George Kennan’s valuable work, Siberia and the Exile System, the fruit of investigations3 carried on under circumstances of much difficulty and even danger, has made its many English and American readers acquainted with the true conditions of life among Russian political prisoners and exiles. The story given in the present volume of the painful and tragic4 events that took place in the political prisons at Kara after Mr. Kennan had left the Russian Empire was written to him by, among others, a friend resident in Kara at the time, whose letter he published in his book. In it are also to be found additional particulars concerning the earlier or later history of many persons whose names occur in the following pages; and it thus throws an interesting light on Mr. Deutsch’s story, which is told so quietly, with such an absence of sensationalism, that it is sometimes necessary to read between the lines in order to grasp fully5 the terrible realities of the situation.
viIt may, perhaps, be useful to readers unfamiliar6 with the history of the Russian revolutionary movement if I give here a rough sketch7 of its development, and of its position at the present time.
From the first consolidation8 of the Empire under the Tsars in the latter half of the sixteenth century, Russian despotism has consistently regarded with apprehension9 and disfavour all manifestation10 of independent thought among its subjects. There has never been a time when those bold enough to indulge in it, even in what English people would consider a very mild form, were not liable to persecution11, and this traditional attitude of repression12 and coercion13 had the inevitable14 result. Even early in the eighteenth century secret societies had come into being, but these were mostly of the various religious sects15 or of the Freemasons. When they began to assume a political character they were at first confined entirely16 to the upper classes, and took the form of revolts organised among the military, the last and most important being that of the Decabrists (or Decembrists), who attempted to overthrow17 the monarchy18 on the occasion of Nicholas I.’s accession in 1825.
Liberal views were to a certain extent fostered by Alexander I. (1801-1825), who at one time openly talked of granting a Constitution. Russians who visited Western Europe, officers in the Napoleonic campaigns, and others, had “brought France into Russia,” had made the French language fashionable, and thus had opened a way for the importation of new philosophical20, scientific, and political literature, eagerly appreciated by the developing acuteness of the Russian mind. Literary influence, even the purely21 romantic, has throughout ranged itself on the side of liberty, Pushkin heading the poets and Gogol the novelists. Indeed, one may safely say that up to the present day viinearly every Russian author of any note has been implicated—some to a greater, some to a less degree--in the revolutionary movement, and has suffered for the cause.
Alexander I. in his later years, and his successor Nicholas I., fell back on a reactionary22 policy. Even Freemasonry was prohibited, mere23 literary societies of the early forties were considered seditious, and their members were punished with imprisonment24 and death. There now sprang up political secret societies, whose dream was of a federal republic, or at least of a constitutional monarchy.
The accession of Alexander II. in 1855 strengthened the hopes of the reformers. The study of political and social questions became the fashion; while professors, students, and the “intellectuals” of the upper and middle classes warmly engaged in the “underground” movement. With this period are associated such names as those of Herzen, Bakounin, and Tchernishevsky, whose writings were the inspiration of the party, and even influenced for a time the Tsar himself. But the emancipation25 of the serfs, on February 19th, 1861, bitterly disappointed those who had hoped great things of the new monarch19, and who saw from the way in which this and other liberal measures were emasculated by officials, to whom the drafting of them was entrusted26 by the Tsar, how futile27 it was to expect any effective reform as a grace from an autocrat28. The reform movement, now definitely socialistic, speedily took on a revolutionary character, and culminated29 in the active sympathy and support given to the Polish revolt of 1863.
Alexander II. resorted to the old coercive methods; all attempts to voice the aspirations30 and needs of the people, or even the academic discussion of political questions, were met with the savage31 punishments of martial32 law, viiiimprisonment, exile, death. In face of a new enactment33, which had professed34 to give fair trial to all accused persons, special courts were set up to try political offenders35; and the practice of banishment36 by “administrative37 methods” (i.e. without any trial at all) was instituted.
A time of enforced quiet followed, when the leaders of the movement were either dead, imprisoned38, or had fled into voluntary exile abroad; but it served as a time of self-education and study for the younger generation, at home or in foreign Universities, and in the early seventies the revival39 came. Our author here takes up the story with his account of the Propagandist movement, which was peaceful, except in so far as it aimed at stirring up the peasants to demand reform; for, in the absence of any constitutional methods for expressing their desires, this could only be effected by organised uprisings. He describes how this movement developed into terrorism under the system of “white terror” exercised by the Government, and how, after the assassination40 of Alexander II., the strong hand of despotism succeeded in checking, until a few years ago, the passionate41 struggle for liberty.
A new monarch and a new century have altered little the essential features of the situation, so far as relations between government and governed are concerned. Every day we have examples of the time-honoured policy, in the dragooning of Russia proper; the attempted Russification of Finland; and the deliberate fostering by the Government of anti-Semitism, with the covert42 design of counteracting43 the revolutionary activity of Jewish Socialists44, discrediting45 their labour movement in the eyes of the Russian proletariat, and also distracting the latter from organisation46 on their own account.
ixBut a significant change is at work to-day among the people. The peasants and working-classes in town and country, formerly47 the despair of those who strove to arouse in them political consciousness, are being awakened48 by the inevitable development of industry to a sense of their duties and their rights. A genuine labour movement has arisen, which, in face of the intolerance of the authorities, has naturally taken on a political character, and affiliated49 itself to the successors of the older revolutionary societies.
