 Down the long path of history Tramping across centuries and continents and the graves of kings and the necks of dictators Seeking always a way of life where the people have their freedom believing praying fighting dying We came this way The University of the Air a public service feature of the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations presents We came this way a new historical series for our listeners at home and overseas With Clifton of Lee as narrator. We present chapter 5 the story of Alexander Hertzman and his fight against tyranny We came this way This Imperial Majesty the Tsar for treasonous action against the government You shall be hung by the neck until you are dead Hundred lashes to be delivered upon the naked back by order of his Majesty the Tsar Peasants must be with regularly otherwise. They will enjoy their leisure too much Is the lashing whip a familiar sound to you is the scream of pain and the groan before the fainting a part of your liberal education Or do you look upon them merely as the symbols of ancient tyranny? As long as we take the common people as clay and Ourselves as the sculptors and from our sublime heights mold it into a statue Have you ever sat in your room writing a thesis on the freedom of man and then suddenly heard a sound And wrote the last sentence walk down the stairs and open the door carefully and face the grim faces and official uniforms of the police and had them tell you You will come with us. You are under arrest Put on your hat and coat follow the police out into the street without a word of protest Not knowing whether you would ever again return home Climb into this coach The office of the commissar sitting between those two policemen is Alexander Hudson He's an aristocrat hard to believe now His father's a rich man who owns a lot of certs, but that won't help the matter any now He's suspected of conspiracy against the Tsar and the Tsar is a tyrant who knows no mercy Man's fight against tyranny begins Must one be born with the desire of a free world in a free humanity, or is it something learned to experience and observation? Alexander Herzen was subjected to the evidence early in his life Allow me to present as Herzen himself sought a tender age of nine the briefcase history of one Palachanov the surf the victim of a monarchial system and tyrannical rule 1521 the streets of Moscow are crisp with white snow Carriages crunch through the imperial city the festive spirit hangs in the air Well quietly in front of blazing fire that Vladimir Herzen and his son Alexander The visitor is a tall young man grim-faced glassy eyed and obviously drunk Good evening Vladimir. What do you want to let channel? Is the senator here the senator is Vladimir's brother a man who has gone out of his way to send to the channel through medical school No, the senator is not here. Maybe later. That's too bad I don't think that I will be here later. You were drunk teller channel Better go upstairs and sleep it off. This time. I shall not be able to sleep it off As a senator told you anything about large amounts of money missing from his house. I know he hasn't when he comes Tell him that I'm the thief this is the last straw Are you allowing yourself to go completely to pieces because some confounded woman did some peculiar problem Vladimir I Wonder whether it is Olga or Whether it's a fact that I am only a surf well Where is Olga now? Have you tried to get in touch with her? I don't know where she is Since she left me I don't care to know either it was your own fault You got married you should have told her that you were only a surf and not go on pretending My mistake only for thinking it was true love Sleep it off. We'll talk some more in the morning. I'll be asleep Soon enough for a long long time The fire I came here tonight. I swallowed half a glass full of poison here here drink this milk The doctor gave you it will make you throw up the poison. Oh, no That would only mean I have to take it all over again Oh it burns. Oh it burns Fire in my stomach ever son for a priest doctor. I don't want a priest I know too much anatomy to believe there's a life beyond the grave What time is it? Almost midnight the new year is practically upon us. I am the daughter of an officer. She said to me I Would stay married to you if you were not a surf, but there's too much of a difference between us Hey, that was where I was To the channel His face black and distorted His whole body twisted grotesquely while the new year is being proclaimed throughout the land and young Alexandre sees death for the first time and Although he yet does not understand the meaning of it or its cause the case history of the channel the surf Is stored away in his mind to emerge years later as evidence in his fight against tyranny There are other things too Insignificant details at the time that build up an attitude and unconscious feelings Whenever his father whips him which happens at least once a week It is not the parental prerogative which angers the boy as much as the cosmic statements of his governess Don't complain to me whenever they lay their birch rod to you. Don't come to me and call your father a tyrant Soon enough you will be grown up too and you'll be just such a master yourself It is the comparison