Radical Opposition + Populism

• Ideas of radical thinkers influenced young people and the view of socialism was promoted.
• Chernyshevsky was editor of The Contemporary and wrote "What Is To Be Done?" in 1863.
• Chernyshevky believed that the peasants had to lead the revolution for it to be successful.
• Herzen was editor of The Bell who advocated for a peasant based revolution.
• Bakunin was an anarchist who promoted collective ownership.
• Bakunin translated Marx's Communist Manifesto and he believed that a struggle of the working and middle classes would lead to a perfect society.
• Lavrov encouraged the Go to the People populist movement in 1874.
• 2000 Narodniks joined Go to the People and they would act as peasants and spread socialist ideas.
• Peasants rejected Narodniks out of fear that they were secret police, their loyalty to the Church and their ignorance of politics.
• The second Narodnik movement took place in 1876 but it failed because people were arrested.
• The remaining Narodniks established Land and Liberty in 1877 which was committed to assassinations.
• Land and Liberty aimed to assassinate Mezemstev who was Head of the Third Section and Alexander II.
• In 1879, Land and Liberty split into the Black Partition and The People's Will.
• The Black Partition was organised by Plekhanov who aimed to "partition the black soil".
• The Black Partition worked peacefully among peasants whilst spreading radical materials to students and workers.
• The Black Partition was weakened by arrests in 1880-81 and Plekhanov later became a Marxist.
• The People's Will was led by Mikhailov and it was larger than the Black Partition.
• The People's Will advocated violence with their biggest success being the assassination of Alexander II.
• Opposition spread due to government failures and demands for reforms "from below".