Where is Lenin? More important, who is Lenin? (July-September, 1895)

There are no borders that can stop him]

*France.

Although Paul Lafargue was a socialist, he was quite a particular one, quite read and notable, unlike many French socialists, this one accompanied by his wife Laura Marx (daughter of Karl Marx) had a golden opportunity to escape to the Kingdom of Spain, where Lafargue had a certain history.

This allowed Lafargue to escape from prison unlike the other socialists and to continue his career as a socialist theorist, even passing some Marxist literature to France (something that would otherwise guarantee him jail or the death penalty).

This caused that between the Franco-Spanish border there were some socialist movements (escaping from the central authorities of both countries), and French socialists escaping to Spain (with a rather weak government, therefore unable to do much), many of the which met with Lafargue.

Young Vladimir Ulyanov was no exception, having to pass from Italy to France and almost-Spain, but finally Ulyanov and Lafargue were able to meet in a border village on the French edge, just a walk from Spain.

"The situation in France is disastrous, the Bonapartist government has locked up many other socialists, they feed the population based on ethno-cultural nationalism." Ulyanov exclaims.

"I know, I know. The government in Spain is not much better, but they are much less successful, the king has had to please the Catales and Basques, the military is still a danger and the socialist movement has not been persecuted with such success. . " Lafargue explains. "But France is not a problem, a socialist revolution is very possible on the horizon."

"But what can we do with the other European nations? If a revolution breaks out anywhere, it will try to be crushed by the capitalist powers." Ulyanov exclaims.

"That's a good question." Lafargue replies.

*******

After his talks with Lafargue, Vladimir Ulyanov took a boat to Gibraltar, from there he went to the Netherlands to finally return to Germany.

Taking Plekhanov's advice, Ulyanov decided to settle in Germany for the time being, until it was time for the Russian revolution.

In the German Empire, Ulyanov would soon become strongly associated with Marxist and other socialist movements in the country.

Practicing law, he worked as a writer and journalist, as well as a political activist in favor of Marxism.

Ulyanov's presence in Germany would be quite a powerful piece for German Marxism.

*******

[Moscow Governorate]

In 1895, the Social Democrat Julius Martov met with Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, governor of Moscow.

Martov questioned about the Russian government, the reforms and how it could be carried out to solve the problems of inequality between the economically upper and privileged classes as opposed to the economically lower and underprivileged classes, in addition to the Russian positions regarding the situation. in United States.

Of course the Tsesarevich could not answer everything, many of the questions were rather associated with Tsar Alexander III, who decided the internal and foreign policy of the Russian Empire.

Ideologically the Russian autocracy was still standing, there was no proof that the "consistency" of the Russian state had changed, orthodoxy, nationalism and authoritarianism, everything was still like that.

And in any case, powerful reforms had been established, especially in the economic-military aspect, and to some extent in the administration (it did not reform the monarchy but in the local government) and labor rights (in its first steps).

Martov after his talks with the Tsesarevich, came to the conclusion that the Russian Empire had returned to the time of Catherine II.

An Alexandrian government was simply synonymous with an absolutist enlightened government, a government dedicated to the people without the people in government (and if there were people from the people, they were completely subordinate to the central authority of the tsar).

The tests were there, the infrastructure and services for the population increased but the population only had a voice and vote in the zemstvos, not in the upper echelons of government.

*******

"Hey Martov, would you be interested in working for me?" The Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich asks curiously.

Martov was stunned. "Why? Ideologically, we are quite contrary."

"You know something Martov? Tsar Alexander III is less about ideology and more about utility and patriotism." The Tsesarevich declares. "If you care so much about the people of Russia, then working for me is the best, we can do something to help the Russian people."

Martovite, a politically useful fool.

Julius Martov, while a dedicated reform-minded Social Democrat, was more of a useful political pawn than a notable figure in his own right.

The government of Moscow used Martov to channel the strength of the political left and trade unions into more compromising positions with the government (also some conflicts between Martov and the Social Revolutionaries, Bundists and other groups were useful).

Martov was a good rhetorician, the problem was his own incompetence, unable to seize the moment or be pragmatic at the right time.

Those were some of the reasons that prevented him from being catapulted to higher positions, he was overshadowed by men much better able to break through the political tides to finish on top.

The leftist movement in Moscow, like other Russian cities (the urban environment is usually more oriented towards the political left than the countryside, although there may be exceptions or particular cases) continued to grow, but during this time of the Alexandrian period, the Tsesarevich Nicholas he was able to control it adequately through his little cut.

