Pavel Nikolaevich Milyukov

“ But if you should think that with all these restraints, which are intended to hedge round and prevent the free play of our young representative institutions, we are driven to something like despair of their future development, you would be very much mistaken. ”

“ Thus neither peasant electors nor working-men within the assembly have the right to elect separately, whom they like best: their voice is drowned in that of the majority. You can imagine the result. The landed proprietors, of course, elect such peasants as are likely to comply with their interests, which gives to the Duma the worst representation of the peasant class. ”

“ With the Government's aid the Octobrists prevailed at the elections to the third Duma, at which the edict of June 16, 1907, was first applied. In this Chamber the Government used its influence, much increased by means of the edict, on the one hand to paralyse the opposition, and on the other to keep up a steady control over the extreme Right element, the uncompromising "revolutionaries of reaction." The Right and the Nationalists did not exist at all as political parties in the country. It was only after the elections, within the Duma itself, that they took shape. ”

“ As to the Nationalists, the most conservative group, they regularly come to the Duma from the western frontier and partly from the south, where national antagonisms are more keenly felt. The deputies representing the Russian "dominating" nationality in these countries form a thin upper social stratum, and they always carry on a somewhat bitter struggle with the more ancient and sometimes more cultured members of the Polish gentry. That is why they bring with them to the Duma feelings of religious and racial hatred which unhappily sometimes find expression in the legislation of that body. ”

“ Not only the Duma, but even the Cabinet, even the Ministers, are often considered too Liberal by the Council of Empire. Every law which bears as they say "the stamp of the 30th of October"—the date of the constitutional manifesto—is sure to fall through, or to be relegated to the archives of the Upper Chamber. ”

“ Too much of the past surviving in the present makes one feel uneasy. Of course, it would be unjust not to mention that there are many excellent legislators amongst the Councillors, men of profound knowledge and very large experience, perfectly acquainted with the technicalities of legislation. But there is one circumstance which prevents them from being able to express their mind freely and independently and makes them bow to the average standard of the assembly. ”

“ The Octobrists are chiefly the party of former bureaucrats and functionaries; by their previous avocations they are much better prepared for legislative work, and at the same time they are much more subservient to the Government, whilst both the Nationalists and the Right group include more democratic elements—peasants and priests together with the gentry, and are less ready to be led and less prepared to lead in matters of politics. ”

“ Thus six groups of electors meet in the general assembly of the province, and they elect members of the Duma from their majority, which chiefly consists of landlords and capitalists, sometimes with the addition of small landowners and middle-class citizens. The influential group of large landed proprietors and capitalists, before electing members of their own class, is obliged to elect, one peasant and one working-man member from each province. ”

“ The Octobrists claim to be constitutionalists. But the Nationalists and particularly the Right group are unwilling to admit that autocracy has ever been limited by the constitution, and their extreme wing even strives for the restoration, if necessary by violent means, of the autocratic form of government which existed previous to the October manifesto. ”

“ But as our historical life began late and develops quickly, one is startled to see under the peaceful roof of the Marinsky Palace men and names which remind one of political standards long since doomed to oblivion, and of political experiments proved inadequate by painful failures. ”

“ You see from this plan that in order to become an elector in that assembly one must pass through different stages of election, and the more democratic the voter is, the more stages have to be passed. The peasants choose their electors in the village, these electors are sent to the townships, in the township they elect to the district the second degree electors, who in the district choose the third degree electors, who finally go to the provincial assembly and elect members for the Duma from the province. ”

“ I shall leave out the Polish deputies, of whom in the third Duma 82 per cent, were nobles. The Poles, whatever their views on social questions, belong to the opposition, because the Government would not yield to them on the matter which chiefly interests them, i.e. the future organisation of Poland. But let me draw your attention to three groups—the Octobrists, named from the manifesto which granted the constitution in October, 1905, the Nationalists, and the "Rights." In these three groups, the landed nobility form 57, 48, and 44 per cent, respectively ”

“ Thus, for the towns these are: (1) wealthy capitalists, (2) the middle class of citizens, (3) the working classes; and, for the country districts, (1) the large landed proprietors, (2) small landed proprietors, (3) the peasants of the Russian communities. The vote, except in six large cities like Petrograd, Moscow, Kiev, Odessa and so on, is not recorded by the constituencies themselves but by special electors chosen by the constituencies. The number of electors given to the various constituencies varies in opposite proportion to the number of the population. ”

“ And I may say that the Russian system is much worse than the Austrian. The system of Russian representation is purely artificial and depends entirely on the Government. For voting purposes the population is distributed into separate groups, called "curias." ”

“ Thus for instance one-fifth of a million of landed gentry have the right to choose 2594 electors, one-half million of wealthy citizens choose 788 electors, eight millions of the middle class choose only 590 electors, twelve millions of working-men choose 112 electors, seventy million peasants choose 1168. It works out at one elector for every 230 of the landed gentry, for every thousand wealthy citizens, for every fifteen thousand middle-class citizens, for every sixty thousand peasants, and for every 125,000 working-men. ”

“ Then—and this is the chief point—the political centre of gravity was transferred from the democratic groups of population to the higher social classes which were
believed to be more reliable. Look at the figures which show the social composition of the Duma before and after 1907. These two sets of figures explain everything. You see that in the first two Dumas the relative majority of 43 per cent, was composed of peasants, but that 51 per cent.—that is to say an absolute majority—consisted of the landed gentry in the second two Dumas. ”

“ Siberia, on the other side of the Urals, has always belonged to the Cadet Party, and the Caucasus has always been represented by Socialists. On the other hand, Central Russia is represented in the Duma mainly by the parties of the landed gentry, chiefly by Octobrists. ”

“ Even if its members should try to use their rights in order to reject some non-protected item of expense—such an item as had already figured in the previous year's Budget—in that case, the only result would be that the figure of the previous year's Budget would be substituted. ”