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Chapter 135 - Oppression in disguise is still oppression (October-December, 1894)

There are no borders that can stop him]

A train station in St. Petersburg is almost paralyzed by a single individual, or rather an individual and the group of people who go to see him off and gather around his figure. The man takes off his hat and says goodbye to him, with workers from St. Petersburg saying goodbye to him only after a few moments of words.

"You seem popular, who are you, sir?" One of the train officers mentions shocked, the man in front of him did not seem like a celebrity, nor did he seem the most attractive person or high nobility.

"Ulyanov, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, I am the people's lawyer." Vladimir exclaims, suddenly shaking the officer's hand before going to his carriage.

Ulyanov was a man without good manners, but his figure was suffused with a unique hypnotic air, which could only be described with innate charisma.

In 1894, Vladimir Ulyanov begins his journey from Russia to the ends of Europe, a journey through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Spain.

Normally one would consider a 23-year-old lawyer not a threat, but there were no borders capable of stopping Ulyanov, and his capabilities as a leader of the masses.

It was an extremely complicated time for the movements of the left, but it is precisely in moments like these that remarkable figures emerge.

*******

[Ministry of war]

The minister of war Iosif Vladimirovich Romeyko-Gurko presents to Tsar Alexander III a letter of withdrawal, at least temporary, due to health problems that force the minister of war to withdraw to some of his properties in Sakharovo, Tver, to take care of his health.

Obviously Tsar Alexander III accepts, and Romeyko-Gurko goes from a field marshal and minister to an adviser, in honor of the general the soldiers of Saint Petersburg, Warsaw, Moscow and other large cities of Russia, make gifts for the former minister .

The most notable gift was that of Warsaw, a 60-centimeter high mini-monument, representing General Romeyko-Gurko who was on horseback, galloping, wearing a frock coat and scarf.

This saw Deputy War Minister Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev rise to the rank of War Minister of the Russian Empire.

The war ministry had undergone major transformations in the Alexandrian period, with Dmitry Milyutin the reforms began, with Romeyko-Gurko technological innovations and a certain level of militarism were established, and now Skobelev arrived.

Among the ministry's first actions, the 14th Rifle Battalion, which was part of the 4th Rifle Brigade, received the official name of the "Iron Brigade", a nickname they received during Romeyko-Gurko's tenure.

*******

"We will have the last aircraft tests next year." Skobelev reports to Tsar Alexander III.

"Well, tell me what about the gas masks?" The tsar promptly questions.

"We will start as soon as possible, they will not be delayed any more until 1896." Minister Skobelev responds. "Should we investigate the development of our own chemical weapons?"

"... I don't like it, but maybe it's necessary." Tsar Alexander III exclaims with some annoyance. "The war is horrible, but what other options do we have?"

"... For the Ottomans? None. Dead, wounded, suffering and devastated, all for the sake of a cause, we will answer before God for that, for the mass of people we kill in battle. But until then, I am your loyal subject and soldier, Your Highness". Skobelev exclaims, convinced of his 'innocence' (favor of the emperor) and loyalty.

"And I appreciate that. Tell me, what ideas do you have for the war ministry?"

Tsar Alexander III would accept several of Mikhail Skobelev's proposals, one of which involved the "spirit of Suvorov" (Дух Суворова, Dukh Suvorova).

In the final stages of Romeyko-Gurko's ministry some had proposed allowing and even promoting duels between members of the army, supposedly for the benefit of their "fighting spirit" but Tsar Alexander III, Romeyko-Gurko and Skobelev prohibited this considering it more harmful than beneficial.

Instead the aforementioned Spirit of Suvorov (named after General Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov) was promoted within the armed forces.

Training doctrines under Romeyko-Gurko continued (daily training and understanding of the continuing threat or possibility of war), war games, the importance of logistics and administration in war (medical conditions, rations and lives of the soldiers included), the role of knowledge of war plans for officers and junior officers, the introduction of technological innovations, and the new theories of Russian military doctrine (modern industrial warfare).

Also the war ministry continued to pay close attention to foreign armies, doctrines and developments, particularly Germany, which Skobelev continued to see as the main enemy.

But there was a strong growth of the militarism of the society, cause of the industrial-military development, and the importance of the nation or the nationalism promoted by Skobelev (a nationalism that integrated nations beyond the ethnic Russians), partly the result of other developments, for example in the Young Pioneers with "defense of the mother country".

