Program "Land and freedom"
(Not earlier than the end of 1876 - Original edition)Of all the branches of Western European socialism, we wholly sympathize with the federalist international, i.e., the anarchists, but we believe that the realization of anarchist ideals in their entirety is impossible at the present moment.
Recognizing, on the one hand, that a party can be influential and strong only when it relies on popular demands and does not violate the economic and political popular ideal developed by history, and on the other hand, that the fundamental traits of the character of the Russian people are so socialistic that if only the desires and the aspirations of the people were realized at this time, then this would form a solid foundation for the further successful progress of social affairs in Russia, we think that our activity should be based on the following foundations.
1. Legal popular views recognize as unfair the procedure in which land is alienated into private ownership; according to the popular concept, "God's land", every farmer has the right to land in the amount that he can cultivate with his own labor. Therefore, we must demand the transfer of all land into the hands of the rural working class and its equal distribution.Thus, "land and freedom", which served as the motto of so many popular movements, served as the principles of organization in the settlement of those of our outskirts, where the influence of the contemporary Russian government for these settlements has not yet penetrated - this formula, in our opinion, still serves as the best expression of popular views. to own land and arrange their hostel. Recognizing that it is impossible to instill in the people, under present conditions, other, from an abstract point of view, perhaps even better, ideals, we decide to write on our banner the historically elaborated formula "land and freedom."2. The current state system is contrary to the Spirit of the Russian people, which throughout history has proved its desire for complete autonomy of communities and free integration of communities into volosts, provinces, lands, etc. Therefore, we must strive for the transfer of all social functions into the hands of the community, that is, for its complete self-government. This demand cannot be called universal: there are groups of communities striving for this, but most of them have not yet reached such a moral and intellectual development, and, in our opinion, each union of communities will determine for itself what share of public functions it will give to the government that each from them he forms for himself. Our duty is only to try to reduce this share as much as possible.
3. The composition of present-day Russia includes such localities and even nationalities that are burdened by this unification and are ready to secede at the first opportunity, such as, for example, Little Russia, Poland, the Caucasus, etc. Therefore, we should not interfere with the division of the present Russian Empire in parts according to local desires.
It goes without saying that this formula can be put into practice only through a violent revolution, and, moreover, as soon as possible, since the development of capitalism and the ever greater penetration into the life of the people—thanks to the protectorate of the Russian government^—of various ulcers of bourgeois civilization threaten to destroy the community and greater or lesser distortion of the people's worldview on the above issues.
This contradiction between the popular ideal and the demands of the state has created and is creating in Russia that mass of large and small movements, sects of a religious-revolutionary nature, and sometimes even robber gangs, which express the active protest of the Russian people against the existing order. But this struggle against the organized power of the state, in the hands of which more than half a million troops, turns out to be too unequal, all the more so since the people in the vast majority are divided and so furnished from the side of various authorities, and mainly from the economic side, that it is very difficult to prepare and oppose it. government organization a broad people's organization.
Two main general tasks follow from the foregoing, to which the entire attention of the revolutionary party should be directed:
1) to help the revolutionary elements in the people, who already understand the need for it, organize themselves and to merge with the already existing people's organizations of a revolutionary character, and2) weaken, undermine, i.e., disorganize, the strength of the states, without which, in our opinion, the success of any plan of insurrection, even the most extensive and well conceived, will not be ensured.
A. Organizational part
a) A close and well-organized organization of ready-made revolutionaries who are willing to act in the spirit of the above proposed program, both from among the intelligentsia and from among the workers who were in direct contact with it.The activity of the people who have taken up the fulfillment of the last four points must consist in sharpening and generalizing popular aspirations, in agitation in the broadest sense of the word, starting with a legal protest against the local authorities and ending with an armed uprising, i.e., a riot. In personal acquaintances with both workers and peasants, the agitators, of course, cannot deny the importance of the exchange of ideas and propaganda.b) Rapprochement and even merging with religious-revolutionary sects hostile to the government, such as, for example, runners, non-payers, (propaganda) shtunda, etc.
c) Establishment of the broadest and strongest possible ties in areas where discontent is most acute, and the establishment of stable settlements among the peasant population of these areas.
e) The establishment of relations and connections in the centers of accumulation of industrial workers, factory and factory.
f) Propaganda and agitation in university centers among the intelligentsia, which at first was the main contingent for replenishing the ranks of our organization.B. Disorganization parta) Establishing connections and organization in the troops, and especially among the officers.c) The systematic extermination of the most pernicious or eminent persons in the government.
d) In the days of calculation, the mass extermination of the government and of the people in general, by whom this or that order, which we hate, is maintained or can be maintained.
Program "Land and freedom"
May 1878 - final edition)Our ultimate political and economic ideal is anarchy and collectivism.
But, recognizing, on the one hand, that a party can be influential and strong only when it relies on people's demands and does not violate the developed historical economic and political ideal of the people, and on the other hand, that the fundamental character traits of the Russian people are so socialist. that if the desires and aspirations of the people were realized at this time, then this would form a solid foundation for the further successful progress of social affairs in Russia, we narrow our demands to those that are realistically feasible in the near future, that is, to the people's demands, what they are in this minute. In our opinion, they boil down to four main points.
1. Legal popular views recognize as unfair the order in which the land is in the possession of those who do not cultivate it. According to the popular concept, "the land of God" and every farmer has the right to land in the amount that he can cultivate with his own labor. Therefore, we must demand the transfer of all land into the hands of the rural working class and its equal distribution. (We are convinced that two-thirds of Russia will own land on a communal basis).Thus, "land and freedom", which served as the motto of so many popular movements, served as the principle of organization in the settlement of those of our outskirts, where the influence of the contemporary Russian government for these settlements has not yet penetrated - this formula, in our opinion, still serves as the best expression of popular views. to own land and arrange their hostel. Recognizing that it is impossible to instill in the people under present conditions, others, from an abstract point of view, may be. and the best ideals, we dare to write on our banner the historically elaborated formula "land and freedom".2. With regard to the political ideal, we recognize that there is a striving among the Russian people for complete worldly self-government, although there are hardly identical definite views among the people regarding intercommunal and external relations. In our opinion, each association of communities will determine for itself what share of public functions it will give to the government that each of them forms for itself. Our duty is only to try to reduce this share as much as possible.
3. In the field of religion, the Russian people show religious tolerance and, in general, a desire for religious freedom; therefore we must strive for complete freedom of worship.
4. The composition of the present Russian Empire includes such localities and even nationalities that are ready to secede at the first opportunity, such as, for example, Little Russia, Poland, the Caucasus, etc. Therefore, our duty is to promote the division of the present Russian Empire into parts according to local desires.
It goes without saying that this formula can be put into practice only through a violent revolution, and, moreover, as soon as possible, since the development of capitalism and the ever greater penetration into the life of the people (thanks to the protectorate and the efforts of the Russian government) of various ulcers of bourgeois civilization threaten to destroy the community. and more or less distortion of the people's worldview on the above issues.
This contradiction between the popular ideal and the demands of the government has created and is creating in Russia that mass of large and small popular movements, sects of a religious-revolutionary nature, and sometimes robber gangs, which express the active protest of the Russian people against the existing order. But this struggle against the organized power of the state, in the hands of which there are about a million troops, turns out to be too unequal, all the more so since the people in the vast majority are divided and so furnished from the side of various authorities, and mainly from the economic side, that it is very difficult to prepare and oppose it. government organization a broad people's organization.
Two main general tasks follow from the foregoing, to which all the attention of the Russian social-revolutionary party should be directed:
1) help to organize the elements of discontent among the people and merge with the already existing people's organizations of a revolutionary nature, by agitation to increase the intensity of this discontent, andHence, these are our immediate practical tasks.2) weaken, undermine, i.e., disorganize, the strength of the state, without which, in our opinion, the success of any plan of insurrection, even the most extensive and well conceived, will not be ensured.
A. Organizational part
a) A close and well-organized organization of ready-made revolutionaries who are willing to act in the spirit of our program, both from among the intelligentsia and from among the workers who were in direct contact with it.The activity of the people who have taken up the execution of these points must consist in sharpening and generalizing popular aspirations, in agitation in the broadest sense of the word, starting with a legal protest against the local authorities and ending with an armed uprising, i.e., a riot. In personal acquaintance with both the workers and the peasants (particularly the splitters), the agitators, of course, cannot deny the importance of the exchange of ideas and propaganda.b) Rapprochement and even merging with religious-revolutionary sects hostile to the government, such as, for example, runners, non-payers, shtunds, etc.
c) Establishment of the broadest and most stable ties possible in areas where discontent is most acute, and the establishment of stable settlements and dens among the peasant population of these areas.
d) Attracting to its side from time to time robber gangs of the low freemen type that appear in different places.
e) The establishment of relations and connections in the centers of concentration of industrial workers - factory and factory.
f) Propaganda and agitation in university centers among the intelligentsia, which at first was the main contingent for replenishing the ranks of our organization and partly a source of funds.B. Disorganization partg) Establishing connections with liberals in order to exploit them in their favor.
h) Propaganda of our ideas and agitation through literature: publishing our own organ and distributing incendiary leaflets in the greatest possible quantity.
a) Establishing connections and organization among the troops, and especially among the officers.GMR in Leningrad, f. 2, dd. 12675, 13855. Original, handwritten.b) Attracting to one's side persons serving in various government agencies.
c) The systematic extermination of the most harmful or eminent persons from the government and, in general, the people who uphold this or that order we hate.
Archive of "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya". M., 1932, pp. 54-62.Theses of the Narodniks
(1877 ?)We narrow down our requirements to those that are realistically feasible in the near future, i.e. to the people's demands and desires, as they are at the moment. In our opinion, they boil down to three main points.
1. The transfer of all land into the hands of the rural working class (we are convinced that two-thirds of Russia will own it on a communal basis) and its equal distribution.Our demands can only be realized through a violent revolution.2. The division of the Russian Empire into parts according to local desires.
3. Transferring all social functions into the hands of the community, i.e. complete self-government. (This demand cannot be called universal: there are groups of communities striving for this, but most of them have not yet reached such a moral and intellectual development, and, in our opinion, each union of communities will give a certain share of public functions to the government that each of them forms. It is our duty to do our best to reduce this share as much as possible).
In our opinion, the tools for preparing and accomplishing it are:
1) agitation, both by word and, mainly, by deed, aimed at organizing the revolutionary forces" and at developing revolutionary feelings (riots, strikes - in general, the path of action is at the same time the best path for organizing revolutionary forces) andGMR in Leningrad, f. 2, file 13854, ll. 1-2. Autograph of A. D. Oboleshev.2) the disorganization of the state, which gives us hope of victory with the strength of the organization that agitation will create in the near future.
Archive of "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya". M., 1932, pp. 53-54.April-May 1878
Draft charter "Land and Freedom"
SOCIETY "EARTH AND WILL"
ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION
(Updated edition 1876)§ 1. The organization has as its immediate aim the realization of a popular uprising in the near future, in the name of the popular desires, as they are at the present moment.
§ 2. Before the first congress (§ 41), the organization is the main circle of people closely united among themselves. This circle is divided into groups or communities, both territorial and by specialty (§§ 26-30).
Note. The choice of this or that area for the activities of a certain group, as well as the composition of groups according to specialties, is determined by the program of the circle.
BUT. Basic principles of organization
§ 3. Unconditional bringing by each member to the benefit of the organization of all his forces, means, connections, likes and dislikes, and even his life.
§ 4. The agreement of each member with the general program of practical activity and the obligation to act in its spirit.
§ 5. Absence of private property among the members of the main circle.
§ 6. Observance of the uttermost secrecy regarding all internal affairs of the organization.
§ 7. Subordination of the minority to the majority and a member of the circle.
§ 8. Since the organization has in view the rallying of all the Russian revolutionary forces useful to the cause, personal sympathies and antipathies towards people are excluded as far as possible in all the affairs of the organization, as an indispensable condition for joint activity.
§ 9. The end justifies the means.
Note. Excluding those cases when the means used can undermine the authority of the organization (§ 14).
B. Immediate tasks of the main circle
§ 10. Formation of groups of territorial and specialties recognized as necessary by the general program of activity of the main circle.
§ 11. Attraction to the organization of the greatest possible number of revolutionary forces, means and connections.
§ 12. Control over the activities of all groups and each member individually.
Note. Everyone's private life is subject to as much general control as it may seem important in this practical case.
AT. Duties and mutual relations of members of the main circle
§ 13. All members of the main circle are absolutely full.
§ 14. Each member of the main circle is obliged by all means to maintain the honor and influence of both the entire organization and individual members of it.
§ 15. In the event of any personal clashes between members of the main circle, the case is decided by an arbitration court from the members of the main circle. The decision of this court is binding on the litigants.
§ 16. Members of the main circle, with whom public property is connected or connected with some important connections, should take care of themselves and, if possible, not take part in dangerous undertakings.
§ 17. Each member of the main circle chooses a kind of activity for himself or joins one or another group according to his own inclination; in those cases when for a certain function there is no one willing to perform it of their own accord, the circle can oblige anyone who falls for this function (by the majority) to take on this function.
§ 18. Each member of the main circle, who is in any group or in any specialty, if he wishes to leave this group or this specialty, must declare his intention to the main circle at least two months in advance, and before the expiration of this period he not allowed to leave their place.
Note. Clearly, this is obligatory only in the case when the presence of one of the members of the main circle at a given place is necessary and if the member intending to leave this place cannot be replaced by another immediately upon declaring his intention to the main circle.
§ 19. Every member of the main circle has the right to freely withdraw from it; but upon leaving, he is obliged to keep secret everything that he knows about the affairs and about the organization of the circle.
§ 20. If, however, it is proved that a member who has left the circle betrays the secrets of the circle or talks about them, then such a member must be ... (hereinafter crossed out certainly killed; started and crossed out subjected to)
G. Expansion of the main circle
§ 21. The admission of a new member to the main circle requires a very strict assessment of the personality. In addition to the requirement indicated in the next paragraph, it is necessary that the newly admitted member be known to the circle from the side of experience and practicality in business. Otherwise, he must be on probation for some time.
§ 22. A new member can be admitted to the main circle only with the guarantee of at least five members of the main circle who personally know the newly admitted, and only if he agrees with the general program of practical activities and with the charter of the organization of the circle.
Note. The personal acquaintance of five persons with the newly admitted member is not necessary if he is historically famous and satisfies the requirement specified in § 21.
§ 24. In view of this, at each admission of a new member to the main circle, if not all, then at least two-thirds of the total number of members of the main circle must be notified.
§ 25. Until the moment of joining the main circle, the candidate is not informed of the names of the localities where the members of the organization operate, nor the composition of the main circle and the organization in general.
D. The composition of the groups, their tasks and organization
§ 26. The number and nature of groups are determined by the general program of the circle.
§ 27. The tasks of the groups are the fulfillment of parts of the general program of the circle and the enterprises that it provides.
Section 28. Groups enjoy complete autonomy in their local and internal affairs.
§ 29. The internal organization of each group may be peculiar, but the members of the main circle, who are members of local or special groups, keeping secret their participation in the main circle, try to create an organization of groups in the spirit and interests of the main circle.
Note. They explain their relationship to the main circle to the members of the group as the relationship of two groups connected through them.
§ 30. Groups, both territorial and by specialty, are formed by members of the main circle or separatist members (§ 31), who unite around themselves useful and skillful people and enter into binding relations with them ..
E. Separatist members
§ 31. People who do not want or for some reason are unable to become members of the main circle or one or another group may enter into special contractual relations (federal) with the circle on special matters. They are called separatist members.
§ 32. If a separatist member does not want the main circle to know about the details of the case for which he undertakes, then, agreeing with the circle, he has the right to report his case only in general terms.
§ 33. Separatist members do not negotiate with the whole circle, but only with a few persons elected from the circle.
§ 34. Separatist members must not be aware of the existence of the main circle, nor of its organization.
J. Administration (commission) in the main circle; her rights and obligations
§ 35. Since the members of the main circle will be divided according to their tasks by special affairs, in view of the need to concentrate funds and information, the members of the main circle are elected from among their midst.
§ 36. The following duties are assigned to the commission:
a) organize the missing groups,§ 37. The Commission enjoys the following rights:
b) raise money
c) within a certain period of time, give a report on the general course of the case, on the spending and distribution of amounts, on the state of the cash desk, etc.;
d) serve as an intermediary in relations between groups and accurately carry out their instructions.a) it has, for the purposes of the correct regulation of revolutionary forces and means, detailed and accurate information about the activities of all groups and separatist members;§ 38. Members of the commission are elected for an indefinite term.
b) enter into negotiations and federal relations on behalf of the circle with other organizations and individuals;
c) within the limits determined by the main circle by an accurate estimate drawn up within certain deadlines, distribute funds.§ 39. Number of members of the commission from 5 to 3; it can be increased as needed.
§ 40. Members of the commission are elected by a majority of two-thirds of the total number of members of the main circle.
Z. About the congress; purpose and objectives of the congress
§ 41. When the groups and their organization are sufficiently strong and permanent, a congress of representatives from all local and special groups must be convened, i.e. a congress of members of the main circle was arranged - if possible, all, and if this is not possible, then at least 2/3 of the total number of members of the main circle.
