登陆注册
5382300000237

第237章 CHAPTER XXXII(1)

THE ZEMSTVO AND THE LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

Necessity of Reorganising the Provincial Administration--Zemstvo Created in 1864--My First Acquaintance with the Institution--

District and Provincial Assemblies--The Leading Members--Great Expectations Created by the Institution--These Expectations Not Realised--Suspicions and Hostility of the Bureaucracy--Zemstvo Brought More Under Control of the Centralised Administration--What It Has Really Done--Why It Has Not Done More---Rapid Increase of the Rates--How Far the Expenditure Is Judicious--Why the Impoverishment of the Peasantry Was Neglected--Unpractical, Pedantic Spirit--Evil Consequences--Chinese and Russian Formalism--

Local Self-Government of Russia Contrasted with That of England--

Zemstvo Better than Its Predecessors--Its Future.

After the emancipation of the serfs the reform most urgently required was the improvement of the provincial administration. In the time of serfage the Emperor Nicholas, referring to the landed proprietors, used to say in a jocular tone that he had in his Empire 50,000 most zealous and efficient hereditary police-masters.

By the Emancipation Law the authority of these hereditary police-

masters was for ever abolished, and it became urgently necessary to put something else in its place. Peasant self-government was accordingly organised on the basis of the rural Commune; but it fell far short of meeting the requirements of the situation. Its largest unit was the Volost, which comprises merely a few contiguous Communes, and its action is confined exclusively to the peasantry. Evidently it was necessary to create a larger administrative unit, in which the interests of all classes of the population could be attended to, and for this purpose Alexander II.

in November, 1859, more than a year before the Emancipation Edict, instructed a special Commission to prepare a project for giving to the inefficient, dislocated provincial administration greater unity and independence. The project was duly prepared, and after being discussed in the Council of State it received the Imperial sanction in January, 1864. It was supposed to give, in the words of an explanatory memorandum attached to it, "as far as possible a complete and logical development to the principle of local self-

government." Thus was created the Zemstvo,which has recently attracted considerable attention in Western Europe, and which is destined, perhaps, to play a great political part in the future.

The term Zemstvo is derived from the word Zemlya, meaning land, and might be translated, if a barbarism were permissible, by Land-

dom on the analogy of Kingdom, Dukedom, etc.

My personal acquaintance with this interesting institution dates from 1870. Very soon after my arrival at Novgorod in that year, I

made the acquaintance of a gentleman who was described to me as "the president of the provincial Zemstvo-bureau," and finding him amiable and communicative, I suggested that he might give me some information regarding the institution of which he was the chief local representative. With the utmost readiness he proposed to be my Mentor, introduced me to his colleagues, and invited me to come and see him at his office as often as I felt inclined. Of this invitation I made abundant use. At first my visits were discreetly few and short, but when I found that my new friend and his colleagues really wished to instruct me in all the details of Zemstvo administration, and had arranged a special table in the president's room for my convenience, I became a regular attendant, and spent daily several hours in the bureau, studying the current affairs, and noting down the interesting bits of statistical and other information which came before the members, as if I had been one of their number. When they went to inspect the hospital, the lunatic asylum, the seminary for the preparation of village schoolmasters, or any other Zemstvo institution, they invariably invited me to accompany them, and made no attempt to conceal from me the defects which they happened to discover.

I mention all this because it illustrates the readiness of most Russians to afford every possible facility to a foreigner who wishes seriously to study their country. They believe that they have long been misunderstood and systematically calumniated by foreigners, and they are extremely desirous that the prevalent misconceptions regarding their country should be removed. It must be said to their honour that they have little or none of that false patriotism which seeks to conceal national defects; and in judging themselves and their institutions they are inclined to be over-

severe rather than unduly lenient. In the time of Nicholas I.

those who desired to stand well with the Government proclaimed loudly that they lived in the happiest and best-governed country of the world, but this shallow official optimism has long since gone out of fashion. During all the years which I spent in Russia I

found everywhere the utmost readiness to assist me in my investigations, and very rarely noticed that habit of "throwing dust in the eyes of foreigners," of which some writers have spoken so much.

The Zemstvo is a kind of local administration which supplements the action of the rural Communes, and takes cognizance of those higher public wants which individual Communes cannot possibly satisfy.

