登陆注册
5382300000284

第284章 CHAPTER XXXVI(6)

Altogether M. Witte was an inconvenient personage in an administration in which strong personality is regarded as entirely out of place, and in which personal initiative is supposed to reside exclusively in the Tsar. In addition to all this he was a man who felt keenly, and when he was irritated he did not always keep the unruly member under strict control. If I am correctly informed, it was some imprudent and not very respectful remarks, repeated by a subordinate and transmitted by a Grand Duke to the Tsar, which were the immediate cause of his transfer from the influential post of Minister of Finance to the ornamental position of President of the Council of Ministers; but that was merely the proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back. His position was already undermined, and it is the undermining process which I

wish to describe.

The first to work for his overthrow were the Agrarian Conservatives. They could not deny that, from the purely fiscal point of view, his administration was a marvellous success; for he was rapidly doubling the revenue, and he had succeeded in replacing the fluctuating depreciated paper currency by a gold coinage; but they maintained that he was killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Evidently the tax-paying power of the rural classes was being overstrained, for they were falling more and more into arrears in the payment of their taxes, and their impoverishment was yearly increasing. All their reserves had been exhausted, as was shown by the famines of 1891-92, when the Government had to spend hundreds of millions to feed them. Whilst the land was losing its fertility, those who had to live by it were increasing in numbers at an alarming rate. Already in some districts one-fifth of the peasant households had no longer any land of their own, and of those who still possessed land a large proportion had no longer the cattle and horses necessary to till and manure their allotments.

No doubt M. Witte was beginning to perceive his mistake, and had done something to palliate the evils by improving the system of collecting the taxes and abolishing the duty on passports, but such merely palliative remedies could have little effect. While a few capitalists were amassing gigantic fortunes, the masses were slowly and surely advancing to the brink of starvation. The welfare of the agriculturists, who constitute nine-tenths of the whole population, was being ruthlessly sacrificed, and for what? For the creation of a manufacturing industry which rested on an artificial, precarious basis, and which had already begun to decline.

So far the Agrarians, who champion the interests of the agricultural classes. Their views were confirmed and their arguments strengthened by an influential group of men whom I may call, for want of a better name, the philosophers or doctrinaire interpreters of history, who have, strange to say, more influence in Russia than in any other country.

The Russian educated classes desire that the nation should be wealthy and self-supporting, and they recognise that for this purpose a large manufacturing industry is required; but they are reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary to attain the object in view, and they imagine that, somehow or other, these sacrifices may be avoided. Sympathising with this frame of mind, the doctrinaires explain that the rich and prosperous countries of Europe and America obtained their wealth and prosperity by so-called "Capitalism"--that is to say, by a peculiar social organisation in which the two main factors are a small body of rich capitalists and manufacturers and an enormous pauper proletariat living from hand to mouth, at the mercy of the heartless employers of labour.

Russia has lately followed in the footsteps of those wealthy countries, and if she continues to do so she will inevitably be saddled with the same disastrous results--plutocracy, pauperism, unrestrained competition in all spheres of activity, and a greatly intensified struggle for life, in which the weaker will necessarily go to the wall.*

Free competition in all spheres of activity, leading to social inequality, plutocracy, and pauperism, is the favourite bugbear of Russian theorists; and who is not a theorist in Russia? The fact indicates the prevalence of Socialist ideas in the educated classes.

Happily there is, according to these theorists, a more excellent way, and Russia can adopt it if she only remains true to certain mysterious principles of her past historic development. Without attempting to expound those mysterious principles, to which I have repeatedly referred in previous chapters, I may mention briefly that the traditional patriarchal institutions on which the theorists found their hopes of a happy social future for their country are the rural Commune, the native home-industries, and the peculiar co-operative institutions called Artels. How these remnants of a semi-patriarchal state of society are to be practically developed in such a way as to withstand the competition of manufacturing industry organised on modern "capitalist" lines, no one has hitherto been able to explain satisfactorily, but many people indulge in ingenious speculations on the subject, like children planning the means of diverting with their little toy spades a formidable inundation. In my humble opinion, the whole theory is a delusion; but it is held firmly--I might almost say fanatically--by those who, in opposition to the indiscriminate admirers of West-European and American civilisation, consider themselves genuine Russians and exceptionally good patriots. M.

