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The First International and the Russian Obshchina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Alan Kimball
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Extract

Russian revolutionists in the 1870s had a long history of opposition to build on—from the massive Pugachev peasant rebellion during the reign of Catherine the Great to an aristocratic conspiracy (Decembrist Revolt) at the end of the reign of Alexander II. They also drew on a rich indigenous fund of social criticism and programs, the latest and most important of which were the writings of Alexander Herzen and Nikolai Ogarev, the proclamations of the Land and Liberty group, and the radical economic articles of Chernyshevsky.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 1973 , pp. 491 - 514
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1973

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References

1. La Premiere Internationale: Recueil de documents, 2 vols. (Geneva, 1962), 1: 361-79, 405-6.

2. Ibid., 2: 61-92; General'nyi Sovet pervogo internatsionala, 1868-1870 (Moscow, 1964), p. 223; Bakh, I. A., “Marks i agrarnyi vopros v I Internatsionale,” V of rosy istorii, 1958, no. 5, p. 68 Google Scholar; César de Paepe, Mémoire sur la propriété terrienne (Brussels, 1868, and Basel, 1869). The vote on the two resolutions was 54 to 4 with 13 abstentions and 53 to 8 with 10 abstentions, respectively.

3. Steklov, G. M., History of the First International (New York, 1968, reprint of the original 1928 English translation), p. 141.Google Scholar

4. The manifesto was published as a separate brochure and on the pages of Becker's widely read Vorbote (December 1869, no. 12, pp. 177-84). A French translation by Guillaume also appeared as a brochure, Manifeste aux Travailleurs des Campagnes publié par le Comité de propagande des Sections allemandes de l'Association Internationale des travailleurs (Geneva, 1870), and was reprinted in the Frencli socialist journal L'Égalité (Feb. 26-Mar. 26, 1870, nos. 9, 10, 13). It was incorporated into the Mainz Social Democratic Workers Union Party program, inserted into the published protocols of the All- German Social Democratic Workers Congress in Eisenach, and discussed at the Congress of the German Social Democratic Workers Party at Stuttgart, June 1870. See Freymond, Jacques, ed., Études et documents sur la Premiére Internationale en Suisse (Geneva, 1964), p. 216 Google Scholar.

The Spanish translation of the manifesto, Manifiesto a los trabajadores de los campos (Geneva, 1870), was a central component of the rural socialism of the Spanish sections of the International; Max, Nettlau, La Premiére Internationale en Espagne (1868-1888) (Dordrecht, 1969), p. 63.Google Scholar

The Russian translation, Manifest k zemledel'cheskomu nascleniiu, was published first on the presses of Narodnoe delo (Geneva, 1870). See Koz'min, B. P., Russkaia Sektsiia I Intcrnatsionala (Moscow, 1957), pp. 190–91.Google Scholar

5. Itenberg, B. S., Dvishenic revoliutsioimogo narodnichiestva (Moscow, 1965), pp. 117–20Google Scholar; and Knizhnik-Vetrov, I. S., “K voprosu o sviaziakh Russkoi Sektsii I Internatsionala,” Istoriia SSSR, 1964, no. 4, pp. 91–97.Google Scholar

6. “Russkoe sotsial'no-revoliutsionnoe delo v ego sootnoshenii s rabochim dvizheniem na Zapade,” Narodnoe delo, 1869, no. 7-10, p. 142.

7. La Premiére Internationale, 2: 61.

8. Narodnoc delo, 1869, no. 7-10, p. 124. The economic historian N. K. Karataev noted the similarity between the language of the Basel resolutions and the Narodnoe delo discussion of landed property. Karataev concluded, however, that the Russian Section had twisted the meaning of the resolutions in order to meet the need to idealize the obshchina. See Ekonomicheskaia platforma russkoi scktsii I Intcrnatsionala: Sbornik matcrialov, ed. N. K. Karataev (Moscow, 1959), p. 21.

