Russia

Titel: Russia

von William Shakespeare, H. G. Wells, Henry Van Dyke, Thomas Carlyle, Oscar Wilde, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Anthony Hope, Henry Fielding, Giraldus Cambrensis, Daniel Defoe, Grammaticus Saxo, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hugh Lofting, Agatha Christie, Sinclair Lewis, Eugène Brieux, Upton Sinclair, Booth Tarkington, Sax Rohmer, Jack London, Anna Katharine Green, Sara Jeannette Duncan, Xenophon, Alexandre Dumas père, John William Draper, Alice Christiana Thompson Meynell, Bram Stoker, Honoré de Balzac, William Congreve, Louis de Rougemont, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Rolf Boldrewood, François Rabelais, Lysander Spooner, B. M. Bower, Henry Rider Haggard, William Hickling Prescott, Lafcadio Hearn, Robert Herrick, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Charles Babbage, Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin, Frank L. Packard, George Meredith, John Merle Coulter, Irvin S. Cobb, Edwin Mims, John Tyndall, Various, Charles Darwin, Sidney Lanier, Henry Lawson, Niccolò Machiavelli, George W. Crile, Théophile Gautier, Noah Brooks, James Thomson, Zane Grey, J. M. Synge, Virginia Woolf, Conrad Aiken, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Helen Cody Wetmore, Ayn Rand, Sir Thomas Malory, Gustave Flaubert, Edmond Rostand, Charlotte Brontë, Edith Wharton, Giles Lytton Strachey, Myrtle Reed, Ernest Bramah, Jules Verne, H. L. Mencken, H. Stanley Redgrove, Victor Lefebure, Edna Lyall, John Masefield, Charles Kingsley, Robert Burns, Edgar Lee Masters, Victor [pseud.] Appleton, Ellis Parker Butler, Mary Lamb, Charles Lamb, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Kenneth Grahame, Charles Dickens, John Ruskin, John Galt, James J. Davis, Owen Wister, William Blades, Sir Hall Caine, Sir Max Beerbohm, Baron Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Dunsany, Bret Harte, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Thomas Henry Huxley, A. B. Paterson, John N. Reynolds, Walter Dill Scott, Hans Gustav Adolf Gross, T. S. Eliot, Walt Whitman, Arthur Ransome, Jane Addams, Elizabeth, David Lindsay, Helen Bannerman, Charles A. Oliver, J. M. Barrie, Robert F. Murray, Andrew Lang, Jerome K. Jerome, Francis Thompson, Sydney Waterlow, Andrew Dickson White, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Karl Marx, Edouard Louis Emmanuel Julien Le Roy, Margaret Hill McCarter, Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace

ISBN 978-3-7429-1293-0

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RUSSIA

by Donald Mackenzie Wallace

Copyright 1905

Table of Contents

PREFACE CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER IX CHAPTER X CHAPTER XI CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XIII CHAPTER XIV CHAPTER XV CHAPTER XVI CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVIII CHAPTER XIX CHAPTER XX CHAPTER XXI CHAPTER XXII CHAPTER XXIII CHAPTER XXIV CHAPTER XXV CHAPTER XXVI CHAPTER XXVII CHAPTER XXVIII CHAPTER XXIX CHAPTER XXX CHAPTER XXXI CHAPTER XXXII CHAPTER XXXIII CHAPTER XXXIV CHAPTER XXXV CHAPTER XXXVI CHAPTER XXXVII CHAPTER XXXVIII CHAPTER XXXIX

Contents

Preface

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA

Railways—State Interference—River Communications—Russian "Grand

Tour"—The Volga—Kazan—Zhigulinskiya Gori—Finns and Tartars—The

Don—Difficulties of Navigation—Discomforts—Rats—Hotels and

Their Peculiar Customs—Roads—Hibernian Phraseology

Explained—Bridges—Posting—A Tarantass—Requisites for

Travelling—Travelling in Winter—Frostbitten—Disagreeable

Episodes—Scene at a Post-Station.

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II

IN THE NORTHERN FORESTS

Bird's-eye View of Russia—The Northern Forests—Purpose of

my Journey—Negotiations—The Road—A Village—A Peasant's

House—Vapour-Baths—Curious Custom—Arrival.

