not very long after the dismissal of the former minister of education, s?nger, i sought out a certain university professor who had been mentioned to me as being accurately informed about university affairs. of course, my visit to him had been carefully planned, for it is not possible in russia for a person—least of all if he be an official—to express himself freely to strangers.
the information which i received from this authority on the general political and economic position of russia agreed with the discussions i had heard on every side. misery, despair, inevitable collapse, these were the words which were most noticeable in his description, too, and it would be almost superfluous for one to reproduce the conversation unless certain additional details had been brought out which are particularly characteristic of the intense ferment in which intellectual russia is at just this time involved.
just previously several students had been arrested. i asked about the cause of the arrest and the probable fate of the young folks. a [pg 227]demonstration in favor of the japanese had been held by the students, and had been reported. this was the cause of the arrest. "as yet nothing can be said about the fate of the incautious young men," the professor answered.
"you say that the students held a demonstration for the japanese? it is scarcely credible!"
"and yet it is true. all enlightened people, and accordingly the students, too, regard the japanese as an unexpected ally in their fight against the existing conditions, and so sympathy for them is not concealed. and, besides, aversion to them as a nation does not exist."
"but it is the very brothers and fellow-countrymen of the students who must pay for it with their own blood if the japanese retain the upper hand!"
"that is partially true. but, first of all, poles, jews, and armenians have been sent to the seat of war, so that the russian families do not as yet feel the war so keenly; and then the russian is used to the idea that there must be bloody sacrifices for the cause of freedom. at any rate, those who were arrested are much nearer the other students than the troops who have gone to the front."
"but they challenged their fate!"
"that is a part of the fight against the régime. they seek martyrdom, since they have become convinced that nothing can be attained by bare protests and petitions. perhaps a trace of asiatic fatalism, and a lower valuation upon life than is[pg 228] given it in the west, plays a part in their acts, but, more powerful than all else probably, their conviction that public opinion appreciates their sacrifices and approves of their conduct."
"then ambition is also an influence?"
"if you care to call it so. there is a little ambition in every martyrdom. but the strongest motive is that youthful self-sacrifice, and the belief that something can be attained for the cause by their offering themselves up—in short, fanaticism. in this way some of the most incredible things occur; for example, a student in prison emptied an oil lamp over his body and set fire to it only in order to protest against absolutism."
"i have heard this horrible story."
"those who are now under arrest," the professor continued, "will probably most of them soon be let free, for i do not believe that the authorities have at present any desire to raise much of a storm. but as many of them as are jews will in all probability be more severely punished, if only for statistical reasons."
"i understand."
"oh yes. you know that the police have their special code for the jews, so as to prove that the discontent is entirely due to them. plehve asserts that he has forty thousand political indictments, eighty per cent. of the indicted being jews. that is made up to suit themselves, and has nothing to do with turbulence. on the other hand, i dare say,[pg 229] that quite often just for this statistical reason, and because the jews are punished quite differently from the sons of distinguished families, the jews are urged by their congeners not to expose themselves; but they, too, are of course infected by the general fanaticism of self-sacrifice."
"but from what do the special student disturbances about which we hear so much proceed? are they not caused by troubles in the universities?"
"only in the very rarest cases. it is occurrences of general politics which find a particularly lively echo among the students; the reforms which are demanded for the university by us, the professors, are even repudiated by the students, because they do not wish to let the causes of their discontent be removed."
"what is the nature of the reforms in question?"
"general wannowski, former minister of education, was perhaps a man of limited capacity, who considered the university a barracks, the professors colonels and other officers, the students privates, and explained that the only thing lacking was non-commissioned officers to keep their respective squads in order. still he showed us the consideration of asking us eighteen questions which were to be answered by the faculties. look here"—the professor pointed to a heavy bundle of printed matter—"here you have the results of our inquest."
"and what is the substance of your wishes, to put it into a very few words?"
[pg 230]
"one word is sufficient, 'autonomy.' we want independence in teaching, 'lehrfreiheit' as it is in germany, independent regulation of our own affairs, and liberation from the direction of another department which has neither interest in us nor understanding of us. this demand was unanimously expressed by all the universities; in moscow only two professors in the whole faculty declared themselves for the prevalent system."
