THE The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, 30th JANUARY. 1904 THE INTERNAL TROUBLES OF RUSSIA.

Southland Times, Issue 19264, 30 January 1904, Page 2

THE The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, 30th JANUARY. 1904 THE INTERNAL TROUBLES OF RUSSIA.

«» (The consensus of correspondents' < pinions is that Russia's uttitude to Japan in influenced by reports submitted to the Czar regarding; the serious unpreparedness of the forces and the effect war would havo on Russia's internal condition. The Czar recognisos that Russia is experiencing a most formidable crisis — Friday's foreign telegrams.) — i At this moment when the fitness of Japan to undertake a severe and costly war is being so widely discussed, it will not bo out of place to give a moment to the consideration of Russia's internal condition. The world as a whole is disposed without much examination to give admission to the notion of Russia as an empire in two continents, possessed of inexhaustible resources, defended by enormous military forces, and equipped to enter upon a struggle, not simply with a country in its novitiate like Japan, but with any of the foremost Powers in tho world. Russia is regarded on aH hands as a most formidable enemy. But this idea of vast strength that is commonly associated with the name of the Czar's dominions is largely the product of 'ignorance. Russia is largely a secret country, and that which is hidden and concealed is always invested by the general mind with uncommon attributes. The press correspondent is hardly tolerated in Russia, and if he should learn too much he is at once ejected. The Russian press is itself under censorship, and all literature that goes into or comes out of Russia is subjected to a rigorous scrutiny from which it emerges with whatever is considered inimical to the interests or prestige of Russia excised. Consequently the state of Russia is not a question discussed in the world's press with the fulness and openness that are possible when other Western Powers are concerned. Russia preserves her secrecy by an iron system of military and police, and as an illustration of the maxim ,of Tacitus, omne ignotum pro magnifico, she sits in the popular imagination as an empire strong, impregnable and menacing as her own mysterious fortress of Kroustadt. But in spite of the most vigilant censorship, and of a far-reaching system of espionage, authentic news does at times fall into the hands of English newspaper representatives', who, by one means or another, get it past the guardians of the frontier, and so to London. The reader following this broken train of information soon learns that the internal condition of Russia is not what it should be on the eve of a great war. Russia's social and political conditions are, in fact, all wrong. The fires of revolution smoulder continually ; the finances of the country aro embarrassed ; the army is largely disaffected ; and the Government is so occupied with. Home affairs that it can hardly afford to have external trouble on its hands. Take, for instance, the last confidential report on tho economic condition of Russia presentod by the Controller of the State to the Czar. The Controller remarks upon the serious fact that the arrears owing by the peasants for the redemption of the land distributed among them at the time of the emancipation of the serfs are steadily increasing. In 1897,* 94,000,000 roubles were owiiijcr y and in each year since then the amount has increased, until in 1902 it reached 120,300,000 roubles. Attempts to give relief by extending the time of payment have availed nothing*— tho burden has increased, and the Controller is driven to the conclusion that somo radical measure is necessary to relieve the peasantry of fiscal burdens which they are simply unable to bear. Wl_u,t Russia is suffering from is tho want of substantial industries. Such industries as she has are languishing for want of a home market, and the want of a domestic market runs back in its turn to the fact that in Russia a*csriculf,ure is in ' a bad way. M. de Witte, the lato ' Minister of Finance, endeavoured by a very artificial method to prevent the ruin that threatened many of ( Russia's manufacturing concerns. ' From the funds of the State Bank he drew heavy subsidies to assist manufacturers in distress, and at the same .* time placed with them Government ( .rders for material at excessively € ligh prices. A device so false in principle and so passing in effect could lot long- ser-v© as a remedy for Ttuslia's industrial ills, and the problem '* .hat now faces Russia is how to givo 3 .he country a flourishing agriculture, n o create a large domestic market, u ind. to foster the industries that -ii pouid result from those improved a

