Revolutionary organizations of the populists. Propaganda direction of revolutionary populism

4-02-2017, 21:10 |

Populism

XIX century - this is the time of development of socio-political thought in Russia. In the first half of the century, the first secret organizations began to be created, which included representatives of different segments of the population. It was people from these organizations who organized a little later in 1825. Then two more new movements appeared - Westerners and Slavophiles. And opinions differed on the path of Russia's development. Westerners accordingly wanted Russia to follow the Western path. And the Slavophiles, so that Russia follows its own path.

But already in the second half of the 19th century. A new movement emerged - revolutionary populism. 1870s became the era of the heyday of populism. This movement recognized that in Russia there are prerequisites for the development of socialism. And she carried his ideas to the masses.

The origins of populism

In Russia, however, there was no clear concept to describe the trend of populism. It seemed vague to people. And thus, anyone who sympathized with the terrible share of the ordinary Russian population of the village could be considered a populist. The main idea of ​​populism was that the Russian village was suffering and it was necessary to alleviate its suffering. And they followed the formula that A.I. had already expressed. Herzen. This is a formula that the future of Russia is a simple rural man.

The Narodniks based their teaching on the Russian peasant community. It was from it, in their opinion, that a fair society could grow - that is, something similar to socialism. Representatives of populism constantly had heated debates about methods of struggle. That is, about how Russia should come to a socialist society. Many adhered to the revolutionary path of development.

But together with the revolutionary populists, there was a peaceful liberal movement of populism. Such representatives are especially visible during the reign. It was under the peacemaker king that this movement was most active. What all populism had in common was that they understood the true path of Russia. They adhered to the theory that Russia could follow an original path of development. It has the potential for this, both political and economic.

During the 1860s. many nihilists were waiting for the speedy arrival of revolutionary upheavals. The ideal for such revolutionaries was the hero of the novel “What is to be done?” - Rakhmetov. The most important thing they saw as their purpose was to create an underground organization. And then come out of the shadows and help bring about a revolution. But gradually the idea of ​​a speedy uprising faded away. And many populists began to think more about revolutionary terror.

Stages of development of populism

Domestic historical science has consolidated in historiography several stages in the development of revolutionary populism:

1. 1860s - this is the time of the creation of the first underground organizations. At the same time, the official ideology of the Narodniks was taking shape. The first hearth of the origins of the populist movement was around the magazine “Bell,” which was published by Herzen and Ogarev. And the second center is around the Sovremennik magazine, which was published by Nekrasov and Chernyshevsky. This is the so-called “proclamation period” of populism. This is because the main method of promoting the movement was proclamation and propaganda. But the ideas of these opuses were very diverse. The nature of the propaganda was also different. Someone called on young people to move towards the renewal of the country, but only peacefully. But more radical representatives called, on the contrary, for a bloody revolution.
2. 1870-1880 - but during this period all the populist organizations took shape completely. And more and more representatives of populism are leaning toward the radical movement. The populists were mainly represented at this time by illegal circles
3. 1880-1890 - the period of defeat of revolutionary populism. Also, more and more representatives of liberal populism are appearing, and besides, at this time, the ideas of Marxism are increasingly spreading throughout Russia.

Main trends of populism

The revolutionary trend of populism acquired a radical character along with the shot at Karakozov. Later, new representatives of populism began to appear, such as Bakunin and Ogarev. They became great opponents of the Russian autocracy. This was mandatory during the transition to socialism.

By the way, representatives of populism had a negative attitude towards liberal political movements. And in general they tried to create in society a nihilistic attitude towards law and government. And over time, this bore fruit. Most of all, this attitude towards the legal system manifested itself during the period of the “White Terror” or the movement of youth and students led by Nechaev. We'll talk about this below.

By the way, the same Bakunin condemned Nechaev and his movement. He said that it was generally immoral. But, nevertheless, he was impressed by the movement towards revolutionary changes. Bakunin himself adhered to the idea of ​​the complete destruction of the then political system in Russia. His current was “rebellious.” In addition, there was also a “conspiratorial” trend - its leader P.N. Tkachev. With the help of the conspirators, Tkachev planned to overthrow the government and carry out a coup. And the last movement here is “Propaganda” - leader P.L. Lavrov. In this movement, the general propaganda of the ideas of populism to the masses was welcomed.

The first big action of the revolutionary populists was the most famous “Walking to the People.” This event took place in the summer of 1874. This was a propaganda movement in which approximately two thousand populists took part. And in terms of scale it had no equal, because the populists marched through 30 provinces. But nevertheless, despite the large scale, the walk failed. Representatives of populism promoted their ideas, but did not fully understand what the peasants needed. But the ordinary non-peasant was not ready to listen to such ideas from the populists.

Representatives of populism

So, the earliest known representative of populism was Nechaev and his “Nechaevshchina” movement. Nechaev himself was one of the commoners with an adventurous character. He hated autocracy. While abroad, he convinced Bakunin that he had his own organization “People's Retribution” in his homeland. Bakunin helped him print leaflets on behalf of this organization. He also drew up the revolutionary rules. So, according to Nechaev, a real revolutionary must despise the morality of society and hate political power. In 1871, Nechaev again disappeared abroad, but was extradited from there as a political criminal. He went to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The greatest ideologist of populism was M. Bakunin. For revolutionary populism this was the most important person. Having gone abroad in the 1840s. he promotes his idea of ​​​​the complete destruction of the political system of Russia. He also did not stay away from the “spring of nations.” There he clearly spoke about solving the Slavic question through a revolutionary means. In populism, Bakunin promoted the idea of ​​communal socialism. He argued that this theory of socialism is different from Marx's theory.

The significance of the populism movement

The populism movement was successful almost until the end of the 1880s. And the most important action of the populists was the murder of the emperor. This happened on March 1, 1881. The Emperor was driving a carriage along the Griboedva Canal. A student from the People's Will organization "People's Will" was waiting for him there. There was an explosion. The Emperor was not injured. He went out to help the Cossacks guarding him. And a little time later there was a second explosion. The Emperor's legs were seriously injured. He was taken to the Winter Palace, where he died.

After accession to the throne, a massive search is carried out for those responsible for the assassination attempt. That was the time of great persecution of the Narodnaya Volya movement.