Note. The determination of the time of the congress and the organization of the congress itself lie most closely with the responsibility of the commission.
§ 42. The purpose of the congress is to sum up the previous activities of the circle and, on the basis of experimental data, determine the direction and nature of future activities.
§ 43. Tasks of the congress:
a) drawing up a strictly defined program for further practical activities;Note. In general, the congress must resolve all the questions that have arisen concerning both individual groups and the entire organization.
b) reviewing the charter of the organization and changing it, if necessary;
c) verification of the means and affairs of the organization.§ 44. The decisions of the congress are binding on all members of the main circle.
AND. About relationships
§ 45. Personal meetings and communications are recognized as the best form of communication in a circle; but since this kind of communication is not always possible, in such cases encrypted correspondence through the correct addresses is allowed.
§ 46. In cases of particular importance, no correspondence should be allowed at all: the whole business should be conducted through the direct mediation of their people.
§ 47. Members of the main circle, who were in local or special groups, should try to ensure that all correspondence of the group is entrusted to persons who are most practical and experienced in this matter.
§ 48. Ciphers and passwords that exist for communication between members of the main circle should not be known to anyone except members of the main circle.
§ 49. Changing the charter and introducing amendments and additions to it can be done only with the knowledge and consent of at least 2/3 of the total number of members of the main circle.
§ 50. It is obligatory for each of the members of the main circle to follow this charter.
Archive of "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya". M., 1932, pp. 64-73.
Proclamation "Land and Liberty"
"Working cartridge factory"
about the explosion at the Cartridge Factory in St. Petersburg A WORKER OF A CARTRIDGE FACTORYWorkers!
About a week has passed since the funeral of your comrades, and you have not yet expressed your indignation to the authorities.
Tatarenka's workshop was a real trap for workers driven there by hunger and want. It had only one door; This door did not open outward, but inward. A warehouse of pipes and gunpowder was located at the very door. Your superiors must have known that flashes of gunpowder on the machine happened very often. They are not children, so as not to understand that small outbreaks could end in great misfortune. And yet they did not remodel the workshop, as if they deliberately wanted your death.
This is murder! The murder they committed, hoping that there would be no one to punish them ... And they were not mistaken.
The higher authorities also do not care about your interests: for them, the life of a worker is cheaper than the life of a dog. It will not punish your brothers for the death: what does it care about them!
Meanwhile, these poor fellows, roasted alive in a stupid workshop, also wanted to live, to enjoy life ... They were deprived of all the blessings of life - they worked like oxen in this workshop; That's why they were roasted alive!
The Turks do not do the same with the Bulgarians. Your bosses are worse than Turkish bashi-bazouks! Your dead comrades still have families, and these widows and orphans were given, as if for fun, 40 rubles each! Is it a lot? How long will this money last? You know it won't be for long. Well, then? Then hunger and poverty will follow! After a long series of torments, some will find work and work for a penny for a lifetime until they die somewhere in a damp basement on a mat. Others, not so happy, will commit a "crime" out of hunger - they will steal some penny; these will go to prisons, to hard labor.
And those who brought them to this will still be your superiors; as before, without doing anything, they will receive a hundred times more than the worker. And those who steal thousands will still be your masters; as before, they will break down and swagger over you, they will shortchange you in every possible way.
Here is the bare truth!
And from what money these 40 rubles were issued. benefits? Of course, their superiors did not give out from their own - there is fine money for this. You yourself know what your fines are - this is pure robbery!
So, some are robbed, others are roasted alive, and out of the stolen money they give benefits to the families of the dead! It is glorious for the people to live in holy Russia!
And for those workers who received only burns during the explosion, but survived, they make deductions of one and a half rubles to treat their superiors. You, like dogs, are forced to lick the hand that hits you!
Workers!
It's time for you to take up your mind yourself: you can't wait for help from anyone! You will not wait for it from the authorities!
The peasantry waited a long time for help from him and waited for bumps and swamps, and taxes even harder, even more than before! You also endured for a long time and waited for the fact that they burn you alive and let your families go around the world!
How much longer will you endure, working people!?
TsGIA, f. 1410, on. 1, d. 141. Original, printed. "Red Chronicle", 1928, No. 2, pp. 228-224.
Proclamation
"Russian student youth
Minister of Justice, Count Palen" RUSSIAN STUDENTS YOUTH
MINISTER OF JUSTICE COUNT PALENPay attention to:
1) that socialist teachings are persecuted in Russia by law and, moreover, in a way that is nowhere else in Europe;taking into account the facts calculated, we have come to declare to Your Excellency on behalf of all the student youth our sympathy for those people who call themselves socialists, and to ask you whether you recognize in relation to these people what are called the inalienable rights of the individual; Or will Russian legislation continue to deal with the socialists the way the bashi-bazouks deal with the Bulgarians?2) that people are accused of political crimes and exiled to hard labor for sympathy with the people and the desire to help them in their distress;
3) that these people are kept for 3-4 years in prisons and then they declare that "their activities cannot be harmful to the state";
4) that the most preliminary detention is so brutal that it causes an enormous percentage of death, insanity and disease;
5) that people sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for their mere presence at a "criminal demonstration" are treated in the same way that thieves and swindlers are not treated anywhere in the world, subjecting them to corporal punishment, as was the case with Bogolyubov;
6) that people tortured to death in the casemates of the fortress and the house of preliminary detention are not even allowed to be buried by their comrades and their corpses are stolen, as was the case with Ustyuzhaninov and Zhilinsky, -
"Common cause", 1878, No. 11, p. 13; Historical and revolutionary collection, vol. 2, L., 1924, pp. 322-328.
Proclamation
"From Moscow student youth"
protesting government repression FROM MOSCOW STUDENT YOUTHWe, Russian youth, when the passions of the government have become so unbridled that it blindly attacks all honest people and arranges a real massacre, when the country, suppressed by the despotism of the authorities, is silent, we are morally obliged to declare its guilt to the government in the face of the entire Russian society.
How long will the government be afraid of the idea? How long will it persecute the ideas of our brothers and sisters, rot them in prisons, mock them with the unheard-of comedy of the court? Does Russian society know the whole mournful picture of persecution, grief, endless torment and suffering - a picture, a corner of which, carefully guarded by gendarmes and prosecutors from the audience, unfolded at the last political trial? Does society know how many of its children survived to the miserable days of miserable justice, and how many died? About a hundred of them died during the preliminary detention, which lasted about four years! Does society know how and why their children died? They perished from the damp walls and rotten food of the prison, from the deathly anguish of solitary confinement, from the petty and vile tyranny of the gendarmes and prosecutors - a tyranny that did not even think about putting shackles on those who refused to testify - a tyranny that did not allow some of the prisoners to see each other with their unfortunate young children and relatives - a tyranny that often withstood the so-called witnesses for 5-6 months in prison before the latter dared to lay a hand on their comrades ...
Does society know how many people are languishing in exile in different parts of Russia, in cities and backwoods, and even in the Yakut yurts of Siberia? Does society know that its children have died of insanity and painful suicide, smashing their heads against prison walls, shooting themselves and hanging themselves, or slitting their throats with a piece of glass? How did they die from the bloody beatings of the police? Does society know about the new Bethlehem massacre of prisoners in a pre-trial prison, which took place in mid-July last year, 1877, when, by order of the St. that they raised a cry of indignation at the sight of this inhuman reprisal and broke the windows of their solitary cells; beaten mercilessly and subjected to torture, putting them in such punishment cells, where people suffocate and fall dead from unbearable stuffiness and stench? . .
And now, when so many human lives have been ruined and broken, the prosecutor, in his accusatory speech, publicly declares that "there are actually few perpetrators - no more than twenty people, and the rest are involved only in this way - to better clarify the case, to complete the picture." Does this Russian society know, does it hear, does it see? No, it does not know: the walls of the prison are high and strong, the courtrooms are inaccessible, Siberia is far away, the graves of the dead do not speak...
And all these persecutions, persecutions and torments for the sole reason that in our fatherland one cannot freely confess one's convictions!...
So let's not be silent, let's declare our protest in the name of a humane attitude towards the individual, in the name of human dignity - a protest to which we invite all honest people of our fatherland to join!
Died - 43, suicide - 12, attempted suicide - 3, insanity - 38.
The dead: 1) Abusheli, 2) Aleksandrovsky, 3) Anderson, 4) Agrippina, 5) Andrei (surname unknown), 6) Bogushevich, 7) Gamov, 8) Dobrovolsky, 9) Dobrosmyslov, 10) Druzhinin, 11) Zharkovsky, 12) Zhilinsky, 13) Kaminskaya, 14) Kostenko, 15) Kotov, 16) Krotkov. 17) Krotonov, 18) Krylov, 19) Lastochkin, 20) Lemeni-Macedon, 21) Lvov, 22) Malinovsky, 23) Makhaev, 24) Miller, 25) Nikiforov, 26) Noskov, 29) Pelkonen, 30) V. Popov, 31) Sabelkin, 32) Sevastyanov, 33) Selivanov, 34) Sidorenko, 35) Spassky, 36) Stronsky, 37) Tetelman, 38) Trudkovsky, 39) Ustyuzhaninov, 40) Fetisov, 41) Tsvetkov, 42) Chernyshev, 43) Chernyavsky.
Suicides: 1) Bogomolov, 2) Zapolsky, 3) Korobov, 4) Korotkov, 5) Krutikov, 6) Lebedev, 7) Leontovich, 8) Ogorodnikov, 9) Rechitsky, 10) Stultsev, 11) Podgorodetsky, 12) Edemov.
It goes without saying that we have no right to name either those who attempted suicide or those who went crazy.
TsGIA, f. 1410, on. 1, d. 154. Original, printed.
January 1878
Proclamation "Land and Liberty"
"Attempt on Trepov's life" ATTEMPT ON TREPOV'S LIFEJanuary 24, Tuesday, in the morning, an attempt was made on the life of the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov. When filing petitions, a young girl, who was among the petitioners, almost point-blank shot from a six-barreled revolver at the mayor and inflicted a severe wound on his side. Having committed the attempt, not trying to hide, after the shot she stepped aside in anticipation of her fate. Such is the situation of the incident now exciting the whole city. We will not repeat here the details of this case known to everyone from the newspapers. Our business is to express our view on the act of the Russian Charlotte Corday, and we will express it openly, regardless of whether the public likes it or not.
The Russian press began to express its whining regrets and indignation at the misfortune "with the dear mayor." There were quite a few willing to express their condolences and noble indignation at the "vile act of the young murderer," at the brutal violence, arbitrariness, etc.
One of the newspapers, S.-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti, which has now passed into the hands of the notorious Colonel Komarov, who has robbed Russian volunteers in Serbia, even devoted an entire leading article to an unexpected incident. According to the denunciation of S.-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti, both the Kazan demonstration and the real assassination attempt had only one goal in mind - to humiliate the glory of the dear fatherland in the eyes of Europe. According to this newspaper, the attempt of the Russian people to freely express their sympathies for the main figures of its progress revealed the weakness of Russia in front of Europe - the same Russia that shouted about its intentions to raise the struggle for freedom and progress in the Balkan Peninsula.
An attempt to put an end to the arbitrariness of the semi-autocratic temporary worker Trepov should humiliate the Russian nation in the eyes of Europe. In a word, our press came up with a lot of all kinds of explanations for the fact that happened before our eyes, expressed all kinds of considerations that a serf who wants to portray himself as a free person can come up with. She forgot only one explanation of this bloody episode, which is suggested to everyone by common sense and the voice of conscience.
It was expressed by the Russian heroine captured at the place of her feat. She stated that she was forced to take up arms in order to execute the sovereign robber by death, she was forced by Trepov’s brutal reprisal in the house of pre-trial detention with the captive socialist Bogolyubov, which passed with complete impunity to this beast, not branded with the seal of protest and shame on behalf of Russian society.
A few months ago, one of the most incredible scenes of barbaric violence played out in a Petersburg house of preliminary detention. The mayor Trepov, while inspecting the prison, ran into the political prisoner Bogolyubov and, finding fault with the fact that the latter did not hastily take off his hat in front of him, insulted him with a blow to the head. Witnesses of this massacre, Bogolyubov's comrades in prison, expressed their unanimous indignation, sending curses to the guardsman of Alexander II from the windows of their cells. The enraged bashi-bazouk, in response to this outburst of indignation of the prisoners, ordered Bogolyubov to be punished with 50 blows of rods, and a flock of policemen were driven into the cells of the prisoners, who beat the prisoners in the most inhuman way and threw the beaten half to death into a stinking punishment cell.
For the sake of refined cruelty, rods for Bogolyubov were prepared in front of the windows of the women's section of the prison, and the torture was ordered to take place in the lower gallery so that the arrested could hear the groans of the punished victim.
Not a single voice, not a single hand was then raised to defend the tormented Bogolyubov and his comrades. Not a single tearful Russian publicist, crying over the suffering of the Bulgarians, expressed his sympathy for the unfortunate victim in a half-word.
This brutal reprisal was carried out not in the steppe, not in a Siberian prison, not by order of the Bourbon chief, who acted "not with full understanding", but by order of the disrespectful mayor of the capital, vested with the royal trust of the second person in the empire.
Let us now imagine the situation of a person who values his personal inviolability and sees that violence against a person is committed by the supreme guardians of order and law themselves and goes completely unpunished for them. What measures are possible then to curb the brutal arbitrariness of sovereign temporary workers? How could Bogolyubov, exiled to the central prison, stand up for his desecrated human dignity?
We who write these lines are not in the least supporters of violence. We fought and are fighting for human rights, for the establishment of peace and humanity on earth, but we all of the people decide to respectfully offer our deep gratitude to you, fearless Russian girl, who did not retreat before a terrible bloody measure and her own death, when there were no other means to protect human rights .
In the midst of the servility of a silent, oppressed society, you alone decided with your own hand, unaccustomed to violence, to curb the unpunished arbitrariness before which everyone bowed.
You did not retreat before the terrible feat of taking the life of a person, which was much more difficult for you than sacrificing your own life, and you proved that the sense of honor and the concept of the right and sanctity of the human person have not yet died out in Russian society.
You proved that tyrants are not omnipotent, that the oppression of slavery and Asiatic despotism has not yet exterminated all the people among us who are capable of sacrificing themselves in defense of the desecrated rights of their neighbor.
Terrible and great is your feat, and few can accommodate it, but glory to the Russian people that at least you were found in it, capable of such an act. Terrible and glorious is your fate.
You are waiting for interrogations "with predilection", torture, with which the scientists of the professor tortured Dmitry Karakozov, and no one will hear your groans.
Desecration and moral torture of Trepov's slanderers and excellent shoulder masters await you.
If you still have someone close to you, the same torture awaits him, and you will be a witness to his suffering.
The court of executioners awaits you, which will mock you; An inhuman judgment awaits you.
You deliberately went to all these torments, you accepted an even bitterer torment, deciding to sprinkle your hands with human blood.
Accept from us a tribute of our reverent surprise, Russian girl with the soul of a hero, and posterity will rank your name among the few bright names of martyrs for freedom and human rights.
This girl's name is
Vera Ivanovna Zasulich
TsGPA, f. 1410, on. 1, d. 163. Original, printed.
Historical and revolutionary collection, vol. II, L., 1924, pp. 334-336.Proclamation "Land and Liberty"
"To the workers of all factories and plants"
about the strike
New paper mill in St. Petersburg TO THE WORKERS OF ALL FACTORIES AND PLANTSWorking friends!
Bitter need and heavy taxes drive you from the villages to factories and plants: you are looking for work to satisfy the foreman and the officer, who demand taxes with rods.
And so, when you come to the owners, they not only invent godless fines, not only do they deduct for every breakdown in the machine, - as they go on, they strive to pay less and less and constantly reduce wages. "Let your soul go to hell - you will be rich!".
The working man has nowhere to look for protection. The police always stand up for the owner: just a little - the worker is dragged into the jail!
The owners are glad that the workers do not stand together for each other: today they reduced wages at one factory, tomorrow they will decrease at another - that's the master's business and in the hat!
As long as the workers do not understand that they must help each other, as long as they act separately, as long as they will be in bondage to the owner. And when they stand up for each other, when during a strike in one factory the workers of other factories begin to help them, then neither the owner nor the police will be afraid of them. Together you are strong, but alone you will be offended by every policeman.
Working friends!
Now the workers from the New Paper Spinning Mill have joined together, holding together all the time. You need to support them. After all, they were deceived all around: here Kozlov swore to respect their demands by the 15th, but instead it turned out that they were only lured - no new rules were posted on the 15th, but the same old ones that they have known for 8 years. Is it really possible to let every crook mock the workers? No, you will collect money in their favor, today you will help them, and tomorrow they will help you. After all, you do not live in paradise, and you may have to reckon with the owner.
Two hryvnia is a small amount of money, but meanwhile they receive a lot of help, especially those who have children.
Anyone who does not sell his worker brother for money should help the strikers.
Arrange collections at your place (so that only less fiscals are rubbed while you are collecting) and send them to the New Paper Spinning Plant so that they give this money when there is a strike in you, or at some other factory. So help each other - in public and death is red!
