Chapter IV: The Government Machine

Up till October 30, 1905 (O.S., October 7), Russia was an unlimited autocracy. The Emperor bore the title of Unlimited Autocrat of all the Russias. But Russia possessed, nevertheless, certain administrative and legislative institutions. There was a consultative assembly called the Council of Empire, founded by Alexander I., whose business it was to make laws; and a Senate, founded by Peter the Great, an administrative institution, whose business it was to see that the laws and the Emperor’s ukases were carried out. The Emperor could always issue special ukases, and he could suggest any laws to the Ministers whom he appointed.

The initiative of legislation was in the hands of the Emperor’s Ministers. They presented laws to the Council of Empire, which discussed and amended them, and presented them, together with the findings of the majority and the minority, and sometimes the finding of an individual member, which were the outcome of their deliberations, to the Emperor for his sanction. In this manner the fundamental laws of the empire were drawn up.

On October 30, 1905, this state of things was profoundly modified by the publication of an imperial manifesto which laid down certain new principles of government.

If these principles were carried out in practice, Russia would no longer be an unlimited autocracy. What it would exactly be is a little difficult to define. In the old days the Government of Russia was defined as being an autocracy tempered by assassination. It would be difficult to define it exactly as it is at the present moment. It is a limited autocracy; an autocracy limited indirectly by the existence of legislative institutions.

At the same time, it was technically a mistake to call the manifesto a constitution, because the Sovereign did not categorically divest himself of his autocratic rights; he took no oath to any constitution; all he did was to grant his subjects certain privileges, which, if carried out, would limit the purely autocratic character of his power. He himself remained an autocrat. He could, if he saw fit to do so in the future, take back the privileges he had granted. The manifesto was a charter rather than a constitution. It promised to the people the foundations of civic liberty based on the liberty of the person, liberty of conscience, liberty of speech, and the right of forming unions, societies, and associations. It announced that a National Assembly (the Duma) would be convoked, elected by the people, who would henceforward be called upon to co-operate in the government of the country. It laid down the principle that in future no law should come into force without previously receiving the sanction of the Parliament.

A National Assembly elected by the people was not a new phenomenon for Russia. Ever since 1550 National Assemblies appear from time to time in the course of Russian history. They failed to become a permanent feature and factor in Russian life owing to the strife of classes. The population split up into classes, and this was due to the birth of economic problems and the manner in which they were solved; the peasants became slaves in the hands of the landowners, and the National Assembly ceased to be national, and became representative of an upper class which was divided against itself, owing to the conflicting personal interests it fostered.

The Emperor Nicholas II. in convoking a National Council was not creating a new precedent, but resuscitating an old one. The word Duma means Council, and the Tsars of Moscow in olden times had governed with the aid of an assembly of nobles called the Council of Boyars.

When the manifesto was issued in 1905, it was clear that the fundamental laws of the empire made no provision for a Duma, and that if a Duma were to assemble on the basis of the manifesto, its situation in the State and its relation to the Sovereign would be undefined. For this reason a revised version of the fundamental laws of the empire was confirmed and published on April 23, 1906.

This revised edition of the fundamental laws defined the position of the Sovereign with regard to the Duma. According to its provisions, the supreme autocratic power was vested in the person of the Emperor; but according to another section it was laid down that the Sovereign exercises legislative power in conjunction with the Council of Empire and the Duma.

The principle of the manifesto that no law should come into force without previously receiving the sanction of the legislative institution was confirmed.

The Emperor retained the title of Autocrat, and concentrated in his person the legislative, executive, and judicial powers; but the substantive “Autocrat” was no longer preceded by the adjective “Unlimited.”

The executive powers of the Sovereign entitled him to convene, adjourn, and prorogue the Council of Empire and the Duma; to dissolve the Duma; and to dismiss the elected members of the Council of Empire before the term of their mandates, but not without fixing the date of fresh selections and of the session of a new Duma.

The Emperor retained the right of appointing the president, the vice-president, and half the members of the Council of Empire; the right of veto, and the sanction of laws; the sole initiative of any changes in the fundamental laws; and, as has already been said, he shared the initiative in all branches of legislation with both the Houses.

