The ideology of populism lavrov tkachev bakunin. P.L
From nihilism to populism. In the 50s and 60s, many young people were drawn to universities. At the turn of the decade, among young people there was that type "Nihilist", which was captured by Turgenev in the image of Bazarov. Rejecting noble prejudices and official ideology, "nihilist" studied natural Sciences, became a doctor, engineer, agronomist and brought concrete benefits to people, without loud words and magnificent declarations.
Illustration. Evgeny Bazarov from the work "Fathers and Sons".
In the fall of 1861, the government introduced tuition fees, banned student gatherings and mutual aid funds. It was then that unrest occurred in the universities for the first time. Many students have been expelled. Collapsed their dreams of becoming "Nihilists", repeat the feat of Bazarov. It was then that Herzen wrote in “ Bell»: « But where can you go, young men, from whom science has been locked? .. Tell you where? .. To the people! To the people! - this is your place, exiles of science ...»
In subsequent years, student unrest occurred more and more often, and new hundreds and thousands "Outcasts of science" looking for their place in life. Many went to the people voluntarily, others were expelled by the police. When they first encountered the peasantry, they were shocked by its poverty, darkness and lack of rights. Image "Nihilist" faded and faded into the background, and ideas began to take root in the minds of democratic youth (from the nobility and commoners) "Repaying the debt to the people", selfless service to him - in all ways: in word, and deed, and at the cost of life. "Penitent nobleman" was a conspicuous figure of the late 60s - early 70s of the XIX century. Boys and girls became rural teachers, doctors, paramedics. And sometimes they completely went to the people. Prince V.V. Vyazemsky gave up his estate, became a village blacksmith and until the end of his days enjoyed great respect among the peasants.
Populism developed into a powerful movement with its own ideology. Its origins were and.
From them, Narodism inherited its most noble features: protection of the interests of the common people, above all the peasantry, true democracy.
From Herzen and Chernyshevsky, the Narodniks also adopted a negative attitude towards the bourgeois system and belief in a socialist utopia. This gave rise to well-known contradictions. Acting in the interests of the people, they strove to eliminate the survivals of serfdom that prevented the people from living. But the elimination of these vestiges (for example, the landlord latifundia) was supposed to open up scope for the development of capitalist relations in the countryside. This means that the Narodniks unwittingly acted in favor of what they denied. But they believed that Russia, relying on its communal traditions, could "Jump over" through the period of the bourgeois system - immediately in "Reasonably arranged" socialist society.
The ideology of populism
The Narodniks did not attach much importance to the struggle for a constitution and civil liberties. It was believed that social liberation (liberation from poverty and exploitation) would immediately solve all problems. If the Narodniks participated in the struggle for civil liberties, it was because they hoped with their help to expand their propaganda in order to take power and introduce socialism. It was the shady side ideology of populism .
The main ideologists of populism were P. L. Lavrov, M. A. Bakunin and P. N. Tkachev. They ideologically substantiated three currents of populism: propaganda, rebellious and conspiratorial .
Peter Lavrovich Lavrov (1823 - 1900) came from the nobility. He taught mathematics at the Artillery Academy and had the rank of colonel. He was close to Chernyshevsky. In his early works he acted as a supporter of reforms, thought about "Reconciliation of the past with the future"... But, disillusioned with the changeable politics, seeing the arbitrariness reigning in the country, Lavrov came to the idea of a revolution. Soon he himself became a victim of police brutality. In 1867 he was exiled to the Vologda province.
In exile, Lavrov wrote his famous "Historical Letters"... It was he who expressed the idea of "Unpaid debt" before the people - a thought that before him, as they say, was in the air. Lavrov shared a belief in socialism and a number of other populist illusions (identity historical development Russia, the community as the basis of its future system, secondary political issues before social). Having established himself in the idea of the need for a social revolution, he stood on this until the end of his days. But at the same time he severely criticized revolutionary adventurism. He pointed out that it is impossible "rush" history. Haste in preparing for the revolution will yield nothing but blood and useless sacrifices. The revolution, Lavrov believed, must be prepared theoretical work intelligentsia and its relentless propaganda among the people. Violence in the revolution, he wrote, must be minimized: “ We do not want a new violent power to replace the old» .
In 1870 Lavrov escaped from exile and came to Paris. He was an active figure in the Paris Commune, and later met K. Marx. Abroad, he published a magazine and newspaper under the general title "Forward!". V late XIX v. moved away from political activities and devoted the rest of his life to research in the field of sociology.