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER III

VOLUNTARY EXILE

Ivanofka—History of the Place—The Steward of the Estate—Slav and

Teutonic Natures—A German's View of the Emancipation—Justices of the

Peace—New School of Morals—The Russian Language—Linguistic Talent of

the Russians—My Teacher—A Big Dose of Current History.

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER IV

THE VILLAGE PRIEST

Priests' Names—Clerical Marriages—The White and the Black Clergy—Why

the People do not Respect the Parish Priests—History of the White

Clergy—The Parish Priest and the Protestant Pastor—In What Sense

the Russian People are Religious—Icons—The Clergy and Popular

Education—Ecclesiastical Reform—Premonitory Symptoms of Change—Two

Typical Specimens of the Parochial Clergy of the Present Day.

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER V

A MEDICAL CONSULTATION

Unexpected Illness—A Village Doctor—Siberian Plague—My

Studies—Russian Historians—A Russian Imitator of Dickens—A ci-devant

Domestic Serf—Medicine and Witchcraft—A Remnant of Paganism—Credulity

of the Peasantry—Absurd Rumours—A Mysterious Visit from St.

Barbara—Cholera on Board a Steamer—Hospitals—Lunatic Asylums—Amongst

Maniacs.

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VI

A PEASANT FAMILY OF THE OLD TYPE

Ivan Petroff—His Past Life—Co-operative Associations—Constitution of

a Peasant's Household—Predominance of Economic Conceptions over those

of Blood-relationship—Peasant Marriages—Advantages of Living in Large

Families—Its Defects—Family Disruptions and their Consequences.

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII

THE PEASANTRY OF THE NORTH

Communal Land—System of Agriculture—Parish Fetes—Fasting—Winter

Occupations—Yearly Migrations—Domestic Industries—Influence

of Capital and Wholesale Enterprise—The State

Peasants—Serf-dues—Buckle's "History of Civilisation"—A precocious

Yamstchik—"People Who Play Pranks"—A Midnight Alarm—The Far North.

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER VIII

THE MIR, OR VILLAGE COMMUNITY

Social and Political Importance of the Mir—The Mir and the Family

Compared—Theory of the Communal System—Practical Deviations from the

Theory—The Mir a Good Specimen of Constitutional Government of the

Extreme Democratic Type—The Village Assembly—Female Members—The

Elections—Distribution of the Communal Land.

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER IX

HOW THE COMMUNE HAS BEEN PRESERVED, AND WHAT IT IS TO EFFECT IN THE

FUTURE

Sweeping Reforms after the Crimean War—Protest Against the Laissez

Faire Principle—Fear of the Proletariat—English and Russian Methods of

Legislation Contrasted—Sanguine Expectations—Evil Consequences of

the Communal System—The Commune of the Future—Proletariat of the

Towns—The Present State of Things Merely Temporary.

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER X

FINNISH AND TARTAR VILLAGES

A Finnish Tribe—Finnish Villages—Various Stages of

Russification—Finnish Women—Finnish Religions—Method of "Laying"

Ghosts—Curious Mixture of Christianity and Paganism—Conversion of

the Finns—A Tartar Village—A Russian Peasant's Conception of

Mahometanism—A Mahometan's View of Christianity—Propaganda—The

Russian Colonist—Migrations of Peoples During the Dark Ages.

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XI

LORD NOVGOROD THE GREAT

Departure from Ivanofka and Arrival at Novgorod—The Eastern Half of

the Town—The Kremlin—An Old Legend—The Armed Men of Rus—The

Northmen—Popular Liberty in Novgorod—The Prince and the Popular

Assembly—Civil Dissensions and Faction-fights—The Commercial Republic

Conquered by the Muscovite Tsars—Ivan the Terrible—Present Condition

of the Town—Provincial Society—Card-playing—Periodicals—"Eternal

Stillness."

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XII

THE TOWNS AND THE MERCANTILE CLASSES

General Character of Russian Towns—Scarcity of Towns in Russia—Why

the Urban Element in the Population is so Small—History of

Russian Municipal Institutions—Unsuccessful Efforts to Create a

Tiers-etat—Merchants, Burghers, and Artisans—Town Council—A Rich

Merchant—His House—His Love of Ostentation—His Conception of

Aristocracy—Official Decorations—Ignorance and Dishonesty of the

Commercial Classes—Symptoms of Change.