The Emperor also retained the right of issuing special ukases, sanctioning unforeseen expenditure not provided for in the Estimates, for emergencies in case of war, and loans for expenditure in war.

The fundamental laws also contained an emergency clause of another kind, according to which the Emperor, by special ukase, can promulgate laws in cases of emergency when the Houses are not in session, subject to their being subsequently submitted to them for approval. But no change may be made in the fundamental laws in virtue of this clause, nor may it modify the legislative institutions and the electoral laws for the two Houses. Moreover, any regulation made in this way ceases to be in force if, in two months after the beginning of the session of the Duma, no Bill is introduced by the Duma confirming it, or if a Bill is introduced and rejected.[5]

The executive powers of the Emperor consist in the appointment and dismissal of the Prime Minister and the Ministers, the direction of foreign affairs, the proclamation of martial law and any modified kind of martial law, and the command of the military and naval forces.

The Emperor has also certain judicial powers, such as the confirmation of the verdicts of criminal courts.

At this moment, then, the legislative institutions of Russia consist of the Council of Empire and the Duma. The Council of Empire is the Upper House; half of its members are elected, and they receive their mandates in certain proportions from the synod, the nobility, the universities, the corporation of merchants, and from Poland. They are elected for a term of nine years. The remaining members (including the president and the vice-president) are appointed by the Emperor.

The Upper House shares with the Lower House the right of initiative in legislation, as well as that of voting supplies and of making interpellations.

The Lower House, as has just been said, has also the right of initiative legislation; but certain subjects, according to the fundamental laws, are outside its competence—namely, the institutions of the imperial court; the imperial family; war and naval departments; the jurisdiction of military and naval courts.

On the other hand, the imperial budget and the budgets of individual Ministries, and the authorization of loans, are within its competency. It has also the right of making interpellations. There is not, as in the English House of Commons, a certain time put aside every day for questions. Notice is given of interpellation, and the question of whether it shall be regarded as pressing or not is put to the vote. If expedition is voted for, the interpellation must be answered by the Ministers within a month; if extreme expedition is voted for, within three days; if expedition is not voted for, the answer is given within an indefinite period.

The right of interpellation, and the larger fact that an assembly exists where discussion of public affairs is public, are, as is the case with most Parliaments, the chief assets in the influence of the Duma. As far as actual legislation is concerned, the Upper House can throw out any of the Bills which the Lower House passes.

The electoral law is exceedingly complicated. The degree of suffrage it confers is very far from being universal. In the first place, elections are indirect; in every government voters elect a certain number of electors, who in their turn elect members to represent the government in the Duma. Only males who have reached the age of twenty-five have the right to vote; and all those who are in any branch of military service are excluded.

The voters are (_a_) those who vote by property qualification—that is to say, persons residing in the various districts who can satisfy a property qualification, the amount and classification of which depends upon their occupation. For instance, landowners are classified according to the amount of land they possess, and merchants or all persons engaged in commercial pursuits, according to their trade licence. This class of voter must either own immovable property, hold a trade licence, be in the receipt of a pension and salary arising from his employment in the Government, municipal, or railway service, or be the occupant of a lodging hired in his name.

For such voters one year’s residence in the polling district is required.

As the qualification is high, the number of voters is necessarily limited.

(_b_) A second class of voter consists of peasants whose names are on the rolls of the rural communities—that is to say, heads of households. One year’s residence in the polling district is necessary for them also.

(_c_) A third class, consisting of town voters, artisans, and employees in factories, works, and railway shops. Six months’ residence in polling district is required.

An election is carried on thus:—

All the voters are divided into five groups: Landowners; peasants; town voters (two groups according to their property qualification); artisans, etc.

Each of these groups elects separately, by a system of two degrees, a certain number of electors who shall represent them at a general meeting of the government or province. This large Provincial Assembly, consisting of landowners, peasants, and town dwellers, meets together, and elects a certain number of members to represent the government or province in the Duma. In this assembly the landed class interest and the richer merchants and town dwellers have the advantage in numbers, and are consequently in the majority. In order therefore to safeguard to a certain extent the interests of the other classes, the Government Assembly must first of all elect one member to represent each of the following classes:—

(_a_) The peasants;

(_b_) Landowners;

(_c_) The town electors (only in certain governments);

(_d_) The artisans (only in six governments).

