The Memoirs of Count Witte. by Sidney Harcave
Review by: Chang-Kuo Tuan
The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Aug., 1991), p. 638
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
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638
THE JOURNAL
OF ASIAN
STUDIES
The MemoirsofCount Witte. Translatedand editedby SIDNEY HARCAVE.
Armonk,N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe,Inc., 1990. 885 pp.
SidneyHarcave, professoremeritusof historyat the State Universityof New
Russian
York at Binghamton,has writtena numberof workson pre-revolutionary
is a new translation
ofCount SergeiI. Witte's
history.His mostrecentcontribution
memoirs,whichdrawson two earliertexts-one knownas theYarmolinskyversion
(1921) and the otherthe I. V. Hessen edition(1920-23). In addition, Harcave
provideshis analysisofWitte'srolein Russianpoliticsaroundtheturnof thecentury.
and
Witte has intriguedhistoriansboth becauseof the natureof his personality
of the social and political crisishe faced. He servedas
because of the difficulties
Ministerof Finance,1892-1903, and thenas premier,1905-6, whileCzaristRussia
was in the throesof profoundsocial, economic, cultural,and political upheaval
policies
createdby modernization.Witte was the majorauthorof the government's
and he set forthhis own view of Czaristautocracy'srole in reform
of modernization
(1904).
he wroteto proposalsraisedin the SpecialConference
withina memorandum
Witte offeredan architecturalmetaphor,"The Russian state edifice,unlike the
and does
European,did not riseon the soil ofpreviouslyexistingestatefoundations
He added, "Not havingopponents,theRussiansupreme
notreston suchfoundation."
authorityneeds no allies." In fact, the "Witte system"neversaw representative
as critical.It had, however,emphasizedthatthe promotingof industry
institutions
at the expense of agriculturehad helped to drive the Russian nobilityto ruin.
forWitte and forCzaristRussia,therewereno basic socialor political
Consequently,
forcesremainingto save the monarchyfromdisaster.In 1905, when Witte was
challengefromits own
actingas premier,the governmentfacedan unprecedented
citizens,a challengeexceededonly by the forcesunleased in the 1917 revolution
which broughtdown the Czaristedifice.
In fact,Witte had been in a constantstruggleto preservehis positionand his
policies duringthe yearsfrom1899 to 1903. Under the "Witte system"taxeshad
risensharplyand wereespeciallyoppressiveforruralpopulationsas comparedwith
in the large cities. Still, in the top strataof
industrialand commercialenterprises
society,many were distressedby the size of the new foreigndebt, while many
ordinarypeasantswerein a terribleeconomicplight. Fueled by strikes,the general
wave of discontentbuilt up to the point of revolution.In the face of the crisis
norliberalscould finda solutionand Witte'sleadershipcollapsed
neitherconservatives
in April 1906. He had managed to steer the antiquatedmonarchythroughthe
reprieve.
darkestdays of the 1905 revolution,but he achievedonly a temporary
For the present-dayreader,Witte's memoirsare to be read primarilyas the
reflections
of a keyhistoricalplayerin the eventshe describes.Also, Witte provides
his own views on manyeminentfiguresin Russian life. Since Witte standsat the
his perception
of eventsand his acquaintance
centerof modernRussiandevelopments,
a
with individualsaround the throneprovide valuable insightinto many decisive
point of view
situations.For the Chinese reader,the memoirrevealsa different
of
which
was
so closely
about the significanceof the Sino-RussianTreaty 1896,
railroad.
for
a
trans-Siberian
tied to the Russian project
Witte's memoiris eminentlyreadable and accessible in Harcave's fluentand
faithfulEnglish translation.Harcave has provideda valuable additionto the older
of this importantmemoir.
translations
CHANG- KUO
TUAN
University
National Chiao-tung
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