Your friends.
Published in the Free Russian Printing House in St. Petersburg.
TsGAOR, f. 1741, file 9719. Original, printed.
Historical-revolutionary collection, vol. II, L., 1924, p. 324.April 1878
Proclamation "Land and Liberty"
"To the Russian Society"
regarding the acquittal of V. I. Zasulich TO RUSSIAN SOCIETYMarch 31, 1878 for Russia began the prologue of that great historical drama, which is called the people's trial of the government. The indictment is the whole of Russian history, on its pages representing nothing but a batozh, sticks, lashes and gauntlets, on the one hand, and the systematic ruin of the people "for the sake of their sovereign income" - on the other.
After the events of March 31, it is somewhat ashamed to say that the Russian government is being held together by the apathy and indifference of Russian society: on that day, the break of Russian society with the government was expressed de facto, in the district court building by the acquittal of the jury and the behavior of the public applauding the verdict. The jury refused to accuse the one who decided to oppose violence to violence, they refused to subscribe to the policy of strangling every independent manifestation of social thought and life - they openly recognized the innocence of the enemies of the existing order.
This marked the awakening of our social life, and the police and gendarmerie did not even think of changing their treatment of the public. The gendarmes rushed to Zasulich, justified by public conscience, in order to deal with her administratively. People who rejoiced at her justification were beaten and trampled by horses, even pregnant women were not spared ... The result of the dump was one killed and two wounded. The very investigation of these "street riots" has been handed over to the 3rd Division, which thus has to pronounce judgment on its own act. To top it all off, the secret department issued an order to the district bailiffs "to search for and arrest Zasulich, who was acquitted by the jury."
Russian society was silent for a long time.
It was silent when for centuries its best, free-thinking people perished in the mines of Siberia, when Russian science suffered such losses as the loss of the great economist N. G. Chernyshevsky.
It was silent when the hope of Russia - the younger generation was subjected to such systematic persecution as in the 60s and at the present time, when there is no family where they would not tremble for the fate of their children, somehow capable and sensitive.
It allowed itself to be deceived by the prospect of the liberation of the Bulgarians, when their own people were starving, when several hundred thousand chinsheviks of the southwestern provinces were ravaged to the ground and let go around the world.
It is silent even now, when from all sides the newspapers bring news of popular famine and ruin.
It contented itself with hypocritical semi-reforms at a time when even the Turkish sultan felt compelled to give his people certain guarantees of freedom and self-government.
It was engaged in collecting donations in favor of the "Slav brothers" and remained indifferent when they tortured Bogolyubov with rods.
It was silent and silent and silent. We didn't know if it would ever speak. But on March 31 and on the following days, Petersburg society finally began to speak in a human language.
The government is ignoring these symptoms of a public awakening. As if in mockery of the verdict of the St. Petersburg District Court, the police are given the above-mentioned order to arrest Zasulich. The police cause a clash in the street, and for the first time since December 14, 1825, the streets of St. Petersburg are watered with the blood of freedom fighters!
The prologue has begun. Society must not, it cannot any longer remain silent when even such reforms as the institution of juries are reduced to zero, when public opinion is mocked so brazenly, so openly.
Anyone who is not for the government should be against it in such cases. The whole society had to express its protest against the barbarian administration one way or another, in one form or another.
We invite the student youth, we invite all parties, except for the party of the whip and sticks, to unite in one common and friendly onslaught to acquire their human rights, which have long been trampled on, to defend their free-thinking fellow citizens from the hellish casemates of the central prison and the Peter and Paul Fortress, to protect the Russian people from the wholesale ruin, to protect Russian science and thought from a miserable and inglorious death under the hand of the censor-executioner ...
Let different political parties pursue different goals, but not one of them allows those whose entire policy is exhausted by two gloomy, long-forgotten words: "Word and deed!"
Everywhere and always, among all peoples who have ever risen for freedom, the names of the first fallen soldiers became sacred, and their death did not go unpunished ...
Published in the Free Russian Printing House.
TsGIA, f. 1410, op. 1, d. 154. Original, printed.
April 1878
Proclamation N.K. Mikhailovsky
"Flying Leaf" FLYING LEAF No. 1,
April 1878There are anxious moments when the logic of events, despite their apparent disorder and suddenness, with irresistible force outlines the next historical step, which is absolutely necessary for the country. We are living through one of those decisive moments. To comprehend the task ahead of Russian society, no special insight is required. Life, the facts speak for themselves so loudly, it is so easy to reveal their general fundamental meaning that there is no room for any doubts and disagreements. The future will show whether we can remain unanimous for a long time, but there can be no dispute about the first step forward.
March 31, 1878 will forever be a memorable day in Russian history. On this day, the society, the "chosen society", according to the consciousness of "Moskovskie Vedomosti", for the first time appreciated the heroism of the youth who perished in prisons and hard labor. It heard the outrageous details of the general's mockery of human dignity, learned the past of Zasulich herself, looked into her pure soul and not only gave her, in the person of the jury, a legal justification, but recognized her as the embodiment of Russian conscience and thought. Anyone who has been in court knows that we are not exaggerating.
Why did Zasulich become so dear to society? Having learned about the general's massacre, she was waiting for trial and retribution. She could not allow the thought that just at the time when we were parading in front of Europe in the uniform of the life-saviors of Bulgaria, the Russian general could commit Turkish atrocities with impunity in the capital of the liberating power. She waited, did not wait, and personally took retribution upon herself. "It's hard to raise a hand against a person," she said in court. But it seemed to her that this was necessary, that otherwise it would be impossible to draw public attention to the Turkish atrocities in Russia. The effect even exceeded, probably, her expectations.
We knew, of course, before where we lived, but this time the terrible, shameful truth appeared in all its nakedness, and we felt to what extent our homeland is speechless and without judgment. Our press, dead and buried under the burden of justicelessness, glorified the liberation of the Slavs and was silent about the slavery of Russia. Public opinion also did not dare to punish the Bashi-Buzut general. And we were seized with indignation and burning shame. Since then, an abyss has opened between the government and society, and this summer, from the first justification of Zasulich, the twenty-fourth reign of Emperor Alexander II, the fact of transferring public affairs into public hands should turn into a principle. The fact already exists and manifests itself in a whole series of deeds, heroic or vile, but necessarily lawless. Powerless in external affairs, preparing for a shameful world, the government ceases to function internally. It summons Zasulich to trial for the massacre of General Trepov and silently appoints the butcher shop and Okhotny Ryad as governor-general of Moscow.
Events move quickly and all in the same direction. The government is unwilling or unable to stop the cruel, arrogant activities of the Kiev comrade prosecutor Kotlyarevsky, and private individuals are taking up this case. The government is unwilling or unable to prevent the outcome of the insane university trial, and private individuals execute Matveyev. The government cannot stop the Moscow demonstration, and its representatives are private individuals - Moscow butchers. The government, despite the presence of police and troops, does not want or cannot stop the barbaric slaughter, and the butchers again ask for "work".
Thus, the actual administration of justice and the protection of citizens from violence escapes the hands of the government. But such an abnormal state of affairs is impossible. We do not dare to sacrifice those individuals for whom it is “hard to raise a hand against a person”, and we cannot give ourselves up to sacrifice to butchers, for whom it is easy.
We need an exit. It is indicated by the very state of things. The government itself is instinctively drawn into the whirlpool. The Government Gazette reprints the antics of a private newspaper against the verdict by the laws of the court established in the empire, the emperor makes a visit of sympathy to General Trepov, who was disgraced by the March 31 affair, and openly separates his personal sympathies from the sympathies of society.
These are the facts. Scattered, disordered, they must be elevated to a principle. This principle is called: the constitution, the Zemsky Sobor. In vain the government threatens with reprisals, such as the closure of higher educational institutions, the banning of newspapers, the equating of gendarme teams with military guards, or the legislative reduction of the area of operation of the jury.
The historical movement cannot be stopped. Public affairs must be placed in public hands. If this is not achieved in the form of representative government with elected representatives from the Russian land, a secret committee of public security must arise in the country. And then woe to the madmen who stand in the way of history! It is impossible to do without this or that fundamental combination of individual facts testifying to the impotence of the government.
Decisive minutes create decisive people.
TsGIA, f. 1410, op. 1, d. 151. Original, printed.
"Common cause", 1878, No. 11; "The Past", 1903, No. 3, pp. 152-154.
|
|
September-December 1879
Program of the Executive Committee of "Narodnaya Volya"EXECUTIVE BOARD PROGRAM
BUT
In our basic convictions we are socialists and populists. We are convinced that only on socialist principles can humanity embody freedom, equality, fraternity in its life, ensure general material well-being and the full, all-round development of the individual, and therefore progress. We are convinced that only the will of the people can sanction social forms, that the development of the people is stable only when it proceeds independently and freely, when every idea that has to be realized passes first through the consciousness and will of the people. The people's good and the people's will are our two most sacred and inextricably linked principles. B
2. Above the chained people, we notice layers of exploiters surrounding it, created and protected by the state. We notice that this state constitutes the largest capitalist force in the country, that it also constitutes the only political oppressor of the people, that only petty predators can exist thanks to it. We see that this state-bourgeois outgrowth is maintained solely by bare violence: by its military, police and bureaucratic organization, in exactly the same way as the Mongols of Genghis Khan held out in our country. We see the complete absence of popular sanction of this arbitrary and violent power, which by force introduces and maintains such state and economic principles and forms that have nothing in common with popular desires and ideals.
3. In the people themselves, we see still alive, although suppressed in every possible way, its old, traditional principles: the right of the people to land, communal and local self-government, the beginnings of a federal structure, freedom of conscience and speech. These principles would be widely developed and would give a completely new direction, in the spirit of the people, to our whole history, if only the people were given the opportunity to live and arrange themselves as they want, in accordance with their own inclinations.
AT
1. Therefore, we believe that, as socialists and populists, we must make it our immediate task to remove the overwhelming oppression of the modern state from the people, to carry out a political revolution with the aim of transferring power to the people. With this revolution we will reach firstly, that the development of the people will henceforth proceed independently, according to its own will and inclinations, secondly, that in our Russian life many purely socialist principles common to us and to the people will be recognized and supported.
2. We believe that the will of the people would be sufficiently well expressed and carried out by a Constituent Assembly freely elected by popular vote, under instructions from the electors. This, of course, is far from being an ideal form of manifestation of the people's will, but it is the only one currently possible in practice, and we therefore consider it necessary to dwell on it.
3. Our aim, then, is to take power from the existing government and hand it over to the Constituent Assembly, constituted as it is now said, which is to review all our state and public institutions and reorganize them according to the instructions of their electors.
G
Submitting to the full will of the people, we, nevertheless, as a party, consider it our duty to appear before the people with our program. We will propagate it before the coup, we will recommend it during the election campaign, we will defend it in the Constituent Assembly. This program is the following:
1) a permanent representation of the people, composed as above and having full power in all national matters;D2) broad regional self-government, ensured by the election of all posts, the independence of the world and the economic independence of the people;
3) the independence of the world as an economic and administrative unit;
4) belonging of the land to the people;
5) a system of measures to transfer all plants and factories into the hands of the workers;
6) complete freedom of conscience, speech, press, gatherings, associations and election campaigning;
7) universal suffrage, without class and property restrictions;
8) replacement of the standing army by the territorial one. We will carry out this program and we believe that all the points in it are impossible one without the other and only in the aggregate ensure the political and economic freedom of the people and their correct development.
In view of the stated goals, the activity of the party is located in the following departments.
1. Propagatory and propaganda activities. Propaganda aims to popularize in all sections of the population the idea of a democratic political revolution as a means of social reform, as well as to popularize the party's own program. Criticism of the existing system, exposition and explanation of the methods of revolution and social reform constitute the essence of propaganda.
Agitation should strive to ensure that on the part of the people and society they protest on the widest possible scale against the existing order and demand reforms in the spirit of the party, especially the demand for the convocation of a Constituent Assembly. Forms of protest may be gatherings, demonstrations, petitions, tendentious addresses, refusal to pay taxes, etc.
2. Destructive and terrorist activity. Terrorist activity, consisting in the destruction of the most harmful persons of the government, in protecting the Party from spying, in punishing the most outstanding cases of violence and arbitrariness on the part of the government, administration, etc., aims to undermine the charm of government power, to provide continuous proof of the possibility of fighting against government, thus raising the revolutionary spirit of the people and faith in the success of the cause, and, finally, forming forces fit for battle.
3. The organization of secret societies and their rallying around one center. The organization of small secret societies with all sorts of revolutionary aims is necessary both for the fulfillment of the numerous functions of the party and for the political development of its members. But these small organizations, in order to conduct their affairs more harmoniously, especially when organizing a revolution, must necessarily be grouped around one common center on the basis of a complete merger or federal union.
4. The acquisition of an influential position and connections in the administration, army, society and people. For successful execution For all the functions of the Party, it is extremely important to have a sound investment in various sections of the population. In relation to the coup, the administration and the army are especially important. The Party must pay no less serious attention to the people. The main task of the party among the people is to prepare their support for the coup and the possibility of a successful struggle in the elections after the coup, a struggle aimed at winning over purely people's deputies. The Party must acquire conscious adherents for itself among an outstanding part of the peasantry, must prepare for itself the active assistance of the masses at the most important points and among the most receptive population. In view of this, every member of the Party among the people must strive to occupy such a position as to be able to defend the peasant interests, to help their needs, to become known as an honest and benevolent person to the peasantry, and to maintain the reputation of the Party among the people, to defend its ideas and goals.
5. Organization and implementation of the coup. In view of the suppression of the people, in view of the fact that the government, by means of private pacifications, can hold back the general revolutionary movement for a very long time, the party must take upon itself the initiative of the revolution itself, and not wait for the moment when the people will be able to do without it. As for the methods of carrying out the coup... (This part of the 5th paragraph is not subject to publication).
6. Electoral agitation during the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Whatever way the revolution takes place, as a result of an independent revolution or with the help of a conspiracy, the duty of the party is to facilitate the immediate convocation of the Constituent Assembly and the transfer to it of the power of the Provisional Government, created by the revolution or conspiracy. During electoral agitation, the Party must fight in every possible way against the candidacies of various kulaks and with all its might win over the purely worldly people.
E
The guiding principles for the actions of the Executive Committee are determined by the attitude of individuals and social groups to the cause of the revolution. Thus:
1) in relation to the government, as an enemy, the end justifies the means, that is, we consider any means leading to the end to be permissible;TsGIA, f. 1410, on. 1, d. 358. Original, printed.2) all opposition elements, even those who have not entered into an alliance with us, will find help and protection in us;
3) individuals and social groups outside our fight against the government are recognized as neutral; their person and property are inviolable;
4) persons and social groups who consciously and actively help the government in our struggle against it, as having left neutrality, are taken for the enemy.
Spring 1880
Instruction "Narodnaya Volya"
"Party preparatory work"THE PREPARATORY WORK OF THE PARTY
The preparatory work of the party has as its task the development of the quantity of force necessary for the realization of its aims.
But these goals boil down primarily to the creation in the near future of such a state and social system in which the will of the people would become the only source of law. This is the immediate goal, and only after it has been achieved will broad party activity become possible, which will have propaganda and agitation as its main means.
But in its striving to achieve this immediate goal, the Party becomes in need of breaking down the existing governmental system. This is what the Party should be concerned about first of all.
The destruction of the present government system can, of course, come about in very different ways. Perhaps, for example, a decrepit government, without waiting for an uprising, will decide to make the widest possible concessions to the people. This would be, so to speak, the natural death of the old order, and then, obviously, the forces of the Party would have to be directed directly to activity among the masses of the people, leaving aside the present plans. It may also be that the government, without completely surrendering, will, however, give such a free constitution that it will be more advantageous for the party to delay the insurrection so that, enjoying freedom of action, it can better organize and strengthen itself.
But all such considerations do not in the least negate the need now, at the present time, to prepare for an insurrection, for, firstly, all concessions, small or large, are conceivable on the part of the government only if it is forced to do so; secondly, there may very easily not be any significant concessions on the part of the government (and it is much more likely that there will not be); the party is obliged to fulfill its tasks even in this case. That is why the party must prepare precisely for the insurrection; if, more than hope, it turns out to be superfluous, then so much the better: the collected forces will then go to peaceful work.
As for the uprising itself, in all probability it will be possible to choose a favorable moment for it, when the circumstances themselves will greatly facilitate the task of the conspirators. Such favorable conditions are created by a popular revolt, an unsuccessful war, state bankruptcy, various complications of European politics, etc. The Party must take advantage of each of these favorable circumstances, but in its preparatory work it must not pin all its hopes on them. The Party is obliged to fulfill its tasks at all costs, and therefore its preparation must be carried out in such a way that it does not fall below its role even under the worst, most difficult conditions.
Such most unfavorable conditions present themselves precisely if the party itself has to start the insurrection, and not join the popular movement, and if, in addition, there are no extraordinary favorable accidents that facilitate the first attack. It is for this state of affairs that we must be prepared. The Party must have the strength to create for itself a favorable moment of action, to start a task and carry it through to the end.
