phases of Russian life before and after the arrival of Bolshevics. There 
are two things about which I still wish to say a few words, viz., about 
land and peasantry. The large private landed-estate decreased rapidly even 
before the revolution and continued to diminish after it; the property of 
the peasants, however, continued to grow more and more at its expense; 
a peaceful revolution of greatest importance was being achieved, and it 
took its course with an exceptional rapidity for such a process. When 
Stolipin later on carried through a law in the Duma, which opened up the 
possibility for the peasant of separating his portion of the land from the 
Community, the liberation of the peasant from all obsolete and outlived 
trammels took place speedier than was hoped for by the one side, and feared 
by the other. Here there was actually no oppression, no obsolete form, no 
Old Regime which did no longer correspond to the new requirements of 
life. He who sees an accumulation of revolutionary energy in the peasantry 
and their needs, as having called forth the great upheaval, speaks from 
hearsay; these words have long ago become a’sounding metal’even in the 
mouths of those from whom they are borrowed. 
Of course, even after all reforms, Russia lagged behind the Western 
countries in many respects, their historic life having begun almost half a 
millenary before. But this lagging-behind of the country can just as little 
be the source of the revolution, as the lagging-behind of the village behind 
the town can call forth a revolution in the village. For her existence, for 
her historical phase, Russia has forms sufficiently ample and sufficiently 
new: the political forms have rather superceded the life. Of course, there 
was a sufficiency of imperfections and faults: what with the remaining 
fragments of the past, what with the unsuccessful and abortive efforts. 
But where and when did not the old intermingle with the new; where 
and when was society free from faults. 
And what about Rasputin? The filth and putridity covered by this 
name is obvious and incontestable; there is no possibility nor necessity to 
deny it. But two reservations must be made. Illumine with a brilliant ray 
of light the secret corners, not of a Court, but of any centre of a political 
party — how much filth and rot will be found there! That's one point. 
But the main point is, a filth of that kind slobbered over with scandalous 
gossip and ill-will of the mob, can to a certain extent become, and did 
become in this case, a weapon of the revolution, as the story about the 
famous necklace caused such trouble at the time, but can’t be its real 
origin. If at a time the power begins to slip away out of the hands of 
the rulers, then any unmasking of their human nature is mortally 
dangerous to them; but any unmasking loses its sting as long as the rulers 
are faithful to themselves and their mission.