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Soviet Union [USSR] The Rise of Revolutionary Populism and Russian Marxism, 1855- 90
The reforms of Alexander II, particularly his lifting of state
censorship, fostered the development of political and social
thought. The regime relied on journals and newspapers to gain
support for its domestic and foreign polices. But liberal,
nationalist, and radical writers also helped mold opinion opposed
to tsarism, private property, and the imperial state. Because many
intellectuals, professionals, peasants, and workers shared these
sentiments, the publications and the organizations that the
radicals joined were perceived as dangerous to the regime. From the
1860s through the 1880s, Russian radicals, collectively known as
"Populists" (Narodniki), focused chiefly on the peasantry, whom
they identified as "the people" (narod).
Among the leaders of the Populist movement were radical
writers, idealists, and advocates of terrorism. In the 1860s,
Nikolai Chernyshevskii, the most important radical writer of the
period, posited that Russia could bypass capitalism and move
directly to socialism. His most influential work, What Is to Be
Done? (1861), describes the role of an individual of a
"superior nature" who guides a new, revolutionary generation. Other
radicals such as the incendiary anarchist Mikhail Bakunin and his
terrorist collaborator, Sergei Nechaev, urged direct action. The
calmer Petr Tkachev argued against the advocates of
Marxism (see Glossary), maintaining that a centralized
revolutionary band had to
seize power before capitalism could fully develop. Disputing his
views, the moralist and individualist Petr Lavrov made a call "to
the people" that was heeded in 1873 and 1874 when hundreds of
idealists left their schools for the countryside to try to generate
a mass movement among the narod. The Populist campaign
failed, however, when the peasants showed hostility to the urban
idealists and the government more willingly began to consider
nationalist opinion.
The radicals reconsidered their approach, and in 1876 they
formed a propagandist organization called Land and Liberty (Zemlia
i volia), which leaned toward terrorism. It became even more
oriented toward terrorism three years later, renamed itself the
People's Will (Narodnaia volia), and in 1881 was responsible for
the assassination of Alexander II. In 1879 Georgii Plekhanov formed
a propagandist faction of Land and Liberty called Black Repartition
(Chernyi peredel), which advocated reassigning all land to the
peasantry. This group studied Marxism, which, paradoxically, was
principally concerned with urban industrial workers. The People's
Will remained underground, but in 1887 a young member of the group,
Aleksandr Ulianov, attempted to assassinate Alexander III, was
arrested, and executed. Another Ulianov, Vladimir, was greatly
affected by his brother's execution. Influenced by Chernyshevskii's
writings, he also joined the People's Will and later, under the
influence of Plekhanov, converted to Marxism. The younger Ulianov
later changed his name to Lenin.
Data as of May 1989
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