LIFE IN RUSSIA

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 98, 25 April 1917, Page 2

LIFE IN RUSSIA

SOME PRESENT-DAY

TYPES

A PERFECT CHARACTERISATION

Miliukof, statesman and, distinguished historian of Russian civilisation; was once asked what English book he considered the best; as regards its analysis of the modern Russian. Without a moment's hesitation he answered, "E. J. Billon's Russian Characteristics," and "placed his'! finger on the Following passage as the perfect characterisation of the average Russian:—. "By nature the Russians are richly endowed ; a keen, subtle understanding; re- j markable' quickness of apprehension; a sweet, forgiving temper; an inexhaus- j tibia flow of anihial spirits; a- rude, per- j suasive eloquence, to which may be added an imitative faculty positively simian in, range and intensity, constitute no :meaii outfit even for a. people with the highest destinies in store. But these i gifts, destined to' bring forth abundant fruit in favourable, circumstances, are fumed into curses by political, social, and | religious conditions, which inake_, their ; free exercise and development impossible, and render their possessors "as _mi- j personal as the Egyptians that raised j Cheops.or the,.coral reef builders of the Pacific. In result we have a good-natur-ed, lying, thieving, patient, shiftless, ignorant mass,' whom one is at times tempted to connect in. the, same isocultural line with the Weddas of India, or the Bangala of Uppe* Congo, and who differ from the West European nations much as Sir Thomas Browne's vegetating . 'creatures of mei'e existence' differ from I 'things of life.'" . . i : There was a time when Russia was j popularly supposed to consist entirely of j Nihilists and policemen, later revolution.- j axies have taken the part of Nihilists and 'the agent provocateur" has played' the chief part in the opposing camp. Then, again, we have the interesting types tireated by the,masters of literature." We j have Dostoievsky's neurasthenic murder^ er and his -frigid and calculating political intriguer. We have Tiirgeniev's" intellectual and uncompromising Bazarov; his enthusiastic sponger Rudid; Tolstoi's Le-. vin, Gorki's anarchical proletarian. All these characters reveal- qualities that are /Russian and nothing"but Russian, but it is a question if any of them succeeds, in giving us a, convincing picture of the ordinary, everyday conditions of the ordinary, every-day people; In point of fact, it is as impossible to describe hie in Russia in a few sentences as it would be to Jink man and the amoeba in one satisfactory description. What applies to the peasant does hot apply to the\landed prbprietor j what applies to the parish priest does hot appty vi the monk; what applies to the trader does not apply to the worker; what applies to the serf does not apply to the noble; what applies, to tile country does not apply to the town. It is only possible to outline ttie customs and characteristics of these iriSixy differing types, depending on the factor of a common nationality; to link them into one clear picture of a distinct and united 1 THE PEASANT;

Nearly nine-tenths of the whole population of Russia, cultivate the soil. The peasant not only tills the stable land, but he owns the greater patfc of it: Every peasant family owns..nV arable land at least six acres; and on an average in the p'opxilated districts at least ten acres. In the rtorth. and south the average is higher.' The chief characteristic of. the..Russian peasant is. that he is intensely • religious.; .'Hisi:. religion is ritualistic .in form aild childish ih. substance, and goes hand iri hdnd with an intense superstition 1. Scieritifie agriculture is being, widely taught to-day in 1 Russia. '■ Agricultural colleges are spre'adiflg, attd the hcimber of agricultural, stiidents is every da.y. increasing. .: But it is the firm conviction of the most learned of the scientific agriculturists that a:l that can be done for' the peasant is to open for 1 him doors on fiossibiliti&i' of teaching him what, can. be done; but> that if it comes to teaching him how. to do a things tile task is imp'ossibfe He ' relic's entirely on his cHvri experience arid refuses ta .experiment with theories. Novikov, one of the most brilliant said objective o/f Russian, publicista, has given an exceedingly gloomy desctiption of, the mode™ Russian village. Tho traveller in Russia is struck by the sad mdhotony of the scenery ill the counltry. Miles, of forest, with tkhgled undergrowth, are. broken, by fields of ryiS or by,fallow land which has not beto worked for yeal-s. In winter a white pall, sometimes 6 feet ;rt; depths '.ma-fees ills monotony even more moriotbno'us 1. The villages "are provokingly cheerless. Log huts are pitted oh the bain-en ground, without gardens or trees. Ono' largtf I'dom, serves for the abode of the-wHolo fanlily, including the calf and chickens. The room is always stiflingly hot when there is si firs in' the* oveiij and in winter it is freejzingly cold when flip fire is out. "Life id ; passea," writs* Novikov, "in continuous labour, witK. but a few hoitrs of deep, and . yet tfca peasants seldom make both eiids nwefc. In winter, -when »hsre is riot . eno'ftjja to do at.home, whole Villages aro Soirletimes abandoned by the men, who go to the cities to find Some Occupation.,