Soldiers were insisted on a feeling of national identity and love for the country (like Suvorov used to do), an obsessive fixation on training and fighting.

Skobelev's nationalist, militant and Slavophilic ideas also played a vital role in the development of the army, which influenced Russian society to some extent.

The idea of the Holy Rus, the recapture of Constantinople, and the "special path" of Russia (the uniqueness of the forms of social-economic-political-cultural development of the Russian people).

In summary, the Dukh Suvorova consisted of:

* Russian nationalism and the importance of the mother country, but around a national identity that did not focus on ethnic-cultural aspects (all ethnic groups could be Russian citizenship, and therefore loyal to the state of course).

* Irredentist ideas or Russian exceptionalism, based on the singularities of the Russian Empire in its development, culture and objectives.

* Militarism, continuous training and a military influence in public life (reverence for military figures, the influence of war and the army in public life, etc).

*Socio-economic class did not matter.

Suvorov's spirit also spread to the Slavic nationalities of Russia, such as the Foreign Legion made up of Serbs, Bulgarians, etc.

Other developments is that Tsar Alexander III and Mikhail Skobelev made the Russian war plans, now instead of being solely in case of the future Russo-Turkish war, plans were made for many more possible cases of war between the Russian Empire and other nations (near or far, in a 1 vs 1 or between alliances or coalitions, etc).

They also initiated plans for the transportation of heavy industry further to the Urals in the event that an invasion of European Russia occurred.

*******

* Perspective of Aleksei Alekseyevich Brusilov.

Commander Brusilov leads the front ranks of the "Horse Academy" (which was put under his command by the general staff) for the march on St. Petersburg.

Flags fly, officers march and the population admires the army, whose boots and horses march through the streets, with posters and propaganda throughout the city.

Images such as Tsar Alexander III, Tsesarevich Nicholas, Minister Mikhail Skobelev or mythological and historical figures, saints, heroes of Russia, scientists, and patrons, etc.

Russians, Germans, Ukrainians, Finns, Armenians, Georgians and others held the state flags for the army and to celebrate, a spectacle of nationalism that united not by ethno-culture, but by nationality-citizenship and support for the Russian state.

"The withdrawal of Romeyko-Gurko did not change anything, in fact I believe that now I have more work, examining information about the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary and France.

I have recently continued to rise since intervening in the Sino-Japanese War. However now the preoccupation with training has changed to my preoccupation with training my own troops and preparing the necessary logistics for everything (a war ministry fixation).

I have recently been developing something to solve the trench warfare problems according to the Bloch report, but I have yet to refine some details of a 'lightning war' against the trenches. "

*******

[Government: Rights and Moscow]

"The reform about the political privileges of the population, and workers' privileges is inevitable if we do not want to have the same problems of strikers, violent unions and violence among the population that other European states, the United States and to a lesser extent other countries experience . " Tsar Alexander III exclaims in front of War Minister Skobelev, Interior Minister Sipyagin, Navy Minister Makarov, other ministers and Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich.

"But we cannot appear weak in the face of political pressure." Sipyagin responds.

"Indeed, that is why the reform must come purely from us. The next Ukaz reforms that will make up the sets of laws regarding civil-political rights and privileges will come at least in 1897, or in 1910." Tsar Alexander III proposes, with different opinions before such a situation.

"Why 1910?" The Tsesarevich questions.

"Very good question, I think it would be a guaranteed moment for the success of the reform, when our literacy rates reach more than 80%." The tsar explains. "Without proper preparation we could suffer setbacks, but I am willing to reduce the time to 10 or 13 years if necessary."

"... I trust that no matter what time it is, the population is loyal, my czar." Skobelev exclaims convinced.

"Yes, but there are still dangerous radicalisms that can be harmful." Tsar Alexander III responds. "That is why I am planning a minimal reform in the city of Moscow."

So the discussion centers around the Tsesarevich.

From the outside however, in St. Petersburg the army continued to march and train, the black-yellow-white national flag with an eagle was flying, and the propaganda continued.

The young Pioneers continued to train and carry out their activities, the Okhrana continued to watch as much as they could, and the Orthodox Church spoke and spoke to the population.

Russia in essence was not very different, it was her own cosmos, something curious but nationalistic, militaristic and autocratic in many respects.

