present ; but soldiers now predominate. 
 A little bright-faced boy in uniform is evidently the pet 
 of one group. There are many such amongst the soldiers 
 in the trenches ; they are found to be particularly useful 
 in carrying ammunition and taking messages on the 
 firing line. Again they examine for permits to proceed 
 to the front. Still more mobilisation cars pass eastwards, 
 loaded with refugees. 
 
 Morning discloses that we are traversing a flattish 
 country covered with superlatively rich " black earth." 
 It is evidently divided up into numerous small peasant 
 holdings. Every simple object by the side of the track 
 takes on an added interest, for we are approaching the 
 theatre of war. At what point will that circumstance begin 
 to be reflected in the country side ? Certainly not as yet. 
 That young girl watching four or five cows, this man 
 cutting corn, a foal frisking beside its mother as she 
 works in a plough, the scattered cottages covered with 
 thatch peculiarly thickened along the line of the roof and 
 down the edges of the slope to the eaves, with geese 
 wandering aimlessly around them, and the hobbled horses 
 in the grass, do not suggest it in any way. There is no 
 great variety in the landscape ; for the most part it is 
 a vast level sweep with splashes of wood hardly conceal- 
 ing villages. There are no fences anywhere, but the 
 boarded ramparts by the railway side to protect it against 
 drifting snow, serve to remind us of other conditions. 
 Here patches are yellow with sunflower, while larger areas
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 125 
 
 are under cultivation to sugar, beetroot, or various grains. 
 Here windmills dominate the scene ; there the land sup- 
 ports enormous herds of cattle. And through it all weave 
 their way these irregularly broad indications of travel 
 that correspond to roads. 
 
 We pass troop trains. On the platforms of the different 
 stations, kitchen boilers with a dozen faucets are standing 
 full of boiling water, labelled " kipyatok gotov " (" boil- 
 ing water ready "), where the soldiers can fill their tin 
 or blue-lacquered tea-kettles without charge. There is 
 also usually a booth or covered stall where peasant women 
 sell bread and sausages, gherkins, and cigarettes. Near 
 Wolotchisk the peasant women are doing very different 
 work, constructing trenches to defend the railway, 
 working amidst a wealth of poppies and blue cornflowers, 
 white umbellifers, thistles, and dandelions. Hillocks of 
 grain and monuments composed of bales of straw are 
 piled up in the vicinity of the station, where is also to be 
 seen much Austrian rolling stock taken over and re- 
 specified. Everywhere on the station buildings are warn- 
 ings, " Do not drink fresh water " ; " Do not eat fresh 
 fruit." At Podwolotchisk permits are again vised. The 
 atmosphere has changed somewhat. Names and inscrip- 
 tions are all in Polish now, and some of the buildings have 
 a certain Teutonic aspect. Many soldiers and officials 
 are moving about the station : on every hand you meet 
 the injunction to use the boiling water provided gratis at 
 the station kitchen boiler. There is real and successful 
 control of the travelling arrangements in these unusual 
 times. 
 
 As we push farther into Galicia, the landscape becomes 
 less level, and the railway follows a series of small physio- 
 graphical depressions. The country-side has not a very 
 different aspect from that which we have recently left be- 
 hind. The shocks of grain while about half the size of the 
 average British stack, are as large again as those in Russia. 
 They are likewise finished off as in Russia, covered over with
 
 126 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 a large spread-out sheaf. For the rest, all that one sees is 
 just great ribbons of grain mown or about to be cut, 
 alternating with strips of potato or beetroot or alfalfa, or 
 soil newly upturned by the plough. Then a rough track 
 or some green pasture land intervenes, to be followed by 
 another series of ribbons at right angles to the direction 
 of the first. Sometimes this type of landscape is lost 
 only on the horizon ; at others it may be more quickly 
 bounded by stretches of tall birch or ash. In the im- 
 mediate foreground the only moving object is now a 
 gathering machine, driven as often as not by a woman ; 
 now it may merely be four or five very sedate storks. 
 The actual reaping is mostly done with the scythe ; 
 sometimes women undertake it simply with sickles. Then 
 suddenly we sweep past a succession of comparatively 
 recent graves, and realise for the first time that we are 
 not in a quietly ordered world of peace. 
 
 Tarnopol, on the Sereth, is a town of considerably over 
 30,000 inhabitants, lying some seventy -five miles eastward 
 of Lemberg ; half of the population are Jews. Here 
 as the base for the time being, our train empties itself 
 of its military freight, and quickly the officers disappear 
 into the restaurant ; by one might have been seen sitting 
 his very intelligent black setter dog. My friend in virtue 
 of his office of hospital " intendant " has been able to 
 buy some bottles of red wine in Kiev. He produces one 
 and offers a glass to the officer sharing the same table. 
 " Blagodaryu, ya ne piu " (" Thanks, I do not drink ") 
 is the firm reply. Outside the station are dozens of 
 telyegas laden with stores, being got ready to move to- 
 wards the front, a subject of anxious interest to crowds 
 of inquisitive Jews. In the immediate vicinity of the 
 town is a large sheet of water, not far removed from which 
 are acres of canvas, whence come the soldiers who throng 
 the streets. Tarnopol has, indeed, an unusually beautiful 
 situation, although little of its rare beauty is in evidence at 
 close range. But from a certain point on one of the
 
 A PICTURE IS GAINED OF TARNOPOL. 
 
 THE VILLAGES ARE PRACTICALLY
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 127 
 
 great highways which leads by a sharp ascent out of the 
 town, marked on the one side by a plaintive pede- 
 stalled Madonna and on the other by a Christ in stone, a 
 picture is gained of Tarnopol, its churches and its waters, 
 which must arrest the incoming traveller as it breaks on 
 his view for the first time, or detain him for a moment 
 ere he turns his back upon it, to lose himself in the 
 great billowy lands beyond. For out into these the road 
 quickly brings him, a road that might ordinarily have a 
 certain loneliness about it, but which to-day seems bur- 
 dened with the incessant passage of animal and of human 
 life in a dozen different guises and on a dozen different 
 missions. Single Cossacks dash along at the extreme 
 limit of their horses' speed. Fodder and straw are moved 
 with toilsome slowness in country waggons with complain- 
 ing wheels into the town. So thorough is the work of 
 these peasants that it almost conveys the sense of a 
 retiral. Others, again, seem to be lying lazily in the 
 straw in the bottom of their two or three-horsed telyegas, 
 or going about their lesser businesses in the usual way. 
 Supplies go forward with loud-tongued insistence by the 
 transport men. Towards the left in the far distance are 
 woods, and separating us from them stretches of land 
 laid out in broad parallel strips, so brightly and so vari- 
 ously coloured that it seems as if some gigantic patch- 
 work quilt had been let down upon the earth. They are 
 bright yellow where the grain has been garnered, dark 
 red with buckwheat, green under potatoes, black where 
 the soil has been ploughed, a lighter green where the grass 
 is young, and purple and red again. In other directions 
 wander immense herds of cattle and of horses, tended by 
 boys or girls. Then we come on men and women working 
 together in the construction of trenches, in front of which 
 have been already placed a double line of four rows 
 each of posts with strong barbed- wire entanglements. 
 Some of these entrenchments are close to the chaussee ; 
 others are disposed at more distant strategic points, all
 
 128 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 commanding the approach to Tarnopol. The men and 
 women engaged on these trenches are of course the local 
 peasants, working under no compulsion whatever, at- 
 tracted by the daily wage of 1 ruble for men and 46 
 kopeks for women. Indeed more apply for such work 
 than the Russian Government can employ ; they come 
 and make enquiries without fear. By religion they are 
 either Uniat or Catholic. Every elevation on the road is 
 marked by a shrine or image, larger than those usual in 
 Italy or France. The war has already passed that way, 
 as here a burnt-out mansion, or there a ruined mill un- 
 mistakably testifies ; the villages are practically intact. 
 
 We move slowly up a hill by the broken road, so slowly 
 that the little crimson flag with its green square centre 
 bearing the number of our Infantry Division, which 
 usually flies boldly from the bonnet of the powerful car, 
 now droops helplessly. But as we approach the summit, 
 it stands out again, borne on a wind that comes sweeping 
 over the plains with a murmur that seems composite of 
 the cries of those who have laid down their lives, the 
 soul cries of the soldier martyrs. 
 
 A long low line appears on the road towards the 
 horizon. It draws nearer and nearer and resolves itself 
 into " Sanitary Train No. 303," en route for Byelostok. 
 A bandaged head, with a deep red stain in the centre of 
 the bandage, rises up out of one of the telyegas to gaze 
 wearily at the passing car. Three and fifty of these 
 covered carts and waggons move past, bearing their 
 human pain and sorrow. And the earth wonders, the 
 smiling earth, producing her flowers and grain on either 
 side of us, as if nothing had ever happened. 
 
 A new element intrudes on the landscape. Snuggling 
 in close by the sheltering woods are various little en- 
 campments of refugees. They have been there some two 
 months now, originally shepherded thither by Cossacks. 
 As yet they have no light upon the future. Farther on 
 they have camped out on the open plain, superlatively
 
 SANITARY TRAIN No. 303. 
 
 LITTLE ENCAMPMENTS OF REFUGEES.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 129 
 
 patient and enduring. But the darkness begins to 
 descend, and we have still many versts to go. The 
 fluttering flag startles the horses in an approaching 
 brougham, and as neatly as if it were a practised art, the 
 whole conveyance turns over on its side in the ditch by 
 the side of the road. A lady steps out alone and unat- 
 tended, and more disposed to blame her horses than our 
 car. In a few minutes the whole equipage is readjusted, 
 and she resumes her journey towards the town. The 
 darkness increases, and soon the fires from the refugee 
 camps out on the plain, play back to the stars. 
 
 After many versts we turn off the highway, and while 
 woods seem to invest us more and more closely, we occa- 
 sionally hear a far-off low rumble, which is not the thunder 
 of nature. Once again we turn sharply off in the darkness 
 as if entering some private avenue. The sound of voices 
 and of laughter comes to us : we get amongst a number 
 of outhouses and open yards, around which are disposed 
 bivouac fires. Silhouetted figures rise up quickly and come 
 to the salute in immobility. An abrupt bend to the 
 right, and in a few moments we have swung in under the 
 covered porch of a large white shadowy building, an old 
 Schloss, at present the headquarters of the General of 
 
 the Division and his Staff. It is very late, but we 
 
 are urged to partake of a simple but excellent meal. My 
 companions and myself are given a room next to the 
 General's, in fact the only way to his leads through 
 ours. It is all so strange, the sensation of being in the 
 enemy's territory. How will hostility express itself, 
 will it be always there, at every moment, exhaled from 
 everything ? I step out into the darkness by way of 
 the verandah on the side of the house opposite to 
 that by which we entered. There is an open space, per- 
 haps a garden, bounded by some brooding spruces, but 
 there is no sound unless the occasional measured step of 
 a sentry, beating out his guard on a gravel path. 
 
 There is a certain unusual feeling in thus being a guest
 
 130 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 in a mansion from which the proprietor has fled. Yet if 
 he could have returned to the Castle on any August 
 afternoon in 1915, he could only have wondered at the 
 generous attitude of those who for the time being had 
 succeeded him in the occupancy of it. The outer hall 
 hung with the trophies of the chase boar's heads and 
 wild duck, deers' head and falcons, still retained its 
 welcoming aspect. The walnut-cased grand piano of 
 Dresden make stood in the dining-room unharmed in any 
 way. The billiard-room, regularly frequented by members 
 of the staff, was treated as their own would have been. 
 My companions and I had camp beds in the boudoir of 
 the lady of the house, but her letters, collected Christmas 
 cards and picture postcards, were lying exactly as she had 
 left them. " Lola, 1900," and other signed photographs 
 stood plaintively in their frames and racks just where 
 she had placed them. The room and its setting, more 
 distinctive and closer to the spirit of the house than the 
 undiscerning outer hall worked itself into your being, 
 under such circumstances. The fawn-coloured orchid- 
 patterned wallpaper, the white-tiled stove in one corner, 
 the artistic oil lamp, the screen, the easy sofas and covered 
 arm-chairs, the vases and even the nests of little tables, 
 all seemed to be waiting to serve some vanished presence, 
 and as if rebellious at the intruders. There was a hard- 
 ness in the faces of the family portraits : the oleographs 
 and prints expressing their detestation by hanging squint. 
 I wandered all through the Castle one day. By means of 
 a little iron spiral staircase placed in a corner of the hall, 
 access was gained to the upper floor, the principal room of 
 which was also hung with family portraits, and con- 
 tained two good-sized bookcases. The contents were 
 mainly Polish works, but " Fabiola " by Cardinal Wise- 
 man, " Tom Brown's Schooldays," " The Great Lone 
 Land " by General Butler, a work by E. Denolins en- 
 titled " A quoi tient la Superiority des Anglo-Saxons," 
 together with many books on Natural History, testified
 
 THE OLD SCHLOSS, VIEWED FROM THE BACK. 
 
 ^~-r 'i-^^iriii^ifii 
 
 VILLAGE BESIDE THE SCHLOSS.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 131 
 
 to the wide outlook of their owner. And if he had fol- 
 lowed me through his house, I do not think that he 
 could have complained of anything except the state of 
 his now long unpolished parquet floors. 
 
 At the back of the old Schloss was a pillared porch, 
 from which steps led down to a terraced walk. From 
 this in turn the ground fell away in a series of terraces 
 to a little park planted with shrubs and finally shut in 
 by rows of pine trees, with a break only at one point 
 immediately opposite, through which showed some of 
 the village cottages on a rising slope, themselves partially 
 concealed by rich and variegated vegetation. A flam- 
 boyant vine spread all over the porch and pillars and 
 that portion of the wall immediately above it. Gera- 
 niums flowered gaily in boxes by the balustrade, but 
 the paths were all overgrown with weeds ; and the roses, 
 stick-trained and named, yet showed by their wildness 
 that they had long missed some wonted tending hand. 
 
 One morning we go the round of inspection with the 
 General. He has under him four regiments of infantry 
 with cavalry and artillery, 25,000 men in all. A body- 
 guard of 100 Cossacks is quartered in the large outhouses 
 and stables of the Castle. In one coach-house stand a 
 dozen motor-bicycles ; in the others are disposed the five 
 or six powerful cars used by the Staff. Here only does 
 one see the wastage of war so far as the proprietor of the 
 Castle suffered under it. His carriages have been 
 allowed to stand out in all weathers simply because there 
 is no place to put them, and they have certainly been 
 ruined : mats c'est la guerre. 
 
 The Cossacks have lined up near the long thatched 
 shed where they sleep, their beautiful horses tethered to 
 feeding posts, which are shaded by trees. 
 
 "Sdravstvuite, Kasaki!" ("Greeting, Cossacks!") calls 
 out the General, and in a thunderous staccato come back 
 the words, " Sdraviya Jelaem Vashye Prevoschoditel-
 
 132 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 stvo " (" We wish you well, your Excellency ! "). " Do- 
 volno! " shouts the General ("Enough! "), signifying that 
 they may come from the salute. A boy of sixteen is led up ; 
 he is an Austrian, already in training to join the Russian 
 army as a volunteer. He is proud to be greeted by the 
 General, and has evidently already become good friends 
 with the Cossacks. 
 
 One day was devoted to examining the working of 
 the Army Medical Department. After first aid on the 
 field the wounded soldiers are brought back to the village 
 beside the Schloss for their second dressing, and then 
 removed to the hospital at Tarnopol ; thence they pro- 
 ceed later by train to Kiev. The village schoolhouse has 
 been taken over as headquarters for the divisional prin- 
 cipal medical officer and his subordinates. A large tent 
 near by, part of the local arrangements for the accom- 
 modation of 280 wounded men, has just been " evacu- 
 ated," and contains nothing but the latest case, a poor 
 fellow who had been carrying a grenade which was hit 
 by a bullet and exploded, smashing his arm and leg. 
 He has just had the former amputated, and in his sleep 
 is tended by an orderly who stands at the head of his 
 palliasse, keeping off the flies. One cannot help being 
 impressed with the neatness of this divisional field 
 hospital, in which everything can be packed up and got 
 under way within an hour. The complete dental outfit, 
 chair, drills, and other apparatus going into two boxes 
 otherwise used as tables, the ambulance carts that 
 have been in continual use for a year, constructed to 
 carry four lying down or eight sitting, the outfits for the 
 attendants in the field (feldshers 1 and sanitars) more 
 complete, as my American companion, a Red Cross 
 Colonel, testified than the corresponding outfits in his 
 own country, have been well tried in the Carpathian 
 
 1 The feldsher is a qualified medical assistant. After leaving school 
 he takes a short medical course. He gives first-aid in the field and in 
 the trenches. Sanitars are orderlies who bring in the wounded, etc.
 
 "A TAILLESS DOG OF A PECULIAR BREED. 
 
 i 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 >' w* 
 
 
 
 E LARGEST BUILDING . . 
 
 . . HAD BEEN 
 
 mtmamz.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 133 
 
 and other campaigns, and survived the test. The largest 
 building in the village had been a distillery. The Russians 
 took it over and transformed it into baths steam and 
 hot water where 1000 men bathe daily, so that the 
 soldiers in that division get one Russian bath a month. A 
 tailless dog of a peculiar breed, taken from the Austrians, 
 is led out and fitted into its little Red Cross coat : they 
 are used for finding the wounded. In a park near the 
 village are the additional field-hospital elements provided 
 by the Red Cross Society to supplement the regular 
 army establishment of eight carts for sick and wounded 
 to each regiment, 35 telyegas particularly well equipped 
 with mattress, covering cloth, and pillows with distinctive 
 blue lines worked through the ticking. Such telyegas can 
 carry four men if necessary. How they would have liked 
 to have had them in the Carpathian campaign ! "In one 
 night I had 1700 wounded to look after and my transport 
 was gone. . . . I lost 75 per cent of my medical personnel. 
 ... Of my 22 original feldshers, 8 only are left." In 
 short word-pictures one was given to understand the 
 horrors of that Carpathian retreat. At present there are 
 no infectious cases, and no cholera in the district allotted 
 to this particular division. But as yet they have not 
 succeeded in overcoming " the infinite torment of flies." 
 Forty thousand respirators have been collected in antici- 
 pation of attacks with poison gases. 1 
 
 The feeding arrangements seem to be very thorough. 
 Every line regiment is divided into 16 " roti " (com- 
 panies) : in every rota there are 250 men. Every rota 
 has a couple of samovars, each with a capacity of 66 
 litres ; it also has 8 teapots with a capacity of 7 litres 
 each, so that the soldier can always have tea and hot water 
 every half -hour under normal conditions. He has two 
 meals a day, at noon and at 8 in the evening. He receives 
 a daily allowance of 1 lb. of meat and 3 lbs. of black 
 
 1 These are soaked in a preparation made after this formula : glyc. , 
 1650 ; nat. hyposulph., 990 ; H 2 0, 27600 ; nat. carb., 1650.
 
 134 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 bread, together with tea, and 12 pieces of sugar. At 
 each meal he gets soup with potatoes and rice, and about 
 half a pound of kasha (gruel). In that district at that 
 time the feeding of a soldier cost 58 kopeks a day. A 
 bottle of red wine was also being served out daily amongst 
 every 8 soldiers as a preventive against cholera. The 
 soldier's pay on the lowest grade is 75 kopeks a month. 
 The separation allowance to a reservist's wife is 5 rubles 
 a month and 3 rubles for each child ; widows receive less. 
 