f The lot. of the Women,is even 1 wdrce than that of the.. men. At thd age* o? five they Have, to take care of the younger members of the household, and at fourteen they arc marriageable; Prelitlptial morality is in tilany villages ah a low ebb, and the married woman is subject ■ to tyfaniiical and brutal -treatment by her' husband. The head of, tile family mles supreme, and may refuse to issue a passport to any member of his household, thus compelling him to stay helplessly fit- home instead of attending vo some profitable' work elsewhere.- .The peasants are subjected .to. the .arbitrary power of Gdvdrnment c-fficialn, and the efforts of the Zehistvbs to impffive the educational and hygienic conditions -of the villages are generally nesratived by the repressive Measures of' officials and , the torpid cocccisEde of tbo peasants . themselves." '■-■■■ , \ ■ TH Clfy WOBItER. ! . Most of It-he -working classes iii industrial Russia are peasants as ■well. The land endowment of the peasantry has; ' therefore had the -unexpected result of acting' as a subsidy to .manufacturers,by rendering it possible for' labour to be Obtained for Ivag6s up"6n -which thd workers cOtdd, nftt exist if #hdlly ddpsnclent iip Oft theiii.' -In spite of the 1 rapid develop-raent of industries, the demand for employment is far greater, and even the resent advilrioe oi,wdd4 ifiiib'iiism. among the Russian workers has not raised wages for niaiiutvl industrial labour above what -would be vegaTded in other lands as ths "stan^iig- point." The population of mannfactuvirig towns .fluctuates with the. immigration of. workmen in winter 1 arid their ■emigrati&TL in the spring. lit ifhfi first days of winter the peasants pour into the'industrial ce'iitfe's in tens of thotlsah-ds. Each party is organised 'as an " a.rtel." One of the immbef is elected as their " stiirostfi," who finds a maiiuiactrtrer io- engage his artel for 'the seasort, harids over His oWh and his comrades' passports, and signs an agreement that must previously be apjii'ovcd by 'the Industrial Inspection Dc'partmerit; Near all large Russian factories are hbtises erected by the emr»'.ayers in which the .work .people are fo3god at an eiccscdirigly low:, relital. ■ Tliess lodging-b;QUßefi are frequently of

enormous size, and accomiriodate several hundred people. The iriost primitive are arranged like barracks. In houses of this class, the rental, which includes heating, light, and the use of the stove in the kitchen, for cooking, rarely exceeds from a shilling to one and sixpence a month; For famiies that can afford-io pay from three to five sailings a month, a superior lodging-house is provided, in which each family has the luxury of a separate room. Russian families' are frequently: Very numerous, and the difficulty that, would be entailed. by too rigid rules against overcrowding is met by counting ifrwo children under fourteen, or four under ten, as "one person."- The furnituro is, of course, very simple—a large solid table, wooden benches and bedsteads, and a few cupboards. The system of common Commissariat,is found cheapest, the food hardly ever varies, having rye bread for its basis and tea and sugar aa subsidiaries. As a rule factory haiids* are not .paid hy time, but as far, as possible at a fixed rate for the work actually done. ; '

