revolution [Theme] Page 2

It must be remembered that at a time when Kronstadt was a few miles from the capital and the royal residence, when treason broke into Sveaborg, when the Baltic region was on fire, when a revolutionary wave spread in Poland and the Caucasus, when all activity in the southern industrial region stopped, when peasant unrest spread, when horror and terror began to reign, the Government had to either withdraw and give way to the revolution, forget that the government is the guardian of the statehood and integrity of the Russian people, or act and defend what was entrusted to it. But, in making the second decision, the Government, in a fatal way, brought accusations upon itself. Striking the revolution, the Government, of course, could not but hurt private interests. At that time, the Government set itself one goal - to preserve those covenants, those foundations, the beginnings of which were laid as the basis for the reforms of Emperor Nicholas II. Fighting with exceptional means, at exceptional times, the Government led and brought the country into the Second Duma. I must declare and would like my statement to be heard far beyond the walls of this assembly, that here, by the will of the Monarch, there are neither judges nor accused, that these benches (pointing to the ministers' places) are not the docks of the defendants - these are the places of the Government. For our actions at this historic moment, actions that should lead not to mutual struggle, but to the good of our homeland, we, just like you, will give an answer to history. […] In those countries where certain legal norms have not yet been developed, the center of gravity, the center of power lies not in institutions, but in people. People, gentlemen, tend to make mistakes, and get carried away, and abuse power. May these abuses be exposed, may they be judged and condemned. But the Government must have a different attitude towards attacks that lead to the creation of a mood in the atmosphere in which open action must be prepared; these attacks are calculated to cause in the Government, in power, paralysis of will and thought. All of them come down to two words addressed to the authorities: “hands up”. To these words, gentlemen, the Government, with complete calmness, with the consciousness of its rightness, can only answer with two words: "You will not intimidate"!