{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_3540/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_3540","id":"gutenberg_3540","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3540","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Russian Literature","Category: Sociology","Moscow (Russia) -- Social conditions","Social problems"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1887 Tomas Y. Crowell \"What to do?\" edition by David\nPrice, email ccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\nMOSCOW CENSUS--FROM \"WHAT TO DO?\"\n\n\nARTICLE ON THE CENSUS IN MOSCOW. [1882.]\n\n\nThe object of a census is scientific.  A census is a sociological\ninvestigation.  And the object of the science of sociology is the\nhappiness of the people.  This science and its methods differ sharply\nfrom all other sciences.\n\nIts peculiarity lies in this, that sociological investigations are not\nconducted by learned men in their cabinets, observatories and\nlaboratories, but by two thousand people from the community.  A second\npeculiarity is this, that the investigations of other sciences are not\nconducted on living people, but here living people are the subjects.  A\nthird peculiarity is, that the aim of every other science is simply\nknowledge, while here it is the good of the people.  One man may\ninvestigate a nebula, but for the investigation of Moscow, two thousand\npersons are necessary.  The object of the study of nebulae is merely that\nwe may know about nebulae; the object of the study of inhabitants is that\nsociological laws may be deduced, and that, on the foundation of these\nlaws, a better life for the people may be established.  It makes no\ndifference to the nebula whether it is studied or not, and it has waited\nlong, and is ready to wait a great while longer; but it is not a matter\nof indifference to the inhabitants of Moscow, especially to those\nunfortunates who constitute the most interesting subjects of the science\nof sociology.\n\nThe census-taker enters a night lodging-house; in the basement he finds a\nman dying of hunger, and he politely inquires his profession, his name,\nhis native place, the character of his occupation, and after a little\nhesitation as to whether he is to be entered in the list as alive, he\nwrites him in and goes his way.\n\nAnd thus will the two thousand young men proceed.  This is not as it\nshould be.\n\nScience does its work, and the community, summoned in the persons of\nthese two thousand young men to aid science, must do its work.  A\nstatistician drawing his deductions from figures may feel indifferent\ntowards people, but we census-takers, who see these people and who have\nno scientific prepossessions, cannot conduct ourselves towards them in an\ninhuman manner.  Science fulfils its task, and its work is for its\nobjects and in the distant future, both useful and necessary to us.  For\nmen of science, we can calmly say, that in 1882 there were so many\nbeggars, so many prostitutes, and so many uncared-for children.  Science\nmay say this with composure and with pride, because it knows that the\nconfirmation of this fact conduces to the elucidation of the laws of\nsociology, and that the elucidation of the laws of sociology leads to a\nbetter constitution of society.  But what if we, the unscientific people,\nsay: \"You are perishing in vice, you are dying of hunger, you are pining\naway, and killing each other; so do not grieve about this; when you shall\nhave all perished, and hundreds of thousands more like you, then,\npossibly, science may be able to arrange everything in an excellent\nmanner.\"  For men of science, the census has its interest; and for us\nalso, it possesses an interest of a wholly different significance.  The\ninterest and significance of the census for the community lie in this,\nthat it furnishes it with a mirror into which, willy nilly, the whole\ncommunity, and each one of us, gaze.\n\nThe figures and deductions will be the mirror.  It is possible to refrain\nfrom reading them, as it is possible to turn away from the looking-glass.\nIt is possible to glance cursorily at both figures and mirror, and it is\nalso possible to scrutinize them narrowly.  To go about in connection\nwith the census as thousands of people are now about to do, is to\nscrutinize one's self closely in the mirror.\n\nWhat does this census, that is about to be made, mean for us people of\nMoscow, who are not men of science?  It means two things.  In the first\nplace, this, that we may learn with certainty, that among us tens of\nthousands who live in ease, there dwell tens of thousands of people who\nlack bread, clothing and shelter; in the second place, this, that our\nbrothers and sons will go and view this and will calmly set down\naccording to the schedules, how many have died of hunger and cold.\n\nAnd both these things are very bad.