M. A. Bakunin and S. G. Nechaev. After the Polish uprising, MA Bakunin concentrated his activities in the international socialist movement. The theory of destruction, which he had long nurtured, took shape in him into a complete anarchist doctrine. He believed that all modern states are built on the suppression of man. No reforms will change their inhuman nature. Therefore, they must be swept away revolutionary way and replace with free autonomous societies organized "upwards"... Bakunin demanded the transfer of all the land to the peasants, factories, factories and capital - workers' unions, the abolition of family and marriage, the introduction of social education of children in the spirit of materialism and atheism.
In 1869, Bakunin met 22-year-old student Sergei Nechaev, who claimed to have fled from Peter and Paul Fortress... Not knowing that this man could not be trusted in anything, Bakunin became close to him and even fell under his influence. Resolute and immoral, Nechaev said that a revolutionary must suppress everything in himself. human feelings, break with the laws, decency and morality of the old society, that to achieve high goals "all means are suitable, even those that are considered low.
In 1869, Nechaev went to Russia to realize his ideas. In Moscow, he gathered together the fragments of the Ishutin circle. Nechaev split his organization into "Fives" and built in a strict chain of command. Subordinate "five" obeyed her superior, knowing only one of its members, who communicated to her orders from above and monitored their execution. home "five" received orders from Nechaev, who posed as a member of a nonexistent "Central committee"... One of the members "Top five", student Ivan Ivanov, Nechaev suspected of apostasy and ordered to kill "Cement with blood" your organization. It was not possible to cover up the traces of the crime, and Nechaev fled abroad. This whole adventure lasted for several months, during which Nechaev managed to create an impressive organization.
The investigation revealed an unattractive picture of Nechaev's cases, and the authorities decided to use an open trial. There were 87 people in the dock. Four members "Top five" the court sentenced to hard labor, 27 people - to imprisonment for various terms, the rest were acquitted.
The Nechaev process alienated many from the revolutionary movement. F.M.Dostoevsky wrote a novel then "Demons"... N.K. Mikhailovsky, a young critic from "Notes of the Fatherland", reproached the author for identifying nechaevism with the entire revolutionary movement. The reproach was partly true. And yet nechaevism turned out not to be an accidental episode, but a sign of dangerous phenomena that were brewing in the revolutionary movement.
Bakunin broke with Nechaev even before the trial. Abroad, Nechaev found himself isolated. In 1872 Switzerland extradited him to Russia as a criminal offender. In 1882 he died in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
After Nechaev's history, Bakunin did not take a direct part in the Russian revolutionary movement. He was completely captured by the struggle with Marx for influence in the International. In 1872 Bakunin was expelled from this organization, but with him many workers' unions of the southern countries of Europe left it. The International soon disintegrated, and Bakunin concentrated his activities in the revolutionary movement in southern Europe, mainly in Italy. The most amenable to the propaganda of anarchism turned out to be the most unskilled strata of the workers, as well as the lumpen proletariat. Bakunin declared them the vanguard of the labor movement. In Russia, he pinned all his hopes on the peasantry. He considered the Russian peasant “ born socialist».
Among the poorly educated people, Bakunin believed, the most effective is "Propaganda by facts", that is, the device of continuous riots, uprisings, unrest. Having a habit of confirming his theories in practice, he organized an uprising in northern Italy (near Bologna). The adventure ended in failure, and the old rebel barely escaped, hiding in a cart of hay.
He spent the last years of his life in great need. He died in 1876 in Bern (Switzerland) in a hospital for laborers, where he was placed at his insistence.
Bakunin's followers operated in many countries. In Russia, they constituted a significant detachment of the populist movement and sometimes, indeed, tried to resort to "Propaganda with facts".
Peter Nikitich Tkachev (1844-1885) , a native of the Pskov nobility, was a younger contemporary of Bakunin and Lavrov, shared their belief in socialism, but waged an irreconcilable struggle with them on almost all other issues. Convicted in the Nechaev case, he served his sentence and was exiled to the Pskov province. From there he fled abroad, where he published a newspaper "Nabat"... Tkachev argued that the immediate goal should be to create a well-conspiratorial, disciplined revolutionary organization. Without wasting time on propaganda, she must seize power. After that, Tkachev preached, the revolutionary organization suppresses and destroys the conservative and reactionary elements of society, abolishes the old state institutions and creates a new statehood. Unlike the Bakuninists, Tkachev believed that the state (moreover, a strong, centralized one) would remain after the victory of the revolution.
From the end of the 70s, Tkachev's ideas began to prevail in the populist movement. He himself fell ill with a mental disorder in 1882 and died three years later.
One of Tkachev's ideological predecessors was Zaichnevsky, who dreamed of “ bloody, unforgiving revolution". But Tkachev drew his main ideas from Nechaev's experience. He realized that the main thing in this experience is the creation of a powerful and obedient to the will of the head of an organization aimed at seizing power.
