NICHOLAS II.
There can hardly be imagined a more tragic contrast than that of the extremely complicated situation inherited by Nicholas II. and the complete nullity of the man who had to solve the problem. Like his father, Nicholas was not prepared to reign ; like Alexander III. he would have preferred to live as a private man in his family circle and he hated his exalted avocation which clashed with his modesty and bashfulness. However, like Alexander III., he felt it a duty to bear the burden of autocratic power and, moreover, to preserve autocracy untouched for his successor. He had to wait long for this heir, as his marriage with princess Alix of Hesse (1894) brought him first four daughters, and when finally a son (Alexis) was born (1904), the parents had constantly to tremble for his life, as he inherited from his mother's side the dan gerous disease of haemophilia. In their wish to save him at any cost they put their confidence in every kind of quack, beginning with M. Philippe, the spiritist from Lyons, and ending with the famous Rasputin. Intercourse with them finally reduced the nervous Alix to a state of religious exaltation and mystic faith in her predestined mission to save the tsar and her son from evil by obeying the precepts of God's elect.
itself identical with the omnipotence of bureaucracy, its cause is lost. . . . It digs its own grave. . . . You first began the struggle, and the struggle will come." The struggle had come. In June 1896 St. Petersburg saw the first strike of 30,00o workingmen. The evolutionary wing of the Marxist socialists triumphed : here at last the "masses" had come forward with purely economic demands. In 1898 the Russian Social Democratic Labour party was formed. However, the old leaders did not approve of this peaceful and legal "economism" of the young generation. In their "orthodox" organ, the Spark, published abroad, they defended the political and revolutionary side of Marxism. In 1903, at a conference in London, their ten dency, represented by Lenin, obtained the "majority" and "Bolshevism" (Bolsheviki =majoritarians) was created. On the other hand, the "People's Will" party was revived under the name of Social Revolutionaries with a new programme in 1898. They remained true to their two leading ideas ; agrarian revolution and terrorism. Agrarian riots began two years later in southern Russia. In 1899 began also student disorders which were answered by the minister of public instruction Bogolepov, by the menace of military service for delinquents. On Feb. 27, 1901, Bogolepov was killed by the student, Karpovich. On April 15 the home minister Sipyagin was killed by Balmashov. Pobiedonostsev recommended Plehve for his successor. Plehve had to struggle not only against the agrarian uprisings, but also against moderate elements—the zemstvo Liberals and the radicals of the liberal pro fessions (professors, lawyers, journalists, engineers, the so-called "third element," officials of the zemstvos, etc.). They formed a secret "Union for Liberation" and from July 1902 published their weekly, Liberation, abroad. The number of persons accused of political crime rose from 919 (1894) to 1,884 (1899) and 5,590 (1903). The minister of finance, Witte, tried to oppose Plehve's policy, but was dismissed in Aug. 1903.