The Dominion MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1917. THE RUSSIAN PEASANT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3113, 18 June 1917, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1917. THE RUSSIAN PEASANT

Tm information afc present availab/e does not enable one to form a Wry clear idea regarding the. part which the Russian peasant is playing in the revolutionary movement which has for the time- being paraJyscd Russia's fighting arm. Vfe have hoard a great deal about the thoughts and deeds and aspirations of the politicians, the soldiers, and the city workmen; but the mind of the Russian peasant has not been revealed to us. Recent cablegrams have afforded a few glimpses behind the veil, but our conception of the peasants' point , of view is still ex■tremoly vaguo and uncertain. It was announced a few days ago that a Russian General had declared that tho principal danger was now situated in the remote rural districts, where many clergy were fomenting a counter-revolution, and agitators were accusing the Provisional Government of desiring to shut tho churches and destroy the sacred images, or ikons, which play such an important part in tho religious ceremonialof the Russian people. Tho anarchists aro also at work among the peasants, urging them to seize the. land and cut down the forests, another cablegram stated that a congress of peasant delegates,- representing the whole of Russia, passed a resolution in favour of federal democracy and a republic. If; is, of course, quite impossible to say whether this congress really expressed tho mind of the. Russian peasant. Its claim to represent the whole of Russia is a very bold one, and in view of tho prevailing political and social turmoil tho, probability of getting a full and true expression of the desires of the peasants is decidedly remote. They are not accustomed to organisation for the protection of their interests, and they do not have tho same opportunities for combined action as the industrial populations of tho cities. They think slowly, and act slowly, and now ideas do not spread quickly among them. News cannot travel very rapidly through the vast rural districts of Russia, and it must bo hard for the peasants to know exactly what is going on in Moscow and Petrograd. But the peasant is bound to make his preponderating power felt sooner ,or lator. He cannot bo ignored. Ho forms tho majority of the nation. Ho has his own way of looking afc things, and his standard of intelligence is not nearly so low as the average Britisher is inclined to think. He has learnt a good deal during recent years. Ho may not bo well educated from the literary point of view, .but, as Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace tells us, ho is keen to learn, and sends his children to tho village schools, which have been greatly increased and improved. He regularly attends the village assembly, at which all communal affairs are discussed and decided. Ho is ready to ohango traditional methods of agriculture when ho is convinced by tho experience of his neighbours that now ways aro more profitable. Mr. Maueice Baring, who has mado a special study of the Russian peasant, asserts that "common-sense is tho backbone or tho mainspring of his material as well as of his spiritual existence, tho key to his methods of work and his manner of play, his social code, his habits and customs; in a word, to his practice as well as to his theory." Never was there greater need for common-sense than there is in 'Russia at the present moment. If tho peasant can bring order out of tho existing chaos he wip deserve the gratitude of his country and of tho civilised world. If the peasantry would only throw their great weight into the scale on tho side of political sanity and settled government Russia might soon be able to regain her balance and once more to place her armies in full and effective battle array along the Eastern front.

In order to arrive at a true understanding of the attitude of tho peasantry to the revolutionary movement, the position of tho Russian Church must be taken into consideration. Tho Russian peasant is deeply religious. Mr. Baring states that it is difficult to bring home to the average Englishman tho way in which religion enters into the daily lifo of tho Russians, and especially fnto the daily lifo of the peasants. We have not been told much about the political views of tho clorgy in regard to the present upheaval, but their influence is a factor that cannot be ignored. The little- information available on this point indicates that many of them would welcome a return to the old regime. Tho fact that the- first election to tho office of Archbishop of Petrograd resulted in the defeat of the Democratic candidate- and tho appointment of a pro-Tsar Archbishop is certainly significant. A sharp conflict between tho Church and the. Government would greatly intensify tho existing turmoil. According .to Sir Charles Eliot, the peculiar constitution of the Russian Church has produced "an almost Mohammedan confusion of Church and State, or at least of religion f.ud politics." The- relations between the Church and the Monarchy were very close, and tho abdication of tho

.Psak has rendered necessary somo far-reaching changes in Church government. The generally accepted idea, that the Emperor of Russia was head of tho Church is erroneous. "Russian orthodoxy," says Mu. Baring, "recognises only one head of tho Church, our Lord, and only one infallible authority speaking in His name, tho seven first (Ecumenical Councils. The. Emperor may bo the autocratic master of the Church; ho is not the head of it. His authority is from' tho outside only. In questions of dogma he, has no authority at all." And yet the Russian Church is very largely a State-governed institution. Church and State havo grown up together for hundreds of years, and they arc joined by so many ties that sudden separation might bavo disastrous results. The Church still occupies a commanding place in tho life' l , of tho nation. It may havo largely lost its hold upon the "intellectuals," but for tho peasant it is "not only a place of mystery, sweetness, and consolation; it is his opera, his theatre, his concert, his picture- gallery, his library." No ono knows at present what the Church and tho peasantry are going to do at this supremely critical moment in Russia's history. If tho Church can retain its hold on the peasants it will be able to exercise a tremendous influence on tho course of events.