The interests of the working classes are protected by factory laws very'similar to those of any other country in Europe. The hours of labour are strictly limited, and all Sunday labour is prohibited, except in cases of absolute necessity. : Wages must be paid in cash, and to supply workmen with goods in lieu of part of their earnings is a criminal offence severely punifihed: The master can inflict fines for any .breach of the rules printed in the book given to each workman aifd accepted by the industrial inspection department, but these fines must be paid into a fund devoted to the workmen's benefit. All large factory owners^ whbse works are situated out of town, and who employ more than a certain number of operatives, are bound by law to provide a hospital, a bathroom, school, and library, for the use of nil of which the workpeople make no payment of any kind. In case of dispute with their employer, "the workmen ,may at any time appeal to the nearest Magistrate. The men are punished by the Government if they attempt to put pressure upon the employer in any other way. On the other hand, when the 1 master is in the wrong, he is liable to certain specified fines; arid should his action, have led to any dism'der or disturbance among his men, he may be sentenced to imprisonment, and even have his factory clSSed and his license withdrawn.

The wages of the workmen are as a. rule exceedingly low. The Russian Year Book for 1916 contains a table which shows that the average annual earnings of 1,539,440 workmen in all industries ( before the war was roughly £40. In | the larger cities of Russia, where there is a constant large surplus of unemployed workers, housing and living conditions are frequently of the worst imaginable. ! The houses are generally low md irregular. The. shops are small and dark, but if there.is rarely any, display of the articles offered for sale this is compensated for by large painted signboards. Immense sums are freely, spent upon official buildings that convey the impression of imposing magnificence, but [drainage tfnd sanitation,_.a-re woefully neglected. There dre in Petrdgrad 1374 undeJrgtotind dwellings/ with 12,2i7 rooms, inhabited by 49,569 persons. Only 48 per cent, of the dwellings in PetroI grad have separate kitchens, and 14 per cent, are kitchens only. In Moscow the ! position is in some respects worse.

the Middle class or "NOBILITY." j

The word "nobility" in connection with Russia is misleading. The Russian noble is a court servant, who is entitled by the service be renders to the State* to an hereditary rank. Nobility accrues by right to the man who has reached a certain definite step or "fcchin" in the army or in the civil sor^ce. The service, moreover, is open to everybody who can pass a certificate examination at the end of his school time.- The net result of all this is that the "nobility" as a class is enormous: in European Russia alone the jmber about 600,000. The Rubs' uobility has become a class of State servants, in which the hereditary principle has ceased to exist A boy leaving his college, and having passed a certificate examination, has access, to the lowest rung of the official ladder. University degrees confer a tchin oil tho student, and with every fresh diploma he ascends a further rung of the ladder. The system is democratic in principle, but in practice it has been fa-tiil to ill free democracy. It has created a gigantic machine, worked by a governing clues of officials, which is absolutely uncontrolled by public opinion. Anyone can get into the governing class, that is trite; but nobody who is not in it can check its action. Though the system i 3 theoretically favourable td the advancement of merit, it is a thousand times more favourable to mediocrity, routine, office hunting, officialdom, red/tape, to the stifling of all individual initiative, and tho shirking of all moral responsibility. Nine-tenths of tho officials and public servants in Russia are drawn from the educated middle class. The remainder of the middle class form the liberal professions—lawyers, doctors, professors, literary men, agricultural experts, statists, school masters atld journalists. In respect to this Russian middle classj M. Bulgakov recently wrote in the Russian Review "that educated; or especially half-educated, Russian society, in its average reprcsent;itives,r is almost without exception atheistic, or. to put it more correctly, indifferent to religion. This lack of religion condemns them to remain out of loucli with tho people, for they are divorced from the people in that which the people hold mosi sacred." Maurice Baling, in his book, "The Mainsprings of Russia." writes:—"Tho average Russian of tho educated middle class is extremely well educated—so much better educated than tho average educated Englishman that comparison wotdd bo silly. Moreover, the educated Russian is fur more catholic in his culture than the average Englishman. A certain grasp of mathematics, of political economy and physical science, a knowledge of European history, would be looked upon by him as a, matter of course. It is among tho haif-cducated that you find a chaos and welter of half-baked ideas; a jumble, a salad of ill-assimilated and strangely-assorted, goods, a flotsam and jetsam of Western philosophies and theories, crystallised arid hardened into rigid dogma, and clnng to and paraded with a desperate amour propre and a fierce tenacity."' THE MERCHANT. Tho Russian merchants have not wholly ceased to form a world apart. Modern, commercialism is doing its levelling work, but there still remains a strong class feeling, with well-marked class customs and deep class prejudices. The Russian merchants have their own peculiar modes of speech, ahct quips •and pranks, their own elaborate etiquette. But the typical uneducated merchant is rapidly givine place to the modern business man. He sends his sons to high school and university, and when they return to cart-y on the business they infallibly break with the 'old ways and introduce nioderii method". The yoi n-i'C;er men study abroad and como ba'clc full of remedies. Ff the older generation was conservative ill' its business methods and social and political views, the younger generation is in the main progressive. But tho older generation, especially in <Mo=cbw, was fai< from being rt holly rmtourhed by the humanities, and can display some 1 munificent patious of art and learning. Tho TVptiakov Gallery, the best of Russia's picture galleries, was presented io the city of Moscow by tha family of tha, merchant whose name it,

