On the 17th of October—­Russian style—­the Czar issued the famous Manifesto which acknowledged the victory of the people and the death of Absolutism.  After the usual amount of pietistic verbiage by way of introduction the Manifesto said: 

    We make it the duty of the government to execute our firm will: 

    (1) To grant the people the unshakable foundations of civic
    freedom on the basis of real personal inviolability, freedom of
    conscience, of speech, of assemblage of unions.

(2) To admit now to participation in the Imperial Duma, without stopping the pending elections and in so far as it is feasible in the short time remaining before the convening of the Duma, all the classes of the population, leaving the farther development of the principle of universal suffrage to the new legislative order.

(3) To establish as an unshakable rule that no law can become binding without the consent of the Imperial Duma, and that the representatives of the people must be guaranteed a real participation in the control over the lawfulness of the authorities appointed by us.

We call upon all faithful sons of Russia to remember their duty to their fatherland, to aid in putting an end to the unprecedented disturbances, and to exert with us all their power to restore quiet and peace in our native land.

VIII

The Czar’s Manifesto rang through the civilized world.  In all lands it was hailed as the end of despotism and the triumph of democracy and freedom.  The joy of the Russian people was unbounded.  At last, after fourscore years of heroic struggle and sacrifice by countless heroes, named and nameless, the goal of freedom was attained.  Men, women, and children sang in the streets to express their joy.  Red flags were displayed everywhere and solemnly saluted by the officers and men of the Czar’s army.  But the rejoicing was premature, as the events of a few hours clearly proved.  With that fatal vacillation which characterized his whole life, Nicholas II had no sooner issued his Manifesto than he surrendered once more to the evil forces by which he was surrounded and harked back to the old ways.  The day following the issuance of the Manifesto, while the people were still rejoicing, there began a series of terrible pogroms.  The cry went forth, “Kill the Intellectuals and the Jews!”

There had been organized in support of the government, and by its agents, bodies of so-called “patriots.”  These were, in the main, recruited from the underworld, a very large number of them being criminals who were released from the prison for the purpose.  Officially known as the Association of the Russian People and the Association to Combat the Revolution, these organizations were popularly nicknamed the Black Hundreds.  Most of the members were paid directly by the government