28o 



The Review of Reviews. 



September 1, 1906. 



THE FIRST MONTH OF THE DUMA. 



In the Independent Reviru: M. Paul Vinogradoff 

 subjects the first month's working of the Duma to a 

 severely searching but nowise unkindly criticism. He 

 admits that " there has hardly ever been in history a 

 task equal in magnitude and difficulty to that which 

 has been placed before the first Russian Parlia- 

 ment " : — 



The Sussian revolutiona-ry nioTement is aimed not only 

 at a complete reversal of a rotten political system, but 

 also at a renewal of society itself by the most sweeping 

 reforms of modem times. And, at the same time as the 

 efforts of popular representation are concentrated in St. 

 Petersburg in a death struggle with Ministerial bureau- 

 cracy, all the conquests and acquisitions achieved by Rus- 

 sia in the course of three hundred years are challenged 

 by the minor nationalities subdued, but not reconciled, to 

 Russian rule. And the predominant people itself seems to 

 have entirely lost all sense of national personality, and all 

 wish to assert its claims. 



A TWO-HEADED, TWO-BEAINED EMPIRE. 



Georg Brandes has said that the Russian crest (the 

 double-headed eagle) reminded him of those double- 

 headed monsters whose birth is sometimes chronicled 

 by the newspapers — a comparison apt enough at the 

 present time, when " the Russian Empire has cer- 

 tainly two heads and two brains,'' resulting in 

 paralx sis of the whole system. 



THE COMPONENT PARTIES IN THE DUMA. 



Though there is hardly any other House of Repre- 

 sentatives which has recorded so many unanimous 

 votes as the Duma, and though the most diverse irfin 

 — men hardly able to understand one ano.her's speech 

 — imite in any resolution condemning the Go\ern- 

 ment's policv, yet the Assemblv really consists of 

 several parties. The Extreme Right (the Reaction- 

 aries) are absent, though present in the Council of 

 the Empire. The Octobrists, who condemn revolu- 

 tionary agitation and advocate moderate reforms 

 (who seemed once likely to become the ruling party, 

 to attract the propertied and commercial classes, and 

 the well-to-do peasants), had only a score of men at 

 first, and now ha\"e fewer still. As the writer says 

 such a party, to be effecti\'e, must have some au- 

 thority. " If it is driven to oppose and condemn 

 all the acts and officials of the monarchy it wants 

 to support, it is left with nothing but a shadow to 

 defend." Moderate and Octobrist must at present 

 stand by ajid join in the vituperations which are the 

 order of the day. 



The most powerful party in every way are the 

 150 Constitution Democrats, the " Party of the Peo- 

 ple's Freedom " as they style themselves. They 

 are fairly despotic in their way, but on important 

 occasions can rally various minor groups to their 

 side. Their programme and that of their allies is 

 drawn up on Western models; and, though certainly 



containing much absolutely essential to a country 

 wishing to reorganise its institutions on a parlia- 

 nientarv basis, it is nevertheless doctrinaire, and does 

 not sufficiently take into account the peculiar condi- 

 tions of Russia. The Constitutional Democrats, the 

 writer thinks, will learn by exjierience, but it will 

 Le dear-bought exj^erience. Moreover, they constant- 

 Iv hold the Damocles sword of revolt over the head 

 of the Government. 



The Labour group numbers some 100. chiefly pea- 

 sants, with the few artisans who have got into the 

 Duma. Their leaders are downright Socialists, and 

 all are bent on radical agrarian reforms. There re- 

 main the Autonomists, composed of the representa- 

 tives of the minor nationalities of the Empire, with a 

 good many Russians. Here are Poles, Jews, and 

 Ukraina Russians ; and here, it is expected, will be 

 found the Caucasian and Siberian deputies. The 

 political and social creeds of this group seem hardly 

 less diverse than their racial types. Their one com- 

 mon ground is the pledge to strive for self-go\ern- 

 ment for the nationalities of the Empire. There are 

 also a large number of indei>endents, flitting right or 

 left according to the moment. 



SOME MISTAKES OF POLITICAL YOUTH. 



In their dealings with the Amnesty question. M. 

 Vinogradoff thinks, the Duma acted not wisely. 

 Thev might have demanded amnesty in such a way 

 that their demand found acceptance. As it was, con- 

 sidering that they o\erlooked terrorism and revolu- 

 tionarv brigandage, and fulminated about the high 

 moral standard of assassins, he does not wonder that 

 the Tsar and his advisers are not anxious to accede 

 to their demands. The Dum.a.'s propositions, in fact, 

 are far too crude, too radical, ill-thought out, and, 

 it might be contended, ill-advised, even impossible 

 for the present. Such is the substance of the writer's 

 criticisms. The great problem is to pro\ide the 

 " noble abstractions " of the Address with flesh and 

 blood, to embody them in working institutions. 

 Moreover, in any other country, a ^linistry in the 

 position of the Russian Ministry would either have 

 resigned their seats, instead of inciting the Assembly 

 to fury, or t'ne Duma itself would have been dis- 

 solved. Not so in Russia, where 



It is evidently thought possible and useful to have two 

 violently opposed Governmental centres in the country — a 

 Ministry without a shadow of moral authority, and a Par- 

 liament bereft of the means to exert practical authority. 



THE WAT OUT. 



The writer's suggested way out of the present 

 deadlock is to hand the Government over to the 

 Constitutional Democrats, who. with all their fail- 

 ings, are still the most enlightened group in the 

 Duma. He does not know how far the destructive 

 forces would be checked by such a measure, but it is 

 the only course with any chance of success. 



