2.  THE HORRORS OF EXPULSION

It was on March 29, 1891, the first day of the Jewish Passover, when in the synagogues of Moscow which were filled with worshippers an alarming whisper ran from mouth to mouth telling of the publication of an imperial ukase ordering the expulsion of the Jews from the city.  Soon afterwards the horror-stricken Jews read in the papers the following imperial order, dated March 28: 

Jewish mechanics, distillers, brewers, and, in general, master workmen and artisans shall be forbidden to remove from the Jewish Pale of Settlement as well as to come over from other places of the Empire to the City and Government of Moscow.

This prohibition of settling in Moscow anew was only one half of the edict.  The second, more terrible half, was published on the following day: 

A recommendation shall be made to the Minister of the Interior, after consultation with the Governor-General of Moscow, to see to it that measures be taken to the effect that the above-mentioned Jews should gradually depart from the City and Government of Moscow into the places established for the permanent residence of the Jews.

At first sight it seemed difficult to realize that this harmless surface of the ukase, with its ambiguous formulation, [1] concealed a cruel decree ordering the uprooting of thousands of human beings.  But those who were to execute this written law received definite unwritten instructions which were carried out according to all the rules of the strategic game.

[Footnote 1:  The Byzantine perfidy of this formulation lies in the phrase “above-mentioned Jews,” which gives the impression of referring to those that had “removed” to Moscow from other parts of the Empire, i.e., settled there anew, whereas the real object of the law was to expel all the Jews of the “above-mentioned” categories of master workmen and artisans, even though they may have lived in the city for many years.  This amounted to a repeal, illegally enacted outside the Council of State, of the law of 1865, conferring the right of universal residence upon Jewish artisans.  Moreover, the enactment was given retroactive force—­a step which even the originators of the “Temporary Rules” of May 3 were not bold enough to make.  In distinction from the May Laws, the present decree was not even submitted to the Council of Ministers, where a discussion of it might have been demanded; it was passed as an extraordinary measure, at the suggestion of the Ministry of the Interior represented by Durnovo and Plehve.  This is indicated by the heading of the ukase:  “The Minister of the Interior has applied most humbly to his Imperial Majesty begging permission to adopt the following measures.”  This succession of illegalities was to be veiled by the ambiguous formulation of the ukase and the addition of the hackneyed stipulation:  “Pending the revision of the enactments concerning the Jews in the ordinary course of legislation.”]