DEMOCRACY STIRRING IN RUSSIA
Stone, Esther L.
DEMOCRACY STIRRING IN RUSSIA By ESTHER L. STONE THREE by-elections took place recently in three of the most important cities of Russia: in St. Petersburg, te replace the former...
...Petersburg and Mossow there was some preliminary agitation...
...meetings were being held...
...In St...
...Petersburg papers the name of the candidate of the Constitutional-Democrats...
...Petersburg did not come as a surprise to that city and is regarded rather as a conservative victory, in that it prevented the election of a more radical candidate...
...In all three widely separated cities, Constitutional-Democrats have been elected...
...Several weeks prior to the election the municipal council of Odessa, which is entirely in the hands of the black hundreds, had conceived the idea of petitioning the Czar to deprive the Jews of the right to vote...
...Not so in Odessa...
...A careful search through the newspapers of Odessa, published during the campaign, fails to disclose a single mention of the name of the liberal candidate whom these papers supported...
...The outcome of all the three elections shows that in spite of oppression and the supreme reign of reaction, the people refuse to lend support to the reactionaries...
...In spite of an active agitation on the part of the Octobrist party, in which its leaders tried to persuade the voters that by giving the vote to a Constitutional-Democrat they were betraying the Russian nation, Shchepkin, the candidate of the Constitutional-Democrats has been elected...
...Brodsky, a Jew and a Constitutional-Democrat, by the votes of Odessa under these trying conditions, throws a flood of light upon the true sentiments of the people, who thus seize every opportunity to rebuke the government and show to the world that the policy of oppression and ruthless extermination pursued by the Russian Government is not approved by the Russian people...
...It would take too long to explain all the intricacies of Russian election laws...
...Petersburg, te replace the former Constitutional-Democratic member of the Duma, Koliubakin, who had been expelled from it on a trumped-up charge of inciting the soldiers to riots...
...Those of the first class are composed of rich manufacturers, bankers, merchants, etc...
...There were two candidates in the field...
...The election of Mr...
...The result of the election in Moscow is far more gratifying...
...Of course, it was easy to read between the lines, but the papers dared not publish Brodsky's name owing to the positive orders of the governor not to mention the name of the candidate under the penalty of heavy fines and the total closing of the papers...
...Still, there was something approaching a political campaign...
...This is regarded as a decided victory for the liberal opposition...
...The successful candidate, Mr...
...Only voters of the first class were to participate in this election...
...This seemed so absurd, that even Tolmachev, loyal friend and supporter of the council, did not sanction it, and the petition was not forwarded...
...Owing to the orders of Tolmachev, the Governor of Odessa, who is a staunch supporter of the reactionaries, the liberal press was muzzled, no meetings were allowed, and the citizens of Odessa had to learn from the St...
...And it was not imaginary fears that the paper had to combat, as a few days prior to the election, leaflets had been spread broadcast, in which the voters, especially Jews, were admonished to stay away from the polls, if they cared for their lives and property...
...On the eve of election the leading liberal paper published a long article urging the citizens to go to the polls, telling them not to be afraid of violence, citing the law in relation to threats and violence used as a means of intimidation of voters...
...True, whenever some of the more radical candidates attempted to express their views freely, the ever-present police made very liberal use of its right to close the meetings...
...The election of a Constitutional-Democrat at St...
...discussions were taking place, the papers published the names of the various candidates, and discussed their respective merits...
...Kutler, former Minister of Agriculture, entertains far more conservative ideas than the man whom he succeeds...
...Brodsky, a Jew, supported by the Constitutional-Democrats, and Baron Reno, put up by the black hundreds...
...The election in Odessa is still more significant...
...suffice it to say that the constituents are divided into three different classes, according to property and taxation...
...Until now this particular constituency was regarded as the stronghold of the Octobrist party, which is very conservative and always ready to do the bidding of the government...
...in Moscow and Odessa, to fill places made vacant by the deaths of the respective representatives of these cities...
Vol. 1 • January 1910 • No. 52
