CHAPTER V
THE ZEMSTVOS AND THE ZEMSTVO UNION
Local Support.
THE few million rubles that the zemstvos voted to be placed at the
disposal of the Zemstvo Union were a negligible quantity by the
side of the hundreds of millions subsequently appropriated by the
Government for the work of the Union. The fact is that the Govern-
ment was absolutely compelled to make these appropriations, be-
cause there existed no other organized body capable of giving any
effective assistance in this great national calamity.
The source of the strength of the Zemstvo Union lay in the zem-
stvo institutions and local committees of the Union, which made
every attempt to rally and organize the vital forces of the nation.
It was probably the first time in the history of Russia that such a
wide scope was allowed by the authorities to popular initiative, and
that this initiative was permitted to manifest itself on so vast a
scale. Without this support the Government would have been abso-
lutely incapable of coping with the unprecedented demands of the
War. At the same time the important réle of the new organization
caused a great deal of apprehension among certain elements within
the Government. The Ministry of the Interior was ready enough to
utilize the local organizations of the Zemstvo Union in every possible
way. This merely increased the displeasure of the hostile elements.
The zemstvos, of course, loyally supported the Union, refusing to
confine their activities within the narrow framework imposed by the
methods and demands of the government officials who had been ap-
pointed to supervise their activities. The antagonistic element within
the zemstvos found itself in this respect more and more at variance
with the Government. The military failures only added fuel to this
sentiment of opposition, and at the conferences of the zemstvo rep-
resentatives at Moscow, which had been quite loyal at the start,
there could now be heard more and more frequently speeches ex-
pressing opposition to the Government.
Appropriations of the Zemstoos for War Purposes.
The regular zemstvo meetings which drafted their budgets for the