"was anything accomplished by this inquest?"
"to a slight extent. we obtained a university court, constituted of professors, and the permission to form scientific societies among the students."
"that is not so bad. and you say that the students are not in sympathy with that?"
"no, they are afraid that discontent may be lessened by these concessions, and they wish to be discontented until they have accomplished everything."
"what do you mean by 'everything'?"
"a constitution and freedom of the press. they do not even use the right to form scientific societies. at present there is no studying done at our universities; politics have swallowed up everything, and the radical element has seized the leadership completely. they hope in a few months, by means of demonstrations, and heaven knows what fateful resources, to attain a constitution, and after that there will always be time enough for study. at present, study, too, would be treason against the[pg 231] cause of freedom. the universities are only political camps awaiting the call to arms and nothing more."
"but in this respect, at least, they must be glad of their independent university courts—that is, that at any rate they punish their youthful misdeeds more leniently than the police."
"no. in the first place, it is only disciplinary matters over which our court has jurisdiction; and then, in the second place, you forget that the students do not at all want to be mildly treated, but to be sacrificed."
"of course. it is hard to reckon with motives that one scarcely understands. but one thing is still unintelligible to me. it cannot exactly be said that russia is a radical country in the sense that the whole upper stratum is radical. how is it that the student body, which comes principally from this upper stratum, is so laden with revolutionary tendencies?"
"i might answer you in a french phrase, although it is not particularly flattering to us, 'le russe est liberal jusqu'à trente ans, et après—canaille.'[8] the russian is absolutely not conservative, not even the official. he can mock conservatism while seeking office, but in his own house he remains a free-thinker, and youth, which has not yet learned to cringe and hedge, blushes at[pg 232] the two-facedness of its parentage, and continually reveals the true attitude of the house. then, with the exception of the high nobility, our whole landowner class is more than liberal. moreover, from two to three hundred conservative students are to be found at each of the great universities, and they have formed a secret association for the protection of the sacred régime—and it is characteristic that the novoye vremya was allowed to print the call to form this secret society, although here in russia all secret societies are illegal."
"and are not these conservative students dangerous to their fellows?"
"up to the present they have confined themselves to patriotic demonstrations. they might become dangerous if they once decided to go to lectures—not even then to their fellow-students, but to the professors, who have greater doctrinal freedom, and who also make use of the right to express their opinions, of course within the limits of their special subjects. [shortly after this interview a professor in kharkov who had expressed sympathy for the japanese was actually informed against by the conservative students and disciplined by the authorities, a thing which led to great student demonstrations.] moreover, there are special spies which keep watch over the professors and students, but luckily they are too illiterate to understand the import of what is said, and therefore can do little damage."
[pg 233]
"are the professors sufficiently in sympathy with each other for the formation of a university esprit de corps?"
"most certainly. the common suffering, the fact that they are forbidden to take open part in politics draw them together. where in other places rivalries and differences of opinion occasion dissensions, here there is to be found only one solid whole—oppression is the firm cement. and only in this way is it possible to make some resistance to the absolutism of the police. in open resistance we are quite weak, yes, even defenceless, against the brutality of the régime, but in passive resistance we are almost unconquerable because of our close contact with each other."
"ah! and so here there is brought to my attention one of those subterranean sources of public opinion in russia, which i have so long sought."
"of course. the universities form at least one of the main channels."
"and you consider the next generation to be thoroughly impregnated with ideas of independence?"
"thoroughly."
to the question with which i always parted from my authorities—that is, what he believed the immediate future contained for russia—this professor, whose department i am not at liberty to indicate, but of whom i can say that he is particularly well informed, gave the following answer:
[pg 234]
"we are exhausted. the transition to the financing of railroads, tariff legislation, the tightening of screws of taxation bring in money for a while, but no real power. we are on the brink of a crisis. i believe that the war will greatly accelerate and force us to discount our coupons.[9] then, in my opinion, it cannot be long before a sort of national assembly is called. this is my belief and my hope. conditions of excitement like the present ones at our universities cannot be long endured under any circumstances. in one way or another a change must take place, and we must hold fast to the hope of better things."
footnotes:
[8] the russian is liberal until his thirtieth year—and then he joins the rabble.
[9] den coupon zu kürzen.