*******

After the meeting the Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich expanded under the permission of Tsar Alexander III the freedom of trade unions in the Moscow governorate, although they were not independent, they were subordinate to the authority of the governor (the Tsesarevich).

Tsesarevich Nicholas then continued to increase his popularity among the working masses, while the rights of the working masses in Moscow were discussed.

This was a continuation of the experiments for political reforms, the reform somewhat relieved the political situation of the governorate and prevented the population from being radicalized in its entirety due to the Tsesarevich.

It was also used as propaganda for future openings of the Russian state, provided the workers remained loyal of course.

Some argued that this was still not the desired political reform, but the population continued to entertain themselves with bread and circuses as Russia continued to head towards its future.

********

[Automotive industry]

Tsar Alexander III, accompanied by Fyodor Blinov, visits the offices of the RVZ (Russian short for Russian Carriage Works, Russkogo Vagonostroitel'nogo Zavoda) to establish the final phases and latest developments of recent developments. The RVZ was famous for its tractors and Romanov cars, although there were several companies vying for the position as top truck producers.

With the next ideas, various RVZ practices were established.

If a failure was detected in one of the products, the production line was stopped until said failure was fixed, making it easier to avoid the production of errors in the next production or making it easier to repair and understand the errors made.

Cars became more efficient and / or compact, not bigger, or at least that was the goal of subsequent Romanov cars (the next model of which was planned for release in 1896, a decade from the first model).

The customer service processes would be consolidated and continued, forming a community of national and foreign buyers around the brand as started by Tsar Alexander III and Tsesarevich Nicholas.

The first RVZ snowmobile also seemed to be going from strength to strength, although there would still be a few years to complete it and mass production.

Another important project was the development of the interior designs, the external modification was already something quite remarkable in the RVZ cars, with limited editions for people of prestige and money, or in selected countries.

Now in cooperation with various interior designers and notable brands such as the Faberges, the RVZ began to produce luxurious interior modifications for their vehicles as well.

In the United States, limited editions were already becoming quite popular with the upper class, while common models were making their way more slowly due to the economic crisis.

But among the upper class a Romanov car became a symbol of prestige, especially if it was modified or limited edition, because it meant being upper class, competing with the European upper class and among the American economic barons even in bad economic times.

*******

[Americanisms in Russian film]

With the growth of the Russian film industry through SEiPK, developments at Kodak and other brands, innovators began to migrate to Russia, mainly from the United States.

Because? Quite simply, films were easier to produce in Russia than in the United States, although Edison Studios had prestige, its monopolies on the production of films and motion pictures in the United States produced disagreements within Americans willing to produce or who they wanted to innovate artistically-technologically.

This caused that from the 1890s onwards some American (and to a lesser extent European) filmmakers moved to Russia to make their recordings, be it to the Russian Far East, European Russia, Central Asia, Ukraine, Finland, etc.

There were many possibilities, you could even film some animals that had become extinct in their regions of origin, which added another attraction.

The Russians themselves were not left behind, over time Russian filmmakers would emerge who would innovate in technique and development of film production.

Be it artistic works, raw documentaries or varied works.

Also, the migration of early American filmmakers allowed Russian-produced film to enter the United States with relative ease.

*******

[International]

* [The Bullmoose].

* Perspective of Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

The American after publishing his travels through Russia and the Mediterranean (a decent sale, Roosevelt was still in good standing and sales but he was not the greatest writer of his time), do some activism and use his time to edit and publish some historical texts more, decided the destination of his next trip.

On October 1, Roosevelt went to the Republic of the United States of Brazil.

"My original plan was to visit the Amazon River, but I decided to take a detour and observe some of the remains of what was the Empire of Brazil after the Brazilian civil war, observe what democracy and the institutions of the so-called republic were like.

I was very disappointed.

First I went through Petropolis, the imperial city, the city of Emperor Pedro II, and there was a very low standard of quality of life and freedoms.

The republic reduced the freedom of expression, association and the voting rights of whites, blacks, natives and mulattoes. The armies marched through the cities suppressing possible uprisings and directing the supposed republic.

The city itself was in decline, with damage after the war. The merchant navy and the military navy of the republic were on the rise, but I realized that as in America, much of the money goes to the pocket of a few, such as the great barons of coffee, rubber and milk. "

*******

On October 1, the Owl Club of South Africa has its first meeting.

