PBC0153: skepticism about tsar

PBC 153 expresses Russian nationalists’ skepticism about Nicholas II and the tsarist government. Frustrations, even from supporters of the monarchy, came out in various ways. An epigraph accuses mismanagement: “They rob ‘mother-Russia’ from top to bottom and thunderously scream: ‘Russia is for Russians!’” (W141). Another expresses frustration that they “gravitated toward the great people of the world,” but everything that was stable is gone with the wind (W480). In another example Peter the Great receives blame for the revolution (W496).