Every one in Russia kept his peace and held his breath.

The progressive elements of the Empire were held down tightly by the lid of reaction.

The press groaned under the yoke of a ferocious censorship.

The mystic doctrine of non-resistance preached by Leo Tolstoi was attuned to the mood prevailing among educated Russians, for, in the words of the Russian poet, "their hearts, subdued by storms, were filled with silence and lassitude." In Jewish life, too, silence reigned supreme.

The sharp pangs of the first pogrom year were now dulled, and only suppressed moans echoed the uninterrupted "silent pogrom" of oppression.