It is simply a club for gentlemen who have dinners, a gathering place for people interested in liberal arts and sciences, and some other entertaining activities.

*******

* [Dreyfus and anti-Semitism]

The Jewish-French officer Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for crimes that he did not commit, similar to Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the authorities (military in this case) accuse Dreyfus of spying for Germany.

A mixture of anti-Semitism, falsified evidence, other poor judicial procedures and human rights violations lead Dreyfus to be locked up like many other people considered traitors by the regime.

Officer Dreyfus did not have opinions formed against or in favor of the regime, he was only interested in serving France, but he was convicted of treason (delivering military secrets to Germany).

Dreyfus did not speak in favor of the people who were going against the regime, and now there were few people to speak in favor of him, more there are from his family and some other Jews.

In France things are just as bad as ever, but this time there are more reactions in Russia and the UK.

Obviously the Russian Jewish communities saw that the anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia were over, and anti-Semitism spread much more to France and some other regions.

The United Kingdom, on the other hand, was still divided, the political elite divided between the north of England, more leftist and pro-Jewish opposed to anti-Semitism, and the south of England, much more classist and with boulangists and anti-Semitic overtones.

They didn't bode well, London wasn't exactly that anti-Semitic or Zionist, but they had invested a lot in France, and they didn't want the Zionists to ruin all of that because of French anti-Semitism.

The elites of the nobility and wealthy economic sectors continued to draw much inspiration from Boulangism, in opposition to leftism, strikers, Jews, etc.

*******

* [Free Silver]

On November 6, the elections of the House of Representatives of the United States take place, as a result of the Stevenson cabinet the Democrats are with a slight victory after an intense fight against the Republicans.

This through the support of the agricultural regions of the United States, the populists and some Republican-Democrats in favor of Free Silver.

With this, President Adlai Stevenson I promotes the Free Silver Act, which, approved by the House of Representatives and the Democratic Congress (and obviously the President) establishes an expansive monetary policy that allows the unlimited minting of silver.

This further fixes the political struggle between Democrats and Republicans (more or less with populists, socialists, and other political groups somewhere).

The Free Silver movement has won, benefiting mainly the farmers but energetically annoying the big industrial lords who had previously supported the Republicans against the Democrats.

The ideological and economic struggle continues, while the United States still faces its economic crisis, and now the new consequences of the Free Silver Act.

Among the problems are strikes, enormous unemployment, problems between the barons of the inudstria-large companies and farmers or small companies, etc.

The big industries and economic lords of the industrialized regions saw their positions and assets seriously threatened by the new economic policies, which would lead them to press harder politically through influences (bribes, support, secret talks, etc.).

Others believed that the American situation needed a fix before it got out of hand, the problem was deciding what to do.

Germany: Socialism and Conservatism]

In 1894, German socialism was certainly divided, members of the left wing of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) were fighting against the more radical or unaffiliated socialist-communists of German politics (future KPD, Communist Party of Germany, Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands).

The young Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht saw these fighting, instead of affiliating against the liberal and conservative nationalists, among whom were many pan-Germanicists.

Socially politics was divided more and more and more, without achieving any clear victory. There were pan-Germanic liberals and conservatives who promoted the annexation of the Netherlands and its colonies, as well as greater integration with the Nordic nations.

On the other side were the various types of leftists, social democrats, Marxists and other socialists fighting among themselves, the less radical in particular criticizing the seekers of communism, Marxists, etc.

Germany on the other hand continued to pursue its expansionist policies and increase spending, with Wilhelm II promoting the sciences and allowing workers' socialist rights, but without resolving the internal cracks of the German Empire.

However, in 1895 it is obvious that things were about to change, this situation of bankruptcy could not remain indefinitely.

*******

November 26, the son of Emperor Napoleon IV and Empress Beatrice, Prince Napoleon Louis Eugène Christian Joseph Bonaparte, is born.

December 18, after decades of activism, South Australian women win the right to vote and be elected to parliament.

December 22, Officer Dreyfus is officially put in prison, he is not sent to French Guiana, but he is sent to one of the prisons on the European continent.

*******

[Sports culture]

The final 4 teams are chosen for the next Russian Soccer League.

*Moscow.

*Kiev.

*Vladivostok.

*Saint Petersburg.