It soon became apparent, moreover, that Pobiedonostzev was to enjoy even more power than he had under Alexander III.  In proportion as the character of Nicholas II was weaker than that of his father, the power of the Procurator of the Holy Synod was greater.  And there was a superstitious element in the mentality of the new Czar which Pobiedonostzev played upon with infinite cunning.  He ruled the weak-willed Czar and filled the ministries with men who shared his views and upon whom he could rely.  Notwithstanding the Czar’s expressed wishes, he soon found ways and means to add to the persecutions of the Jews and the various non-orthodox Christian sects.  In his determination to hammer the varied racial groups into a homogeneous nation, he adopted terrible measures and so roused the hatred of the Finns, Armenians, Georgians, and other subject peoples, stirring among them passionate resentment and desire for revolutionary action.  It is impossible to conceive of a policy more dangerous to the dynasty than was conceived and followed by this fanatical Russophil.  The Poles were persecuted and forced, in sheer despair, and by self-interest, into the revolutionary movement.  Armenians were persecuted and their church lands and church funds confiscated; so they, too, were forced into the revolutionary current.

Worse than all else was the cruel persecution of the Jews.  Not only were they compelled to live within the Pale of Settlement, but this was so reduced that abominable congestion and poverty resulted.  Intolerable restrictions were placed upon the facilities for education in the secondary schools, the gymnasia, and in the universities.  It was hoped in this way to destroy the intellectual leadership of the Jews.  Pogroms were instigated, stirring the civilized world to protest at the horrible outrages.  The Minister of the Interior, Von Plehve, proclaimed his intention to “drown the Revolution in Jewish blood,” while Pobiedonostzev’s ambition was “to force one-third of the Jews to conversion, another third to emigrate”—­to escape persecution.  The other third he expected to die of hunger and misery.  When Leo Tolstoy challenged these infamies, and called upon the civilized world on behalf of the victims, the Holy Synod denounced Tolstoy and his followers as a sect “especially dangerous for the Orthodox Church and the state.”  Later, in 1900, the Holy Synod excommunicated Tolstoy from the Orthodox Church.

The fatal logic of fanatical fury led to attacks upon the zemstvos.  These local organizations had been instituted in 1864, by Alexander II, in the liberal years of his reign.  Elected mainly by the landlords and the peasants, they were a vital part of the life of the nation.  Possessing no political powers or functions, having nothing to do with legislation, they were important agencies of local government.  The representatives of each county constituted a county-zemstvo and the representatives elected by all the county-zemstvos