\n\nAll cry out upon the instability of our social organization, about the\nexceptional situation, about revolutionary tendencies.  Where lies the\nroot of all this?  To what do the revolutionists point?  To poverty, to\ninequality in the distribution of wealth.  To what do the conservatives\npoint?  To the decline in moral principle.  If the opinion of the\nrevolutionists is correct, what must be done?  Poverty and the inequality\nof wealth must be lessened.  How is this to be effected?  The rich must\nshare with the poor.  If the opinion of the conservatives is correct,\nthat the whole evil arises from the decline in moral principle, what can\nbe more immoral and vicious than the consciously indifferent survey of\npopular sufferings, with the sole object of cataloguing them?  What must\nbe done?  To the census we must add the work of affectionate intercourse\nof the idle and cultivated rich, with the oppressed and unenlightened\npoor.\n\nScience will do its work, let us perform ours also.  Let us do this.  In\nthe first place, let all of us who are occupied with the census,\nsuperintendents and census-takers, make it perfectly clear to ourselves\nwhat we are to investigate and why.  It is the people, and the object is\nthat they may be happy.  Whatever may be one's view of life, every one\nwill agree that there is nothing more important than human life, and that\nthere is no more weighty task than to remove the obstacles to the\ndevelopment of this life, and to assist it.\n\nThis idea, that the relations of men to poverty are at the foundation of\nall popular suffering, is expressed in the Gospels with striking\nharshness, but at the same time, with decision and clearness for all.\n\n\"He who has clothed the naked, fed the hungry, visited the prisoner, that\nman has clothed Me, fed Me, visited Me,\" that is, has done the deed for\nthat which is the most important thing in the world.\n\nHowever a man may look upon things, every one knows that this is more\nimportant than all else on earth.\n\nAnd this must not be forgotten, and we must not permit any other\nconsideration to veil from us the most weighty fact of our existence.  Let\nus inscribe, and reckon, but let us not forget that if we encounter a man\nwho is hungry and without clothes, it is of more moment to succor him\nthan to make all possible investigations, than to discover all possible\nsciences.  Perish the whole census if we may but feed an old woman.  The\ncensus will be longer and more difficult, but we cannot pass by people in\nthe poorer quarters and merely note them down without taking any heed of\nthem and without endeavoring, according to the measure of our strength\nand moral sensitiveness, to aid them.  This in the first place.  In the\nsecond, this is what must be done: All of us, who are to take part in the\ncensus, must refrain from irritation because we are annoyed; let us\nunderstand that this census is very useful for us; that if this is not\ncure, it is at least an effort to study the disease, for which we should\nbe thankful; that we must seize this occasion, and, in connection with\nit, we must seek to recover our health, in some small degree.  Let all of\nus, then, who are connected with the census, endeavor to take advantage\nof this solitary opportunity in ten years to purify ourselves somewhat;\nlet us not strive against, but assist the census, and assist it\nespecially in this sense, that it may not have merely the harsh character\nof the investigation of a hopelessly sick person, but may have the\ncharacter of healing and restoration to health.  For the occasion is\nunique: eighty energetic, cultivated men, having under their orders two\nthousand young men of the same stamp, are to make their way over the\nwhole of Moscow, and not leave a single man in Moscow with whom they have\nnot entered into personal relations.  All the wounds of society, the\nwounds of poverty, of vice, of ignorance--all will be laid bare.  Is\nthere not something re-assuring in this?  The census-takers will go about\nMoscow, they will set down in their lists, without distinction, those\ninsolent with prosperity, the satisfied, the calm, those who are on the\nway to ruin, and those who are ruined, and the curtain will fall.  The\ncensus-takers, our sons and brothers, these young men will behold all\nthis.  They will say: \"Yes, our life is very terrible and incurable,\" and\nwith this admission they will live on like the rest of us, awaiting a\nremedy for the evil from this or that extraneous force.  But those who\nare perishing will go on dying, in their ruin, and those on the road to\nruin will continue in their course.  No, let us rather grasp the idea\nthat science has its task, and that we, on the occasion of this census,\nhave our task, and let us not allow the curtain once lifted to be\ndropped, but let us profit by the opportunity in order to remove the\nimmense evil of the separation existing between us and the poor, and to\nestablish intercourse and the work of redressing the evil of unhappiness\nand ignorance, and our still greater misfortune,--the indifference and\naimlessness of our life.