Populism video

ideology and movement of the various intelligentsia to the bourgeois-democratic. stage will be released. struggle in Russia (1861-95). “Populism,” wrote V.I. Lenin, “is the ideology (system of views) of peasant democracy in Russia” (Works, vol. 18, p. 490). N. combined the ideas of utopianism. socialism with the demand of the peasantry, interested in the destruction of the landowners' latifundia. He spoke out both against serfdom and against the bourgeoisie. development of society. From the moment of its inception, two currents emerged in Nizhny Novgorod - revolutionary and liberal. Revolutionaries Ch. the goal was seen as a cross in the organization. revolution and during the 60-80s. they strived for it in various ways (the first "Land and Freedom", underground circles of the late 60s - early 70s, "going to the people", a group of "Muscovites", the second "Land and Freedom", "People's Will", “Black redistribution”, etc.). Liberal populists, operating legally, sought peaceful forms of transition to socialism. Liberal N. did not play creatures. roles until the 80s, when it became dominant. direction to N. In Narodnich. The movement was attended by representatives of many. nationalities of Russia. Narodnich. ideology was uniquely refracted in the conditions of Ukraine, the Caucasus, the Baltic states, Poland and other regions. N. was not purely Russian. phenomenon. A similar form of ideology was also characteristic of other countries that took the capitalist path late. development. The ideology of revolutionary N. Populism represents a special type of utopianism. socialism, characteristic of countries with a predominance of agriculture. production and cross. population, with weak industrial development. By the time of the birth of N. in the advanced countries of Europe, capitalism had already reached the stage of development when radical socio-political policies were revealed. bourgeois contradictions society. Bourgeois-democratic revolutions in these countries, which did not improve the situation of the people. masses, caused disappointment to the advanced Russian. intelligentsia. In this situation, the search began for “special ways” of social reorganization in Russia, allowing for non-capitalist society. development. Belief in immediate possibility. transition - bypassing capitalism - to socialism. I build through the cross. the community, which had a special role, was Ch. content of theory rus. utopian socialism. Its founders were A. I. Herzen and N. G. Chernyshevsky. “Cross Socialism” was actively promoted by N.P. Ogarev. Herzen believed that Russia would not repeat all phases of European development. countries It will move to socialism in an “original” way thanks to the villages. community, liberation of peasants with land, cross. self-government, traditional peasants' rights to land. “The man of the future in Russia,” Herzen believed, “is a man, just like a worker in France” (Collected works, vol. 7, 1956, p. 326). Herzen noted and denied some things. sides of the community, but considered them surmountable in the process of establishing socialism. ideas among the people. Herzen's theory of communal socialism was developed by Chernyshevsky. He associated the preservation of Russian. communities with slow development, backwardness of the country, but at the same time allocated a large share to the community. role under the condition of radical social transformations: the overthrow of the autocracy by the people, the gratuitous transfer of all land to the peasants, the combination of communal ownership of land with communal industry. production Thus, the theory is Russian. cross. socialism was an attempt to use the community in order, on the one hand, to rouse the peasantry to revolution, and on the other, to preserve the egalitarian principles that existed in the community until the time of establishment of socialism. principles. Utopian cross. socialism, inextricably linked with revolution. democracy, directed against the autocratic state, was Ch. populist content ideology. History has shown the utopianism of communal socialism, but liberation from the people. illusions could only happen after the establishment of capitalism, which created the preconditions for the development of a new, proletarian ideology in Russia. Assessing the revolutionaries of the 60-70s, V. I. Lenin wrote: “Faith in a special way of life, in the communal system of Russian life; hence the belief in the possibility of a peasant socialist revolution - that’s what animated them, raised tens and hundreds of people for a heroic struggle against the government" (Works, vol. 1, p. 246). Herzen and especially Chernyshevsky had a huge influence on the youth of the various ranks and on subsequent revolutionaries. generations. Their revolutionary. activity is ideologically linked by the cross. democracy with the proletarian party in Russia. 60s were the first stage in the development of revolutionary-democratic ideology, when general theoretical. principles of the cross. socialism were translated into concrete programs. The revolutionaries of the seventies recognized themselves as students of Chernyshevsky and his followers, and continued and strengthened their traditions. And in the 60s and 70s, when Russia was just entering capitalism. formation, and the proletariat began to form into independence. society class and, therefore, there was no basis for the spread and establishment of Marxism, the ideology of the cross. democracy - N. - remained the most advanced theory. Lenin wrote: “...The role of an advanced fighter can only be fulfilled by a party guided by an advanced theory. And in order to at least somewhat concretely imagine what this means, let the reader remember such predecessors of Russian Social Democracy as Herzen, Belinsky, Chernyshevsky and a brilliant galaxy of revolutionaries of the 70s" (ibid., vol. 5, p. 342). In the 70s there was a known decrease in theoretical level of N., which was expressed primarily in a retreat from Chernyshevsky’s materialism to positivism and subjectivism. From the end 60s in the revolutionary movement there was a turn towards “effectiveness”. The question of non-capitalist development from the field of theory moved into revolution. practice. The mixture is democratic. and socialist tasks characteristic of N. in general appears quite clearly. Cross. socialist revolution is proclaimed directly. the goal of the populist. movements. The largest ideologists of N. in the 70s. were M.A. Bakunin, P.L. Lavrov, P.N. Tkachev, N.K. Mikhailovsky. Means. influence on Russian revolutionary Bakunin made the move. Considering Russian peasant a “born” socialist, Bakunin called on young people to immediately prepare people. rebellion against three chapters enemies: private property, state, church. Under him directly. As a result of this influence, a rebellious Bakuninist trend emerged in Nizhny Novgorod. Lavrov considered it necessary to organize an uprising through long-term propaganda among the people. mass and extensive theoretical and moral training of revolutionaries. He called on the intelligentsia to atone for their “debt” to the people and to give strength to the liberation of the working people from autocratic oppression. Speaking from the position of subjective idealism, Lavrov at the same time argued that a critically thinking person will not remain alone in criticizing existing societies. building, she will find like-minded people among the oppressed people. The role of the people in the revolution was recognized as decisive. Literary-critical Mikhailovsky's activities in the 70s. contributed to the strengthening of democracy. trends in Russian society thoughts, the struggle against social inequality, prepared the ground for the maturation of revolutionaries. ideas in Russia. Great influence among democrats. The intelligentsia used the book by V.V. Bervi-Flerovsky “The Position of the Working Class in Russia”, in which the difficult situation of the people in the post-reforms was revealed in a large material. Russia. Revolutionary program populists of the 70s. was distinguished by her belief not in a conspiracy, but in a broad people. movement to the cross. socialist revolution. Call for socialism (social) revolution was associated with apolitism: the struggle for politics was denied. freedom, an indifferent attitude towards the forms of state was promoted. authorities. During the period of dominance in societies. thoughts of apolitism with a political program. struggle was made by Tkachev, who declared in 1875 that “... the immediate goal of the revolution should be to capture political power , in the creation of a revolutionary state" (Izbr. soch., vol. 3, 1933, p. 225). The political direction outlined by Tkachev in the 1st half of the 70s did not receive support in the revolutionary underground at that time. At the end of the decade, the situation changed: the democratic press (Mikhailovsky and others) started talking about political freedoms, the Kazan demonstration of 1876 opened a series of political acts (the speech of revolutionaries at the trials of the “50” and “193”, the assassination attempt on V. I. Zasulich against R. P. Trepov, the armed struggle of I. M. Kovalsky and his comrades, the murder of S. M. Kravchinsky, the chief of gendarmes N. V. Mezentsov, etc.) In 1878, the southern populists (V. A. Osinsky, brothers Ivicevich and others) switched to the terrorist struggle, speaking on behalf of the “Executive. k-ta rus. social-revolutionary party." In liberal circles they started talking about a constitution. In such a situation, Tkachev's ideas became closer to the revolutionary populists, although the latter did not fully share his conspiratorial views. At the same time, the political direction that took shape in "People's Will" on the issue of the seizure of state power was based mainly on the positions of Tkachev. The Narodnaya Volya, like their predecessors, continued to believe in the socialist features of the Russian community, although they already saw the stratification of the countryside, the strengthening of world-eating kulaks, the strengthening of the bourgeoisie. But they denied the regularity and organicity of this process: "...In our country the state is not the creation of the bourgeoisie, as in Europe, but on the contrary, the bourgeoisie is created by the state" ("Literature of the People's Will Party", Paris, 1905, p. 79). The Narodnaya Volya calculated by seizing power stop the development of capitalist relations in the country and move through the community to a socialist system.The great merit of the Narodnaya Volya members was their struggle to win political freedoms in Russia: the demands of the constitution, universal suffrage. rights, freedom of speech, press, gatherings, etc. The Narodnaya Volya members considered the immediate goal to be the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy and the establishment of a democratic a republic based on the "will of the people." Lenin considered the “great historical merit” of the Narodnaya Volya members to be their desire to “... attract all the dissatisfied to their organization and direct this organization to a decisive struggle against the autocracy” (Works, vol. 5, pp. 442-43). At the same time, Lenin pointed out that the Narodnaya Volya “...narrowed down politics to only a conspiratorial struggle” (ibid., vol. 4, p. 342), that the experience of the history of revolutionaries. movement in Russia warns against such methods of struggle as terror (see ibid., vol. 6, p. 154). K con. 80s - with the development of capitalism and the growth of the working class in Russia, with the beginning of the spread of Marxism in the country, the unfoundedness of faith in “communism” was finally revealed. instincts" of the peasant, into the cross. socialist revolution, into the success of the single combat of the heroic intelligentsia with the autocracy; the ideology of the revolutionary N. turned out to be untenable. The practical activities of the revolutionary populists. During the years of the first revolutionary situation of 1859-61, illegal circles and populist organizations began to emerge From 1856 to 1862, the Kharkov-Kiev secret society operated, the founders of which were Ya. N. Bekman and M. D. Muravsky. In 1861-62, the circle of P. G. Zaichnevsky and P. E. Argiropulo functioned in Moscow, publishing illegal publications, which began revolutionary propaganda among the people, calling for the overthrow of the autocracy (proclamation "Young Russia"). In the conditions of the revolutionary situation, the rise of the mass movement and the struggle of the democratic intelligentsia, who were expecting a cross uprising, a secret society arose in 1861 " Land and Freedom" is the largest revolutionary association of the 60s and the first attempt to create an all-Russian organization. The ideological inspirer of "Land and Freedom" was Chernyshevsky, the foreign center was represented by Herzen and Ogarev, the most active members were brothers. N. A. and A. A. Serno-Solovyevich, A. A. Sleptsov, N. N. Obruchev, S. S. Rymarenko, V. S. Kurochkin and others. Org. the principles of the first “Land and Freedom” formed the basis of the Ishutin organization (1863-66): a conspiratorial center and peripheral circles subordinate to it. Unlike "Land and Freedom", the Ishutinites accepted terror as a possible means of struggle. In a democratic environment. The rise of the revolutionary conspirator S.G. Nechaev in 1869 tried to create a secret conspiracy. organization ("People's Retribution"), built on the principles of unlimited. centralism, blind subordination of ordinary members to leaders. Nechaev's adventurism and unprincipledness were resolutely condemned by Marx and Engels, members. Rus. sections of the 1st International, revolutionary. the populists in Russia itself, who created the Chaikovsky Society as a counterbalance to the “Nechaevism”, in which the question of the revolutionaries. ethics was one of the central ones. Active figures in the society were M. A. Nathanson, N. V. Tchaikovsky, S. L. Perovskaya, P. A. Kropotkin, F. V. Volkhovsky, N. A. Charushin. The Tchaikovites quickly switched from the revolutionaries. enlightenment to prepare for “going among the people”, hatching plans for the cross. revolution in Russia. 