And as each government is entitled to return a certain number of members fixed by the law,[6] the requisite number is completed by electing members from the remaining total of electors.

There are two exceptions to the general procedure: the largest cities, and Siberia, Poland, and the Caucasus (where the procedure is somewhat different). The larger cities—St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, and Riga—vote according to property qualification, and elect members directly to the Duma.

The result of this complicated system of suffrage is that the landed interest and the wealthier classes are predominant in the Duma, and consequently the Conservative element is the strongest.

The Radical, Social Democratic, and Labour element which exists in the Duma is furnished by the big towns, with their direct elective system, and the election of members representing the peasant class, which is always guaranteed—and the artisan class, which is to some extent guaranteed—by the elective assemblies of every government.

All that I have written so far concerns the instruments of legislation. The administration of the country, the actual business of government, is carried out by the Senate, the Council of Ministers, the governors of the provinces, the Zemstvos (county councils), and, as far as religious affairs are concerned, by the Holy Synod. The highest administrative institution of the State is the Senate. The Ruling Senate was founded by Peter the Great in 1711, with the object of representing him and acting on his behalf during his frequent absences. Its functions, which are essentially the same to-day as they were then, only on a larger scale, consist in supervising all branches of administration and in seeing that the laws are carried out throughout the country. The Ruling Senate, at the same time, is the high court of justice for the empire, the highest court of appeal in administrative matters, and exercises supreme control; it promulgates all laws, and supervises the courts of law.

The Senate has several sub-departments, which have various functions, the most important of which is that of checking the executive power, and seeing that it is exercised in accordance with the law. The department to which this function belongs is also charged with the promulgation of a law, and may refuse to promulgate it if the law is contrary to the fundamental laws. A procurator, representing the Crown, is attached to every department of the Senate, who is subordinate to the Minister of Justice. The latter, in this connection, is called the Procurator-General.

The Senate also examines complaints brought against Ministers, governors, or provincial and district officials. The senators are appointed by the Emperor.

The Council of Ministers consists of the Ministers and heads of administration.

There are twelve Ministries: Foreign Affairs, War, Admiralty, Finance, Education, Ways and Communications, Agriculture, Justice, Commerce and Industry, the Imperial Court, the Interior, and the Department of Government Control.

Each individual Minister is bound to bring before the Council all Bills that are destined to come before the Duma and the Council of Empire; all proposals concerning changes in the staff in the chief offices of higher and local administration; and all reports which have been drawn up for presentation to the Sovereign.[7]

Russia is divided for purposes of administration into provinces called governments. Peter the Great was the first Russian ruler to make such a division. He divided the country into eight governments. Catherine II. increased the number to 40. At the present day there are 78 governments—49 in European Russia, 10 in Poland, 8 in Finland, 7 in the Caucasus, 4 in Siberia.

There are besides these governments, twenty-three provinces which are called territories (_oblasti_), which are either incompletely organized or retain special institutions. They are for the greater part situated at the extremes of the empire. The average size of a government is greater than Belgium, Holland, or Switzerland. The divisions were made artificially and arbitrarily, and the governments in this respect resemble the French departments.

The governments are divided into districts, which correspond to the French _arrondissements_. Each province has from eight to fifteen districts, and is parcelled out for administrative and judicial purposes, according to its size, between a certain number of officials called _zemskie nachalniki_, called by some English writers land captains. These _zemskie nachalniki_ were created in 1889[8] to replace the local justices of peace, who were abolished in that year. They were a kind of official squire. The office could in principle only be held by a member of the hereditary nobility. They exercise executive and judicial authority over the villages in their area of jurisdiction. I will discuss their judicial authority later in the chapter on justice. They have the character of police officers in that they make bye-laws, and that of magistrates in that they decide on their infringement. They are nominated by the governor, and appointed by the Minister of the Interior. They have the control of the peasants’ communal institutions. All resolutions of the village assemblies and findings of the canton courts are submitted to them. All the officials of the peasants’ administration are subordinate to them. They have now become, more or less, officials of the Ministry, and are no longer men of weight or position among the nobility. The total number of these _zemskie nachalniki_ in every district form a Board which sits in the district town once or more every month, as necessity arises. This board is presided over by the marshal of the nobility of the district, and with the co-operation of a police official called the _Ispravnik_, who has charge of the police duties of every district, and of other officials, constitutes an administrative unit which corresponds to a French _sous-préfet_.