A skillfully executed system of terrorist enterprises, simultaneously destroying 10-15 people - the pillars of the modern government, will lead the government into a panic, deprive it of unity of action and at the same time excite the masses, i.e., create a convenient moment for an attack. Taking advantage of this moment, the pre-assembled fighting forces start an uprising and try to take over the main government institutions.
Such an attack can easily be crowned with success if the party secures the possibility of sending to the aid of the first skirmishers any significant masses of workers, etc. In order to be successful, it is also necessary to prepare for oneself a position in the provinces that is strong enough to raise them at the first news. about a coup, or at least keep it neutral. In the same way, an insurrection must be secured in advance against assistance to the government from the European powers, etc., etc. In general, the preparatory work of the Party must accomplish everything that is necessary for the success of an insurrection launched by the Party, even without any extraordinary favorable conditions, i.e. .with such an approximate position in which Russia is at the present time.
From this point of view, the main tasks of our preparatory work are the following:
1) the creation of a Central Fighting Organization capable of starting an uprising;A. Central organization2) the creation of a provincial revolutionary organization capable of supporting the uprising;
3) ensure the support of the city workers for the uprising;
4) prepare the possibility of attracting troops to their side or paralyzing its activities;
5) enlist the sympathy and assistance of the intelligentsia - the main source of strength in the preparatory work;
6) win over the public opinion of Europe.
Under our Russian conditions, which do not allow for open party action, the Central Organization cannot be created in the form of an elected representation from the Party, but must appear in the form of a secret society. This secret society, in accordance with the tasks ahead of it, must have a militant character. It should extend to all the points from which it is necessary to start an insurrection, but there is no need for it to cover the whole of Russia. On the contrary, it is more advantageous for the rest of the people to organize themselves in independent groups, because it is too difficult for one vast society to keep secret and guard against the vigilance of government agents. At the same time, close ties between the Central Organization and the rest of the organizations are necessary so that the Central Organization can actually be the spokesman for the aspirations of the entire Party.
Further, in view of the important role that falls to the lot of the Central Organization, the Party must provide it with sufficient funds by expelling fit people, supplying material resources, etc. In this respect it would be very practical to establish regular regular contributions from all members of the Party, so that the Central the organization had a certain and not subject to random fluctuations budget. In view of the solidarity of purposes and the necessity of unity, the Central and private groups must have properly organized relations and receive mutual information about the means available and the intentions standing in line.
B. Organizations special and local
Organizations of a special nature, with the aims of exclusively propaganda or for some kind of production, for raising funds for philanthropic purposes, etc., can arise even in the area of direct action of the Center. The connection of all such groups with the Center is maintained by specially appointed persons. As regards the forms and purposes of such groups, Obviously, all this is determined by them.
Much more difficult is the question of local organizations that set themselves general revolutionary goals, but are limited to geographic or ethnographic areas of action. The great importance of such organizations is undoubted: the success of the revolutionary movement depends entirely on their development, and in the absence of them, any attempt by the Central Organization is fraught with risk.
Local groups can only in very exceptional cases acquire significance in the sense of the beginning of a revolution; in most cases, their role, of course, will be reduced to supporting the movement that has begun in the centers and not allowing their locality to come to the aid of the government. But in this sense, their intervention determines the entire outcome of the struggle. With the triumph of the revolution, the importance of local organizations rises even more. They will have to arouse the spirit of the masses, they will mainly have to influence the elections to the Constituent Assembly, formulate the demands of the peasantry, etc. In general, as much as the destructive role falls primarily on the Central Organization, the same creative role falls on the local organizations. In view of all this, local groups should secure in advance:
a) the position in the administration and the army,In achieving these goals, Party members must act in unison, supporting and pulling each other out, filling with their people all the places advantageous for the Party, taking care to maintain the reputation and influence on each other.b) influence on the peasantry,
c) must, as far as possible, converge with local liberals and constitutionalists,
d) must stock up on material resources,
e) thoroughly familiarize yourself with your field.
The acquisition of a position in the administration and the army is especially important for the first moments of the movement. Even the most incomplete achievement of success in this respect can greatly help the cause. When, at the news of an uprising, the local authorities take it into their heads to help the government, it doesn't take much to confuse them. When a governor sees hesitations among at least a few of his subordinates, when he hears from them an indication of the danger of linking his fate with a falling government, when other members of the party hold demonstrations among society, the people, when there are two or three cases of disobedience among the officers and especially the heads of individual units - this is already enough for the province to remain neutral today, and, therefore, tomorrow it will pass into the hands of the revolutionaries. Particularly important in this case are the troops, among whom it is necessary to work hard, acquiring the most developed and honest people into party members and arousing civic feeling in the rest. First of all, you should pay attention to the officers and through them act on the soldiers.
With regard to the peasantry, one should occupy places where close contact with the masses is possible, earn their respect by their behavior, help them, defend their interests, relying on the assistance of bureaucratic and influential persons of the party. Without conducting mass propaganda, one must, however, converge with the best of the peasants, converting them as far as possible into conscious supporters of the party, acquainting them with its goals.
In relation to the liberals, without concealing one's radicalism, one should point out that, given the present formulation of party tasks, our interests and theirs are compelled to act jointly against the government.
The study of the province should be the most thorough: the personalities of those in command, influential in society, the army, the Zemstvo or city administrations of people, their mutual relations, bickering, etc. should be precisely known; it is necessary to know who is a conscious supporter of the government, who is a simple careerist, who sympathizes with the party and is able to support it; it is necessary to know the number of troops, their location, as well as various warehouses and institutions; it is necessary to observe the mood of the masses of the people, to know their expectations, hopes, displeasures, and to diligently identify the leaders of the people, converging with them as closely as possible. In short, the whole inner life of a given region, all its available forces of political significance, must be carefully studied.
The organization of local groups must, of necessity, be adapted to the general conditions of activity in Russia. At the center of each local organization there must be a tightly knit group, a secret society connected, on the one hand, with the Center, and on the other hand, with its subgroups. While preaching a program of action in accordance with the general plans of the party, the local group must, however, keep secret the particulars of its actions, relations, means, not allowing little-known persons to infiltrate their environment on the sole ground that they have taken it into their heads to pretend to be like-minded people.
B. City workers
The urban working population, which is of particular importance for the revolution, both in its position and in its relatively greater development, should attract the serious attention of the Party. The success of the first attack depends entirely on the behavior of the workers and troops. If the Party secures in advance such connections among the working class that at the time of the insurrection it will be able to close factories and plants, agitate the masses and move them into the streets (with a sympathetic attitude towards the insurrection, of course), this will already half ensure the success of the cause. On the other hand, the urban workers, by virtue of their position, will represent purely popular interests, and their more or less active attitude towards the insurrection, towards the measures of the Provisional Government, and towards the very formation of the Provisional Government, will greatly influence the whole character of the movement and the degree of usefulness of the revolution for the people.
Therefore, propaganda should be intensively carried out in the working environment:
1) socialist ideas (the wider the better),Propaganda must go hand in hand with the organization of the working masses, with the aim of uniting them, of developing in them a consciousness of unity and solidarity of interests. Workers can be organized on any ground, from artels, associations, circles for self-development, strikes, to purely revolutionary associations. Members of the Party must form circles of the last kind from developed people (intelligentsia or workers, it doesn't matter), and scatter the members of these circles throughout all factories and factories to form groups of the first kind, in order to, firstly, constantly raise the level of the working masses; secondly, designate and join new personalities from their midst; in-Z-x, in order to be able to agitate the broadest mass of workers in the event of a revolution. These revolutionary circles must be kept in the deepest secrecy from strangers, but at the same time they must be connected with each other and with the Central Organization.2) a political upheaval and the creation of a democratic government, as the first step towards the implementation of popular demands.
G. Troop
The significance of the army during the coup is enormous. It can be said that if you have an army for yourself, you can overthrow the government even without the help of the people, but if you have an army against you, you probably won’t achieve anything even with the support of the people. Under present conditions, however, propaganda between soldiers is so difficult that one can hardly place much hope in it.
It is much more convenient to influence the officers: they are more developed, freer, more accessible to influence. Meanwhile, at the moment of an upheaval, of course, no one can incline the soldiers to the side of the uprising better than a popular officer who turns to his soldiers with appropriate instructions and proposals. Finally, if the spirit of the company or battalion would not allow such treatment, then the commander can still lead the soldiers to the wrong place, can keep them from firing, force them to retreat, demoralize them with aimless transitions, etc. In view of all this, the officers should be the subject of the most careful attention. The best, most developed and energetic should be attracted as conscious members of the Party. In relation to the mass of the rest, it should raise their level of development, explain to them their obligations to the people, undermine the importance of the government in their eyes and clarify the goals of the revolutionaries.
Officers - members of the party should pursue two main goals:
1) or curry favor, occupy important places,Then, of course, they must raise the level of development of their comrades, as well as the soldiers, and in relation to the latter, among other things, the forces of the former can be utilized ... Finally, every effort should be made to draw the best forces of the army to points important for the uprising, and if possible, in such a way that in separate parts all important places were occupied by their own people.2) or pay all attention to the acquisition of popularity among the soldiers.
D. Intelligentsia and youth
The intelligentsia and the youth in particular constitute such spheres where each honest direction should only make itself felt in order to have supporters. Large comments on the methods of action in this environment are not required. As for the youth, it is important to maintain revolutionary tendencies in its ranks, educating the younger generation in a revolutionary spirit and providing activities that are accessible to their forces and at the same time useful for the cause of the revolution. Thus, student youth can maintain in their midst the spirit of solidarity, steadfastness in struggle and civic courage, seeking to expand student rights; can conduct propaganda among the workers, help distribute revolutionary publications, etc.
E. Europe
With regard to Europe, the policy of the party must strive to secure the sympathy of the peoples for the Russian revolution. Governments, with their changeable policies, with their diplomatic interests, cannot be any firm allies for us. Nor can they be especially dangerous if we enlist the sympathy of European public opinion. We have recently seen the power of this force in the example of Hartmann.
To achieve this goal, the Party must acquaint Europe with the pernicious significance of Russian absolutism for European civilization itself, with the true goals of the Party, with the significance of our revolutionary movement as an expression of popular protest. The facts of the revolutionary struggle, the activities and goals of the party, the measures of the Russian government, its attitude towards the people - if Europe knows all this without distortion, then its sympathy is guaranteed to us. In these forms, it is necessary to organize the supply of the European press with all such information. Persons living abroad must personally act in the same spirit at rallies, public meetings, lecturing about Russia, etc. for Russian affairs.
Calendar of the "Narodnaya Volya" for 1883, Geneva, 1883, pp. 122-134;
Collection of programs and program articles of the party "Narodnaya Volya". Geneva, 1903, pp. 8-19.November 1880
"The program of workers, members of the People's Will Party"PROGRAM OF WORKERS, MEMBERS OF THE "PEOPLE'S WILL" PARTY
(Edition of the editors of "Narodnaya Volya")
BUT
The historical experience of mankind, as well as the study and observation of the life of peoples, convincingly and clearly prove that peoples will only then achieve the greatest happiness and strength, that people will only then become brothers, will be free and equal when they organize their lives in accordance with socialist teaching, that is, as follows :
1. The land and tools of labor must belong to the whole people, and every worker has the right to use them.If the peoples reorganize their lives in the way that we, socialist workers, desire, then they will become really free and independent, because there will be no more masters or slaves. Everyone can then work without falling into bondage to the landowner, manufacturer, owner, because these parasites will not be in sight. The land will be used by everyone who wants to engage in arable farming. Factories and factories will be in the hands of those communities that wish to stick to factory labor. Everyone will have everything he needs for life, and therefore will not sell himself, his work, his beliefs, and there will be no one to buy.2. The work is done not alone, but together (communities, artels, associations).
3. The products of common labor must be divided by decision between all workers, according to the needs of each.
4. State structure must be based on a union treaty of all communities.
5. Each community is completely independent and free in its internal affairs.
6. Each member of the community is completely free in his convictions and personal life; his freedom is limited only in those cases where it turns into violence against another member of his or someone else's community.
Work by the community, by the artel, will make it possible to widely use machines and all inventions and discoveries that facilitate labor; therefore, for workers, members of the community, the production of everything necessary for life will require much less labor and they will have a lot of free time and energy at their disposal for developing their minds and engaging in science. Such a life will give the worker many pleasures, of which he now has no idea, will give him scientific knowledge and will make him himself capable of serving the further development of science, facilitating labor and improving life. The number of all kinds of improvements will become infinitely greater than it is now, and human workers will reach high power over nature.
The personal freedom of man, that is, the freedom of opinion, research, and any activity, will remove the shackles from the human mind and give it full scope.
Freedom of the community, i.e. its right, together with all communities and unions, to interfere in state affairs and direct them according to the common desire of all communities, will not allow state oppression to arise, will not allow immoral people to take the country into their own hands, ruin it as various rulers and officials and suppress the freedom of the people, as is done now.
B
We are deeply convinced that such a social and state order would ensure the people's welfare, but we also know from the experience of other peoples that it is impossible to achieve complete freedom and lasting happiness for the people immediately and in the very near future. We have a long and stubborn struggle against the rulers and squanderers of national wealth - the gradual conquest of civil rights. For too long, for centuries, the government and all its henchmen, who now live well and warmly, were exhausted in order to keep the Russian people in obedience and oppression. They almost always succeeded. Indeed, dark people in most cases do not realize and do not feel that they are citizens of their native country and should not allow crowned rogues and all sorts of hunters for someone else's labor and pocket to dispose of the country; poor, hungry people too often had to tremble and humiliate themselves in front of the strong and rich, even to cheat and sell themselves, and all because of a daily piece of bread ... Therefore, people of the present time could not settle down and live in harmony with such good and just orders, where there are no rich or poor, no parasite masters, no servant-workers, where they are provided for anyway, everyone works, everyone is free. There is no need to despair, however.
If in our time such orders are not up to us, then we should approach them gradually, achieving, if not complete freedom and happiness, then at least greater freedom and a significant improvement in our lives. With the best orders and a better life people will become smarter, more moral, they will finally understand that they are citizens, that is, full-fledged masters of their country, and they will go further, that is, arrange their lives even better, even more justly. At the same time, the social and state order that we, socialist workers want, should serve as a guiding star for people so that they do not stray and fall into new chains, into even worse bondage.
We set ourselves the task of our lives to help the entire Russian people enter a new path of freedom and a better life. The situation of the people is so difficult, their life is so ugly, that it is the duty of all understanding and honest people to support us and put an end to this disgrace. Things cannot and must not go on like this. Look: in the villages, peasant land is gradually passing into the hands of kulaks and speculators; in the cities factory and factory workers are increasingly in bondage to the manufacturer; the capitalists become a force against which the disunited workers find it difficult to fight; the state and the government draw to themselves all the wealth and strength of the country with the assistance of a whole army of officials who are completely independent of the people and completely submissive to the will of the government; the whole people is placed under the supervision of the greedy and ignorant police (sergeants and other police officials). Recently, the government found that the volost courts and gatherings give too much scope to the people's spirit, and decided to take them into their own hands.
Everyone can see that by these measures they want to completely weaken the Russian people and stifle in them any desire for a free life. Can we, socialist workers, can all understanding workers allow the Russian people to be led along this dangerous path? Not! We all must strive to achieve such orders, where the people themselves would become the master of the country, where there would be no government officials, but he himself would decide which path would lead him to prosperity and freedom. You need to take the first step!
AT
But this step should be considered. First of all, we must find out for ourselves who our enemies are, who our friends are, and what changes in the present order should be sought. We must know that:
1. All who now live at the expense of the people, that is, the government, landlords, manufacturers, factory owners and kulaks, will never voluntarily renounce the benefits of their position, because it is much more pleasant for them to dump all the work on the back of the worker than for themselves take on her. These gentlemen realize that the working people will serve them only as long as they are dark, crushed by want and ruined, as long as they do not understand that their strength is in the alliance of all workers. Therefore, it is useless to expect from these gentlemen an improvement in the present order. True, they sometimes arrange commissions to improve the living conditions of workers in factories and plants; but all their worries are reminiscent of the owner's worries about the maintenance of draft animals.GNever will they think of lifting public education will never allow the working man to arrange himself so that he ceases to need them. Therefore, the working people must rely on their own strength - the enemies will not help them.
But the people can always count on a faithful ally, the social revolutionary par-t and yu. The people of this party are recruited from all the estates of the Russian tsardom, but they give their lives to the cause of the people and think that everyone will become equal and free, that they will achieve just order only when the working class, i.e., the peasantry and urban workers, manage the affairs of the country, because that all other classes, if they sought freedom and equality, then only for themselves, and not for the whole people. Therefore, the Social Revolutionary Party is the best ally, and the working people can always fraternally extend their hand to it.
Apart from her, the people have no other faithful allies: however, in many cases it will find support in individuals from other classes, in educated people who also would like to see a freer and better life in Russia. They are not very disturbed by the fact that the Russian peasant is in bondage to the master and the kulak, because this oppression is unfamiliar to them, but they have experienced the arbitrariness of the police and bureaucrats in their own skin and would willingly help the people to put an end to it. The people, of course, would benefit from the relaxation of government oppression: everyone would breathe more freely, the thought of each person would work harder, knowledge would become more accessible to everyone, the number of well-wishers of the people would increase, but most importantly, the people could come to an agreement and unite. Therefore, the working people should not reject these people: it is advantageous to achieve the expansion of freedom hand in hand with them. It is only necessary that the workers should not forget that their work does not stop there. that soon we would have to part with this temporary friend and move on in alliance with one social-revolutionary party.