9. Narodnoc delo, 1869, no. 7-10, p. 126.

10. “Krest'ianskaia reforma i obshchinoe zemlevladenie” and “Internatsional'naia Assotsiatsiia i Rossiia,” Narodnoc delo, 1870, no. 2 (n.s.), pp. 1-3, and no. 3, pp. 1-3. Regarding Chernyshevsky see Vodolazov, G. G., “Obshchina i revoliutsiia u Chernyshevskogo,” Vcstnik Moskovskogo universitcta, 1963, no. 3, pp. 35–46 Google Scholar

11. Obshchina, September 1870, no. 1, pp. 1, 4, and 8; reprinted in photocopy in Archives Bakounine, vol. 4 (Leiden, 1971), pp. 435-42. Nechaev's Obshchina should not be confused with Ogarev's projected journal of the same name, nor with the later Obshchina (see note 46).

12. “Po povodu proklamatsii: Zapros A. Gertsenu, N. Ogarevu i M. Bakuninu?” Narodnoe delo, 1869, no. 7-10, p. 167; and “Podgotovitel'naia rabota sotsial'noi revoliutsii,” Narodnoe delo, 1870, no. 5 (n.s.), pp. 2-3. It is of some relevance here that Herzen and Ogarev did attend to the deliberations of the International. Herzen wrote Ogarev in 1869 that he regretted he had not been at the Basel Congress. He wanted to take part in the discussion of communal landholding only in order to speak of the “Russian obshchina which manifests collective ownership organically.” See Koz'min, B. P., “K voprosu ob otnoshenii A. I. Gertsen k I Internatsionalu,” Istoricheskie zapiski, 54 (1955): 432 Google Scholar. Ogarev's program for his projected journal, Obshchina, spoke of the special national character of the peasant obshchina but also of the need for joining the Russian obshchina “to the international cause.” See Literaturnoe nasledstvo, 61 (1953): 575-78.

13. “Nasha Programma,” reprinted most recently in Revoliutsionnoe narodnichestvo 70-kh godov XIX veka, 2 vols. (Moscow, 1964-65), 1: 32-38 (hereafter cited as RN). Ogarev complained to Lavrov that the muzhik would not understand all the “foreign” words in his journal (“eksploatatsiia,” for example) and that a language more akin to the simple popular tongue should be used. Lavrov answered patiently that those who knew of the West European movement would have no difficulty with his language. See Ogarev, , Izbrannye sotsial'no-politicheskie i filosofskie proizvedeniia, 2 vols. (Moscow 1952-56), 2: 547, 551, and 647.Google Scholar

14. Bakunin MS account of his dealings with Nikolai Utin, written July-August 1870, held in the Amsterdam Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis. I am indebted to Arthur Lehning, editor of the series Archives Bakounine, for allowing me to see the typed manuscript of the fifth volume in this series (due to appear soon), which contains the full text of the manuscript cited.

15. “Appendix A” to Gosudarstvennost' i anarkhiia, reprinted most recently in RN, 1: 38-55. Also see Max, Nettlau, “Bakunin und die russische revolutionare Bewegung in des Jahren 1868-1873/” Archiv für die Geschichte des Sdzialismus und der Arbeiterbewegung (Leipzig, 1915), pp. 357–442.Google Scholar

16. Tkachev, P. N., Isbrannye sochincniia na sotsial'no-politicheskie temy, 6 vols. (Moscow, 1932-37), 3: 89.Google Scholar

17. “Zadachi nashego. zhurnala,” Nabat, November 1875, unnumbered programmatic issue, pp. 3-5. Koz'min is correct to note that Tkachev in polemical exchange with Engels asserted that the Russian folk were socialist by instinct and habit and “despite their ignorance, stand much nearer socialism than the peoples of Western Europe even though the latter are more developed.” See Koz'min, B. P., Iz istorii revoliutsionnoi mysli v Rossii (Moscow, 1961), p. 388 Google Scholar.. Koz'min quotes Tkachev's more typical expression of contempt for the socialist capability of the Russian people: “The people are unable to save themselves. The people, left to their own devices, are unable to arrange their own fate in conformity with their real interests, are unable to implement the idea of the socialist revolution or make it real in their life” (p. 395; the italics are Koz'min's). Koz'min fails to distinguish the position maintained out of polemical exuberance from the more consistently expressed position.

