THE RUSSIAN UPHEAVAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 19

THE RUSSIAN UPHEAVAL.

. GROWING DEMANDS FOR REFORM.

THE AUTOCRACY DOOMED.

THE PHOGKESSIVE PARTY'S PROGRAMME.

ST. PETERSBURG, April 18.

The Czar has extended to Siberia the Zemstvos system of 1854. This is understood to imply that the future National Assembly will not be based on class representation.

Many Russian firms are closing their works in anticipation of labour disorders on May 1.

A policeman in this city, without provocation, killed a sailor and wounded another marine. TEe two men were chatting in the street. Other sailors thereupon attacked and killed the policeman. The Admiralty refuses to surrender the sailors, alleging tn.at~~th.ey only acted in selfdefence.

Ivan Kolaieff (recently cabled as Kannies) has been sentenced to death for assassinating Grand Duke Sergius. He declined to plead, saying he was no criminal, but a prisoner taken in a civil war. The jury included the Mayor of Moscow, a marshal of the nobility of St. Petersburg.

The funeral of a Putiloff worker -accictentally killed led to a revolutionary demonstration and a collision with the mounted police. Many arrests have been made. Sonic rioters were injured. April 19. The Zemstvo system will be extended to 10 Polish and nine Western provinces in Russia. April 20. The dockers' wages at Libau have been increased, resulting in the termination of the strike. The attempt of some men in the gun department of the Putiloff works to resume work led to a riot. The infantry were assailed with iron missiles, but they dispersed 2000 strikers, while a regiment occupies the woi-ks. Maxim C4orki demands a public trial. He has summoned Prince Mirski and M. De Witte as witnesses. Five hundred and sixteen reservists and 70 regulars at Kherson were condemned to 20 months' penal servitude for mutiny. April 21. The Zemstvo Conference, which intended to meet in St. Petersburg on May 7, is prohibited. The only Ministerial concession to Poland is that of permitting the use of the Polish "language in private gymnasiums. This is nullified by a provision that such institutions have no official Tights. Pupils are thus debarred from the liberal professions, and are not allowed the shorter term of military service. The Russian National Progressive party, under M. »Shipoff's leadership, has submitted a simple and moderate programme, which is finding wide acceptance. It provides for a single House of elected representatives, to be styled the Imperial JLand Council, with power to discuss, amend, and initiate legislation, to discuss the Budget, to control the expenditure of State departments, and to interpellate Ministers, who are to remain responsible to the Emperor alone. The elections are not based on a universal franchise, but on the units of local government throughout the Empire. April 22. A secret congress of journalists, literateurs, and other representative Russians | sat for a week in St. Petersburg, shifting the place of meeting daily, and arranged for possible elections to a constituent assembly. They also discussed) political reforms. All agreed that autocracy is doomed, and insisted on a total reconstruction of the framework of society. They upheld the rights of every Russian nationality, outlining a scheme for satisfying the autonomous desires of Finns, •Poles, and Armenians. They d^mandecl civil and political equality for Jews. It was resolved that the time has come for direct efficient action by lawful or unlawful means in order to combat the tactics

I of the Government in egging the scum of | '.he population against intellectuals. ' April 24.

Fifteen thousand bakers in Moscow have struck. Only the municipal ovens are working. The price of oread has trebled. NEWS BY THE MAIL. [Per Sonoma, at Auckland.]

WARSAW,

April 2

A serious conflict occurred at 7.30 o'clock this evening in Dzika street, where a Jewish Socialist society, known as the Bund, had organised a demonstrcttion. The troops, which came to disperse tlie gathering. fire<l into the crowd, killing" four men and wounding 4-0 persons, two of whom were women. Tho trouble in Dzika street began whan, under the pretext of holding a memorial meeting for the late Jewish Socialist leader, a crowd of more than 1000, mostly Jews, carrying rod flags, marched into Dzika street, and was mot by a mixed police and military patrol of 20 men. The police declare that the Socialists fired revolvers at them, the leaders inciting the mob to attack the patrol, which thereupon fired several volleys into the crowd. The crowd removed all except nine of the wounded, and these were taken, to the hospital. It is expected that two or more of the wounded will die. The dead and wounded were all Jews. The police made many arrests. Other disturbances are reported to have occurred. The streets had been patrolled throughout the day, the authorities having anticipated trouble. Tho conditions here are causing much uneasiness and nervousness. Handprinted proclamations have been found' in the ttreets, warning the public against walking near Government buildings and other places, as bombs would be thrown in these quarters. Several parents whose children are attending: school -in defiance of tho school strike have been warned by letter to withdraw their children, as the school building would be blown up The representatives of the Party of "Violence (it is not quite clear whether they are Revolutionaries or are visiting private persons and levying contributions for " ammunition." They produce lists of names with amounts to be collected from each, and require the contributor to sisn his name opposite- these assessments, which, range from 2.50d0l to 50dol.