\n\nI already hear the customary remark: \"All this is very fine, these are\nsounding phrases; but do you tell us what to do and how to do it?\"  Before\nI say what is to be done, it is indispensable that I should say what is\nnot to be done.  It is indispensable, first of all, in my opinion, in\norder that something practical may come of this activity, that no society\nshould be formed, that there should be no publicity, that there should be\nno collection of money by balls, bazaars or theatres; that there should\nbe no announcement that Prince A. has contributed one thousand rubles,\nand the honorable citizen B. three thousand; that there shall be no\ncollection, no calling to account, no writing up,--most of all, no\nwriting up, so that there may not be the least shadow of any institution,\neither governmental or philanthropic.\n\nBut in my opinion, this is what should be done instantly: Firstly, All\nthose who agree with me should go to the directors, and ask for their\nshares the poorest sections, the poorest dwellings; and in company with\nthe census-takers, twenty-three, twenty-four or twenty-five in number,\nthey should go to these quarters, enter into relations with the people\nwho are in need of assistance, and labor for them.\n\nSecondly: We should direct the attention of the superintendents and\ncensus-takers to the inhabitants in need of assistance, and work for them\npersonally, and point them out to those who wish to work over them.  But\nI am asked: What do you mean by _working over them_?  I reply; Doing good\nto people.  The words \"doing good\" are usually understood to mean, giving\nmoney.  But, in my opinion, doing good and giving money are not only not\nthe same thing, but two different and generally opposite things.  Money,\nin itself, is evil.  And therefore he who gives money gives evil.  This\nerror of thinking that the giving of money means doing good, arose from\nthe fact, that generally, when a man does good, he frees himself from\nevil, and from money among other evils.  And therefore, to give money is\nonly a sign that a man is beginning to rid himself of evil.  To do good,\nsignifies to do that which is good for man.  But, in order to know what\nis good for man, it is necessary to be on humane, i.e., on friendly terms\nwith him.  And therefore, in order to do good, it is not money that is\nnecessary, but, first of all, a capacity for detaching ourselves, for a\ntime at least, from the conditions of our own life.  It is necessary that\nwe should not be afraid to soil our boots and clothing, that we should\nnot fear lice and bedbugs, that we should not fear typhus fever,\ndiphtheria, and small-pox.  It is necessary that we should be in a\ncondition to seat ourselves by the bunk of a tatterdemalion and converse\nearnestly with him in such a manner, that he may feel that the man who is\ntalking with him respects and loves him, and is not putting on airs and\nadmiring himself.  And in order that this may be so, it is necessary that\na man should find the meaning of life outside himself.  This is what is\nrequisite in order that good should be done, and this is what it is\ndifficult to find.\n\nWhen the idea of assisting through the medium of the census occurred to\nme, I discussed the matter with divers of the wealthy, and I saw how glad\nthe rich were of this opportunity of decently getting rid of their money,\nthat extraneous sin which they cherish in their hearts.  \"Take three\nhundred--five hundred rubles, if you like,\" they said to me, \"but I\ncannot go into those dens myself.\"  There was no lack of money.  Remember\nZaccheus, the chief of the Publicans in the Gospel.  Remember how he,\nbecause he was small of stature, climbed into a tree to see Christ, and\nhow when Christ announced that he was going to his house, having\nunderstood but one thing, that the Master did not approve of riches, he\nleaped headlong from the tree, ran home and arranged his feast.  And how,\nas soon as Christ entered, Zaccheus instantly declared that he gave the\nhalf of his goods to the poor, and if he had wronged any man, to him he\nwould restore fourfold.  And remember how all of us, when we read the\nGospel, set but little store on this Zaccheus, and involuntarily look\nwith scorn on this half of his goods, and fourfold restitution.  And our\nfeeling is correct.  Zaccheus, according to his lights, performed a great\ndeed.  He had not even begun to do good.  He had only begun in some small\nmeasure to purify himself from evil, and so Christ told him.\n\nHe merely said to him: \"To-day is salvation come nigh unto this house.\"\n\nWhat if the Moscow Zaccheuses were to do the same that he did?  