Of course, they are exceptions; usually such stepmothers
are hated. But in the case of Jews such exceptions become the general
rule: the Jews love the same Russia that is so cruel toward them.
Some one's interests demand that the Jews should be oppressed, stabled
in the "Pale of Settlement," limited in the right to education, and in
other respects. But to whose interest is it? Russia's? Surely not.
Social relations in Russia, as in every civilised state, must rest on
the immovable foundations of justice, reason, and conscience. All
those persons who are united by the fact of their belonging to the
Russian state must have, within the limits of the empire, the minimum
of rights, which, to our shame, are refused the Jews. This minimum
each one of us receives not for his personal or racial deserts or
distinctive traits, but as a citizen of the state. To obey the common
Russian laws, to pay the established taxes, to serve in the army,--all
these are the duties of a Russian subject, corresponding to the amount
of rights of which he can be deprived only by a court ruling for a
crime.
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