Populist circles in the early 70s. Since the beginning of the 70s, several populist circles existed in St. Petersburg, headed by M.A. Natanson, S.L. Perovskaya, and N.V. Tchaikovsky. In 1871 they united, and the members of the underground society began to be called "Tchaikovites", named after one of the leaders. There was no strict subordination here. The work was built on the voluntary zeal of each and every one. However, the admission of new members was very strict.
One student was turned down just because someone spoke of his touchy self-esteem. On another occasion, Perovskaya noticed that one of the members of society, a good worker, likes to dress fashionably and spends extra money on it, which could have gone to the revolution. The young man had to leave the organization. Neither the Decembrists nor "People of the forties" were not such ascetics.
Secret society branches "Tchaikovtsev" originated in Moscow, Kazan and other cities. In total, this federation of circles consisted of about 100 people.
In 1872 in the St. Petersburg circle "Tchaikovtsev" entered the prince Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin (1842-1921) , scientist-geographer, later - theorist of anarchism. With his arrival, the ideas of Bakunism began to spread in the circle, before the circle stood on the positions of Lavrism. The main thing "Tchaikovtsev" there was propaganda among the workers. Attempts were made to establish work in the countryside. In early 1874, the police arrested many "Tchaikovtsev", including Kropotkin.
The arrests did not stop and the planned "Tchaikovites" for 1874 "going to the people". However, it was not even an organized event, but a spontaneous movement of radical youth. In circles "Tchaikovtsev" there were never as many members as people moved "To the people" in the spring of 1874 - from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Saratov, Samara.
Both Lavristy and Bakuninists went to the village. The first - with the long-term goal of re-educating the people in a revolutionary spirit, the second - in the hope of rousing them to insurrection. The revolutionaries dressed in peasant clothes, stocked up with fake passports, hired carpenters, loaders, peddlers. The popularity of the people reached a special scale in the Volga region. The backbone of the itinerant propagandists was former students, but there were also many retired officers, officials, landowners met (P.I.
A.K.Savitsky "Walking to the people"
The peasants willingly responded to conversations about the lack of land, about the severity of redemption payments. But the preaching of socialism was not successful. The words of a visitor "Barina" about how good it would be when all the property was shared were met with ironic grins. The haste with which the propaganda was conducted at that time did not allow the Narodniks to draw sober conclusions as to whether the socialist doctrine corresponded to popular views.
It was not possible to raise an uprising anywhere. The police got alarmed and began to catch all the suspicious. 770 people were involved in the inquiry. The surviving propagandists fled to the cities. One of the populists, D.M. Remarkable physical strength allowed him to cope with such a job. Subsequently, he died in hard labor.
Going to the people undermined the ideas of Bakunism and contributed to the spread of the ideas of weavers. Among the Narodniks there was a ripening conviction that in order to prepare for the revolution it was necessary to create a strong organization.
Revolutionary populism
"Land and Freedom" of the 70s. In 1876 arose new organization with the old name - "Land and Freedom"... It included a number of those who went to the people who survived the arrests - M. A. Natanson, G. V. Plekhanov, and others. Later N. A. Morozov and S. L. Perovskaya joined it. In total, there were over 150 people in the organization. "Land and Freedom" was built on the basis of centralism, although still weak. Its core was "Main circle"... The society was divided into several groups. "Villagers", the largest group, were sent to work among the peasants. Other groups were to conduct propaganda among workers and students. "Disorganizing group" was intended to bring disorder to the ranks of enemies, to expose spies.
The main goal of the society was to prepare the people's socialist revolution. Members "Land and Freedom" had to conduct explanatory work among the peasantry - both in verbal form and in the form "Propaganda by facts"... Terrorist activity was allowed only in isolated cases as a response.
The program of the society spoke about the transfer of all the land into the hands of the peasants and about the freedom of worldly self-government. The landowners learned a lesson from the recent "Walking", putting forward demands that are close and understandable to the peasants.
December 6, 1876 « Land and Freedom”Organized a demonstration in front of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. It was assumed that this would be a review of the revolutionary forces of the capital - with speeches and a red banner. They hoped to gather several thousand people and walk through the city. But only 300-400 people gathered. The police set on them the janitors, shop assistants, loaders, and the beating began. About 20 people were arrested, others fled. Soon five were sent to hard labor, 10 people were exiled. Such a harsh reprisal against the participants in the peaceful demonstration caused bewilderment and murmur in society.
After an unsuccessful demonstration, the Narodniks decided to re-focus on work in the countryside. By giving up "Flying propaganda", the landowners settled in groups in the Volga region, on the Don and the Kuban. It seemed to them that exactly where the traditions of the Cossack freemen, the legends about Razin and Pugachev, are alive, it is easiest to rouse the people to an uprising.
