Gentlemen, Members of the State Duma!
With a heavy heart I ascend this tribune today. You remember the circumstances
under which the Duma met over a year ago, August 1, 1915. The Duma was
then suffering from the blows of our military failures. These were due
to the scarcity of munitions; and for this scarcity the Minister of War,
Sukhomlinov, was responsible. You recall how at that moment the country,
under the influence of the terrible period that had become obvious to all,
demanded a union of the national forces and the formation of a ministry
composed of persons in whom the country had confidence. . . . You
remember that the government then yielded. The ministers who were odious
to the public were then removed before the convocation of the Duma. Sukhomlinov,
whom the country regarded as a traitor, was removed, and, in response to the demand of the popular representatives,
Polivanov, at the session of August 10 announced to us, amid general applause,
as you may recall, the a commission of investigation had been appointed
. . . our army obtained what it needed, and the nation entered upon the
second year of the war with the same enthusiasm as in the first year.
What a difference, gentlemen, there is now, in the 27th month of the
war! . . . We are now facing new difficulties, and these difficulties are
not less complex and serious, not less profound, than those that confronted
us in the spring of last year. . . .
We ourselves are the same as before; we, in this 27th month of the war,
are the same as we were in the tenth and in the first month. As heretofore,
we are striving for complete victory; as heretofore, we are prepared to
make all the necessary sacrifices; and, as heretofore, we are anxious to
preserve our national unity. But, I must say this candidly: there is a
difference in the situation. We have lost faith in the ability of this
Government to achieve victory, because, as far as
this Government is concerned, neither the attempts at correction nor the
attempts at improvement, which we have made here, have proved successful.
. . .
And, if we have formerly said that our Government had neither the knowledge
nor the ability which were indispensable at the moment, we say now, gentlemen,
that this present Government has sunk beneath the level on which it stood
in the normal times of Russian life.
And now the gulf between us and that Government has grown wider and impassable. Gentlemen, a year ago, Sukhomlinov was placed
under judicial investigation. Then the hateful Ministers were removed before
the opening of the Duma session, but now the number of such ministers has
been augmented by one. . . .
The twenty-eight presidents of guberniia zemstvo boards, who met at
Moscow on the 11th of November of the present year [said]: "Painful, terrible
suspicions, sinister rumor of treachery and treason, of occult forces
fighting for the benefit of Germany and striving, through the destruction
of national unity and the sowing of dissension, to prepare the ground for
a disgraceful peace, have reached the point where it is generally felt
that an enemy hand is secretly influencing the course of our State affairs.
. . ."
Yes, gentlemen, there is a vast difference between that meeting of ours,
under Goremykin, which took place on the first of August, 1915, and even
in February, 1916, and the meeting taking place today. These meetings are
just as different as is the general condition of the country. At that time
we could talk about organizing the country with the help of Duma legislation.
had we then been given the opportunity to carry through the laws which
we had planned and prepared for passage, including the law on the volosts,
Russia would not now be so helpless in the face of the food supply problem.
That was the situation then. But now, gentlemen, the problem of legislation
has been shifted to the background. Today we see and understand that with
this Government we cannot legislate, any more than we can, with the Government,
lead Russia to victory. Formerly, we tried
to prove that it was impossible to start a fight against all the vital
forces of the nation, that it was impossible to carry on warfare within
the country when there was war at the front, that it was necessary to utilize
the popular enthusiasm for the achievement of national tasks, and that
otherwise there could be only killing oppression, which would merely increase
the very peril they were trying to avert by such oppression.
Today, gentlemen, it seems that everybody feels convinced that it is
useless to go to them with proofs; useless when fear of the people, fear
of their own country, blinds their eyes, and when the fundamental problem
has become that of hastening the end of the were, were it even without
gain, merely to be freed from the necessity for seeking popular support. On the 23d of February, 1916, I concluded
my speech with the statement that we no longer dared to address our appeal
to the "political wisdom of the Government," and that I did not expect
any answer from the existing Cabinet to the questions which agitated us.
At that time, my words appeared to some people too pessimistic. But now
we go further, and perhaps those words will sound clearer and more hopeful.
We are telling this Government, as we told it in the declaration of the
Bloc: "We shall fight you; we shall fight with all legitimate means until
you go!"
It is said that a member of the Council of Ministers,--and this was
correctly heard by Duma Member Chkheidze--on being told that the State
Duma would on this occasion speak of treason, exclaimed excitedly: "I may,
perhaps, be a fool, but I am not a traitor." Gentlemen, the
predecessor of that Minister was undoubtedly a clever Minister, just as
the predecessor of our Minister of Foreign Affairs was an honest Minister.
But they are no longer in the Cabinet. And, does it matter, gentlemen,
as a practical question, whether we are, in the present case, dealing with
stupidity or treason? When the Duma keeps everlastingly insisting that
the rear must be organized for a successful struggle, the Government persists
in claiming that organizing the country means organizing a revolution,
and deliberately prefers chaos and disorganization. What is it, stupidity
or treason? Furthermore, gentlemen, when the authorities, in the midst of this general
discontent and irritation, deliberately set to work stirring up popular
outbreaks, that is to say, when they purposely provoke unrest and outbreaks,--is
that being done unconsciously or consciously? We cannot, therefore, find
much fault with the people if they arrive at conclusions such as I have
read here, in the words of those representatives of guberniia administrative
boards.
You must realize, also, why it is that we, too, have no other task left
us today, than the task which I have already pointed out to you: to obtain
the retirement of this Government. You ask, "How can we start a fight while
the war is on?" But, gentlemen, it is only in wartime that they are a menace.
They are a menace to the war, and it is precisely for this reason, in time
of war and in the name of war, for the sake of that very thing which induced
us to unite, that we are now fighting them. . .
And, therefore, gentlemen, for the sake of the millions of victims and
the torrents of blood poured out, for the sake of the achievement of our
national interests--which Sturmer does not promise us--in the name of our
responsibilities to that nation which has sent us here, we shall fight
on until we achieve that genuine responsibility of government which has
been defined by the three points of our common declaration. . . .
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