70s were a new stage in the development of revolutionary-democratic. movements: compared to the 60s. The number of participants in the movement, its scope and effectiveness have increased immeasurably. In the spring and summer of 1874, a mass “going to the people” of democrats began. intelligentsia, the first rapprochement of the revolutionaries took place. youth with the people. Theoretical discussions about duty to the people turned into practical. actions aimed at raising the cross. masses to socialist revolution. “Going among the people” was the first test of the revolutionary ideology. populism. Lenin highly appreciated this movement: “The flowering of effective populism was the entry into the people (the peasantry) of the revolutionaries of the 70s” (ibid., vol. 18, p. 490). K con. In 1875, the “going to the people” was crushed by the police, its participants were arrested and convicted in the “trial of the 193s” (1877-78). Among the defendants were major revolutionaries: P. I. Voinaralsky, Volkhovsky, S. F. Kovalik, I. N. Myshkin, D. M. Rogachev and others. “Walking among the people” was revealed by the org. populist weakness movement and determined the need for a single centralized organization of revolutionaries. This task found partial resolution in the activities of the “All-Russian Social Revolutionary Organization” (a group of “Muscovites”), which arose in the end. 1874 - beginning 1875. In mid. 70s the problem of concentration of revolutionaries. forces in a single organization became central. It was discussed at congresses of populists in St. Petersburg, Moscow, in exile, and debated on the pages of the illegal press, among the participants in the “going to the people” brought in through the “trial of the 193s.” The revolutionaries had to choose a centralist or federal principle of organization, determine their attitude towards socialism. parties in other countries. As a result of the well-known revision of program tactics. and organizational views, in 1876 a new populist arose in St. Petersburg. organization, which received the name in 1878. "Land and Freedom". Its founders and active participants were: M. A. and O. A. Natanson, A. D. Mikhailov, A. D. Oboleshev, G. V. Plekhanov, O. V. Aptekman, A. A. Kvyatkovsky, D. A. Lizogub, Osinsky and others. The great merit of the Land Volunteers was the creation of a strong and disciplined organization, which Lenin called “excellent” and a “model” for revolutionaries (see ibid., vol. 5, p. 442). The Zemlyavoltsy had their own organs: “Earth and Freedom” (1878-79), “Leaf of Earth and Freedom” (1879). In practice The work “Land and Freedom” moved from “wandering” propaganda, characteristic of the 1st stage of “going to the people,” to settled rural settlements. However, the hopes of the landowners to rouse the peasantry to revolution did not materialize. Disappointment in the results of propaganda, strengthening of governments. repression, on the one hand, of societies. excitement in a situation where a second revolution is brewing. the situation in the country, on the other hand, contributed to the aggravation of disagreements within the organization. The majority of landowners were convinced of the need to move directly. political fight against autocracy. One of the main revolutionary funds the struggle gradually becomes terror. At first these were acts of self-defense and revenge for the atrocities of the tsarist administration. However, gradually the successes of terrorism. struggles, which caused confusion at the top, gave rise to the illusion among the populists of the special effectiveness of this method. In Aug. 1879 as a result of the conflict between “politicians” (A.I. Zhelyabov, A.D. Mikhailov, Kvyatkovsky, etc.) with “villagers” (Plekhanov, M.R. Popov, Aptekman, etc.), a split in “Land and Freedom” occurred . Two independent states were formed. org-tions - "People's Will" and "Black Redistribution" (Plekhanov, P.B. Axelrod, Aptekman, L.G. Deich, Zasulich, E.N. Kovalskaya, M.R. Popov, etc.), which existed until con. 1880. "People's Will" further strengthened the principles of centralization and secrecy developed by "Land and Freedom". In Exec. The Narodnaya Volya committee included outstanding revolutionaries Zhelyabov, A.D. Mikhailov, Perovskaya, V.N. Figner, N.I. Kibalchich and others. The organs of the Narodnaya Volya members were Narodnaya Volya (1879-85, with interruptions ), "Bulletin of the People's Will" (1883-86), "Leaflet of the People's Will" (1880-86). Heroic The struggle of "People's Will" played a role. role in Russian revolutionary movement. Her merit was a direct attack, an assault on tsarism. The transition of the Narodnaya Volya to politics. the fight was a step forward compared to the previous stage. The activities of "People's Will" became one of the most important elements of the revolution. situations 1879-80. However, the political tactics are erroneous. conspiracy, predominance of terrorist. methods of combating other forms could not lead to people. revolution and inevitably had to end in the collapse of Narodny Volya. After the assassination of Alexander II by the revolutionaries and the trial of the First Marchers, failures, betrayals, and arrests began, which bled the People's Will dry. Court series. processes of the 80s. (“process of 20”, “process of 17”, “process of 14”, etc.) completed the destruction of the organization. All R. 80s in the revolutionary underground, there was a tendency towards decentralization (Young Party of the People's Will), towards strengthening work in the provinces. In 1885, a congress of the south met in Ekaterinoslav. Narodnaya Volya (B.D. Orzhikh, V.G. Bogoraz, F.I. Yasevich, V.P. Brazhnikov, etc.), who examined the state of the revolutionaries. forces in southern Russia and drew attention to the need to expand the struggle for politics. freedom and widespread propaganda among the masses. At the end of Dec. 1886 in St. Petersburg A. I. Ulyanov, P. Ya. Shevyrev, O. M. Govorukhin, E. Lukashevich created a terrorist organization. faction of the People's Will party, the program cut, along with the approval of terrorist. struggle with the government and local authorities, reflected the influence of Marxism (recognition of capitalism in Russia as a fact, and the working class as the core of socialist. party"), In 1888 S. M. Ginsburg, implementing the decision of the "Union Terrorist. circle", organized in exile, came to Russia with the aim of collecting the scattered remnants of "Nar. freedom" and prepare an assassination attempt on Alexander III. In 1889 she was arrested and sentenced to death penalty and died in the Shlisselburg fortress. Narodovolch and organizations ideologically close to them continued to operate in the 90s. In 1889-90 there was a revolution in Kostroma, Vladimir and Yaroslavl. organization headed by M.V. Sabunaev. In 1891-94 in St. Petersburg, the “Group of Narodnaya Volya” carried out work under the leadership. M. S. Alexandrov (Olminsky). In 1893, the “People's Law” party arose (M. A. Nathanson, P. Nikolaev, N. Tyutchev, etc.). As Marxism spreads in Russia, the populist. organizations were losing their importance. Their best are democratic. traditions in changed conditions class. the struggle continued with the new revolution. a generation that overcame the mistakes and illusions of N. Some populists, as the proletarian ideology was established, switched to the position of Marxism, and later became members of the Social-Democrats. parties. Revolutionary N. and the labor movement. Practical revolutionary activities populists contributed to their involvement in liberation. Russian fight proletariat, in which a class has not yet developed. self-awareness. Lenin pointed out that in the 60-70s. “...in the general stream of populism, the proletarian-democratic stream could not stand out” (Works, vol. 20, p. 224). The beginning of democratic propaganda. intelligentsia among workers is associated with the organization of Sunday schools (early 60s). All R. 60s Ishuta residents continued this tradition, getting closer to the workers in the process of creating products. associations. Most active propaganda populists among the mountains. proletariat was carried out from the beginning. 70s The Chaikovites in St. Petersburg, Odessa and Kyiv created a network of workers' circles, where they initially conducted general education. classes, and then moved on to social propaganda, calling on workers to revolt and overthrow the autocracy. The charter of the “All-Russian Social Revolutionary Organization” stated that “the management should always include members from both the intelligentsia and the workers.” Joint actions of the revolutionaries. intelligentsia and workers led to widespread propaganda of the latter (workers P. Alekseev, S. Agapov, I. Barinov, N. Vasiliev, P. Nikolaev, etc.) in factories and factories in Moscow, Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Tula. The second "Land and Freedom" organized workers' circles and issued proclamations during strikes in St. Petersburg. workers. “The joint struggle of workers with the owners,” it is written in the advanced DZemlya i VoliU (1879, No. 4), “develops in them the ability for consonant, unanimous action. Workers of different provinces, sometimes of different dialects, who were alien to each other in quiet times, rally and unite during the strike." In a democratic environment. lifting the end 70 - beginning 80s People's Volunteers and Black Peredel'tsy conducted propaganda among the mountains. proletariat, organized circles, involving the most advanced workers in the revolution. struggle. The Black Peredelites released gas for workers and peasants. "Grain" (1880-81), Narodnaya Volya published "Workers' Newspaper" (1880-81). In the 80s, when the working class of Russia began to noticeably show its activity, the revolutionaries, continuing to believe in the success of terrorism. struggle, at the same time they significantly intensified propaganda among the workers and created fighting squads from the workers. The common intelligentsia saw in the workers only the most active layer of the oppressed people, and not a class - the hegemon of the revolution. Despite a number of ideological differences, the revolutionary. populists and advanced workers in the 70s - early. 80s acted as allies in the struggle against the autocracy, manufacturers and landowners. The revolutionaries introduced advanced workers to the ideas of socialism and supported the strike movement. The workers highly valued the selfless activities of the democrats. intelligentsia. Pyotr Alekseev, in his famous speech at the trial, stated that only a revolutionary. the intelligentsia “alone fraternally extended its hand to us. She alone responded, lent her voice to all the peasant groans heard Russian Empire"The first independent workers' organizations began to appear in the mid-70s, although the populist ideology still had a decisive influence on the advanced workers. The revolutionary N. and the international socialist movement. The revolutionary populists closely followed the European liberation movement. They were widely aware of the various revolutionary theories of all countries of the world. They were attracted by the experience of the struggle of the Western European proletariat, although it was viewed through the prism of utopian socialism: it was assumed that the European liberation movement would accelerate the cross revolution in Russia. The 1st International had a strong influence on the development of the Russian revolutionary-democratic movement. Much credit for the dissemination of its principles belonged to the Russian section of the 1st International. Ideas of the International Workers' Association, international relations and the unity of the world revolutionary movement were distributed by the populist publications “Forward!”, “Rabotnik”, and propaganda brochures. “Russian socialists,” wrote the newspaper “Forward!” in 1876, “must remember that they are one link in the international movement of workers and must use all their efforts to achieve this.” to their like-minded people different countries they were seen as comrades in the general historical movement." In some illegal publications (M.A. Bakunin, "Statehood and Anarchy", "Historical Development of the International", etc.) the tasks of the International were interpreted in an anarchist way, the struggle of scientific socialism with Bakunism. In illegal populist publications, the problem of international relations between the working people of Germany and Russia was raised. The newspaper "Forward!" noted that in Germany a struggle of the German proletariat with the bourgeois government was brewing. Russian revolutionaries should help this struggle Conducting propaganda among workers and peasants, the populists declared: “there is an agreement between the workers of all countries to make a common revolution." They associated the success of the cross revolution in Russia with the activities of the International. The Paris Commune of 1871 had a strong influence on the development of the revolutionary movement in Russia Populist D. A. Clements wrote that “the appearance of the Paris Commune, this great world event, and a closer acquaintance with the true character and program of the International Workers' Society served as a turning point, the beginning new era in the development of the revolutionary cause