Great success "Sedentary" activity also did not bring. The landowners failed to create "Revolutionary army" that they dreamed of. They were discouraged, not realizing how naive their attempts to immediately rouse the people to revolt were. Populist settlements were hunted down by the police. The best forces perished in the unequal struggle. By the fall of 1877, there were almost no populist settlements left in the village. V "Earth and Freedom" a serious crisis was brewing.
Peter Lavrovich Lavrov (1828-1900) is known as one of the main ideologues of Russian populism. At one time he had a considerable influence on the formation of the revolutionary movement in our country. Of interest are his sociological and philosophical studies, which make it possible to understand the attitude of the intelligentsia to the socio-political situation that developed in Russia in the second half of the 19th century, as well as the prediction of the collapse of Bolshevism.
A family
Peter Lavrov came from the famous noble family... His father, Lavr Stepanovich, served in the army and participated in Patriotic War 1812 He was friends with the head of the Imperial Chancellery and Alexei Arakcheev, who enjoyed the boundless trust of Alexander the First. After the war, L.S.Lavrov retired with the rank of colonel of artillery and married Elizabeth Karlovna Gandwig. The girl came from a Russianized Swedish noble family and was excellently educated for her time. In 1823, their son Peter was born. At the time of his birth, the family lived in the Melekhovo estate, located in the Pskov province.
Petr Lavrovich Lavrov: a short biography (young years)
Like his other peers from the nobility, the future philosopher studied foreign languages from childhood. In particular, thanks to his mother and an experienced tutor, he very early mastered the French and German languages to perfection.
In 1837, Pyotr Lavrov was sent to St. Petersburg, where he successfully passed the exam and entered the artillery school. During the years of study at this prestigious military university, the young man showed himself to be a diligent cadet and was considered the best student of Academician M. Ostrogradsky. His successes were so serious that after receiving his diploma he was left to tutor at his own school. In parallel with conducting classes, Peter Lavrov independently studied scientific literature on social science and economics, wrote poetry and was engaged in research in the field of mathematics. He was greatly impressed by the works of the utopian socialists.
Further career
The young tutor of mathematical sciences soon received recognition from his colleagues and took up the post of a military teacher at the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy in St. Petersburg, rising to the rank of colonel. In 1860 he was transferred to Konstantinovskoe military school, where he was a mentor-observer for several years.
Personal life
In 1847, Pyotr Lavrov married the beautiful widow A. Kh. Loveiko. A marriage with a mother of two children, and even German by birth (maiden name Kapger) upset the plans of Lavr Stepanovich, who dreamed of a brilliant party for his son. As a result, Peter was deprived of his parent's financial support. Over time, the couple had four more common sons and daughters, which made the family's financial situation even more precarious. In order to somehow "get out", Lavrov was forced to earn extra money by tutoring "on the side" and write special articles for the "Artillery Journal". The situation changed for the better after the death of his father and older brother, when Pyotr Lavrovich received a good inheritance.
Literary and scientific activities
Despite the hardships of life, the indefatigable Pyotr Lavrov found time to study the most famous works of European philosophers of his time, published poetry by A. I. Herzen, participated in the creation of the "Encyclopedic Dictionary", published articles on philosophy and sociology, as well as on problems of public morality , literature, art and public education.
In addition, his first book was published in 1860. In this work, entitled Essays on Questions of Practical Philosophy, Lavrov argued that moral personality cannot but come into conflict with a society in which injustice reigns. In his opinion, an ideal society can only be a system based on a voluntary union of moral and free people.
Arrest and exile
In the 1860s, Pyotr Lavrovich Lavrov, whose biography is presented above, was an active participant in the student and revolutionary movement. He became close to N. G. Chernyshevsky and became a member of the first organization "Land and Freedom".
On April 4, 1866, at the gates of the Summer Garden, D. Karakozov made an attempt on the life of Alexander II. It was unsuccessful, however, it was the reason for the repressions, the victim of which was, among other things, Peter Lavrov. He was arrested on charges of "spreading harmful ideas" and in contacts with Chernyshevsky, Mikhailov and with Professor P. Pavlov. After a short time in prison and a trial, he was sent to exile in There he lived from 1867 to 1870 and met with the exiled participant of the Polish uprising A. Czaplicka, who became his common-law wife.
"Historical Letters"
His "Historical Letters" contained an appeal to young people to wake up, and, understanding the tasks of the historical moment, as well as the needs of the common people, to help them realize their strength. The appearance of this work was more than timely, since the revolutionary intelligentsia was in search of new opportunities to apply their forces. Lavrov's "Historical Letters" became a "thunderclap" and one of the ideological stimuli for the organization practical activities revolutionary intelligentsia.
