A Herzen Reader

Surely if Palmerston's paper had been more thoughtful, they would not have made this mistake and it would not be "painful for a Russian person."⁴ The head of The Moscow Gazette "had distinguished himself" by preaching with a schoolboy's bitterness—following Gneist⁵ and other Germans—the English constitution, the English court, a bicameral legislature, the power of wealth, equality in the face of hunger—in a word, everything up to and including English medical plasters and English salt, and now, with even greater bitterness, defends the government which has entrusted him with such an important job. From that he concludes that the government he defends is parliamentary, free, and not despotic. [. . .]

Notes

Source: "Kakoe upravlenie v Rossii?" Kolokol, l. i63, May i5, Й63; iy:i45-46, 4i3-i4.

An editorial to this effect was published on April 9, i863.

The commander of the army in Poland was adjutant-general Count A. N. Liders (i790-i874), who had helped suppress the earlier rebellion in i83i and the Hungarian revolution in i849. Herzen mentioned the execution of the three officers—Arngoldt, Slivitsky, and Rostovsky—on June i6, i862, in several articles (see Docs. 54 and 72).

This is from a response published in The Moscow Gazette on April 5, 1863.

The Liberal Palmerston was at that time prime minister.

Rudolf von Gneist (1816-1895) was a jurist, legal reformer, and political theorist.

♦ 56 *

The Bell, No. 166, June 20, 1863. Herzen was well informed on activities in the Rus­sian provinces; he saw the hand of some organization other than Land and Liberty in the appearance of a fake proclamation from the tsar to the serfs, and he felt a duty to criticize the ideological position and tactics of any group who, supposedly in Alexander II's name, summoned peasants to confiscate private and government-held lands. This kind of deception became an even more widespread tactic by the end of the 1860s. De­spite Herzen's stand, Valuev believed that the manifesto was the work of "Herzen and Company" (Let 3:503).

The Volga Manifesto and Russia in a State of Siege

[1863]

Here is the text of a manifesto that was distributed in villages along the banks of the Volga.¹ We are taking it from a printed copy.

By the grace of God, We, Alexander the Second, etc.

In Our unceasing concern for the well-being of all Our subjects, We, by an edict of the 19th of February 1861, acknowledged the desir­ability of removing the bonds of serfdom from the rural population of the Russia that has been entrusted to Us by God.

Yielding to the entreaties of the landowners, We, however heavily it weighed on our royal heart, ordered all serfs to remain in complete subservience to their former owners for a period of two years, that is, until the 19th of February of the current year, 1863.

Now, having called upon the Almighty for aid, We declare in this manifesto the complete freedom of all of Our subjects, no matter to which rank or status they belonged. Henceforth freedom to believe and practice one's faith will be the right of every person.

To all former serfs, both private and state, We give a fixed amount of land without any payment for it either to the landowners or to the state, for their full, inalienable, hereditary use.

Relying on the loyalty of our people and recognizing the benefit to the country of abolishing Our army, We, from this day forward and forever, free Our beloved subjects from every kind of recruiting and military obligations; for that reason, We are ordering the soldiers in Our army to return to their native regions.

The payment of poll tax for the purpose of maintaining such a vast army, from the day this Manifesto is published onward, is abolished. We command that all soldiers returning from service, as well as all house serfs, factory workers, and urban dwellers be given without any charge an allotment of land from the public holdings of our vast empire.

In every region,² as in every town, the people will choose four people who enjoy their confidence, who, after meeting in a district center, will choose in common the district representative and other district authorities, four from each district; in the provincial capital, they will choose a provincial representative and other provincial au­thorities. Deputies from every province, summoned to Moscow, will compose the State Council, which, with Our assistance, will govern the entire Russian land.

That is Our royal will.

Anyone who declares the contrary and does not fulfill this Our royal will is Our enemy. We trust that the devotion of the people will protect Our throne from the attacks of ill-intentioned people who do not justify Our royal trust.