From a third letter
In the Odessa district, 60 miles from the city of Odessa, on the estates of Kiryakov, Kuris, and Svechin (the district leader of the nobility), in the villages of Tashino, Novo-Kiryakovo, Malashevka, Tuzly, and Sakharovo, the peasants, through a misunderstanding, refused to work for the landowner, considering themselves completely free. Local authorities demanded military force to put down the revolt. Two companies of the Volynsk regiment were sent in carts from Odessa and another two from their location in the countryside. As soon as they arrived in the village of Tashino, by order of the district leader Svechin (who had by his side Khristiforovich, who had been attached by special assignment to Kherson's civilian governor), surrounded the peasants and began to read the manifesto. I continue with an extract from the official report presented by the company commander: "... having listened to the manifesto, the peasants flatly refused to work for the landowner and to be under his authority. The leader of the nobility made every effort to convince the peasants to obey the will of the sovereign emperor as it appeared in the manifesto, but all these efforts were in vain; then the leader of the nobility gave orders to the lower ranks to take those peasants who were the primary cause of the unrest to be beaten with rods, and, when one peasant was seized, all the peasants without exception fell to the ground and began to shout: 'Beat us all.' This force (of up to 140 people) drove back the lower ranks who held the peasant; when the peasant was once more seized, then again they fell to the earth and cried out the same thing: 'Beat us all.' Having freed the peasant from punishment a second time, they all rushed straight through the chain of soldiers, from time to time using their fists; the soldiers closed ranks in a rather tight square and were thus able to restrain the peasants. In this crush, when the soldiers restrained the peasants, the latter, in trying to break free, jostled the soldiers and scratched their weapons. When the peasants had been caught, there followed flogging only of the chief disturbers of peace and order, after which all the peasants submitted and were sent home." With slight variations, the same thing happened in other villages. Sechin says he did not administer more than 30 strokes, but, according to the soldiers' stories, there were harsh punishments—from 300 to 400 strokes; the officers don't say this, but one cannot rely on them. In Tashina alone up to 80 people were punished.
Svechin was in charge, although he acted for his own goals like a landowner, forgetting, that before using the rod, according to the
"Law," there are fines and arrests; the rod can only be administered by the police and no more than 20 strokes.
They say that Stroganov, who has heard the rumors of Svechin's zeal, wants to carry out an investigation.7
Notes
Source: "Russkaia krov' l'etsia!" Kolokol, l. 98-99, May i5, i86i; ^90-93, 350-52.
Alexander II issued this order at the beginning of February i86i to prepare for possible disorders surrounding the emancipation announcement.
The Pretender was Anton Petrov, who claimed to be an emissary of Alexander II and was executed on April i9, i86i.
Vilna.
The Kandeevskoe uprising included twenty-six villages and spread to the neighboring Kerensky region.
Herzen will discuss Count Apraksin's role in what came to be known as the Bezdna massacre in Doc. 37: "April i2, i86i (The Apraksin Murders)."
These factories were owned by the entrepreneurial Stroganov family.
Count Alexander G. Stroganov (i795-i89i) held many high government positions before becoming the governor-general of Bessarabia and Novorossiisk in i855.
♦ 36 +
The Bell, No. i00, June i, i86i. Herzen frequently wrote on the subject of regulations governing such matters as beards and beardlessness, smoking in public, and the fanatical attention to buttons on uniforms, all of which bordered on the ludicrous at a time of momentous change and daunting problems.
The Smell of Cigars and the Stench of the State Council
[1861]
The State Council, which displayed its cleverness in the emancipation of the serfs, is taking ses revanches. It is sufficient to have liberated the serfs— we will not liberate the smoking of cigars! These cripples decided that it is impossible to allow smoking on the streets, first of all, because it makes it more difficult for officers of lower rank to salute their superiors; second, there will be a nasty smell on the streets.
Pitiful orangutans of the first two ranks! What utter stupidity!
Notes
Source: "Dukh sigar i von' gosudarstvennogo soveta," Kolokol, l. i00, June i, i86i; i5:i06, 36i-62.
♦ 37 ^
The Bell, No. i0i, June i5, i86i. This essay is devoted to the April i86i massacre of peasants by government forces at Bezdna in the province of Kazan, already mentioned in "Russian Blood Is Flowing!" (Doc. 35). The Russian government hid information about this unrest from the public for a month, and only released an official announcement in the St. Petersburg Gazette after news began to appear elsewhere. Herzen and Ogaryov included "A Peasant Martyrology," in the June i, i86i, Bell, and returned to the subject in i862, when the peasants arrested in this incident were released from custody. Professor Afanasy Shchapov (i830-i876), mentioned by Herzen in a footnote, spoke sympathetically about the Bezdna victims at a memorial service attended by more than 400 students in Kazan's Kratinsky Cemetery four days after the tragic events (Let 3:204). What happened to Shchapov next demonstrates the government's confusion; the professor was sent by Kazan officials to Petersburg to offer an explanation, was arrested en route and turned over to the Third Department, then released to Minister of the Interior Valuev, who set him to work on matters concerning the Old Believers. Late in i86i the Synod tried to have Shchapov exiled to Solovki, but public opinion in his favor prevented this. He wound up being tried in i862 along with other accused followers of the "London propagandists," but managed to prove his innocence, although he had in fact sent Herzen articles and had received at least one very supportive letter in return, praising him as "a fresh voice, pure and powerful" who stood out amidst so many other writers who had become "jaded and hoarse" (Gertsen, Sobranie sochinenii, i5:370-7i).