Untitled

IO
VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
Leipsic in
the hope of aiding a group of young Czechs
to launch an uprising in Bohemia. Shortly afterward
an insurrection broke out in Dresden, and he rushed
there to become one of the most active leaders of the
revolt. It is said that he was "the veritable soul of the
revolution," and that he advised the insurrectionists, in
order to prevent the Prussians from firing upon the barricades,
to place in front of them the masterpieces from
the art museum. (13) When that insurrection v/as
suppressed, he, Richard Wagner, and some others hurried
to Chemnitz, where Bakounin was captured and condemned
to death. Austria, however, demanded his extradition,
and there, for the second time, he was condemned
to be hanged. Eventually he was handed over
to Russia, where he again escaped paying the death penalty
by the pardon of the Czar, and, after six years in
prison, he was banished to Siberia. Great efforts were
made to secure a pardon for him, but without success.
However, through his influential relatives, he was allowed
such freedom of movement that in the end he succeeded
in escaping, and, returning to Europe through Japan
and America, he arrived in England in 1861.
The next year
is notable for the appearance of two of
his brochures, "Aux amis russes, polonais, et a tous les
amis slaves," and "La Cause du Peuple, Romanoff, Pougatchoff,
ou Pestel" One would have thought that
twelve years in prison and in Siberia would have made
him more bitter than ever against the State and the
Czar; but,
curiously, these writings mark a striking departure
from his previous views. For almost the only
time in his life he expressed a desire to see Russia develop
into a magnificent "State," and he urged the Russians
to drive the Tartars back to Asia, the Germans
back to Germany, and to become a free people, exclusively