PROTESTS OF LIBERAL RUSSIAThe cruelty of the government’s policy toward the Jews has not received the support of the Russian people, as the numerous protests uttered in the Duma, in public assemblies and in the press clearly indicate. When it is remembered that those non-Jews who, in Russia, dare to utter a word in favor of the despised Jews, risk their position and prestige to a degree unparalleled in any other country, the following calendar of protests and manifestoes constitutes a body of evidence against the Russian government which must compel conviction.These protests have been grouped, for convenience, into four classes:THE VOICE OF THE DUMAEarly in the session of the Duma the Left groups proposed an interpellation of the Government with respect to its illegal acts against the Jews. After some debate the proposed questions were referred to the Committee on Interpellations, which reported them out, on August 30, 1915, in this form:I. Do the president of the Council of Ministers and the Ministers of the Interior and Justice know of the illegal conduct of their administrative officers with respect to the following:1. That officers of the prison administration received persons taken by the military authorities as hostages from the local Jewish population of Riga, Prushkov ... etc.?2. That the prosecuting attorneys took no steps to obtain the immediate release of thesepersons, accused of no crime and illegally imprisoned?3. That the expelled were driven by agents of the police in Vilikomir, Zhagory and Shadov into freight cars inadequate for the accommodation of one-tenth of them, and that the remainder, including children, aged men and women, and invalids were compelled to follow afoot?4. That the officers of the local governments took no steps to check the repeated robberies by the local population of the property left by the exiles?5. That the officers of the Gendarmerie of Homel prohibited the supplying of food to the exiles, even though they were at the point of exhaustion from hunger and thirst?6. That in Novozybkov individuals who sent telegrams appealing for help were arrested?7. That the officers of the Gendarmerie, with armed threats, refused to admit to sealed cars persons who brought food to the expelled at the station of Bielitsa, on the Poliess railroad?8. That the police officers locked the exiles in sealed cars for several days at a time?9. That in the shipment of these exiles from Zolotonosh to Kovno and back some of them were kept in the cars ten days?10. That the local government administration of the cities of Minsk, Samara and Rostov required the reprinting in the local paper of the story of Jewish treason in the village of Kuzhi, first published in “Nash Viestnik”?11. That the local administration of Tashkent ordered prayer for the delivery of the army from the treachery of the Jews?II. If the illegal acts of the authorities are known to the indicated individuals what steps were taken by them towards the punishment of the guilty and the prevention of similar breaches of law in the future?The significance of this interpellation cannot be overestimated, insofar as the facts implied in these questions are officially accepted by the great standing committee of the Duma as worthy of cognizance. Had the questions originally proposed by the Left groups been without foundation they would have been rejected without reference to the Committee on Interpellations; and had the Committee on Interpellations found, upon examination of the evidence underlying each question by both the Right and Left deputies on the Committee, that the evidence was defective or inadequate, the interpellation would never have been reported out in this form.The fact that it was so reported indicates that the evidence was incontrovertible, and was so accepted by the Liberals and reactionaries alike.The report of the Committee is dated August 30, 1915, but as the Duma was prorogued immediately afterwards, the Government’s answer to the interpellation is not known.In the course of the debates on these and other questions affecting the Jews the expressed attitude of the representatives of the great bulk of the Russian population left no doubt of their absolute opposition to the Government on the Jewish question.[45]Professor Milyukov, the leader of the Constitutional Democrats, declared on July 19 (August 1), 1915:“The strongest factor in the disruption of our national unity was the government’s policy toward our alien subjects.The foulplay upon the obscure racial prejudices of the masses, with the customary weapon of this kind of strife—anti-Semitism and the persecution of all dissenting nationalities or religions—has been exercised with unparalleled effrontery. Under the mask of military precaution, measures worse than credible are taken against crimes that are imaginary.... At a time when nations are struggling for the liberties and rights of small peoples, such terrible deeds embitter our friends and evoke joy among our enemies.”(Loud applause from the left.)Deputy Kerensky.“We are fighting this war in a territory occupied by non-Russian nationalities. Butdid not our government, this very year, cause these peoples to doubt the wisdom of the path they took a year ago, when they linked their destiny with ours?”Deputy Tchkheidze.Aug. 3 (16), 1915: “It is well known to you that the Government régime has been based on Jewish oppression and that at all critical momentsit aimed its blows first of all at the Jews, because they were in the line of least resistance....“A year ago the war began and at once accusations of treachery against the Jews were started by the Government. To-day Russia and the whole world knows who is to blame for the condition in which Russia found herself. The guilty ones were not at all the Jews, as the whole country will confirm, but those who stuffed their pockets with the money which they made on Government orders for army supplies (shouts from the left: “That’s true!”) The guilty ones were those who, with the aid of men like Myasoyodyeff, Grotgus and other traitors, betrayed Russia....