in Russia." The revolutionary struggle of the proletariat of Paris contributed to the development among the participants in the "going to the people" of the desire to organize a people's cross movement. After the defeat of the Paris Commune, a negative attitude towards bourgeois political revolutions intensified among the populists, and apoliticalism prevailed The populists did not understand Marxism and considered it a “Western” teaching, not applicable to Russia. At the same time, they were the first distributors of the works of K. Marx and F. Engels in Russia: in 1871 they illegally published in Russian the “Civil War in France", in 1872 - "Capital". Executive committee "Nar. will" reported in 1880 to K. Marx that "Capital" had become a reference book for educated people. The Narodniks introduced advanced workers to certain economic theories of Marx. The ideas of "Capital" were set out in the propaganda brochure "Tsar - Famine", written by Narodnaya Volya member A N. Bakhom. In the early 80s, the Communist Manifesto was distributed underground. party." N. and culture. The revolutionary N. movement influenced the democratic culture of Russia at that time. Among the writers close to the ideas of N., one can name N. A. Nekrasov, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, G. I. Uspensky, N. N. Zlatovratsky, P. V. Zasodimsky, Karonin (N. E. Petropavlovsky) and others, who spoke on the pages of Otechestvennye zapiski. The main tendency in the work of these writers was concern for the fate of the peasantry, a thirst for knowledge life of the people, criticism of the remnants of serfdom and developing bourgeois relations in the countryside, belief in the need for social transformations. Liberal populist views were propagated by writers and publicists on the pages of "Russian Wealth". In fine art, the greatest ideological closeness to N. was felt in the works of the Itinerant artists, who turned to popular life, the history of the liberation struggle. Under the direct influence of the revolutionary populist movement, paintings by I. E. Repin arose - “Under Escort,” “Gathering of Nihilists,” “Arrest of the Propagandist,” “Refusal to confess”, “We didn’t expect”; N. A. Yaroshenko - “Prisoner”, “At the Lithuanian Castle”, “Student”. Similar phenomena were observed in music, where representatives of the “Mighty Handful” developed ideas about the liberation of the people, about the strength of the people. protest (operas by M. P. Mussorgsky “Boris Godunov”, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov “The Woman of Pskov”, A. P. Borodin “Prince Igor”, etc.). Revolutionary-democratic The ideology was also reflected in historiography, where populism arose. direction. Revolutionary The populists in history were primarily interested in the people. movements in Europe and Russia, bourgeois. revolution, the experience of which was important for the upcoming revolution in Russia. The most seriously developed ist. problems Lavrov, Tkachev, N.I. Utin. For the liberal-populist. historiography ch. the question becomes the problem of the “special”, non-capitalist. Russia's development paths. The attention of populist historians (P. A. Sokolovsky, A. Ya. Efimenko) focused on studying the history of the community. Sokolovsky in his works “Essay on the history of rural communities in the North of Russia” (1877), “Economic life of the agricultural population of Russia and the colonization of the south-eastern steppes before serfdom” (1878) showed the evolution of the ancient community - the volost, in which The principle of equal rights to land in the later community prevailed. The historian saw the reasons for the decomposition and death of the ancient community not in social internal ones. processes, and in external factors. order - state intervention. Efimenko polemicized with Sokolovsky’s concept and denied the originality and primitiveness of the community. In the work "Cross Land Ownership on Far North"("RM", 1882, No. 4) she argued that in the north of the country the community originated from a village - a small independent "land cell". This transition occurred as a result of the deprivation of peasants' ownership of land, which was a consequence of government intervention The studies of Sokolovsky and Efimenko introduced a number of serious concrete historical solutions into science. However, in general, the populist theory of the community was untenable: the forms of cross-land ownership were studied, but the social processes taking place in the Russian village were not studied. The populist direction in historiography is the most clearly represented in the works of V. I. Semevsky, whose worldview and historical concept were formed mainly under the influence of “Historical. Lavrov's letters" and Mikhailovsky's journalism. Semevsky's focus was on the history of the peasantry in Russia, the development of which the researcher considered as "... the debt of our science to the people" (Russian Thought, 1881, No. 2, p. 223). In the works “Peasants during the reign of the Emperor. Catherine II" (vol. 1-2, 1881-1901), "Cross. question in Russia in the 18th and first half. XIX century" (vol. 1-2, 1888), etc. Semevsky for the first time gave generalizing material about various aspects of the life of the Russian peasantry, showed their lack of rights and oppression, painted a broad picture of the cross. The historian believed that the study of the past of the peasantry should help improve their lives. Liberal N. Populism of the 20th century. The liberal trend in N. emerged from the moment of its inception and continued to develop in subsequent years. In the mid-80s, liberal N. became the dominant trend, which was due to socio-economic development of the country, the crisis of the revolutionary N. “From the political program,” Lenin wrote, “calculated to rouse the peasantry to a socialist revolution against the fundamentals modern society- a program has grown up designed to mend and improve the position of the peasantry while preserving the foundations of modern society...” (Works, vol. 1, pp. 246-247). The liberal populists tried to replace the revolutionary-liberation movement of the petty-bourgeois. reformism. Their program boiled down to an increase in peasant plots, restoration of peasants' civil rights, reorganization of the peasant bank, etc. The socio-economic views of the liberal populists represented eclectic petty-bourgeois radicalism. On the one hand, it was recognized that commodity -in became the basis of social processes and developed into capitalism, on the other hand, the bourgeois nature of production relations was denied and the need for the class struggle of the proletariat was not recognized. Mikhailovsky, V. P. Vorontsov, S. N. Krivenko, S. N. Yuzhakov and other liberal populists deployed active struggle with Marxism. At a time when capitalism in Russia became a fact, when the movement of the proletariat intensified, the liberal populists repeated the old formulas of N., historically explainable in the 60-70s, continued to prove that capitalism in Russia is a decline, a regression, and denied supremacy. the role of the working class in the revolution. An outdated populist. ideology became an obstacle to the spread of Marxism in Russia, ch. an obstacle to social democracy. It was necessary to show the fallacy of the populists. doctrine, from a Marxist position to answer the questions posed by the revolutionaries. movement at a new stage. Plekhanov began to solve this problem, and Lenin completed it. In the beginning. 20th century N.'s successors were the "socialist revolutionaries" - the Socialist Revolutionaries, who formed into a party in 1902 as a result of the unification of the populists. groups and circles: "Workers' Party of Political Liberation", "Union of Socialist Revolutionaries", "Group of Old People's Will" and others. Study of N. Revolutionary-Democratic. post-reform movement. Russia was closely observed and studied by K. Marx and F. Engels. Welcoming the struggle of the revolutionaries. populists against tsarism, they at the same time criticized the petty bourgeoisie. ideas rus. utopian socialism. The study of N. in Russia began in the 1880s. and until 1905-07 Ch. arr. in the form of collecting materials, publishing first memoirs and journalistic works. essays (P. B. Akselrod, S. M. Stepnyak-Kravchinsky, O. V. Aptekman). In 1895-96, P. L. Lavrov’s book “Populists Propagandists 1873-1878” was published in Geneva. Plekhanov in his works “Socialism and the Political Struggle”, “Our Differences”, “On the Question of the Development of a Monistic View of History” and others from the perspective of history. subjected to materialism will decide. criticism of all directions of N., the theory of “originality” of history. development of Russia, revealed the inconsistency of the populist. the concepts of “hero” and “crowd”, convincingly proved the principles of scientific. understanding of history. Plekhanov was the first in Russian history. society thoughts proved the existence and development of capitalism in Russia. He showed that the future of revolution. Russia is connected with the working class and the revolution must first of all rely on it. intelligentsia. Plekhanov substantiated the need to create a Russian proletarian, social-democratic parties. Plekhanov dealt N. the first serious ideological blows. However, Plekhanov was unable to give a clear analysis of the class. roots of N., its social soil and history. conditionality. Lenin did this later. Lenin in his works “What are the friends of the people and how they fight against the Social Democrats”, “The economic content of populism and its criticism in Mr. Struve’s book”, “The development of capitalism in Russia”, etc. , subjecting to in-depth analysis of economics. relations in Russia, completed the ideological defeat of N. and clearly defined the tasks of the Russians. Social-Democrats Lenin created the Marxist concept of the history of N., revealed its social class. essence. Lenin exposed anti-science. the views of the populists, whose ideology was based on subjective sociology, which ignored the objective laws of societies. development, which denied the very concept of history. necessary. Lenin showed three characteristic features of N. Firstly, the recognition of capitalism in Russia as a decline, a regression, and hence the desire of the populists to delay and stop the development of capitalism. Secondly, faith in the originality of Russians. economical building, russian the peasantry with its community in particular, the idealization of the cross. communities. Thirdly, the denial of the connection between the intelligentsia and legal and political. institutions of the country with the material interests of certain classes; hence the recognition of the intelligentsia as an omnipotent force capable of “dragging history” wherever it pleases. Lenin showed a serious evolution, which N. experienced, turning from a revolutionary-democratic. currents into moderate-liberal. Lenin emphasized the importance of revolution. N. as the predecessor of the Russian. social democracy. On the other hand, he exposed the liberal populists as imaginary “friends of the people” who abandoned the revolutionaries. struggle and seeking reconciliation with tsarism. Lenin showed that N., which at one time was a progressive phenomenon, by the 90s. has become a reactionary theory, “...playing into the hands of stagnation and all sorts of Asianism” (Works, vol. 2, p. 483). By exposing N.'s ideology, Lenin contributed to the establishment of Marxism in Russia. revolutionary movement. Already before 1905-07, an official-protective tendency appeared in the historiography of N. (A. P. Malshinsky, Review of the Social Revolutionary Movement in Russia, St. Petersburg, 1880; N. N. Golitsyn, History of the Social Revolutionary Movement in Russia. 1861-1881, St. Petersburg, 1887; "Chronicle of the socialist movement in Russia 1878-1887", St. Petersburg, 1890 (in French); S. S. Tatishchev, Emperor Alexander II. His life and reign, vol. 1 -2, St. Petersburg, 1903). First Russian the revolution increased interest and expanded opportunities for the study of revolutionaries. N. Valuable memories (Kovalik, S. S. Sineguba, M. P. Frolenko, M. Yu. Aschenbrenner, etc.), documents are published in the journal. "Past", " Past years", "The Voice of the Past". The memoirs of V. K. Debogory-Mokrievich, Kropotkin, N. A. Morozov and other populists are published in separate editions. Under the editorship of V. Ya. Bogucharsky (B. Bazilevsky), the collection "State . crimes in Russia in the 19th century.", "Literature of the Nar party. will", "Revolutionary journalism of the seventies." The revolution of 1905-07 allowed V.I. Lenin to determine the real content and social significance of N., establish the periodization of the revolutionary movement in Russia, and explore the evolution of revolutionary democracy ("Small-burger and proletarian socialism." "From the Past working press in Russia", "In Memory of Herzen", "Populists about N.K. Mikhailovsky", "On Populism", etc.). After 1905-07, books by bourgeois liberal historians appeared (L. Barrivé, Liberation movement in reign of Alexander II, M., 1909; A. A. Kornilov, Social movement under Alexander II, M., 1909; V. Ya. Bogucharsky, Active populism of the seventies, M., 1912, and his own, From the history of political struggle in the 70s and 80s of the 19th century, M., 1912). They collected a large amount of material on the history of N., but there is no social basis, the ideology of N. Oct. is interpreted idealistically. The revolution of 1917 determined a radical change in the study of N. Archives were opened for researchers, memoirs began to be published (Figner, M. P. Sazhina, A. N. Bach, etc.), and collections were published. op. Bakunin, Lavrov, Tkachev, collection. Doc. On this source.