Assuredly,\nmore than one milliard could be collected.  Well, and what of that?\nNothing.  There would be still greater sin if we were to think of\ndistributing this money among the poor.  Money is not needed.  What is\nneeded is self-sacrificing action; what is needed are people who would\nlike to do good, not by giving extraneous sin-money, but by giving their\nown labor, themselves, their lives.  Where are such people to be found?\nHere they are, walking about Moscow.  They are the student enumerators.  I\nhave seen how they write out their charts.  The student writes in the\nnight lodging-house, by the bedside of a sick man.  \"What is your\ndisease?\"--\"Small-pox.\"  And the student does not make a wry face, but\nproceeds with his writing.  And this he does for the sake of some\ndoubtful science.  What would he do if he were doing it for the sake of\nhis own undoubted good and the good of others?\n\nWhen children, in merry mood, feel a desire to laugh, they never think of\ndevising some reason for laughter, but they laugh without any reason,\nbecause they are gay; and thus these charming youths sacrifice\nthemselves.  They have not, as yet, contrived to devise any means of\nsacrificing themselves, but they devote their attention, their labor,\ntheir lives, in order to write out a chart, from which something does or\ndoes not appear.  What would it be if this labor were something really\nworth their while?  There is and there always will be labor of this sort,\nwhich is worthy of the devotion of a whole life, whatever the man's life\nmay be.  This labor is the loving intercourse of man with man, and the\nbreaking-down of the barriers which men have erected between themselves,\nso that the enjoyment of the rich man may not be disturbed by the wild\nhowls of the men who are reverting to beasts, and by the groans of\nhelpless hunger, cold and disease.\n\nThis census will place before the eyes of us well-to-do and so-called\ncultivated people, all the poverty and oppression which is lurking in\nevery corner of Moscow.  Two thousand of our brothers, who stand on the\nhighest rung of the ladder, will come face to face with thousands of\npeople who stand on the lowest round of society.  Let us not miss this\nopportunity of communion.  Let us, through these two thousand men,\npreserve this communion, and let us make use of it to free ourselves from\nthe aimlessness and the deformity of our lives, and to free the condemned\nfrom that indigence and misery which do not allow the sensitive people in\nour ranks to enjoy our good fortune in peace.\n\nThis is what I propose: (1) That all our directors and enumerators should\njoin to their business of the census a task of assistance,--of work in\nthe interest of the good of these people, who, in our opinion, are in\nneed of assistance, and with whom we shall come in contact; (2) That all\nof us, directors and enumerators, not by appointment of the committee of\nthe City Council, but by the appointment of our own hearts, shall remain\nin our posts,--that is, in our relations to the inhabitants of the town\nwho are in need of assistance,--and that, at the conclusion of the work\nof the census, we shall continue our work of aid.  If I have succeeded in\nany degree in expressing what I feel, I am sure that the only\nimpossibility will be getting the directors and enumerators to abandon\nthis, and that others will present themselves in the places of those who\nleave; (3) That we should collect all those inhabitants of Moscow, who\nfeel themselves fit to work for the needy, into sections, and begin our\nactivity now, in accordance with the hints of the census-takers and\ndirectors, and afterwards carry it on; (4) That all who, on account of\nage, weakness, or other causes, cannot give their personal labor among\nthe needy, shall intrust the task to their young, strong, and willing\nrelatives.  (Good consists not in the giving of money, it consists in the\nloving intercourse of men.  This alone is needed.)\n\nWhatever may be the outcome of this, any thing will be better than the\npresent state of things.\n\nThen let the final act of our enumerators and directors be to distribute\na hundred twenty-kopek pieces to those who have no food; and this will be\nnot a little, not so much because the hungry will have food, but because\nthe directors and enumerators will conduct themselves in a humane manner\ntowards a hundred poor people.  How are we to compute the possible\nresults which will accrue to the balance of public morality from the fact\nthat, instead of the sentiments of irritation, anger, and envy which we\narouse by reckoning the hungry, we shall awaken in a hundred instances a\nsentiment of good, which will be communicated to a second and a third,\nand an endless wave which will thus be set in motion and flow between\nmen?  And this is a great deal.  