Biography (Peter Lavrov) after 1870
After returning from exile, the revolutionary managed to illegally leave the country and go to Paris. There he contacted representatives of the Western European labor movement and joined the First International. During his existence he traveled to London in order to organize assistance to the besieged comrades.
During his stay in the capital of the British Empire, Lavrov met Marx and Engels.
In 1873-1877, the revolutionary became the editor of the Vperyod magazine and the 2-week newspaper of the same name - the mouthpieces of the direction of Russian populism, called Lavrism. After the assassination of Alexander II, Pyotr Lavrovich became close to the People's Will. He even agreed to edit Vestnik Narodnaya Volya together with L. Tikhomirov.
At the same time, his international authority grew. Suffice it to say that in July 1889, members of the Armenian party Hnchak, the first socialist party to have branches in Persia and Ottoman Empire, authorized Pyotr Lavrov to represent her at the congress of the Second International.
last years of life
Until his last days, Peter Lavrov continued to maintain ties with the revolutionary movement. However, at the end of his life he was more interested in questions related to the history of philosophy. As a result of his scientific research, several theoretical works were written, including the monograph "The Problems of Understanding History."
Peter Lavrov, whose main ideas were the basis of the People's Will movement, died in Paris at the age of 72 and was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery.
He left behind an extensive literary legacy, including 825 works and 711 letters. He is also the author of several dozen political poems, among which the "Workers' Marseillaise" was especially popular, beginning with the words "Let us renounce the old world ...", to which the music was later written. In the first two decades of the 20th century, this song was one of the most often performed during strikes, strikes, as well as congresses of revolutionaries, and in the early years Soviet power and people's deputies.
Philosophical views
In official science, it is customary to classify Lavrov as an eclectic. And this is quite justified, since in his positivist-agnostic philosophy he tried to combine the systems of Hegel, F. Lange, Feuerbach, Comte, Proudhon, Spencer, Chernyshevsky, Bakunin and Marx.
In his opinion, history is made by its own will by a moral and educated minority, so the first task of revolutionaries is to develop a moral ideal.
In the 1870s, Lavrov had ardent followers, the so-called group of Bashents. In addition, he became the recognized leader of the right wing of the revolutionaries. Russian Empire... However, this situation did not last long, and soon many supporters of his ideology turned towards a more radical Bakunism. Nevertheless, Lavrism played an important role in the preparation of members for the future first Social Democratic circles.
Now you know who P. Lavrov was. As one of the few representatives of the nobility who sincerely strove to improve the situation of workers and peasants, Pyotr Lavrovich was not forgotten by the authorities of the world's first state of workers and peasants. In particular, Furshtatskaya Street of Leningrad was renamed in his honor. Thanks to this, today many Petersburgers know the Peter Lavrov Palace, where wedding ceremonies are held. And this is quite symbolic, since the famous philosopher once sacrificed financial well-being for the sake of marrying his beloved woman, and then lived with her for thirty happy years.
At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, populism became the main trends in the Russian revolutionary democratic movement. The views of the populists, who defended the interests of the peasant masses, maintained continuity with the positions of the revolutionary democrats of the 60s and 70s, because, as before, in the Russian peasantry they saw the main force capable of carrying out a revolutionary coup in a more or less near future, which would destroy the monarchy and the entire economic and social order that existed in the country.
Lenin, who studied Russian populism, identified three of its characteristic features: 1) recognition of capitalism in Russia as a decline, regression, 2) recognition of the originality of the Russian economic system in general and the peasant with his communal artel, etc. in particular, 3) ignoring the connection between the "intelligentsia" and legal and political institutions in the country with the material interests of certain social classes.
The Narodniks did not understand the historical significance of capitalism, believed that Russia could and should take a different, non-capitalist path of development, abandoned the political struggle (or underestimated its significance).
In the 70s, the ideologists of the populists were M.A. Bakunin, P.L. Lavrov and P.N. Tkachev.
The "rebellious" (anarchist) direction was headed by M.A. Bakunin. Bakunin's views were largely a radical change in the anarchist ideas of the French socialist P.J. Proudhon. Calling for the revolutionary overthrow of the existing system, Bakunin saw the main "historically necessary evil" in state power, any form of which must be destroyed. The decisive role in this, in his opinion, should be played by the masses of the people, who are pushed to fight by the instinct of freedom. In Russia, such a revolutionary force can be the peasantry, which is constantly ready to march. It only needs to be united and raised in a practical, militant, rebellious way. Bakunin rejected the need for a revolutionary enlightenment of the masses and a political struggle against tsarism. The main goal of the revolution, in his opinion, was to establish equality between people. At the same time, in the new stateless society, a "free federation" of workers' associations, both agricultural and factory-handicrafts, will emerge.