“This is supposed to be a war for liberty, fraternity, and equality, but what justice is there in making a whole nation answer for the crimes of individuals, granting that there are any?“In the name of what truth is the Kuzhi slander being published in the ‘Pravitelstvenny Viestnik?’“In the name of what truth are the various periodical publications ordered to reprint this communication under penalty of a fine?“What justice demands that a Jewish volunteer who has several times been wounded be expelled within twenty-four hours when he tries to find a place in Russia to recover from his wounds?“In the name of what humanity is it forbidden to hand food to starving Jewish refugees cooped up in freight trains? In the nameof what brotherhood is one part of the army aroused against the Jewish soldiers who are in the trenches side by side with our own soldiers?“We accuse the Germans of breaking the laws of warfare, of using poison gases and mutilating prisoners. Such acts can call forth only indignation and protest. Let these acts be a stain upon the ruling classes of Germany. But, gentlemen, in the name of what laws of humanity are orders issued to the Russian army to drive peaceful Jews ahead of the troops and to expose them to fire?“In the name of what laws of humanity are Jewish-Russian subjects taken as hostages and put into prisons and tortured and shot?“We denounced the Germans for having destroyed Louvain and the Cathedral of Rheims; but I ask you in the name of what ethical or esthetic principles is a Jewish woman who seeks refuge in the synagogue violated?”Baron Rosen, former Russian Ambassador to the United States,also protested outspokenly against the continuation of the anti-Jewish policy of the Government in a speech before the Council of the Empire, Aug. 22 (Sept. 4), 1915. (See Appendix, p.117.)RESOLUTIONS OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTYThe leading political party of Russia—the Constitutional Democratic Party—officially voiced its sentiments on the Jewish question at a national convention of the Party, held at Petrograd on June 19–21 (O. S. June 6–8), 1915, at which the Central Committee of the Party submitted a comprehensive report which was adopted unanimously, and which, summarized in the form of a resolution, was ordered published. This resolution, after citing the loyalty and patriotism of the Jews at the outbreak of the war, continues:“This intense spirit of patriotism manifested by the Jews in the hour of Russia’s danger seemed for a time to have broken down the rooted prejudices of the Government and to have cleared the way for the recognition in Russia, of that civic equality which is accorded the Jews throughout the civilized world. But this would have deprived our reactionaries, those champions of an outlived past, of their old and well-tested weapon of black demagoguery—anti-Semitism. And so we see that under the direct influence of these notorious Jew-baiters measures were early adopted by the Government to set the army and the people against the Jews. Every advantage was taken of the exigencies of war. Isolated cases of espionage, likely to occur among the border populations of all nations, were seized upon as a basis for universal accusations and furnished the occasion for the invention of incredible myths and rumors circulated exclusively to the injury of the Jews.... The Jews have been held collectively responsible for the acts of individuals among them—a policy which outrages the most elementary sense of justice, a policy which is no longer sanctioned by the laws of any civilized land, a monstrous survival of the remote past.... Needless to mention the spread of discord and hatred, the growth of mutual suspicion and distrust among the races inhabitating Russia which must of necessity follow such a policy....“Not only in the name of brotherhood; not only in the name of that harmony so necessary where different nationalities are fated to live under the shelter of a common government; notonly for the sake of keeping alive among the Jewish people, now being driven to despair, some hope of a brighter future, and some faith in that progress of which they have ever been the valiant champions, but also for the sake of the attainment of that ideal of the Russian people—the elevation of our beloved Fatherland to the status of a truly enlightened empire—must we offer united opposition against the forces of reaction.... Our adversaries hope to continue, even after the war, to use the poisoned weapon of primitive race hatred which they have used until now. It is our task to demonstrate to the masses of the people that they are again being duped, that their base passions are now being aroused in order to distract their attention from their own vital interests. We must continue, as before, to point out, firmly and persistently, that there is only one path to a brighter future for Russia, the same path along which the entire civilized world has traveled, and that along this road there is only one solution of the Jewish question—a solution demanded by the most elementary principles of civilized government—and that is to grant them, as individuals, full civic rights, and as a people, the right to free racial and cultural self-development.”A striking incident occurred during the debate upon this resolution. One of the leaders of the party, Maklakov, a brother of the former Minister of the Interior, advanced a plea in extenuation of the alleged Jewish treacheries.“The Jews have suffered such cruel persecutions in Russia,” he remarked, “that they might well be excused even if these spy stories were found to be true.”