 Another afternoon we set out for "the positions." At 
 that time the line lay along the valley of the Zlotaya 
 Lipa, the Russian trenches being on the one bank, and 
 the Austrian on the other. The Russians had been on 
 that particular position for six weeks and the front was 
 generally reported as " quiet," although rifle and artillery 
 fire were kept up by day and night, especially at night. 
 The road followed the direction of the high road towards 
 Tarnopol for a time, and then we turned off sharply 
 into a birch wood on the left. After traversing this we 
 came out on a broad dale which wound its way between 
 thickly wooded rising ground on either side. The general 
 direction was towards the valley of the Zlotaya Lipa, 
 yet short of it were hamlets, and the dale issued in rising 
 ground in part bare, in part wooded, which in turn fell 
 away into the valley of the river. In the woods on either 
 side of the dale the reserves were encamped, and regularly 
 towards evening the dale and woods were searched with 
 shell and shrapnel from the Austrian batteries across the 
 river. As we descend the dale one shell explodes in the 
 wood to the left, another ploughs up the ground in the 
 open ahead of us, a third gets two horses and a man on 
 the outskirts of the wood to the right. Yet under it all, 
 particularly where we moved up the ascent that would 
 bring us into view of the Austrian lines, peasant women 
 were working in the fields, reaping their corn with sickles, 
 as calmly and deliberately as if nothing were happening.
 
 PASSED OVER IMMEDIATELY INTO A COMMUNICATION TRENCH 
 
 PEASANT WOMEN WERE WORKING IN THE FIELDS.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 135 
 
 The road we were following reached the summit and then 
 commenced to descend the slope towards the river in 
 full view of the Austrian lines. It ceased to be serviceable, 
 therefore, in that respect, and we passed over immedi- 
 ately into a communication trench, whose deep-cut 
 windings and zigzaggings in a thick clayey soil, exposed 
 sometimes to the depth of the limestone beneath, afforded 
 sufficient protection over the nearer ridge, till we got to 
 one that was wooded, under the shelter of whose bushes 
 were encamped the reserves of the particular companies 
 holding the trenches beyond them. There were many 
 tentes d'abri, but the actual living was mostly done in 
 the regular lines of dug-outs that honeycombed the 
 ridge, and testified by their shrapnel-proof roofs to the 
 character of the normal conditions of life. Camp fires 
 were burning merrily in spite of the heavy rain. In 
 company with the colonel we moved 100 yards farther 
 on through the wood till we came to the first line trenches. 
 At every step of this short passage the effects of occasional 
 shelling were in evidence. Small craters 6 feet in diameter 
 and 2 to 3 feet deep were obvious relics of uncomfortably 
 close attentions. At the same time the Russians thought 
 that they had observed a marked deterioration in the 
 quality of the German shells. Of 51 that had lately come 
 amongst them, 16 had not exploded. From the first line 
 trenches the Austrian trenches were clearly visible across 
 the river 400 yards away, with a very long zigzagging 
 communication trench that led up the opposite bank till 
 it gained the shelter of a forest. 
 
 Of the four battalions comprising a regiment it was 
 customary here for two to be in the trenches for four 
 days and three nights, while the other two were in reserve 
 during that period. The change is carried out during 
 the fourth night. The different roti or companies have 
 each their own definite locality for encampment in the 
 rear : this aids in the localising of epidemics or sickness. 
 There is a very characteristic development of the field
 
 136 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 kitchen, principally for the supplying of the hot soup 
 in which the Russian takes his meat, although the use of 
 them also tends to keep the camps more sanitary. The men 
 in the trenches can only get one hot meal in the 24 hours. 
 Their portable field kitchens are brought up at night 
 from the reserve positions to the support stations of the 
 trenches. 
 
 In returning, we went into the wood of oak and horn- 
 beam (" grab ") on the edge of which the reserve batta- 
 lions were encamped. Rain was falling in torrents, and 
 the little tents, formed by stretching canvas over a hori- 
 zontal pole supported by two short vertical ones, were 
 largely abandoned for the shell-proof dug-outs. Shadowy 
 figures moved in the gloom of the trees between the tents, 
 the piles of rifles, and fires surrounded by numbers of 
 teapots and samovars. With their cartridge pouches 
 full of cigarettes for the time being, the soldiers were 
 content to let the elements do their worst. 
 
 The rain passed, and we moved out to visit one of the 
 batteries. To reach it, situated on open rising ground 
 that finally sloped away down to the river valley, meant 
 passing round the end of one of the woods. This passage, 
 owing to the conformation of the land, happened to be 
 in full view of the Austrian lines, and necessitated the 
 negotiation of it in pairs or by single individuals. But 
 speedily we got into a hollow again and then climbed 
 slowly towards the battery. It was now composed of 
 only six 3-inch guns made in 1902, since two guns had 
 had to be detailed to another battery. It had accounted 
 for two Austrian batteries at the battle of Krasny on 
 August 10th, 1914. On the San, during the same cam- 
 paign, it had fired 3000 shells in one day, and together 
 with the other five batteries, now in the same district, had 
 silenced a strong field fort (Lyejakoff) at the cost of 
 12,000 shells. It was indeed a famous battery, dating 
 back.to 1812, and decorated with the Order of St. George. 
 The guns were standing on land from which the crops
 
 THE FIRST LINE TRENCHES. 
 
 "MIMICKING THE SURROUNDING SHOCKS OF GRAIN.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 137 
 
 had been taken, but so skilfully were they covered with 
 straw that the Austrian aeroplane which used to recon- 
 noitre the Russian positions towards evening, and occa- 
 sionally dropped leaflets of a seditionary character, 1 had 
 apparently not yet discovered them. 
 
 We went to the observation point more than half a 
 mile away, from which the effects of their shelling could 
 be seen in the sector of the river valley covered by the 
 guns. A deep communication trench led towards and 
 then along the Russian side of the ridge, till it suddenly 
 turned down to the right into the face of the slope. At 
 the end was a binocular range-finder, through which on 
 the far side of the valley could be seen two parallel 
 whitish lines representing the first and second line of 
 Austrian trenches, just very much as if it had been 
 necessary to lay down two lines of drains at different 
 levels along the valley, and the navvies had thrown out 
 the material on this side of their excavation. Not a 
 sign of a movement was visible anywhere. Yet only 
 about half a mile to the right was a village situated on the 
 river's bank, which both sides had apparently agreed to 
 leave untouched, and where men and women and cattle 
 could be seen going about. 
 
 One day it became necessary to try and find out 
 whether certain German troops had been withdrawn, 
 
 1 The translation of the proclamation overleaf is as follows : 
 
 Seven Rubles 
 
 pays 
 
 the Austrian military administration 
 
 for each Russian rifle 
 
 (and 1 kopek for each Russian cartridge) 
 
 brought 
 
 to the Austrian authorities. 
 
 The prisoners in Austria are well fed 
 
 and well treated. 
 
 Come over to us, then quickly 
 
 the war will be finished.
 
 138 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 i.e. whether Austrians alone, or Germans and Austrians, 
 held the trenches opposite at a certain point. The idea 
 was that by vigorous shelling of the trenches, and of the 
 woods where the opposing forces were believed to be, it 
 might be possible to force them to expose themselves at 
 some point or another, and from an advanced observation 
 point the necessary information could be gained by 
 noting the uniforms, if in no other way. 
 
 The morning broke grey and cloudy, and distant 
 mutterings of thunder betokened a renewal of the heavy 
 rains that had recently disconcerted action on either 
 side, and reduced the roads, such as they were, to quag- 
 mires of most tenacious slime. Long before the hour 
 fixed for the start some of the Cossacks were standing 
 at the front entrance of the Schloss, holding the champing 
 horses of the Staff, their own horses being looked after 
 by their comrades. Infantry men with fixed bayonets 
 stood at the corners of the broadened avenue waiting 
 until the General, map in hand, had gone over the last 
 details of the day's work with his Staff under the entrance 
 porch. He was a true Russian in his kind-heartedness 
 and in his impulsiveness alike, and as in blue-grey uniform 
 with red lapels he moved off on a black charger, he looked 
 what he really was, a great soldier. The other officers 
 sprang into their saddles and followed him sedately on 
 horses no two of which were alike in colour, while the 
 Caucasian Cossack officers with bashliks red or fawn, and 
 black burka sweeping behind them to the root of the 
 horse's tail, started last and went clattering past on their 
 special business for the moment of preparing a way. It 
 was a brave picture. 
 
 The character of the country and the nature of the 
 journey were as at other points of the line. The road 
 lay in parts through open country, pasture land or stubble, 
 acres under cultivation to potatoes, flax or buckwheat. 
 At one point you could see ahead to woods sloping towards 
 us from the top of which smoke issued, as if the forest
 
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 LEAFLETS OF A SEDITIONARY CHARACTER. 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 AT THE END WAS A BINOCULAR RANGE-FINDER.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 139 
 
 were on fire ; there, we could tell, some of our forces were 
 encamped. At other times we plunged into birch woods, 
 following one another in Indian file or making our own 
 way parallel with the others. Once again we would 
 come out by some peasant's hut knocked to pieces by 
 shell-fire, and follow a road where steps had to be chosen 
 owing to the same cause. In time we reached some open 
 patches on the summit of that side of the main valley 
 that was ours, across which the procedure was to gallop 
 singly or in pairs, as they lay exposed to the enemies' 
 lines across the river. These were now open, now concealed 
 in woods similar to those on our side of the river, but the 
 enemy was in greater force and credited with a desire to 
 advance and attempt to retake Tarnopol. 
 
 Rain was now coming down in torrents, and at some 
 points mist lay in the valley. At last we reached the 
 particular wood along whose edge, in a direction at right 
 angles to the line of the valley below us, a regiment was 
 encamped. It was they who would have to be prepared 
 for any uncalculated results that the bombardment might 
 produce. The plan is outlined on the map to the officers 
 grouped around under a broad sheltering tree, for the 
 rain had not slackened. At 11 a.m. all the batteries will 
 concentrate : the 35 guns will each fire just two rounds 
 so far as possible simultaneously, thereafter batteries 
 2-6 in succession will fire so many rounds, and lastly 
 battery 1. 
 
 Before moving on, the General made a tour of in- 
 spection of the lines of sunken dug-outs in which the 
 men were quartered on the edge of the wood. Ten to 
 15 feet long, 6 to 8 feet wide, 4 to 6 feet deep, the shelters 
 were concealed in front by a row of birch branches fixed 
 in the ground along the length of the lines ; behind this 
 screen a definite footpath had been constructed the whole 
 way along. They were floored with straw, on the 
 top of which the men had spread their overcoats. A 
 slanting shrapnel-proof roof was constructed by the aid
 
 140 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 of logs of the length of the dug-out, 3 to 6 inches in thick- 
 ness. These were overlaid with thin branches, sods, and 
 lastly green branches. They showed considerable variety 
 in construction, and being well-ditched and with comfort- 
 able steps cut out in the hard clay soil, were likewise 
 proof against bad weather. Everything around seemed 
 clean. Special shelters were made for the rifles with 
 bayonets fixed, supporting one another in a double row. 
 The ground was unusually slippery with the rain, but the 
 Russians with their unnailed low-heeled boots moved 
 about with no apparent difficulty. 
 
 Thereafter we passed on to one of the batteries which 
 was to take part in the coming bombardment. The way 
 led through a beautiful wood of tall graceful birches with 
 a rich undergrowth of ferns and shrubs and lush green 
 grass. It was difficult to restrain from holding back 
 simply to watch the effect of that brightly caparisoned 
 staff disappearing amongst the trees. The battery was 
 posted in open ground between this and another wood, 
 but an artificial spinney of hazel and birch branches had 
 been so cleverly constructed around and about it, that 
 the questing Austrian aeroplane that was so unremit- 
 ting in its attentions had apparently as yet made no dis- 
 covery, and an unsuspecting pedestrian would not have 
 been aware of anything till he had stumbled on the 
 guns. But eleven was approaching, and we had still 
 some distance to go to reach the observation position 
 from which we could watch the effects of the bombard- 
 ment. 
 
 On the edge of the river-valley there was a fringe of 
 wood in front of which lay open ground sloping gradually 
 downwards, and just beyond it some brush over which 
 could be gained a very clear view into the valley below. 
 The river at this point looked to be some 25 to 30 feet 
 across, and was spanned by a wooden bridge. Close to 
 the farther bank was the first Austrian line, difficult to 
 see, being merely a deep-sunk trench without any material
 
 IN PARTS THROUGH OPEN COUNTRY 
 
 SPECIAL DUGOUTS WERE MADE FOR THE RIFLES.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT HI 
 
 thrown up in front. Somewhat behind this first line lay 
 the village of , consisting of some rows of white- 
 walled huts and cottages with brown thatched roofs, and 
 two or three larger stone buildings, one of which with a 
 blue slate roof was obviously a school, another a church 
 also with blue roof and steeple, while a third with a red 
 roof looked like a long shed. On the north-west side of 
 the village was a clump of wood extending up the side of 
 the valley, and behind both village and wood was the 
 second Austrian line, much clearer than the first by reason 
 of the parapet of soil thrown up in front. Where we stood 
 in the fringe of our wood, a small but deep cutting led 
 to the edge, and there the hyposcope was dexterously 
 concealed while the telephone in communication with the 
 batteries was close at hand. We stood, watches in hand, 
 waiting for the hour when the attempt should be made to 
 destroy the bridge over the river and to damage the 
 trenches. At last the hour comes, and with it the descend- 
 ing wail of shells arriving from all directions over our 
 heads. The observation officer and the man at the tele- 
 phone are busy in a conversation built up out of figures 
 from the map, indicating the exact point of aim and dis- 
 tance, followed by the recurrent words, " Pritsyel " 
 ("Take aim"), " Ogon " ("Fire"). For the whole 
 course of the bombardment is thereafter controlled, 
 shot by shot, from this point. And all the time on the 
 open slope immediately in front, a peasant continues to 
 plough his acres in greatest equanimity. That had to be 
 done. 
 
 The efficiency of the Russian artillery has from the 
 beginning been a vital factor in their conduct of the 
 war, however hampered they were at a certain stage by a 
 lack of heavy guns and of ammunition. The objects of 
 the bombardment in this case were perfectly definite, 
 and were attained in a way that seemed past belief. 
 There was a strange fascination in listening to that scream 
 of something cruelly forcing its way through the air, till
 
 142 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 the sound ceased and was succeeded by an explosion as 
 a cloud of smoke rose where the shell had burst in or 
 over the trench, or a shower of earth fountained upwards 
 when it struck the fields behind the village. Sometimes 
 there was a flash, sometimes the discharge showed only 
 as a cloud of white or at other times of dark brown smoke 
 as shells, grenades, shrapnel or bombs were hurled at 
 the positions. Nothing moved in the village : it seemed 
 like a place of the dead. The bridge went, the trenches 
 were torn to bits, but only three shells, so far as I could 
 see, hit the village at all. Several were dropped in the 
 wood, white clouds playing amid the tree -tops as they 
 found their mark. A colonel on the Staff draws atten- 
 tion to forms slipping out of the wood at the far corner 
 and rushing to the cover of the second line trenches. He 
 even declares that through his glasses he can make out 
 an officer of high rank. But there is no doubt that they 
 are Germans. Then the song of the shells seems to 
 change. They are coming this way now, trying to find 
 our batteries. 
 
 One morning I went round the village that lay quite 
 near, outside the walls of the Castle grounds. You walked 
 out by the continuation of the avenue in the opposite 
 direction to that by which we had entered, and were 
 immediately on a broad road that descended into the 
 main thoroughfare of the village. The peasants were of 
 pronouncedly Slavonic type. The men, ordinarily dressed 
 in a loose white cotton jacket and trousers, looked out from 
 under tall straw hats that had a brim equal in breadth to 
 its height. They wear their hair long ; the women wear 
 it just a little longer, and dress in brightly coloured 
 garments not unlike some Russian peasant styles. The 
 cottages usually stood end-on to the road, forming one 
 side of a yard, of which the other sides were composed of 
 barns and outhouses. The walls of the cottages were 
 white-washed, with filleted brown thatch roofs. By
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 143 
 
 religion these peasants are Uniat. They often have a large- 
 sized sacred picture hanging on the outside wall, beside the 
 door of their cottage. Continually along the rOads one 
 came on images and crosses. Sometimes also they would 
 be found quite removed from the tracks or highways. 
 Not far from one of the batteries, planted in an open 
 position, stand two goodly trees, side by side, and between 
 them is an image of the Christ. The soldiers of one of 
 the regiments were billeted on the peasants in the village, 
 and the relationship seemed to be very friendly. An aged 
 relative of the proprietor of the Schloss, who had decided 
 to stay on in the vicinity to try and keep an eye on things, 
 and whose general attitude to the Russians was un- 
 friendly, could not speak in any unfavourable way of 
 the behaviour of the Russian soldiers towards the pea- 
 santry. His principal complaint bore on what he con- 
 sidered the indiscriminate cutting down of his cousin's 
 timber to make camp fires. 
 
 Another of these quickly passing days proved to be the 
 annual holy day and holiday of one of the regiments. It 
 happened to coincide with the day on which in Russia 
 apples and honey are taken to the churches to be blessed, 
 one of these primitive ceremonial festivals with a deep 
 meaning, which also had the very salutary effect of pre- 
 venting the people from eating apples before they were 
 ripe. The day's proceedings began with divine service, 
 which was held in a large field not far from the Castle. 
 When we arrived, the soldiers were already drawn up 
 by battalions on three sides of a square. In the centre 
 were the colours, and two men standing by them. Close 
 by was a table with the Evangile, crucifix and sacra- 
 mental elements, and three priests in bright green robes 
 with a heavy gold design worked on them. The officers 
 of the Staff stood on a line continuous with one of the 
 open sides of the human square. In a few minutes the 
 General, accompanied by his Chief-of-Staff, walked on
 
 144 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 to the field, and having greeted the colonel of the regi- 
 ment, went round the different battalions, first greeting 
 the officers, and then, in a loud voice, the men, to be met 
 in each case by a punctuated roar of welcome from the 
 ranks. He then made short speeches in praise of the 
 Emperor, the Grand Duke Nicholas, and of the division. 
 Each speech was rounded off with the appropriate 
 selection by the band, which could hardly be heard above 
 the sustained cheering. Finally, he walked down the 
 line of the Staff, saluting and shaking hands, after which 
 the Staff moved forward and the service began. 
 
 A choir of soldiers sustaining the recurring petition 
 for divine mercy in deep-voiced melody, as one of the 
 priests recited prayers ; the reading of the Evangile 
 and the presentation of the Book for the adoration of 
 the worshippers ; an address, simple and full of fine 
 feeling and exhortation ; the solemn prayer for their dead 
 comrades, in which the whole regiment joined in spirit 
 upon bended knee each element progressively intensified 
 the sense that these were men engaged in what was for 
 them a holy war. Then the priest holds up the crucifix 
 before them. The General steps forward, kisses it, and is 
 sprinkled with holy water. He is followed by all his 
 Staff, and finally the priest goes round the companies in 
 turn, blessing and sprinkling them. Is there any wonder 
 that at the subsequent march past the General and Staff, 
 determination and resolve are expressed alike in the 
 features and tramp of the advancing columns ? A fine 
 repast follows in a tent near the village, at which the 
 officers of the Staff are the guests of the officers of the 
 celebrating regiment. Each officer seems more popular 
 than his fellows, if one may judge by the growing volume 
 of repetition of their attractive toasting song, " Mnogoye 
 Lyeta " (" Many Years " ). And then they wander back 
 to where the soldiers are giving themselves up to a simple 
 meal, followed by sports. There is a relationship between 
 officers and men in the Russian army that is absolutely
 
 IN THE CENTRE WERE THE COLOl 
 
 A. 
 