Populism is an ideological movement of a radical nature that opposed serfdom, for the overthrow of the autocracy or for the global reform of the Russian Empire. As a result of the actions of populism, Alexander 2 was killed, after which the organization actually disintegrated. Neo-populism was restored in the late 1890s in the form of the activities of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.

Main dates:

• 1874-1875 – “the movement of populism among the people.”
• 1876 ​​– creation of “Land and Freedom”.
• 1879 – “Land and Freedom” splits into “People’s Will” and “Black Redistribution”.
• March 1, 1881 – murder of Alexander 2.

Prominent historical figures populism:

1. Bakunin Mikhail Aleksandrovich is one of the key ideologists of populism in Russia.
2. Lavrov Petr Lavrovich - scientist. He also acted as an ideologist of populism.
3. Chernyshevsky Nikolai Gavrilovich - writer and public figure. The ideologist of populism and the speaker of its basic ideas.
4. Zhelyabov Andrey Ivanovich - was part of the management of “Narodnaya Volya”, one of the organizers of the assassination attempt on Alexander 2.
5. Nechaev Sergei Gennadievich - author of the "Catechism of a Revolutionary", an active revolutionary.
6. Tkachev Petr Nikolaevich is an active revolutionary, one of the ideologists of the movement.

The ideology of revolutionary populism

Revolutionary populism in Russia originated in the 60s of the 19th century. Initially it was called not “populism”, but “public socialism”. The author of this theory was A.I. Herzen N.G. Chernyshevsky.

Russia has a unique chance to transition to socialism, bypassing capitalism. The main element of the transition should be the peasant community with its elements of collective land use. In this sense, Russia should become an example for the rest of the world.

Herzen A.I.

Why is Populism called revolutionary? Because it called for the overthrow of the autocracy by any means, including through terror. Today, some historians say that this was the innovation of the populists, but this is not so. The same Herzen, in his idea of ​​“public socialism,” said that terror and revolution are one of the methods of achieving the goal (albeit an extreme method).

Ideological trends of populism in the 70s

In the 70s, populism entered a new stage, when the organization was actually divided into 3 different ideological movements. These currents had common goal- the overthrow of the autocracy, but the methods of achieving this goal varied.

Ideological currents of populism:

• Propaganda. Ideologist – P.L. Lavrov. The main idea is that historical processes should be led by thinking people. Therefore, populism must go to the people and enlighten them.
• Rebellious. Ideologist – M.A. Bakunin. The main idea was that propaganda ideas were supported. The difference is that Bakunin spoke not simply about enlightening the people, but about calling them to take up arms against their oppressors.
• Conspiratorial. Ideologist – P.N. Tkachev. The main idea is that the monarchy in Russia is weak. Therefore, there is no need to work with the people, but to create a secret organization that will carry out a coup and seize power.

All directions developed in parallel.

Joining the People is a mass movement that began in 1874, in which thousands of young people in Russia took part. In fact, they implemented the ideology of Lavrov and Bakunin’s populism, conducting propaganda with village residents. They moved from one village to another, distributed propaganda materials to people, talked with people, calling them to take active action, explaining that they could not continue to live like this. For greater persuasiveness, entering the people presupposed the use of peasant clothing and conversation in a language understandable to the peasants. But this ideology was greeted with suspicion by the peasants. They were wary of strangers who spoke “terrible speeches,” and also thought completely differently from the representatives of populism. Here, for example, is one of the documented conversations:

- “Who owns the land? Isn’t she God’s?” - says Morozov, one of the active participants in joining the people.

- “It’s God’s where no one lives. And where people live is human land,” was the peasants’ answer.

It is obvious that populism had difficulty imagining the way of thinking ordinary people, which means their propaganda was extremely ineffective. Largely because of this, by the fall of 1874, “entering the people” began to fade away. By this time, repressions by the Russian government began against those who “walked.”

In 1876, the organization “Land and Freedom” was created. It was a secret organization that pursued one goal - the establishment of the Republic. The peasant war was chosen to achieve this goal. Therefore, starting from 1876, the main efforts of populism were directed towards preparing for this war. The following areas were chosen for preparation:

• Propaganda. Again the members of “Land and Freedom” addressed the people. They found jobs as teachers, doctors, paramedics, and minor officials. In these positions, they agitated the people for war, following the example of Razin and Pugachev. But once again, the propaganda of populism among the peasants did not produce any effect. The peasants did not believe these people.
• Individual terror. In fact, we are talking about disorganization work, in which terror was carried out against prominent and capable statesmen. By the spring of 1879, as a result of terror, the head of the gendarmes N.V. Mezentsev and Governor of Kharkov D.N. Kropotkin. In addition, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Alexander 2.

By the summer of 1879, “Land and Freedom” split into two organizations: “Black Redistribution” and “People’s Will”. This was preceded by a congress of populists in St. Petersburg, Voronezh and Lipetsk.

Black redistribution

The “black redistribution” was headed by G.V. Plekhanov. He called for an abandonment of terror and a return to propaganda. The idea was that the peasants were simply not yet ready for the information that populism brought upon them, but soon the peasants would begin to understand everything and “take up their pitchforks” themselves.

People's will

“Narodnaya Volya” was controlled by A.I. Zhelyabov, A.D. Mikhailov, S.L. Petrovskaya. They also called for the active use of terror as a method of political struggle. Their goal was clear - the Russian Tsar, who began to be hunted from 1879 to 1881 (8 attempts). For example, this led to the assassination attempt on Alexander 2 in Ukraine. The king survived, but 60 people died.

The end of the activities of populism and brief results

As a result of the assassination attempts on the emperor, unrest began among the people. In this situation, Alexander 2 created a special commission, headed by M.T. Loris-Melikov. This man intensified the fight against populism and its terror, and also proposed a draft law whereby certain elements of local government could be transferred under the control of “electors.” In fact, this was what the peasants demanded, which means this step significantly strengthened the monarchy. This draft law was to be signed by Alexander 2 on March 4, 1881. But on March 1, the populists committed another terrorist act, killing the emperor.

Alexander 3 came to power. “Narodnaya Volya” was closed, the entire leadership was arrested and executed by court verdict. The terror that the Narodnaya Volya unleashed was not perceived by the population as an element of the struggle for the liberation of the peasants. In fact, we are talking about the meanness of this organization, which set itself high and correct goals, but to achieve them chose the most vile and base opportunities.

