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Proclamation by A. V. Iartsev (October, 1873)
Iartsev
produced this text early in 1874 while under interrogation for his involvement in the
"movement to the people;" he represented it as a faithful transcript of a talk
he had given to some construction workers.
Brothers! You can't deny that you are deceived at
every step, that your labor benefits only the rich and the contractors. That's what you are thinking about--how to escape
from this. The government doesn't think of
improving your situation, it just wants to collect a bit more money to pay its
functionaries and gather armies, so it can strut before other states. In Samara Province, in what you call the low
country, such grain used to grow there that they still talk about it to this day, but now
the common people is dying from hunger there, now they are eating all kinds of garbage. That's because the peasants there have little
land, and with taxes, everything they might save for a hungry year is squeezed out. Now there is a drought, and death is among them. I have heard there is talk among you of equalizing
the land. Well, you have nothing to expect
from the government in that, for it is well fed and the well-fed don't understand the
hungry. But here is how you can do it
yourselves, and abolish obrok at the same time. You should learn to read and learn
everything you should know. Of course,
at first not many of you can manage that, but when some do learn, they will teach others,
and so on. When the greater part of the
common people is learned enough to know how things should be, then all this can be done. Most important, you will get some sense only
when you yourselves are good, when you stop envying one another but look on one another as
brothers, and help one another in trouble. When
you have achieved all of this, elect from among yourselves your chosen men--good and
honest and intelligent people--who will govern you. You
yourselves can keep an eye on them, so that they do everything according to the law, since
everyone will know the laws and all the rules. Even
now there is the zemstvo assembly, but none of you can make any sense out of what goes on
there. The peasants don't elect as delegates
those that can be counted on but those who offer the most vodka. That's who gets elected when the common people is
in darkness and is bad itself, the elections don't do any good. Stenka Razin and Pugachev were concerned about
improving the way people live, but they did not do any good, because the common people was
very backward, did not understand what was good for it, but listened to any scoundrel;
much blood flowed, but no good was done. And
all this was because everyone worried only about himself, and didn't think of others. And so, brothers, stand one for all and all for
one, and only then can you get rid of taxes and the draft and equalize the land. But until then study and improve yourselves. Translated by Daniel Field 3/26/02 [1]. Here, taxes to the state. |