Russia asks in alarm why she has had imposed on her a government which will destroy her. It is not much to ask for—that the country should be able to have faith in those who presume to lead it.
No, it is no accident, it is the regime—this accursed, senile, decrepit regime, which has outlived its time but still lives on. Let every minister choose now whether to serve Russia or the regime, since to serve both is as impossible as serving both God and Mammon! (Prolonged applause. Cries of “Bravo!”) Should we be surprised that a spirit of rebellion has swept the country, which all Markov’s eloquence, all Stürmer’s repressive measures, and all the new lies, the fresh mud which will be slung at the majority in the State Duma, are alike powerless to dispel? No gentlemen, Russia’s patience is as great as Russia herself is great, but this war has shown that it too has a limit. Our obedience also has its limit!
This was his second (minor) climax—after which he relapsed into doleful recital of the sad facts which Russia had charged her orator to reveal.
Let Markov II not think that we are calling for revolution. The imminent danger is quite different: no one can compel Russia to fight against her will. She will not want to make sacrifices for the greater glory of those people, for the privilege and satisfaction of having them at the head of the state. (Prolonged applause, except from the extreme right.) Russia’s answer to you will be not revolution, but dismay, despondency,
(conveyed by his tone of voice)
and indifference. And if this happens, and we are led to peace by way not of victory but of a draw …
What had become of the meekness and niceness of a moment ago? Now his anger flared, his voice soared to indignant clangor.
Oh, then, I say unhesitatingly—beware! For Russia will forgive no one for a drawn war and a shameful peace. (Prolonged applause. “Bravo!”)
(Like all the leaders of the Kadet Party, Maklakov knew for sure just what the country was thinking. But a draw would not have been so bad, Vasili Alekseevich. What if it comes to total surrender at Brest-Litovsk? What emotional reserves have you left yourself?)
Russia at present is like an army unit about to panic: the guns go on firing, initially the soldiers still obey orders out of habit, but once the cry of “every man for himself” goes up they will all take to their heels. There is, however, still time. If a government is appointed consisting not just of servants of the present regime but servants of Russia.
In other words, Pavel Nikolaevich, Vasili Alekseevich, Fyodor Izmailovich, Nikolai Vissarionovich, Moisei Sergeevich.
Russia will eagerly accept such a government. She will rouse herself, and when she does, woe to Germany!
The moment of choice has arrived: it is either us or the government, we cannot go on living side by side! (Prolonged, stormy applause.) And if the Duma is dismissed—as if it were possible to dismiss the whole country!—if the pyre is lit on which they would consign to the flames the future of our motherland as a nation, then, gentlemen …
Here, but for his habitual coolness, Maklakov would have lost control of his emotions.
… the Duma may become the only bulwark of order!
The session should have ended on that powerful prophetic note, but questions to ministers had been drawn up, signed, and tabled, so now they were read out.
Question from thirty-three members: Russia has awaited the truthful and free words of its representatives with tense anxiety. However, on 15 November the speeches delivered here were not fully reflected in the newspapers. The declaration of the Progressive Bloc was in large part suppressed. Not a single periodical publication printed the speeches of Kerensky, Chkheidze, and Milyukov. There were blank spaces in the speeches of members of the State Council.
This occurred even though “public speeches delivered in the performance of official duties are not subject to the operations of wartime censorship.” What measures have been adopted to ensure observation of the above-mentioned …
Question from thirty-one members. The commander of the Moscow Military District has issued an order introducing prior censorship of “materials which might harm military interests.” Have steps been taken to cancel this illegal …?
(There was no prior censorship elsewhere in Russia, so why should there be in Moscow?)
They went off to dine and returned that evening to elect the next president of the Duma.
President: To explain his vote—Chkheidze.
He leapt to his feet! He had a tiny opening! Only five minutes but in five minutes what couldn’t you …!
Chkheidze: After the Act of 16 June we were always certain that the majority in this Duma would do the bidding of the government. It was a barrier beyond which the people could not pass to continue the work of 1905. In the last two Dumas the walls of this white chamber have of course heard no speeches of this kind, and we may welcome this. But I beg you, gentlemen, not to delude yourselves, do not think that you have said anything new. What you have said is a repetition of much that has been said before, and more inspiring and substantial speeches were heard from this tribune in the First and Second Dumas.
But, gentlemen, in spite of all your fervent speeches, I still ask myself how long can things go on like this? … I am not, gentlemen—God forbid!—summoning you to revolution, there has never been any question of that. But one thing, gentlemen, I will say: revolution has never destroyed a single people or a single state. It did not destroy England, whose praises you now sing. It did not destroy France—remember the Commune of 1871. And Germany’s might dates precisely from 1848. Nor has it destroyed China.
So what I have to say to you is this: the squabble between you and the government interests me greatly. How long can that squabble continue?
President: Member of the Duma Chkheidze, your time is up.
He had in any case explained exhaustively the reasons for his vote. If he could just slip in another couple of phrases!
