[TO THE EDITOR OP THB "SPBCFLTOR.1
SIR,—Your article on " Russian Socialism" in the Spectator of December 19th, 1903, has interested me very much, and I have endeavoured in a few words to state the reasons why I dis- agree with the conclusion come to in the above-mentioned article, that the Russian people are not likely to dethrone the Czar in order to bring about the realisation of the Socialist programme as set forth in the Times of December 14th, 1903. It should be mentioned that I have no political bias in the matter, but am merely interested in Russia from the observer's point of view—having considerable experience of the country and people—as the next twenty years or so will determine whether that country will take a predominant part in- the politics of the world or will be relegated to an inferior position. Russia at the present time is groaning under a load of oppression in every department of life, religious, political, social, and commercial. Therefore the Social Demo- cratic Congress had to draw up a programme appealing to every section of the population. To the Western mind this programme may seem illogical; but the Russian character is easily moved with fine nebulous ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and is thoroughly illogical when its sentiment is aroused. Further, the middle class—to whom you refer as that section of the public who wish for a Constitutional modification of the present regime—care not a scrap what form of government is set up as long as they are allowed freedom in their commercial relations. The loyalty of the moujik to the person of the Czar has been rudely shaken of late, especially in South, Little, and Eastern Russia, by an extensive and well-organised propaganda. The Church, too, is fast losing its bold on the minds of the people. Any one who knows Russia will confirm the statement that an inbred love of paper formalities is inseparable from the character of the people, hence the cut-and-dried programme of the Social Democratic Congress. The mesh of the net is small enough to catch the smallest fish ; but once the autocracy is over- thrown (the primary object of all anti-governmental societies), and a Constitutional Empire or a Republic set up in its place, it can be safely assumed that Poland, the Baltic Pro- vinces, Finland, the Caucasus, or Manchuria will be clung to with that same tenacity for which the present rulers are famous.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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