“We spurn this right to baseness,” cried out former deputy Vinaver, a Jew. “Our loyalty is not for sale. We are not newcomers here. Our ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years. We are patriots because we feel ourselves bound to Russia. We believe in Russia even more than you do.”PROTESTS OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS, CITIES, ETC.Various municipalities outside the Pale have petitioned the government to give equal rights to the Jews.The Municipal Council of Smolensk, at its session of December 19, 1914 (January 1, 1915), passed a resolution, with only two dissenting votes, petitioning the government “to abolish all measures which restrict the rights of Russian subjects of the Jewish faith, and, in particular, to abolish the Pale of Settlement.” At this session Councillor P. V. Mikhailoff said:“We are referring not only to those families of Jewish soldiers at the front, to families fleeing from devastated Poland, but even to the soldiers themselves who are placedhors de combatbecause of their wounds, after having valiantly served in our ranks. Thus, for example, a Jewish soldier wounded in the hand and in the breast, having parents in this city, obtained permissiononly with the utmost difficultyto stay here three months. At the end of this period he must go back to the Pale and live there without means or medical attention, although he is threatened with tuberculosis.... This is merely one case in thousands which prove to us the horrors of the situation in which Jewish soldiers and their families are placed because of their deprivation of civic rights. Those families whose members have shed their blood for Russia are ruined by the invasion of the enemy. They arrive here to find a refuge from starvation and death, from ruin and violation. We must remember that nearly a half million Jews are fighting side by side with our brave warriors against the common enemy. As to the civilian Jews, they have no less patriotism or enthusiasm than the other inhabitants.... His Majesty,the Emperor, in passing through Lublin, Grodno, and Tiflis, has deigned to express his thanks to the Jews for their faithfulness to our common country. The conclusion from this is clear:There is no serious reason to maintain any longer those measures of restriction so futile and so pernicious and so malevolent.... But the Jewish question is not merely a question of abstract justice. The economic and moral development of our city life is seriously retarded by the restrictions placed upon one part of the population....”[46]In August, 1914, a meeting of municipality, Zemstvo, Stock Exchange, and University officials and merchants, at Odessa, resolved that the country would benefit by the abolition of all repressive laws and the opening of educational institutions to all citizens.[47]In August, 1914, the Moscow Conference of Mayors also forcibly condemned the expulsion policy of some governors and resolved to use its influence to ameliorate the position of the Jews.[48]So also the Congress of Delegates from cities of Western Siberia petitioned for the abolition of all Jewish disabilities.[49]Within the past few months the municipalities of Samara, Saratov, Ekaterinoslav and other important centers; the Siberian Municipal Conference, and the Conference of twenty Zemstvos held at Yaroslavl, all petitioned the government and the Duma to remove the disabilities affecting the Jews of Russia.PROTESTS OF TRADE AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONSThe Military-Industrial Committee, organized in May, 1915, to integrate the economic resources of the country on a war basis, met on August 25, 1915, and condemnedthe incompetence of the government openly. In his presidential address P. P. Riabushinski deplored the tardiness of the government in calling upon the social forces of the country. “This leadership of the country has been attempted by persons incapable of leadership, and it is now evident to everybody that anew personnel is needed within the government....We have observed the workings of the government departments from the very beginning of the war, and have come to the conclusion that these departments are unable to cope with the situation. The supply of war material is altogether unorganized, as the army well knows.... The government will from now on transfer to us more and more of its functions.But the longer this is deferred the less benefit will result....This work cannot be done through a poorly organized government.... The State is a huge business enterprise, whose parts must work harmoniously.... The war has now changed from a struggle of will and spirit into a struggle of machinery.Therefore, the persons entrusted with the defense of the country must know the country....It cannot be denied that Russia is at the present moment facing a great danger, and we fear that the time may come when our courage will sink.... (censored). Our army is suffering heroically.... (censored). We know that after a while, with the war continuing in the same poor fashion as at present, the government will be ready to meet us half-way, but we also know by experiencethat it will then be too late and even the very best man called by the government will be unable to accomplish anything.”This address was met with thunderous applause. Another speaker, Prof. E. L. Zubashov, referring to the Jews, declared that:“The sons of the Jewish nationare now fighting side by side with the Russians for their country. Unfortunately this country has until now been only a step-mother to them. Let us express the hope that it may now become a mother to them.”He therefore proposed a resolution favoring the abolition of all restrictive laws against the Jews. His proposal was met with prolonged applause and was accepted by the convention.[50]At a meeting of the Free Economic Society—the foremost economic organization of Russia—on January 16, 1915, the following resolution was adopted unanimously:“The Commission ... has taken into account the exceptionally difficult position in which the Jewish population finds itself, in view of the residence restrictions to which they are subject.