 ANOTHER GOT UP ON HIS SHOULDERS IN THE SADDLE.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 145 
 
 unique. It is expressed in the term in which the officers 
 address their men, "Bratzi" ("brothers"). A soldier 
 approaching an officer to ask him if he will take part in 
 some contest along with them, will address him as " Dya- 
 dushka " (" little uncle "). There is a relationship of 
 infinite good humour between officers and men that never 
 fails. I have heard an officer storming at his orderly for 
 depositing his kit in the wrong compartment in a train, 
 then pass without any awareness of the abruptness of 
 the transition to a careful enquiry as to how he had come 
 to make the mistake, even suggesting that perhaps it 
 was the conductor's fault, and then end by calling him 
 all the endearing terms that are part of ordinary Russian 
 speech, and saying that he must be more careful another 
 time. The Russian army is the greatest democracy in 
 the world. 
 
 Many of the forms of sport were familiar, and all were 
 attempted in uniform and top boots high jump (at which 
 one of the Cossacks excelled), long jump, greasy pole, 
 tourneys with bran bags on a horizontal pole, sack race, 
 wrestling from the back of another man, racing barefoot 
 towards a scrambled pile of their boots and returning 
 with the right ones, and walking blindfold up to earthen- 
 ware pots stuck upon stakes, to demolish them with 
 cudgels. An interesting test consisted in racing in com- 
 panies of four with a little cart under an arch from which 
 a bucket full of water was suspended, while spliced to it was 
 a slab of wood pierced by a three-inch hole. One man 
 stood erect in the cart, holding a rod two inches in thick- 
 ness. He was rushed under the arch by his fellows, and 
 if his aim was good, he could launch the rod through the 
 hole in the slab in passing. If he missed the hole and 
 struck the slab, the bucket was tilted forward as he was 
 drawn onwards, with cooling results. For hours they played 
 while the peasants from the village looked on. The 
 colonel of the regiment actively participated in the 
 sports ; he was what the Russians term a " sympathetic "
 
 146 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 individual. A little boy, one of many serving as a volun- 
 teer, walks up to the General as the soldiers crowd round 
 him watching the competitors at the long jump, and ad- 
 dressing him respectfully, says that he would like to 
 jump. " Try it," says the General, patting him on the 
 cheek, and motioning to the men to hold back till the 
 youngster tries. The soldier that follows him has his 
 spoon sticking out of the top of his high boot. 
 
 The Cossacks performed to the delight of the villagers 
 and the pride of their comrades in arms. And they were 
 not young men now, reserves, over rather than under 
 thirty. A sotnia of Cossacks (100 men) is divided into 
 four zvods, and their first exhibitions were of the nature 
 of deploying and attacking manoeuvres, in which all the 
 commands were given in the form of signs from the 
 leader's sabre, and repeated by the section commanders 
 for their sections with their nagaikas (whips). Then one 
 after the other they rushed past at the gallop, and 
 vaulting right out of the saddle, with the spring off the 
 ground on the one side cleared the horse's croup over to 
 the other side, and so back again, from one side to the 
 other, always off the ground. Or one would drop his cap, 
 and the man following would reach down out of the 
 saddle and pick it up, while another got up on his shoulders 
 in the saddle, with feet in the air, and performed other 
 different tricks all at the gallop. As they rode off the 
 field, they sang. 
 
 Song plays a great part in the Russian soldier's life. 
 In a base hospital where I stayed some days, several of 
 them used to get together every evening in one of the 
 corridors and sing the Vespers service through. The 
 singers are often put together at the head of a column 
 and lead the route march with methodical singing. One 
 morning I stole out to listen to the Cossacks singing in 
 the yard. Amongst other things they sang a Galician 
 song which they had learned from the peasants in the 
 village, plaintive beyond description. They had really
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 147 
 
 taken to this song, borrowed from the conquered, for 
 they do not easily hate and seemed to love to sing it 
 in all its exquisite sweetness and softness. They got some 
 remarkable light and shade effects in songs of their own 
 " Kuku " (Cuckoo) and " Tchorny Ostrov " (The Black 
 Island), as also Chmel, a dance-song with a whistling 
 accompaniment. They do not easily hate, yet it was 
 these very men who at one point in the Carpathian cam- 
 paign, when maddened by being compelled to retreat 
 owing to a marked inferiority in numbers, looked in 
 the direction of the advancing enemy and said : "If 
 we cannot kill you all, our sons will come and do so." 
 
 Prisoners were always being brought in. Each little 
 group was led up to the entrance of the Schloss and 
 interrogated by the Chief of the Staff, after which they 
 were sent on to Tarnopol. One day along with three 
 Austrian prisoners a German deserter was led up. He was 
 obviously Hebrew, and as he looked very frank and in- 
 telligent, I eagerly asked the General's permission to 
 engage in conversation with him. It appeared that he 
 had been in a small way of business in an Alsatian town, 
 where he had acted as a censor of letters till he was called 
 up with the Landwehr. He told me that he had a sister 
 in America and another married to a Frenchman in Paris. 
 Finding that his English was better than my German I 
 spoke with him in that tongue after talking about America 
 (although without any such intent) in a way that had led 
 him to suppose that I was a United States citizen. He 
 admitted that the French were doing well (August 20th) 
 in Alsace and in Arras, but that in Argonne and Bois-le- 
 Pretre they were stationary. The Germans had become 
 suspicious of Alsatian loyalty generally, and all Alsatian 
 combatants had been sent to the Eastern front. I asked 
 him as to the character of his regiment, and he said that 
 it was composed of men drawn from various regiments, 
 ranging in age from eighteen to forty-five, many of
 
 148 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 whom had been previously wounded ; there was abso- 
 lutely no camaraderie or esprit de corps. I sought to find 
 out why he had deserted. He stated that he had become 
 convinced that the Germans wanted to get rid of him 
 because he was a Jew. I asked him how he came to form 
 that impression. He said that he was an " under- 
 officer," and that three out of four on his patrol were 
 Alsatians. He had arrived at the front on Sunday (I 
 was speaking with him on the Wednesday following), 
 and had been detailed for duty that evening with his 
 patrol at what was regarded as a dangerous point op- 
 posite the Russian lines. On Monday he should have 
 been relieved, but was again detailed for the same duty. 
 On Tuesday his captain told him that there was sup- 
 posed to be a ford near that point, and that he must find 
 out the breadth and depth of the river there that evening ; 
 further, if his men were afraid to follow him, he must 
 carry out the undertaking alone. This seemed rather a 
 hard saying, and I asked if he really meant to say that a 
 German officer had suggested that his men might refuse 
 to obey an order. He shrugged his shoulders, and said, 
 " That was the way in which he put it, making me feel 
 that they wanted to get rid of me at any cost, so I just 
 made my way across the river in the dark and into the 
 Russian lines." I asked him how it was that Germany 
 had come into conflict with Russia. He replied, " Russia 
 was becoming too strong for us. In four years she would 
 have begun on us, and so we decided to begin on her." 
 I enquired about the present feeling in Germany over 
 the war. His answer was : " In the beginning, the people 
 were enthusiastically with the Government and wanted 
 the war ; they want it now no longer ; to-day they feel 
 only a great need of peace. But then to-day they have 
 less power than they had at the beginning of the war. 
 Every victory is used by the military party to put the 
 screw more firmly on the people. The Social Democrats 
 are called traitors because they say, ' Is it not enough ? '
 
 WITH THREE AUSTRIAN PRISONERS A GERMAN DESERTER. 
 
 COMPANY RETURNING FROM THE TRENCHES TO THE VILLAGE.
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 149 
 
 The only way in which the military party can be over- 
 come is by Germany being beaten in the field, then only 
 can the people say, ' You made the war, and we don't 
 want your Government any longer,' but I do not see how 
 it can be done." I spoke with him about economic dis- 
 tress. He admitted that the prices of all articles had 
 gone up on an average 50 per cent, " but our Govern- 
 ment has planned so well in advance and organised on 
 such a scale that there is really no vital shortage of any- 
 thing, and only of cotton and copper to some extent. 
 Copper in some considerable amount we can get from 
 Sweden." I asked him what the German people felt 
 about the sinking of the Lusitania if they were proud 
 of the feat. He said, " The Germans are not a seafaring 
 people like the English, and they cannot realise what the 
 loss of a great steamer means." "Oh," I replied, "I 
 am not thinking about the loss of the steamer ; I am 
 thinking about the loss of human life." " Human lives 
 count for nothing in Germany," he answered. " But how 
 about my fellow-countrymen who were on board ? " I 
 asked, in keeping with his view of my nationality. " Ah, 
 they were warned," he said ; " they had no right to 
 travel by that boat." I asked if there was still the same 
 intensity of hatred against the British nation. He said 
 that the public use on poster or by rubber stamp on 
 letters of the expression " Gott strafe England " had been 
 forbidden by law ; " what we say now is, ' Gott schiitze 
 Deutschland.' " He blamed the Crown Prince for the 
 war, and said the Emperor was against it. He added 
 that the German army was being supplied with helmets 
 of tin because of the scarcity of leather. The Kuban 
 Cossack officer now stepped up and offered him cigarettes. 
 Almost every day one or two of the peasants in the locality 
 were marched up to the front door by soldiers who had 
 taken them for spies. They were subjected to a severe 
 examination as to their movements and the meaning of 
 questions they had asked by a young colonel on the Staff,
 
 150 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 and more than once I have seen these men pleading as 
 they believed for their lives, and so transformed into most 
 eloquent and persuasive orators. The young colonel who 
 had told me that the soldiers were afflicted with a sort 
 of spy mania, and were inclined to arrest any peasant 
 that asked them perfectly innocent questions, did not 
 usually take long to make up his mind, and all the 
 peasants that I saw brought in, went off with happy 
 faces. 
 
 It is a day like most of the other days, sombre with 
 rain. Towards evening the downpour ceases, but the 
 atmosphere is saturated with a chill dampness which 
 condenses into a thick mist. We start off towards six 
 to make for the first line trenches at the narrowest part 
 of the valley. We drive out of the village and then, 
 after traversing familiar ground, passing along dales and 
 skirting woods whose taller trees keep sentinel over the 
 others, we go a long way over open ground, yet seeing 
 nothing as fresh thick mists all the time come rolling up 
 from the direction of the valley where the opposing 
 forces lie. It seems a good night for a surprise attack, 
 and also for a successful defence. The track becomes 
 thicker and thicker with slush, and the wheels of the 
 victoria sink more deeply with the peculiar swishing 
 sound of progress in water at every yard. Suddenly we 
 turn sharply into a young wood and begin to descend 
 very rapidly ; the track narrows and the scrub closes in, 
 till advance of that kind becomes impossible and we must 
 walk. Once or twice we meet a cartload of peasants 
 emerging abruptly out of the gloom on a track where 
 vehicles were never meant to pass one another. There is 
 as yet a deep silence disturbed only at one moment by the 
 howl of a dog. After a time we get to the bottom of the 
 descent, and as the mist has now begun to clear off, we 
 can see that we are driving along a glade on the right 
 of which is a forest of pine trees. Presently the sound
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 151 
 
 of voices and of laughter is audible, and lights begin to 
 blaze among the trees. We continue to drive on and 
 soon are abreast of great camp fires from which sparks 
 fly up in showers ; around the fires stand or sit knots of 
 men. We drive on down the line, and from one point 
 come the sounds of merriment, and later from another 
 in most exquisite harmony the rising and falling cadences 
 of evensong, with the recurrent phrase, " Gospodi 
 pomilui " (0 Lord, have mercy). For a moment we wait 
 at the regimental headquarters ; under a large oak stand 
 a couch, a plain table with two candles, and several 
 chairs. Each of the officers brings a small contribution 
 to the lightest of five-minute repasts, one of them pro- 
 ducing his last box of chocolates of English make. Then 
 after a little conversation we leave these resting battalions 
 and start off with the colonel for the first line. The road 
 is wretched a side track. We reach a point after which 
 the low rumble of guns is heard. The mist comes on 
 again, and out of it step companies making the night 
 shift, or the field kitchens returning after supplying the 
 evening meal, or the searchlight going to the lines. 
 Sometimes stray individuals loom up and pass on. But 
 whoever passes is challenged by the colonel and com- 
 pelled to give an account of himself. " Dirje na prava " 
 (" Take to the right ") shouts the soldier driver to some 
 peasants with telyegas, moving them over to the wrong 
 side of the track which descends suddenly at that point 
 to a lower level. But even such choice by compulsion of 
 the best side fails to provide any going at all, for we are 
 continually driving through the thickest mud or water, 
 and so we get out and grope along in the dark. A soldier 
 leads the way, then the General, then another soldier, 
 then the colonel and others follow. 
 
 It was so dark that the man immediately in front was 
 alone visible. We had no light from above or from below : 
 to pick one's steps was impossible. It seemed as if we 
 were going down an open unwooded valley leading, as
 
 152 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 we learned, again into the valley of the Zlotaya Lipa. 
 The sides of the entering valley rose some hundreds of 
 feet in height, and we followed it certainly for more than 
 a mile. And all the time the sound of firing became 
 clearer and more clear, until in the end you could dis- 
 tinguish the discharge of a rifle, the swish of the bullet, 
 and the smack on some discovered target, or a sound like 
 a continuous Chinese cracker maxim guns spitting out 
 death on the other side of the hill to the right. The 
 situation thus conveyed through the ear alone becomes 
 dimly illuminated as flares go up beyond the rising ground 
 which stands silhouetted on either side. It is a signal for an 
 intensification of firing which is sustained and then as 
 suddenly ceases, to be followed by wild cheering. Then 
 there is a momentous silence, and we resume our way in 
 the dark. 
 
 The road seems to improve and we enter a hamlet. 
 The cottages with their white walls stand up ghostlike 
 in the chill night ; not a light is visible, not a sound can 
 be heard. It is as if deserted. The soldier who is leading 
 stops and with his hand indicates holes to be avoided, 
 made that day in the road by shells. And now the rattle 
 of musketry on the left, which has been unceasing in 
 frequency, seems unpleasantly near. We are evidently 
 close to the point where our tributary valley finally falls 
 into the main valley. Perhaps it is just because each 
 army is holding either side of a deep and narrow valley 
 that every sound seems to awaken a sort of echo. Ahead 
 rise three enormous vaulted greyish walls, perhaps of 
 some factory near the hamlet, but as we approach nearer 
 the grey walls literally vanish into space, and the reality 
 is seen to be the dark arches of a railway viaduct crossing 
 the debouching valley and the road in front of us. 
 We turn abruptly to the right at the end of the hamlet 
 and proceed very cautiously, admirably protected by 
 the railway embankment on our left between us and the 
 direction of the enemy. We come to a field telephone,
 
 ON THE GALICIAN FRONT 153 
 
 where the colonel gets a report of the activity over the 
 hill on our right. All this time the embankment has 
 been becoming relatively lower as we rise up the side of 
 the entrant valley. Then a point is reached where each 
 of us climbs up in turn, slips across the railway and 
 descends on the other side in to the entrance of the 
 communication trench. In this particular way the 
 trench can only be reached at night. 
 
 The communication trench pursues a very devious course ; 
 it is exceedingly narrow and fully eight feet deep at 
 parts, for it descends the sides of the valley of the Zlotaya 
 Lipa, and leads into a line of trenches that follows the 
 river closely for some five versts. 
 
 So far as one could judge in the darkness, this line of 
 trenches was very strongly made. It took the form of a 
 linear series of well-protected recesses, loop-holed and 
 with a straw-covered bench-like support, cut out in the 
 clay, on which a man could lie out at length or two of 
 them kneel as they handled their rifles. These were 
 connected by the passage way provided with metal 
 head- cover against shrapnel and bombs. In each loop- 
 hole rested a rifle. In the darkness it was difficult to 
 make out anything, and possibly the sentries standing at 
 intervals on the ground behind the trenches and over- 
 looking them, would not stand out so sharply against the 
 side of the valley as they did looking up at them from 
 the depths of the trench. Iu each of the recesses men 
 stood at attention, ghostlike and motionless. A few days 
 before, I had passed along the narrow passages of the 
 Catacombs of St. Anthony in Kiev. There in the niches 
 lay the dead who are alive. Here in the recesses stood 
 as motionless the living who were prepared to die. A 
 certain proportion of the troops were down under cover 
 by the river's side, less than a hundred yards in front, to 
 prepare against a surprise attack. The mist came up 
 once again, and the cannonade became more and more 
 desultory for a while ; then as suddenly it livened up
 
 154 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 again for no reason that we could discern, unless it were 
 simply to worry the defence. And so we stayed and 
 watched and listened, until some faint streaks in the east 
 betokened the return of another day, and we moved off 
 ere it became too dangerous to do so by the route by which 
 we came.
 
 THEME V 
 
 THE FUTURE OF POLAND
 
 THEME V 
 
 THE FUTURE OF POLAND 
 
 THE fact that both the Russian and the German 
 Emperors have held out hopes for a united Poland 
 suggests that even now, within certain limits, the con- 
 sideration of the future of that country is a subject of 
 practicable interest, whatever the relative value that we 
 may be inclined to attach to the manifestoes in question. 
 From the record of her history, at once so romantic and 
 so tragic, features stand out that, in the degree in which 
 the causes producing them are still operative, will be to 
 a large degree determinative of that future. In the first 
 place, the earliest stages of Russian and of Polish history 
 show no fundamental antagonism in religious, political, 
 or economic outlook and organisation, so far as these 
 were then developed. There are, therefore, no inherent 
 and ultimately irreducible points of difference between 
 these two peoples that must permanently hinder a mutual 
 understanding between them. The situation is quite 
 otherwise as between Germany and Poland. In the second 
 place, time and again, the chance of national salvation 
 which was almost won by the heroism of the sword was 
 sacrificed through the inability of the Poles to hold 
 together as a united people. Whether these disruptive 
 tendencies, and the internal disloyalties that have played 
 havoc with the fortunes of the country in the past, will 
 be transcended hereafter in the life of a people who have 
 passed through an agony which exceeds that of Belgium, 
 is a consideration of momentous character so far as the 
 future of Poland is concerned. 
 
 157
 
 158 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 In view of the first of these two features, which on 
 a priori grounds at any rate indicates the direction in 
 which the happier outlook for Poland may be sought, 
 it is important to ascertain the opinion of representative 
 Poles who are Russian subjects. Previous to the meeting 
 of the Duma in August of 1915, an important conference 
 was held under the presidency of the Prime Minister 
 between six Russian and as many Polish representatives, 
 in order to try and reach some understanding as to the 
 lines along which the promised measure of self-govern- 
 ment should be given to Poland. The following para- 
 graphs represent the Polish point of view as outlined in 
 conversation to the writer by two of these representatives. 
 The original statement was under the circumstances 
 sketchy, though developmentally conceived : any failure 
 in presentation is due to the transcriber. 
 
 " Partitioning of Poland began as long ago as the 
 twelfth century. The first important feature, however, is 
 the alliance of a reunited Poland with the Grand Duchy 
 of Lithuania in the fourteenth century to fight the 
 Prussians who were creeping round on the north and 
 east, and exercising economic and other pressure on these 
 States. There was a voluntary union of these two States 
 for two centuries : then they became one State, so far as 
 governmental relations are concerned. As the Poles were 
 the more cultured of the two peoples for many of their 
 nobility 'had been educated in the French and Italian 
 Universities, while the Lithuanian nobility was unedu- 
 cated, indeed somewhat barbarous in comparison, the 
 nobility of Lithuania gradually became Polish. The mass 
 of the people remained Lithuanians (White and Little 
 Russian). Consequent on this union, two policies began 
 to be developed on the part of Poland. One was con- 
 cerned with the West, and took the form of a tendency 
 towards intervention in Bohemia and Austria. The 
 Lithuanian rulers, on the other hand, had their own 
 political views, and latterly their troubles in the East
 
 THE FUTURE OF POLAND 159 
 
 with the Tatars. These two movements were parallel 
 and roughly contemporaneous. But when Bohemia and 
 the adjacent parts came more under the German in- 
 fluence and the Lithuanian nobility became more power- 
 ful, Polish policy turned towards the East : the Poles 
 thought of themselves as an outpost of Western civilisa- 
 tion fighting the East. Now all these States reared on the 
 borders of the Western world, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, 
 etc., had faults in their constitution. The soil of these 
 countries was not yet prepared for high ideas : they each 
 lost their independence. The partition of Poland took 
 place in the end of the eighteenth century. In that par- 
 tition Russia did not take any purely Polish States. 
 Poland proper was divided between Austria and Germany. 
 Only after the Napoleonic Wars, by the Congress of 
 Vienna, was the rest of Poland added to Russia with its 
 own constitution, diet, army, etc. Those Lithuanian 
 provinces which went under Russian rule were con- 
 sidered Polish for the reason that any dominating element 
 in the country was Polish. 
 
