Russia: On the Eve of War and Revolution

by Donald Mackenzie Wallace, Cyril E. Black (Editor)

Overview

The result of six years of study and travel in pre-Soviet Russia, this work by a major British journalist provides a vivid description of daily life under the last three Tsars, in the turbulent age following the emancipation of the serfs in 1861.

Originally published in 1984.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691640679
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	04/19/2016
Series:	Princeton Legacy Library , #514
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.60(d)

Read an Excerpt

Russia

On the Eve of War and Revolution

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By Donald Mackenzie Wallace, Cyril E. Black

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 1961 Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-05405-6

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CHAPTER 1

The Imperial Administration and the Officials

My administrative studies were begun in Novgorod. One of my reasons for spending a winter in that provincial capital was that I might study the provincial administration, and as soon as I had made the acquaintance of the leading officials I explained to them the object I had in view. With the kindly bonhomie which distinguishes the Russian educated classes, they all volunteered to give me every assistance in their power, but some of them, on mature reflection, evidently saw reason to check their first generous impulse. Among these was the Vice-Governor, a gentleman of German origin, and therefore more inclined to be pedantic than a genuine Russian. When I called on him one evening and reminded him of his friendly offer, I found to my surprise that he had in the meantime changed his mind. Instead of answering my first simple inquiry, he stared at me fixedly, as if for the purpose of detecting some covert, malicious design, and then, putting on an air of official dignity, informed me that as I had not been authorized by the Minister to make these investigations, he could not assist me, and would certainly not allow me to examine the archives.

This was not encouraging, but it did not prevent me from applying to the Governor, and I found him a man of a very different stamp. Delighted to meet a foreigner who seemed anxious to study seriously in an unbiased frame of mind the institutions of his much-maligned native country, he willingly explained to me the mechanism of the administration which he directed and controlled, and kindly placed at my disposal the books and documents in which I could find the historical and practical information which I required. This friendly attitude of his Excellency towards me soon became generally known in the town, and from that moment my difficulties were at an end. The minor officials no longer hesitated to initiate me into the mysteries of their respective departments, and at last even the Vice-Governor threw off his reserve and followed the example of his colleagues. The elementary information thus acquired I had afterwards abundant opportunities of completing by observation and study in other parts of the Empire, and I now propose to communicate to the reader a few of the more general results.

The gigantic administrative machine which holds together all the various parts of the vast Empire has been gradually created by successive generations, but we may say roughly that it was first designed and constructed by Peter the Great. Before his time the country was governed in a rude, primitive fashion. The Grand Princes of Moscow, in subduing their rivals and annexing the surrounding principalities, merely cleared the ground for a great homogeneous State. Wily, practical politicians, rather than statesmen of the doctrinaire type, they never dreamed of introducing uniformity and symmetry into the administration as a whole. They developed the ancient institutions so far as these were useful and consistent with the exercise of autocratic power, and made only such alterations as practical necessity demanded. And these necessary alterations were more frequently local than general. Special decisions, instructions to particular officials, and charters for particular communes or proprietors, were much more common than general legislative measures.

In short, the old Muscovite Tsars practiced a hand-to-mouth policy, destroying whatever caused temporary inconvenience, and giving little heed to what did not force itself upon their attention. Hence, under their rule the administration presented not only territorial peculiarities, but also an ill-assorted combination of different systems in the same district — a conglomeration of institutions belonging to different epochs, like a fleet composed of triremes, three-deckers, and ironclads.

This irregular system, or rather want of system, seemed highly unsatisfactory to the logical mind of Peter the Great, and he conceived the grand design of sweeping it away, and putting in its place a symmetrical bureaucratic machine. It is scarcely necessary to say that this magnificent project, so foreign to the traditional ideas and customs of the people, was not easily realized. Imagine a man, without technical knowledge, without skilled workmen, without good tools, and with no better material than soft, crumbling sandstone, endeavoring to build a palace on a marsh! The undertaking would seem to reasonable minds utterly absurd, and yet it must be admitted that Peter's project was scarcely more feasible. He had neither technical knowledge, nor the requisite materials, nor a firm foundation to build on. With his usual titanic energy he demolished the old structure, but his attempts to construct were little more than a series of failures. In his numerous ukases he has left us a graphic description of his efforts, and it is at once instructive and pathetic to watch the great worker toiling indefatigably at his self-imposed task. His instruments are constantly breaking in his hands. The foundations of the building are continually giving way, and the lower tiers crumbling under the superincumbent weight. Now and then a whole section is found to be unsuitable, and is ruthlessly pulled down, or falls of its own accord. And yet the builder toils on, with a perseverance and an energy of purpose that compel admiration, frankly confessing his mistakes and failures, and patiently seeking the means of remedying them, never allowing a word of despondency to escape him, and never despairing of ultimate success. And at length death comes, and the mighty builder is snatched away suddenly in the midst of his unfinished labors, bequeathing to his successors the task of carrying on the great work.