Bakunin played a noticeable role in the European movement, was familiar with Karl Marx and called himself a supporter of the materialist understanding of history, but in fact he was far from Marxism and introduced a split in the International. In 1872 he was expelled from this organization for disorganizing activities.
In Russia, Bakunin's views, his calls to "go to the people" found their adherents, especially among the revolutionary youth.
Another theoretical trend in populism ("propaganda") was headed by PL Lavrov. Unlike Bakunin, Lavrov did not believe that the Russian people were ready to march. Only systematic propaganda, the education of leaders from among the people themselves, could, in his opinion, provide the necessary conditions for a revolutionary action.
At the same time, Lavrov exaggerated the role of the intelligentsia, considering the "critically-minded person" to be the engine of social progress. At the same time, Lavrov believed that the intelligentsia was in debt to the people, since the "civilized minority" acquired its development at the expense of the labor, suffering and blood of the people.
Another direction in the revolutionary movement of the 70s was the activity of the Blanquist populists ("conspiratorial" direction), headed by P.N. Tkachev. Tkachev believed that the people could not put into practice the ideas of a social revolution, only a conspiracy of intellectuals - the “revolutionary minority” - could do that. In his opinion, the activities of the conspirators in Russia were greatly facilitated by the fact that the autocracy is a fiction, "hanging in the air" without support and support. Several blows to the “abandoned government by all” should lead to its downfall, after which the captured state apparatus will be used by the revolutionaries. Tkachev's supporters thought that the communist instincts inherent in the Russian peasantry would then make it possible to implement socialist ideas in the country and turn Russia into an exemplary socialist country.
The practical activity of the populists during the period of the new revolutionary upsurge of the 70s was aimed at fulfilling the task of preparing and carrying out a revolution, while certain hopes were pinned on the expected increase in peasant unrest in connection with the expiration of a 9-year period, during which the peasants could not leave the land.
In 1869 in the capital, an influential populist circle of "Tchaikovsky" was formed in the capital (M.A. Natanson, N.V. Tchaikovsky, etc.) the core of the so-called "Big Society of Propaganda" (A.I. Zhelyabov, S.M. Kravchinskiy, P.A.Kropotkin, N.A.Morozov, S.L. Perovskaya, etc.). Members of the organization disseminated revolutionary ideas among students, workers (later peasants), were engaged in publishing. The most popular here were the ideas of P.L. Lavrov. In the fall of 1874, the organization, weakened by the arrests, ceased to exist. The "Big Propaganda Society" brought up a whole generation of revolutionary populists who played an important role in the further development of the revolutionary democratic movement.
In 1872, A.V. Dolgushin's circle was created in St. Petersburg, which had a secret printing house. Here brochures and proclamations were printed and distributed to the people. This populist circle, adhering to the Bakunin direction, was soon discovered by the secret police and defeated.
In the spring of 1874, about 40 provinces of Russia were seized by a new mass movement of revolutionary youth, called "going to the people." This movement, influenced by Bakunin's theory, was neither sufficiently prepared nor centralized. Attempts to create in the winter of 1873-1874. a single focal point did not produce visible results. The Narodniks walked through the villages, held conversations with the peasants, tried to provoke unrest and disobedience to the authorities. However, it soon became clear that it would not be possible to raise the peasantry in this way. The longer propaganda in the villages, which was carried out by part of the populists, did not give any results either.
Already in the summer of 1874, the government carried out mass arrests among the participants in the “going to the people” (about a thousand people were arrested). The long investigation ended with the political "Trial of the 193s", the central event of which was the famous speech of IN Myshkin, in which he expressed his belief in an inevitable popular uprising in the country.
"Going to the People" was the first heroic attempt at broad direct communication between Russian revolutionaries and the peasantry. It showed that the people were not ready for an immediate revolutionary action, and stimulated the search for new organizational forms of struggle. The success of the revolution was now associated with the creation in 1876 of a new secret society "Land and Freedom", which became the largest organization of the populists of the 70s (should not be confused with the organization of the same name in the 60s).
Members of "Land and Freedom" set themselves the task of uniting revolutionary circles operating in Central Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Transcaucasia, the Volga region. They managed to create a well-organized St. Petersburg center (O.V. Aptekman, D.A. Lizogub, A.D. Mikhailov, V.A.Osinsky, G.V. Plekhanov, etc.), which rallied around itself several groups that performed various functions. A printed leaflet bearing the same name was published by the organization.
The most important point of the society's program was "the transfer of all the land into the hands of the rural working class", and a number of democratic demands were put forward, which could be achieved "only through a violent coup." According to the landowners, the coup d'état had to be prepared by means of constant propaganda and agitation in the countryside, and the creation of strongholds there. Attention was also paid to work in "centers of accumulation of industrial workers, factory and factory". However, the workers were regarded only as a force capable of supporting the action of the peasants. The propaganda activities of the Zamlevolites were also carried out among the disgruntled students and intelligentsia, attempts were made to attract conscious progressive officers and officials.
