Bolshevism | Page 5

through the Society for the Liberation of the People. Bakunin advised
the students to leave the universities and to go among the people to
teach them and, at the same time, arouse them to revolt. It was at this
time, too, that Nicholas Tchaykovsky and his friends, the famous Circle
of Tchaykovsky, began to distribute among students in all parts of the
Empire books dealing with the condition of the peasants and proposing
remedies therefor. This work greatly influenced the young Intelligentsia,
but the immediate results among the peasants were not very
encouraging. Even the return from Switzerland, by order of the
government, of hundreds of students who were disciples of Bakunin
and Peter Lavrov did not produce any great success.
Very soon a new organization appeared. The remnant of the Circle
Tchaykovsky, together with some followers of Bakunin, formed a
society called the Land and Freedom Society. This society, which was
destined to exert a marked influence upon revolutionary Russia, was
the most ambitious revolutionary effort Russia had known. The society
had a constitution and a carefully worked out program. It had one
special group to carry on propaganda among students; another to
agitate among the peasants; and a third to employ armed force against
the government and against those guilty of treachery toward the society.
The basis of the society was the conviction that Russia needed an
economic revolution; that only an economic revolution, starting with
the producers, could overthrow Czarism and establish the ideal state of
society.
The members of this Land and Freedom Society divided their work into
four main divisions: (1) Agitation--passive and active. Passive agitation
included strikes, petitions for reforms, refusal to pay taxes, and so on.
Active agitation meant riots and uprisings. (2) Organization--the
formation of a fighting force prepared to bring about a general uprising.
(3) Education--the spreading of revolutionary knowledge and ideas, a
continuation of the work of the Tchaykovsky Circle. (4)
Secularization--the carrying on of systematic work against the
Orthodox Church through special channels. One of the early leaders of

this society was George Plechanov, who later founded the Russian
Social Democracy and gave to the Russian revolutionary movement its
Marxian character, inspiring such men as Nikolai Lenine and Leon
Trotzky, among many others. The society did not attain any very great
amount of success in its efforts to reach the peasants, and it was that
fact more than any other which determined Plechanov's future course.
III
When the failure of the Land and Freedom methods became evident,
and the government became more and more oppressive, desperate
individuals and groups resorted to acts of terrorism. It was thus that
Vera Zasulich attempted the assassination of the infamous Chief of
Police Trepov. The movement to temper Czarism by assassination
systematically pursued was beginning. In 1879 the Land and Freedom
Society held a conference for the purpose of discussing its program. A
majority favored resorting to terroristic tactics; Plechanov and a few
other well-known revolutionists were opposed--favoring the old
methods. The society split, the majority becoming known as the Will of
the People and adopting a terroristic program. This organization
sentenced Czar Alexander II to death and several unsuccessful attempts
were made to carry out the sentence. The leaders believed that the
assassination of the Czar would give rise to a general revolution
throughout the whole of Russia. In February, 1880, occurred the
famous attempt to blow up the Winter Palace. For a time it seemed that
the Czar had learned the lesson the Will of the People sought to teach
him, and that he would institute far-reaching reforms. Pursuing a policy
of vacillation and fear, however, Alexander II soon fell back into the
old attitude. On March 1, 1881, a group of revolutionists, among them
Sophia Perovskaya, made another attempt upon his life, succeeding, at
first, only in damaging the bottom of the Czar's carriage and wounding
a number of Cossack soldiers. "Thank God, I am untouched," said the
Czar, in response to the inquiry of an officer of his guard. "It's too soon
to thank God!" cried N.I. Grinevitsky, hurling a bomb at the Czar.
Within a short time Alexander II and his assailant were both dead.
The assassination of Alexander II was a tragic event for Russia. On the

very morning of his death the ill-fated monarch had approved a plan for
extensive reforms presented by the liberal Minister, Loris-Melikoff. It
had been decided to call a conference three days later and to invite a
number of well-known public men to co-operate in introducing the
reforms. These reforms would not have been far-reaching enough to
satisfy the revolutionists, but they would certainly have improved the
situation and given Russia a new hope. That hope died with Alexander
II. His son, Alexander III, had always been a pronounced reactionary
and had advised