None of these successors possessed Peter's genius and energy — with the exception perhaps of Catherine II — but they were all compelled by the force of circumstances to adopt his plans. A return to the old rough-and-ready rule of the local Voyevods was impossible. As the autocratic power became more and more imbued with Western ideas, it felt more and more the need of new means for carrying them out, and accordingly it strove to systematize and centralize the administration.

In this change we may perceive a certain analogy with the history of the French administration from the reign of Philippe le Bel to that of Louis XIV. In both countries we see the central power bringing the local administrative organs more and more under its control, till at last it succeeds in creating a thoroughly centralized bureaucratic organization. But under this superficial resemblance lie profound differences. The French kings had to struggle with provincial sovereignties and feudal rights, and when they had annihilated this opposition, they easily found materials with which to build up the bureaucratic structure. The Russian sovereigns, on the contrary, met with no such opposition, but they had great difficulty in finding bureaucratic material amongst their uneducated, undisciplined subjects, notwithstanding the numerous schools and colleges which were founded and maintained simply for the purpose of preparing men for the public service.

The administration was thus brought much nearer to the West European ideal, but some people have grave doubts as to whether it became thereby better adapted to the practical wants of the people for whom it was created. On this point, a well-known Slavophil once made to me some remarks which are worthy of being recorded. "You have observed," he said, "that till very recently there was in Russia an enormous amount of official peculation, extortion, and misgovernment of every kind, that the courts of law were dens of iniquity, that the people often committed perjury, and much more of the same sort, and it must be admitted that all this has not yet entirely disappeared. But what does it prove? That the Russian people are morally inferior to the German? Not at all. It simply proves that the German system of administration, which was forced upon the Russians without their consent, was utterly unsuited to their nature. If a young growing boy be compelled to wear very tight boots, he will probably burst them, and the ugly rents will doubtless produce an unfavorable impression on the passers-by; but surely it is better that the boots should burst than that the feet should be deformed. Now, the Russian people was compelled to put on not only tight boots, but also a tight jacket, and, being young and vigorous, it burst them. Narrow-minded, pedantic Germans can neither understand nor provide for the wants of the broad Slavonic nature."

From the time of Peter the Great down to the beginning of the present century the Russian administration was a magnificent specimen of paternal, would-be beneficent despotism, working through a complicated system of highly centralized bureaucracy. Let me briefly describe the structure as depicted in the Imperial Code of Laws, previous to the creation of the Duma.

At the top of the pyramid stands the Emperor, "the autocratic monarch," as Peter the Great described him, "who has to give an account of his acts to no one on earth, but has power and authority to rule his States and lands as a Christian sovereign according to his own will and judgment." Immediately below his Majesty we see the Council of State, the Committee of Ministers, and the Senate, which represent respectively the legislative, the administrative, and the judicial power. At the first glance an Englishman might imagine that the Council of State is a kind of Parliament, and the Committee of Ministers a cabinet in our sense of the term, but in reality both institutions are simply incarnations of the autocratic power. Though the Council is entrusted with many important functions — such as discussing bills, criticizing the annual budget, declaring war and concluding peace — it has merely a consultative character, and the Emperor is not bound by its decisions. The Committee is not at all a cabinet as we understand the word. The Ministers are directly and individually responsible to the Emperor, and therefore the Committee has no common responsibility or other cohesive force. As to the Senate, it has descended from its high estate. It was originally entrusted with the supreme power during the absence or minority of the monarch, and was intended to exercise a controlling influence in all sections of the administration, but now its activity is restricted to judicial matters, and it is little more than a supreme court of appeal.

Immediately below these three institutions stand the Ministries, ten in number. They are the central points, in which converge the various kinds of territorial administration, and from which radiates the Imperial will all over the Empire.

For the purpose of territorial administration Russia proper — that is to say, European Russia, exclusive of Poland, the Baltic Provinces, Finland and the Caucasus — is divided into forty-nine provinces or "governments" (gubernii), and each government is subdivided into districts (uyezdy). The average area of a province is about the size of Portugal, but some provinces are as small as Belgium, whilst one has nearly thirty times the area of that little kingdom. The population, however, does not correspond to the amount of territory. In the largest province, that of Archangel, there are only about 438,000 inhabitants, whilst more than a dozen of the smaller ones have each over three million. The districts likewise vary greatly in size. Some are smaller than Oxfordshire or Buckingham, and others are bigger than the whole of the United Kingdom.