In the countries of Western Europe it made a deep impression on Herzen, giving rise to disbelief in European socialism and disappointment in it. Comparing the destinies of Russia and the West, Herzen came to the conclusion that socialism must first establish itself in Russia and its main “cell” will be the peasant land community. Peasant communal land ownership, the peasant idea of ​​the right to land and secular self-government will, according to Herzen, be the basis for building a socialist society. This is how Herzen’s “Russian (or communal) socialism” arose.

Herzen’s “Russian socialism” was focused on the peasantry as its social base, and therefore also received the name “peasant socialism.” Its main goals were to free peasants with land without any ransom, eliminate landlordism, introduce peasant communal self-government independent of local authorities, and democratize the country. “To preserve the community and liberate the individual, to extend rural and volost self-government to cities, to the state as a whole, while maintaining national unity, to develop private rights and preserve the indivisibility of the land - this is the main question of the revolution,” wrote Herzen. These provisions of Herzen were subsequently adopted by the populists, which is why he is called the founder, “forerunner” of populism.

The idea of ​​communal socialism, formulated by Herzen, was developed by N. G. Chernyshevsky. But, unlike Herzen, Chernyshevsky looked at the community differently. For him, the community is a patriarchal institution of Russian life, which is called upon first to fulfill the role of a “comradely form of production” in parallel with capitalist production. Then it will displace the capitalist economy and finally establish collective production and consumption. After this, the community will disappear as a form of production association.

Originating in the 1870s, the term is used in relation to different trends social movement. Thus, in the early 1880s, when there was a fierce debate between “liberal” journalism and street patriotism, the word “populists” sometimes denoted representatives of crude chauvinism and unbridled instincts of the crowd. The concept of “populism” was often used as a synonym for democracy and, in general, interest in the common people. Thus, in reviews of Russian literature they usually singled out general group“populist fiction writers” and included in it both G.I. Uspensky and N.N. Zlatovratsky, although they are representatives of very different views on folk life. Almost none of the writers and publicists recognized the name “populist” for themselves. Only Kablitz-Yuzov called his views “the foundations of populism,” which greatly contributed to the fact that many, who in the essence of their views came very close to populism, protested against calling them populists. In Yuzov’s populism there was too much reconciliation with phenomena that outraged civic feeling, and what was even more repulsive were the crude attacks on the intelligentsia, the calling of such writers as N.K. Mikhailovsky, A.N. Pypin and others, “liberal vigilantes,” etc. d.

Currents

Within the framework of the populist movement, there were two main currents - moderate (liberal) and radical (revolutionary). Representatives of the moderate movement sought non-violent social, political and economic changes. Representatives of the radical movement, who considered themselves followers of Chernyshevsky, sought to quickly violently overthrow the existing regime and immediately implement the ideals of socialism.

Also, according to the degree of radicalism in populism, the following directions can be distinguished: (1) conservative, (2) liberal-revolutionary, (3) social-revolutionary, (4) anarchist.

Conservative direction

The conservative (right) wing of populism was closely associated with the Slavophiles (Apollon Grigoriev, N. N. Strakhov). His activities were represented mainly by the work of journalists, employees of the Week magazine P. P. Chervinsky and I. I. Kablitsa-Yuzov.

In the legal press, the most striking expression of the populist mood of the 70s. there was a fuss made about the “village” issue. A short article in "The Week" () about why literature has fallen into decay, signed with unknown initials P.Ch. and which belonged to the pen of the writer P. P. Chervinsky, who never again attracted the attention of a large public, created a whole literature of magazine and newspaper articles that long and diligently analyzed the thesis of the article that the intelligentsia should learn morality from the “village”. Among the people who supported this was K.D. Kavelin, who was involved in communal land ownership.

The people's “foundations” (the communal principle, the artel principle and the ferment of religious thought) were not only recognized as a phenomenon worthy of respect, but were placed above the spiritual foundations of the intelligentsia. The new attitude towards the people was especially noticeable in the number of articles devoted to folk life, and in their general direction. “Muzhik fiction” was particularly distinguished by its desire to idealize the people.

The famous researcher A. Ya. Efimenko showed the high moral meaning of many principles underlying Russian customary law. Around the same time, the formation of special commissions in the Geographical and Volny Economic societies for the study of customary law, communal land tenure, schism, artels and a number of works (A. S. Posnikov, P. A. Sokolovsky, V. Orlov, S. Ya. Kapustin, Yakushkin, Prugavin, V. E. Varzara, P. S Efimenko and others), dedicated to the scientific statement of the remarkable “features” of our national life. In this form, Russian “peculiarities” were also recognized by opponents of the “village”.

Reformist (liberal or legal) direction

It took shape at the turn of the 70-80s. XIX century Its ideologists were N.K. Mikhailovsky, S.N. Krivenko, S.N. Yuzhakov, I.I. Kablitz, V.P. Vorontsov and others.

Ivanov-Razumnik characterized reformist populism as “dogmatic”, “optimistic”, “uncritical” in contrast to the “critical” revolutionary.

L. A. Tikhomirov in the article “What is populism?” praised Kablitz and Vorontsov, noting that in their works “populism has lost its revolutionary character.”

V.I. Lenin attributed the prevalence of the liberal tendency among the ideologists of populism to the 80-90s. 19th century

Liberal-revolutionary direction

The liberal-revolutionary (centrist) wing in the 1860-1870s was represented by G. Z. Eliseev (editor of the Sovremennik magazine, 1846-1866), N. N. Zlatovratsky, L. E. Obolensky, N. K. Mikhailovsky, V. G. Korolenko (“Notes of the Fatherland”, 1868-1884), S. N. Krivenko, S. N. Yuzhakov, V. P. Vorontsov, N. F. Danielson, V. V. Lesevich, G. I. Uspensky, A.P. Shchapov (“Russian wealth”, 1876-1918).

The leading ideologists of this trend in populism (referred to as “propaganda” in Soviet historiography, and “moderate” in post-Soviet history) were P. L. Lavrov and N. K. Mikhailovsky.

Social revolutionary direction

In Soviet historiography this trend was called “conspiratorial” or “Blanquist”. The main theorists of the social revolutionary current of Russian populism are P. N. Tkachev and, to a certain extent, N. A. Morozov. Tkachev argued that autocracy in Russia does not have social support in any class of Russian society and it can be quickly eliminated. To do this, the “carriers of the revolutionary idea,” the radical part of the intelligentsia, had to create a strictly conspiratorial organization capable of seizing power and turning the country into a large community-commune.

Anarchist direction

If Tkachev and his followers believed in the political unification of like-minded people in the name of creating a new type of state, the anarchists disputed the need for reforms within the state. Their ideologists were M. A. Bakunin and P. A. Kropotkin. Both of them were skeptical of any power, considering it to suppress the freedom of the individual and enslave it.

Bakunin considered the Russian person to be a rebel “by instinct, by vocation,” and the people as a whole, he believed, had already developed the ideal of freedom over the course of many centuries. Therefore, he believed that the revolutionaries only had to move on to organizing a nationwide revolt (hence the name “rebellious” in Marxist historiography for the wing of populism he led). The purpose of a rebellion according to Bakunin is not only the liquidation of the existing state, but also the prevention of the creation of a new one.

Kropotkin emphasized the decisive role of the masses in the reconstruction of society and called on the “collective mind” of the people to create communes, autonomies, and federations.

History of revolutionary populism

Illegal and semi-legal populist circles began revolutionary work “among the people” even before the abolition of serfdom in 1861. In terms of methods of struggle for the idea, these first circles differed markedly: propaganda and conspiratorial directions already existed within the framework of the movement of the “sixties” (populists of the 1860s) .

A student propaganda circle existed at Kharkov University (1856-1858); in 1861, a circle of propagandists P. E. Agriropulo and P. G. Zaichnevsky was created in Moscow. Its members considered it necessary to overthrow the monarchy through revolution. They imagined the political structure of Russia in the form of a federal union of regions headed by an elected national assembly.

In 1861-1864, the most influential secret society in St. Petersburg was the first “Land and Freedom”. Its members (A. A. Sleptsov, N. A. Serno-Solovyevich, A. A. Serno-Solovyevich, N. N. Obruchev, V. S. Kurochkin, N. I. Utin, S. S. Rymarenko), inspired by the ideas of A. I. Herzen and N. G. Chernyshevsky, they dreamed of creating “conditions for revolution.” They were waiting for her by 1863 - after the completion of the signing of charter documents for the peasants for the land. The society, which had a place for distributing printed materials (the bookstore of A. A. Serno-Solovyevich and the Chess Club) developed its own program - transferring land to peasants for ransom, replacing government officials with elected officials, reducing expenses for the army and the royal court. However, these program provisions did not receive widespread support among the people, and the organization dissolved itself, remaining undiscovered by the tsarist security authorities.

From a circle adjacent to “Land and Freedom”, in 1863-1866 in Moscow, a secret revolutionary society of N. A. Ishutin (“Ishutintsev”) grew up, the goal of which was to prepare a peasant revolution through a conspiracy of intellectual groups. In 1865, members of it were P. D. Ermolov, M. N. Zagibalov, N. P. Stranden, D. A. Yurasov, D. V. Karakozov, P. F. Nikolaev, V. N. Shaganov, O. A Motkov established connections with the St. Petersburg underground through I. A. Khudyakov, as well as with Polish revolutionaries, Russian political emigration and provincial circles in Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga province, etc. Trying to implement Chernyshevsky’s ideas on creating artels and workshops, making them the first step in the future socialist transformation of society, they created a free school in Moscow in 1865, a bookbinding (1864) and sewing (1865) workshops, a cotton factory in Mozhaisk district, on the basis of an association (1865), negotiated the creation of a commune with the workers of the Lyudinovsky ironworks in Kaluga province.