 " Meanwhile an evolution was going on in Central and 
 Eastern Europe ; it took the form of the resurrection of 
 small nationalities. The Czech nationality had practi- 
 cally disappeared in the seventeenth century : it was 
 annihilated in the Thirty Years' War, and Bohemia 
 became a German province. The feeling of nationality 
 was submerged. After the French Revolution there came 
 a democratisation of culture. The spread of culture in- 
 troduced the national sentiment among the masses. So 
 from among the mass of the peasants arose a new people 
 who refused to accept the German language : ' We are 
 Czechs by nationality,' they said. The rebirth of the 
 nation is a remarkable episode. It is the fact that fifty 
 intelligent Czechs founded the new Czechish movement 
 and nationality : all the others were simple peasants. 
 These fifty were assembled together in a single room in 
 a house at a meeting which is now historic, and at which
 
 160 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 they came to the resolution to revive their nationality : 
 so that if you had bombed that house you might have 
 extinguished a people. That beginning had important 
 results, and a strong national sentiment arose among the 
 younger people. About seven millions, the Czechs have 
 a well-developed national feeling : they are one of the 
 most energetic nationalities in commerce, industry, and 
 especially banking. In Croatia, Bulgaria, and even in 
 Poland, branches of the Czech banks may be found every- 
 where. They are one of the most enterprising of nationali- 
 ties, like the Slavons, Serbians, and Bulgarians. That kind 
 of movement began late in the territory of ancient Poland. 
 It appeared in Ruthenia : it was protected by the Aus- 
 trian Government in order to maintain the Austrian 
 influence. A similar movement arose also in Lithuania. 
 The development of national feeling among the masses 
 of the people produces this outstanding result that they 
 lose the nationality of the dominant classes amongst 
 them, and assume again their own nationality. The 
 country where that movement succeeds most takes 
 on more and more the character given by the masses of 
 the population. In Lithuania and Ruthenia, however, 
 the nobility remained Polish. 
 
 " But between Russia and Poland not only is there the 
 language frontier, but there is also ' the frontier of faith.' 
 Poland is Roman Catholic and Russia is Greek Church. 
 There are certain recognised differences in doctrine not 
 very great between the Roman Catholic and the Pro- 
 testant. But there is also the difference of civilisation 
 between the Greek and the Roman Catholic Churches. 
 The Roman and the Byzantine worlds were different in 
 their conceptions of the family, of life of everything. 
 The frontier of religion is much more important than the 
 frontier of language. A country where the mass of the 
 population is Roman Catholic will never become Russian. 
 All Lithuania is Roman Catholic ; a large part of White 
 Russia is Roman Catholic also. They are the descendants
 
 THE FUTURE OF POLAND 161 
 
 of Lithuanian and Polish colonists converted from the 
 Greek Church. All this part that is Roman Catholic is not 
 Russian because the Polish faith is the Catholic faith. 
 When a Roman Catholic living on the borders of Poland 
 gets educated he becomes a Pole and not a Russian. ' I 
 am of Catholic nationality,' ' I am of Polish religion,' 
 he will say, when you ask him what he is, without any 
 intention of referring to religion. For them to be a Pole 
 and to be a Roman Catholic are identical. What is the 
 position between Poland and Russia in the East ? I 
 cannot answer. The frontier will be decided by future 
 history. It is undecided from the historical point of 
 view. From the political point of view we say, 'Polish 
 country is that country where the Polish-speaking element 
 is predominant.' The Russians say that Lithuania is 
 Russian, but that is nonsense from the ethnographical 
 and religious points of view. This, then, is the compro- 
 mise which we wish to make with Russia, Let that be 
 Polish country where the Polish-speaking people is pre- 
 dominant. That is accepted so far as the Eastern frontier 
 is concerned. 
 
 " The mouth of the Vistula on the Baltic is Polish 
 country and must be Polish. It is Polish ethnographic- 
 ally and economically, because Dantzig is the natural 
 harbour of Poland, and commercially Poland must have 
 an exit to the sea. And strategically she must have it, 
 because the long German arm in East Prussia will other- 
 wise continually threaten Poland. There will always be an 
 open mouth, so to speak, whose jaws are East Prussia and 
 Silesia, ready to swallow Poland. In order to prevent our 
 being so swallowed we must cut something away from 
 Germany. To save the existence of Poland we must 
 destroy the existence of some Germans in the East. There 
 can be no compromise between the Poles and the Ger- 
 mans. With Russia there is a possibility of compromise 
 on ethnographical grounds, and on moral principles ; but 
 with Germany there is no possible compromise, because
 
 162 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 they say, ' We will be good and humane to you if you 
 become Germans.' In that way our programme is Poland 
 with its ethnographical frontier in the East, and including 
 some German districts in the North and West. Many of 
 the German-speaking people in East Prussia had Polish 
 fathers : they will quickly remember that they were 
 Poles. So we hope that the ethnographical map will 
 show many more Polish people in East Prussia than it 
 does at present. Without any use of violence we antici- 
 pate that these people will remember that their fathers 
 spoke Polish. We are also a fertile race, and will soon 
 make up any deficiency of numbers in that particular 
 area. In all there are already 22 million Poles. Dantzig 
 is an almost purely German town just now, with a popu- 
 lation of 150,000 : when it belongs to Poland, within 
 fifteen years it will have 500,000 inhabitants, and be one 
 of the richest towns on the Baltic, and Polish mainly in 
 its population. We shall treat the Germans well. No- 
 body is interested to keep East Prussia for Germany : let 
 it be Polish. We want the Duchy (or Provinz) of Posen 
 Posen of Germany : it must be given to Poland, as also 
 Upper Silesia and Western Prussia (West Preussen). 
 
 " Of East Prussia a part the more easterly should 
 be Russia's, and a part ours. Our political interests are 
 not confined, however, to Poland, because we are much 
 interested in the future position and faith of the Czechs 
 (Bohemia). If Bohemia is eaten up by Germany, the 
 danger for Poland becomes double. The future of the 
 Czechs is really as important to us as it is to Bohemia. 
 So we must enquire what the faith of Bohemia will be. 
 We say her future must be guaranteed. To give her to 
 Germany would be a catastrophe for Poland. 
 
 " With regard to the Jews in Poland : I am not anti- 
 Semitic personally, but cannot help recognising the an- 
 tagonism against the Jews. In Poland the Jews pretend 
 to be a nation by themselves : they have a different 
 religion and also a different language. Their language is
 
 THE FUTURE OF POLAND 163 
 
 a Swabian dialect of German, in which there are many 
 Hebrew, Polish, and Russian words. They speak of ' Our 
 Yiddish literature, Press, theatres.' They say, 'We want 
 to have national rights in Poland ; we want Yiddish 
 schools ; we want Yiddish spoken in the courts,' and so 
 on. Now the Jews form 15 per cent of the population in 
 Russian Poland, in Prussian Poland under 1 per cent, in 
 Austrian Poland about 7 per cent. If, then, the people 
 who represent in the whole of Poland some 2,300,000 souls 
 say, ' We are a different nationality, and we wish to have 
 the Polish country as Jewish as it is Polish we are part- 
 ners in the possession of this country,' then we Poles find 
 that we do not own our own country. Everywhere we 
 seem to have a partner Germans, Russians, Jews, etc. ; 
 all are partners. So we say to the Jew, ' You are either 
 a Pole or a foreigner, and as a foreigner we will fight you.' 
 When the Czechs fought the Germans they employed a 
 method of economic boycott. The saying in Prussian 
 Poland is that the Poles employed the economic boycott. 
 When the Jews declared themselves to be an independent 
 nationality, with a view to becoming partners in the 
 country, it was natural that a national struggle should 
 take place, and it took the usual form of an economic 
 boycott. It was a national struggle, not simply an 
 economic boycott. Chronologically the economic boycott 
 was first employed by the Jews against the Poles, and then 
 the Poles took it up against the Jews, with better results. 
 In 1906-1 907 it was employed by the Jews against the Poles. 
 The Polish surgeons, for example, lost all their Jewish 
 patients in a few months. The Poles started their struggle 
 in 1911 : we took a lesson from the Jews, and beat them 
 at their own game. 
 
 " The greatest danger for Poland's national existence 
 is the Jew. They speak a German dialect which goes over 
 very easily into pure German. They are favourably dis- 
 posed to Germany : they are channels whereby German 
 influence flows into the country : they become German
 
 164 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 spies and agents. Does not the toleration of such an 
 element become a national crime ? It is suicide : we 
 must do something to eliminate them from the country, 
 and let those who remain come under some influence 
 which will make them more Polish. 
 
 " Anti- Jewish laws do not go with the principle of 
 freedom. We have no wish for exceptional laws. We 
 consider that in all countries all citizens should have 
 equal rights. If we were a free country in which we en- 
 joyed full freedom, we should not have anti- Jewish laws. 
 We should have full liberty to do anything and everything, 
 and have no desire for exceptional laws. But we live 
 under special anti-Polish laws in Germany and Russia : 
 we are very limited in our rights of citizens, and in Russia 
 there are very severe anti-Semitic laws. 1 
 
 " What would be the conditions of life in Russian 
 Poland when, being limited in our own Polish rights and 
 having in Russia strong anti-Semitic laws, we fought for 
 freedom for the Jews, for their full rights ! In that case 
 they become privileged in relation to us. Poland would 
 become a paradise for Russian Jews, and they would all 
 flock to us. There are exceptional laws against Poles in 
 Poland and against Jews in Russia : there must logically 
 be exceptional laws against the Jews in Poland. The 
 schools in Poland must be Polish, and Russians can have 
 their schools if they wish. But the Jews must be under 
 Polish influence. 
 
 " We want, then, a common Emperor, a common im- 
 perial parliament, our own parliament for our own 
 internal affairs, a common foreign policy, army and navy, 
 imperial finance, customs, coinage, and stamps : but the 
 administration of the Polish post offices and telegraph 
 must be by ourselves. The organisation by Russia is 
 unsatisfactory to the Poles : it is not on a sufficiently 
 high standard for our needs. We want our Lord-Lieu- 
 
 1 These have been recently modified for the period of the war, at 
 any rate.
 
 THE FUTURE OF POLAND 165 
 
 tenant nominated by the Emperor and responsible to 
 him. We want our own Diet, which will make laws to be 
 sanctioned only by the Emperor. The administration 
 of all justice we want in our own hands. If for that degree 
 of autonomy the Russians demand that there shall be a 
 commercial frontier between Poland and Russia, then we 
 agree. 
 
 " Our problem is closely related to the whole problem 
 of South-East Europe. How far is Britain really in- 
 terested in and alive to it ? South-Eastern Europe is an 
 area of small nationalities, in many cases peoples of a 
 small degree of culture, so that they cannot compromise ; 
 they do not understand the word. Is not the degree in 
 which you are willing to compromise an indication of the 
 grade of your culture ? All these nations are ambitious : 
 they are all of them fighting races. They cannot recon- 
 cile their ambitions. From the ^Egean to the Baltic there 
 are 100,000,000 people of eight or nine nationalities, 
 speaking eight or nine different languages Poles, Ser- 
 vians, Czechs, Magyars, Rumanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, 
 Croatians, Slavonians. How are we to organise this 
 world ? Is there one brain that understands the ques- 
 tion and can organise it ? If not, the present, so far as we 
 can see, is only the beginning of wars in that region for 
 over fifty years. You cannot give the control of these 
 countries to Germany : it makes her too strong. Russia 
 has enough to do to control her own Empire, and in any 
 case the Poles, Czechs, and Magyars are more cultured 
 than the Russians. Indeed the Russo -Polish question 
 would lose nine -tenths of its difficulties if the Russian 
 people were of equal culture with the Poles." 
 
 To much of the above, of course, it could not be ex- 
 pected that informed Russian opinion would give a whole- 
 hearted assent. It may be true to say that the average 
 Pole is a more cultured individual than the average 
 Russian peasant, but it is not a difference that is deter- 
 minative amongst the classes that will have the settle-
 
 166 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 ment of the relations between these peoples ultimately in 
 their hands. Again, the appeal to history is bound to be 
 rather fatuous so far as the territories in dispute between 
 Russia and Poland are concerned. White Russia and 
 Lithuania practically changed hands almost every cen- 
 tury. Russian and Pole alike when dealing with these 
 lands are naturally tempted to take the period of history 
 that suits them best, so that on historical grounds both 
 parties can be right. From the historical point of view 
 nothing can be strictly decided seeing the territories have 
 changed hands so often. The Poles once had Kiev and 
 Smolensk, yet their most extreme advocates do not sug- 
 gest that these parts should be included in a reconstructed 
 Poland. In the beginning of the nineteenth century 
 Polish was generally spoken in Kiev except amongst the 
 people : now of course all classes speak Russian. The 
 history even of East Prussia shows that it was a Polish 
 province, which came to be held by the Teutonic knights 
 who were vassals to the King of Poland. Brandenburg 
 and the Elbe country were also once upon a time Slav 
 lands, but no Slav makes pretence to them now. South- 
 East Prussia is thoroughly Prussianised ; it is really 
 German. The Germans can well be held to have a claim 
 to it. 
 
 A much more practical consideration is that as between 
 Russia and Poland, the Polish question has never been 
 so well placed as now during the last three centuries. 
 Promises made after the Russo-Japanese War were not 
 kept, and nothing was done. It has been urged that if, 
 after the proclamation issued under the authority of the 
 Grand Duke Nicholas (which was not, however, drawn 
 up by him) the Russian Government had given definite 
 concessions had given autonomy even during the war 
 tilings would have gone very well, and the Poles would 
 ultimately have been satisfied with something less. 
 Nothing was done, however; on the contrary, the local 
 authorities in some instances are said not to have acted
 
 THE FUTURE OF POLAND 167 
 
 on the proclamation, and some of the Poles tended to 
 become a little suspicious. Yet on the whole to-day the 
 Russian Poles are on the side of Russia : nine -tenths of 
 them are Russians in faith and hope. There is a positive 
 enthusiasm in the Russian army for the Poles. The 
 promises made and none was more definite than that 
 conveyed in the speech of the Prime Minister to the Duma 
 on August 1st, 1915, when he said, "His Majesty the 
 Emperor has deigned to authorise me to announce to you, 
 gentlemen of the Duma, that His Majesty has com- 
 manded the Council of Ministers to draft a Bill to confer 
 upon Poland after the war the right of free organisation 
 of her national, cultural, and economic life on principles 
 of autonomy, under the autocratic sceptre of the Russian 
 rulers, and with the retention of a single Imperial 
 Authority " are regarded as a debt of honour of the 
 whole country even more than of the Government. As 
 one distinguished publicist put it to me, " There would 
 be a revolution in Russia if she did not keep her word to 
 Poland." 
 
 The whole question is peculiarly difficult, and is com- 
 plicated more than ever as the result of the most recent 
 turn of events. For at the beginning of the war a con- 
 ference of Polish representatives was held to discuss the 
 future of their country. This was attended by Poles 
 from Berlin who stoutly insisted that Germany would 
 win the war. Even the Prussian Poles dislike Germany, 
 and were sympathetic with Russia in spite of their feeling 
 that Germany would win. At present the situation is 
 more serious because since the evacuation of Poland by 
 the Russians the German Poles may tend to say, " We told 
 you so," and feel that they are in a worse plight now than 
 ever. Nobody, however, knows better than the Germans 
 that their occupation of Poland is temporary it comes 
 out even in their local orders, and we return in con- 
 clusion to reconsider moderate Russian opinion with 
 regard to the future of that country.
 
 168 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 It may, perhaps, be formulated thus : " The problem 
 is difficult, but it can be solved if faced by men starting 
 from two premises the needs of imperial Russia and the 
 individuality of Poland. Further, certain guiding prin- 
 ciples must be observed all the way through. 
 
 " (1) The partition of Poland was a political crime. It 
 was the work of the bureaucracy, not of the Russian 
 people. Now that Poland has developed, we recognise 
 the duty of giving her what she asks in the way of 
 self-government, and rights of language and religion. 
 Considering Poland as a cultural unity which cannot 
 be destroyed, we must reconstruct her as a semi- 
 independent State in full alliance with Russia. 
 
 " (2) All except what is regarded as a need of the 
 Empire is to be considered as a right of the Poles. 
 Restrictions, that is to say, shall only arise in connec- 
 tion with questions concerning the whole Empire 
 diplomacy, army, fortresses, trunk railways, and 
 finance. 
 
 " (3) Let us unify and federate so far as that is reason- 
 ably possible. A proverb indeed says that ' the Poles 
 are always looking to the forest,' like wolves they 
 cannot be tamed. That certainly was the old idea of 
 them, expressed in the view that they would never 
 give up their idea of the old Polish kingdom, from sea 
 to sea from Mitau and Wilna (Lithuania), Vitebsk 
 (White Russia) to Podolsk and Kiev. But history has 
 decided in these matters for Russia as against Poland. 
 When the Poles fought against the Russian Tzars they 
 were victorious, but when they fought against the 
 Russian people and their religion they were defeated. 
 Poland then should be a State apart, yet reunited in- 
 dissolubly to Russia. Psychological reasons and con- 
 siderations enter into the necessity for an independent 
 kingdom, but economic and financial questions tend
 
 THE FUTURE OF POLAND 169 
 
 towards her having a large measure of autonomy rather 
 than being apart. From the economic point of view it 
 would be more useful to Russia to constitute Poland 
 an independent kingdom. If the Poles are constituted 
 as an independent kingdom, the industrial frontier is 
 then between Poland and Russia, and all the Russian 
 industries must be protected. If Poland is a State of 
 Russia there will be no frontier, no customs : so for 
 Russian industry it would be better to have Polish 
 industry apart. If after the war armies are still kept 
 up, Russia will be obliged to have a large one at the 
 frontier. If it is kept at the German frontier all the 
 profits from the upkeep of that army will go to the 
 Poles. If Poland is a State apart, all the money 
 spent in this way (in provisioning, etc.) will remain 
 amongst the Russian population. But the question of 
 international politics is very difficult. If Poland is to 
 be a buffer State, and it is possible to unite the Prussian 
 part, that will be a good thing, but on the other hand 
 the bulk of the population there is German, so that it 
 is hardly just to make Poland extend to the Baltic. 
 
 " (4) We must begin to decentralise. Let us begin 
 the experiment with Poland, for she is an individuality, 
 and we shall learn better how to deal with regions like 
 Siberia. There can be no practical work in a Petrograd 
 Duma composed of representatives of these and all 
 the other Russian peoples : it would be too large. 
 We must then have an Imperial Duma, and local 
 Dumas with delegations from the latter to the former. 
 
 " (5) Above all, and finally, this is a Russo-Polish, 
 and not an international, question."
 
