Radical Opposition Flashcards
What was radical opposition?
-developed among young gen who wanted go further then parents
-June 1862 fires in St. P destroyed over 2000 schools + young gen immediately held responsible
-1863 ‘the organisation’ set up by students Moscow uni + more calls for reform
-student idealism + determination heightened by increased repression late 1880s
Who was the radical thinker Nikolai Chernyshevsky?
-author of radical journal ‘the contemporary’ + book ‘what is to be done?’ 1862
-wrote it while confined to the Peter + Paul Fortress in St.P
- writings suggested peasants had to be made leaders if revolutionary change
Who was the radical thinker Herzen?
-editor of radical journal ‘the bell’
-he was smuggled into Russia + advocated for new peasant based social structure
Who was the radical thinker Mikhail Bakunin?
-an anarchist + socialist
-put forward view private land ownership replaced by collective ownership + income based on number of hours worked
-was forced in exile but helped introduce Marxism into Russia by translating Karl Marx’s ‘the communist manifesto 1869
Who was Karl Marx + Marxist theory?
-a german Jew + wrote ‘the communist manifesto’ with friends 1848 prior to the European Revolutions 1848-49
-moved to london + wrote ‘Das Kapital’ 1867
-his theories were based on idea all history was composed of class struggles
-he predicted that working class (proletariat) + factory owning capitalist (bourgeoisie) would herald the perfect ‘communist’ society where everyone equal
What happened in 1869 with Bakunin + Nechaev?
-student radical activists who fled illegally after calling St.P student to assassinate tsar
-wrote manifesto of ‘Catcheism of a revolutionary’
-it exhorted opponents of autocracy to be merciless in their pursuit of revolution
What was the Tchaikovsky Circle?
-set up St. P 1868-69
-primarily literary society that organised printing, publishing + distribution of scientific + rev literature
-circle was never large - under 100 spread between St.P + other major cities
-sought social rev — 1872 it started organise workers with intention sending them to work among peasants in countryside
Who were the Nardoniks (populists)?
-the idea of ‘going to the people’ + 1874 Lavrov encouraged 200 people e.g. young men, women, nobility + intelligentsia to travel to countryside + persuade peasants that future of Rus depended on development of peasant commune
-aimed explore resentment felt since emancipation but peasants ignorance, hostility + deep rooted loyalty to tsar ensured nardoniks reported (1600 arrested)
-second attempt 1876 more successful but more arrests followed + series of show trials
What was the impact of the nardoniks?
-despite immediate failure nardonyism helped take radical opposition away from underground meetings
-helped make govt more aware of depth of feeling of its opponents
What was populism in practice?
-Romas tried put his populist ideas in practice by setting up cooperative store selling fruits + veg
-peasants suspicious of cheap prices + kulaks caused an explosion
-kulaks intimated other poorer peasants who bought Romas’ goods + his peasant assistant brutally murdered as warning to others
-his shop was destroyed + he was forced to flee for his life
What was land + liberty?
-set up 1877 + continued the populist tradition
-members sought work within peasant commune as doctors, teachers or work men
-some carried out political assassinations e.g. general mezemstev head third section ‘78
-wanted more pressure on autocracy for constitutional reform
-tsarist govt failed respond + non within court circles willing to listen to growing pressure for change despite state of country
What was the 1879 split in ‘land + liberty’?
-split into two groups
-Black Repartition — wanted share black soil provinces among peasants + continued work among peasants developing ties with students + workers + publishing radicals
-but severely weakened by arrests 1880-81 + Plekhanov + other leaders turned to marx
-the people’s will — led by Mikhailov who planted spy in third section to evade arrest + it advocated violent methods undermining govt by assassinations
-it also declared had to be removed if didn’t agree to a constitutions which he didn’t + assassinated him march 1881