Let those of the two thousand\nenumerators who have never comprehended this before, come to understand\nthat, when going about among the poor, it is impossible to say, \"This is\nvery interesting;\" that a man should not express himself with regard to\nanother man's wretchedness by interest only; and this will be a good\nthing.  Then let assistance be rendered to all those unfortunates, of\nwhom there are not so many as I at first supposed in Moscow, who can\neasily be helped by money alone to a great extent.  Then let those\nlaborers who have come to Moscow and have eaten their very clothing from\ntheir backs, and who cannot return to the country, be despatched to their\nhomes; let the abandoned orphans receive supervision; let feeble old men\nand indigent old women, who subsist on the charity of their companions,\nbe released from their half-famished and dying condition.  (And this is\nvery possible.  There are not very many of them.)  And this will also be\na very, very great deal accomplished.  But why not think and hope that\nmore and yet more will be done?  Why not expect that that real task will\nbe partially carried out, or at least begun, which is effected, not by\nmoney, but by labor; that weak drunkards who have lost their health,\nunlucky thieves, and prostitutes who are still capable of reformation,\nshould be saved?  All evil may not be exterminated, but there will arise\nsome understanding of it, and the contest with it will not be police\nmethods, but by inward modes,--by the brotherly intercourse of the men\nwho perceive the evil, with the men who do not perceive it because they\nare a part of it.\n\nNo matter what may be accomplished, it will be a great deal.  But why not\nhope that every thing will be accomplished?  Why not hope that we shall\naccomplish thus much, that there shall not exist in Moscow a single\nperson in want of clothing, a single hungry person, a single human being\nsold for money, nor a single individual oppressed by the judgment of man,\nwho shall not know that there is fraternal aid for him?  It is not\nsurprising that this should not be so, but it is surprising that this\nshould exist side by side with our superfluous leisure and wealth, and\nthat we can live on composedly, knowing that these things are so.  Let us\nforget that in great cities and in London, there is a proletariat, and\nlet us not say that so it must needs be.  It need not be this, and it\nshould not, for this is contrary to our reason and our heart, and it\ncannot be if we are living people.  Why not hope that we shall come to\nunderstand that there is not a single duty incumbent upon us, not to\nmention personal duty, for ourselves, nor our family, nor social, nor\ngovernmental, nor scientific, which is more weighty than this?  Why not\nthink that we shall at last come to apprehend this?  Only because to do\nso would be too great a happiness.  Why not hope that some the people\nwill wake up, and will comprehend that every thing else is a delusion,\nbut that this is the only work in life?  And why should not this \"some\ntime\" be now, and in Moscow?  Why not hope that the same thing may happen\nin society and humanity which suddenly takes place in a diseased\norganism, when the moment of convalescence suddenly sets in?  The\norganism is diseased this means, that the cells cease to perform their\nmysterious functions; some die, others become infected, others still\nremain in perfect condition, and work on by themselves.  But all of a\nsudden the moment comes when every living cell enters upon an independent\nand healthy activity: it crowds out the dead cells, encloses the infected\nones in a living wall, it communicates life to that which was lifeless;\nand the body is restored, and lives with new life.\n\nWhy should we not think and expect that the cells of our society will\nacquire fresh life and re-invigorate the organism?  We know not in what\nthe power of the cells consists, but we do know that our life is in our\nown power.  We can show forth the light that is in us, or we may\nextinguish it.\n\nLet one man approach the Lyapinsky house in the dusk, when a thousand\npersons, naked and hungry, are waiting in the bitter cold for admission,\nand let that one man attempt to help, and his heart will ache till it\nbleeds, and he will flee thence with despair and anger against men; but\nlet a thousand men approach that other thousand with a desire to help,\nand the task will prove easy and delightful.  Let the mechanicians invent\na machine for lifting the weight that is crushing us--that is a good\nthing; but until they shall have invented it, let us bear down upon the\npeople, like fools, like _muzhiki_, like peasants, like Christians, and\nsee whether we cannot raise them.\n\nAnd now, brothers, all together, and away it goes!","title":"The Census in Moscow","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":4217}