同类推荐
  • 海语

    海语

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 龙虚篇

    龙虚篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 象台首末

    象台首末

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 易原

    易原

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 观自在菩萨心真言一印念诵法

    观自在菩萨心真言一印念诵法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 古今刀剑录

    古今刀剑录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 龙之渊源

    龙之渊源

    默默栖身在角落里的她,从不招惹是非,却还是有人看不惯她,只是这些不痛不痒她都没有放在心上,于她而言,不重要的人和事,她向来不会太过在意。只是高考结束后,一份奇怪的offer让她脱离了原来的生活,也让十几年前的真相浮出水面……身负远古龙族的皇者血脉,于她究竟是福是祸?经历过抛弃,欺骗和背叛后的她,原谅与否?忘记与否?最后的最后她又该何去何从?前方茫茫,当一无所有的她迈入绝望深渊,就要成为龙族血脉的傀儡之际,一双冰冷的手臂却在此时强势的将她带离,并狠狠地拽她入自己怀中。“傻瓜,你忘了吗?你还有我,我一直在你的身后,从未离开。”
  • 三峰半水元禅师语录

    三峰半水元禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 总裁,不做你的女人

    总裁,不做你的女人

    一夜醒来,莫名被拍了照片,她被人设计惹上一个冷魅男人。她只等恶梦结束的那一天,从此,远离他的世界。但是在分手的一个月后发现居然有了身孕。再度相遇,他淡淡一笑,“女人,孩子都生了,以后就叫老婆吧。”
  • 末世之召唤红警

    末世之召唤红警

    荒凉破败的街道中,一只丧尸正趴在地上吭食着刚刚捕获的猎物。路边的碎石块微微震颤起来,丧尸抬起头望向四周——下一秒,他的头颅像西瓜一样爆裂开来。震感愈发强烈,目力可及之处,无数的装甲车坦克如钢铁洪流般滚滚而来。“指挥官,已经到达目的地,雷达以探测到多处矿产资源。”“让谭雅带着海豹突击队清扫城市里的残余丧尸!工程师尽快测量巨炮的最佳建造点,我要将这里打造的固若金汤!”庞大的天启坦克上,王鹏双手抱胸,环顾四周。2017最劲爆末日爽文,给你不一样的末日废土体验。 q群号码:799232616。
  • 好孕临门

    好孕临门

    2009年最温暖最爆笑的怀孕小说。 经过七八年的丁克婚姻,李享在丈夫出国工作的前夕,突然发现自己怀孕了。 她知道,如果不生下这个孩子,以后她可能会没有勇气再要一个孩子了。 身边和她一样的丁克朋友们、远在国外的丈夫,都殷切地盼望着她能生下这个宝贝来。 无奈中,心怀胆怯惶恐地,李享接受了怀孕的事实。十月怀胎的过程中,她经历了很多事情:对小孩子一直心存恐惧,可不得不做一段时间的临时“妈妈”;挺着走样的身材,去面对曾经的仰慕者;男同事看她的眼神,也有了微妙的变化……
  • 农女逆袭种田忙

    农女逆袭种田忙

    被休,被抛弃。被置于死地。然而苍天有眼。宁仙仙,重生了。重生于九岁时的农户之家,一睁眼就围观了一场洞房花烛夜,差点被打死。而眼前的破桌烂衣,寒酸房舍,也根本不是她所熟悉的前世的一切。在努力寻回断掉的记忆时,她不仅要找回曾经丢失的自尊和幸福生活,还要让背叛她的人,也尝尝蚀心跗骨的痛苦。然而在她发家致富虐渣渣一路狂奔的路上,却总有一个又美又傲娇的男人黏着她,以报恩的名义要以身相许。她是该接受呢,还是接受呢?
  • 正经事

    正经事

    方达明,在文学期刊发表中短篇小说几十篇。短篇小说《出走》获第八届美国新语丝文学奖三等奖。小说《婶婶》获第九届美国新语丝文学奖,短篇小说《我的土豆》获第四届林语堂文学创作奖。短篇小说《气球》获台湾第33届联合报文学奖小说评审奖。
  • 做核心员工,不做候补队员

    做核心员工,不做候补队员

    什么样的员工是企业永远需要的核心员工?什么样的员工老板不会炒掉?怎样才能在失业的大潮中保留属于自己的饭碗?如何才能得到老板的赏识,获得升职与加薪的机会?这些问题都能在本书中找到答案。本书从从四个方面为职场人士剖析最新的工作理念,讲述了如何正确地做事、快乐地做事,打造高效的工作能力;强调了职场人际关系的重要性,以及如何与老板、同事、下属和谐相处的技巧和方法,从而成为一名让老板离不开的核心员工。
  • 我们说好的幸福

    我们说好的幸福

    我们都希望在最好的年华遇见一个人,可事实往往是,我们遇见了一个人,才迎来了最好的年华。从小是孤儿的林思楠在一次偶然的机会中被袁妈妈收养并带往意大利,长大后,她为了报恩回国帮妈妈寻找多年前遗失在国内的儿子袁靖宸。当她一步一步按计划接近靖宸时,才发现耀眼如王子的靖宸却从小被心脏病折磨,让她痛心不已。随后两人在日渐的相处中产生了深刻的爱意。正当思楠鼓起勇气想要冲破尴尬身份的障碍来争取这份爱情时,却意外得知自己身患绝症。而此时,靖宸也同样被困在病房危在旦夕。上天真的这样绝情吗?连一点幸福的权利都不舍得施舍?那些爱过的感觉都太深刻,我都还记得。你等不了,我们说好的幸福呢?