Russia in 1916

Front matter

Reading edition

Author of “The Way of Martha and the Way of Mary,” “Russia and the World,” etc.

New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1917

Set up and electrotyped. Published, February, 1917.

PREFACE

I returned to Russia last summer, visited as many of my old friends there as I could, arranged for the publication of some of my books in the Russian language, and incidentally travelled a great deal and saw a great many sides of Russian contemporary life, talked also with all manner of Russians.

I travelled to Bergen in Norway, from Bergen obtained a passage round the North Cape to Vardö, the last port of Norway, transhipped there to a Russian boat and sailed for Ekaterina, the first port in Russia in the North, the new Russian harbour which never freezes. From Ekaterina I went on to Archangel, where I stayed a week, and from Archangel went to Moscow. I visited some estates in Central Russia and stayed with various acquaintances and friends, visited Rostof-on-the-Don, the Caucasus, Orel, Petrograd, and finally came back to England on a returning ammunition ship.

In going to Russia I certainly did not intend to publish my impressions in book form, but I have been asked to do so, and I recognise the value of keeping in contact with our Ally from day to day. The requirement of the moment seems to be not so much books on Russia, of which there are now a great many, but diaries or volumes of impressions, keeping the peoples of the two countries in touch during the war. I returned to London at the beginning of October, 1916, and I should be glad to think that some one returning at the beginning of January, 1917, would follow on with another small volume of this type. Again for April, 1917. We need such volumes of personal impressions, and there would not be the need to apologise for them. They are letters between friends both engaged in the same vital task. It is extremely difficult to keep in touch with Russia by reading newspapers only. The newspapers are, on the whole, difficult to follow. They are concerned with the news-aspect of events and the scope for sensational appeals. Good quiet correspondence tends to be lost in them. Hence my little book of the hour.

I was in Russia when the war broke out in 1914. I spent 1915 in Egypt, the Balkans, Russia and England, and again I spent the summer of 1916 in Russia. I have, therefore, been in touch with the Russians all the time of the war. I hope, therefore, that in this time when deeds rather than words are necessary, my report of the conditions prevailing in the land of our ally Russia may be considered serviceable.

Stephen Graham.

London, 15 January 1917.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I A Journey to Ekaterina 1

II The Dark Haven 11

III The New Archangel 25

IV The Cost of Living 36

V Life in the Country 49

VI Father Yevgeny 60

VII A Russian Countess 72

VIII Russian Literature in 1916 81

IX Russia in 1916 101

X Russian Money 110

XI Without Vodka, Beer, or Wine 118

XII Gay Life 133

XIII Old Friends 143

XIV Russia’s New War Picture 152

XV In the Hospital 157

XVI The Prospects for Peace 166

XVII Home 181

RUSSIA IN 1916