AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1360, 23 January 1905, Page 3

AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA.

THE WORKERS’ DESPERATE .CONDITION,. 1 By Electric Telegraph—Per Press Association—Copyright. ST. PETERSBURG. Jan. 20. .The strikers’ petition to the Czar complains of the workers’ desperate (condition through deprivation of human rights. it expresses loyalty to the throne and adds : " Be merciful let. us live. If left in our present position wo prefer eo die,” parading the streets comipclleir .the owners of many factories ito. close. The strikers entered one Covcrument printing office and forced the to leave, Pivc at tho Baltic works, aeven thousand at cartridge factories eight thousand at railway, carriage Works, and many textile operatives, have struck, Seven arrests have been made. Students and Jews arc rioting with I .the red flag at Riga, The plot .theory Jf,tho St. Peters- I Aiirg incident is gaining ground, gunners belonging to the I Bourse battery; are suspected of be- I lag connected with revolutionaries. | Tho incident is shrouded in mys- I tery. ' j Nicholas Hall was filled with dip- I lomatic, epurt, and military digiu- j itarics, none of whom were hurt. I

28 WORKERS’- PETITION. TO THE CZAR.. STRIKERS. DECLARE TROOPS > .WILL NOT HARM. THEM.. BOURSE CANNON INCIDENT. By, Electric Telegraph—Per Preys Association—Copyright. Received -l.‘3G p.m.„ Jam. 22, j ST, PETERSBURG,. Jau. 21, Representatives ol a workers' meeting at Winter Palace Square on I Sunday will seek to present a petition, stating that the limits of en- I durance had been reaobed ; that bho I .workers are stilled by the despotism I el the bureaucracy running tne I country.; that the workers were I not consulted in regard to the I sharuelul war which was bringing I (the country’s dowm'all. The Czar is urged to destroy the wall ol oih- I cialdoiu lor rule with the people, I through a constitutional assembly J elected by secret ballot. fne strikers declare that, despite I the warning ol the authorities that they will employ l'orce, tney intend I to meet unarmed. I They' wish tne Czar personally to I receive the petition, and decline to j transmit it through oUicial channels. M. crupon will iieau tne procession carrying a cross. A detachment ol the Moscow regiment stationed at St. Petersburg refused to interfere at the Schapschel tobacco factory. They returned to barracks. Although fifty thousand troops are on duty night and day, the strikers boast that they do not fear violence, since the soldiers and workmen are one. The middle class also sympathise With the strikers. It has transpired - that case shot Was fired at the Czar. Its inefioctivcness is attributed to the weakness of the saluting charge. BERLIN, Dec. 21. The National Zeitung declares) that officers alone are concerned in the Bourse cannon incident, wishing to intimidate the Czar into the making of apt reforms, the Grand Duke Sergius’s fall having convinced the aristocracy that their power is waning. The Zeitung adds that s,uch a plot Was only hatehablo by the Czar’s entourage,

AN ALARMING STATE OF. AFFAIRS,

PETITION TO BE PRESENTED , TO OZAR, TRADE paralysed. STRONG; THREATS MADEBy, Electric Telegraph—Per Press Association —Copyright. Received 1-19 p..m., Jan. 22. ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 21, The strike is rapidly spreadingGaven thousand employed at the j Aicxdrovsky machine works and the Baltic cartridge factory came out; also thousands at Stieglizfs and cloth .weavers and otner operatives, as well at thousands of Other .workmen employed in paper mills, State playing-cards faotory, State and private distilleries, rubber factories,, soap works, Imperial glass factory, and civil employees in the arsenals. . Every industry is paralysed.. Many disturbances occur. • The police are powerless- iney fii'd nob attempt to stem the moveDwing to frequent threats of vio--Zerce and incendiarism, the troops - are kept under arms. They hace been ordered to do their utmost to "IS'SJS of St. PeMrArn, are in darkness, owing to ■ the • strike having affected the electric were publishecT in St. ° Petersburg to-day. The printers struck. They threatened ho smash the machinery if the attempted to defy them. , When six thousand steel workers at the Government metal works at Abut hoiff struck. General Vlassicit, the director, vainly emphasised than one hundred of them who were reservists would not be sent to the Bar East becauso they were needed at the factory. They are liable to

f service. I l Received 4-20 p.m.„ 'Jan. 22. ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 21. j The Russian Ministers of Finance I add of the Interior, refused to receive a strikers’ deputation. h The strike is now rapidly becoming a political movement. A' great demonstration opposite I if ( hc V Winter Palace is being organised r,>r to-morrow, under the auspices of M. Gupon, who has a tremendous influence over the workers. M Gupon, on being inlet viewed, admitted that he was formerly an a “it of the Holy Procurator, but " stated that since M. PJh've’si death, J had become a sincere reformer. „ mw- strike had not'been commenced \ /lie said) until the prefect of police bsM intimated that the demands had

political" reforms,” stated M.j f'uoon ■“must precede economic ~~ i rnneessions. If the police and C.ost -sacks obstruct the way to the Palace I will he the first to fall, hut j V our’blood will accomplish more than 1 the most successful agitation. ’ ' -\y e go as loyal citizens t'O Ob- l Jain a hearing from the Czar.; If I •we fail it will have proved to. the 1 k 'world that a peaceful agi Cation js useless, and "that we have but to try j other means. . . I \v c jjave notified Prince Mir ski I of our desire to meet the Czar.. I is- jf ho refuses,, there will he a terrible uprising. I expect there will be half a million people in the vicinity of the Palace, including one nunUretl and thirty; thousand work- 1 “The prefect of police has warned the people that neither gatherings nor processions will be allowed. The strikers have coerced one Hundred and seventy factories to join • " in the strike. This they, succeeded doing on Friday. Eighfty-eight thousand men have no.W struck-