 INTERLUDE 
 
 GREAT ELMS
 
 INTERLUDE 
 
 GREAT ELMS 
 
 IT lies many versts away from the railroad, snuggling 
 amongst the noble old trees that give it name. The 
 track leads out through the village which happens to be 
 nearer the railway than is often the case in Russia, and 
 swings easily at first over a sweeping plain, partly culti- 
 vated, but dotted with numerous " erratics," indicative 
 of some glacial period in the past. Mujiks meet us and 
 doff their caps in passing. Is it because they have lived 
 for centuries on these far-horizoned lands, overarched 
 by an even greater expanse of sky, that there exists such 
 a natural sense of the Infinite in the Russian peasant 
 mind ? The unbroken surface begins to lose its smooth- 
 ness in tree-clad puckerings and risings. The landscape 
 entirely changes, and closes in upon us. Half-hidden 
 from the high road in a grove, the outskirts of which are 
 in part delimited by a white stone wall, stands a stately 
 mansion : it is Great Elms. 
 
 Into its construction has entered in a peculiar degree 
 the spacious sympathetic mind of the diplomatist whose 
 home it is. Egyptian, Old Russian, and Roman rooms 
 are laid out and decorated in the atmosphere and setting 
 of these civilisations. But better far than to speak about 
 the prejudices of the past or discuss the politics of the 
 present, was to hear him talk about his greatest friend, 
 the musician. 
 
 From the columned verandah which forms in part the 
 back aspect of the house, a broad straight path leads 
 down through the elms, and ends abruptly on a terrace. 
 
 173
 
 174 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 Beyond lies a small lake, and in the distance, across some 
 open land, rise woods of pine and birch, whose secret 
 glades and springs and other sylvan charms are made 
 discoverable by well-kept paths that penetrate to their 
 very heart. It was there that he walked and spoke of 
 Skryabin. His difficulty was in explaining to himself 
 why it was that Skryabin, a man in the full glow of 
 perfect vigour, had died so suddenly at the early age of 
 forty-three, and the halting answer came suffused with 
 that haunting mysticism that is the native expression 
 of the Russian mind. " Skryabin, you must know, was 
 developing a Mystery, the ' Preliminary Action ' to which 
 he had just finished when he died. The latter is a poem 
 as profound as Faust, which will be edited and published 
 in the course of this winter. The music for it was only 
 in his mind. Not more than three people have heard it, 
 and it is now lost except for a few fragments that he had 
 set down on paper. About the subject of the Mystery he 
 spoke only two or three times. In form it was to have 
 been a religious musical liturgy, in which all the arts were 
 to be combined. There were to be two thousand execu- 
 tants, but no spectators ; every participant was to have 
 been trained into it, with his special part. A person lack- 
 ing in spiritual comprehension would not have been 
 allowed to assist. Imagine a kind of church in which not 
 only the priest has his distinctive role, but every indi- 
 vidual in the congregation that is what it would have 
 been like. Of the central idea of the Mystery he only 
 spoke with the same three friends. It was not altogether 
 clear and concrete in his own mind, and I can say no more 
 than that it dealt with a new conception of life after 
 death. For people who are not prepared to take his 
 ' Prometheus ' as a spiritual work, all this of course must 
 seem like some ill-begotten dream." 
 
 We had come to the edge of the wood, and found our- 
 selves immediately on the lands of a village commune, 
 bearing grain that rose in places above our heads. A
 
 GREAT ELMS 175 
 
 track through it led to the village lying sheltered in a 
 hollow. Through the green grain some distance ahead 
 of us moved a single figure, his bright red rubashka 
 blazing in the sun, like a human poppy waving across a 
 field of corn. In the village street were many women 
 wearing those amazing combinations of colour in ker- 
 chief, skirt, and bodice that would be unimaginable in 
 this country, but which blend in some mysterious manner 
 in that rich sunlight. One has often wondered whence 
 the Russian people have got their highly developed sense 
 of colour till one saw again the deeply tinted sunsets, 
 and realised that a responsive people who had lived with 
 them for centuries could not have failed to be influenced 
 thereby in their racial and individual innermost being. 
 Numbers of young men standing about the village showed 
 that Russia was still far from the end of her resources of 
 manhood. Yet many had gone off to the war, and it was 
 not seldom that a wounded soldier found his way up to 
 Great Elms to thank the lady of the house in person for 
 packages of comforts that he and his fellows from that 
 district had received from her in Poland and elsewhere. 
 
 We were back in the woods again before my friend 
 resumed his discourse upon Skryabin. " Geniuses are 
 given to man to help him to rise ; but they need our 
 support. If we do not give this to them, they pass away. 
 Skryabin was the beautiful flower to have been fully 
 opened if we had proved to be true Crusaders, but when 
 we began to prove traitors to the new ideology with 
 which we entered upon the war, he was taken away. Can 
 you realise what must have been the will-effort towards 
 righteousness on our part necessary to have kept such a 
 man amongst us ? The same thing can be either medicine 
 or poison to a man at different stages of his fife ; so is 
 it with mystical truth. For its apprehension a certain 
 state of psychical ripeness and splendour is necessary. 
 We must be ripe for it, otherwise it would be a poison 
 to us. The conduct of the war, even on the part of the
 
 176 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 Allies, shows that man was not yet ripe. Russia was un- 
 able to purify herself of all dishonesty. Skryabin's 
 revelation would have been poison to us just now ; so 
 he was taken away. Someone else will be given to us 
 when we are ready, but not, I think, in our generation. 
 Our generation will die without passing into the new and 
 further phase of domination of the moral over the purely 
 natural, in which we should have been able to accept 
 what Skryabin would have given us. Latterly he became 
 the simplest of men in his natural habits and tastes, as 
 if conscious that he was merely a medium. ' In vain, 
 O Author, you suppose you are the author of your pro- 
 ductions. Eternally their truths have been around us, 
 and you are only the instrument by which they passed 
 into our understanding.' " r 
 
 We had come back to the house, and he left me alone 
 to ponder a problem of the ages, not altogether convinced 
 even by the full development of his argument. Without 
 the requisite sensitivity there can of course be no vision, 
 but in what degree does temperament help to determine 
 the final interpretation ? That evening from a sheltered 
 vantage on the roof, which gave a wide outlook on the 
 only side that was open, a struggle seemed in process 
 between a gigantic thundercloud rolling up from the 
 West and the setting sun. Yet as the envelopment of 
 the sun by the storm-cloud was only seeming, and one's 
 belief in the soundness and solvency of Nature begat 
 faith in the renewed triumph of light, so it seemed 
 credible that the present victory of evil was not absolute, 
 and that the goodness in the world would be afresh 
 revealed to men. 
 
 1 Alexei Tolstoi,
 
 THEME VI 
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY
 
 THEME VI 
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 
 
 THE Oriental Orthodox Church for the designation 
 " Greek Church " is really a misnomer has a his- 
 tory which perhaps means more to it in its actual con- 
 sciousness of to-day, and particularly to that branch 
 known as the Russian Church, than is the case with any 
 other branch of Christendom. To Jerusalem, the cradle 
 of Christianity, there succeeded in ecclesiastical import- 
 ance Constantinople, the centre from which Northern 
 Europe was evangelised. When Constantinople fell to 
 the Turks in 1453, the deposit of the Oriental Orthodox 
 Church was committed to a country that had been 
 Christian since the tenth century, where it has since been 
 preserved with an affection and in a purity that are both 
 vivid elements in the modern Russian religious conscious- 
 ness. Perhaps it is in the Oriental Orthodox Church 
 that we can see the best contemporaneous representative 
 of the Early Christian Church of the first three centuries. 
 At any rate, it has conserved without alteration the 
 teaching of the Apostles and the decrees of the Seven 
 Ecumenical Councils. 
 
 The greatest event in the history of this Oriental 
 Orthodox Church was the schism with Rome under the 
 Patriarch Photius in the ninth century. Hereby, in the 
 thought of the cultured Orthodox Russian, it was saved 
 from the spiritual despotism and the dogmatic and dis- 
 ciplinary innovations of its rival, from those alterations 
 of doctrine and waywardness in morals that produced 
 the fruitful protest of the sixteenth century, from celibacy 
 
 179
 
 180 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 of the priesthood with its attendant evils, from the sacri- 
 legious commerce in indulgences, from the horrors of an 
 Inquisition, from the baneful might of excommunication. 
 The Oriental Orthodox Church has never monopolised 
 the Holy Scriptures for its profit, nor proclaimed that 
 to it alone belonged the right to present them to the 
 faith of its people. It places their authority above all 
 else ; it calls upon its members to find within those pages 
 their daily food and sustenance. " To be the pure reflec- 
 tion of the Word of God," says Boissard, attempting to 
 show the standpoint of the Russian Church, " that is for 
 every church to participate in its infallibility." 1 Broken 
 up to-day into more than a dozen different bodies and 
 transformed in a certain measure, it still stands firmly 
 upon its ancient foundations, and will stand. To traverse 
 afresh the course of the ages, fixing our attentive gaze 
 upon ancient Kiev, mother of all the towns of Russia, or 
 on the Holy City of Moscow, the principal centre of ortho- 
 doxy ; to contemplate with mingled reverence and admira- 
 tion the noble traits of pastors such as Cyril, Nikon, 
 Philip Martyr, Hermogenes, and Philaret, or of pious 
 ascetics such as were Anthony, Theodosius, Sergius, and 
 Sozimus, or of princes like Vladimir Monomachus, 
 Alexander Nevsky, and Michael Romanov ; or yet of 
 countless martyrs and confessors, both men and women, 
 of every age and condition to do all this provides not 
 merely an entrancing story, but is necessary to the com- 
 plete understanding of what one sees in the Russian 
 Church of to-day. But that, after all, the actual expres- 
 sion of the religious consciousness is the principal thing 
 to understand ; for religious Russia, direct though her 
 contact be with the past, and proud of it as she always 
 will be, does not altogether live there, as so many seem 
 to think. " There is no book on the Russian Church," 
 wrote one of her most distinguished sons to me in answer 
 to an enquiry ; " there is no book on the Russian Church, 
 
 1 L. Boissard, " L'Eglise de Russie," Tome I, p. 10.
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 181 
 
 because our Church cannot be discussed in a book. 
 Better than from any book will you understand it if you 
 go to such a religious centre as the Troitzko-Sergievskaya 
 Lavra (a famous pilgrim-frequented monastery near 
 Moscow) or the Kiev Petcherskaya (the oldest and most 
 highly revered monastery in Russia) and others, especi- 
 ally on the great festivals, or even if you go to our 
 churches, particularly in Lent." 
 
 In endeavouring to bring out that which the Russian 
 Church means to the best of her people and what they 
 hope for from her, I do not know that it is possible to do 
 better than attempt to reproduce parts of conversations 
 to which I certainly owe much. The speaker is now an 
 old man, and a layman holding high office in connection 
 with the Holy Synod. He began by correcting wrong 
 impressions. " You must know," he said, " that the 
 Emperor is the protector, but not the head, of the Russian 
 Greek Church. The head of the Church is our Lord." 
 In his development of this point I came to see that the 
 views of the Oriental Orthodox Church and of the United 
 Free Church of Scotland were practically one, and that 
 the opinion ordinarily held in this country of the relation 
 of the Emperor to the Russian Church would be blasphemy 
 to the true orthodox believer. " That is the great dis- 
 tinction between us and the Romans," continued my 
 friend. " There is no necessity to have a head of the 
 Church upon earth when we have such a Head in heaven. 
 Again, the Greek Church is the dominating Church, but 
 it is not the State Church. We do not use the term 
 ' State Church,' because we do not have the thing. We 
 speak about the Gospodstvoyustchaya Tzerkov the 
 ' dominating,' the predominant Church. But in that 
 description there is nothing juridical, simply a statement 
 of fact." 
 
 Of these talks, of which I had two or three, what lingers 
 chiefly in my memory were animated passages in which 
 he strove to show what in great measure we had lost.
 
 182 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 And it is just here that the Russian Church has most to 
 teach us, owing to the deep mysticism of her most de- 
 voted sons, and the ingrained certainty in practically every 
 Russian mind that there is a great deal more in the world 
 than shall ever be compassed by measuring-rod or test- 
 tube, the unremitting sureness that we are wrapped about 
 by a spiritual world which is the real world. " Ah, the 
 Communion of Saints," said my friend ; " how real and 
 precious that is to us, to-day more than ever ! I think 
 that you have just a little lost the sense of it in Protes- 
 tantism, and that the spiritual world perhaps seems more 
 remote to you than it is to us. The living and most 
 patent example and proof of the vitality amongst us of 
 this feeling of the nearness of the spiritual world are the 
 periodical beatification and canonisation of new saints." 
 On enquiry as to who were the most remarkable of those 
 to whom the hearts of believers had thus gone out, the 
 following names were given amongst others : St. Mitro- 
 phane of Voronesh, who lived under Peter the Great and 
 was canonised in the reign of Nicholas I in the fifth 
 decade of last century ; St. Tikhon of Zadonsk in the 
 province of Voronesh, who lived under Catherine in the 
 second half of the eighteenth century, and was canonised 
 fifty years ago ; and more recently, during the present 
 Emperor's reign in 1903, St. Seraphim of Sarov, in the 
 Government of Tamboff (died 1833), who is said to have 
 foretold the present war. Others include St. Joasaph of 
 Byelgorod (died 1754), who was canonised in 1911 ; 
 St. Peterim, a monk who died 100 years ago ; and St. 
 Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow, who was martyred by 
 the Poles in the Tchudov monastery in 1612 ; his canoni- 
 sation took place in 1913. 
 
 It is probable that to many Western minds all this 
 represents but so much superstition. Such a hasty judg- 
 ment would be of the same qualitative value as super- 
 stition. It was impossible not to proceed farther in 
 enquiry as to process. " The rules," continued my in-
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 183 
 
 formant, " under which such canonisations take place 
 are severe. A register is made of any cures and miracles ; 
 they are written down and kept by the local clergy. If 
 these occur in striking numbers, or in an unusual degree, 
 the local clergy apply to the Holy Synod for canonisation. 
 But parallel to this outward working of miracles an inward 
 movement is going on. People who hold these saints in 
 veneration go to their tombs and pray for the soul of the 
 saint, asking our Lord that his soul should be blessed. 
 This is done during many years : the believers continue 
 to hold these requiems (panichida). The fact that so 
 many come and do this through long years assures the 
 higher clergy of the veneration in which the man is held. 
 These two circumstances eventually determine the Holy 
 Synod to make a strict examination on their own account. 
 A commission is then appointed, whose business is to make 
 thorough investigation, and ascertain that there is nothing 
 in the way of fraud. An advocatus diaboli is given the 
 fullest rein, and only after the most critical investigation 
 and full discussion is the decision made. Thus we ensure 
 that there is no fabrication of saints. It is quite possible 
 that one day Father John of Kronstadt will be canonised : 
 men and women never cease to pray at his tomb." So he 
 spoke. I do not know if St. Mitrophane actually did this 
 or that, or whether any proportion of the stories of St. 
 Seraphim are true, but I do know that in the Russia of 
 to-day there is a great belief that God is working in the 
 world both through His servants who still remain and 
 through those whom He has taken to Himself. There is 
 an attitude of expectancy, a sense of wonder, in the 
 Russian mind. He believes in God with a working belief, 
 and looks for signs of His activity in the world : and just 
 as to the expectant shepherds watching by their flocks 
 angels appeared, so to the humble believing Russian 
 peasant come great certainties of God. We do not 
 expect, and so we do not receive. We are too sure that 
 we know exactly what kind of a world it is in which we
 
 184 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 find ourselves, and vision dies amongst us. It is just 
 here that our Ally has a message and a mission to the 
 world. 
 
 Further, they realise how close they are to Protestant 
 Britain, even with that long history of separation. " Have 
 you not often considered," continued my friend, " that 
 what is common to all forms of the Christian faith is 
 ninety-nine per cent, and what is different is but one per 
 cent ? Is it not " and here he leaned forward earnestly 
 " you will excuse me, but I feel it so is it not the hand 
 of the Devil himself that makes trifles appear in our eyes 
 as important matters, and puts serious differences be- 
 tween us and Rome, when the importance of union is so 
 much greater than any or all of our differences ? We 
 understand the Protestant opposition to Rome : Rome 
 has deserved it. We only feel our regret that Protestants 
 as a whole in the time of Hus did not renew their memory 
 of the fact that there exists another old Church. Hus, 
 indeed, tried to bring about such a reunion, sending his 
 friend Jeronym of Prague to Russia with a view to bring- 
 ing his own people back to the Greek Church. Rome 
 seceded from us. Protestantism stands on the basis of 
 the Holy Scriptures, but has lost the tradition, whereas 
 we have both. We are descended from the Church of the 
 Ecumenical Councils." 
 
 Then he continued : " Inter-ecclesiastical history is 
 much more important than international history, because 
 the life of nations is limited to this earth, whereas a 
 Church is a body constituted both on earth and in 
 heaven. I often think about the question of reunion. 
 It will come first between the Greek Church and Protes- 
 tantism, not between Rome and the Greek Church. 
 Churches like the Anglican Church and the Greek Church 
 have more psychological affinity with one another than 
 with Rome. Rome is based on subordination, whereas 
 the Eastern Church is based on co-ordination. The 
 Church of Rome is a monarchy and a despotism, whereas
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 185 
 
 the Greek Church is a federation of fourteen different 
 Churches, a sort of ecclesiastical republic. In this matter 
 of union no Church should be asked to cede something to 
 the other. They must endeavour to recognise one another 
 as perfectly orthodox, as true, i.e., to Scripture and to 
 the spirit of the teachings of the Seven Ecumenical 
 Councils. 
 
 " Humanity has been is going through awful experi- 
 ences. Is not this a miracle, that the German philosophy 
 and the whole German spirit have brought that country 
 under the sway of Beelzebub ? Yet in our land there is a 
 great revival of religious interest to-day. Russia was 
 under the French influence of Voltaire till 1812 : then in 
 a struggle Napoleon was vanquished, and the result was 
 a widespread religious movement. We were again be- 
 coming materialistic when the Japanese War and the 
 revolution after the war shook us from our spiritual tor- 
 por, and the religious life of the nation was quickened. 
 The same is happening at the present moment. From the 
 court to the peasant's hut a spiritual movement is in 
 progress." 
 