By the beginning of 1866, the “Ishuta people” had a small but united central leadership (“Hell”), a secret society proper (“Organization”) and legal “Mutual Aid Societies” adjoining it. The “Ishutintsy” prepared Chernyshevsky’s escape from hard labor (1865-1866), but their successful activities were interrupted on April 4, 1866 by an assassination attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander II by one of the circle members, D.V. Karakozov, which was not coordinated with his comrades. More than 2 thousand populists came under investigation in the “regicide case”; of these, 36 were sentenced to various penalties.

In 1869, the organization “People's Retribution” began its activities in Moscow and St. Petersburg (77 people headed by S. G. Nechaev). Its goal was also to prepare a “people's peasant revolution.” Members of the organization found themselves victims of blackmail and intrigue by its leader. When a member of the “People’s Retribution” student I. I. Ivanov spoke out against its leader, he was accused of treason by Nechaev and killed. This crime was discovered by the police, the organization was destroyed, Nechaev himself fled abroad, but was arrested there and extradited Russian authorities and tried as a criminal.

The 1870s highlight boundless love of the people; “Repentant nobles” (in the apt expression of N.K. Mikhailovsky) devote their lives entirely to making amends for the peasants for the centuries-old guilt of the nobility-intelligentsia. From the late 1860s to major cities There were several dozen populist circles in Russia. One of them, created by S. L. Perovskaya (1871), joined the “Big Propaganda Society”, headed by M. A. Nathanson. The “Tchaikovsky” circle (N.V. Tchaikovsky had relations with the legal world, so the name after his name is conditional) included such future famous revolutionaries as S. M. Kravchinsky, P. A. Kropotkin, F. V. Volkhovsky, S. S. Sinegub, N. A. Charushin, etc.

Having read and discussed the works of Bakunin a lot, the “Chaikovites” considered the peasants to be “spontaneous socialists” who only had to be “awakened” - to awaken their “socialist instincts”, for which it was proposed to conduct propaganda among the capital’s otkhodnik workers, who at times returned from the city to the village.

In the spring and summer of 1874, the “Chaikovites,” and after them members of other circles, went to conduct propaganda in the villages of the Moscow, Tver, Kursk and Voronezh provinces. This movement was called the “flying action”, and later - the “first walk among the people”. Moving from village to village, hundreds of students, high school students, young intellectuals, dressed in peasant clothes and trying to talk like peasants, handed out literature and convinced the peasants that tsarism “can no longer be tolerated.” But the peasants were wary of strangers; their calls were regarded as strange and dangerous. According to the recollections of the populists themselves, they treated stories about a “bright future” as fairy tales (“If you don’t like it, don’t listen, and don’t bother lying!”). N.A. Morozov, in particular, recalled that he asked the peasants: “Isn’t it God’s land? General?" - and heard in response: “God’s place where no one lives. And where there are people, there it is human.” By the fall of 1874, the “going to the people” began to decline and government repression began. By the end of 1875, more than 900 participants in the movement (out of 1,000 activists) as well as about 8 thousand sympathizers and followers were arrested and convicted, including in the most high-profile case - the “Trial of the 193s”.

At the end of 1874, a group called the “All-Russian Social Revolutionary Organization” was created in Moscow. After the arrests and trials of 1875 - early 1876, it became entirely part of the new, second “Land and Freedom” created in 1876 (so named in memory of its predecessors). Those who worked there were M. A. and O. A. Nathanson (husband and wife), G. V. Plekhanov, L. A. Tikhomirov, O. V. Aptekman, A. A. Kvyatkovsky, D. A. Lizogub, A D. Mikhailov, later S. L. Perovskaya, A. I. Zhelyabov, V. I. Figner and others insisted on observing the principles of secrecy, the subordination of the minority to the majority. This organization was a hierarchically structured union, headed by a governing body (“Administration”), to which “groups” (“villagers”, “working group”, “disorganizers”, etc.) were subordinate. The organization had branches in Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkov and other cities. It was assumed that a peasant revolution would be carried out, the organization's program stipulated that the principles of collectivism and anarchism (Bakunism) would be the foundations of the state structure, along with the socialization of the land and the replacement of the state with a federation of communities.

In 1877, “Land and Freedom” included about 60 people, sympathizers - approx. 150. Her ideas were disseminated through the social revolutionary review “Land and Freedom” (Petersburg, No. 1-5, October 1878 - April 1879) and the appendix to it “Leaflet “Land and Freedom” (Petersburg, No. 1-6, March- June 1879). Some supporters of propaganda work insisted on a transition from “flying propaganda” to the settlement of revolutionaries in the countryside for a long time to conduct propaganda (this movement received the name “second going to the people” in the literature). This time, propagandists first mastered crafts, who were supposed to be useful in the countryside, became doctors, paramedics, clerks, teachers, blacksmiths, woodcutters. Sedentary settlements of propagandists arose first in the Volga region (center - Saratov province), then in the Don region and some other provinces. A “working group” was also created In order to continue agitation in factories and enterprises in St. Petersburg, Kharkov and Rostov, "Land and Freedom" organized the first demonstration in Russian history - on December 6, 1876 at the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. A banner with the slogan “Land and Freedom” was unfurled on it, and G. V. Plekhanov gave a speech.

The populists of the South of the Russian Empire took the path of terrorism, presenting it as an organization of acts of self-defense and revenge for the atrocities of the tsarist administration. Then, on January 24, 1878, V.I. Zasulich made an attempt on the life of the St. Petersburg mayor F.F. Trepov, who ordered the flogging of a political prisoner-student. In the same month, the circle of V. N. Osinsky - D. A. Lizogub, operating in Kyiv and Odessa, organized the murders of police agent A. G. Nikonov, gendarme colonel G. E. Geiking (the initiator of the expulsion of revolutionary-minded students) and Kharkov general -Governor D.N. Kropotkin. On August 4, 1878, S. M. Stepnyak-Kravchinsky killed the St. Petersburg chief of gendarmes N. A. Mezentsev with a dagger in response to his signing the verdict on the execution of the revolutionary Kovalsky. On March 13, 1879, an attempt was made on the life of Mezentsev’s successor, General A. R. Drenteln. Leaflet "Land and Freedom" ( Chief Editor- N.A. Morozov) finally turned into an organ of terrorists.

The response to the terrorist attacks of the Land Volunteers was repression. A dozen show political trials took place across Russia with sentences of 10-15 years of hard labor for printed and oral propaganda; 16 death sentences were handed down (1879) just for “belonging to a criminal community” (this was judged by proclamations found in the house, proven facts transfer of money to the revolutionary treasury, etc.). Under these conditions, many members of the organization assessed the preparation by A.K. Solovyov of the assassination attempt on the emperor on April 2, 1879 ambiguously: some of them protested against the terrorist attack, believing that it would ruin the cause of revolutionary propaganda.

In May 1879, terrorists created the group “Freedom or Death”. On June 15, 1879, supporters of active action gathered in Lipetsk to develop additions to the organization’s program and a common position. On June 19-21, 1879, at a congress in Voronezh, landowners tried to resolve the contradictions between terrorists and propagandists and maintain the unity of the organization, but were unsuccessful: on August 15, 1879, “Land and Freedom” disintegrated.

Those who considered it necessary to abandon the methods of terror (Plekhanov, L. G. Deitch, P. B. Axelrod, Zasulich, etc.) united in a new political entity, calling it “Black redistribution" (meaning the redistribution of land on the basis of peasant customary law, “in black”).

Supporters of terror created the organization “People's Will”. In a short period of time, within a year, the Narodnaya Volunteers created a branched organization headed by the Executive Committee. It included 36 people, including Zhelyabov, Mikhailov, Perovskaya, Figner, M.F. Frolenko. The Executive Committee was subordinate to about 80 territorial groups and about 500 of the most active Narodnaya Volya members in the center and locally, who in turn managed to unite several thousand like-minded people. The People's Will made 5 attempts on the life of Alexander II (the first was on November 18, 1879). On March 1, 1881, the emperor was killed by them.

After this, mass arrests began, culminating in a series of trials (“Trial of the 20,” “Trial of the 17,” “Trial of the 14,” etc.). The execution of members of the Narodnaya Volya Executive Committee was completed by the destruction of its local organizations. In total, from 1881 to 1884, about 10 thousand people were repressed.

16 populists-“villagers” who broke away from “Land and Freedom” and entered the “Black Redistribution” (Plekhanov, Zasulich, Deitch, Aptekman, Ya. V. Stefanovich and others) received some part Money and a printing house in Smolensk, which published the newspaper “Zerno” for workers and peasants (1880-1881), but it was also soon destroyed. They continued to work among the military and students, and organized circles in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tula and Kharkov. After the arrest of some of the Black Peredelites at the end of 1881 - beginning of 1882, Plekhanov, Zasulich, Deitch and Stefanovich emigrated to Switzerland, where, having become familiar with Marxist ideas, they created the “Liberation of Labor” group in 1883 in Geneva.

In 1885, a congress of southern Narodnaya Volya members met in Yekaterinoslav (B. D. Orzhikh, V. G. Bogoraz, and others). At the end of December 1886, the “Terrorist faction of the People’s Will” party arose in St. Petersburg (A. I. Ulyanov, P. Ya. Shevyrev and others). They were close to Marxism - they did not recognize the fact of the existence of capitalism in Russia, they focused on the workers - “the core of the socialist party.” People's Will and ideologically close organizations continued to operate in the 1890s in Kostroma, Vladimir, and Yaroslavl. In 1891, the “Group of People’s Will” worked in St. Petersburg, and the “South Russian Group of People’s Will” worked in Kyiv.