Chkheidze: … this very day … apologized on bended knee … on this very spot … and proposed that … (Applause from the left.)
Chkheidze, relieved, made his escape.
The votes were cast and counted. Rodzyanko, to his great delight, was elected—though only by half of the Duma.
He opened the next session at midday on 17 November. But if it was not a challenge, what else could explain such odd behavior—this time the government box was not vacant. Two ministers sat there, both in uniform: Grigorovich, the Navy Minister (and the only one for whom the public had any liking), and the War Minister, Shuvaev (a quartermaster who got nobody’s back up). These ministers were inoffensive in themselves—let’s not hiss them for the moment, but what are we to make of their appearance here after yesterday’s thunderbolt, the charge of treason against the government? Let’s wait and see.
The previous agenda was now abandoned, in favor of questions to ministers. But whatever name was given to the proceedings they always came to the same thing.
Adzhemov (Kadet): Put yourselves for a moment in the position of an ordinary Russian citizen, who turns eagerly to the morning papers to see what his elected representatives have said on his behalf. Right-wing deputy Levashov said … a long row of dots. Markov II speaks … and even him we see only in miniature. You, gentlemen, shut up in this chamber, in this ancient Potemkin palace, may shout and wax as indignant as you like, Russia will never hear a single word of it anyway! The government has never before sunk to such a level of stupidity as it has now: to show for all Russia to see that there is not a single political current able to support this pathetic, worthless government. But Moscow is outside the theater of war, and, as the law stands, should not be subject to military censorship.
Instead of words there are blank spaces. That’s where the revolution is, and those are the people making revolution!
Skobelev (Social Democrat): Our tormented and humiliated land was waiting for the Duma to sit, so that it could hear the truth. But no sooner did the first words of truth ring out than this white chamber was overlaid with the white
paper you see here. Gentlemen, you must tear this scrap of paper—document No. 16672—from your heads, otherwise your presence here will have no purpose.
You have been told here that there are several ways out of any situation. But you are taking the line of least resistance—heaping all your indignation on Stürmer, although he merely reflects the nature of our state system. Gentlemen, what can the citizen read into blank spaces headed with the names of Count Kapnist or Shulgin? He may think that they were calling for the overthrow of the autocracy and the establishment of a democratic republic when all they were talking about was the overthrow of Stürmer.
Gentlemen, provocation is a factor inseparable from the greatness of our state system and its continued well-being.
But oh how nimble he is, taking over the rostrum yet again, in one single bound. Who? Who but …
Kerensky: Are we not in fact living in an occupied country, like Belgium or Serbia? In which the state has been seized by a hostile power, and every possibility of national political activity suppressed? … Gentlemen, does not the never-ending replacement of particular ministers on these benches raise in your minds the question: who is putting on this puppet show, who controls the entrances and exits of these scoundrels, sometimes …?
Rodzyanko: Member of the State Duma Kerensky, I humbly beg you to choose your words carefully.
A bit late to be choosy! He’d already said it.
Kerensky: Gentlemen, when the benighted masses, ignorant of the truth, sometimes lose control of themselves and stampede in the wrong direction, you are apt to say, “There’s no patriotism in this country.” But there are people for whom the country has been not a mother but a source of profit, people who have lived for centuries on the blood and sweat of those same masses, and when they betray the interests of the state to protect their personal position …
Rodzyanko: Member of the State Duma Kerensky, please return to the question.
Kerensky: What I am saying is relevant to the question. I intend to show that the rulers of Russia never could and never wanted to conceal its military secrets from hostile powers.
Rodzyanko: I humbly beg you to return to the question. If you do not comply …
It is his duty to interrupt, but he does so halfheartedly, because the Duma is drifting, reeling leftward at his feet. The press holds its breath, the public gallery holds its breath, thrilled by this burst of machine-gun fire from its favorite orator.
Kerensky: Yesterday, one of those whose names I do not mention, but who tirelessly defends those who … informed me from this rostrum that I am a traitor to the state. (Markov: “And I repeat it.”) But do you not remember, gentlemen, that on 10 March 1915, when the Duma majority was still full of the spirit of “unity with the regime,” I sent the president a letter …
(which was already making the rounds in the capitals and in the provinces)
… in which I said that “treason had built its nest at the summit of the Russian government,” and that the Myasoedov affair was only a symptom? And was it not I who then asked …?
Rodzyanko: Member of the Duma Kerensky, please restrain yourself …
Kerensky: I would be happy if the problem posed by the present position of the state could be reduced to one of treason on the part of individuals, if we could find evidence against individual ministers,
(which in fact they could not)
but if we remove them by the thousand, the old regime has through the centuries nurtured thousands of lackeys to serve it …
At this Rodzyanko finally decided to silence him.
Other speeches are made, boring documents are read out, and for half a minute the dashing Karaulov bounds back onto the rostrum.
Karaulov: I rise, gentlemen, to say just a very few words.
Where strong deeds are what is needed
Waste no time on idle speeches.