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIII

THE PASTORAL TRIBES OF THE STEPPE

A Journey to the Steppe Region of the Southeast—The Volga—Town

and Province of Samara—Farther Eastward—Appearance of the

Villages—Characteristic Incident—Peasant Mendacity—Explanation of the

Phenomenon—I Awake in Asia—A Bashkir Aoul—Diner la Tartare—Kumyss—A

Bashkir Troubadour—Honest Mehemet Zian—Actual Economic Condition of

the Bashkirs Throws Light on a Well-known Philosophical Theory—Why

a Pastoral Race Adopts Agriculture—The Genuine Steppe—The

Kirghiz—Letter from Genghis Khan—The Kalmyks—Nogai Tartars—Struggle

between Nomadic Hordes and Agricultural Colonists.

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XIV

THE MONGOL DOMINATION

The Conquest—Genghis Khan and his People—Creation and Rapid

Disintegration of the Mongol Empire—The Golden Horde—The Real

Character of the Mongol Domination—Religious Toleration—Mongol System

of Government—Grand Princes—The Princes of Moscow—Influence of the

Mongol Domination—Practical Importance of the Subject.

CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XV

THE COSSACKS

Lawlessness on the Steppe—Slave-markets of the Crimea—The Military

Cordon and the Free Cossacks—The Zaporovian Commonwealth Compared with

Sparta and with the Mediaeval Military Orders—The Cossacks of the Don,

of the Volga, and of the Ural—Border Warfare—The Modern Cossacks—Land

Tenure among the Cossacks of the Don—The Transition from Pastoral to

Agriculture Life—"Universal Law" of Social Development—Communal versus

Private Property—Flogging as a Means of Land-registration.

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVI

FOREIGN COLONISTS ON THE STEPPE

The Steppe—Variety of Races, Languages, and Religions—The German

Colonists—In What Sense the Russians are an Imitative

People—The Mennonites—Climate and Arboriculture—Bulgarian

Colonists—Tartar-Speaking Greeks—Jewish

Agriculturists—Russification—A Circassian Scotchman—Numerical

Strength of the Foreign Element.

CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVII

AMONG THE HERETICS

The Molokanye—My Method of Investigation—Alexandrof-Hai—An Unexpected

Theological Discussion—Doctrines and Ecclesiastical Organisation of

the Molokanye—Moral Supervision and Mutual Assistance—History of the

Sect—A False Prophet—Utilitarian Christianity—Classification of

the Fantastic Sects—The "Khlysti"—Policy of the Government towards

Sectarianism—Two Kinds of Heresy—Probable Future of the Heretical

Sects—Political Disaffection.

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XVIII

THE DISSENTERS

Dissenters not to be Confounded with Heretics—Extreme Importance

Attached to Ritual Observances—The Raskol, or Great Schism in the

Seventeenth Century—Antichrist Appears!—Policy of Peter the Great

and Catherine II.—Present Ingenious Method of Securing Religious

Toleration—Internal Development of the Raskol—Schism among the

Schismatics—The Old Ritualists—The Priestless People—Cooling of the

Fanatical Enthusiasm and Formation of New Sects—Recent Policy of

the Government towards the Sectarians—Numerical Force and Political

Significance of Sectarianism.

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XIX

CHURCH AND STATE

The Russian Orthodox Church—Russia Outside of the Mediaeval Papal

Commonwealth—Influence of the Greek Church—Ecclesiastical History of

Russia—Relations between Church and State—Eastern Orthodoxy and the

Russian National Church—The Synod—Ecclesiastical Grumbling—Local

Ecclesiastical Administration—The Black Clergy and the Monasteries—The

Character of the Eastern Church Reflected in the History of Religious

Art—Practical Consequences—The Union Scheme.

CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XX

THE NOBLESSE

The Nobles In Early Times—The Mongol Domination—The Tsardom of

Muscovy—Family Dignity—Reforms of Peter the Great—The Nobles Adopt

West-European Conceptions—Abolition of Obligatory Service—Influence of

Catherine II.—The Russian Dvoryanstvo Compared with the French Noblesse

and the English Aristocracy—Russian Titles—Probable Future of the

Russian Noblesse.