同类推荐
  • 中国哲学史

    中国哲学史

    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。
  • 黄庭内景五藏六府图

    黄庭内景五藏六府图

    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。
  • 华严游意

    华严游意

    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。
  • 佛祖历代通载

    佛祖历代通载

    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。
  • 华严一乘教义分齐章科

    华严一乘教义分齐章科

    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
  • 劳动者

    劳动者

    誉为“劳动者创业奇迹”的李宝金受到排挤,被迫离开奋斗了多年的公司。之后重新振作,再度白手起家,重塑辉煌!
  • 再婚难逃

    再婚难逃

    如果你发现老公外遇,你会怎么做?答曰:三条腿的蛤蟆难找,两条腿的男人可遍地都是!必须离!离了再找一个好男人!
  • 蜜宠甜妻,老公请自重

    蜜宠甜妻,老公请自重

    苏瑾嫁给秦以墨,是蓄谋已久。秦以墨娶她为妻,是百般算计。结婚后,秦大总裁变相宠妻。奈何婆婆刁难,小三小四齐找上门,苏瑾递出离婚协议书:这日子没法过了!再相遇,秦以墨将堵在墙角,捏着她的下巴问:苏瑾,还逃吗?我以为你爱的人是我,未曾想只是你做戏一场。苏瑾,你逃不掉!——秦以墨我时常觉得,秦以墨身上有故人的味道,下意识的接近,再靠近,没想到却惹上了一头吃人不吐骨头的狼。——苏瑾
  • 竹马谋妻之误惹醋王世子

    竹马谋妻之误惹醋王世子

    她不就想嫁个人吗?怎么就那么难?她自认自己长得不差,千金小姐该会的她一样不少,可年岁已到,竟一个上门来提亲的都没有!难道是自己不小心暴露了本性,把那些男人都给吓到了?“小姐,梁王府的沐世子来提亲了!”唉,算了算了,就他吧,也没得可挑了。得知真相之后,她揪着他的衣领声音悲愤,“你个黑心黑肝的,还我的桃花!”怪不得从小到大,自己身边半个追求者都没有,原来都是他搞的鬼!他眸光潋滟地盯着她的眼睛,“有了我,你还要那些烂桃花做什么?他们比得上我?”余下的声音已经消弭于唇齿之间……传言她是端庄婉约、无可挑剔的千金贵女?小伙伴们曰:屁,这都是假象!她分明是摸鱼爬树、坑蒙拐骗无所不为的野丫头!若是惹恼了她,动动手指便是腥风血雨。传言他是骄阳明亮、温文尔雅的王府世子?情敌们曰:屁,这都是胡说!他分明是手段迭出、凶暴残忍无所不用其极的大腹黑!若是沾惹上他心上的那个女子,就先找个人替自己收尸吧。青梅竹马甜宠文,女强男强,欢迎入坑。
  • 梵语杂名

    梵语杂名

    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。
  • 高手神话

    高手神话

    网游里的江湖不再只是只是网游。葵花宝典,辟邪剑谱,降龙十八掌,易筋经……只要你有实力,什么不可一世的人物都可以被你踩在脚……不论你是什么控,只要你有实力,在这里,一并都可以拥有……
  • 穿越大明之厚黑皇帝

    穿越大明之厚黑皇帝

    “认准目标,遇事要忍,出手要狠,善后要稳,朕为天下计,岂顾脸皮哉,为我华夏衣冠,虽千万人,朕往矣“。。。
  • 泛娱乐明星

    泛娱乐明星

    梦中也能天上掉馅饼,平凡而普通的宅男得到了来自全民娱乐的外星球最高科技。对于娱乐圈一无所知的菜鸟就这样一头扎进了娱乐圈,却走上了娱乐圈中不务正业的不归路……
  • 蜘蛛男

    蜘蛛男

    《蜘蛛男》是“江户川乱步作品集”第七卷。故事开头,怪绅士稻桓租下了一间事务所,把它重新装修成美术艺品店。第二天开业时聘用了一名十八岁的美少女,但当天晚上就奸杀了这名少女。接下来的几天内报纸社会版头条陆续刊登了“碎尸案”、“美人鱼案”。民间犯罪学者畔柳博士接手此案,在与蓝胡子稻桓正面交锋的过程中屡屡败下阵来,直到环游归来的明智加入侦破阵营……,故事从读者预测不到的角度展开,是一部名探与杀人狂的斗智故事。
  • 后悔药专卖铺

    后悔药专卖铺

    燕国国君殷湛玉树临风神机妙算厚颜无耻,伪装成虞国将军李璟之,潜入“不悔药铺”接近老板娘红溪。啥?红溪居然还是个妖精?还卖后悔药?!国之将乱,妖孽丛生。他要亲手结束这乱世。而她,却依附乱世而生。高贵冷艳的女主VS耍流氓耍无赖死缠烂打的男主!