“While they are suffering all the terrors of war together with the rest of the population, the Jewish population, being mainly urban, has suffered particularly from the general disorganization of economic relations not only within the immediate region of military activities, but far beyond.“Under these conditions it would be a great relief to the suffering population if measures were adopted which would make it easier for them to move about in search of work. In view of the size of our country and the unlimited economic resources of its regions, especially those of the interior, have hardly been touched by the miseries of war. There are regions in the interior of Russia where economic conditions have even improved somewhat, since they have assumed many of the industries abandoned in Poland, and since the commissary department placed large orders here.“At the same time the Jewish population is even at this exceptional time artificially confined to the cities of Poland and the western provinces by force of existing legal limitations which increases the hardships of war for them.If in time of peace these restrictions,which are economically harmful and morally degrading,are recognized as a relic of barbarism that must be abolished, itis all the more difficult to reconcile ourselves with them at the present time, when hundreds and thousands of Jews serve under the Russian banners on the battlefield.“In view of these facts the Commission has decided to request the Council of the Free Economic Society to communicate with the government and members of the society who are members of the legislative bodies:—“To immediately stop the functioning of all restrictive laws relating to the Settlement rights of Jews,and“To abolish them immediately and permanently by legislative enactment.”[51]Numerous commercial and technical associations have passed resolutions declaring that the main cause of Russia’s economic backwardness lay in the restrictions placed upon Jews, and that the sole means of combating German predominance over Russian industry and trade is through the abolition of these restrictions. Among these organizations are the national grain, lumber, fur and gold trades; the Chambers of Commerce of Moscow, Petrograd and the leading cities of Russia and Siberia, and the national Congress of Bourses; the Russo-American Chamber of Commerce, etc. Practically every national convention of every industry has petitioned the government to liberate the economic talents of the Jews by the removal of all legal restrictions.PROTESTS OF RUSSIAN WRITERS AND PUBLICISTSJust as the commercial and industrial elements of Russia demand equality for the Jews on economic grounds, so the intellectual elements of Russia demand it on broad human grounds.The great manifesto issued at the beginning of the war by 225 of the leading publicists and writers of Russia, declares:“Russia, in the present great war, is straining all her physical and intellectual forces to an extraordinary degree. All the peoples of Russia are taking part in the war, sharing equally in all the labors. We believe that the blood of the fighters is not being shed in vain. We believe that after having borne the horrors of the war, the population will return with increased energy to the work of building for a better and brighter future. This we believe, and we hope that the relations between the different peoples that inhabit Russia will be built up in the future on the eternal foundations of wisdom and justice.“But at this moment, so important in history, we see with sorrow and consternation that to the sufferings of one of the nationalities inhabiting Russia new distress and new vexations are added. The limitation of the right of education is now felt with particular pain by the Jewish youth. As the Western frontiers are closed the usual exodus to the foreign schools is checked, while in Russia itself the percentage limitations against the Jews in the schools are maintained in force. The Jews of the destroyed towns have no right to leave the Pale of Settlement, a measure which often leads to a disintegration and a division of members of families, wives and children of wounded soldiers not being allowed to visit their husbands and fathers, and being at the same time exposed to all sorts of chicanery.The sorely-tried Jewish nation which has given to the world such precious contributions in the domain of religion, of philosophy, of poetry; which has always shared the travails and trials of Russian life; which has been hurt so often by prejudice and insult; which more than once has proven its love for Russia, and its devotion to her cause, is now again exposed to unjust accusations and persecutions.“The Russian Jews, who are industriously working with us in all spheres of labor and activity that are accessible to them, have given so many convincing proofs of their sincere desire to be with us, to render service to our cause ... that the limitation of their right of citizenship is not only a crying injustice, but also reacts injuriously upon the very interests of the State. The Russian Empire can, and must, draw its strength from the complete union of all the nationalities inhabiting Russia, and only by the placing of all citizens upon an equal footing will the power of Russia become indestructible.“Russians, let us remember that the Russian Jew has no other country than Russia, and that nothing is dearer to a man thanthe soil on which he is born. Let us understand that the prosperity and power of Russia are inseparable from the well-being and the liberty of all the nationalities which constitute its vast Empire. Let us understand this truth, act according to our intelligence and our conscience, and we may be certain that the ultimate disappearance of persecutions against the Jews and their complete emancipation will form one of the conditions of a truly constructive imperial régime.”
