“If the order is given to shoot into the crowd and you refuse,” he told them at one point, “then I will shoot all of you. You must conform without objection to my commands, I will permit no protests.” At the same time Balytsky worked hard to improve their salaries and privileges, as well as his own. Presumably it was at about this time that he acquired the taste for jewellery and fine art, which would be discovered in his possession at the time of his death.