2. The changes in the order that we wish to make must be understandable to the people and agree with their demands, otherwise they will not introduce and support them; other classes, as we said, cannot be counted on, because they will do not what is beneficial for the people, but what is beneficial to them.
3. Changes in the order should bring life closer to the socialist system.
Taking all this into account, we recognize that in the near future we can achieve the following changes in the state system and people's life:
1. Tsarist power in Russia is replaced by people's government, i.e. the government is made up of people's representatives (deputies); the people themselves appoint and replace them; when choosing, he specifies in detail what they should strive for, and requires an account of their activities.These, in our opinion, are the changes that can be made in the life of the people in the near future; we think that the entire people - the urban workers and the peasantry - will understand all their usefulness and will be ready to defend them. The urban workers need only remember that, apart from the peasantry, they will always be crushed by the government; factory owners and kulaks, because the main people's strength is not in them, but in the peasantry. If, however, they constantly put themselves side by side with the peasantry, win them over and prove that things should be done together, by joint efforts, then the entire working people will become an invincible force. D2. The Russian state, according to the nature and living conditions of the population, is divided into regions that are independent in their internal affairs, but linked into one All-Russian Union. The internal affairs of the region are managed by the Regional Administration; the affairs of the whole state - by the Union government.
3. The peoples forcibly annexed to the Russian kingdom are free to secede or remain in the All-Russian Union.
4. Communities (villages, villages, suburbs, factory artels, etc.) decide their affairs at gatherings and carry them out through their elected officials - elders, sots, clerks, managers, craftsmen, clerks, etc.
5. All land passes into the hands of the working people and is considered the people's property. Each separate region gives land for the use of communities or individuals, but only to those who themselves are engaged in processing it. No one has the right to receive land more than the amount that he himself is able to cultivate. At the request of the community, redistribution of land is established.
6. Plants and factories are considered people's property and are given to the use of factory and factory communities; income belongs to these communities.
7. People's representatives issue laws and regulations, indicating how factories and factories should be arranged so as not to harm the health and life of workers, determining the number of working hours for men, women and children, etc.
8. The right to elect representatives (deputies) both to the Federal Government and to the Regional Administration belongs to every adult; in the same way, every adult can be elected to the Federal Government and the Regional Administration.
9. All Russian people have the right to adhere to and convert to any creed (religious freedom); the right to distribute orally or in print any thoughts or teachings (freedom of speech and press); the right to meet to discuss their affairs (freedom of assembly); have the right to form societies (communities, artels, unions, associations) for the pursuit of any goals; has the right to offer his advice to the people in the election of representatives and in every public matter (freedom of electoral agitation).
10. Education of the people in all lower and higher schools free and available to all.
11. The present army and all troops in general are being replaced by the local people's militia. All are obliged to military service, they are trained in military affairs, not looking up from work and family, and are convened only in case of a need determined by law.
12. The State Russian Bank is established by a branch in various places in Russia to support and organize factory, factory, agricultural and, in general, all kinds of industrial and scientific communities, artels, unions.
It will take a lot of hard work on this, and we think that the work should be done like this:
a. Those workers who have firmly decided that the present order and the entire life of the people must be changed form small but friendly societies (circles) of workers, find out for themselves what should be achieved, and prepare themselves for the time when, by common efforts, it will be necessary to begin to carrying out the revolution. The mugs must be connected to each other, but at the same time they must be secret, inaccessible to government strikes.Those from the workers' circle who show their skill and perseverance in the conduct of the worker's business enter the main workers' circles, and in this way the secret alliance of the workers is strengthened.b. The members of the circles must explain to the people that the only way out of the present disastrous order is a violent revolution, that a revolution is necessary and possible. To this end, the members of the circles are placed in factories, factories and villages and start new circles of workers and peasants under various pretexts, mostly completely legal (for example, the circle starts its own cash desk, library, reading rooms, hostels, etc.). Enjoying the respect and love of the workers, the members of the circle maintain a rebellious spirit in the working environment, organize strikes against the factory owners where necessary and prepare to fight against the police and government authorities, who always stand for the factory owner.
E
It is impossible to guess under what conditions the workers' unions (workers' organization) will have to act. But whatever they may be, you must always keep in mind the general rules:
1. In order to achieve anything, the workers must constitute a force capable of putting pressure on the government and, if necessary, ready to support their demands with weapons in their hands. Whether it comes to a bloody struggle, or whether the enemies of the people give in without a fight, it doesn't matter: you need to prepare a force, and the more this force is ready to engage in battle, the sooner the enemies will retreat without a fight.Once a certain indignation has begun in the city or in the villages, the party must support it with its own forces, introduce its own demands into it, and provoke similar unrest in other places where possible; should combine these unrest into one general uprising and expand it to all of Russia. At the same time, it is necessary to upset the government, to destroy its major officials (the larger, the better), both civilian and military; the army must be drawn over to the side of the people, disbanded and replaced by a people's militia made up of peasants, workers, former soldiers and all honest citizens.2. Only the entire social revolutionary party, of which the workers' organization is a part, can attack enemies with the hope of victory. The Party gathers forces among the people and society for the coup, organizes alliances among the peasantry and among the urban workers, in the army and other social strata. The party singles out itself as a militant alliance that attacks the government, upsets it, throws it into confusion, and thereby makes it easier for all the dissatisfied - the people, the workers and all the people who are benevolent to them - to rise up and carry out a general coup.
For success, it is extremely important to capture the largest cities and keep them behind you. To this end, the insurgent people, immediately after clearing the city of the enemy, must elect their Provisional Government from workers or persons known for their devotion to the cause of the people. The provisional government, relying on the militia, defends the city from enemies and in every possible way helps the uprising in other places, unites and directs the rebels. The workers vigilantly watch the Provisional Government and force it to act in favor of the people.
When the uprising is victorious all over the country, when the land, factories and factories pass into the hands of the people, and when elected people's administration is established in the villages, cities and regions, when there is no other military force in the state except the militia, then immediately the people send their representatives to (Union Government) Constituent Assembly, which, having abolished the Provisional Government, approves the people's conquests and establishes the all-Union order. Representatives act according to the exact instructions given to them by the voters. Here is the general plan of the Party's activities during the revolution. There may be another case, however.
If the government, out of fear of a general revolt, decides to make some concessions to society, i.e., to give a constitution, then the activities of the workers should not change as a result. They must declare themselves by force, they must demand major concessions for themselves, they must introduce their representatives into parliament (i.e., the legislative assembly) and, if necessary, support their demands with mass statements and indignations.
In this way constantly pressing against the government, gaining strength in the struggle against it, the Narodnaya Volya party waits only for a convenient moment when the old, worthless order proves incapable of resisting the demands of the people, and carries out a revolution with full hope of success.
TsGIA, f. 1410, on. 1, d. 353. Original, printed.
"The Past", London, 1903, No. 3, pp. 191-196.March 10, 1881
Letter from the Executive Committee of "Narodnaya Volya"
Alexander IIIEXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO EMPEROR ALEXANDER III
Your Majesty!
Fully understanding the painful mood that you are experiencing at the present moment, the Executive Committee does not consider, however, that it has the right to succumb to a sense of natural delicacy, which, perhaps, requires waiting for some time for the following explanation. There is something higher than the most legitimate feelings of a person: it is a duty to his native country, a duty to which a citizen is forced to sacrifice himself, and his feelings, and even the feelings of other people. In obedience to this all-powerful duty, we decide to turn to you immediately, without waiting for anything, since the historical process that threatens us in the future with rivers of blood and the most severe upheavals is not waiting.
The bloody tragedy that broke out on the Catherine Canal was not an accident and was not unexpected for anyone.
After everything that has happened over the past decade, it was completely inevitable, and this is its deep meaning, which a person placed by fate at the head of government power must understand. Only a person who is completely incapable of analyzing the life of peoples can explain such facts as the malicious intent of individuals, or at least a "gang". For a whole 10 years, we have seen how in our country, despite the most severe persecution, despite the fact that the government of the late emperor sacrificed everything - freedom, the interests of all classes, the interests of industry and even its own dignity - unconditionally sacrificed everything for the suppression of the revolutionary movement Nevertheless, it stubbornly grew, attracting the best elements of the country, the most energetic and self-sacrificing people of Russia, and for three years now it has entered into a desperate, guerrilla war with the government.
You know, Your Majesty, that the government of the late emperor cannot be blamed for a lack of energy. In our country, the right and the guilty were hanged, prisons and remote provinces were overflowing with exiles. Entire dozens of so-called "leaders" were caught, hanged. They perished with the courage and serenity of martyrs, but the movement did not stop, it grew unceasingly and grew stronger. Yes, Your Majesty, the revolutionary movement is not a matter that depends on individuals. This is the process of the people's organism, and the gallows erected for the most energetic exponents of this process are also powerless to save the obsolete order, just as the death of the savior on the cross did not save the corrupted ancient world from the triumph of reforming Christianity.
The government, of course, can still catch and outweigh many many individuals. It can destroy many individual revolutionary groups. Let us assume that it destroys even the most serious revolutionary organizations in existence. But all this will not change the situation in the least. Revolutionaries are created by circumstances, the general displeasure of the people, Russia's striving for new social forms. It is impossible to exterminate the entire people, and it is also impossible to destroy their discontent through reprisals: displeasure, on the contrary, grows from this. Therefore, new personalities, even more embittered, even more energetic, are constantly being promoted from the people to replace those who are being exterminated. These personalities, in the interests of the struggle, of course, organize themselves, having the ready experience of their predecessors; therefore, the revolutionary organization must be strengthened both quantitatively and qualitatively in the course of time. This is what we have seen in reality over the past 10 years.
What benefit did the death of the Dolgushinites, Chaikovites, leaders of 1874 bring to the government? They were replaced by much more determined Narodniks. Terrible government reprisals then called the terrorists of 1878-1879 onto the scene. In vain did the government exterminate the Kovalskys, the Dubrovins, the Osinskys, and the Lizogubs. In vain it destroyed dozens of revolutionary circles. From these imperfect organizations, only stronger forms are produced by natural selection. Finally, the Executive Committee appears, with which the government is still unable to cope.
Casting an impartial eye on the difficult decade we have lived through, one can accurately predict the future course of the movement, unless the policy of the government changes. The movement must grow, increase, facts of a terrorist nature must be repeated more and more sharply; the revolutionary organization will put forward in place of the exterminated groups more and more perfect, strong forms. Meanwhile, the total number of dissatisfied people in the country is increasing; confidence in the government among the people must fall more and more, the idea of a revolution, of its possibility and inevitability, will develop more and more firmly in Russia. A terrible explosion, a bloody reshuffling, a convulsive revolutionary upheaval throughout Russia will complete this process of destruction of the old order.
What causes this terrible prospect? Yes, your majesty, terrible and sad. Don't take this as a phrase. We understand better than anyone else how sad the death of so many talents, such energy in destruction, in bloody battles, at a time when under other conditions these forces could be spent directly on creative work, on the development of the people, its mind, welfare, his civil hostel. Why does this sad necessity of a bloody struggle come about?
Because, Your Majesty, we now have no real government in its true sense. The government, by its very principle, should only express the people's aspirations, only carry out the people's will. Meanwhile, in our country - excuse the expression - the government has degenerated into a pure camarilla and deserves the name of a usurper gang much more than the Executive Committee. Whatever the intentions of the sovereign, but the actions of the government have nothing to do with the people's benefit and aspirations.
The imperial government subordinated the people to serfdom, handed over the masses to the power of the nobility; at the present time it is openly creating the most harmful class of speculators and speculators. All his reforms only lead to the fact that the people fall into more and more slavery, more and more exploited. It has brought Russia to such a point that at present the masses of the people are in a state of complete poverty and ruin, not free from the most offensive surveillance even at their home, not in power even in their worldly, public affairs. Only the predator, the exploiter, enjoys the protection of the law and the government; the most outrageous robberies go unpunished. But on the other hand, what a terrible fate awaits a person who sincerely thinks about the common good. You know well, Your Majesty, that not only socialists are exiled and persecuted. What is a government that protects such "order"? Is this not a gang, is this not a manifestation of complete usurpation?
That is why the Russian government has no moral influence, no support among the people; that is why Russia produces so many revolutionaries; that is why even such a fact as regicide arouses joy and sympathy in a huge part of the population! Yes, your majesty, do not be fooled by the opinions of flatterers and servants. Regicide in Russia is very popular.
There can be two ways out of this situation: either a revolution, absolutely inevitable, which cannot be prevented by any executions, or a voluntary appeal of the supreme power to the people. In the interests of the native country, in order to avoid the wasted loss of strength, in order to avoid those terrible disasters that always accompany a revolution, the Executive Committee appeals to Your Majesty with advice to choose the second path.
Believe that as soon as the supreme power ceases to be arbitrary, as soon as it firmly decides to carry out only the demands of the people's consciousness and conscience, you can boldly drive out the spies disgracing the government, send the escorts to the barracks and burn the gallows that corrupt the people. The Executive Committee itself will cease its activities and the forces organized around it will disperse in order to devote themselves to cultural work for the good of their native people. A peaceful, ideological struggle will replace violence, which is more disgusting to us than to your servants, and which we practice only out of sad necessity.
We are addressing you, having cast aside all prejudices, having suppressed the mistrust that has been created by the centuries-old activity of the government. We forget that you are a representative of the government that deceived the people so much, did them so much harm. We address you as a citizen and an honest person. We hope that the feeling of personal "embarrassment will not drown out in you the awareness of your duties and the desire to know the truth. Embitterment can also be with us. You lost your father. We lost not only fathers, but also brothers, wives, children, best friends. But we are ready stifle personal feelings, if the good of Russia requires it.We expect the same from you.
We don't put conditions on you. Don't let our offer shock you. The conditions necessary for the revolutionary movement to be replaced by peaceful work have not been created by us, but by history. We do not set, but only remind them. These conditions, in our opinion, are two:
1) a general amnesty for all political crimes of the past, since these were not crimes, but the fulfillment of civic duty;We consider it necessary to recall, however, that the legalization of supreme power by popular representation can be achieved only if elections are held completely freely. Therefore, elections must be held under the following conditions:2) the convocation of representatives from the entire Russian people to review the existing forms of state and public life and remake them in accordance with the people's desires.
1) deputies are sent from all classes and estates indifferently and in proportion to the number of inhabitants;This is the only way to return Russia to the path of correct and peaceful development. We solemnly declare before the face of our native country and the whole world that our party, for its part, will unconditionally submit to the decision of the people's assembly. elected subject to the above conditions, and will not allow himself henceforth any violent opposition to the government sanctioned by the popular assembly.2) there should be no restrictions for either voters or deputies;
3) the election campaign and the elections themselves must be carried out completely freely, and therefore the government must, in the form of a temporary measure, pending a decision National Assembly, allow:
a) complete freedom of the press,
b) complete freedom of speech, c) complete freedom of gatherings,
d) complete freedom of electoral programs.So, your majesty, decide. There are two paths before you. The choice is up to you. We can then only ask fate that your mind and conscience suggest you a decision that is the only one consistent with the good of Russia, with your own dignity and duties to your native country.
TsGIA, f. 1410, on. 1, d. 369. Original, printed.
V.L. Burtsev. For a hundred years. Geneva, 1898, pp. 173-179.1881
"Worker Propaganda Program"WORKER ADVOCACY PROGRAM
All workers can be divided into 4 categories. The 1st include those who are distinguished by strong impressionability, abilities, energy and sincerity; to the 2nd - those who possess these qualities in an average measure and in the weakest degree; to the 3rd - people strongly saturated with egoism, devoid of abilities, people with a weak will; to the 4th category - immoral, vulgarized irrevocably. In addition to these people, capable, but distinguished by great arrogance, will come across.
Of the people of the 1st category, one can work among individuals who are conscious of the surrounding conditions, understand, clearly represent the causes on which the modern abnormality depends, and imagine ways that can eliminate all the absurdity from life. They must know the history of their people, have a general idea of the history of the Western European peoples (mainly outstanding phenomena from their lives); they must understand the essence of history, know the tasks of the present age; they must also be familiar with political economy, at least to the extent of Lassalle's. In addition to all this, they require a common development. The intelligentsia must pay special attention to their moral side, to place them as high as possible in this regard, since, having sufficiently stocked up on spiritual strength, they will have to replace the intelligentsia in their midst.
The 2nd category must know what causes and nourishes the struggle, because of which the struggle is being waged, to know enough so that people are able to clearly explain to the listeners the current state of Russia, the tasks of the Russian social-revolutionary movement, to give them at least a little political meaning. They should be briefly introduced to Russian history and political economy. The intelligentsia deals with these two categories.