bears. Another merchant named Shchukih transformed Juis house into a rich museum, containing, amongst other things, the best collection of post-im-pressionist pictures jn Europe. Wealthy Moscow merchants have contributed liberally to the endowment of the Commercial Institute, an. institute of higher learning, which possesses almost university rank. Frequently Moscow , merchants employ the best architects ahd painters to build and decdrate their houses, sometimes with admirable reSuits, though not infrequently the effect ■is spoiled owing to some headstrong caprice of the proprietor. RELIGIOUS LIFE. The question 6f religion permeates so completely every phase of the national existence that a- tleScriptidn of Russian life would seem like a patchwork of incongruities if its religious aspect were overlooked. It is impossible to enter an brthodox church .in town or country without realising the tremendous hold that ritual has upon the people. The language used is the old Slavonic. No seats are provided,^ the congregation kaiiding the whole time. This immobility is varied only by occasional sudden prostrations of the whole congregation, which are distinctly Oriental. In the administration of the church the Empire is divided into bishoprics, to some of which the title of archbishop is attached,, and in each there is a council with Ideal' courts. ""-The ecclesiastical courts decide all questions relating to. the church, not only as regards the' clergy, but in many cases the laity also, arid this power touches the private life of the Russian people in' many directions* 'Besides their disciplinary powers for the punishment of "apostasy" frdm the National Church, the ecclesiastical courts also decide all | questions relating to divorce. The whole matter is practically in thS hands bf the I secretary of the local episcopal . court. The case is not tried openly, but the secretary makes a private investigation of the facts laid before hint, aiid a report is sent to the Holy Synod, which iii due time pronounces the decree. The Russian people generally, hoWever, regard divorce in any circumstaiipes as-a moral crime, in the middle'classes of society and among the peasantry it is extremely rare. In yefc another direction the Holy Synod exercises a profound and farreiiching influence upon Russian life. One of its departments is that, of "spiritual censure/ which controls all printed matter bearing in any way upon ecclesiastical history, theology, or philosophy. Nothing may be published touching upon any of these subjects without the prior sanction of this department of the Holy Synod. Ahd this rule applies ecjually to all such work* printed abroad and im* ported into Russia. Even when the subject is treated in a way that would be fully approved by the synod the trouble and expense of obtaining the necessary permission are so great that, as a rul«y editors of newspapers and publishers abstain from, questions that touch' the spiritual life of the people, except when j the idea can be covertly conveyed wRIle dealing psjien^ibly with another subject; Title clergy of the Russian chnrch arj> divided into two sections—the black, or monks, and the white," or drdiharjr par-1 ish priests. The intense hostility between these two orders has passed into a proverb, in Russia, and is mainly due to the fact that it is exclusively from the black clergy that the bishops and • other dignitaries ate selece'di >