THE OPENING OF THE DUMA.
ON Thursday, with every circumstance of pomp and ceremony, the new Duma was opened in St. Peters- burg by the Czar in person. Russia has before now stood at the cross-roads, and chosen the wrong pathway ; but the turning of the ways with which she is now confronted is the most critical in her history. After two years of strife a Constitution has been wrung from the autocracy. The bureaucratic regime has been discredited beyond hope, and the Czar is aware of it. He is believed to be honestly anxious to follow the Constitutional course, and for the moment the many parties in the State have schooled them- selves into a kind of moderation, and are prepared to give the new experiment a fair trial. Everything depends upon the relation which is established at the start between ruler and people. On this we need not speculate, for the next few days will decide ; but it is desirable, while we are waiting on the decision, to look at the present condition of politics in Russia. The smoke of the recent struggle has not yet cleared off, but it is thinning, and it is possible to discern certain features of the situation through the haze.
There are no parties in our sense as yet, but there must be at least a dozen groups. From these we may strike out the top and the bottom—the Reactionaries and the Terrorists—as of no great practical importance. . Both exist, but in dwindling numbers, since their creeds are con- fessions of despair, and for the moment the mind of the nation is inclined to hope. Beginning with the Zemst- voists and Octobrists on the Right, we pass through the Constitutional Democrats, who may be said to form the Centre, to the Extreme Left of the Radicals and Social Democrats. Between these groups there is not very much in common. The Intelligents have an ideal of the State radically different from that of the Zemstvoists or the peasants. But for the moment all seem prepared to sink their differences and give Constitutional reform a trial. Such being the attitude of the nation, the Centre necessarily dictates the policy. We have no fault to find with the way in which the Constitutional Democratic Party have managed things up to now. They number among their ranks the great majority of the Members of the new Duma, and they have probably a majority in the nation. Professor Miliukoff's speech on Friday week on the tactics of the party showed genuine political wisdom and the true temper of statesmanship. The Duma, he said, was not all that they wished, but it was their duty to make the best of it. They must assemble, and then pass the necessary laws to regularise their status, since an uncompromising refusal to meet until the Election Law was amended would land them in fresh barren conflicts with the Government. This advice has been followed, and in the Assembly which met on Thursday the bulk of the delegates are pledged to moderate tactics. With them are allied the Peasant Deputies, one hundred and thirty in number, and the coalition of these two powerful groups determines the character of the body. The Duma virtually represents the Centre, and is therefore capable of being united under the leadership of some really moderate statesman who is pledged to serious reform. We confess that we place far more weight on the sober spirit thus manifested than on the substance of their demands The Constitutional Democrats ask for many things which seem to us dangerous and premature. Not only, do they demand a political amnesty, a Parliamentary inquiry into the misdeeds of the bureaucracy, the increase of the powers of the Duma, and the reform of the electoral law ; but they ask for universal suffrage for both sexes, and they apparently have united with the peasants in a demand for land nationalisation. But the free discussion of these questions in the Duma may modify the proposals before they take the form of law ; and in any case, when the Deputies have such a mass of abuses to overhaul, it is natural that they should be sweeping in their declara- tions. In the new Duma there is a great deal of administrative ability trained by local government, and this may be trusted to keep the decisions to sound and practical lines. While administrative reform is a crying need there is not likely to be much coquetting with speculative doctrines. Those who have seen and talked with the Peasant Deputies speak highly of their intelli- gence and seriousness. Land nationalisation may come, as emancipation came; but in good hands it may be engineered equitably and without economic loss. It is significant, too, that many of the employers of labour are in agreement with the demand of their workmen for reformed factory laws and the legalisation of Trade- Unions. They see that the present system, being based on discontent, means chaos and waste, and is as ruinous to masters as to men. This recognition of the value of freedom, not only because of its license, but because of its responsibilities, is the most hopeful trait of the new Constitutional party.
If our forecast is right, the Czar's course was simple. He had to put in a stop-gap Premier—and M. Goremykin did as well as another—but the real decision would be left to the Puma. It was for them to choose some man from the Right, Left, or Centre who was known and trusted as an administrator, and under whom all the groups could unite. Obviously the Constitutional Democrats believe that such a leader can be found, and the finding of him is the next step in Russia's political advance. But, first and foremost, the Czar must show that he trusted the Assembly he had. summoned, and that he stood loyally by his promises. The dismissal of Count Witte was inevitable before the Duma could meet. That remarkable man had for long played a difficult game. Misreading the signs of the times, he thought by administrative dexterity to re-establish that autocracy of which he bad been so long a pillar. He had influence with the Czar, who believed him to be trusted by the people : he had some influence with the more moderate of the popular leaders, since they believed him to be trusted by the Czar. Gradually it dawned upon both Czar and people that Count Witte was trusted by nobody. His presence in the Government, so far from being a sop to popular discontent, was an incentive to it, and, his last card being played, he went into retirement. M. Durnovo followed him, and Russia breathed freely. The recent attempts at assassination were partly the relics of the New Year massacre, partly the outcome of private grudges, and they did not betoken any revival of terrorism. The omens last week looked hopeful for the coming Session.
But for some unknown reason, when the clock was in excellent working order, the Czar has chosen to put its hands back. On Tuesday the very proposal which Count Witte had been dismissed for suggesting was given effect to. New organic laws were promulgated, which were intended to be the charter of the new Assembly in their reforming activity. It may be true that, as the Times correspondent says, these laws contain "the widest constitutional formula compatible with the safe adminis- tration of the country." The laws may be irreproachable ; it is their promulgation which is blameworthy. In the first place, it is a breach of the promise contained in the third clause of the Manifesto of October 30th; and since that Manifesto has been adopted as the minimum of con- cession, any going back upon it is certain to awaken great uneasiness. But, more serious still, it will be taken as an expression of distrust in the Duma. The Czar, it will be argued, is afraid that the Duma will overturn the
whole fabric, and wants to bind its hands at the start.
With a representative Assembly nothing can be done unless it is trusted, and this proof of suspicion will tend to inflame the extremists, and modify for the worse the temperate attitude of the Centre. There is no chance of the Assembly uniting for the purposes of reform if sufficient of the old autocracy remains to make their task futile. At the same time, it is obvious that the Deputies are in no yielding mood. They wish to accomplish their task peaceably, if possible;• but at any cost they will accomplish it. The Speech from the Throne might have counteracted the bad impression created, but, unhappily, while conciliatory enough, it was formal and colourless, and was received by the Deputies without enthusiasm. Its insistence upon the necessity for safeguarding order as well as liberty was natural in the circumstances, but it seems only to have deepened the impression left by the promulgation of the organic laws that the Czar regarded certain vital matters as wholly outside the scope of a Constitutional Assembly. If this is the truth about the Czar's attitude, then there is small hope of peace.
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