At the head of every province is a governor, who is proposed by the Minister of the Interior, and appointed by the emperor. He is responsible for the administration of the government. His office is not unlike that of the intendant of the old _régime_ in France, and the préfet of modern France. Formerly the governor concentrated all the administrative powers in himself, and every province was a miniature autocracy. The governor is assisted by a board of Administration, over which he presides, and which consists of a vice-governor, councillors, the government medical officer, the government engineer, the architect, the land surveyor, and their deputies.

The governor can issue special regulations for safeguarding public order; he exercises control over all the administrative offices and institutions, all officials and public servants, and the institutions of local government. All regulations passed by the county or district councils, or the town corporations, must be confirmed by him; and likewise the election of all officials elected and appointed by the local self-governing bodies.

The principal check on the apparently unlimited powers of the central administration, personified in the various governors, lies in the rights exercised by the Assembly of Nobles.

The nobility in every district meet once every three years and elect a president for their district, who is called the marshal of the nobility of the district.

After this is done, all the nobility of all the districts in the province unite to elect a president for the province. He is called the marshal of the nobility of the province. The election of the marshal of the district must be confirmed by the governor; that of the marshal of the province is confirmed by the Emperor in person, and by the Emperor alone.

In order to belong to the Assembly of Nobles, it is necessary, besides being a noble by birth, to own land in the district or the province; to possess either a military or civil _tchin_; or in default of this sign of rank, certificates testifying that you have passed certain examinations.

The right to assemble and elect marshals for the districts and the province (and a board of trustees for the orphans of nobles) is all that remains now of the larger privileges conferred on the nobility by Catherine II. Those privileges consisted in the right of appointing the local judges and the chief local officials—that is to say, the county police. This prerogative lasted until the epoch of the great reforms in the ’sixties.

But in spite of the loss of their former privileges, the nobility, as represented in the marshals of the districts, still discharges manifold duties of an intricate character, and by so doing forms the corner-stone of local administration, and consequently constitutes a certain check on the otherwise uncontrolled action of the governor of the province.

As far as administration is concerned, the marshal of the province is less important than the marshal of the district. He is an _ex officio_ member of the governor’s board of administration, and as such, both by tradition and by right, he exercises considerable influence, since an independent influential personality is certain to be elected to the post.

On the other hand, the duties and powers of the marshal of the district are more numerous, and stand in closer touch with the machinery of provincial administration. He is the president of all the executive committees in the district: all committees that deal with the settlement of questions relating to the peasants’ land, military conscription, and the supervision of local schools. He is the president of the district tribunal (the court of petty sessions), and as such the chief justice of peace of the district. He is, moreover, the _ex officio_ president of the Zemstvo Assembly.

The marshal of the district has duties and capacities of a dual nature. On the one hand he performs representative duties resembling those of a lord-lieutenant of an English county; and on the other hand, in conjunction with the board of _zemskie nachalniki_ I mentioned just now, he fills the place of a French _sous-préfet_. But the important fact about his position is that he is outside and not inside the central official administration. His position is inviolable because once he is elected he is irremovable, save by imperial ukase, except in the case of his falling under sentence for breaking the law.

The strength of his position lies less in his executive power than in the fact that he is an independent unit, acting in the machinery of administration, but outside bureaucratic control, and consequently a check on the local central administration. He receives no salary, and is necessarily a man of social position.

Lately, owing to the reactionary tendency towards centralization which followed the revolutionary movement in Russia, and which has not yet abated, the influence of the district marshal has been, to a certain extent, impaired, owing to the greater influence exercised by the police, who make capital, and lead the central administration to make capital, out of the fear of revolution.

Besides the Assembly of Nobles there is a further check on the action of the provincial governor in the office of the procurator. This office is attached to the divisional courts of justice. And the procurator, besides acting as public prosecutor and exercising general control over law courts, has to see that the law is executed. If a governor acts illegally, the procurator has the right to appeal to the Senate, which we have already seen fulfils the special duty of examining such complaints.