The cruelty of the government’s policy toward the Jews has not received the support of the Russian people, as the numerous protests uttered in the Duma, in public assemblies and in the press clearly indicate. When it is remembered that those non-Jews who, in Russia, dare to utter a word in favor of the despised Jews, risk their position and prestige to a degree unparalleled in any other country, the following calendar of protests and manifestoes constitutes a body of evidence against the Russian government which must compel conviction.
These protests have been grouped, for convenience, into four classes:
Early in the session of the Duma the Left groups proposed an interpellation of the Government with respect to its illegal acts against the Jews. After some debate the proposed questions were referred to the Committee on Interpellations, which reported them out, on August 30, 1915, in this form:
I. Do the president of the Council of Ministers and the Ministers of the Interior and Justice know of the illegal conduct of their administrative officers with respect to the following:
1. That officers of the prison administration received persons taken by the military authorities as hostages from the local Jewish population of Riga, Prushkov ... etc.?
2. That the prosecuting attorneys took no steps to obtain the immediate release of thesepersons, accused of no crime and illegally imprisoned?
3. That the expelled were driven by agents of the police in Vilikomir, Zhagory and Shadov into freight cars inadequate for the accommodation of one-tenth of them, and that the remainder, including children, aged men and women, and invalids were compelled to follow afoot?
4. That the officers of the local governments took no steps to check the repeated robberies by the local population of the property left by the exiles?
5. That the officers of the Gendarmerie of Homel prohibited the supplying of food to the exiles, even though they were at the point of exhaustion from hunger and thirst?
6. That in Novozybkov individuals who sent telegrams appealing for help were arrested?
7. That the officers of the Gendarmerie, with armed threats, refused to admit to sealed cars persons who brought food to the expelled at the station of Bielitsa, on the Poliess railroad?
8. That the police officers locked the exiles in sealed cars for several days at a time?
9. That in the shipment of these exiles from Zolotonosh to Kovno and back some of them were kept in the cars ten days?
10. That the local government administration of the cities of Minsk, Samara and Rostov required the reprinting in the local paper of the story of Jewish treason in the village of Kuzhi, first published in “Nash Viestnik”?
11. That the local administration of Tashkent ordered prayer for the delivery of the army from the treachery of the Jews?
II. If the illegal acts of the authorities are known to the indicated individuals what steps were taken by them towards the punishment of the guilty and the prevention of similar breaches of law in the future?
The significance of this interpellation cannot be overestimated, insofar as the facts implied in these questions are officially accepted by the great standing committee of the Duma as worthy of cognizance. Had the questions originally proposed by the Left groups been without foundation they would have been rejected without reference to the Committee on Interpellations; and had the Committee on Interpellations found, upon examination of the evidence underlying each question by both the Right and Left deputies on the Committee, that the evidence was defective or inadequate, the interpellation would never have been reported out in this form.The fact that it was so reported indicates that the evidence was incontrovertible, and was so accepted by the Liberals and reactionaries alike.The report of the Committee is dated August 30, 1915, but as the Duma was prorogued immediately afterwards, the Government’s answer to the interpellation is not known.
In the course of the debates on these and other questions affecting the Jews the expressed attitude of the representatives of the great bulk of the Russian population left no doubt of their absolute opposition to the Government on the Jewish question.[45]
Professor Milyukov, the leader of the Constitutional Democrats, declared on July 19 (August 1), 1915:
“The strongest factor in the disruption of our national unity was the government’s policy toward our alien subjects.The foulplay upon the obscure racial prejudices of the masses, with the customary weapon of this kind of strife—anti-Semitism and the persecution of all dissenting nationalities or religions—has been exercised with unparalleled effrontery. Under the mask of military precaution, measures worse than credible are taken against crimes that are imaginary.... At a time when nations are struggling for the liberties and rights of small peoples, such terrible deeds embitter our friends and evoke joy among our enemies.”(Loud applause from the left.)
Deputy Kerensky.“We are fighting this war in a territory occupied by non-Russian nationalities. Butdid not our government, this very year, cause these peoples to doubt the wisdom of the path they took a year ago, when they linked their destiny with ours?”
Deputy Tchkheidze.Aug. 3 (16), 1915: “It is well known to you that the Government régime has been based on Jewish oppression and that at all critical momentsit aimed its blows first of all at the Jews, because they were in the line of least resistance....