The main forces and means of "Land and Freedom" were aimed at creating "settlements" in the countryside (colonies in Samara, Saratov, Tambov and other provinces), which did not bring noticeable success. An attempt to develop "agrarian terror" in the countryside, to rouse the peasants to armed uprisings, did not give any results either. In an atmosphere of collapse of hopes, mass political processes and cruel reprisals, the attitude of the landowners to the methods of realizing their immediate goals began to change. The conviction grew in the need for terrorist methods of fighting the government. The first terrorist attacks were in self-defense or retaliation. In January 1878 V.I.Zasulich shot at the mayor of St. Petersburg F.F. Trepov (the latter subjected a political prisoner to corporal punishment), in the summer of the same year S.M. Kravchinsky killed the chief of the gendarmes N.V. Mezentsev. On April 2, 1879, A.K. Soloviev made an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Alexander II on the Palace Square.
Gradually, two currents arose within "Earth and Freedom". Representatives of one of them (A.D. Mikhailov, N.A. Morozov and others) were supporters of terrorist methods of political struggle. Another part, the so-called "village people" (GV Plekhanov, MR Popov, OV Aptekman), advocated the preservation of propaganda and agitation work in the countryside. Already in 1879, supporters of terror formed a group "Freedom or Death" within the organization, in June of the same year their congress took place in Lipetsk, at which it was decided not to break with "Earth and Freedom", but to conquer it from within. A few days later, a general congress took place in Voronezh, which adopted a compromise decision on the admissibility of terrorist methods of struggle along with agitation and propaganda. However, the decisions of the Congress could not preserve the unity of "Land and Freedom", which in August 1879 split into two organizations: "Black Redistribution" (G.V. Plekhanov, P.B.Akselrod, P.G. Deich, Ya.V. Stefanovich and others) and “Narodnaya Volya” (A.I.Zhelyabov, S.L.Perovskaya, N.A.Morozov, N.I.Kibalchich, A.D. Mikhailov and others).
The views of the organizers of the "Black Redistribution" at that time did not fundamentally differ from the views of the landowners. Attempts to continue propaganda in the village ended in failure and led to new arrests. Some of the members of the organization have emigrated abroad. On the whole, the "Black Redistribution" did not play a significant role in the populist movement.
Narodnaya Volya was a well-concealed organization headed by an executive committee. In the conditions of the democratic upsurge at the end of the 70s, the organization became actively involved in the political struggle. The organization's programmatic provisions included the seizure of power by the revolutionary party and the implementation of democratic reforms in the country. According to the views of the People's Will, the Russian government had no support and could easily be disorganized as a result of a series of terrorist attacks. In 1880-1881. Narodnaya Volya carried out a number of attempts on the life of Alexander II (on February 5, 1880 S. Khalturin carried out an explosion in the Winter Palace).
The struggle of the People's Will against the Russian autocracy, which ended in the assassination of Alexander II (March 1, 1881), in the new revolutionary situation of 1879-1881. was of great political importance.
Lavrov, unlike Bakunin, did not worship a spontaneous rebellion. He believed that the people's revolution needed a long preparation. According to Lavrov's calculations, even an insignificant minority could carry out such training. the best people societies with solid scientific training... They must go to the people and through patient propaganda help him [the people] understand their needs and strength. When the intelligentsia builds a just socialist society, they will be able to "pay" their "debt to the people." After all, the intelligentsia received education and other benefits of life only thanks to the labors and hardships of many generations of the people.
