en of his own class, but very sharp-tongued when speaking with
a foreman or manager. Always ready with an answer, he can on occasions
silence even an official! He has travelled all over the Empire, has
associated with all sorts and conditions of men, sees everything most
clearly, and is, in short, a very remarkable man. One of his excellent
qualities is that, being "enlightened" himself, he is always ready to
enlighten others, and he now finds an opportunity of displaying his
powers. When Andrei, who is still unenlightened, proposes that they
should drink another glass of vodka, he replies that the Tsar, together
with the nobles and traders, bars the way to the throat. As his
companion does not understand this metaphorical language, he explains
that if there were no Tsars, nobles, or traders, he could get five
glasses of vodka for the sum that he now pays for one glass. This
naturally suggests wider topics, and Stepan gives something like a
lecture. The common people, he explains, pay by far the greater part
of the taxation, and at the same time do all the work; they plough the
fields, build the houses and churches, work in the mills and factories,
and in return they are systematically robbed and beaten. And what is
done with all the money that is taken from them? First of all, the Tsar
gets nine millions of roubles--enough to feed half a province--and
with that sum he amuses himself, has hunting-parties, and feasts, eats,
drinks, makes merry, and lives in stone houses. He gave liberty, it is
true, to the peasants; but we know what the Emancipation really was. The
best land was taken away and the taxes were increased, lest the
muzhik should get fat and lazy. The Tsar is himself the richest landed
proprietor and manufacturer in the country. He not only robs us as much
as he pleases, but he has sold into slavery (by forming a national debt)
our children and grandchildren. He takes our sons as soldiers, shuts
them up in barracks so that they should not see their brother-peasants,
and hardens their hearts so that they become wild beasts, ready to rend
their parents. The nobles and traders likewise rob the poor peasants. In
short, all the upper classes have invented a bit of cunning machinery
by which the muzhik is made to pay for their pleasures and luxuries. The
people will one day rise and break this machinery to pieces. When that
day comes they must break every part of it, for if one bit escapes
destruction all the other p