But I must supplement this by voicing my extreme indignation. Is it really to be tolerated that statements by deputies, which are not relayed to the country at large, should be heard by members of the public who pack the galleries to overflowing, but not listened to by deputies themselves?
They had left the chamber for the buffet. (Laughter, noise.) Then, yet again:
Markov II: Yes, Aleksandr Fyodorovich Kerensky, I do regard you as a traitor to the state on the strength of your pronouncements from this rostrum. Anyone who in the present situation has the temerity to campaign for peace, and, what is more, by violent means, is a state criminal and a traitor.
If ministers are committing such terrible crimes, why do you legislators not address questions to them in the chamber? Why, because questions to ministers must have some basis in fact, quotations from the German press are not enough, you have to produce evidence, so you are afraid to ask questions, and you should be ashamed of yourselves! History will decide who was right, and you will not be able to falsify it. When you hurl such accusations at people you should treat the matter seriously. If you can offer proof we will not be against you, we will be ahead of you. But prove your statements first.
Yes, gentlemen, the blank spaces in the papers are disturbing and annoying, that much is true. But if they were occupied by the speeches you made on 14 November and today, in the middle of such a war, they would have much more dangerous consequences, they would rob our defenders of belief in the need for self-sacrifice. You will deprive the Russian soldier of all desire to resist the enemy. Why should they, if all that you have said from this rostrum is true? You are Germany’s prime accomplices. However vexatious it may be to see these derisive blank spaces in the newspapers, which reduce our speeches to absurdity, they are better than that systematic campaign by which you seek to turn all Russia upside down, and to bring about war between nations inside Russia itself, here and now. (Gasps of indignation on the left.) Yes, gentlemen, there should be no blank spaces! Fill them with advertisements, but let’s have no blank spaces! I will go further: if our newspapers continue to upset the people and perturb the army—shut them down, each and every one! (Laughter on the left.) In time of war, one wise nation, the Roman republic, used to jettison the usual freedoms, and choose a dictator. When the whole male population is going into the trenches, when all the freedoms are impaired by the very nature of military operations, don’t talk to us about freedom of speech and freedom of the press, tell us how to defeat the Germans. You are still reluctant to understand how great are the dangers threatening Russia. If you succeed in implanting the conviction that there is treason in the rear and treason on high—that day will see the destruction of the Russian army and the Russian people, which will be torn to little pieces, and the first to perish will be you, the little people! (Applause from the right.)
Markov had prepared the ground for a counterattack by the government, and the War Minister now mounted the rostrum. The Progressive Bloc braced itself and closed ranks: No surrender! No concessions! We won’t even listen to your pathetic arguments! The government has betrayed the country, the throne has betrayed the country, that has been loudly proclaimed and we will allow no one to refute it.
Shuvaev: … to share a few thoughts on the times we are living through. When we would have prevented the universal conflagration we met with no response from the enemy camp …
So far, so good. There were shouts of “True!” Next, the minister talked for a time about traditional German inhumanity and that was also found acceptable. (More cries of “True!”) Then:
Every day we draw closer to victory! (Prolonged applause from the whole chamber, cries of “Bravo!”)
And that is because the war is being fought not by the army alone but by the whole state! All who can have joined in supplying the arrny.
(Meaning that “society” had. Fine!)
Here are some figures. In the past eighteen months the number of three-inch cannon has increased eight times (“Bravo!”), howitzers four times, heavy shells seven to nine times, three-inch shells nineteen times, fuses nineteen times, land mines nineteen times, some explos
ives as much as forty times (“Bravo!”), and poison gases seventy times (“Bravo!”).
Such is the result of working together in harmony. Permit me to hope and to request that you will continue helping to equip our valiant army. (“Bravo!” from all parts of the chamber.) The enemy is fatally weakened—he will not be equal to the situation. Every day brings us closer to victory. Victory at any cost—such is the imperious behest of our Sovereign Supreme Commander. The well-being of our motherland, which must take precedence over all else, demands it. (Stormy, prolonged applause from the whole chamber.)
Nothing wrong with that! In fact, apart from the intrusive obligatory “Sovereign” it was not just not bad—it was simply splendid. True, it made no allowance for a military defeat, but it did acknowledge that responsibility for supplying the army was borne entirely by the nongovernmental organizations! Nor was there any hint of solidarity with Stürmer, Protopopov, and that whole nest of traitors and supporters of a separate peace!
Grigorovich: I consider it my sacred duty also to speak and to state openly that your continuous support over many years in defense of the state … (Stormy, prolonged applause from the whole chamber, and shouts of “Bravo!”)
What did it all mean? Why, that the army and navy had dissociated themselves from the loathsome, rotten, traitorous government and were uniting with the Duma opposition!
(The two ministers had in fact been sent by the craven government to play on the patriotic feelings of the Duma and so bring about a reconciliation. But when they took the stage with nine hundred unblinking eyes fixed on them they could not summon up the courage to mention the accursed government, or resist the temptation to solicit applause for themselves.)
November 1916 Page 145