XII.
T HE demonstrations of patriotic feeling in the working people, on various ceremonial occasions—as, for example, in Russia at the coronation, or on the occasion of the attempt on the life of the Tsar on the 17th of October, or in France on the declaration of war with Prussia, or in Germany at the celebration of victory, or at the recent Franco-Russian jubilations—are usually brought forward as a proof of the existence of patriotism. But we ought to understand how these manifestations are prepared. In Russia, for instance, on every tour made by the Tsar, men are got ready from the communes of peasants and from the factories to meet and welcome the Tsar.
The enthusiasm of the crowd is, for the most part, artificially prepared by those to whom it is of use, and the degree of enthusiasm expressed by the crowd proves nothing but the degree of art of the creators of that enthusiasm. The art has been practised for ages, and so the specialists in the work of arousing such enthusiasm have reached a high degree of skill in it.
When Alexander II. was still the Tsarevitch
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