Berezovo: A Revolutionary Russian Epic

“It is a tactic their peasants have used to tame or dissuade bad landlords. Essentially, they cut them off from daily social intercourse with anyone with whom they normally have dealings.”

“But how do they do that, precisely?” asked Olga.

“They tell the local baker, for example, not to provide the landlord with any bread otherwise no one in the villages will buy their loaves. It is a question of simple economics: although the order from the manor house is substantial, it is worth much less that the total of the accumulated orders from the town. Being the Irish I imagine that there is also the implied threat of violence should the baker be foolish enough to refuse. But according to the foreign newspapers even without violence, once a boycott starts taking hold it can be very effective.”

Smiling impishly, Madame Wrenskaya took another deep sip of her cognac, savouring its warm honey tones.

“Of course,” she concluded, “in order to do this properly you would have to have a list of everyone the Kuibyshev household normally does business with.”

“Oh, I have that already,” said Olga confidently.

“I beg your pardon.”

“I have the list you mentioned here with me.”

Rummaging in her handbag Olga produced two sheets of notepaper and handed them to her.

The sly suka! thought Madame Wrenskaya. She has been playing me for a fool and nearly succeeded. So this is her plan is it? Well I wish her the best of luck with it!

“Pass me my eye glasses,” she muttered.

She perused the list and saw that against each name someone (she presumed Olga) had written the function of their commercial enterprise. Pyotr Delyanov (haberdashery); Fyodor Gregorivich (hotel); Kuzma Gvordyen (bread and cakes); Fyodor Izminsky (bank); Leonid Kavelin (wood); Ivan Kibalschov (stores); Vissarion Lepishinsky (stables); Alexei Maslov (library – books and journals); Pavel Nadnikov (grain), Lev Polezhayev (dressmaker); Serapion Pusnyen (stores); Nikita Shiminski (general store); Yevgeni Svortsov (butcher); Dr. Tortsov… Everybody was there.

Why is she showing me this? Madame Wrenskaya asked herself. Is it because she believes that I will not inform Illya Kuibyshev? I don’t like the man but why should she assume that I would condone this plot? How can she be sure that I don’t have more to gain by telling him, rather than staying silent? Or is it that she is petitioning for my permission?

“You seem to have most of the town written down here,” she observed.

“She is a very busy young lady,” replied Olga with a slight smile, “and they have a lot of money to spend.”

“How did you get this list, may I ask?”

“I asked my maid’s sister to follow Irena Kuibysheva and her maid whenever they went shopping and to see where they went.”

For once Madame Wrenskaya let her surprise show.

“Even into the Quarter?” she queried. “I see that Polezhayev’s name is down here.”

“She ordered a pair of matching night clothes for when her husband returned,” Olga explained, adding, “The daughter did the embroidery.”

“Charmant,” murmured Madame Wrenskaya. “You really have come quite prepared.”

“I reached the same conclusion as you did,” confessed Olga with a wry smile, “although I did not know the term ‘boycott’.”

She thinks that she is my equal, thought Madame Wrenskaya, irritated by Olga’s smug response, and, to add to her impertinence, in a minute she will ask for my support. This begs the question “Does she need it?” Is my support crucial to the achievement of her objectives? Who else has she approached and what has been their response? Was it just the friends she mentioned? If I do support her and she fails, what will the consequences be? Yet if I don’t support her and she is successful, where will my authority be then?

“That being the case,” she said as she handed the list back to her visitor, “I don’t see what further help I can be to you.”