Side by side with the Assemblies of the Nobles there exist assemblies of representatives of different classes.

For the purpose of local self-government European Russia is divided into village communes, and into groups of communes which form an administrative unit, called the Canton (_Volost_). The Canton varies in size, and can include as many as thirty villages. Both the Commune and the Canton are self-governing. The village is governed by the Commune—that is to say, the village assembly—which manages the property of the village and divides it among its members, exercises disciplinary rights, and has the control of leases of land made to outsiders. But both as regards the affairs of the Commune and the Canton, the peasants are, as a class, isolated. The Commune and the Canton can only levy taxes on their own members.

The Canton has an assembly also. Each Commune sends one man from every ten households to the Assembly of the Canton, which elects a president called the Elder, and five judges chosen from the peasants to serve on the court of the Canton.

The provincial administration is, to some extent, entrusted to elective District and Provincial Assemblies called Zemstvos.

The Zemstvo was created in 1864. The word _Zemstvo_ means territorial assembly; the institution corresponds to our county council. There are two kinds of Zemstvo, the smaller being elected to deal with the affairs of a single district; the larger is selected by the Zemstvos of all the districts, and forms a county council for the whole province to deal with the affairs common to all the districts in that province.

Both the assemblies must be summoned at least once a year. (They sit for about a fortnight.)

The District Zemstvo Assembly is elected indirectly, and consists on an average of about forty members. The elections of the District Zemstvo are organized according to class division, or rather civic status. Each class elects so many representatives—the peasants so many, the nobility so many, the town dwellers so many. The number of the representatives of each class is fixed by law in such way as to give the representatives of the nobility the preponderance. Thus about half (or more than half) the members consists of members of the nobility; the remainder are peasants, and include three or four merchants from the towns. All members are elected for a term of three years.[9]

The Provincial Zemstvo consists chiefly of members of the nobility, elected from the District Assemblies.[10]

Both the assemblies elect from amongst themselves a standing committee (_zemskaya uprava_) of four or five paid officials, which is appointed for three or four years. These standing committees do practically all the current work of the district.

The governor of the province has the right to confirm or to refuse to confirm the election of the presidents and members of the Zemstvo Assemblies; to institute legal proceedings against them; to exercise a veto on all resolutions of both bodies. The assemblies have the right of appeal to the Senate.

The nature of self-government in the towns, and the control exercised over it is practically the same as that of the Zemstvo institutions. (The property qualification for the elector is high.)

The importance of the Zemstvo institutions lies in the fact that they minister to the practical needs of the community. Within their scope are the ways and communications, the roads, and the Zemstvo post, all medical and charitable institutions, mutual insurance, prevention of cattle disease, fire brigades, primary education, and the development of agriculture and trade.

The practical weakness of the Zemstvo as an institution is that it possesses no lower elective unit corresponding to a vestry or a parish; no boards below those of the district, which execute its decisions.

The resources of the Zemstvo consist in taxes, which are levied by the District and Provincial Zemstvo on land, whether owned by the peasants, the nobility, or the Crown.

The main characteristic of the Provincial Zemstvo (since it was remodelled in 1890, before which date it was more democratic) is that it is extremely reactionary. But the Zemstvo consists, as I have already said, chiefly of the nobility—that is to say, of members of the more cultivated classes—and the result of this is, that in spite of its members being reactionary in views and sentiment, the work done by assemblies of these reactionary members is, except in times of violent reaction, such as the period immediately following after the revolutionary movement, of a progressive nature.

In looking back on the work that the Zemstvo has accomplished during the last fifty years, one sees clearly that the action of the Zemstvo has been purely progressive, and the work done has outstripped in liberalism the views and the opinions of the nobility taken as a class, which constitute its most important ingredient. This explains the mistrust which the central administration entertains towards the Zemstvo—even towards its reactionary members. The representatives of the central administration, by exercising their right of confirming or cancelling elections and resolutions, are for ever trying to hinder and hamper the work of the Zemstvo, and to acquire greater control over it.

