Self-government—Communal System of Land Tenure—Heavy
Taxation—Disruption of Peasant Families—Natural Increase of
Population—Remedies Proposed—Migration—Reclamation of Waste
Land—Land-purchase by Peasantry—Manufacturing Industry—Improvement of
Agricultural Methods—Indications of Progress.
CHAPTER XXXII
CHAPTER XXXII
THE ZEMSTVO AND THE LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
Necessity of Reorganising the Provincial Administration—Zemstvo Created
in 1864—My First Acquaintance with the Institution—District and
Provincial Assemblies—The Leading Members—Great Expectations Created
by the Institution—These Expectations Not Realised—Suspicions and
Hostility of the Bureaucracy—Zemstvo Brought More Under Control of the
Centralised Administration—What It Has Really Done—Why It Has Not
Done More—-Rapid Increase of the Rates—How Far the Expenditure
Is Judicious—Why the Impoverishment of the Peasantry Was
Neglected—Unpractical, Pedantic Spirit—Evil Consequences—Chinese and
Russian Formalism—Local Self-Government of Russia Contrasted with That
of England—Zemstvo Better than Its Predecessors—Its Future.
CHAPTER XXXIII
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE NEW LAW COURTS
Judicial Procedure in the Olden Times—Defects and Abuses—Radical
Reform—The New System—Justices of the Peace and Monthly Sessions—The
Regular Tribunals—Court of Revision—Modification of the Original
Plan—How Does the System Work?—Rapid Acclimatisation—The Bench—The
Jury—Acquittal of Criminals Who Confess Their Crimes—Peasants,
Merchants, and Nobles as Jurymen—Independence and Political
Significance of the New Courts.
CHAPTER XXXIV
CHAPTER XXXIV
REVOLUTIONARY NIHILISM AND THE REACTION
The Reform-enthusiasm Becomes Unpractical and Culminates in
Nihilism—Nihilism, the Distorted Reflection of Academic Western
Socialism—Russia Well Prepared for Reception of Ultra-Socialist
Virus—Social Reorganisation According to Latest Results of
Science—Positivist Theory—Leniency of Press-censure—Chief
Representatives of New Movement—Government Becomes Alarmed—Repressive
Measures—Reaction in the Public—The Term Nihilist Invented—The
Nihilist and His Theory—Further Repressive Measures—Attitude of Landed
Proprietors—Foundation of a Liberal Party—Liberalism Checked by Polish
Insurrection—Practical Reform Continued—An Attempt at Regicide Forms
a Turning-point of Government's Policy—Change in Educational
System—Decline of Nihilism.
CHAPTER XXXV
CHAPTER XXXV
SOCIALIST PROPAGANDA, REVOLUTIONARY AGITATION, AND TERRORISM
Closer Relations with Western Socialism—Attempts to Influence