18. See Tkachev's introduction to his publication of Chernyshevsky's two articles on the obshchina and the state, “Kritika filosofskikh predubezhdenii protiv obshchinago vladeniia” and “Ekonomicheskaia deiatel‘nost’ i zakonodatel'stvo,” Obshchina i gosudarstvo (Geneva, 1877), especially pp. vi-xiii.

19. RN, 1: 172.

20. Bel'chiko, N. F.v, “‘Bibliograf’ (1869 g.),” Russkaia zhurnalistiko (Moscow, 1930), pp. 133–235 Google Scholar; and Koz'min, B. P., “S. G. Nechaev i ego protivniki v 1868-1869 gg., “ Revoltutsionnoe dvizhenie 1860-kh godov (Moscow, 1932), pp. 204–16.Google Scholar

21. A nearly contemporary manuscript history of the Chaikovtsy was printed for the first time in RN, 1: 202-40.

22. See the memoirs of Nikolai Chaikovsky as recorded by Perris, G. H., Russia in Revolution (London, 1905), pp. 193–206 Google Scholar; the memoirs of Gol'denberg, L. B., Katorga i ssylka, 1924, no. 3 (10), pp. 98–102 Google Scholar; and Rapoport, Iu. M., Iz istorii sviazei russkikh revoliutsionerov s osnovopolozhnikami nauchnogo sotsializma (K. Marks i G. Lopatin) (Moscow, 1960), pp. 11–18.Google Scholar

23. O. V., Aptekman, “Flerovskii-Bervi i Chaikovtsy,” Byloe, 1922, no. 19, p. 128.Google Scholar

24. Flerovsky, N. [Bervi, V. V.], Polozhenie rabochego klassa v Rossii (St. Petersburg, 1869)Google Scholar and Asbuka sotsial'nykh nauk (St. Petersburg, 1872); N. K. Karataev, Istoriia russkoi ekonomicheskoi mysli, vol. 1, pt. 1 (Moscow, 1959), pp. 317-18.

25. Jan, Meijer, Knowledge and Revolution: The Russian Colony in Zuerich (1869-1873) (Assen, 1955), pp. 82–84 Google Scholar; Peter, Kropotkin, Memoirs of a Revolutionist (re-edition of 1899 text, edited with supplementary material by Rogers, J. A., Garden City, 1962), pp. 179–80.Google Scholar

26. “Dolzhny li my zaniat'sia rassmotreniem ideala budushchego stroia?” reprinted in RN, 1: 115.

27. Lassalle, F., Programma rabotnikov: Ob osobennoi sviazi sovrcmcnnogo istoricheskogo pcrioda s ideei rabochago sosloviia (Geneva, 1872), pp. 46–48.Google Scholar

28. Manifest ot Tscntral'nogo komiteta nemetskoi vetvi Mezhdunarodnogo tovarishchestva rabotnikov k zemledel'chcskomu naseleniin (Geneva, 1871), and Manifest k zemledel'cheskomu nascleniiu i protsess L. Neimeiera (Geneva, 1875). See Itenberg, B. S., Pcrvyi Internalsional i revoliutsionnaia Rossiia (Moscow, 1964), pp. 56–57.Google Scholar

29. Itenberg, B. S., Rossiia i Parizhskaia Kommuna (Moscow, 1971), pp. 155–57.Google Scholar

30. “Skazka o Mudritse Naumovne” (1873), reprinted in Agitatsionnaia literatura russkikh revoliutsionnykh narodnikov (Leningrad, 1970), p. 227. Also see “Russkomu narodu” by A. V. Dolgushin (1873), pp. 74-85; “O pravde i krivde” by Sergei Kravchinsky (1875), pp. 101-23; and “Iz ognia da v polymia!” also by Kravchinsky (1876), pp. 124-55.

31. [Zhukovsky], “Pochemu my pechataeni gazetu?” Rabotnik, 1875, no. 1, pp. 1-2Google Scholar; [Ralli], “Blagodeteli,” no. 4, p. 3; [Zhukovsky], “Bunt i reform,” no. 3, p. 1; and “Mezhdunarodnoe tovarishchestvo rabotnikov,” nos. 6, 7, 10, and 13.

32. “Zemlia i Volia,” Rabotnik, 1875, no. 10, p. 2.