CHAPTER XXI

CHAPTER XXI

LANDED PROPRIETORS OF THE OLD SCHOOL

Russian Hospitality—A Country-House—Its Owner Described—His Life,

Past and Present—Winter Evenings—Books—-Connection with the Outer

World—The Crimean War and the Emancipation—A Drunken, Dissolute

Proprietor—An Old General and his Wife—"Name Days"—A Legendary

Monster—A Retired Judge—A Clever Scribe—Social Leniency—Cause of

Demoralisation.

CHAPTER XXII

CHAPTER XXII

PROPRIETORS OF THE MODERN SCHOOL

A Russian Petit Maitre—His House and Surroundings—Abortive Attempts

to Improve Agriculture and the Condition of the Serfs—A Comparison—A

"Liberal" Tchinovnik—His Idea of Progress—A Justice of the Peace—His

Opinion of Russian Literature, Tchinovniks, and Petits Maitres—His

Supposed and Real Character—An Extreme Radical—Disorders in

the Universities—Administrative Procedure—Russia's Capacity for

Accomplishing Political and Social Evolutions—A Court Dignitary in his

Country House.

CHAPTER XXIII

CHAPTER XXIII

SOCIAL CLASSES

Do Social Classes or Castes Exist in Russia?—Well-marked Social

Types—Classes Recognised by the Legislation and the Official

Statistics—Origin and Gradual Formation of these Classes—Peculiarity

in the Historical Development of Russia—Political Life and Political

Parties.

CHAPTER XXIV

CHAPTER XXIV

THE IMPERIAL ADMINISTRATION AND THE OFFICIALS

The Officials in Norgorod Assist Me in My Studies—The Modern Imperial

Administration Created by Peter the Great, and Developed by his

Successors—A Slavophil's View of the Administration—The Administration

Briefly Described—The Tchinovniks, or Officials—Official Titles, and

Their Real Significance—What the Administration Has Done for Russia in

the Past—Its Character Determined by the Peculiar Relation between

the Government and the People—Its Radical Vices—Bureaucratic

Remedies—Complicated Formal Procedure—The Gendarmerie: My Personal

Relations with this Branch of the Administration; Arrest and Release—A

Strong, Healthy Public Opinion the Only Effectual Remedy for Bad

Administration.

CHAPTER XXV

CHAPTER XXV

MOSCOW AND THE SLAVOPHILS

Two Ancient Cities—Kief Not a Good Point for Studying Old Russian

National Life—Great Russians and Little Russians—Moscow—Easter Eve

in the Kremlin—Curious Custom—Anecdote of the Emperor

Nicholas—Domiciliary Visits of the Iberian Madonna—The Streets of

Moscow—Recent Changes in the Character of the City—Vulgar Conception

of the Slavophils—Opinion Founded on Personal Acquaintance—Slavophil

Sentiment a Century Ago—Origin and Development of the Slavophil

Doctrine—Slavophilism Essentially Muscovite—The Panslavist

Element—The Slavophils and the Emancipation.

CHAPTER XXVI

CHAPTER XXVI

ST. PETERSBURG AND EUROPEAN INFLUENCE

St. Petersburg and Berlin—Big Houses—The "Lions"—Peter the Great—His

Aims and Policy—The German Regime—Nationalist Reaction—French

Influence—Consequent Intellectual Sterility—Influence of the

Sentimental School—Hostility to Foreign Influences—A New Period of

Literary Importation—Secret Societies—The Catastrophe—The Age of

Nicholas—A Terrible War on Parnassus—Decline of Romanticism and

Transcendentalism—Gogol—The Revolutionary Agitation of 1848—New

Reaction—Conclusion.

CHAPTER XXVII

CHAPTER XXVII

THE CRIMEAN WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

The Emperor Nicholas and his System—The Men with Aspirations and the

Apathetically Contented—National Humiliation—Popular Discontent

and the Manuscript Literature—Death of Nicholas—Alexander II.—New

Spirit—Reform Enthusiasm—Change in the Periodical Literature—The

Kolokol—The Conservatives—The Tchinovniks—First Specific

Proposals—Joint-Stock Companies—The Serf Question Comes to the Front.

CHAPTER XXVIII

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE SERFS

The Rural Population in Ancient Times—The Peasantry in the Eighteenth

Century—How Was This Change Effected?—The Common Explanation

Inaccurate—Serfage the Result of Permanent Economic and Political

Causes—Origin of the Adscriptio Glebae—Its Consequences—Serf

Insurrection—Turning-point in the History of Serfage—Serfage in

Russia and in Western Europe—State Peasants—Numbers and Geographical

Distribution of the Serf Population—Serf Dues—Legal and Actual Power

of the Proprietors—The Serfs' Means of Defence—Fugitives—Domestic

Serfs—Strange Advertisements in the Moscow Gazette—Moral Influence of

Serfage.