which hurts not the birch rod and the child comprehends vaguely that there is a dim connection between tyranny and the death of tola chanoff Alexander Herzen steps out of the coach followed by the two policemen who has caught him into the office of the commissar The commissar is a young man filled with his own importance and that of his job He leans his jaw unfolded hands and scrutinizes Herzen carefully So you are Alexander Herzen I Am has been my misfortune to have read some of your pamphlets meeting their office a distinct disappointment If the commissar is expecting anger to flip across Herzen's face He is disappointed again for Alexander does not change expression. Tell me Herzen Do you know of the existence of any secret societies? I do not still take me for a fool You a student of the Moscow University that's breeding ground for revolutionaries and you don't know of any societies I've given answer. I suppose you don't even belong to any literary clubs, huh? I do not do you belong to any sort of society? No What fantastic tales you fellas can tell Take him away. I'll let somebody else question him further at a future date And so Alexander Herzen is thrown into a cell Left alone to contemplate his sins But are they sins? Was it a sin for him to study at the Moscow University? Was it a sin for him to meet there the most brilliant young student who accosted him in the hallway of the university on the very first day? Stretching out his hand to him saying you're Alexander Herzen aren't you? I'm Argyraev always making a point to meet all the new students and set them right at the very beginning You are now in the center of intellectual Russian life You will find us here like nothing else in all of Russia the students here give free vent to all of their expressions Without any approval or official sanction Alexander didn't even receive a chance for any comment We don't suffer from any of the political restrictions you find so commonplace everywhere else in Russia Of course the police watch is very carefully very carefully and every now and then someone is arrested and sent to Siberia But I know that you'll find it well worth your while here You will like it Alexander. I am positive These things could hardly be classified as sin could hardly be called criminal For they did nothing but clarify in his mind the meanings of the words Serfdom and tyranny and made him understand the serf who had died on the expensive rug on the floor of his own house But you must join one of our societies Alexander when are you going to stop persecuting me Agarraev? You're much too intelligent. You're right much too. Well, I can't allow you to waste your talent look I can't hold with the doctrines of either society Karl Marx with his the individual must be absorbed by society a lot of humbug all right all right But the fact is and Max Stern and his Individualism means absolute freedom for everyone. Don't you believe let me finish? Let me finish to carry out the wishes and desires uncontrolled by society and reason Why I really argue to fire a use filled with the knowledge that the world is evil filled with the desire to make it better Disagreeing on the method not the theory. That's why I stick to Hegel. I tell you Russia's salvation lies in the pursuit of lines toward the West There is no people in the world more capable of absorbing and incorporating foreign ideas and at the same time Retaining their own peculiar characteristics. Now just Alexander well Disagree all you want to We need the moral support of members to hold us together After all we're all just fighting for some form of socialism or social democracy if you so wanted I see what you mean Besides Arguments strengthen the powers of reasoning. I'll join with you. Just remember Politics interests me only in so far as they seem to promise deliverance to suffering humanity to me Socialism is only essential in so far as it is conducted to that end He joins the circle of stonkiewicz a few of his pamphlets are published if not famous Alexander at least becomes notorious and soon as you remember arrested thrown to a cell awaiting his second interview This time it's a magistrate who asked the questions I See that you are here on account of that stonkiewicz affair the magistrate is an old man with a long white beard and a kindly twinker than his eyes He glances at the reports on his desk and then smiles down at Alexander I'm not too familiar with the society having only heard the rumors which are of course not reliable You're on a I've been a prisoner now for more than a fortnight I know nothing of the charges that are brought against me. That's right. That's right Continue using just that line. You must not know anything. You understand anything, but it's not a lie Young man, would you allow me to give you some advice? Well? Yes, certainly your young your blood is hot you easily grow angry and that I'm afraid would be both unfortunate and unwise Just remember you must not know anything about anything you understand well Yes, I do but but what why are you giving me this advice the magistrate pauses for a long moment and then Carefully looking around to all sides to make sure he's not being observed. He leans closer to Alexander and whispers Many years ago. I was myself a student