 If now the question be asked, How is this religious 
 consciousness expressing itself in Russia to-day ? I do 
 not think that the answer will be found to differ so very 
 much from the kind of answer that could be truly given 
 in connection with our own country. The religious life 
 of Russia has assuredly been deepened by the war. Men 
 are face to face with the realities of life and death in a 
 degree that compels them to think. The needs of the 
 hour are driving men and women to pray. Far more 
 people are seen in the churches. I recollect in particular 
 a service in the Temple of the Redeemer in Moscow, one 
 of the most beautiful churches in all Russia. It is a 
 church of the people, and was crowded. What impressed 
 me was the very large number of men, particularly of 
 wounded soldiers. They must have outnumbered the 
 women worshippers by nearly ten to one, and it was just
 
 186 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 an ordinary service. Then again there has been a re- 
 markable development of interest in the consideration 
 of religious questions. Public lectures have been given 
 by men like Professor Prince Eugene Trubetzkoy, Pro- 
 fessor Bulgakoff, and Nikolai Berdyaev, dealing with 
 various aspects of the political and spiritual present and 
 future of Russia : for the two are one there in a degree 
 in which that is true of no other country in the world. 
 These lectures have been attended by crowded audiences, 
 and listened to with an almost strained interest. The 
 demand for religious literature has also greatly increased, 
 although it is mainly satisfied by the sale of the older 
 Russian classics. Yet in one quarter I learned that " the 
 translation of a book called ' The Ideal Life,' by a Mr. 
 Henry Drummond," was especially treasured by those 
 who knew it. Religious conversation has also become 
 much more frequent and natural in drawing-room and 
 trench alike. Such subjects were never very far at any 
 time from the speculative, questing Russian mind : to- 
 day it is no exaggeration to say that they dominate it. 
 Have we a Minister of State who, in discussing the future 
 of a city which was the cradle of Christianity to his 
 people, and therefore regarded with quite a peculiar 
 longing by them, would or could say, "We are a religious 
 people, and I believe that in our branch of the Greek 
 Church there has been preserved a real religious life, 
 whereas the other branches of the Greek Church have 
 become somewhat barren and dogmatic, content with 
 that external crust of things which has been very much 
 for the Greek Church what the Latin theology has been 
 for the Church of the West " ; or in discussing the future 
 of a country would say, as part of his political point of 
 view, " Russia does not want Palestine for herself. Such 
 an attitude is really distinctive of Russia. She could not 
 be imagined as wanting it for herself. Christ's redemp- 
 tion is for all the world ? " Similarly, at the other end of 
 the social scale, religious and political thought blend in the
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 187 
 
 peasant mind, with the former element as the determina- 
 tive one, nor do I know any more exquisite expression 
 of the fact than in an incident related by Prince Trubetz- 
 koy in one of the lectures referred to above. It opens 
 avowedly with a discussion of what Constantinople, as 
 expressed in the Church of St. Sophia, has meant and 
 means to Russia, but passes quickly into the larger 
 thought of what Sophia, the Wisdom of God in His pur- 
 pose of the redemption of humanity, has meant to the 
 world. The whole theme is developed with the haunting 
 mysticism of the Russian mind, and his endeavour is to 
 show how this thought of the salvation of the world 
 through the power of Christ is, as it always has been, 
 close to the heart of the Russian people. "It is no 
 matter for surprise," he says and this poor translation 
 can give little impression of the beauty of the original 
 "it is no matter for surprise that the soul of our people 
 was from the earliest times united to the idea of St. Sophia 
 with the greatest hope and with the greatest joy, and it 
 would be vain to think that the deepest sense of this idea 
 can be understood only by intelligent and educated people. 
 On the contrary, for the very highly educated this idea 
 is especially hard to understand : it is much nearer to 
 the life-understanding of our people. As proof of this, 
 take the following personal reminiscence. Four years 
 ago I returned to Russia from a long foreign journey 
 through Constantinople. In the morning in the mosque 
 of St. Sophia they showed me on the wall the imprint of 
 the bloody hand of the Sultan who had shed the blood of 
 Christians in this greatest of the orthodox temples on the 
 very day of the taking of Constantinople. Having killed 
 the worshippers who came there for safety, he wiped his 
 hand on the column, and the bloody imprint is shown 
 there still. Immediately after this visit I went on board 
 a Russian steamer going to Odessa from Palestine, and 
 at once found myself in a familiar atmosphere. On 
 the deck there was gathered a very large group of
 
 188 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 Russian peasants pilgrims returning homewards from 
 the Holy Land. Tired with the long journey, badly 
 dressed and hungry, they were drinking water with hard 
 bread, they were finishing their simple everyday toilet, 
 they were listening, reclining, to tales about Constanti- 
 nople. They were listening to tales about its churches 
 and, of course, about the bloody Sultan and about the 
 streams of Christian blood which, during more than five 
 centuries, had periodically flowed in this once Christian 
 kingdom. I cannot convey to you how deeply I was 
 moved by what I saw. I saw my own country in Con- 
 stantinople. There on the mountain had just disap- 
 peared the Holy Sophia lighted by the sun, and here 
 before me on the deck was a real Russian village ; and at 
 the moment when our boat gently moved along the 
 Bosphorus with its mosques and minarets, the whole 
 crowd firmly and solemnly but, I do not know why, in a 
 subdued voice, sang ' Christ is Risen ' (the Easter hymn 
 of the Greek Church liturgy). How deep and long- 
 developed was the instinct which I heard in this singing, 
 and how much of soul understanding there was in it ! 
 What other answer could they find in their souls but this 
 to what they heard about the Temple, about the Turks 
 who defiled it, and of the long-continued persecution of 
 the nation over whom they ruled ? What other answer 
 could they find in their souls in such a country, except 
 this, except their joy in the thought of a common resur- 
 rection for all people and for all nations ? I do not know 
 whether they understood their answer. For me it is 
 unimportant whether the peasants thought or not about 
 the Temple itself it is of Holy Sophia that they were 
 singing. It is important that in their singing the real 
 Sophia was understood so as no single philosopher or 
 theologian could express it. The peasants who sang 
 ' Christ is Risen ' could scarcely interpret very well what 
 they understood. But in their religious feeling there was 
 more than any deep understanding. They understood
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 189 
 
 the ferocious Turkish power under which the blood of 
 persecuted peoples flowed : they saw (in their soul) the 
 whole humanity joined in the joy of the Holy Resurrection, 
 but at the same time they felt that they could not express 
 this joy, this hope, which always lives in the soul of the 
 people, now, in the centre of the Turkish power, except 
 with a subdued voice, because so long as this power 
 exists and the temper produced by it, Sophia is still far 
 from us ; she is in a different sphere. But the time will 
 come when heaven will descend to earth, and the eternal 
 idea of humanity will be realised ; then this hymn will 
 sound loud and powerful this hymn which now you hear 
 in a subdued tone. I think no other proof seems neces- 
 sary that Sophia lives in the soul of our people. But in 
 order to see and to feel her reality, it is necessary to ex- 
 perience that which these peasants on the steamer felt, 
 and about which they sang." 
 
 Is it at all remarkable that amongst such a people 
 there should be signs of a great religious awakening, none 
 the less wonderful that it is going on so quietly that per- 
 haps as yet the mass of the people know little about it ? 
 One of the Foreign Bible Societies has distributed over 
 three and a half million portions and gospels amongst 
 the soldiers since the beginning of the war. They were 
 sent by the Imperial supply trains to the front, and on 
 the opening page may be found the following inscription : 
 " This book is given by His Imperial Highness the Tzare- 
 vitch Alexei Nikolaevitch, presented by a Sunday-school 
 scholar in America." Already those who have concerned 
 themselves with the organisation and direction of this 
 distribution have become aware of its issue in a movement 
 which is ultimately due, as one of them said to me, " to 
 no human means : it is nothing less than the Spirit of 
 God moving amongst the people." Through letters from 
 the soldiers they learn how in a hospital one has taught 
 his fellows to sing a grace before meals, whilst in a trench 
 the others have gathered round the only member of their
 
 190 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 company who happened to get an Evangile, and he reads 
 aloud to them. Yet I do not wish to give any one-sided 
 impression. There is no assemblage in any country 
 to-day, whether camp or commune, where the words of 
 the prophet are not as true as when they were written : 
 " Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves 
 white, and be refined : but the wicked shall do wickedly : 
 and none of the wicked shall understand : but they that 
 be wise shall understand." 1 
 
 It is interesting to note that a movement is going on 
 amongst the Greek clergy themselves which, if it con- 
 tinues to progress, will provide a very sympathetic 
 atmosphere for the furtherance of the awakening already 
 described. The movement is not new, and it is confined 
 as yet to very few comparatively, but it is the beginning 
 of a line of advance that history shows cannot be ulti- 
 mately checked. Already in 1905 there had come into 
 existence a group of priests who were called Priest Re- 
 newers (Svyaschenniki obnovlentzie). They also pub- 
 lished a project for a reformed parish life. In those times 
 the universal cry of the clergy was that the parish life 
 should be renewed. The Holy Synod worked out a scheme 
 for the Duma on this matter. But the project was not 
 considered to be satisfactory either for the Government 
 or for the clergy, and it did not pass. Briefly put, the 
 parish was to be converted into a church the parish, 
 that is to say, in the sense of a certain congregation of the 
 people who have no right to manage the affairs of their 
 own congregation, the minister (priest) doing all this for 
 the bishop, while the people did not discuss their own 
 needs or conditions. A church, on the other hand, would 
 be a group of people who elect their own minister, and 
 manage their own affairs by their own discussion and 
 vote. 
 
 The most distinguished representative of this reform- 
 ing and regenerating movement in the Orthodox Church 
 
 1 Dan. xii. 10.
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 191 
 
 to-day is Andreas, Bishop of Ufa. He wants the Church 
 free from officialdom. Svoboda, freedom, the rallying 
 cry of the revolutionaries of 1905, is his catchword. He 
 is especially anxious about the reform of the parochial 
 system, considering that it must be carried out under 
 any circumstances. In Russia the parish priests are 
 elected by the bishops, and the election is confirmed by the 
 Holy Synod. The local clergy, that is to say, are ap- 
 pointed without any reference or regard to the wishes of 
 the people. To Andreas' mind such a system is obsolete. 
 The parishes, he says, must be reformed on the principle 
 of election of the priests by the people, and with a certain 
 autonomy granted to every parish in relation to national 
 interests like education, etc. " We bishops must sur- 
 render this right of election to the churches." Again, in 
 the activities of the Holy Synod, the determining voice is 
 that of the Procurator, the lay member, and he is really 
 there to give expression to the wishes of the Imperial 
 Protector of the Church. " Now," say Andreas and his 
 co -thinkers, amongst whom may be numbered Bishop 
 Nikon of Krasnoyarsk and Demetrius of Tauria (Crimea), 
 " this is not canonical. In the early days of the reign of 
 Peter the Great and previously, the Patriarch was free 
 from the bureaucracy, but that great Emperor established 
 the collegium of bishops, and abolished the Patriarchate, 
 replacing it by the Synod, and instituting the office of 
 Procurator. We must return to the older arrange- 
 ment." When to this we can add that he speaks 
 against the exercise of any kind of intolerance, we can 
 surely look forward to a day of great things in the Greek 
 Church. 
 
 The religious condition of the Greek Orthodox Church 
 is, then, indeed promising. Amongst her priests are many 
 in whom there is a longing for the revival and redemption 
 of religious life generally. Amongst her people there are 
 brotherhoods or unions of zealous orthodox souls who 
 gather in special houses, listen to the preaching of par-
 
 192 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 ticular priests, and sing evangelical hymns. And when 
 we further consider the definite situation produced by 
 such a step as the prohibition of vodka, we see how, 
 taken in conjunction with this religious temper of her 
 people, yet greater and farther-reaching results may be 
 achieved in this already admirable land. The liquor- 
 traffic reform has left the Russian Government with a 
 concrete yet difficult problem. Vodka and the public- 
 houses have been taken from the people, but little has 
 been done to provide them with good pastimes and reason- 
 able and useful entertainment. The Ministry of the 
 Interior attempted to supply the lack by a project to 
 build People's Palaces in every city. The scheme was 
 submitted to the Council of Ministers by Mr. Maklakoff, 
 a recent Minister of the Interior, but the Council framed 
 a remarkable resolution to the effect that the question 
 cannot be settled merely by building special People's 
 Palaces with cheap entertainments, but that there must 
 also be educational and religious means applied to this 
 end. Under the former are envisaged lecture-halls, 
 libraries, and special evening classes for the village 
 people. With regard to religious means, the Council 
 in a delicate way indicated to the Holy Synod that 
 they are bound to bring definite spiritual influences 
 to bear upon the people, and to provide them with a 
 high religious influence that will fill their lives. It 
 is quite certain that after the war all these questions 
 will be raised and discussed, and a new movement in- 
 augurated amongst the Orthodox Greek Church and 
 the people generally. 
 
 Hitherto we have dealt with the Orthodox Church. 
 But Raskol, or dissent, and religious fragmentation gener- 
 ally, have been as characteristic of Russia as of our own 
 country. It testifies indeed to a certain vitality of re- 
 ligious life, but we believe that we are entering a period 
 when the centrifugal tendencies of the past will be re- 
 placed by movements that are centripetal. It is so in
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 193 
 
 Russia to-day. Of the various dissenting bodies, the 
 Old Believers are the most important, of whom there are 
 more than twelve millions, living mostly on the Volga 
 and in Central Russia generally. Their origin goes back 
 to the second half of the seventeenth century, and was 
 in part a protest against the issue of corrected texts of 
 the religious books initiated by the Patriarch Nikon. 
 The most aggressive points of difference between them 
 and the Orthodox Church lie, however, in such futilities 
 of ritual as making the sign of the cross with two fingers 
 instead of with three, or leading the church processions 
 of their clergy " according to the sun " instead of " against 
 the sun." They are intensely literalistic practically 
 fetichists in their attitude to the Scriptures, and there 
 is a great development of ritual in their services. On the 
 other hand, their communities choose their own priests, 
 and they have their own bishops, archbishops, and 
 metropolitan, uninterfered with by the Holy Synod ; 
 that is to say, they have already secured many of the 
 conditions which Andreas of Ufa desiderates for the 
 Orthodox Church. There is little doubt that a reunion 
 of the Old Believers with the Orthodox Church will come. 
 Already some who look for a great future for their 
 beloved Church, regenerated and transformed, are plan- 
 ning in their minds a local council at which the first steps 
 of this movement will be inaugurated. If the men to 
 whom will be given the direction of such a work include 
 those who have the penetration to say, as one of them 
 said to me, " It is easier to fight with our national enemies 
 than with our prejudices," we can be certain that the 
 thing will be done. And when this is done, and as the 
 movement grows, we may see things even yet more 
 wonderful. Such at any rate are the dreams of those 
 who love their Church in Russia. " I am very pravos- 
 lavny (orthodox) myself," writes one of the most devoted 
 of her sons to me, " and I have no doubt of the universal 
 importance of the Russian Church, but you will see this
 
 194 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 better in the future. The immediacy of her influence on 
 Russian life depends largely upon our ' intelligent ' 
 society ; the more quickly they give up their religious 
 indifference, the sooner will that influence be felt. If her 
 spiritual resurrection shall be as fully accomplished as we 
 expect it after such a world-convulsion, then the power 
 of the Russian Church will show itself visibly even on the 
 surface of Russian life." 
 
 It will have been observed that throughout this de- 
 scription of religion in Russia to-day, there have been 
 expressions of hope and belief in a regenerated and revita- 
 lised Church on the part of those who have supplied us 
 with our subject-matter ; nor are they unaware of how 
 all this alone can come. When, however, we still con- 
 sider such a movement on its purely human side, we 
 cannot altogether refuse to recognise what may be done, 
 and indeed for that matter has been done, for Russia by 
 other bodies, dissenters also, who have no historical 
 connection with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Under 
 the ukaz of 17th April, 1905, the right was given to all 
 subjects who so desired to separate from the Orthodox 
 Church. Of this " Charter of Tolerance " great advan- 
 tage was taken. Again, the ukaz of 17th October, 1906, 
 gave the right to all dissenters to form their own religious 
 associations, and have their own churches and ministers. 
 It also gave them important personal rights : under it 
 they became individuals before the law. A Church could 
 now found chapels, schools, and other institutions, and 
 own its own property. Protected by these laws, dis- 
 senters were able to spread their activities throughout 
 Russia. Further, under the political manifesto of Octo- 
 ber, 1905 "The Charter of the Constitution" con- 
 cerned with the constitution of Russian life generally, 
 and granting the Duma, etc., dissenters, along with the 
 Russian population as a whole, acquired a certain liberty 
 of the Press : they had now the right to publish their 
 own books and periodicals. How great the contrast was
 
 RELIGION IN RUSSIA TO-DAY 195 
 
 with the condition of affairs previous to 1905 can only 
 be appreciated by those who knew the country before 
 and after. Previous to that year dissenters could not 
 separate officially from the Orthodox Church : such 
 separation was considered to be a crime. The dissenter 
 in this narrower sense of the term, whatever he was, was 
 described in his passport as belonging to the Orthodox 
 Church. The man who announced his separation was 
 tried and sent to Siberia or to Transcaucasia. Any kind 
 of propaganda preaching, speaking about evangelical 
 religion was considered a crime. There were no meeting- 
 houses or institutions : no periodicals might be published. 
 All sacred songs were written out on paper, with the 
 exception of certain editions which were issued in the 
 time of Pashkoff in the closing year of the reign of Alexan- 
 der II. Meetings were arranged in a secret way in Petro- 
 grad, with small numbers, and held in private homes and 
 lodgings. 
 
 From 1905 onwards, accordingly, there has been a 
 great change. One immediate result was that a great 
 many people who had separated from the Orthodox 
 Church, though described as Orthodox upon their pass- 
 ports, applied for separation. In some cases they tried 
 to gather into communities and associations, and obtain 
 recognition from the Government as a new association. 
 Some of these bodies have founded their own schools and 
 philanthropic institutions, hold their own conferences, 
 publish their own periodicals, tracts, and hymn-books. 
 Now these bodies, although small, cannot have failed to 
 exert some influence upon the activities of the Orthodox 
 Church. Till 1890, for example, there was hardly any 
 preaching in the Orthodox Church : since then preaching 
 has greatly increased, due to the influence exerted on the 
 people by the preaching of Stundists and other dissenters. 
 There is a law of spiritual induction whereby energetic 
 conditions prevalent in one body can influence other 
 bodies in the vicinity without actual contact. It is im-
 
 196 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 possible to estimate how far these other bodies may thus 
 react on the " predominant " body, but it is certain that 
 by the Charter of Tolerance Russia permitted the develop- 
 ment of a spirit that should eventually work throughout 
 the country for good.
 
 THEME VII 
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE
 
 THEME VII 
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 
 
 " A peculiar factor is the increasing difficulty of governing 
 the Russian Empire from so completely uncentral a point as 
 St. Petersburg. If the capital of Russia were ever changed, 
 it would be transferred to the shores, or near the shores of 
 the Black Sea. In many of the older Russian maps a certain 
 town upon the Dardanelles is not marked Constantinople, 
 but Tzargrad, i.e. Tzargorod, Tzartown. Is this an earnest 
 of the future ? At any rate it is only a question of time till 
 these things be." (" Blackwood's Magazine," October, 1898. 
 Article, " Travel Pictures in the Caucasus," by the author.) 
 
 rpiHE relation, which is also the right, of Russia to 
 -- Constantinople and the Straits may be considered 
 especially from two points of view : the one economic, the 
 other idealistic. In the case of the former, the importance 
 of such possession is both calculable and immediately 
 obvious. On the other hand, the religious importance 
 of Constantinople to the life of the Oriental Orthodox 
 Church is simply incalculable, and can only be appre- 
 ciated by those who have endeavoured to assimilate 
 something of the soul of Russia in its development from 
 the past. " In the Russian Orthodox consciousness," 
 writes one of her best known and most devoted sons 
 to me, " Constantinople till now remains the world-centre 
 of Christianity, and therefore it is the natural capital of 
 the future Orthodox Kingdom. With the name of Con- 
 stantinople are very closely joined the mystical and 
 cultural hopes of the representatives of the real Russian 
 
 199
 
 200 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 self -consciousness, such as Tiutchev and Dostoievsky, 
 and these hopes are alive in us to-day with renewed 
 force. Orthodox Russia, which is the spiritual core of 
 the Russian Empire, cannot imagine that Tzargrad could 
 be anything else but Russian as soon as it ceases to belong 
 to Turkey. The failure of this hope will be an unbearable 
 disappointment for Russia, and I know that the British 
 people realise the value of religion and understand that 
 they must consider religious Russia even more than 
 political or ' intelligent ' Russia. We believe that if 
 this war puts an end to the old ' epoch of Petrograd n 
 in Russian history, then after the taking of Tzargrad, 
 there will begin a new cultural and historical epoch in 
 Russian life which will give her a new and special place 
 in history. Tzargrad is the spiritual motherland of 
 Russia because it was thence that we got our Chris- 
 tianity ; how can we spurn our motherland ? " 
 
 The claim of a relation which affects the physical and 
 spiritual life of a nation so profoundly and vitally as to 
 constitute a right of possession invites the closest attention. 
 The economic aspect may be regarded as in part an ex- 
 pression of the age-long movement towards open waters 
 that has been a persistent motive in Russian foreign 
 policy. The White Sea and the Arctic Ocean enchained 
 in Polar ice, the Baltic similarly blocked for half the year, 
 the Black Sea closed in yet another way, the land-locked 
 Caspian could not satisfy her, and she sought the far 
 shores of the Pacific, only to find Vladivostok too distant 
 for convenience. We have seen how Serbia, small people 
 though she be, has struggled to get to the sea, and Russia, 
 with her population of 180 millions, choking for a water 
 outlet unhampered by ice or Germany, has experienced 
 an even greater need. In part also there has been 
 throughout the last thousand years a sort of subconscious 
 
 1 i.e. of unbridled bureaucracy, which was really a German importa- 
 tion in the reign of Peter the Great, and is foreign to the sentiment of 
 the Russian people.
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 201 
 
 mass -tendency of gravitation towards the south and St. 
 Sophia, both in thought and actuality, amongst the 
 Russian people. It is not, therefore, owing to physio- 
 graphical conditions alone that the greatest agricultural 
 and mineralogical development is found in the Southern 
 Governments, although that is the concrete fact, big 
 with consequences which have made the question of an 
 open port almost a matter of life and death for the South. 
 This export of the products of the earth demands a great 
 harbour area and a large tonnage of vessels, for it cannot 
 be done by rail successfully ; the distances are much too 
 great to permit the export of the products of South 
 Russia in any other direction than along the natural 
 route, the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea, and the Straits. 
 Consequently with every closure of the Dardanelles, for 
 however short a period, the whole industrial and economic 
 life of the South has been disorganised, and millions of 
 rubles have been lost. Russia has been in the position of 
 a man living in his own house, the key to which remained 
 in another's pocket. During the Turko-Italian War, and 
 again during the Balkan Wars, Russia realised keenly 
 what it meant to have the Dardanelles thus arbitrarily 
 closed even for a few weeks. The present war has em- 
 phasised the situation in the acutest possible form. 
 