It is impractical to spend the powers of the intelligentsia on people of the 3rd category; from these people it is impossible to work out the preparers of the revolution; they will be our supporters; at the moment of the uprising they will join the fighters (if they hope for a successful outcome for the people of the uprising), but that's all. In the preparatory period, the most that these people can do is render minor services, distribute one or two proclamations, give a book, and they will do this only when they are sure that they are not exposed to any danger in this case. . For them, the influence of people, whose development the intelligentsia will be engaged in, will be quite enough. You can influence people of the 3rd category by talking, debating, distributing leaflets among them, books compiled specifically for popular reading. Organization is inappropriate here.
The fourth category of people - out.
Capable, but too arrogant in character, people should not be organized into circles, but should be kept apart, given to them to read and attached to some technical business. They are not suitable as propagandists, as they will repel everyone with their appeal, with the whole warehouse of their inner "I" .
It must be demanded of the preachers of socialism that, both in their lives and in their attitude towards other people, they indicate the influence that the teaching of brotherhood has on a person. Before organizing study circles, some time must be spent getting to know people who have connections with the intelligentsia. Only after carefully looking at a person, recognizing him as much as possible from conversations, debates, testing him in an imperceptible way for him on some insignificant matter, only then attract one or another category to the circle, depending on what he turns out to be; let less labor be wasted, let the intelligentsia encounter less bitter disappointments in their practice, killing the strength of a person, weakening his energy.
Only by finding pleasure in the struggle can one work with equal energy, with equal, inexhaustible passion. Success captivates a person, inspires him, makes him believe in his own strength, in the receptivity of the soil on which he influences the preaching of some doctrine.
In the period of preparation for practical activity among the workers, the intellectual circles will have to do the following:
1) they will have to take care of collecting material and compiling brochures for the people from this material;Russian history2) everyone who has in mind to engage in propaganda among the workers should thoroughly understand the pamphlets and the following books.
1. "Full and hungry."
2. Khudyakov. "Ancient Russia".
3. Kostomarov. "Riot of Stenka Razin".
4. "Stories about ancient people", all 4 issues.
5. Petrov. "Stories from World History".
6. Essays on the development of the international association.
7. Mikhailov. "Associations" (1st and 2nd chapters).
8. Flerovsky. "The Condition of the Working Class in Russia".
9. Jumping. "History of taverns in Russia".10. Becher. "Work Question"
11. Shelgunov. "Proletariat in France and England".
12. Lassalle (1st and 2nd volumes).
13. Lavrov. "State Elements in the Future Society".
14. Kostomarov. "The Beginning of Autocracy in Russia".
15. His own. " Time of Troubles in Russia".
16. Belyaev. "Peasants in Russia".
17. Semevsky. "Peasants under Catherine II".All the named books must be well assimilated, digested, so to speak, by workers of the 2nd category. In addition, in the circles of this category - during the passage of all of the above, it should give a detailed overview of the current situation, oppression, the tasks of the movement, the paths leading to the achievement of goals; give a concept also about the essence of despotism, monarchy, constitution, republic. To conduct conversations about morality in order to at least somewhat elevate the personality of the worker. In circles of the 1st category, first go through the same thing as with people of the 2nd category in order to prepare them for further development.
Essays on Russian history:
For reading, for example, Shashkov "Russian reactions"; his own "History of the Russian Woman", etc. These books (i.e., books for reading) can be distributed by cruises of the 1st and 2nd category to workers of the 3rd category.
Ethics
Political Economy
Of course, all these books designated for the 1st category should be well read by the preparing intellectuals, then it is the duty of the intelligent to acquaint the listeners with the essence of history, to understand it for them as best as possible. The most important manifestations of the struggle in the life of mankind (what caused it? the purpose of the movement, the results; why are these results, and not others?). Essence of socialism, its history. Acquaintance with the history of the Russian movement. Mental and moral state of modern Russian society (short abstract).
Thirdly, the members of the preparatory circles should be engaged in collecting money for the conduct of the necessary business. Fourth, collect books, magazines.
Fifth, devote time to work on hectography, zincography.
Sixthly, to collect views, photographs from seals, etc. To provide the party with some minor services.
A few words about the organization
This organization is completely independent. Everything that concerns activities among the working masses will be in charge of the central group. If anyone from this central group enters as a member of a local group, he cannot communicate to this local group anything that he knows as a member of the center on a labor matter. Each circle consists of 3-4 workers (however, there may be a few more, depending on the housing problem) and one intelligent. These circles have no official connection with each other. At first, until the members acquire some development, they should use for reading, conversations that would give minimum, with which they would be able to start working in their environment.
People of the 1st category, as more capable, will take faster steps in the matter of development compared to people of the 2nd category. And so, when an intelligent person notices that they have stocked up with fairly clear ideas about the movement, about goals, means, ways, etc., then one can be introduced one by one into circles of the 2nd category, for greater liveliness of conversations, but at the same time, an intelligent person is sure to must be present himself, so that there are no perverse interpretations, and indeed in order for people of the 1st category to get acquainted in advance with the conduct of business, with the nature of treatment, etc. A person of the 1st category should be introduced into circle 2 rank as an ordinary member or in everything like that, and not as a person above them standing; let them themselves draw this conclusion from the clashes, which cannot irritate them, otherwise envy, hidden displeasure, may find a place in their hearts.
People of the 1st and 2nd category, making acquaintances on the side, find out their acquaintances as far as they can, and then give their characteristics to the intellectual. If, based on the feedback of the worker, the intelligent sees that the recommended person is above the average in terms of moral qualities, then he himself gets to know him, having conversations with him separately, until he gets to know him sufficiently, and then acts as mentioned above, about attracting members in the circle. Otherwise, he presents to deal with him to the one who found him, giving him instructions on how to conduct classes, what books to give for reading (as, for example: Schweitzer - "Emma", Giovanioli - "Spartacus", Erkman-Chatrian - "History of a Peasant", Naumov - "The Force Breaks the Straw", "In a Still Whirlpool", "In a Forgotten Land", Vologdin - "The Chronicle of the Village of Smurina", Nefedov - "Broken", Nekrasov-poems, etc.).
Circle people should be accustomed to secrecy, to strict serious secrecy. Members of the 1st and 2nd categories know only their own circle, and each of them individually also knows those whom he himself found, without giving the names to other circle members. To this end, we are talking about newly acquired acquaintances in the 3rd person without mentioning surnames.
An intelligent man, of course, knows everything and must know everything, so that, bearing in mind many conditions, he can give more reasonable instructions, so that with these new personalities he can, as far as possible, acquaint the circle with the soul of a person: the best of the workers who are preparing to become initiators in their environment, should be able to read in the hearts of people as far as possible.
For convenience, central groups should be formed for the given district of the city. These groups will consist of 3-4 intellectuals. It will also be possible to introduce 2-3 of the best, more developed, energetic, completely reliable workers from circles of the 1st category; but these 2-3 cannot know everything that is known to the intelligentsia; they will know only the general progress of the case in the area. Each of these groups will include a member of the center of the organization, and through him the group will communicate with the central group of the organization. The founding of such groups gives workers a sense of the importance of the role they have assumed.
In propaganda, the intelligent must from the very first time take a serious footing, so that the listeners see in him a man embraced by an idea, consciousness during the convening of the Constituent
respectfully related to his cause, believing in this cause, and not a player in revolutionary phrases. Such a person cannot but demand from his listeners an attitude full of seriousness. He must expose each of their immoral facts, explain to them the consequences that follow from such facts; this should be done especially in circles of the 1st category. Therefore, let him, being an intelligent person, first develop a moral personality in himself.Organ for the working class
The tasks of the organ are, as far as possible, to develop the reader in mental and moral respects. The body must explain under what conditions, political and economic, a Russian person has to live, indicate the reasons for the abnormality of the existing system, indicate a way out of the current situation. But this is not enough: the organ must on its pages acquaint the reader with the philosophy of politics, give an idea of the various parties, give place to the popularization of the teachings of the political-economists-socialists; finally, he should acquaint the reader with the life of the Western European peoples. In a word, he must be an educator for the reader. In accordance with the intended purpose, the body will have the following program.
1. What are the Russian socialists striving for? The program of the Russian socialists should be placed on the first page of each issue, so that anyone who comes across the issue can know the purpose of the movement: not everyone will be able to read all the issues from the first to the last.TsGAOR, f. 1463, on. 3, d. 30. Copy.2. Leading articles, the content of which is an explanation of the reasons for the existing abnormal order of things, both in the field of political relations and economic (hunger strike, unemployment, illness, ignorance of the masses, disunity, drunkenness, the essence of zemstvo volost self-government, the situation of public schools, about the clergy, bureaucracy, etc.). Explanation of actions by the government. Refutation of all kinds of attacks from opponents.
3. Articles explaining what socialism is in general. What are his tasks? The structure of the future society as it appears to the socialists. Tasks of the Russian Social Revolutionary Party. Short review social revolutionary movement in Russia. Why did the party have to resort to terror. Explanation of the fact of March 1. Moral requirements from the individual.
4. Articles of philosophy, politics and in general a political nature. The essence of absolute monarchy; the essence of the constitution, the republic. Overview of types of government by state. Aspirations of different parties (democrats, liberals, anarchists, etc.).
5. Popularization of political-economists-socialists. Labor, value, exchange, competition, commodity, money, capitalist production, the process of capital accumulation, banking, etc.
6. Life of Western European peoples.
7. Poems.
8. Proclamations must be issued on every possible occasion; the more often the better; they strongly support (with frequent appearances) a state of tension, constantly hitting the nerves.
1. Archive of "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya". - M.: 1932. - 316 p.
The implementation of assassination attempts on the emperor. The murder of Alexander II and the fate of terrorists
On August 9, 1878, a few days after the murder of Mezentsev, a royal decree was issued on the subordination of cases of state crimes and crimes against officials to the jurisdiction of a military court with the application of punishments established by wartime laws. On April 7, 1979, after Solovyov's assassination attempt on Alexander II, provisional governor-generals were appointed in St. Petersburg, Kharkov, and Odessa, who, like the permanent governor-generals in Moscow, Kyiv, and Warsaw, were granted emergency administrative order, subject to arrest at their discretion, close newspapers and magazines, and so on. No wonder the Minister of War D.A. Milyutin in 1879 said that "the whole of Russia ... was declared in a state of siege." But terror assumed wide proportions precisely during the period of these emergency measures.
After the division of "Land and Freedom" and the formation of "Narodnaya Volya", terror was given a systematic character. The purpose of the "Narodnaya Volya" was proclaimed the preparation of a broad popular uprising with the aim of seizing power. The Narodnaya Volya members believed that the conditions for this would be created when "a skillfully executed system of terrorist measures, simultaneously destroying 10-15 people - the pillars of the modern government," the documents of this organization said, "would lead the government into a panic, deprive it of unity of action and at the same time time will arouse the masses of the people, that is, create a convenient moment for an attack. one.
The main culprit of all the troubles in Russia was recognized as Emperor Alexander II. In August 1879, the Executive Committee of the "Narodnaya Volya" sentenced him to death. Preparation of assassination attempts on Alexander II People's Will” has given away almost all of its human and material resources. Several groups were selected and started organizing this action. Knowing how carefully the life of the king is guarded, the Executive Committee considered a number of options for the assassination attempt. As a result, it was decided that the most vulnerable place in the security system was the route along which Alexander P annually made a trip to rest in the Crimea and back to St. Petersburg. On the route of the royal train, several ambushes were prepared: in Odessa, in case the tsar would go there by sea from the Crimea, on the Simferopol-Moscow railway near the city of Aleksandrovsk, and in Moscow.
1. Literature of the party "People's Will". - M.; 1930. - 4 s.
V. Figner and V. Kibalchich arrived in Odessa to carry out the operation. Under the name of the Ivanitsky spouses, they rented an apartment in the city, where N. Kolodkevich, M. Frolenko and T. Lebedeva soon arrived. The technical side of the case was led by a young scientist Nikolai Kibalchich. Mikhail Frolenko and Tatyana Lebedeva were instructed to penetrate the railway and mine it. Frolenko managed to get a job as a watchman, after which they settled in a traveling booth near the Gnilyakovo station. Dynamite was gradually brought here. However, soon the news came that the king from Livadia would not go to Odessa. The work was stopped and the group was disbanded.
At the same time, work was going on near the city of Aleksandrovsk, located between Kursk and Belgorod. Here the explosion on the railway was prepared by A. Zhelyabov, A. Yakimova and I. Okladsky. Zhelyabov, who headed this group, under the name of the merchant Cheremisinov, received permission to build a leather workshop near the railroad track. Under the guise of this construction, the laying of dynamite began. Another person joined the group - Yakov Tikhonov. By November 18, 1879, everything was ready, but the unexpected happened: at the time of the passage of the royal train, the mine did not explode. It is still not clear what caused the failure - the damage is true or its incorrect connection.
Now Moscow has become the decisive point. Back in September, significant forces and a large supply of dynamite were sent here. On the outskirts of the city, next to the railway, a young married couple, the Sukhorukovs, bought a house. They were Lev Hartman and Sofia Perovskaya. From the house, under the railroad bed, a dig was carried out every night. For this, Alexander Mikhailov, Aizik Aronchik, Grigory Isaev, Alexander Barannikov and Nikolai Morozov secretly lived in the house. They worked in very difficult conditions. In addition to being discovered by the police, they were constantly in danger of being buried in a tunnel.
Sofya Perovskaya was the daughter of a prominent official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a representative of a well-known aristocratic family. The rest of the underground - come from among the raznochintsy. Almost all of them at different times studied at higher educational institutions, showed brilliant promises. Their further fate was tragic. In addition to Hartmann and Morozov, all of them were destined to die on the gallows and in prison dungeons. Hartmann managed to escape abroad and end his life years later in America. Morozov, after spending 25 years in prison, will come out of it not broken morally and physically, will conduct scientific activities, and become an honorary academician.
On November 19, 1879, the Narodnaya Volya were waiting for news from Aleksandrovsk. Everything was calm, which means that the assassination attempt there failed. All hope was now on those who gathered in the house on the outskirts
Moscow. The mine was laid. They were waiting for the appearance of the royal train. The king and his retinue moved in two trains. The first was always the train, in which the accompanying persons rode, and then the train, where the king himself was. Therefore, Perovskaya, who was instructed to give a signal, calmly missed the first train. The train following him was blown up. But for some technical reasons, this time it was the royal train that went first. The explosion derailed only the train with the persons accompanying the emperor.
This event brought the authorities into a state of unusual activity. Mass arrests began. As a result, members of the Executive Committee A. Kvyatkovsky and S. Shiryaev were captured, a printing house in St. Petersburg was destroyed. But the "hunt" for the king continued. A new assassination attempt was being prepared in the very heart of the empire - in St. Petersburg, in the Winter Palace. Stepan Khalturin managed to get a job there in a carpentry workshop. In small portions, he carried dynamite into the palace and hid it under his bed in a travel chest. At the meetings of the Executive Committee, it was decided to make an explosion under the royal dining room at the moment when the entire imperial family would gather there. They determined the date - February 5, 1880, when a ceremonial dinner was to take place in honor of the arrival of Prince Alexander of Hesse. Precisely timing, Khalturin set fire to the cord and left the palace. But again luck turned away from the conspirators. The king and his family, who were meeting the prince, lingered for literally a few seconds and did not have time to enter the dining room.
Soon Alexander Mikhailov proposed another option. It was decided to carry out an assassination attempt on the Stone Bridge, on which the emperor invariably passed, returning from Tsarskoye Selo to Winter Palace. The preparation and conduct of this action were again entrusted to Andrey Zhelyabov. His group included: Andrey Presnyakov, Mikhail Grachevsky, Alexander Barannikov and St. Petersburg worker Makar Teterka. With the help of a boat, they laid mines under the bridge. It was assumed that Teterka and Zhelyabov would be under the guise of workers on a raft and, as soon as the royal carriage entered the bridge, they would blow it up. On the appointed day, August 17, 1880, Zhelyabov came to the place and began to wait for his partner. Time passed, and that all was not. At that moment, when Teterka appeared, the royal carriage had already crossed the bridge - The worker did not have his watch and he was simply late. It was not possible to repeat the action - with the onset of autumn, Alexander P stopped leaving St. Petersburg.
By the beginning of 1881, one after another, the leading figures of Narodnaya Volya, members of its Executive Committee, fell into the hands of the authorities: Mikhailov, Presnyakov, Aronchik, Aron Zundelevich, Nikolai Morozov.
After each assassination attempt, the Executive Committee addressed the authorities with a warning. They said that if the government did not agree to the introduction of a constitution, to the implementation of fundamental reforms, then the terrorist struggle would increase. And here you can't
It should be noted that in this direction the Narodnaya Volya managed to achieve some success. The assassination attempts on the king caused confusion in the upper echelons of power. From the middle of 1879 on the government increased its pressure and public opinion in the country. A number of major press organs, representing the democratic and liberal trends, with varying degrees of determination insisted on political reforms.
In addition, this period was marked by an increase in socio-economic contradictions. A number of provinces were struck by crop failure, society was shocked by a series of revelations of the extortion of representatives of the ruling elite, the widest sections of the population expressed dissatisfaction with the results of the Russian-Turkish war.
