Page:The Russian Review Volume 1.djvu/19

Rh, its lack of harmonious unity between the mind and the heart. They went so far as to assert that it was Russia's national mission to save the disintegrating West from imminent spiritual and intellectual ruin.

Life's realities soon dispersed the hopes of these dreamers. After the stormy sixties, the Government began to build railways and telegraphs and generally to utilize the mechanical discoveries and improvements of Europe. Factories and mills sprang up near the large cities, industrial centres were created, so that to-day Russia has an army of factory and mill workers numbering over three millions. The darkest prophecies of the opponents of civilization came true. "Holy, orthodox Russia" has not only a proletariat class, but even great labor problems, just as all other countries have. Russian cities are rebuilt on European style, with electric tramways, telephones, prisons, theatres, divorce-courts, newspapers, and all the other accessories of a civilized metropolis.

The bitter fight for and against civilization was transformed into the modern political struggle between the bureaucracy and the new social forces,—for and against democratic institutions.

In this new phase of Russia's internal life, the gentry, which is the last support of the bureaucracy, is gradually giving way. The gentry itself has undergone radical changes since the great European war began, and is now more inclined to consider political reforms. Only recently, a group of noblemen in the government of Tver declared itself in favor of a constitutional program and a progressive bloc in the Douma.

The industrial and commercial classes in Russia are gradually gaining more and more power and prestige. The recent conventions at Moscow of the Russian manufacturers and merchants, declared in their resolutions the necessity of putting into practice the constitutional promises of the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, since they consider the constitution an indispensable basis for the development of the great natural wealth of Russia. This call of the manufacturers soon found an echo in the resolutions of the Federations of Provincial Councils and Municipal Councils, which are playing such an important part in the organization of the Russian resources for the needs of the War.

Political struggle is, in many ways, a new factor in Russia's internal life. This, in itself, partly explains its bitterness and sharpness, especially considering the fact that not only the radical groups, but even the Constitutional-Democratic party still