Small court that included Martov, thinking about the potential for reforms that could be promoted over time through the Russian enlightenment.

*******

[Diplomacy: Russia and Portugal]

Of course, Russia was not trying to remove Portugal from the British sphere, but early in June both nations signed agreements on maritime trade.

Another agreement that allowed Russia to export its products to the Portuguese market, primarily fish, meat and agricultural products.

Among this, Russia took advantage of and started a new phase of gastrodiplomacy, this time directed towards Portugal (mainly through this commercial agreement) and Spain (through the Iberian communities in Russia), in short, gastrodiplomacy towards Europe.

Through these diplomacies and trade deals between Russia and European countries, in essence Russia became Europe's largest exporter of agricultural products (and towards Europe, Russia's largest trading partner), making quite a bit of money from this.

This also made it possible to export Russian food and restaurants, or Russian drinks such as alcohol and Koka-Kola to the Iberian Peninsula.

The most worrying thing was that in general, the other great European powers (more specifically Germany and the United Kingdom) did not understand gastrodiplomacy, it was an extremely soft and passive diplomacy, not dependent on bribes, threats or military power.

And worse, it was a diplomacy aimed at Asian states, but which could also be used and be effective with European states, it made no sense in the eyes of the observer of the time.

Yet at least some of these powers, more specifically Germany and France, benefited from these policies in various ways.

Russia did too, trade with "allies" of France (and the UK) kept Russia's neutral and equidistant policy in image, while at the same time making money, and they did not commit to anything particularly dangerous through trade agreements.

*******

[Christian anarchism]

In Russia there are the so-called "Doukhobors" (Doukhobor in singular, Духоборы, Dukhobory or Dukhobortsy), an ethno-religious group of Christian origin, whose name translates to "Spirit-Wrestlers" or "Spirit-Warriors".

They arose in the 17th and 18th century in the Russian Empire, when the first of these groups concluded that clergy and formal rituals were unnecessary, rejecting secular government, religious icons, orthodox priests, the Bible as a supreme source of divine revelation. .

They believed that the presence of God was in every human being, and they believed in the divinity of Jesus, but their practices emphasized individual interpretation, and opposition to the government and the established Russian Orthodox Church.

During the reign of Nicholas I they suffered an assimilation attempt that forced them to be essentially expelled to the South Caucasus. Since then they have been there.

One of the spiritual leaders of the group was Lukerya Vasilyevna Kalmykova, the wife of another former religious leader. The problem was that when Kalmykova died in 1886, they started certain legal problems with the community of 20,000 individuals.

Lukerya had no children, so his property (the so-called Huergan house) would be inherited by his brother, Mikhail Gubanov, but unreasonably a large part of the religious community believed that Lukerya's property was now a communal property, when the Russian courts declared Gubanov the rightful owner under Russian law.

This led to the division of the community, between a "Large Party" (Большая сторона, olshaya Storona) led by the supposed heir as spiritual leader, Pyotr Vasilevich Verigin.

Another group known as the "Small Party" (Малая сторона, Malaya Storona), led by the older members of the community, supporting Gubanov.

Verigin after 1886 became familiar with the teachings of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, and adopted a kind of Christian anarchism by way of protest.

With this he formed a program for the Large Party:

1-Refusal to exploit salaried and dependent work.

2-Equitable division of property among members of the community (with the voluntary consent of the wealthy).

3-Rejection of the desire for enrichment, limiting needs, simplifying life (daily life, food, clothing), reducing the birth rate through sexual abstinence and refusing to marry.

4-Refusal of military service.

The Large Party community was divided then because not everyone accepted these proposals, so the Verigin followers in the Large Party became the "Fasters", because they refused to eat meat.

While A. F. Vorobiev became the leader of the then "intermediate party" (those who did not accept Verigin anymore) that pledged to cooperate with the authorities similar to the Small Party.

*******

Alexander III was more than willing to leave the group alone, after all there were just over 20,000 individuals in a region with millions of loyal inhabitants.

But between July 10 and 11, Verigin insisted his followers (between 3000 and 7000) in Elizavetopol and Tbilisi, to create a peaceful protest and to refuse compulsory military service.

As a result the fasters burned their weapons and sang psalms.

These protests caused riots in some villages in the southern Caucasus region. The peaceful protest received support from Tolstoy and other believers in the writer's doctrines.

Such a movement could be dangerous for military reforms, especially when Tolstoy was attempting some of the first mass awareness movements in Russia regarding this group.

