INTRO 3

THE FOUNDER TO THE FINLYANDYA STATION – 

St. Petersburg, Russia

Let the business of the world take care of itself … My business is to get  the world saved.” [1

George Scott Railton, the prominent early  Salvationist mentioned something of Booth’s ethology: “Each extension of The Army into foreign lands might be reported as a fresh achievement of the General, for, although he never, of course himself went as leader, he invariably chose the leaders, and so wisely directed the . . . methods which were needed to adapt the work to various races and circumstances.”[2] 

            In July 1885, the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette (London), W.T. Stead expressed his admiration and desire to support William Booth and the Army.  An appreciation of 

Stead’s support and contributions peaked when, five years later issued in his practical assistance in 1890 when he helped Booth write In Darkest England and the Way Out, an important Army manifesto which proposed social and welfare schemes aimed to eradicate poverty and squalor.                                                                                        Now in the train compartment in 1908, Booth learned that Stead was on assignment heading to St Petersburg to interview none other than the Prime Minister, Pyotr A. Stolypin. Stead was a Russophile and on earlier visits had met twice with Nicholas II, who’d appointed Stolypin as Prime Minister two years earlier. Stolypin had a dual role as he also continued as Minister of Interior, an unusual concentration of power in Imperial Russia. Booth saw this as a “God moment” and asked Stead to raise the topic of the Army’s admission to Russia, offering to make objective assurances to Stolypin on the Army’s behalf.[3]
            Russia . . . always had an irresistible attraction for Stead; not so much for what he conceived it to be as for what he fancied it capable of becoming.” Would the Army’s presence with its many new social schemes be positive factors in furthering Stead’s vision of a new Russian communal ideal? 

MORE COMING = Russia's 2 copies of Darkest England and the Way Out,

[1]“The Risks” in The War Cry (20 December 1884)

[2].Railton George Scott  “A Victorious General,” The War Cry, August 31, 1912, p. 4

Ljungholm, Sven  RTBRB 2017