CHAPTER XXIX

CHAPTER XXIX

THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SERFS

The Question Raised—Chief Committee—The Nobles of the Lithuanian

Provinces—The Tsar's Broad Hint to the Noblesse—Enthusiasm in the

Press—The Proprietors—Political Aspirations—No Opposition—The

Government—Public Opinion—Fear of the Proletariat—The Provincial

Committees—The Elaboration Commission—The Question Ripens—Provincial

Deputies—Discontent and Demonstrations—The Manifesto—Fundamental

Principles of the Law—Illusions and Disappointment of the

Serfs—Arbiters of the Peace—A Characteristic Incident—Redemption—Who

Effected the Emancipation?

CHAPTER XXX

CHAPTER XXX

THE LANDED PROPRIETORS SINCE THE EMANCIPATION

Two Opposite Opinions—Difficulties of Investigation—The Problem

Simplified—Direct and Indirect Compensation—The Direct Compensation

Inadequate—What the Proprietors Have Done with the Remainder of

Their Estates—Immediate Moral Effect of the Abolition of Serfage—The

Economic Problem—The Ideal Solution and the Difficulty of Realising

It—More Primitive Arrangements—The Northern Agricultural Zone—The

Black-earth Zone—The Labour Difficulty—The Impoverishment of

the Noblesse Not a New Phenomenon—Mortgaging of Estates—Gradual

Expropriation of the Noblesse-Rapid Increase in the Production and

Export of Grain—How Far this Has Benefited the Landed Proprietors.

CHAPTER XXXI

CHAPTER XXXI

THE EMANCIPATED PEASANTRY

The Effects of Liberty—Difficulty of Obtaining Accurate

Information—Pessimist Testimony of the Proprietors—Vague Replies of

the Peasants—My Conclusions in 1877—Necessity of Revising Them—My

Investigations Renewed in 1903—Recent Researches by Native Political

Economists—Peasant Impoverishment Universally Recognised—Various

Explanations Suggested—Demoralisation of the Common People—Peasant

Self-government—Communal System of Land Tenure—Heavy

Taxation—Disruption of Peasant Families—Natural Increase of

Population—Remedies Proposed—Migration—Reclamation of Waste

Land—Land-purchase by Peasantry—Manufacturing Industry—Improvement of

Agricultural Methods—Indications of Progress.

CHAPTER XXXII

CHAPTER XXXII

THE ZEMSTVO AND THE LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

Necessity of Reorganising the Provincial Administration—Zemstvo Created

in 1864—My First Acquaintance with the Institution—District and

Provincial Assemblies—The Leading Members—Great Expectations Created

by the Institution—These Expectations Not Realised—Suspicions and

Hostility of the Bureaucracy—Zemstvo Brought More Under Control of the

Centralised Administration—What It Has Really Done—Why It Has Not

Done More—-Rapid Increase of the Rates—How Far the Expenditure

Is Judicious—Why the Impoverishment of the Peasantry Was

Neglected—Unpractical, Pedantic Spirit—Evil Consequences—Chinese and

Russian Formalism—Local Self-Government of Russia Contrasted with That

of England—Zemstvo Better than Its Predecessors—Its Future.

CHAPTER XXXIII

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE NEW LAW COURTS

Judicial Procedure in the Olden Times—Defects and Abuses—Radical

Reform—The New System—Justices of the Peace and Monthly Sessions—The

Regular Tribunals—Court of Revision—Modification of the Original

Plan—How Does the System Work?—Rapid Acclimatisation—The Bench—The

Jury—Acquittal of Criminals Who Confess Their Crimes—Peasants,

Merchants, and Nobles as Jurymen—Independence and Political

Significance of the New Courts.

CHAPTER XXXIV

CHAPTER XXXIV

REVOLUTIONARY NIHILISM AND THE REACTION

The Reform-enthusiasm Becomes Unpractical and Culminates in

Nihilism—Nihilism, the Distorted Reflection of Academic Western

Socialism—Russia Well Prepared for Reception of Ultra-Socialist