 Through the Straits of the Dardanelles are exported 
 the products of a very large part of European Russia, 
 the Caucasus and the Turkestan, as this is the natural 
 highway for the export of these products. The following 
 data illustrate with exactness the importance of the 
 Russian export and import trade through the Straits : 
 the marked diminution of exports in 1912 is due to the 
 Turko-Italian and Balkan Wars. 1 
 
 1 For the data in these paragraphs I am indebted to Mr. A. 
 Raffalovich, Permanent Head of the Ministry for Commerce and 
 Industry.
 
 202 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 1903 
 1904 
 1905 
 1906 
 1907 
 1908 
 1909 
 1910 
 1911 
 1912 
 
 1903 
 1904 
 1905 
 1906 
 1907 
 1908 
 1909 
 1910 
 1911 
 1912 
 
 Value of the 
 
 total export from 
 
 Russia. 
 
 vaiue oi me 
 
 export that 
 
 passed through 
 
 the Straits j 
 
 (in millions of rubles). 
 
 1001 
 
 410 
 
 1006 
 
 410 
 
 1007 
 
 406 
 
 1094 
 
 378 
 
 1053 
 
 386 
 
 998 
 
 345 
 
 1427 
 
 565 
 
 1449 
 
 565 
 
 1591 
 
 568 
 
 1518 
 
 433 
 
 Value of the 
 
 total import 
 
 to Russia. 
 
 Value of the 
 import to Russia 
 that passed through 
 the Straits. 
 
 (in millions of rubles). 
 
 682 
 
 71 
 
 651 
 
 70 
 
 635 
 
 67 
 
 801 
 
 74 
 
 847 
 
 73 
 
 913 
 
 66 
 
 906 
 
 67 
 
 1084 
 
 76 
 
 1162 
 
 87 
 
 1172 
 
 83 
 
 From the above data, it can be seen that on an average 
 about 37 per cent of the total Russian export was exported 
 through the Straits in the last decade, the import being 
 equal on the average to 8 per cent. For a certain number 
 of products, however, the export through the Dar- 
 danelles has a much greater importance, for Russia, than 
 is shown by the mere data. For instance, from Russia 
 by that route is exported over all about 90 per cent of 
 the total export of wheat, 85 per cent of the total export 
 of barley, 95 per cent of the total export of manganese 
 ore, 80 per cent of the total export of naphtha products,
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 203 
 
 55 per cent of the total export of iron ore, 45 per cent of 
 the total export of methylated spirits, etc. Another 
 point that should be taken into consideration is that 
 about 98 per cent of all the goods that are transported on 
 Russian ships between Russian and other ports (coasting 
 trade) have to pass through the Straits. 
 
 The importance for Russia of the sea route through 
 the Dardanelles will constantly increase since with the 
 construction of new railway lines in the South (Odessa- 
 Bakhmach, Kharkov-Cherson, as well as in the Caucasus 
 and Turkestan, etc.), and of the projected canal between 
 the rivers Volga and Don, and the water route between 
 the Baltic and the Black Seas, there will be created a 
 great quantity of new products, that will tend to be ex- 
 ported through the Black Sea and the Dardanelles. One 
 cannot, of course, deny that other countries have economi- 
 cal interests in the passage of the Straits and in Con- 
 stantinople which is one of the greatest commercial ports 
 in the world, but the interests of Russia in the Dardanelles 
 are more important by far, since they touch the most 
 vital sides of the economic life of that country. Every 
 time that Turkey has been at war, Russia has had to 
 suffer greatly from the closing of the Dardanelles for free 
 trade. The loss occasioned to Russia from that fact is 
 estimated to have reached about one million rubles per 
 day during the closing of the Straits for commercial 
 navigation during a certain period of the Turko-Italian 
 and the Balkan Wars. To the same cause is to be attri- 
 buted in great part the fact that the commercial balance 
 of Russia in 1912 was one hundred million rubles lower 
 than that of the three preceding years (according to the 
 draft budget of 1914). 
 
 From the days of the Crimean War till recently our 
 policy in relation to Russia has been consistently un- 
 fortunate. Whether in the matter of the Dardanelles or 
 at Port Arthur, its motive has been to thwart, largely 
 because we did not understand, and partly because we
 
 204 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 feared. In connection with Constantinople we shall have 
 an opportunity for generous action which may well 
 become the basis of a future perfect understanding. 
 Suppose that we have welcomed her to Tzargrad and 
 agreed to her occupying such territory as is necessary to 
 secure her possession of the city and the Straits. In 
 what way are we affected, even if we agree to her fortifying 
 the Straits of Constantinople and the Dardanelles as the 
 simplest and least costly method of defending the Black 
 Sea littoral, thus making the Black Sea practically 
 another inland Russian Sea ? 
 
 In the first place, it is quite certain that the fear of 
 letting Russia into the Mediterranean has been mis- 
 placed, because Russia is the only country in the world 
 which is geographically mother country and colonies in 
 one. She has enormous areas, e.g. in Siberia, the Urals, 
 and Turkestan, with a very scant population, yet with 
 all the conditions for housing the surplus population of 
 some of her European districts. Russia has already too 
 much territory to want more ; indeed the size of the 
 country is the great drawback to its intensive cultiva- 
 tion. It would be a real peril to Russia to increase her 
 territory largely. But further, there is no country that 
 is au fond so democratic as Russia, and sooner or later 
 this spirit will enter into the decision of the country's 
 destinies. Its people will not be aggressive militarists, 
 for that is not in their nature. Russia will have the key 
 in her pocket, but she will use it for the purpose of keeping 
 her own house safe, not with a view to getting into any- 
 body else's. Great Britain's keys are Suez and Gibraltar, 
 and Russia does not want them ; she knows full well 
 that we could lock her in with either of them. But she 
 is not a maritime nation, and cherishes no wish to possess 
 a great navy. 
 
 In the second place, Russia does not want the Straits 
 to close them, but to keep them open and to welcome all 
 there. She wants to export into the highly populated
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 205 
 
 countries. The open Straits mean cheaper food for 
 Britain. Russia would never close the Straits without 
 the most serious reason, because it is she herself who 
 would feel first and most deeply the effects of such a 
 step. She further realises that there is some probability 
 of a temporary decline in the prosperity of Constantinople 
 after it passes into her hands, ceasing to be the capital of 
 an Empire, and henceforth used mainly as a place of 
 call. It is therefore probable that she will do everything 
 to encourage Rumania inside, and other nations outside 
 the Straits, to develop commerce with and through 
 Constantinople. Hitherto Russia has not seemed par- 
 ticularly anxious to hold to such traditions as she had ; 
 she has rather sought her inspiration from the West. 
 To-day she begins to appreciate afresh her own tradition, 
 and her spirit, in which consist her real riches, develops 
 anew. It is not impossible that this rediscovery of her- 
 self may be expressed in a change of capital to Moscow 
 or Kiev or, less probably, farther south. But the com- 
 plete ending of the " epoch of Petrograd " will be due 
 rather to that spiritual envisaging of things which is 
 at once the mainspring and the safeguard of the Russian 
 desire for Constantinople. 
 
 " The thought of Constantinople is the ozone in the 
 spiritual atmosphere of our people. It has been in their 
 minds all through their history. It is the cradle of their 
 Christianity. From there they got not merely their 
 religion but much of their culture. Their history, when 
 you consider how important were the various Tatar in- 
 vasions, resolves itself in their minds into one long war- 
 fare between the Crescent and the Cross. Towards the 
 restoration of the Cross upon the dome of St. Sophia the 
 heart of the Russian people goes out in deep devotion as 
 a great symbolic act." These words, expressing the loftiest 
 political viewpoint in Russia to-day, are little different 
 from the theme worked out by Professor Prince Eugene 
 Trubetzkoy in a pamphlet to which reference has already
 
 206 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 been made, 1 and which is the most distinctive Russian 
 contribution to the political literature of the war known 
 to the writer. From this point we may well endeavour 
 to follow its argument. 
 
 Prince Trubetzkoy begins by showing how, literally, in 
 virtue of its geographical and historical position, Con- 
 stantinople is economically, politically, and religiously 
 Tzargrad Town of Towns to Russia. As domination 
 of the Straits is necessary as security for her daily bread, 
 and the possession of Constantinople is necessary as a 
 condition of Russia's imperial power and importance, 
 so the Temple of St. Sophia expresses that for which the 
 whole meaning of Russian life exists, the sole justification 
 of her being, and that for which she conducts the present 
 struggle. All the questions of Russian life and the present 
 war are subsumed in this, Will it be possible for Russia 
 to restore the defiled Temple in the sense of again showing 
 to the world the light extinguished by the Turks ? 
 
 In the luminous mind of the author, interpreting the 
 religious consciousness of his people, ' Sophia ' symbolises 
 the Wisdom of God in creation, and it takes the form of 
 a woman, St. Sophia, because that Wisdom has shown 
 itself at its highest at this present stage in mankind. 
 Therein lies the paradox of " the humanity of the divine 
 Wisdom," whose purpose however of filling the whole 
 world with herself and binding together the whole of 
 humanity in one thought is not yet accomplished. 
 " Humanity united by the Spirit of God in one whole, 
 and in this form become like God this is the highest 
 expression of God's project for the world, and this is 
 what must eventually reign in the world." " The hu- 
 manity of God " that is what was precious to our 
 ancestors in their representation of St. Sophia, and was 
 found by them not only in the mural paintings of her, 
 but pervading the whole religious consciousness of Ortho- 
 dox Christianity, so that the worshipper comes into con- 
 
 1 See p. 187.
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 207 
 
 tact not with an abstract world, but with the real living 
 world of God and man, peopled by living images. 
 Thus in ' Sophia ' are included a call and a religious 
 ideal a call to the realisation of that ideally perfect, 
 pure and entire humanity which our ancient ikonopists, 
 Greek and Russian, figured as St. Sophia sitting on the 
 throne, that humanity which is worthy to be eternal, 
 and worthy to rule over creation. But as yet humanity 
 is torn in pieces ; it is not one humanity. Nation 
 fights against nation ; even their faiths are at war. 
 Humanity is sinful and therefore mortal. But those 
 who were aware of the Spirit, who painted St. Sophia, 
 saw humanity holy and therefore immortal, one and 
 entire. Restoration of the broken whole of humanity 
 and so of all creation for this burn the hearts of those 
 who have seen the Spirit. This were, however, indeed a 
 resurrection to a new life, and this is the purpose and 
 progressive achievement of Sophia ' the uniting of 
 humanity and the entire world into one living whole, " a 
 living spiritual organism," rather than an abstract unity 
 of the human race, " a communion of beings joined by 
 the Spirit of God in one living substance." 
 
 The writer then passes on to deal with the concrete 
 situation. Constantine saw that heathen Rome had 
 power over the nations in its own name. His wish was 
 that his town should have as the foundation of its power 
 the union of the nations in the name of Christ and through 
 the Church ; his hope was that his town would have the 
 power of the wisdom of Christ, not the power of its own 
 name, like Rome. With its position in the centre of the 
 highways of the nations, ' Sophia ' means just what should 
 unite all nations and serve as the beginning of their 
 united kingdom. ' Sophia,' the Wisdom of God, is the 
 foundation of the united Christian kingdom, and the 
 idea of St. Sophia is organically connected with this 
 place. How then did St. Sophia fall into Turkish hands ? 
 The possibility can only be explained by the fact that,
 
 208 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 the Christian Empire lost its essential spirituality, and 
 the real ' Sophia' lived no longer in Christian souls. The 
 material loss of the Temple to the Turks was only the 
 symbol of the ideal spiritual loss. ' Sophia ' is lost at present 
 and has gone into a far off region, but she will return to 
 shine on the earth when there will be a new humanity 
 worthy to accept her. The Christian people who are going 
 to have possession of Tzargrad must have that in their 
 soul in name of which the plaster with which the Turks 
 overlaid the painting of St. Sophia 1 can be removed 
 they must be worthy of it ; because by this action they 
 light again the light extinguished by the Turks. It is not 
 enough for them to let the image be seen ; they must 
 let it be seen in their deeds. Only those can have pos- 
 session of Constantinople who previously have possession 
 of its spiritual meaning. 
 
 He then states that, after the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity into Russia, the connection between Russia and 
 St. Sophia found its expression in establishing churches 
 dedicated to her in old Russian towns. The image of St. 
 Sophia was preserved alike in the religious consciousness 
 and in art. Thus the idea of the Christian kingdom as it 
 should be exists in the Russian popular consciousness. 
 " This religious -political idea, as you know, survived the 
 fall of Constantinople, and was linked to the dream about 
 Moscow as the third Rome in place of the fallen second 
 Rome (i.e. Constantinople). And so comes about that 
 mixture of true and false universal Christianity and 
 heathen nationalism which you can see till now in the 
 Russian religious consciousness." 
 
 Such nationalism is, however, opposed to the whole 
 idea of St. Sophia is an active negation of it. In the 
 idea of St. Sophia all the nations of humanity are gathered 
 into one whole ; in her not only all people but nations 
 are called to reign together. In the idea of St. Sophia 
 
 1 He explains at some length how the Turks did not destroy the 
 representation of St. Sophia, but overlaid it with plaster.
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 209 
 
 you can see the idea of God about humanity which dis- 
 closed itself on the day of Pentecost. Then were gathered 
 together in Jerusalem all peoples, and every one of them 
 could understand the language of the apostles as if it 
 were his own. This unity of all languages in the mind of 
 God is understood by the religious consciousness in St. 
 Sophia. On the other hand, nationalism is the negation 
 of this united humanity because it puts one nation above 
 the others. 
 
 The complete fulfilment of the idea of St. Sophia on 
 earth is at the same time the complete transformation of 
 all things terrestrial, the final victory over sin and death, 
 and the general holy resurrection in Christ. It is clear 
 that the full revelation of this sacred ideal cannot be 
 made within the limits of our terrestrial existence. And 
 so for the humanity of to-day only a partial and imper- 
 fect understanding of " Sophia " is possible only a slight 
 reflection of her future glory. But to secure even this 
 degree of imperfect reflection of her in the life of nations, 
 they must be ready for great deeds and for moral advance. 
 One absolute condition is quite necessary for the people 
 who want to base their religion and their mission on 
 ' ' Sophia . ' ' They must show by deed that they really have 
 in their soul the understanding of the idea of a humanity 
 overcoming through Christ, because that is the first 
 thing about which the image of St. Sophia speaks. 
 
 The quarrels of fratricidal nations living according to 
 the laws of animals make quite impossible the realisa- 
 tion of this vision of humanity united in God. National- 
 ism is the first and essential cause that prevents the 
 realisation of " Sophia " in the life of nations. Therefore 
 the surrender of nationalism is a necessary condition of 
 passive attainment, without which it is quite impossible 
 to serve "Sophia." 
 
 From this point of view the fate of St. Sophia in 
 Constantinople and the historical future of Russia linked 
 with it can be quite clearly understood. Historically
 
 210 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 the question of the Straits for Russia is linked with two 
 other questions : 
 
 1. With the question of her mission for the liberation 
 of other peoples, and 
 
 2. With the decision of a whole series of national 
 questions within her own territory. 
 
 At this point the argument becomes very detailed and 
 particular. "In 1878 the road to Constantinople lay 
 through Bulgaria ; why could we not accomplish our 
 purpose in spite of being at her gates ? Because we did 
 not understand in a sufficiently deep way what a national 
 question is. We were not afraid of England ; we were 
 partly afraid of Austria ; the real danger was in our 
 mistaken sharing in the partition of Poland. Austria 
 drew all her power from Slav dissent. Once the Slav 
 people are united she has received her death sentence. 
 The dissent is due in great part to Russia, because she 
 took part in the partition of Poland. Russia should 
 have given Poland her independence. Bulgaria expected 
 Russian help against the Turks in '78, and did not get 
 it. Russia's sharing in the partition of Poland was the 
 principal obstacle in preventing her getting Constanti- 
 nople. In 1878, after the Treaty of Berlin, it was quite 
 clear that our road to Constantinople now lay through 
 Austria and Germany, and that Russia must restore the 
 national unity of Poland before she could get Austria 
 beaten. The connection between the possession of Con- 
 stantinople and the restoration of Poland is both logical 
 and real. This war shows that one nation cannot lord 
 it over others ; every nation has a right to its own self- 
 individuality. And besides, Constantinople is, at the 
 present moment, one of the universal centres of the 
 union of those peoples who consider other small nations 
 as a prey for their exploitation. Possible conditions for 
 Russia's getting Constantinople, are the restoration of 
 Poland, the liberation of Armenia, and the defence of 
 Serbia ; as also the assistance of Rumania, and Greece
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 211 
 
 and Italy in self -aspiration yes, even Bulgaria. 1 So also 
 with Belgium and France (Alsace and Lorraine) there is 
 a work of liberation and restoration to be done there in 
 which we can assist. In fact there is not a nation that is not 
 connected in some way with the question of Constanti- 
 nople. These conditions are all really one ; you must 
 give back their fatherland to all nations that have been 
 enslaved, and others who are under threat of such 
 enslavement claim our help. 
 