The riots warranted the intervention of the police forces, which led to some arrests.

Tsar Alexander III then took action on the matter, cooperating with the Small Party and Vorobiev so that they could regain the Caucasian properties from which they had been forced (by the fasters) to move.

In return Tsar Alexander III offered some land to the fasters in Siberia, Central Asia or Alyaska in exchange for abandoning the protest (in essence the government would leave the group alone, at least for now), on the condition that the Doukhobors did not they could sell such properties for at least a few years.

Veregin, rather "forced" due to the power of the authorities, accepted.

Veregin led most of the fasters to Yakutia, while a lesser group of 5000 settled in Outer Manchuria (far east).

There Veregin continued to lead according to Tolstoy's principles and his own, about abstinence, veganism, and the other religious principles of the movement.

The Alexandrian policies and the way in which the government of Tsar Alexander III solved the problems, supposed that many groups of Eastern Europe never migrated en masse to North America (United States and Canada), with the exception of Jews and Poles.

********

In 1895 this event brought new attention of the goverment to the Tolstoyan movement (which emerged in the 1880s), which already had some colonies in Tver, the Caucasus, Kharkov and Simbirsk.

The movement was Christian, but he was a critic of the Russian Orthodox Church and believed in the teachings of Jesus, without paying much attention to his divinity or miracles.

And also believed in:

*Love your enemies.

*Do not be angry.

*Do not fight evil with evil, but return evil with good.

*Do not lust.

*Do not take oaths.

*The goverment is immoral, violent and corrupt.

After Tolstoy's propaganda attempts in favor of the Doukhobors, Czar Alexander III decided that he was going to allow the movement as long as it was not particularly critical of the Russian Orthodox Church or the state, at least in public.

They only had to move a little away from the public eye, curiously now there were some more villages in the South Caucasus that needed a little more population and will not call so much attention...

The movement formed communes or agricultural colonies under the Alexandrian regime, and Russia continued to export works by Tolstoy, which were inspiration to people around the world.

This kind of Christian anarchism, although it had its popularity, never held up particularly well in the political arenas because their rejection of participation in the state, so they never had "influence",and this hit hard, especially among the peasant masses and the new middle class, very conservative (pro-Russian Orthodox Church), anyone who wanted to participate in goverment reforms and matters, or against the move by X characteristic.

But to this day Tolstoyan colonies survive in some countries, like South Africa.

*******

[International]

Between July 10 and 11, peaceful protests by the Doukhobors take place in opposition to compulsory military service, ending with their resettlement in Siberia.

And a few more Tolstoyan colonies, established in the southern Caucasus.

On July 31, Sabino de Arana Goiri establishes the Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea or Partido Nacionalista Vasco (Basque Nationalist Party in English), a Catholic, conservative party destined to the preservation of the Basque language, culture and race (and also a struggle for independence of the province of Bizkaia).

Curious being that the Basques were some of the first and most notable supporters of King Carlos VII, with a conservative and Catholic government.

Perhaps it is the product of the central government's weakness in the face of poverty, corruption, socialists, etc.

August 7, on Mount Triglav stands the Aljaž tower (designed by Jakob Aljaž), which soon became a symbol of Slovenians.

It arose because of Aljaž's concern in foreign interest in the Slovenian mountains ...

August 19, the murderer and criminal John Wesley Hardin is assassinated by an off-duty officer in El Paso, Texas, United States.

August 29, in the north of Borneo a rebellion breaks out against the Austro-Hungarian rule of the region, obviously forcing the United Kingdom and France to intervene because the Austro-Hungarian navy fails to control the revolts.

Mainly the United Kingdom, which must now spend more money to help this ally.

The rebellion is the rebellion of Datu Mat Salleh, a local leader, son of Datu Balu, a traditional leader of the region and of Suluk descent, with Datu Mat Salleh's mother being of Bajau descent and Datu Mat Salleh's wife being Sulu .

The rebellion has united many people of different ethno-cultural backgrounds against the Austro-Hungarian administrations and tax, in addition to the prisoners for European criminals in North Borneo.

Of course, this rebellion is not easy to defeat even for the English.

September 4, the European Automobile Club is founded, with memberships from France to Russia, for the development of car competitions, exhibitions and sales, etc.

*******

[Russian Soccer League: Semifinals]

* Baku vs Astrakhan: The Astrakhan team defeats the Baku team in a 2 to 1.

* Sevastopol vs Vladivostok: The Vladivostok team beats the Sevastopol team 3 to 0.