Over each province is placed a Governor, who is assisted in his duties by a Vice-Governor and a small council. According to the legislation of Catherine II, which still appears in the Code and has only been partially repealed, the Governor is termed "the steward of the province," and is entrusted with so many and such delicate duties, that in order to obtain qualified men for the post, it would be necessary to realize the great Empress's design of creating, by education, "a new race of people." Down to the time of the Crimean War the Governors understood the term "stewards" in a very literal sense, and ruled in a most arbitrary, high-handed style, often exercising an important influence on the civil and criminal tribunals. These extensive and vaguely defined powers have now been very much curtailed, partly by positive legislation, and partly by increased publicity and improved means of communication. All judicial matters have been placed theoretically beyond the Governor's 'control, and many of his former functions are now fulfilled by the Zemstvo — the organ of local self-government created by Alexander II in 1864. Besides this, all ordinary current affairs are regulated by an already big and ever-growing body of instructions, in the form of Imperial orders and ministerial circulars, and as soon as anything not provided for by the instructions happens to occur, the Minister is consulted through the post office or by telegraph.

Even within the sphere of their lawful authority the Governors have now a certain respect for public opinion, and occasionally a very wholesome dread of casual newspaper correspondents. Thus the men who were formerly described by the satirists as "little satraps" have sunk to the level of subordinate officials. I can confidently say that many (I believe the great majority) of them are honest, upright men, who are perhaps not endowed with any unusual administrative capacities, but who perform their duties faithfully according to their lights. If any representatives of the old "satraps" still exist, they must be sought for in the outlying Asiatic provinces.

Independent of the Governor, who is the local representative of the Ministry of the Interior, are a number of resident officials, who represent the other ministries, and each of them has a bureau, with the requisite number of assistants, secretaries, and scribes.

To keep this vast and complex bureaucratic machine in motion it is necessary to have a large and well-drilled army of officials. These are drawn chiefly from the ranks of the Noblesse and the Clergy, and form a peculiar social class called chinóvniks, or men with chins. As the chin plays an important part in Russia, not only in the official world, but also to some extent in social life, it may be well to explain its significance.

All offices, civil and military, are, according to a scheme invented by Peter the Great, arranged in fourteen classes or ranks, and to each class or rank a particular name is attached. As promotion is supposed to be given according to personal merit, a man who enters the public service for the first time must, whatever be his social position, begin in the lower ranks, and work his way upwards. Educational certificates may exempt him from the necessity of passing through the lowest classes, and the Imperial will may disregard the restrictions laid down by law, but as a general rule a man must begin at or near the bottom of the official ladder, and he must remain on each step a certain specified time. The step on which he is for the moment standing, or, in other words, the official rank or chin which he possesses, determines what offices he is competent to hold. Thus rank or chin is a necessary condition for receiving an appointment, but it does not designate any actual office, and the names of the different ranks are extremely apt to mislead a foreigner.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Russia by Donald Mackenzie Wallace, Cyril E. Black. Copyright © 1961 Random House, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents

• FrontMatter, pg. i
• Introduction, pg. v
• Contents, pg. xiii
• I. The Imperial Administration and the Officials, pg. 3
• II. The Zemstvo and Local Self-Govemment, pg. 27
• III. The Imperial Duma, pg. 49
• IV. The Reform of the Law Courts, pg. 67
• V. Social Classes, pg. 92
• VI. The Noblesse, pg. 99
• VII. Landed Proprietors of the Old School, pg. 117
• VIII. Proprietors of the Modern School, pg. 140
• IX. The Landed Proprietors Since the Emancipation, pg. 160
• X. The Towns and the Mercantile Classes, pg. 175
• XI. Moscow and the Slavophils, pg. 194
• XII. St. Petersburg and European Influence, pg. 218
• XIII. Lord Novgorod the Great, pg. 238
• XIV. A Peasant Family of the Old Type, pg. 253
• XV. The Mir, or Village Community, pg. 266
• XVI. The Serfs, pg. 288
• XVII. The Emancipation of the Serfs, pg. 312
• XVIII. The Emancipated Peasantry, pg. 338
• XIX. The Village Priest, pg. 371
• XX. Among the Heretics, pg. 392
• XXI. The Dissenters, pg. 407
• XXII. Church and State, pg. 428
• XXIII. Revolutionary Nihilism and the Reaction, pg. 443
• XXXV. Socialist Propaganda, Revolutionaiy Agitation, and Terrorism, pg. 464
• XXV. Industrial Progress and the Proletariat, pg. 495