In 1893-1894, the “Social Revolutionary Party of People's Law” (M. A. Nathanson, P. N. Nikolaev, N. N. Tyutchev and others) set the task of uniting the anti-government forces of the country, but it failed. Marxism grew in popularity among revolutionary youth.

In the second half of the 1890s, small populist groups and circles that existed in St. Petersburg, Penza, Poltava, Voronezh, Kharkov, Odessa united into the Southern Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (1900), others - into the “Union of Socialist Revolutionaries” (1901). Their organizers were M.R. Gots, O.S. Minor and others - former populists. In 1902, the Socialist Revolutionary Party was created, whose ideology was populism.

"Theory of small affairs"

In the 1880s and 1890s, the popularity of revolutionary ideas decreased. The so-called “small business theory” has become popular. An employee of the Nedelya newspaper, Ya. V. Abramov, argued in the 1890s that the task of the intelligentsia is to help the peasantry overcome difficulties market economy; at the same time he pointed to possible form Such practice is activity in zemstvos. Abramov appealed to doctors, teachers, and agronomists to help the situation of the Russian peasant with their own labor. Essentially, Abramov put forward the idea of ​​a depoliticized “going to the people” under the slogan of doing small things for the sake of the people.

From the mid-1880s, the main print organ of the liberal populists became the magazine “Russian Wealth”, published since 1880 by an artel of writers (N. N. Zlatovratsky, S. N. Krivenko, E. M. Garshin, etc.). Since 1893 new edition magazine (N.K. Mikhailovsky, V.G. Korolenko, N.F. Annensky) made it the center of public discussions on issues of village life.

The writers grouped around the magazine “New Word” and whose main theorist was V.P. Vorontsov, who proposed a program of state regulation of the economy, during which the peasant economy could adapt to commodity-money relations, did not call themselves “populists,” but and did not mind when others called them that.

In the 80s and 90s. The development of the populist mood was facilitated by A. N. Engelhardt, with his exhortations to “sit down on the ground,” and Leo Tolstoy, with his simplification, which is based on the idea of ​​​​the moral superiority of the people over the educated classes.

Literature

• Koni, A. F. Memoirs of the case of Vera Zasulich, M., 1956.
• Lyashenko L. M. Revolutionary populists. - M., 1989.
• Yuzov-Kablits, “Fundamentals of Populism”;
• Mikhailovsky, “Notes of a Profane” and “Literature and Life” (in “Russian Wealth”),
• Pypin, “History of Russian ethnography”; volume 1, volume 2
• V.V. (V.P. Vorontsov), “Our Directions” (St. Petersburg, );
• Volgin, “Substantiation of N. in the works of V.P. Vorontsov” (St. Petersburg, 1896);
• Yuzhakov, “Sociological Studies” (vol. II).
• Russian history. 1861-1917. Textbook for universities. - M.: Higher. school, 2001

Notes

see also

Links

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Scientific Communism: A Dictionary (1983) / Populist Socialism
• N. Troitsky. The madness of the brave. Russian revolutionaries and the punitive policy of tsarism 1866-1882.
• Cryptographic activities of revolutionaries in Russia in the 20s - 70s of the 19th century: successes and failures
• Cryptographic activities of the organizations "Land and Freedom" and "People's Will" in Russia in 1876-1881
• Cryptographic activities of revolutionaries in Russia. 1881-1887: the agony of “Narodnaya Volya”
• Worldview of populism; in the book: M. Insarov. Essays on the history of the revolutionary movement in Russia (1790-1890)
• Zhukotsky V. Social-humanistic paradigm of Russian populism

The founders of the theory of “Russian socialism” ( populism) were performed by A.I. Herzen, N.G. Chernyshevsky, N.P. Ogarev, N.A. Dobrolyubov, M.A. Bakunin. They set as their goal “the achievement of socialism as a society of justice.” Herzen's main ideas were as follows: the goal can be achieved using the rural community with its collectivism and self-government; Russia needs to overcome capitalism, the vices of which are corroding Europe, and therefore it should move along a non-capitalist path: from serfdom to socialism; it is desirable to avoid revolution, and carry out transformations with the help of radical reforms from above. At one time, Herzen believed that Russia should be called to the axe, but in the end he realized the danger of a peasant revolution, which in Russian conditions would inevitably take the form of an all-destructive rebellion. He counted only on radical reforms under pressure from society: the elimination of serfdom, the provision of land to peasants without redemption, the preservation of the community, the introduction of civil liberties and democratic government.

In the conditions of the political crisis at the turn of the 1850-60s. Revolutionaries who supported the theory of “Russian socialism” intensified their activities. Intensified peasant unrest gave hope for the possibility of an uprising in Russia. In the summer and autumn of 1861, revolutionaries distributed proclamations (“Velikoruss,” “To the Young Generation,” etc.) calling on young people, “educated society,” peasants and soldiers to prepare for the fight.

In 1862, a group of revolutionaries (M.L. Mikhailov, N.N. Obruchev, N.A. Serno-Solovyevich, A.A. Sleptsov, N.V. Shelgunov) organized the conspiratorial organization “Land and Freedom”, distributed illegal literature published in the “Free Russian Printing House” by A.I. Herzen in London and in secret printing houses in Russia. They were preparing for an uprising scheduled for 1863. After the arrest of the leaders (1862) and the failure of plans for an armed uprising in the Volga region (1863), the Central Committee of Land and Freedom suspended its activities in the spring of 1864.

In the 1860s. in the wake of denial of the existing order, ideology spread among student youth nihilism. Denying philosophy, art, morality, and religion, the nihilists called themselves materialists and preached “egoism based on reason.”

Under the influence of socialist ideas, for example, the novel by N.G. Chernyshevsky’s “What is to be done?”, artels, workshops, and communes arose, whose members hoped to prepare for the socialist transformation of society by spreading collective property and collective labor. Having failed, they disbanded or moved on to revolutionary activities. On April 4, 1866, a member of one of the underground organizations (“ Ishutinians") student D.V. Karakozov made an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Alexander II. In 1871, society was outraged by the murder of student Ivanov, a member of the secret society “People's Retribution”. He was killed for disobedience at the insistence of the head of the society S.G. Nechaev, who sought unquestioning submission and declared permissiveness in the name of the revolution. From the trial Nechaevites the era of political processes began (more than 80 in total), which became an integral part of public life until the early 1880s.

In the 1870s. Several similar movements of utopian socialism emerged, called “populism.” The populists believed that thanks to the peasant community (“a cell of socialism”) and the qualities of the peasant community worker (“a revolutionary by instinct,” “a born communist”), Russia would be able to directly transition to a socialist system. Views of populism theorists M.A. Bakunin (rebellious direction), P.L. Lavrova (propaganda), P.N. Tkachev (conspiratorial) differed on issues of tactics, but they all saw the main obstacle to socialism in state power and believed that a secret organization, revolutionary leaders should rouse the people to revolt and lead them to freedom.

At the turn of the 1860-70s. Numerous student circles arose in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Among them stood out the society " Tchaikovsky"(N.V. Tchaikovsky, A.I. Zhelyabov, D.A. Clements, S.M. Kravchinsky, P.A. Kropotkin, N.A. Morozov, M.A. Natanson, S.P. Perovskaya and others. ). Members of the society conducted propaganda among workers and peasants.

In the spring of 1874, members of various populist circles went to the villages in order to speed up the preparation of the peasant uprising. They held meetings, talked about the oppression of the people, and called for disobedience to the authorities. " Walking among the people"continued for several years. Many populists settled in the village as teachers, doctors, etc. However, their calls did not find a response; often the peasants handed over the propagandists to the police.

At the end of 1876, the populist organization “ Land and freedom" Its center (L.G. Deich, V.I. Zasulich, S.M. Kravchinsky, A.D. Mikhailov, N.A. Morozov, M.A. Nathanson, S.L. Perovskaya, G.V. Plekhanov , V.N. Figner) led the activities of various groups. Landlords created several permanent settlements in the villages to conduct revolutionary propaganda. Soon, two trends arose in “Land and Freedom”: some were inclined to continue propaganda work, others considered terrorist activity to be the only means of bringing the revolution closer. In August 1879, its final collapse occurred. Propaganda supporters united in " Black redistribution", supporters of terror - in " People's will" The “Black Redistribution”, which united circles in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities, lasted until 1881.

"People's Will" united circles of students, workers, and officers. Its leadership included A.I. Zhelyabov, A.D. Mikhailov, N.A. Morozov, S.L. Perovskaya, V.N. Figner and others. In 1879, the Narodnaya Volya members, hoping to cause a political crisis and seize power, committed a number of terrorist acts. In August 1879, the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya sentenced Alexander II to death. After several assassination attempts, on March 1, 1881 in St. Petersburg, Alexander II was mortally wounded by a bomb thrown by Narodnaya Volya member I.I. Grinevitsky. However, the assassination of the emperor did not cause anti-government protests. Most members of the EC were executed by court verdict.

The Narodnaya Volya Committee existed until 1884, but even after its defeat, disparate groups of Narodnaya Volya continued to operate. March 1, 1887 under the leadership of A.I. Ulyanov, an unsuccessful attempt was made on the life of Alexander III.