at the Moscow University Another five days pass and then a smooth-faced young man enters the cell Removes some papers from a portfolio adjusts a pair of pants Nate who is crooked nose Wheezes a tubercular cough hiding his mouth at the back of his hand and stares at Herzen It's evident of course You have acted and participated in actions designed against the government true or false false true It must be true, but you think you're being locked up on stupid peasant Now in order to make it possible for us to implore the pardon of that pardon For me Why I am here to state the facts and go about my business and not to answer all in every silly question you can Man you all right all right go ahead. I understand the general idea continue what general idea that to exile me to Siberia or do some heaven for second place is to make a martyr out of me It would increase my popularity that is dangerous But to pardon me and keep the secret police constantly on my neck is a bird of neither am I here to exchange random observations with you now To return to the pardon To make it go through we must have proof of your repentance and how will that be accomplished? I have the papers all prepared. They are addressed to the Commission in words quite simple and sincere And what does this masterpiece state? I would thank you to keep your opinions to yourself alone The letter is a full confession stating simply that you allowed yourself to be led astray because of your youth and are you What else does the letter say there are in addition to the confession a few blank spaces Bank spaces for you to fill out fill out with what with the names of those individuals who took advantage of your youth who led you astray simple isn't it? You want me to turn in former. I am not here. Yes. Yes. Yes. I know Is there anything else? No, just the names. I brought a pen and ink with me. Will you sign now and fill in I will fill in nothing Nothing now or ever you mean to say that you will choose to stand trial rather than take this opportunity of turning myself into a trader against my comrades Yes You don't have to be kind to me because I was born an aristocrat I am a human being just the same as the peasants whose interests I am trying to fight for I Shall stand trial and I shall not sign any confession or supply you with any names It is not Alexander Herrickson so much who was on trial but his spirit his will his sincerity and his determination they are on trial and Thus Herrickson has transferred to Moscow to await sentence He is thrown into a cell with other prisoners and the first face. He sees is a familiar one the first hand He clasps a friendly one So you're under arrest to Agarayev and Agarayev merely smiles and shrugs his shoulders It is his way of acknowledging the inescapable It doesn't take long for the two of them to be engaged once more in heated argumentation Changes must be brought around by force force is the only way violence sudden decides. Oh, no, you can't settle anything that way It's the only way you and your intellectual approach We've been fighting against corporal punishment for 50 years think of it Herrickson 50 years And what have we accomplished the fault with you Agarayev the fault with all of your kind lies in your inherent Romanticism you look upon corrupt society and tyrannical rule as if it were a windmill and you were done Kiori ready to engage it in action now I grant you you can clear away anything by force and prepare the space you make for building But you cannot build up by force Freedom if we ever want to see it succeed must come from the people themselves They must know what they want and why they want it. They must understand Unless they understand the cause will never be successful and if you don't believe me then let me call in the American colonies as Proof of my statement finally the day of judgment arrives and Alexander Herrickson stands before the judge Who fixes his glasses blows his nose and reads the verdict? Alexander Herrickson It is the judgment of this court that you shall be admitted to the service of the state under the surveillance of the local magistrate I have received the command of the most high concerning you It is left to me to choose the place of your exile and the post of service You shall go to the at care as a civil employee of the government Seven years he spends in viacca seven long Interminable years during which he is a model prisoner quiet Ruly obedient His only peculiarity lies in that he wanders through the city on occasion and stops to speak with the peasants But what harm can there be in that? What can a peasant tell a man like Herrickson? He took my husband Removed his shoes and made him walk barefoot across the large sheet of iron that had been frosted to ten degrees And why was that done to him? He was overheard making a criticism of the dark Yes, what can a peasant tell a man like Herrickson and then transfer comes through for Herrickson And he is sent to Vladimir the city is larger the field right for the contacts easier and Alexander Herrickson Is ready as he had never been before My friend I'm ready to begin the struggle in earnest indeed My pen will be a sword and its point shall pierce and dissect all tyranny Herrickson becomes an influence in Russia that is a