1 March 1917. James Houghteling

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

No truth in the above. Everything is quiet at Petrograd.

I called at 2:30 on Mme.G, a clever Russian woman who lives in a big house at the corner of one of the main squares. The G s are a rich merchant family, and their house is full of modern Russian paintings, — quite an interesting collection.

We talked for an hour about current topics. She says that the Duma leaders offer very little advantage over the present ministers because they are not practical enough to form a successful administration even if they were given the chance. She deplores the lack of practicality in the leaders of the liberal movement. I ascribed this to (1) the penalty, in loss of organising and of executive ability, that a country pays for being agricultural rather than industrial; (2) the unworldly and kaleidoscopic idealism of the Intelligentsia who are called upon to lead and who are mostly professional men of no business experience; and (3) the indifference of the great middle-class, which does not call the best available talent into its service and then by organised effort and continuous public opinion force the government to progress. She said, ''The Intelligentsia mean well, but they cannot even govern their own lives; when they have a little money they live extravagantly, when they have none they live badly. '' No one wants a change to a feeble liberal government which would fail and cause reaction or a halting of the war.

She does not believe that there will be a revolution until after the war; and points to the patience of people in the bread lines as a reason for so thinking. There were strikes yesterday at some of the big factories here because the workmen were unable to get bread, but they were entirely peaceful and were easily settled.

The people are almost too reasonable!

She believes that any revolution during the war would mean a separate peace, as there is said to be a clause in the alliance treaty which permits it in case of domestic insurrection. The government is using this clause as a club over the heads of would-be revolutionists. No one in Russia, except the desperately seared bureaucracy, wants a separate peace.

Of course the war might be continued in spite of a revolution if Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaievich were called in from the Caucasus, but he is said to be drinking heavily and to be very sullen. Another possibility is Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, who is described as the most enlightened member of his tribe. He was the only man who dared applaud when Purishkevich made his famous attack on Rasputin in the Duma. Some leader who can overthrow the government and fight the war simultaneously is absolutely indispensable to a successful revolution.

Mme. G. does not believe a word of the stories of intimacy between Rasputin and the Tsarina. The latter she describes as very nervous and unhappy, always at high tension because of the hopeless ill-health of the Tsarevitch and the problem of succession; above all, a woman fearfully imperious with everybody; but for a long period of years very pro-English in sympathy, and entirely out of touch with her Hessian relations.

I asked about the friction between the Tzarina and Brusiloff. She said that my version of the encounter (see diary of Feb. 20) was quite distorted; she had the true story from Brusiloff’s adjutant. The Tsarina is constantly interfering in matters pertaining to the conduct of the war, frequently going out to the front alone and confusing the General Staff with impossible orders. On the occasion in question the staff had issued an order for a simultaneous advance on all fronts on a given day. Brusiloff anticipated it by five days; conditions on his front were favorable earlier, he thought, and the results in ground gained and prisoners captured justified this conclusion. He reported to the Staff very much pleased with himself, and found the Tsarina there. She treated him to a tirade,—which in a way was justified because the greatest problem has been to get the generals to work together. Brusiloff was naturally furious and retorted: "I am only responsible for my actions to His Majesty the Tsar." The Tsarina dismissed him angrily and later made the Tsar refuse to see him. The general was so despondent at this sign of ill-favor that his adjutant had to stay with him constantly to keep him from committing suicide.

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