“A year ago the war began and at once accusations of treachery against the Jews were started by the Government. To-day Russia and the whole world knows who is to blame for the condition in which Russia found herself. The guilty ones were not at all the Jews, as the whole country will confirm, but those who stuffed their pockets with the money which they made on Government orders for army supplies (shouts from the left: “That’s true!”) The guilty ones were those who, with the aid of men like Myasoyodyeff, Grotgus and other traitors, betrayed Russia....
“This is supposed to be a war for liberty, fraternity, and equality, but what justice is there in making a whole nation answer for the crimes of individuals, granting that there are any?
“In the name of what truth is the Kuzhi slander being published in the ‘Pravitelstvenny Viestnik?’
“In the name of what truth are the various periodical publications ordered to reprint this communication under penalty of a fine?
“What justice demands that a Jewish volunteer who has several times been wounded be expelled within twenty-four hours when he tries to find a place in Russia to recover from his wounds?
“In the name of what humanity is it forbidden to hand food to starving Jewish refugees cooped up in freight trains? In the nameof what brotherhood is one part of the army aroused against the Jewish soldiers who are in the trenches side by side with our own soldiers?
“We accuse the Germans of breaking the laws of warfare, of using poison gases and mutilating prisoners. Such acts can call forth only indignation and protest. Let these acts be a stain upon the ruling classes of Germany. But, gentlemen, in the name of what laws of humanity are orders issued to the Russian army to drive peaceful Jews ahead of the troops and to expose them to fire?
“In the name of what laws of humanity are Jewish-Russian subjects taken as hostages and put into prisons and tortured and shot?
“We denounced the Germans for having destroyed Louvain and the Cathedral of Rheims; but I ask you in the name of what ethical or esthetic principles is a Jewish woman who seeks refuge in the synagogue violated?”
Baron Rosen, former Russian Ambassador to the United States,also protested outspokenly against the continuation of the anti-Jewish policy of the Government in a speech before the Council of the Empire, Aug. 22 (Sept. 4), 1915. (See Appendix, p.117.)
The leading political party of Russia—the Constitutional Democratic Party—officially voiced its sentiments on the Jewish question at a national convention of the Party, held at Petrograd on June 19–21 (O. S. June 6–8), 1915, at which the Central Committee of the Party submitted a comprehensive report which was adopted unanimously, and which, summarized in the form of a resolution, was ordered published. This resolution, after citing the loyalty and patriotism of the Jews at the outbreak of the war, continues:
“This intense spirit of patriotism manifested by the Jews in the hour of Russia’s danger seemed for a time to have broken down the rooted prejudices of the Government and to have cleared the way for the recognition in Russia, of that civic equality which is accorded the Jews throughout the civilized world. But this would have deprived our reactionaries, those champions of an outlived past, of their old and well-tested weapon of black demagoguery—anti-Semitism. And so we see that under the direct influence of these notorious Jew-baiters measures were early adopted by the Government to set the army and the people against the Jews. Every advantage was taken of the exigencies of war. Isolated cases of espionage, likely to occur among the border populations of all nations, were seized upon as a basis for universal accusations and furnished the occasion for the invention of incredible myths and rumors circulated exclusively to the injury of the Jews.... The Jews have been held collectively responsible for the acts of individuals among them—a policy which outrages the most elementary sense of justice, a policy which is no longer sanctioned by the laws of any civilized land, a monstrous survival of the remote past.... Needless to mention the spread of discord and hatred, the growth of mutual suspicion and distrust among the races inhabitating Russia which must of necessity follow such a policy....
“Not only in the name of brotherhood; not only in the name of that harmony so necessary where different nationalities are fated to live under the shelter of a common government; notonly for the sake of keeping alive among the Jewish people, now being driven to despair, some hope of a brighter future, and some faith in that progress of which they have ever been the valiant champions, but also for the sake of the attainment of that ideal of the Russian people—the elevation of our beloved Fatherland to the status of a truly enlightened empire—must we offer united opposition against the forces of reaction.... Our adversaries hope to continue, even after the war, to use the poisoned weapon of primitive race hatred which they have used until now. It is our task to demonstrate to the masses of the people that they are again being duped, that their base passions are now being aroused in order to distract their attention from their own vital interests. We must continue, as before, to point out, firmly and persistently, that there is only one path to a brighter future for Russia, the same path along which the entire civilized world has traveled, and that along this road there is only one solution of the Jewish question—a solution demanded by the most elementary principles of civilized government—and that is to grant them, as individuals, full civic rights, and as a people, the right to free racial and cultural self-development.”
A striking incident occurred during the debate upon this resolution. One of the leaders of the party, Maklakov, a brother of the former Minister of the Interior, advanced a plea in extenuation of the alleged Jewish treacheries.