living force and the circulation of his writings a vocation zealously pursued Your Highness yes, yes, what is it? I have taken this opportunity of speaking first to you instead of to your father the czar all right What is on your mind? Do you remember sir a man by the name of Alexander Herrickson Herrickson? Of course, I do a very brilliant man very I Believe you met him personally in the after didn't you if you mean whether it was I who had him transferred here to Vladimir? It was thank you. I thought as much that's why I came to you direct I think it is time that these books were brought to your attention books. I have them with me here This one baptized property a violin essay attacking serfdom interesting quite and this one Who's fault? Very much the same as the other well written by Alexander Hetzen I suppose yes Anything else the most reliable agents of the secret police have reported to me that Alexander Herrickson is the leader of the new Westerners party that has sprung up He's forcing our hand isn't he quite sir has he made any requests yet for a passport out of Russia He has mentioned at times a desire to go to France with his wife and children You will grant him that request grant the request There's nothing he can do in foreign countries except to continue writing these books our customs officials will be able to control the Distribution of them here in Russia. It is the wisest thing which we can do That should be enough to break the will of Alexander Herrickson that should be sufficient to quell his spirit and still his violent tongue That's what they thought How long can a man fight against insurmountable obstacles? How long will a man batter his bleeding hands against a door that will not open do you hear that those are printing presses? Not as modern as the ones we have today, but sufficient for their purpose They are printing books books about tyranny and freedom All freedoms books exposing the inhumanity of man to man books appealing to the mind and the heart Books that were ceded by a plant called truth Why don't you give up Alexander for three years now your free Russian press here in London has been printing these books And not only without selling a single copy, but with scarcely being able to get a copy of them introduced into Russia That was a common man speaking a printer by profession a half-hearted Revolutionary by his own choice a man who was willing to call it quits when the going gets too tough. I have been printing books for three years Tyranny has reigned for a few thousand years It's only logical that I cannot break so well implanted a tradition overnight That was a patriot speaking a man forced to flee his native land a man who sees in the struggles of the people of Russia The struggles of all mankind a man who realizes that all action must be preceded by thought that the flower too Was once only a seed a letter from a girl. Yeah shows him how patience and determination find their own reward My dear Alexander now that the czar is dead and his son has taken rain We have managed to smuggle more and more copies of your books into Russia I must now admit to you that you were right your books are doing wonders here You've become a cult you are the guiding spirit now of every society here continue to write Alexander I think our victorious end is in sight and the presses continue to turn out the pages of the determinations second only to that of the man Herzen himself Can anyone dare to declare either that the past contains nothing beautiful or that there is not much worth preserving The judgment of the world has arrived You cannot save it by martial laws or by philanthropy or by distributing lands And we see him standing here now watching the thumping presses and smiling as the wet pages slip out of the rollers one by one We see that Herzen is really a tired man tired beyond the endurance of man Within a month. He'll return to Paris his chest will be inflamed It will become a battlefield of pain and Herzen the man will die But only the mortal part of him will pass on His words will live on signposts showing the way he came guiding others in the way to follow The NBC University of the air has brought you chapter 5 in the new historical series. We came this way Next week we came this way will present Garibaldi hero of two worlds Alexander Herzen is just one of the 13 great world fighters whose life stories are told in the handbook We came this way This interesting booklet has been specially prepared to provide a permanent record of the series and to give additional Information concerning the lives and times of the men portrayed on these programs to obtain your copy Send 25 cents in coin for we came this way handbook to Columbia University Press Station J. New York 27 It was written by guide degree and was directed by Homer. Heck the original music was composed by Amel Soderstrom and conducted by Joseph Galicchio Members of the cast included Clifton Utley as narrator and Willard Waterman as Herzen others in the cast were Eleanor Engel William Everett James Goss Wilms Herbert Sydney Mason Tom Post and Fred Sullivan This series is presented each week as a public service feature of the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations This is the National Broadcasting Company