33. Protsess 193-kh (Moscow, 1906) and Protsess 50-ti (London, 1877).

34. # AT, 1: 378.

35. Ibid., p. 358.

36. “Zapiska ministera iustitsii grafa Palena,” published originally on the Rabotnik presses in 1875, reprinted in Aktivnoe narodnichestvo 70-kh godov (Moscow, 1912), P-174.

37. Zur Grund- und Bodenfrage, pp. 184-86.

38. “Le Congrés de Lyon et le collectivisme,” L'Égalité, Feb. 17, 1878, pp. 1-2; also see Nov. 18, 1877, p. 1; Dec. 23, 1877, pp. 2-4; and Jan. 20, 1878, a long letter from Tula on the Russian mir and its limited socialist uses, pp. 6-7. Bebel, Liebknecht, and de Paepe were regular foreign contributors to L'Égalite.

39. Nachalo, March 1878, no. 1, reprinted in Revoliutsionnaia zhurnalistika 70-kh godov (n.p., 1906), p. 5.

40. Nachalo, April 1878, no. 3, reprinted in Revoliutsionnaia zhurnalistika 70-kh godov, pp. 75-76, 79.

41. “Vpered!” 1873-1877: Materialy is arkhiva Valeriana Nikolaevicha Smirnova, ed. Boris Sapir, 2 vols. (Dordrecht, 1970), 2: 521-25.

42. RN, 1: 140.

43. Itenberg, B. S., “Iushnorossiiskii soius rabochikh“: Pervaia prolelarskaia organisatsiia v Rossii (Moscow, 1954), pp. 40–41.Google Scholar

44. Kuklin, G. A., Severnyi soius russkikh rabochikh i Stepan Khalturin (1878-1882) (Geneva, 1904), pp. 5–9 Google Scholar. The program originally appeared in 1879.

45. The programs of Land and Liberty were published in Arkhiv “Zemli i Voli” i “Narodnoi Voli” (Moscow, 1932), pp. 53-54.

46. See the Ob“iavlenie (pp. 1-8), a programmatic flier that was published just before Obshchina first appeared in January 1878.

47. “Parizhskaia Obshchina,” Obshchina, 1878, no. 3-4, p. 3.

48. Ibid., no. 1, p. 24.

49. Ibid., no. 8-9, p. 31.

50. Lead article in the first issue of Chernyi peredel, Jan. I5, 1880, reprinted in RN, 2: 141.

51. Program of the Executive Committee of the People's Will, September-October 1879, printed in RN, 2: 170-74. N. S. Rusanov, an active participant in the People's Will, devoted special attention to the formula “socialists and narodniki,” highlighting the role of the First International as a concrete example of socialist organization and program (“Ideinyia osnovy ‘Narodnoi Voli, '” Byloe, September 1907, p. 38). In a long review article devoted to two popular (and nonsocialist) studies in which the unique salvational qualities of the peasant obshchina were described, Rusanov exclaimed, “What an anachronism to utter these words in our time! Reading them, one thinks that Slavophiles of some sort out of the thirties have been resurrected.” See Noveishaia litcratura po obshchinnomu zemlevladeniiu v Rossii (Moscow, 1879), p. 43.

52. Program of workers, members of the People's Will, November 1880, reprinted in RN, 2: 184.

53. Program of the Northern Russian Society of Land and Liberty, January- February 1880, reprinted in RN, 2: 148-50.

54. RN, 2: 127.

55. “Iz rechei na sude A. I. Zheliabova, N. I. Kibal'chicha i S. L. Perovskoi,” Byloe, 1906, no. 8, pp. 33-34; and Richard, Pipes, “ Narodnichestvo: A Semantic Inquiry,” Slavic Review, 1964, 23, no. 3 (September 1964): 445.Google Scholar

56. Krasnyi arkhiv, 1926, no. 1 (14), pp. 163-64.

57. Zemlia i Volia, Oct. 25, 1878, no. 1, reprinted in Revoliutsionnaia zhurnalistika 70-kh godov, pp. 127-30.

58. Ibid., pp. 114-20; also see note 30.

59. Perris, Russia in Revolution, p. 244.

60. Kropotkin, Memoirs, p. 326.