Ask for a commuter pass

"Madame, please come in." Perhaps because of Bakunin's attention, the Slavic young man came out of the house with a smile on his face and a friendly appearance. He greeted Maria and introduced himself: "My name is Peter, I am from Lithuania, and I am a retinue of Mr. Bakunin. ”

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Peter." Maria replied politely. Although she knew that "Peter" was nothing more than a pseudonym, and it might be true that he was from Lithuania, otherwise he would not have spoken Polish so fluently, but she didn't know if the lad had Polish roots?

"Madame, you don't look so much like a Pole as more like a German." The Slavic lad rounded about Maria's background.

"My family is a transnational aristocracy, with titles from Poland and the Holy Roman Empire." Maria replied. Transnational aristocracy is very common in Europe, and Poland was once a great country in history, and it is not uncommon for Polish nobles and Holy Roman Empire nobles to intermarry and inherit each other, and there is even a female noblewoman of the French Anjou family who inherited the Polish throne in history.

When the young man heard this, he nodded, and without further questioning, he led the way. Because he knew that it was very likely that he would have a Prussian or Austrian noble title, and his true identity could not be revealed at all.

The interior of this small house was as dilapidated as its appearance, and although it was neatly cleaned, it still did not hide the traces of poverty, and it was evident that Bakunin, who lived here, was very poor and had reached the point of deplorability.

According to Maria's knowledge, the Russian Revolutionary boss absconded while in exile in Siberia, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the invasion of the Ming army and the care of Muravyov, who was a relative of Muravyov. First to the United States, and then back to Europe. However, after being arrested and imprisoned by the Russian government, Bakunin repeatedly begged for mercy and begged for his life. Some of his former supporters have left him. The revolutionary comrades in Europe also looked down on him a little. So it's inevitable that there will be some poverty.

After the young Slavic man pushed open a door on the second floor, Maria and Aladele saw a middle-aged man with a somewhat messy hair and beard, and a fat man, standing there, dressed in clothes as shabby as the house, with a somewhat dirty coat and a crooked tie. But his eyes are full of aggressive sharpness.

"You're Mr. Bakunin?" Maria asked tentatively.

"Yes, I am Mikhail . Bakunin, madam, you may be seated. Bakunin spoke French, and the European aristocracy of this era generally spoke French and German, and Bakunin was no exception.

Maria sat down in a chair that looked a little broken, Adelaide stood behind her, and the young man who called himself Peter stood behind Bakunin, one hand in his jacket pocket, probably holding a pistol!

Bakunin sat down in another chair. He glanced at Lady Adelaide, then at Maria. smiled and said, "Madam, if I guess correctly, you should be from a very wealthy German aristocratic family, right?" ”

Maria shook her head, revealing a sad look, "My late ex-husband was a businessman, not a nobleman. ”

A Prussian or some other country marries a beautiful Polish noblewoman of German aristocratic descent...... It's the right thing to do. The doubts in Bakunin's heart went a little more, but the woman beside her seemed to have an indescribable temperament. Bakunin whispered comfortingly: "Madam, I am saddened by your misfortune. ”

Maria nodded, "It's already in the past. There are so many sad things for a free Polish like me. "My father, uncle, and two older brothers all died in 1831!" ”

Bakunin knew that he was talking about the Polish Revolution of 1830-1831, when the noble parliament of the Kingdom of Poland revoked the title of king of Nicholas I because he refused to swear an oath to the Polish constitution, which was brutally suppressed by the Russian army, and many Polish nobles paid with their lives in 11 months of bloody fighting. Naturally, the hatred between the two sides will be difficult to dissolve. The Russian revolutionaries represented by Bakunin, as sympathizers of Polish independence and sworn enemies of the Tsar, were of course supported by a part of the exiled Polish aristocracy, and even many Poles simply participated in the Russian Revolution.

"These are the sins of the tsar, whose government is not only an enemy of Poland, but also a mortal enemy of the 33 million Russian people! At present, this evil regime is in internal and external difficulties, and after losing the war, they are now passing on the calamities and misfortunes to the Russian peasants! The whole of Russia is now like a pile of dry firewood without a trace of moisture, and if there is only one spark, it can start a raging fire! This will be the liberation of the 33 million Russian people, and the liberation of Poland! ”

The speech was very incendiary, and Maria listened to it with tears in her eyes and nodded her head again and again. Of course, it was pretending, but she knew that Bakunin was not talking nonsense. Now an unprecedented revolution is taking place in Russia, the abolition of serfdom - a reform which the Russian serfs are against, of course!

Uh, what kind of world is this! The slaves in India are addicted, the black slaves in the United States are against freedom, and even the serfs in Russia are the same as them?

No, of course not! Where are the Russians so easy to talk to, they are a fighting people! It's just that the one who led the reform of abolishing serfdom in Russia was actually the largest serf owner in Russia, the tsar with 1 million serfs! Moreover, after all, the Tsarist government represented the interests of the big landowners and the big aristocrats, and if the reform of abolishing serfdom was really unfavorable to the big landowners and the big aristocrats, how could it be quickly promoted? Now that the serfs in Russia have not rebelled everywhere to force the tsar to carry out reforms, if it is really unfavorable to the big landowners and nobles, how can this reform be promoted?

And since this reform is beneficial to the serf owners, then the serfs will definitely be unlucky. Therefore, after Alexander II issued the edict abolishing serfdom, the serfs throughout Russia began to rebel.

In the first half of 1857 alone, the revolt of the Russian serfs swept through 42 of the 43 provinces in which the General Decree on the Peasants Alienated from Serf Dependency was applied, and there were 647 commotions in total, and all parts of Russia were in real turmoil.

The reason for this is that the current reform to abolish serfdom, as in history, took into account the interests of the serf owners to the greatest extent -- while abolishing serfdom, it also stipulated that the serfs had to buy a certain amount of land, and that they should buy it at a high price that greatly exceeded the value of the land!

The decree also set a limit on the amount of land that a farmer could redeem, and when the amount of land "owned" by the farmer (similar to the Chinese lease) exceeded this limit, the landlord had the right to take back the excess land. At the same time, it was stipulated that before the peasants could redeem their share of the land, they must also fulfill their original obligations and continue to work as serfs.

Moreover, the amount of land allowed to be purchased by serfs in the reform decree was very limited, and even if the peasants bought a small piece of land, they could not escape the fate of renting the landlord's land. In fact, most of the serfs became tenant farmers after they were freed, and continued to endure cruel exploitation and slavery.

In addition, like the Chinese gentry, the Russian aristocratic serf owners were also a kind of lords in disguise, and after the Russian serfs were freed, they could no longer be controlled by the original masters, so the tsar abolished serfdom at the same time, and issued an edict to establish a series of institutions in the countryside to manage the peasants, and these institutions were naturally controlled by the noble landlords, and the funds for maintaining the operation of these institutions had to be borne by the peasants. As a result, the Russian serfs lost almost all their savings in the process of becoming peasants, and the burden they would have to bear in the future was even heavier than when they were serfs!

Of course, the reform of serfdom in Russia also had a certain positive effect. For example, the aristocratic landlords were able to cash in a part of the land at a high price, so that the proceeds could be invested in industry and commerce, thus promoting the development of the Russian capitalist economy. At the same time, a large number of serfs went bankrupt due to the reform and became proletarians in the cities to work as hired laborers, which also provided sufficient labor for the development of capitalist industry and commerce in Russia. (To be continued......)