From the Other Shore

sixty million, which grew so firmly and surprisingly without losing the principle of the commune referring to the Russian peasant commune or mir, and which was the first to carry it through the initial upheavals of state development; about a people who somehow managed to preserve themselves under the yoke of Mongol hordes and German bureaucrats, under the corporal’s stick of barrack discipline and under the shameful Tatar whip; who preserved majestic features, a lively mind, and a broad, unbridled, rich nature under the oppression of serfdom; and who, in response to the Tsar's order to become educated, replied a hundred years later with the monumental phenomenon of Pushkin. Let the Europeans learn about their neighbor; they only fear him, and they need to know what they are fearing.

Until now, we have been unforgivably modest, and in recognizing our heavy position of lawlessness, we forgot everything good, full of hope and development, that our national life presents. We waited for a German in order to be recommended to Europe. Is this not shameful?

Will I succeed in doing anything? I do not know, but I hope so!

And so, farewell, friends, for a long time. Give me your hands, your help; I need both. And then, who knows what we have not seen lately! Perhaps the day is not as far off as it seems when we will gather as we once did in Moscow and fearlessly clink our glasses with the cry: "For Rus' and holy freedom!"