In a matter such as the Zemstvo it must by no means be assumed that the various Ministries in St. Petersburg are necessarily at one. On the contrary, they may be, and they often are, at sixes and sevens. For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture is really (and ever since it has existed always has been) progressive; and since it wishes to get things done, works with the Zemstvo; and so does the Ministry of Finance, as far as it is concerned with the Zemstvo. This guarantees a certain counter influence to that of the Ministry of the Interior, which carries on the traditional policy of its department, of regarding the Zemstvo as an enemy.

If we look now at the work which is being accomplished by the Zemstvo in the various branches which come under its scope, we see a considerable improvement in medical institutions and in all that regards public health; a vast improvement in primary education, the progress being lately so great that there has been a demand for supplementary funds for education; and quite lately agriculture has taken a sharp bound forward, and in so doing has received considerable assistance from the State.

Taking the Zemstvo and its work as a whole, as a factor in Russian life and administration, it is clear that it is the one real and vital political force in Russia, in spite of the reactionary tendencies of the majority of its members, and in spite of an important organic weakness in its constitution, which I have already mentioned—namely, the absence of a link between the Zemstvo and the people it represents.

It is near to practical life, and it is nearer to the population than any other institution or body, and since it possesses, in its limited way, wider facilities for the public discussion of vital interests than any other institutions, it has during the last fifty years proved the real organ of public opinion, and the real lever in the matter of progress, for it was the Zemstvo which voiced the universal desire for reform in 1905, and contributed in no small way to the changes which were then made.

All that is here set down, when you read it through, sounds, as far as the Zemstvo is concerned, as if all were for the best in the best of all possible worlds; but in practice the work of the Zemstvo is hampered by the power of the officials appointed by the Central Government, and the power of these officials is not only used arbitrarily, but sometimes in a manner definitely contrary to the law. For the governor of the province, if he cannot absolutely put a stop to the work of the Zemstvo, can hamper it in every possible way, and put effectual spokes in its wheels. It is not only that the possibility of his so doing exists, but the fact is being actually and not seldom experienced at the present time, owing to the low administrative standard of the governors who are appointed.

It is worth mentioning also that in the important outlying districts of Russia—in Poland, the Baltic provinces and the Caucasus—there is no Zemstvo, and all the duties of the Zemstvo are carried out by a committee of officials, and the majority of these do their work extremely badly. Also, in these regions the nobility have no rights.

If you review the Government machine which administrates Russia as a whole, the same criticism applies. On paper the fundamental laws of the empire, the rights of the two Houses and of the Senate, and of the instruments of local self-government, together with the numerous checks and safeguards against official lawlessness, seem to provide a very fine working constitution. In practice the rights are often overruled, and the checks disregarded.

The Duma, by its very existence, of course, is an element of progress, however indirect; but here again the Government, owing to the nature of the electoral law, can exert pressure on the elections, and have so far succeeded in always obtaining a reactionary majority, so that the actual composition of the Duma is not what it would be if the Government exerted no pressure at all.

Again, since any form or shade of constitutional government is a new feature in Russia, in many cases that arise there is no established precedent which can be referred to, and the course to be taken is doubtful, but in such cases the benefit of this doubt accrues to the Government.

In spite of this there is not the slightest doubt that in Russia at present the existence and the action of the Duma are felt, indirectly, very widely indeed. And as a rule people who are in the thick of Russian affairs, the Russians themselves, will not realize this so well as an outsider.

The existence of the Duma has proved a factor in national progress. And the outsider, who has had any experience of Russian life in the past, will at once see that the progress in the general state of affairs from what existed ten years ago to what exists now has been immense. There is a great gulf between the period before 1905 and the era which began in 1905. The trouble is that the government and the administration have not kept step and time with the national progress. And when people say in exculpation of the faults of any given government, that every country has the government which it deserves, it may safely be said that the actual government of Russia is less good than what Russia deserves, since it is impossible to deny that, in some respects, Russia is comparatively, relatively, and taking the general state of affairs and of national progress into consideration, less well governed at present—as is the case probably with England and most other European countries—than it was not only in the immediate past, but even in the days of Alexander II. Hence there exists an increasing political discontent, into the specific causes of which we will inquire in the next chapter.