The words “anarchist” and “nihilist,” so commonly associated with the Russian revolutionists, are complete misnomers50 to-day (as, indeed, they always have been, except in the case of a few isolated51 individuals). The movement is now carried on chiefly by two organisations: the “Revolutionary Socialists,” and the party to which our author belongs, and helped to found, the “Social Democratic” Labour Party; associated with the latter being the powerfully organised social-democratic “General Jewish Labour union of Lithuania, Poland, and Russia,” usually known as the “Bund.” Of these the Revolutionary Socialists alone still adhere to the practice of terrorism in a modified form, and even they have always proclaimed their intention of abandoning it directly “constitutional” methods are allowed to them. The aim of the revolutionists is to replace the present autocratic government by a social republic, under which the various races now grouped within the empire shall each have scope to develop its national individuality. Groups are actively52 at work in widely distant localities, even Siberia furnishing her contingent53, while Poland and Finland have various revolutionary organisations of their own.
The Government’s policy at present is to exile to Siberia without trial, or intern54 in some place distant from home, xall persons known or even suspected to be interesting themselves in the movement. This is effected principally through the instrumentality of the gendarmerie, which was instituted by Nicholas I. as a sort of spy system, primarily intended to unearth55 official abuses and report upon them directly to the Tsar. It soon, however, became imbued56 with the prevailing57 spirit of the bureaucracy; its members shut their eyes to the official corruption58 everywhere prevalent, and they have since confined their attention to unearthing59 “political” delinquencies. The force has at least one representative in every town of any size, and it has a vaguely60 defined roving commission to watch and arrest all persons who appear to be suspicious characters; these may be kept in imprisonment for an indefinite time, or may be exiled “by administrative methods.” It has become an adjunct to the ordinary police, although quite independent of them, and is generally employed in all matters of secrecy61.[1] Travellers from Western Europe who observe too closely the life and conditions of the country are liable to arrest in this way. Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace and Mr. Kennan, among others, had this experience.
The mere existence of such a force may help to explain the discomfort62 of even the ordinary peaceful Russian citizen under the present system of government; and he is further incommoded by the presence in every house of a police-spy. For the dvornik or concierge63, though paid by the inmates64 of the house, is appointed subject to the approval of the police, and is responsible to them. He keeps the keys, and is bound to deliver them up to the police whenever they may take it into their heads to require a domiciliary search. As an instance of the petty tyranny that occurs I may mention that the possession of xia hectograph (or any such appliance for multiplying MSS.) needs a special permission from the police.
The police have power to break up any gathering65 in a private house where more than seven guests are assembled; this is frequently done, even on such ordinary occasions as a wedding or funeral, if many students or such-like “untrustworthy” people are of the party. When a town or district is under martial law—an everyday state of things in Russia—the above number is still further reduced; indeed, it is quite common for the police to prohibit all gatherings66.
Readings at entertainments for the poor got up by philanthropic people may only be given from books licensed67 by the police for the purpose (and mostly very dull); the catalogues of lending libraries may contain only such books as are definitely permitted, many being excluded that are not forbidden to private persons—though the latter, again, are by no means free to choose their reading, many authors being entirely prohibited within the empire; and whole columns of newspapers, including foreign ones that have come through the post, are blacked out by order of the censor68. Private debating societies’ meetings or lectures, however innocent, are practically impossible to all who are not in the best odour with the authorities, except under the strictest precautions against discovery—such as closing of shutters69, disguise of preparations, and a warning to guests not to arrive simultaneously70.
It is evident what opportunity all this gives to officials “on the make” for demonstrating their zeal71, and it accounts for the fact that every year hundreds of persons not accused of any definite offence are removed from their homes. Nearly everyone has friends and relations so banished72, and the result of such systematic73 interference with private xiiliberty is that almost everyone in Russia, outside official circles, is more or less in league against the bureaucratic74 government. The countenance75, and even financial support, afforded to the revolutionists, not only by sympathisers in free countries, but by the general public at home, is one great source of their strength. They are willingly assisted in evading76 arrest and in escaping from prison or from exile; and prohibited literature (printed abroad, or secretly in Russia itself) is circulated and sold throughout the country in immense quantities—not only leaflets by the thousand, but reviews, some elaborately illustrated77, and even books of a more solid character. The Russian original of the present work will presumably soon be on the “illegal” market.
The illustrations are reproductions of photographs taken from life.
H. C.
London, July, 1903.
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1
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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consolidation
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| n.合并,巩固 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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15
sects
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| n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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16
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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18
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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19
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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20
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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21
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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reactionary
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| n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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24
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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26
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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autocrat
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| n.独裁者；专横的人 | |
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29
culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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banishment
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| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
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administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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40
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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41
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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42
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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43
counteracting
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| 对抗，抵消( counteract的现在分词 ) | |
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44
socialists
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| 社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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45
discrediting
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| 使不相信( discredit的现在分词 )； 使怀疑； 败坏…的名声； 拒绝相信 | |
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46
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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47
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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48
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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49
affiliated
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| adj. 附属的, 有关连的 | |
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50
misnomers
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| n.使用不当的名字或名称( misnomer的名词复数 ) | |
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51
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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52
actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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53
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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54
intern
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| v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生 | |
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55
unearth
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| v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出 | |
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56
imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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57
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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58
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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59
unearthing
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| 发掘或挖出某物( unearth的现在分词 )； 搜寻到某事物，发现并披露 | |
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60
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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61
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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concierge
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| n.管理员；门房 | |
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64
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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65
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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67
licensed
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| adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
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censor
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| n./vt.审查，审查员；删改 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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71
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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72
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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bureaucratic
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| adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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76
evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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