Russia 



61 



striking manifestations are only the sud- 

 den culmination of a movement which 

 has been in progress for some time. To 

 understand it we must grasp some fun- 

 damental elements of the Russian pol- 

 ity. Russia presents a curious paradox. 

 Theoretically it combines the most ex- 

 treme autocracy with the most extreme 

 democracy. The great body of the 

 people are divided and organized into 

 "mirs," or communes. The mir is 

 what we would call the township organ- 

 ization. Land is held in common and 

 is apportioned for cultivation among 

 the families of the mir according to 

 their respective needs. The communal 

 assembly makes the apportionment and 

 the periodical redistributions ; it gov- 

 erns other questions relating to the land, 

 the harvest and other local affairs, and 

 its government is more like that of the 

 New England town-meeting than any- 

 thing else. As far as it goes, it is a 

 perfect democracy. All the people as- 

 semble on the village green, under the 

 presidency of the starosta, or village 

 elder, and determine all questions within 

 their scope by a majority vote. 



The mirs are grouped into cantons or 

 districts, and the districts elect repre- 

 sentatives to the zemstvos, which are the 

 provincial assemblies. Without going 

 into minute details, all classes are repre- 

 sented. The ultimate elective bodies 

 are not large in proportion to the total 

 population, but they are distributed 

 among peasants, individual landholders, 

 merchants, nobles, and urban electors. 

 In 361 district assemblies, with 13,196 

 members, 38 per cent were peasants, 35 

 per cent nobles, 15 per cent merchants, 

 and the remainder officials or priests. 

 The provincial assemblies or zemstvos 

 have over 1,200 members in all, and 

 they operate chiefly through executive 

 committees, of which the nobles consti- 

 tute far the larger proportion. The 

 mir deals with the land, farming, and 

 the immediate local concerns. The dis- 

 trict assembly, which corresponds more 



nearly with our county organization, 

 looks after roads, schools, sanitary mat- 

 ters, and like questions. The provin- 

 cial assemblies have the care of prisons, 

 hospitals, charities, main roads, mutual 

 insurance, and other subjects of more 

 than local range. 



The zemstvos were among the reforms 

 instituted by the liberal and enlightened 

 Emperor, Alexander II. They were 

 created in 1864, and sprang from a com- 

 mission appointed for the purpose of 

 " conferring more unity and independ- 

 ence on the local economic administra- 

 tion. ' ' Theoretically they went far to- 

 ward establishing a system of local 

 autonomy, but practically they have 

 been largely nullified by the overruling 

 power of the provincial governors, who 

 stand for the bureaucracy. Their au- 

 thority and independence have from time 

 to time been curtailed. Nevertheless, in 

 their form as local representative assem- 

 blies, even with their limited electorate 

 and scope, they furnish the basis and 

 nucleus for wider representative insti- 

 tutions. Their liberal spirit and inde- 

 pendent purpose have been the most 

 characteristic features in the new re- 

 form movement. 



In January, 1902, the present Em- 

 peror created a Central Committee of 

 Agriculture, under the presidency of 

 M. Witte, to consider the measures nec- 

 essary to meet the existing difficulties. 

 This body was supplemented by local 

 advisory committees, which, rather by 

 local choice than by central design, were 

 made up largely from the zemstvos. 

 The majority of these committees made 

 somesignificantrecommendations. They 

 urged that elementary education should 

 be increased ; that zemstvos should be 

 established in provinces where they did 

 not exist, and made more representative, 

 with larger powers ; that the system 

 of village communes should be recon- 

 structed so as to give the peasants equal- 

 ity with others, and that free discussion 

 of economic questions should be allowed. 