“The Jews have suffered such cruel persecutions in Russia,” he remarked, “that they might well be excused even if these spy stories were found to be true.”
“We spurn this right to baseness,” cried out former deputy Vinaver, a Jew. “Our loyalty is not for sale. We are not newcomers here. Our ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years. We are patriots because we feel ourselves bound to Russia. We believe in Russia even more than you do.”
Various municipalities outside the Pale have petitioned the government to give equal rights to the Jews.
The Municipal Council of Smolensk, at its session of December 19, 1914 (January 1, 1915), passed a resolution, with only two dissenting votes, petitioning the government “to abolish all measures which restrict the rights of Russian subjects of the Jewish faith, and, in particular, to abolish the Pale of Settlement.” At this session Councillor P. V. Mikhailoff said:
“We are referring not only to those families of Jewish soldiers at the front, to families fleeing from devastated Poland, but even to the soldiers themselves who are placedhors de combatbecause of their wounds, after having valiantly served in our ranks. Thus, for example, a Jewish soldier wounded in the hand and in the breast, having parents in this city, obtained permissiononly with the utmost difficultyto stay here three months. At the end of this period he must go back to the Pale and live there without means or medical attention, although he is threatened with tuberculosis.... This is merely one case in thousands which prove to us the horrors of the situation in which Jewish soldiers and their families are placed because of their deprivation of civic rights. Those families whose members have shed their blood for Russia are ruined by the invasion of the enemy. They arrive here to find a refuge from starvation and death, from ruin and violation. We must remember that nearly a half million Jews are fighting side by side with our brave warriors against the common enemy. As to the civilian Jews, they have no less patriotism or enthusiasm than the other inhabitants.... His Majesty,the Emperor, in passing through Lublin, Grodno, and Tiflis, has deigned to express his thanks to the Jews for their faithfulness to our common country. The conclusion from this is clear:There is no serious reason to maintain any longer those measures of restriction so futile and so pernicious and so malevolent.... But the Jewish question is not merely a question of abstract justice. The economic and moral development of our city life is seriously retarded by the restrictions placed upon one part of the population....”[46]
In August, 1914, a meeting of municipality, Zemstvo, Stock Exchange, and University officials and merchants, at Odessa, resolved that the country would benefit by the abolition of all repressive laws and the opening of educational institutions to all citizens.[47]
In August, 1914, the Moscow Conference of Mayors also forcibly condemned the expulsion policy of some governors and resolved to use its influence to ameliorate the position of the Jews.[48]
So also the Congress of Delegates from cities of Western Siberia petitioned for the abolition of all Jewish disabilities.[49]
Within the past few months the municipalities of Samara, Saratov, Ekaterinoslav and other important centers; the Siberian Municipal Conference, and the Conference of twenty Zemstvos held at Yaroslavl, all petitioned the government and the Duma to remove the disabilities affecting the Jews of Russia.
The Military-Industrial Committee, organized in May, 1915, to integrate the economic resources of the country on a war basis, met on August 25, 1915, and condemnedthe incompetence of the government openly. In his presidential address P. P. Riabushinski deplored the tardiness of the government in calling upon the social forces of the country. “This leadership of the country has been attempted by persons incapable of leadership, and it is now evident to everybody that anew personnel is needed within the government....We have observed the workings of the government departments from the very beginning of the war, and have come to the conclusion that these departments are unable to cope with the situation. The supply of war material is altogether unorganized, as the army well knows.... The government will from now on transfer to us more and more of its functions.But the longer this is deferred the less benefit will result....This work cannot be done through a poorly organized government.... The State is a huge business enterprise, whose parts must work harmoniously.... The war has now changed from a struggle of will and spirit into a struggle of machinery.Therefore, the persons entrusted with the defense of the country must know the country....It cannot be denied that Russia is at the present moment facing a great danger, and we fear that the time may come when our courage will sink.... (censored). Our army is suffering heroically.... (censored). We know that after a while, with the war continuing in the same poor fashion as at present, the government will be ready to meet us half-way, but we also know by experiencethat it will then be too late and even the very best man called by the government will be unable to accomplish anything.”
This address was met with thunderous applause. Another speaker, Prof. E. L. Zubashov, referring to the Jews, declared that:“The sons of the Jewish nationare now fighting side by side with the Russians for their country. Unfortunately this country has until now been only a step-mother to them. Let us express the hope that it may now become a mother to them.”He therefore proposed a resolution favoring the abolition of all restrictive laws against the Jews. His proposal was met with prolonged applause and was accepted by the convention.[50]
At a meeting of the Free Economic Society—the foremost economic organization of Russia—on January 16, 1915, the following resolution was adopted unanimously:
“The Commission ... has taken into account the exceptionally difficult position in which the Jewish population finds itself, in view of the residence restrictions to which they are subject.
