Thus did, during the first decade of the war waged by the Tzars against their Jewish subjects, the tide of Russian-Jewish emigration slowly roll towards various shores, until a fresh storm in the beginning of the new decade whipped its waves to unprecedented heights.  Whereas in the course of the eighties the Russian Government wished to give the impression as if it merely “tolerated” the departure of the Jews from Russia—­although in reality it was the ultimate aim of its policies—­in the beginning of the nineties it suddenly cast off its mask and gave its public sanction to a Jewish exodus from the Russian Empire.  As if to strengthen the effect of this sanction, the Jews were to taste even more fully the whip of persecution and expulsion than they had done during the preceding decade.

CHAPTER XXVIII

JUDAEOPHOBIA TRIUMPHANT

1.  INTENSIFIED REACTION

The poisonous Judaeophobia bacilli seemed to thrive more than ever in the highest Government circles of St. Petersburg.  However, not only the hatred against the Jews but also the fury of general political reaction became more rabid than ever after the “miraculous escape” of the imperial family in the railroad accident near Borki on October 17, 1888. [1] Amidst the ecclesiastic and mystic haze with which Pobyedonostzev and his associates managed to veil this episode the conviction became deeply ingrained in the mind of the Tzar that it was the finger of God which pointed to him the way in which Russia might be saved from “Western” reforms and brought back into the fold of traditional Russian orthodoxy.  This conviction of Alexander III. led to the counter-reforms which marked the concluding years of his reign, having for their purpose the strengthening of the police and Church regime in Russia, such as the curtailment of rural and urban self-government, the increase of the power of the nobility and clergy, the institution of Zemstvo chiefs, [2] and the multiplication of Greek-Orthodox parochial schools at the expense of secular schools.  The same influences also stimulated the luxurious growth of Judaeophobia which from now on assumed in the highest Government circles a most malignant character.  A manifestation of this frame of mind may be found in the words of the Tzar which he penned on the margin of a report submitted to him in 1890 by a high official, describing the sufferings of the Jews and pleading for the necessity of stopping the policy of oppression:  “But we must not forget that it was the Jews who crucified our Lord and spilled his priceless blood.”  Representatives of the court clergy publicly preached that a Christian ought not to cultivate friendly relations with a Jew, since it was the command of the gospel “to hate the murderers of the Savior.”  The Ministry of the Interior, under the direction of two fanatic reactionaries, Durnovo and Plehve, [3] set on foot all the inquisitorial contrivances of the Police Department, of which both these officials had formerly been the chiefs.