onditions. But in the meantime, I conomically, Russia's position may, j without exaggeration be described &s t crisis, which, if prolonged, will proiuce industrial chaos. The Russian s } lYeasury must be prepared to submit ( o heuivy sacrifices in order to repair | f possible, tho damage that has been ( lone by an artificial attempt to ( ■stimulate a growth of industry far | in excess of tho capacity of the homo j market to absorb its products. Then, again, there is the army. The xuthorities in the Russian War OiTice cannot at the present time be altogether sure of the loyalty of many of the regiments. Tho army is widely infected with socialistic ideas, and i the officers are constantly aJarmed by finding their men in possession of largo quantities of the literature so industriously disseminated by the socialistic pamphleteers. Though it has but a fugitive existence the revolutionary press of Russia tu<s survived the most strenuous attempts of tho Russian police to extinguish It, and the shoets and pamphlets that issue from these secret printing rooms are the main instruments by which the reformers carry on their propoganda. A document issued not long ago from the War Oflice by General Kurop.tkin to all military commanders pointed to the necessity of preventing the spread of this literature in the ranks. The Minister of War remarked on tho fact that the person by whose hands the pamphlets, were distributed wnb never discovered, and the o dicers were urged to establish tho strictest surveillance over their regiments in order, if possible, to discover and punish the revolutionary agents. Both ! the officers and the authorities in the War Office are aware that in many cases the sympathies of the rank and file are with the propogandists. Instances have been known where officers expressed doubts whether their men would obey an order to lire on the pei .sants, and in some cases where the test was made obedience was refused. H'ow far this disaffection has spread in the army cannot be said, but it is quite safe to say that it is present in sufficient strength to create a feeling of insecurity in tho Government, and to militate against the preservation of discipline in the army. If any considerable number of the regiments are prepared to go over to the side of those who are fighting desperate odds for the social and political emancipation of Russia, the outbreak of a great war might give an opportunity for a rising that would shake the throne of the CV.ar to its very b \io. Thon, again, we havo conclusive evidence of the activity of the social democratic party in Russia. Its organisation extends throughout Russia. It meets secretly in a central congress, and its proceedings, reported far and wide, make manifest the hopes and aspirations of thousands of liberty-loving Russians. Their programme includes the abolition of autocracy and the establishment of a democratic republic in its place whoso constitution shall ensure the sovereignty of a Parliament elected by universal adult suffrage. They demand tire institution oif local s<elf-govorji-nve-ut•; ihe recogmtipn of tho inviolability of person and domicile , tho perfect freedom of religion, of tho press, of meeting, and of the right to combine •; the removal of restrictions on trade ; the establishment of equal rights for all citizens, whatever may be their sex, religion, race or nationality ; the right of every citizen to prosecute any official in the ordinary courts of law : the institution of secular and free education ; the eight hours day ; the prohibition of overtime and the employment of children under IG years of age : the abolition of all survivals of the state of serfdom ; and the institution of land courts. This is the programme not of an anarchist society pledged to the brutulities of the bomb and the assassin's knife, but of a political organisation formed for the purpose of educating tho mass of the Russian nation in their political rights and in the methods of obtaining them. Its work is clone secretly, but none ihe less thoroughly, and the working of such a society with its innumerable adherents, together with the knowledge that what they contend for is in the main fundamentally and everlastingly right and cannot for ever be withheld, must cause in the mind of the Czar and his high executive officers a fooling of profound insecurity in the present, und of perplexity and distrust for the future. It is these facts connected with the intestinal troubles of Russia that catise us to think that Russia is not the powerful machine of war that she is commonly thought to be. Her foundations, instead of reposing securely upon the support and affection of a free, contented and loyal people, instead of being " broad-based upon the people's will," tremble and quake with the ominous mtitterings of an impoverished and rebellious race, straining sullenly against the oppres-f sor'.s bonds and resolving, slowly but unalterably, to gain civil and religious freedom or die in tho attempt.