During 1879-1881, the authorities constantly wavered and were ready to rush from one extreme to another. After Solovyov's assassination attempt, a decree was passed on the creation of governor-generals in St. Petersburg, Kharkov and Odessa and the empowerment of their administrations with special powers. The explosion in the Winter Palace on February 5, 1880 led to the establishment of the "Supreme Administrative Commission" headed by General Mikhail Torielovich Loris-Melikov, vested with gubernatorial powers. At the same time, terrorist attacks forced the government to look for other ways out of the crisis.
At the end of 1880, Loris-Melikov, who by that time had already become the Minister of Internal Affairs, sent a special report to the Tsar, in which he proposed "to complete the great work of state reforms." True, in it he immediately stipulated that there could be no question of any constitution, of limiting autocracy. In his project, Loris-Melikov proceeded only from the possibility of creating some temporary preparatory commissions and including representatives of the zemstvos and the urban population in them. These commissions were supposed to develop bills on the most cardinal issues: peasant, zemstvo, city administration. A proposal was made for the possible participation of some of these elected representatives in the work State Council. To confirm its liberality, the government of Loris-Melikov even liquidated the III branch.
Be that as it may, after a series of discussions, this project was finally approved by the tsar and a meeting of the Council of Ministers was scheduled for March 4, 1881, at which its approval was to take place. However, on March 1, history took another zigzag - Narodnaya Volya intervened in the course of events.
After six unsuccessful assassination attempts, it was decided to hold another - the seventh. The frantic preparations began again. As a result of careful surveillance of the king, it was established that every Sunday he was present at the solemn divorce of the guard in
Mikhailovsky arena. After that, he often stopped for a short time at the Mikhailovsky Palace to the Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna, and then went to dine at the Anichkov Palace with his eldest son, the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, and after that he returned to the Winter Palace. Most often, his route passed along the embankment of the Catherine Canal or along Malaya Sadovaya. Here it was decided to strike the main blow.
On the corner of Malaya Sadovaya and Nevsky Prospekt, on the ground floor of the house, they rented a room for the cheese shop of the wife of Kobozeva. They were Yuri Bogdanovich and Anna Yakimova, experienced members of the People's Will. From here, from the cheese shop, they began to dig a tunnel under Malaya Sadovaya.
From November 1880, Zhelyabov, Kolodkevich, Sukhanov, Varennikov, Sablin, Lantane, Frolenko, Degaev and Merkulov worked here alternately. Later, the latter two became traitors, but in those days, probably, even they themselves could not foresee their fate. Again, as once near Moscow, they worked tirelessly, overcoming all sorts of difficulties. By the end of February 1881, the work was completed, it only remained to lay a mine. The revolutionaries were in a hurry as never before, because their situation became more and more desperate. Comrades who knew about the impending assassination had already been captured by the police. It became clear that the authorities had some kind of information, although not complete and not accurate, but still allowing them to arrest one or the other participant in this case. Simultaneously with the digging under Malaya Sadovaya, it was decided to create another auxiliary group. The terrorists armed with bombs were to block Malaya Sadovaya, and if the explosion spared the tsar, they were to attack his carriage. However, the arrests of early 1881 meant that there were not enough experienced, tried and tested fighters for this second group. Therefore, Zhelyabov composed it from young revolutionaries who had not yet passed a serious test. The group included a university student Yevgeny Sidorenko, a student of the Technological Institute Ignaty Grinevitsky, a former student of the same institute Nikolai Rysakov, and workers Timofey Mikhailov and Ivan Yemelyanov. As before, Nikolai Kibalchich took over the technical side of the matter. He made several bombs, which were then delivered to the safe house where Gesya Gelfman and Nikolai Sablin lived.
However, on February 27 Andrei Zhelyabov was arrested. Sophia Perovskaya took charge of the operation. At a meeting of the Executive Committee, which took place in the apartment where Grigory Isaev and Vera Figner lived, it was decided to immediately complete the preparations for the assassination attempt. The candidacies of metalworkers were once again discussed. In one night, Nikolai Kibalchich, Nikolai Sukhanov and Mikhail Grachevsky made 4 bombs, which were handed over to Grinevitsky, Mikhailov, Rysakov and Yemelyanov on the morning of March 1. On the night of March 1, Isaev laid a mine near Malaya Sadovaya. Everyone left the Kobozevs' shop.
Only the owner remained in the shop - Anna Yakimova, who, standing at the window, was waiting for the appearance of the carriage of Alexander P. Seeing her, she had to give a signal to Mikhail Frolenko, who was in the next room and took on a deadly mission - to blow up a mine. But then the royal exit appeared and ... bypassing Malaya Sadovaya, drove the other way. By order of Perovskaya, the throwers moved to the embankment of the Ekterinensky Canal.
Some time passed, and the tsar, having called after the divorce of the guard at the Mikhailovsky Palace, headed along Engineering Street to the Catherine Canal. Rysakov stepped forward to meet him first. A wave of the hand, and a column of fire rose under the carriage. When the smoke cleared, everyone saw that Alexander, safe and sound, was getting out of the carriage. The wounded were moaning around, and several dead lay among the escort Cossacks and bystanders. The tsar coolly looked around the place of the explosion, and then approached Rysakov, who was captured by the guards. After a brief glance at him and after listening to the first report on the incident, he, obeying the persuasion of the guards, headed back to the carriage. At that moment, a young man who seemed to be standing indifferently stepped forward, who, approaching the king, threw a bomb at his feet. As a result of a new explosion, the emperor was mortally wounded, as well as Ignatius Grinevitsky, who had committed this attempt. The dying tsar was taken to the palace, and soon the black flag raised over the Winter Palace announced the end of the 25-year reign of Alexander II. Russia was entering a new historical era.
Having received the news of the death of the tsar, the Executive Committee of the "Narodnaya Volya" prepared and published several documents explaining what had happened. The proclamation "To Society" contained an appeal to continue the struggle. It said: “Russia. Exhausted by hunger, exhausted by the arbitrariness of the administration, constantly losing the strength of her sons on the gallows, in penal servitude, in exile, in the wearisome inaction forced by the existing regime, Russia cannot live like this any longer. 1. A letter was also sent to the new Tsar, Alexander III. In it, an ultimatum was presented to the autocracy: an amnesty for all political prisoners and the convocation of representatives of the people, or the continuation of a bloody war.
Immediately after the news of the death of the king, the Narodnaya Volya waited
revolutionary action of the masses, but the bombings on
Catherine's Canal did not become a signal for an uprising. The people remained generally quite indifferent to the event. The liberal opposition, on the other hand, was only frightened and irritated, as it now expected retaliatory actions on the part of the reaction. In turn, the government and the conservative forces were not only
1. Revolutionary populism of the 70s of the XIX century. - M. - L.; 1965. -T.2.-233s.
disorganized, but on the contrary, rallied in the face of the danger threatening them. In St. Petersburg itself, the military units raised to their feet quickly took control of the city.
Within a few days the country was sworn in to the new king. And besides separate scattered speeches, mostly among young students, there were no serious anti-government indignations recorded in those days.
The authorities acted extremely vigorously. In a short time, as a result of mass police actions, the St. Petersburg core of the "people's will" was defeated. In this, Nikolai Rysakov rendered a huge service to the gendarmes. One of the first he gave away a safe house, where on March 1 he received a bomb from the hands of Sofia Perovskaya. During the seizure of this apartment, Nikolai Sablin committed suicide and Gesya Gelfman was arrested. Then in a row, literally in a few March days, Nikolai Kibalchich, Timofei Mikhailov, Sofya Perovskaya, Grigory Isaev, Nikolai Sukhanov, Ivan Yemelyanov, Mikhail Frolenko and a number of other active figures of the revolutionary underground were arrested. Only a few participants in those events managed to escape from the "March pogrom" from St. Petersburg. The revolutionary underground was forced to state that the assassination of Alexander II not only did not produce the expected result, but also contributed to the triumph of the reaction.
From the first days of the new reign, the chief procurator of the Synod, K.P. Pobedonostsev, received enormous power. He used all his influence and remarkable abilities to establish a new, reactionary course. A supporter of patriarchal relations, a nationalist and a preacher of "strong" power, he first of all managed to achieve the annulment of the already practically adopted "constitution" of Loris-Melikov. Relying on the most reactionary circles, Pobedonostsev quickly convinced the new tsar to remove from power not only Loris-Melikov, but also the ministers A.A. Abaza, D.A. Milyutin, A.P. Nikolai, who seemed to him too liberal. They were replaced by such figures known for their extreme obscurantism as N.P. Ignatiev, S.P. Vannovsky, D.A. Tolstoy and I.D. Delyanov.
For many years, an atmosphere of police terror, nationalist demagogy and imperial ambitions reigned in Russia.
The first target for reaction was the revolutionary movement. After March 1, 1881, for two or three years, Narodnaya Volya was practically defeated, and its leaders, who did not have time to flee abroad, were arrested one by one. The prologue of the new reign was the process of the First of March, which took place at the end of March 1881. The surviving organizers and perpetrators of the assassination of Alexander II appeared before the court: Zhelyabov, Perovskaya, Mikhailov,
Kibalchich, Gelfman and Rysakov. Their fate was sealed. The sentence was the same for everyone - the death penalty by hanging. All of them were executed on April 3, 1881 in St. Petersburg. Only for Gesya Gelfman, who was expecting a child, the execution was delayed. She died a few months later in childbirth in the prison hospital. Later, during 1881-1883, the rest of the participants in the events of March 1 were captured and tried: Bogdanovich, Yakimova, Frolenko, Figner, Sukhanov, Isaev, Grachevsky, Sidorenko, Emelyanov, Olovennikova and others. For many it was a slow death. Only Nikolai Sukhanov was immediately executed. In the eyes of the king, his guilt was aggravated by the fact that he was an officer.
Narodnaya Volya continued to exist for several more years, but never before has this organization been as numerous and influential as it was at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s. The arrests of 1883-1885 were a fatal blow to it, when the last prominent revolutionaries of that time fell into the hands of the authorities: G. Lopatin, P. Yakubovich, V. Figner and B. Orzhikh.
The defeat and fall of Narodnaya Volya marked the end of a major stage in the history of revolutionary movements in Russia and, more broadly, in the history of Russia. The crisis engulfed the entire broad camp of Narodism: Narodnaya Volya, Black Peredelists, and liberal publicists. The process of gradual disintegration of populism and its displacement by the nascent Russian social democracy begins.
Meanwhile, it was the “pure” autocracy that replaced the liberal autocracy. It was difficult to shake the Nikolaev Empire. The established state system was generally immune to change. The half-hearted reforms of Alexander II deprived it of its strength, which led to a split in society, which later led to a reaction, increased terror and, ultimately, to a civil war and a change in the state system itself.
Son of Alexander II - Alexander III. But the liberal Russian intelligentsia did not seem to see this. All reactionary yes reactionary. And although the country had not yet mastered even half the potential of the old reforms, Alexander decided to meet the wishes of the liberal public and again began to prepare a new cycle of reforms: he decided to give this public the constitution it so desired. True word...
On the case of the Petersburg Revolutionary Organization. 2) Article by M.G. Vandalkovskaya “Materials of S.N. Yuzhakov as a source on the revolutionary movement of the 60s of the XIX century. Chapter II. Terrorism of the populist movement of the 60s-80s of the XIX century. 2.1 Populist theorists In the 60s. 19th century The era of the Great Reforms began. Changes - inevitable, necessary, long-awaited, frightening - ...
The revolutionary party that existed in the Russian Empire in 1879-1884.
The "Narodnaya Volya" party arose in August - October 1879 as a result of the split of the "Land and Freedom", united supporters of the intensification of the terrorist struggle against the autocracy. It had a rigidly centralized structure, headed by the Executive Committee (EC), all members of which were equal and obeyed the will of the majority. The IC included A. Mikhailov, A. Zhelyabov, L. Tikhomirov, A. Zundelevich, N. Morozov, S. Perovskaya, M. Oshanina, V. Figner and others.
During its existence - 45 people. There was a narrower Administrative Commission. The Narodnaya Volya believed that the interests of the people and the autocracy were opposed. The EC program included demands for the creation of a permanent representative state body with broad powers, broad local self-government, freedom of conscience, speech, press, meetings, associations and agitation, transfer of land to the communities and use of land by peasants, liquidation of property on it, transfer of plants and factories into the hands of workers, etc. The Narodnaya Volya sought to organize an armed overthrow of the autocracy and the transfer of power to the Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of universal suffrage. To disorganize and intimidate the authorities, it was planned to carry out a series of terrorist acts to eliminate major figures of the tsarist administration. On August 26, 1879, the Narodnaya Volya members sentenced Emperor Alexander II to death.
By 1881, about 500 people had joined Narodnaya Volya, and even more opponents of the autocratic regime collaborated with it. It included organizations that formed circles in different cities: Student, which organized mass gatherings, Military, which included dozens of officers, Workers, which included the Central Workers' Circle in St. Petersburg (several hundred workers), and other circles. Relations were established with the revolutionary populist emigration. "Narodnaya Volya" published several newspapers: "Na-rod-naya vo-lya" (1879-85), "Ra-bo-tea ha-ze-ta" (1880-81), "Les-tok "Na-rod -noy in-li "" (1880-86), "Bulletin "Na-rod-noy in-li"" (1883-86). In exile, the Red Cross Society "Narodnaya Volya" was created to help victims of repression.
"Narodnaya Volya" prepared a number of terrorist acts, including 5 assassination attempts on Alexander II, as a result, it was possible to carry out the assassination of Alexander II on March 1, 1881. Sufficiently successful functioning in 1879-1880. the organization is also indebted to its agent in the police, N. Kletochnikov. At the beginning of 1881, the police, taking advantage of the betrayal of I. Okladsky, who was sentenced to eternal hard labor and embarked on the path of cooperation with the Okhrana, arrested Zhelyabov, Kletochnikov, and others, which hit the organization hard. The Executive Committee was destroyed. Arrested during the assassination of the tsar, N. Rysakov betrayed the Central Workers' Circle. Since then, the center of the party has been in Moscow.
After the assassination of Alexander II, Narodnaya Volya turned to Alexander III with a proposal to convene a Constituent Assembly, promising to stop the terror. But the government took the path of escalating repression. On March 18, 1882, the revolutionaries carried out the assassination of the Kiev military prosecutor V. Strelnikov, known in the revolutionary environment for his cruelty. Since June 1882, after the departure of Tikhomirov and the seriously ill Oshanina abroad, Figner headed the People's Will, trying to restore the organization.
On the denunciation of S. Degaev in February 1883, she was arrested. The Narodnaya Volya managed to kill the inspector of the secret police G. Sudeikin. After the blow dealt to the organization by the “Degaev affair”, the organization’s activities faded despite the attempts to revive the “Narodnaya Volya” undertaken in 1884 by G. Lopatin and in 1885 by B. Odzhikh, as well as Tikhomirov’s attempt to continue publishing its periodicals abroad . Five high-profile trials of Narodnaya Volya took place over the Narodnaya Volya: the trial of 16 (1880), the trial in the case of March 1, 1881, the trial of 20 (1882), the trial of 17 (1883) and the trial of 14 (1884). More than 15,000 people were subjected to various punishments for their involvement in Narodnaya Volya. In the future, attempts were made to revive the revolutionary populist party (for example, the Terrorist Faction of Narodnaya Volya in 1886-1887), but only the organizers of the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) succeeded in this in 1902.
Historical sources:
Andrey Ivanovich Zhelyabov. Materials for the biography. M., 1930;
Archive "Earth-whether and in-whether" and "Na-rod-noy in-whether". M., 1932;
Li-te-ra-tu-ra of the party "Na-rod-naya in-la". M., 1930;
“Na-rod-naya in-la” in do-ku-men-tah and vos-by-mi-on-no-yah. M., 1930;
On-ro-do-vol-tsy after March 1, 1881 M., 1928;
Mo-ro-zov N. A. According to the weight of my life. M., 1947;
Re-in-lu-qi-on-noe on-kin-no-che-st-in the 70s. 19th century: Sat. do-ku-men-tov and ma-te-ria-lov. M., 1965;
"People's will-la" and "Black re-re-del". L., 1989;
Fig-ner V.N. For-pe-chat-len-ny labor. Memories. M., 1964. T. 1-2.
The illegal student circle N.V. played an important role in the emergence of populism. Tchaikovsky (“Tchaikovsky”), its participants trained propagandists from the intelligentsia and workers to work “among the people”.
In the spring of 1874 the Narodniks began their first campaign among the people. It was a spontaneous movement of radical youth, which was attended by over 2 thousand people from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Samara, Rostov. They went, first of all, to the Middle Volga region, which in 1873-74. severe hunger seized, and it was believed that this circumstance would help raise the peasants to a "general rebellion." The Narodniks worked as carpenters, loaders, and peddlers; they went around the villages and talked with the peasants about the revolution and about socialism. But the propaganda of socialism among the peasants was not successful, the ideas of common property and calls to rebel against the tsar were not particularly perceived. Wealthy peasants often handed over Narodniks to the police themselves. The first walk to the people ended in failure, the police arrested 770 people, 193 of them were brought to trial.
