The International Socialist Review A MONTHLY JOURNAL SOCIALIST THOUGHT VOLUME VI JULY, 1905--JUNE, 1906 234 CHICAGO CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW VOL. VI JULY, 1905 NO. I Revolutionary Russia. "Only the shallow minded see subtle catastrophies and inexplicable happenings in nature as in history," says Barbe Gendre. We hear of an uprising and think it is sudden. The cry for freedom, for rights of man reaches our ear, from a distant land, and we think that the people of that land have suddenly awakened from a deep slumber. But these are erroneous ideas. Nothing in nature or in history is sudden, though it may seem so. Every change, every resolution is the result of slow steady growth. When we first heard of the great strikes in dark despotic Russia we were somewhat puzzled. Had the goddess of discontent and revolt turned her eyes toward the land of the knout? Had Liberty showed her enticing beauty to the poor oppressed people of an unfortunate land? We might well ask ourselves these questions. For we pay very little attention to Russia's inner life, when things go on in their "normal" course. But whether we know it or not, these strikes of today, those for liberty as well as those for bread, are the natural result of years of hard work on the part of liberty loving. men and women. To go back to the history of the revolutionary movement, we might begin with the year 1825, when the first attempt to overthrow tyranny was made. This attempt was made on December 26 (14 old style) of that year, by those who were afterwards called the "Decembrists," a group composed mostly of members of the aristocracy who during their stay in Paris became imbued with the spirit of liberty. This attempt was crushed by the crude Nicholas I. Before going further let me say that Russia was not always a despotic monarchy. It had communal autonomy, and local liberties. About the 13th and 14th centuries Russia had developed industrial centers that could be likened to little republics. But |