Lavrov's biography
Peter Lavrovich Lavrov (1823-1900) - Russian sociologist, economist. publicist, philosopher. Born into the family of a landowner in the village of Melikhovo, Pskov province. In 1837-1842 he studied at the St. Petersburg Artillery School, was considered the best student of Academician M. Ostrogradsky. Since July 1844 he has been teaching higher mathematics at the same school. He married a widow with two children. Subsequently he worked as a teacher of history and foreign languages... collaborated in the Military Encyclopedic Lexicon and military journals. Debuts as a poet (two poems published by Herzen in London). The legal press published "Letters about various contemporary issues"(1857)." Concerning the question of education "(1858)." The practical philosophy of Hegel "(1859). Chernyshevsky. In 1861, Lavrov was invited to join secret society"Land and Freedom". During these years he worked as an editor of the "Encyclopedic Dictionary compiled by Russian scientists and writers". After Karakozov's assassination attempt on Alexander II, Lavrov was arrested and exiled to the Vologda province. Here in 1868-1869 he wrote "Historical Letters". With the help of GA Lopatin, in the winter of 1870, he fled from the place of exile. In Paris he was accepted as a member of the Anthropological Society. Since the fall of 1870 - a member of one of the sections of the First International. Having introduced !, with the leaders of the Paris Commune, Lavrov tried to organize financial assistance to the Communards. Published abroad (Zurich, London) his own magazine, the newspaper "Vperyod". PL Lavrov wrote: "In the first place we put the position that the restructuring of Russian society should be accomplished not only for the benefit of the people, not only for the people, but also through the people." Articles from this period made up the book "On the Samara Famine" (1873-1874). Since the spring of 1880, together with G. Plekhanov and I. Morozov, he published the Social Revolutionary Library. Since 1881 - Commissioner of the Red Cross Society "People's Will". He died in Paris. COMPOSITIONS L. Lavrov on religion / Comp. A.I. Volodin. M .. 1989: Philosophy and Sociology. Selected works in 2 volumes. M .. 196.5; Selected works on socio-political themes in 8 volumes. M., 1934-1935: Paris Commune 1871 year. L .: M .. 1925: Studies of Western Literature. Pg .. 1923; Collected works of Peter Lavrovich Lavrov (Series I-VI1. 14 s). Pg .. 1917-1920: manuscripts of the 90s. Geneva, 1899.
The defining principle of cognition and creativity Peter Lavrovich Lavrov(1823-1900) was scientific, scientific criticism.
Unlike the Marxists, who proceeded from objective criteria for assessing social phenomena and their restructuring, Lavrov paid more attention to the consciously purposeful activity of the individual aimed at transforming existing public relations, social order... Trying to abstract from random subjectivism and voluntarism that distort reality, he substantiated the theory of ethical subjectivism, closely linking it with the theory of progress.
Lavrov linked the essence of political progress with "the elimination of any compulsory political agreement for individuals who agree with it, that is, with the reduction of the state element in society to a minimum." This means, firstly, the destruction of separatist aspirations in the very embryo; secondly, the solution of the question of the natural borders of states that are part of a single union; third, the rapprochement of people based on cultural and scientific interests.
Reflecting on political progress, Lavrov argued that the desire to assimilate, to reunite foreign nationalities, destroying their characteristics, is an anti-progressive fact. Lavrov recognized the right of the oppressed peoples of the Russian Empire to self-determination, up to and including separation from it. At the same time, the political state union, according to Lavrov, is a powerful factor in the struggle for progress.
With the growing influence of bourgeois immoralism in society on the basis of "private capital that dominates the proletariat and aggravates the class struggle," the modern bourgeois state is becoming the most irresistible enemy of socialism and the proletarian. Therefore, in contrast to the Lassalians, who considered it sufficient to seize the bourgeois state and use it for their own purposes, Lavrov called for its destruction, since it "in its essence is domination, it is inequality, it is the constraint of freedom." "The right-wing state is no longer conceivable without the victory of labor in its struggle against capital."
Justifying his ideal of socialism, Lavrov was under the strong influence of Marx, but, unlike him, he saw the basis of the world socialist movement not in the development of economic relations, but in ideology, in the similarity of the ideologies of certain classes in different countries... According to his concept, "socialism appeared on the stage of history as a demand for the solidarity of all mankind," therefore workers' socialism is the doctrine of the solidarity of the proletariat of all countries. The specificity of the application of this theory to Russian conditions lies in the fact that the urban working class has a broad support, a social basis for the solidarity of all workers in the village community, which carries out joint cultivation of the land and common use of the products of labor within its framework.
Depending on the socio-economic, legal and spiritual Russian traditions, Lavrov also defines the goals of socialism.
The main ones are public property, social labor, a federation of workers, which are carried out by the working people under the leadership of a small group of well-organized intelligentsia.
Social justice can only be achieved through a socialist revolution, which creates a people's federation of Russian communities. In his work "The State Element in the Future Society" (1876), Lavrov explains the reason for the proletariat's turning to this only means by the fact that "the rulers of the world and the leaders of the modern state will not voluntarily surrender their advantageous position to the working proletariat ... There is no reconciliation between the modern state and workers' socialism. , there is no agreement and there cannot be. "
Under socialism, Lavrov completely excludes any dictatorship, believing that "any dictatorship spoils the best people." He does not even allow the thought that one person could have power in all spheres of public life. The largest person will participate only in some forms of power and will occupy subordinate positions in an equally significant share of branches of public life. Each special case will have its own elected authority.
The new model of "Russian socialism" proposed by Lavrov and the plan for its implementation on an ethical and scientific basis had a tremendous ideological influence on the enthusiasts of the 70s. XIX century. in the West and in Russia, ready to live and die for noble goals.