“While they are suffering all the terrors of war together with the rest of the population, the Jewish population, being mainly urban, has suffered particularly from the general disorganization of economic relations not only within the immediate region of military activities, but far beyond.
“Under these conditions it would be a great relief to the suffering population if measures were adopted which would make it easier for them to move about in search of work. In view of the size of our country and the unlimited economic resources of its regions, especially those of the interior, have hardly been touched by the miseries of war. There are regions in the interior of Russia where economic conditions have even improved somewhat, since they have assumed many of the industries abandoned in Poland, and since the commissary department placed large orders here.
“At the same time the Jewish population is even at this exceptional time artificially confined to the cities of Poland and the western provinces by force of existing legal limitations which increases the hardships of war for them.If in time of peace these restrictions,which are economically harmful and morally degrading,are recognized as a relic of barbarism that must be abolished, itis all the more difficult to reconcile ourselves with them at the present time, when hundreds and thousands of Jews serve under the Russian banners on the battlefield.
“In view of these facts the Commission has decided to request the Council of the Free Economic Society to communicate with the government and members of the society who are members of the legislative bodies:—
“To immediately stop the functioning of all restrictive laws relating to the Settlement rights of Jews,and
“To abolish them immediately and permanently by legislative enactment.”[51]
Numerous commercial and technical associations have passed resolutions declaring that the main cause of Russia’s economic backwardness lay in the restrictions placed upon Jews, and that the sole means of combating German predominance over Russian industry and trade is through the abolition of these restrictions. Among these organizations are the national grain, lumber, fur and gold trades; the Chambers of Commerce of Moscow, Petrograd and the leading cities of Russia and Siberia, and the national Congress of Bourses; the Russo-American Chamber of Commerce, etc. Practically every national convention of every industry has petitioned the government to liberate the economic talents of the Jews by the removal of all legal restrictions.
Just as the commercial and industrial elements of Russia demand equality for the Jews on economic grounds, so the intellectual elements of Russia demand it on broad human grounds.
The great manifesto issued at the beginning of the war by 225 of the leading publicists and writers of Russia, declares:
“Russia, in the present great war, is straining all her physical and intellectual forces to an extraordinary degree. All the peoples of Russia are taking part in the war, sharing equally in all the labors. We believe that the blood of the fighters is not being shed in vain. We believe that after having borne the horrors of the war, the population will return with increased energy to the work of building for a better and brighter future. This we believe, and we hope that the relations between the different peoples that inhabit Russia will be built up in the future on the eternal foundations of wisdom and justice.
“But at this moment, so important in history, we see with sorrow and consternation that to the sufferings of one of the nationalities inhabiting Russia new distress and new vexations are added. The limitation of the right of education is now felt with particular pain by the Jewish youth. As the Western frontiers are closed the usual exodus to the foreign schools is checked, while in Russia itself the percentage limitations against the Jews in the schools are maintained in force. The Jews of the destroyed towns have no right to leave the Pale of Settlement, a measure which often leads to a disintegration and a division of members of families, wives and children of wounded soldiers not being allowed to visit their husbands and fathers, and being at the same time exposed to all sorts of chicanery.The sorely-tried Jewish nation which has given to the world such precious contributions in the domain of religion, of philosophy, of poetry; which has always shared the travails and trials of Russian life; which has been hurt so often by prejudice and insult; which more than once has proven its love for Russia, and its devotion to her cause, is now again exposed to unjust accusations and persecutions.
“The Russian Jews, who are industriously working with us in all spheres of labor and activity that are accessible to them, have given so many convincing proofs of their sincere desire to be with us, to render service to our cause ... that the limitation of their right of citizenship is not only a crying injustice, but also reacts injuriously upon the very interests of the State. The Russian Empire can, and must, draw its strength from the complete union of all the nationalities inhabiting Russia, and only by the placing of all citizens upon an equal footing will the power of Russia become indestructible.
“Russians, let us remember that the Russian Jew has no other country than Russia, and that nothing is dearer to a man thanthe soil on which he is born. Let us understand that the prosperity and power of Russia are inseparable from the well-being and the liberty of all the nationalities which constitute its vast Empire. Let us understand this truth, act according to our intelligence and our conscience, and we may be certain that the ultimate disappearance of persecutions against the Jews and their complete emancipation will form one of the conditions of a truly constructive imperial régime.”