 " Only as the general liberator of the small nations and 
 as their helper, can Russia get Constantinople and the 
 Straits. This act can only be thought of as the last 
 stage in the liberation of the peoples. Only in the name 
 of this universal liberation has Russia the right to be 
 crowned with the crown of Tzargrad. On any other 
 condition the nations cannot consent to her possession 
 of Constantinople, and even if she gets it for a short time 
 a revolt against her is quite inevitable otherwise (i.e. 
 if the small nations are not freed). In the hands of a 
 weak Turkey Constantinople was not a danger to the 
 neighbouring peoples ; but in the hands of a powerful 
 State it gives a possibility of mastery in the most im- 
 portant arena of the world. Such a town as this which 
 can change the Black Sea into a Russian lake, and make 
 Russia a great Mediterranean State, and give her the 
 most powerful position in relation to the Balkan Penin- 
 sula, Asia Minor, and in general the whole eastern part 
 of the Mediterranean, is indeed the Tzargrad (Emperor 
 Town). It is evident that the nations are afraid of such 
 power in the hands of Russia ; it is evident also that the 
 nations can accept it only on one condition. Russia has 
 to do something to change this fear into confidence. 
 From the Russian Empire, when in possession of Con- 
 stantinople, they must not expect slavery or oppression. 
 On the contrary, she must be friendly to them and a 
 powerful protector and defender of their independence. 
 
 1 The pamphlet was published early in 1915.
 
 212 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 There are only two alternatives : either our possession 
 of Constantinople will really bring about the great fact 
 of the liberation of nations, or it cannot be realised at all. 
 Russia can get Constantinople only by being the leader 
 in the universal liberating movement of the nations. 
 She can possess it only by being the State liberator. 
 
 " So we have a striking example of the importance of 
 ideas as a factor in history. Not for her narrow national 
 selfish aims, but in the name of a supra-national universal 
 idea can Russia get Tzargrad and the Straits. For this 
 purpose she must get the victory over her own national 
 egoism, and find in herself a spiritual power higher than 
 that of the nations whom she is fighting, for Tzargrad 
 cannot be separated from the idea of the Kingdom of 
 God. Because of its central position it is the cause of 
 different fears and hopes on the part of other nations. 
 So, also, it must serve not the despotic power of one 
 nation over others, but all humanity. A Russian Tzar- 
 grad can only be accepted as the centre of freed nations ; 
 otherwise Constantinople has to perish ; for if it begins 
 to be a danger to the independence of its neighbours, the 
 common danger will bring about a general coalition, 
 which will have a tragic ending for us. 
 
 " Such is the connection between the question of Tzar- 
 grad and the liberating mission of Russia. But that is 
 only one side of the deeper cultural and social task 
 which in the Russian religious mind is connected with 
 the idea of ' Sophia.' The freedom of individuals or nations 
 is not an aim in itself, but only the means ; only faith 
 in the absolute dignity of the individual as the lord (lit. 
 Tzar) of creation justifies a liberating struggle or a liber- 
 ating war. But this crowning of the individual and of 
 humanity is just what our religious mind finds and 
 understands in ' Sophia.' The eternal idea of God about 
 man and the race is just that in virtue of which the in- 
 dividual deserves to be free. 
 
 "The realisation of freedom in the mutual relations
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 213 
 
 amongst peoples and nations is not, however, the realisa- 
 tion of the idea of ' Sophia ' ; because to liberate does not 
 necessarily mean to unite in spirit. The liberated nations 
 might remain apart in spirit. They can use their liberty 
 for good and for evil, and so in their life they can stay 
 very far from the ideal of humanity which is understood 
 by the religious mind in the idea of St. Sophia. But 
 still it is not difficult to understand why in the general 
 worship of ' Sophia ' the struggle for the liberation of 
 nations is the necessary condition and the first step. 
 
 " ' Sophia ' is the image of God in the individual and in 
 humanity. He who has the image in his soul, who sees 
 it in every individual and nation, cannot bear any 
 lessening of human dignity. All injustice to humanity 
 rouses wrath in the heart of him who in devotion under- 
 stands ' Sophia.' If Russia is willing to suffer for this and is 
 ready for great deeds, it shows that she has raised the 
 altar to ' Sophia ' in her soul, and we can hope that her 
 attempt to restore this altar and make it visible to the 
 whole world in Tzargrad will have success." 
 
 The final pages are devoted to the enquiry whether 
 there has been, and is, any evidence of such effort in Russian 
 national life towards spiritual purification, if there are 
 any signs of readiness on her part for great deeds and for 
 sacrifice. To speak of such a purification as already 
 accomplished would be quite vain and culpable pride. 
 Yet there are proofs which show that this purification 
 has commenced. At any rate in some points we see a 
 great difference between contemporary Russia and the 
 Russia of 1878 as she was at the gates of Tzargrad. 
 " The former Russia was in the power of two great 
 enemies of the image of God in the individual animal- 
 like nationalism and drink. Now, thanks to God, we 
 are in the way for liberation from these two tyrants." 
 He specifies the Beyliss process (February, 1914), when 
 " by the verdict of the jury the Russian consciousness got 
 free from the very grave sin of human hatred. Russia
 
 214 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 openly acknowledged the human dignity of the nation 
 which gave birth to Christ, and has understood its human 
 soul. And that is why the verdict of the jury was release 
 at the same time for herself ; in this verdict she found 
 her spiritual justification." 
 
 " One year more and we see another step towards the 
 same aim. The word of the Commander-in-Chief made 
 reference to the task of Russia in giving bodily resurrec- 
 tion to a dismembered Poland. In 1878 we failed to do 
 this. Bringing our gift to the altar of St. Sophia we 
 forgot that everyone bringing his gift to the altar should 
 first have made peace with his brother, and our gift was 
 rejected. But to-day when we are trying to make peace 
 with Poland and have spilt our blood for her, we may 
 hope our gift will be accepted." 
 
 The third reference concerns itself with the effects of 
 prohibition. " All this, however," he concludes, " is 
 nothing but a drop compared with the whole of that for 
 which Russia must be ready if she desires to serve her 
 ideal. He who understands ' Sophia ' even a little as his 
 aim, feels himself like the man who has no dress where- 
 with to enter the wedding feast. But still the soul is full 
 of hope that sooner or later we shall attain our ideal. 
 This hope is encouraged by the news which we get about 
 great deeds on the field of battle. 
 
 " An important social worker who came recently to 
 Moscow from Galicia and Poland gave me his impressions. 
 * If you have doubt about Russia, leave the rear of the 
 army and go to the trenches. There are no doubters. 
 There are no generals, officers or soldiers. There is only 
 an obscure crowd of mujiks, dressed alike, alike steadfast 
 and sure, alike ready to die for what they consider holy.' 
 
 " My conversationalist was right. In face of death 
 people feel and understand much more deeply than we, 
 that for which we live and die. This great aim which 
 unites the whole of Russia is more real there than here. 
 For that reason they demonstrate the victory of the
 
 RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE 21 
 
 Russian spirit over German technique. We know the 
 shrine which works these miracles. If you think about 
 these many millions of obscure peasants you can under- 
 stand that we all have the same holy ideal, the same 
 about which the Russian peasants were singing on the 
 Bosphorus at the gate of St. Sophia. 1 Sooner or later we 
 will hear this song in the Temple itself. St. Sophia herself 
 who lives in the soul of the people will lead thither the 
 Russian army. Then the hymn of the Holy Resurrection 
 will announce the great day of the liberation of nations." 
 
 1 See p. 188.
 
 POSTLUDE
 
 POSTLUDE 
 
 IF now these pages indicate anything, it is that there is 
 a land waiting to be possessed, a land of spiritual and 
 of material wealth. In a nobler and a deeper sense than 
 their ancestors, 1 the Russian people invite our co-operation 
 in many different directions. Yet it is apparently difficult 
 for some of us to overcome the attitude of six decades, 
 and as one has been hauntingly reminded by a Russian 
 ex-Ambassador, " England has never made permanent 
 alliances." Nevertheless, there is no reason why the 
 present Entente should not be lasting. All Russian am- 
 bitions will be satisfied with the Straits opened up and 
 in her hands. The idea of an advance by her upon India 
 is a fantasy. The answer to the question as to whether 
 Russia ever could or would act like Germany to-day is 
 found not merely in an analysis of the Russian tempera- 
 ment, but in the consideration of the motives underlying 
 Germany's aggression. This in itself brings out great 
 differences between Russia and Germany. Germany is 
 a country for which expansion is and was indispensable : 
 on the other hand, how many generations must pass 
 before Russia has thoroughly developed the enormous 
 territories that she holds, e.g. in Siberia and Trans-Caspia ! 
 Her imperialism is intensive : the imperialism of Germany 
 is extensive and therefore aggressive. For Germany the 
 question has been in the first instance a material rather 
 than a moral one. Yet even in relation to this last aspect, 
 Russia did everything possible to avert the war. The 
 war touches everyone in Russia, touches her people not 
 
 1 See p. 4. 
 219
 
 220 THE SELF-DISCOVERY OF RUSSIA 
 
 once but twice or thrice, because it is the war of everyone to 
 put an end to the German danger and pretentions for ever. 
 
 In the extreme Orient, Britain and Russia have the same 
 motives, at once conservative and in the best interests 
 of civilisation. There is nothing in the East to militate 
 against our close union with Russia. Russia will need 
 much foreign capital after the war. The Germans have 
 been filtering into the country for many decades. The 
 state of matters is at present abnormal they are gone. 
 But it is evident that in the end the Russian Government 
 will have to choose between politics and business, unless 
 Britain takes steps to cement the union on the basis of 
 furnishing capital, and in other ways. 
 
 " In Asia we must go hand in hand. If the fundamental 
 principle of doing nothing without agreement and consulta- 
 tion between the Governments was permanently agreed to, 
 there could be no possible future cause of misunder- 
 standing. In Persia there can be no trouble, because we 
 have separate spheres of influence. With regard to 
 Palestine, what is vital to Russia is the modality in 
 government alone. The interest of Russia in Palestine 
 is religious ; it is not political in any way. All that she 
 wants is perfect religious liberty freedom for her pil- 
 grims in their worship and ministrations there. 
 
 " Russia is the protector of Armenia against Turkey. 
 She is sympathetic towards the Armenian people, and 
 has no thought of annexation in connection with their 
 territory, viz. those regions in Asia Minor where they 
 have lived alongside the Turks and Kurds. There must 
 of course be rearrangements of the population to some 
 extent. But Russia wishes Armenia to live her own life 
 with autonomy." 
 
 Finally, " there never has been any genuine Pan- 
 Slavism in the sense of a real desire to build up a Pan- 
 Slavist cosmos that will dominate and rule the world. 
 Such an idea is simply one of the German manufactures 
 in our country. Our only desire is that these smaller
 
 POSTLUDE 221 
 
 nationalities in the Near East shall live in peace and 
 happiness, developing their own life as they desire, and 
 for ever free from the terrible tyranny of Austria, and 
 her method of sowing mutual mistrust amongst them." 
 And that, too, is the desire of Britain. Perhaps, after all, 
 we are nearer than we think to the days of unforced 
 permanent alliances for supra-national ends.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Note 1 (p. 52). 
 
 The reference is to the British Nationality and Status of 
 Aliens Act, which provides that the following shall be deemed 
 to be natural-born British subjects : " Any person born out 
 of His Majesty's dominions, whose father was a British sub- 
 ject at the time of that person's birth and either was born 
 within His Majesty's allegiance or was a person to whom a 
 certificate of naturalization had been granted." [Section I 
 
 (1) (b)]. 
 
 The effect of this is that, whereas formerly two generations 
 of persons born abroad of British descent on the male side 
 could claim British nationality, persons of the second genera- 
 tion born abroad on and after the commencement of the 
 new Act (1 January, 1915) are not to be regarded as British 
 subjects, but as statutory aliens. The status of persons born 
 before January, 1915, is however not affected by this pro- 
 vision, and they remain British subjects if they possessed 
 that status when the Act came into operation. Or, to put 
 the matter more concretely : A, born in His Majesty's do- 
 minions, and consequently a natural-born British subject, 
 has issue B, born outside His Majesty's dominions, but a 
 British subject. B has issue C and D, both born outside His 
 Majesty's dominions, C before the commencement of the 
 new Act, D after that date. In terms of the Act, C is a British 
 subject, D is an alien. Further, the administration of the 
 Act is chiefly in the hands of the Home Office. 
 
 Note 2 (p. 52). 
 
 There is, in particular, one direction in which Russia could 
 assist Great Britain and her own balance of trade at the 
 
 223
 
 224 APPENDIX 
 
 same time, and that is in connection with the supply of timber. 
 Russia has been termed " The Land of Forests." At the end 
 of the war, there will be a very great demand for timber of 
 the kind she can produce in large amounts pine and fir 
 for rebuilding the towns, villages, and homesteads devastated 
 in the war zones. The great forests in North European Russia, 
 in Finland, and in the Taiga belt in Siberia represent enormous 
 areas of unexploited material of this description. Many of 
 these areas are practically inaccessible, owing to the scant 
 population and lack of means of communication. To open 
 up these sources of wealth, capital will be required. In 1913 
 Great Britain imported 15,000,000 worth of forestry material 
 from Russia. Owing to the increased price of timber and the 
 large demands which will inevitably arise at the close of the 
 war, the demands for forestry material by Great Britain and 
 her Allies will be very great. If capital is forthcoming, Russia 
 should be able, by tapping hitherto unexploited areas, to 
 supply these demands at reasonable prices, and thus prevent 
 the Central Powers, who have great forest reserves and are 
 confidently counting on recovering trade by means of them, 
 from making a " corner " in the timber markets.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Agrarian reform, 26, 28 
 
 Alexander II, policy of, 6 
 
 Alexander III, policy of, 6 
 
 Aliens Act, 62 ff . 
 
 Armenia, 20, 220 
 
 Army Medical Department, 132 
 
 Aspirations of Russian Poles, 
 
 164 ff. 
 Assembly (village), see Mir 
 Austrian Campaign, 136 
 
 Balkan problem, 165 
 
 Berdyaev, Nicolas, quoted, 3, 4, 5 
 
 Bismarck, 6, 7 
 
 Bombardment of Austrian lines, 
 
 140 ff. 
 Bosnia-Herzegovina, 7 
 Britain and Russia, 7, 219 ff. 
 British Nationality and Status of 
 
 Aliens Act, 52 ff . 
 Bureaucracy, 5 
 Business relations with Russia, 
 
 43 ff. 
 
 Carpathian retreat, 133 
 Charter of the Constitution, 194 
 Commune, see Mir 
 Communion of Saints, Russian 
 
 belief in, 182 
 Constantinople and Russia, 186 ff., 
 
 199 ff. 
 Co-operative movement, 36 ff . 
 Cossacks, 127, 131, 138, 145 ff. 
 County Councils, see Zemstvo 
 Crime, diminution of, 63, 75 ff . 
 Czech nationality, 159 
 
 a 225 
 
 Dantzig, future of, 161 
 Dardanelles and Russia, 201 ff. 
 Decentralisation in Russia, 169 
 Deserter, German, 147 ff. 
 Dissent in Russia, 192 ff. 
 Duma, 21, 25, 26, 49, 57, 58, 167, 
 190 
 
 Economic importance of Dar- 
 danelles, 201 ff. 
 
 Education, 35 ; in relation to 
 prohibition, 86 
 
 Epoch of Petrograd, 200, 205 
 
 Factory hands and prohibition, 
 
 61, 90 ff . 
 Feeding of Russian troops, 133 
 Foreign capital in Russia, 46 ; 
 
 need of, for Russia, 48 
 Future, of Poland, 157 ff . ; of 
 
 prohibition, 117 ff. 
 
 Galicia, description, 124 ff. 
 German influence in Russia, 5, 6, 
 
 7, 44 ff . 
 German Poles, attitude of, 167 
 Germany and Poland, 157 
 Gold reserve in Russia, 46 
 
 Hooliganism and prohibition, 75 
 Hospital, in Kinyeshma, 34, 37 ; 
 at Petrograd station, 16 
 
 Interview with German deserter, 
 147 ff.
 
 226 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jews, 19, 36, 37, 213, 214; in 
 
 Poland, 162 ff. 
 John, Father, 183 
 
 Kiev, 123, 153, 180, 181, 205 
 Kinyeshma, 34, 35 ; results of 
 
 prohibition in, 62 S. 
 Kostroma, Zemstvo activity in, 
 
 33 ff. ; and prohibition, 67 ff., 
 
 80 
 
 Law-breaking and prohibition, 
 
 75 ff. 
 Life in the trenches, 135 ff. 
 Lithuania, 158 ff. 
 " Lusitania," sinking of, 149 
 
 Mendelson's studies in prohibi- 
 tion, 113 
 
 Military - Technical Committee, 
 22 ff. 
 
 Mir, 26 ff. ; and prohibition, 73 ff . 
 
 Miracle, 183 
 
 Moral results of prohibition, 58, 
 60, 74 
 
 Moscow, municipality of, and Red 
 Cross work, 12, 15, 16, 23 
 
 Munitions, 22 ff., 36 
 
 Nicholas II and vodka, 57 
 Non-appearances, and prohibi- 
 tion, 92, 95 ff. 
 
 Oriental Orthodox Church, 179 ff. 
 
 Palestine, Russia and, 186 
 
 Pan-Slavism, 220 
 
 Partitioning of Poland, 158 
 
 People's Palaces, 192 
 
 Permanent prohibition, 81 ff. 
 
 Petrograd Municipality, and Red 
 Cross work, 16 ff. ; and prohibi- 
 tion, 60 ff . 
 
 Poland, 19, 157 ff. ; differences 
 with Russia, 160, 210 ; Jews 
 in, 162 
 
 Prisoners, German, 27 ff. ; Rus- 
 sian, 28 
 
 Procurator of Holy Synod, 191 
 
 Prohibition, effect on country 
 life, 59, 67 ff. ; and sickness, 
 113 ff. ; and social life, 71 ff. 
 permanency of, 81 ff., 105 
 and town life, 60 ff., 90 ff. 
 and factory life, 61, 90 ff. 
 future of, 117 ff. 
 
 Protection in Russia, 48 
 
 Protestantism and Greek Church, 
 184 
 
 Red Cross Society, 12, 13, 15 
 Regimental holiday, 143 ff. 
 Religion in Russia, 179 ff. 
 Russia and Constantinople, 186 
 
 ff., 199 ff. 
 Russia and Germany, 5, 6, 7, 44 ff ., 
 
 148, 219 ff. 
 Russia and Palestine, 186, 220 
 Russia and Poland, 157 ff., 210 
 Russia and the Straits, 201 ff. 
 Russian credit, 50 ; gold reserve, 
 
 46 
 Russo-Japanese War, 4, 7, 11, 12 
 
 St. Sophia, Temple of, 187 ff. ; 
 
 idea of, 206 ff . 
 Shingariev, 49 
 
 Siberia, prisoners of war in, 27, 28 
 Skryabin, 174 ff. 
 Statistical results of prohibition, 
 
 92 ff. 
 Stolypin, 26 
 Substitutes for vodka, 71 
 
 Tarnopol, 126, 127 
 
 Torneo, 64 
 
 Trench conditions, 135 ff .
 
 INDEX 
 
 227 
 
 Trubetzkoy, Prince, 186, 187, 
 
 205 ft. 
 Tuitchev, 3, 200 
 Turkey and Russia, 200 ff. 
 
 Uniats, 128, 143 
 
 Union of Towns, 5, 11 ff. ; juridi- 
 cal position of, 25 
 
 Union of Zemstvos, 5, 11 ff. ; 
 juridical position of, 25 
 
 Varyag princes, 4 
 Village Commune, see Mir 
 Vodka, 57 ff. ; budget deficit on, 
 
 43; composition of, 114; pro- 
 hibition of, 57 ff. ; substitutes 
 for, 71 
 Volga, in peasant thought, 33, 37 
 
 Wine, prohibition of, 117, 118 
 Women, drunkenness amongst 
 78 ff. 
 
 Zemstvo, basis of practical free- 
 dom, 25 ; formation of, 11 ; 
 union of, 11 ff. ; work in Kos- 
 troma, 33 ff . 
 
 Zlota Lipa, 134 ff.
 
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