In 1876, the Narodniks, who survived the arrest, created a secret revolutionary organization with the old name "Land and Freedom". It included the Mikhailov brothers, G.V. Plekhanov, later S. Perovskaya, V. Figner (total 150 people). It was a clearly built organization, distinguished by high centralization, discipline and reliable conspiracy. All members were divided into groups according to the type of activity. The program of the landowners included: the preparation of a people's revolution, work among the peasants, including propaganda with "facts", the transfer of land into the hands of the peasants, freedom of speech, assembly, religion, the creation of agricultural and industrial associations,
In 1877, the second circulation to the people began. This time the Narodniks decided to replace the "flying propaganda" with planned, systematic work in the countryside. Populist settlements were organized in many provinces of Russia. They worked as joiners, carpenters, blacksmiths, teachers and talked with the peasants about everyday household needs, gradually leading them to the idea of a people's revolution. But this time, too, the propaganda was not successful - the people did not rise in revolt. The second walk to the people was crushed.
The split of the Land and Freedom. "Black Repartition" and "Narodnaya Volya". Assassination of Alexander II
At the end of the 70s, the country was restless: students were worried, the liberals demanded a constitution, the trials of the populists continued. The crushing of the campaigns among the people caused a crisis in the movement. The failure of revolutionary propaganda among the peasants, the repression of the authorities pushed some of the populists to terrorist activities. In early 1878, Vera Zasulich, a member of the Land and Freedom organization, seriously wounded the St. Petersburg mayor F.F. Trepov. In April 1879, the populist Solovyov made another unsuccessful attempt on the tsar. "Land and Freedom" turned into a terrorist organization. Disagreements began among the landowners on the question of methods of struggle.
The final split occurred in 1879. "Land and Freedom" was divided into two organizations: "Black Repartition" and "Narodnaya Volya". Members of the "Black Repartition" considered the main propaganda among the peasants, the preparation of the revolution. The tactics of the "People's Volunteers", in addition to the methods of revolutionary propaganda, was to intimidate the government through individual terror, to prepare an uprising. The Narodnaya Volya believed that it was enough to overthrow the autocracy and a social revolution would take place. It is necessary to seize power by means of a conspiracy of the minority.
In August 1879, the executive committee of Narodnaya Volya announced that it was condemning the tsar to death. A real hunt for Alexander II began, several attempts were made to kill the king. March 1, 1881 on the embankment of the Ekaterininsky Canal N.I. Rysakov threw a bomb at the royal carriage, but the emperor was not even wounded. Another terrorist, I.I. Grinevitsky, threw a bomb at the feet of the king. Grinevitsky was killed, and Alexander II was seriously wounded and died an hour later in the Winter Palace. During the investigation, Rysakov betrayed everyone he knew. In April 1881, five Narodnaya Volya members were publicly hanged: Zhelyabov, Perovskaya, Rysakov, Mikhailov, Kibalchich. Soon the "military cells" of the "Narodnaya Volya" were defeated. All these events defused the political crisis, there was no peasant uprising, the people pitied the murdered tsar.
Organization "Black Repartition", headed by G.V. Plekhanov, abandoned the tactics of individual terror, setting at first its task as propaganda among the peasants. Later, members of the organization came to the conclusion about the need for propaganda among the workers and the recognition of the political struggle. In 1882, the organization broke up into several circles and ceased to exist.
Thus, a feature of the social movement in post-reform Russia was the relative weakness of the liberal center and strong extreme groupings. The main reason for this is the weakness of the urban bourgeoisie as a political force under the domination of the autocracy, its inertia, unpreparedness and inability to engage in political activity. Under Alexander II, the autocracy began to carry out reforms, but did so inconsistently, hesitating, allowing stops and retreats. However, historical experience suggests that if a country that has embarked on the path of reform moves inconsistently along it, making long stops, then the reformer will inevitably fail. This is what happened to Alexander P.
Card Title"Land and freedom". Articles of association. Extended edition. 1876
Annotation: The first charter of "Land and Freedom", adopted, according to G.V. Plekhanov, at the beginning of 1877, did not reach us. Only an approximate retelling of it by O.V. Aptekman. (Aptekman O.V. Society "Land and Freedom" of the 70s. Pgr., 1924. S. 195-198.). Apparently, the idea of centralizing the organization was not carried through with sufficient firmness, since a year later, in the spring of 1878, the charter was changed (in Land and Freedom it was customary to revise the charter every year). HELL. Mikhailov demanded a radical restructuring of the organizational foundations, insisting on strengthening the unifying principles of the underground society, as well as greater dependence of local groups on the center. According to A.D. Mikhailov, the triumph of the revolution is achieved by centralization and discipline of the will (Aptekman O.V. Society "Land and Freedom". P. 217.). In this spirit, on behalf of the main circle, he drafted the charter. At a meeting of the landowners, the project of A.D. Mikhailov met with resistance from the federalists. “When discussing the draft prepared by him, considerable opposition was met by a paragraph according to which a member of the main circle was obliged to fulfill any order of the majority of his comrades, even if it did not fully correspond to his personal views. Mikhailov could not even understand the point of view of his opponents. “If you have accepted the program of the circle, if you have become a member of the organization, then on the main points you cannot have disagreements with the majority of its members,” he repeated with annoyance. “You may disagree with them on the propriety and timeliness of the undertaking entrusted to you, but in that case you must submit to the majority of votes. As for me, I will do whatever the organization requires of me. If I were forced to write poetry, I would not refuse it, although I would have known in advance that the poems would come out impossible. The individual must obey the organization ”(G.V. Plekhanov. Memoirs about A.D. Mikhailov. Op. T. 1. - M .; Pg., 1923. P. 162-163.). HELL. Mikhailov managed to convince the majority of the circle, and his proposals were accepted. Draft charter, drawn up by A.D. Mikhailov, as well as the final text of the charter of 1878 has not yet been found. In 1932 S.H. Valk published a draft charter written by A.D. Obolesheva in 1876. We publish it.
Author
Periods
Geographic rubricator
Name
Documents resource type
historical period
Type of historical source
Subject
Educational level
Bibliography: Aptekman O.V. Society "Land and Freedom" of the 70s. 2nd ed. - Pg., 1924; Archive of "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya". - M., 1932; Morozov N.A. Lead my life. Tt. I-II. - M., 1962; Popov M.R. Landlord's Notes. - M., 1933; Revolutionaries of the 1870s. Memoirs of participants in the populist movement. - L .: Lenizdat, 1986; Revolutionary populism in the 70s of the XIX century. T. II. 1876-1882 / Ed. S.S. wolf. – M.; L .: Publishing house "Nauka", 1965; Revolutionary radicalism in Russia: the nineteenth century. Documentary publication. Ed. E.L. Rudnitskaya. M.: Archeographic Center, 1997; Stepnyak-Kravchinsky S. Underground Russia. Works, vols. 1, - M., 1958. Tikhomirov L. Memories. – M.; L., 1927; Figner V.N. Imprinted work. Memoirs in two volumes. T. 1. - M .: Publishing House "Thought", 1964; Frolenko M. Sobr. op. in two volumes. T. I-II. - M., 1932; Chronicle of the socialist movement in Russia. 1878-1887 - M., 1906. Antonov V.F. Revolutionary Populism - M., 1965; Bogucharsky V.Ya. Active populism of the seventies. - M., 1912; Budnitsky O.V. Terrorism in Russian freedom movement: ideology, ethics, psychology (second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries) M., 2000; Levin Sh.M. Social movement in Russia in the 60-70s. XIX century, - M., 1958; Kalinchuk S.V. Psychological factor in the activities of "Land and Freedom" in the 1870s // Questions of history. 1999. No. 3; Lyashenko L.M. Revolutionary Populists. - M .: "Enlightenment", 1989; Pelevin Yu.A. The destruction of the center "Earth and freedom" by the police and the restoration of its A.D. Mikhailov // From the history of culture and social thought of the peoples of the USSR. Collection of scientific articles. - M .: From the Moscow University, 1984; Pelevin Yu.A. The secret activities of A.D. Mikhailov in "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya" // Bulletin of Moscow University. Ser. 8. History. 1986. No. 2; Russia in a revolutionary situation at the turn of the 1870-1880s. Collective monograph. - M .: Publishing house "Nauka", 1983; Serebryakov E. Essay on the history of "Land and Freedom". - St. Petersburg, 1906; Tvardovskaya V.A. Socialist thought in Russia at the turn of the 1870-1880s. - M., 1969; Tkachenko P.S. Revolutionary populist organization "Land and Freedom" (1876-1879). - M., 1961.
Territory Russian empire
Russian people
Personalities Mikhailov, Alexander Dmitrievich, revolutionary, populist; Aptekman, Osip Vasilyevich, revolutionary, populist; Plekhanov, Georgy Valentinovich, revolutionary, populist, social democrat; Oboleshev, Alexei Dmitrievich - revolutionary, populist
Original language Russian
Sources Compiled by Yu.A. Pelevin; text - Revolutionary populism of the 70s of the XIX century. T. II. 1876-1882 / Ed. S.S. wolf. – M.; L .: Publishing house "Nauka", 1965. No. 3. S. 34-42; fig. - Archive of "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya". - M., 1932. Insert between 64 and 65 p.
Body of article/biography:
"Land and freedom". Articles of association. Extended edition. 1876
§ 1. The organization has as its immediate aim the realization of a popular uprising, in the near future possible, in the name of the popular desires, as they are at the present moment. § 2. Until the first congress (§ 41), the organization is a "basic circle" of people closely united among themselves. This circle is divided into groups or communities, both territorial and by specialties (§ 26-30). Note. The choice of this or that locality for the activities of a well-known group, as well as the composition of groups according to specialties, is determined by the program of the circle. A. Basic principles of organization
§ 3. Unconditional bringing by each member to the benefit of the organization of all his forces, means, connections, likes and dislikes, and even his life. § 4. The agreement of each member with the general program of practical activity and the obligation to act in its spirit. § 5. Absence of private property among the members of the main circle. § 6. Observance of the uttermost secrecy regarding all internal affairs of the organization. § 7. Subordination of the minority to the majority and a member of the circle. § 8. Since the organization has in view the rallying of all the Russian revolutionary forces useful to the cause, personal 3 sympathies and antipathies towards people are excluded as far as possible in all the affairs of the organization, as an indispensable condition for joint activity. § 9. The end justifies the means. Note. Excluding those cases when the means used can undermine the authority of the organization (§ 14). B. Immediate tasks of the main circle
§ 10. Formation of groups of territorial and specialties recognized as necessary by the general program of activity of the main circle. § 11. Attraction to the organization of the greatest possible number of revolutionary forces, means and connections. § 12. Control over the activities of all groups and each member individually. Note. Everyone's private life is subject to as much general control as it may seem important in this practical case. B. Responsibilities and mutual relations of the members of the main circle
§ 13. All members of the main circle are absolutely full. § 14. Each member of the main circle is obliged by all means to maintain the honor and influence of both the entire organization and its individual members. § 15. In the event of any personal clashes between members of the main circle, the case is decided by an arbitration court from the members of the main circle. The decision of this court is binding on the litigants. § 16. Members of the main circle, with whom public property is connected or connected with some important connections, should take care of themselves and, if possible, not take part in dangerous undertakings. § 17. Each member of the main circle chooses a kind of activity for himself or joins one or another group according to his own inclination; in those cases when for a certain function there is no one willing to perform it of their own accord, the circle can oblige anyone who falls for this function (by the majority) to take on this function. § 18. Each member of the main circle, who is in any group or in any specialty, if he wishes to leave this group or this specialty, must declare his intention to the main circle at least two months in advance, and before the expiration of this term, he is not entitled to leave his place. Notes. Clearly, this is obligatory only in the case when the presence of one of the members of the main circle at a given place is necessary, and if a member intending to leave this place cannot be replaced by another immediately after declaring his intention to the main circle or chattering about them, then such member should be... § 19. Every member of the main circle has the right to freely withdraw from it; but upon leaving, he is obliged to keep secret everything that he knows about the affairs and about the organization of the circle. § 20. If, however, it is proved that a member who has left the circle betrays the secrets of the circle or talks about them, then such a member must be ...
D. Expansion of the main circle.
§ 21. The admission of a new member to the main circle requires a very strict assessment of the personality. In addition to the requirement indicated in the next paragraph, it is necessary that the newly admitted member be known to the circle from the side of experience and practicality in business. Otherwise, he must be on probation for some time.
§ 22. A new member can be admitted to the main circle only with the guarantee of at least five members of the main circle who personally know the newly admitted, and only if he agrees with the general program of practical activities and with the charter of the organization of the circle.
Note. The personal acquaintance of five persons with the newly admitted member is not necessary if he is historically famous and satisfies the requirement specified in § 21.
§ 24. In view of this, each time a new member is admitted to the main circle, if not all, then at least two-thirds of the total number of members of the main circle must be notified.
§ 25. Until the moment of joining the main circle, the candidate is not informed of the names of the localities where the members of the organization operate, nor the composition of the main circle and the organization in general.
E. Composition of groups, their tasks and organization
§ 26. The number and nature of groups are determined by the general program of the circle.
§ 27. The tasks of the groups are the fulfillment of parts of the general program of the circle and the enterprises that are provided for by it.
Section 28. Groups enjoy complete autonomy in their local and internal affairs.
§ 29. The internal organization of each group may be peculiar; but the members of the main circle who are members of local or special groups, keeping secret their participation in the main circle, try to create an organization of groups in the spirit and in the interests of the main circle.
Note. They explain their relationship to the main circle to the members of the group as the relationship of two groups connected through them.
§ 30. Groups, both territorial and by specialty, are formed by members of the main circle or separatist members (§ 31), who unite around themselves useful and skillful people and enter into binding relations with them.
E. Separatist members
§ 31. People who do not want or for some reason are unable to become members of the main circle or one or another group may enter into special contractual relations (federal) with the circle on special matters. They are called separatist members.
§ 32. If a separatist member does not want the main circle to know about the details of the case for which he undertakes, then, agreeing with the circle, he has the right to report his case only in general terms.
§ 33. Separatist members do not negotiate with the whole circle, but only with a few persons elected from the circle.
§ 34. Separatist members must not be aware of the existence of the "basic circle" or of its organization.
G. Administration (Commission) in the main circle; her rights and obligations
§ 35. Since the members of the main circle according to their tasks will be divided by special affairs, then, in view of the need to concentrate funds and information, a commission is elected by the members of the main circle from among their midst.
§ 36. The following duties are assigned to the commission: a) to organize the missing groups, b) to raise funds, c) to give a report on the general progress of the case, the distribution of funds, the state of the cash desk, etc., within certain time limits and expenses; d) serve as an intermediary in relations between groups and accurately carry out their instructions.
§ 37. The Commission enjoys the following rights: a) it has, for the purposes of the correct regulation of revolutionary forces and means, detailed and accurate information about the activities of all groups and separatist members; b) enter into negotiations and federal relations on behalf of the circle with other organizations and individuals; c) within the limits determined by the main circle by an accurate estimate drawn up within certain deadlines, distribute funds.
§ 38. Members of the commission are elected for an indefinite term.
§ 39. The number of members of the commission from 5 to 3; it can be increased as needed.
§ 40. Members of the commission are elected by a majority of two-thirds of the total number of members of the main circle.
3. About the Congress; purpose and objectives of the Congress.
§ 41. When the groups and their organization are sufficiently strong and have assumed a permanent character, a congress of representatives from all local and special groups, i.e., must be convened. a congress of members of the main circle was arranged - if possible, all, and if this is not possible, then at least 2/3 of the total number of members of the main circle.
Note. The determination of the time of the congress and the organization of the congress itself lie most closely with the responsibility of the commission.
§ 42. The purpose of the congress is to sum up the previous activities of the circle and, on the basis of experimental data, determine the direction and nature of future activities.
§ 43. Tasks of the congress: a) drawing up a strictly defined program for further practical activities; b) reviewing the charter of the organization and changing it, if necessary; c) verification of the means and affairs of the organization.
Note. In general, the congress must resolve all the questions that have arisen concerning both individual groups and the entire organization.
§ 44. The decisions of the congress are binding on all members of the main circle.
I. About relationships.
§ 45. Personal meetings and communications are recognized as the best form of communication in a circle; but since this kind of communication is not always possible, in such cases encrypted correspondence through the correct addresses is allowed.
§ 46. In cases of particular importance, no correspondence should be allowed at all: the whole business should be conducted through the direct mediation of their people.
§ 47. Members of the main circle, who were in local or special groups, should try to ensure that all correspondence of the group is entrusted to persons who are most practical and experienced in this matter.
§ 48. Ciphers and passwords that exist for communication between members of the main circle should not be known to anyone except members of the main circle.
§ 49. Changing the charter and introducing amendments and additions to it can be done only with the knowledge and consent of at least 2/3 of the total number of members of the main circle.
§ 50. It is obligatory for each of the members of the main circle to follow this charter.
Archive of "Land and Freedom" and "Narodnaya Volya". - M., 1932. S. 64-73.
Revolutionary populism in the 70s of the XIX century. T. II. 1876-1882 / Ed. S.S. wolf. - M.; L .: Publishing house "Nauka", 1965. No. 3. S. 34-42.
Type of historical source
