Usuari:Arlecchino/proves/Narodniki

The Narodniks (rus: Наро́дники) were a socially conscious movement of the Russian middle class in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against the Tsardom. Their ideology was known as Narodnichestvo (Наро́дничество), which can be translated as "peopleism", though it is more commonly rendered as "populism". The term itself derives from the Russian expression "Going to the people" (Хождение к народу).

History

The Narodnik position was held by intellectuals who read the works of Alexander Herzen and Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky, whose convictions were refined by Nikolay Mikhaylovsky. In the late 19th century, Marxism and capitalism were slowly becoming the primary theories of Russian political thought, and Mikhaylovsky, realizing this shift in thought, began to tweak his original ideas of Narodnism, forming two groups of Narodniks: the so-called "Critical Narodniks" and "Doctrinaire Narodniks". Critical Narodniks followed Mikhaylovsky, and assumed a flexible stance on capitalism, whilst adhering to their basic orientation. The more well-known Doctrinaire Narodniks had a firm belief that capitalism had no future in Russia, or any agrarian country.

Narodnism arose after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 under Tsar Alexander II, which signalled the end of feudalism in Russia. Arguing that freed serfs were being sold into wage slavery, in which the bourgeoisie had replaced landowners, Narodnism aimed to become a political force opposed to the phenomenon. Narodniks viewed aspects of the past with nostalgia: although they resented the former land ownership system, they opposed the uprooting of peasants from the traditional obshchina (communes).

Narodniks focused upon the growing conflict between the peasantry and the so-called kulaks (more prosperous landowning farmers). The groups which formed shared the common general aims of destroying the Russian monarchy and the kulaks, and distributing land fairly among the peasantry. The Narodniks generally believed that it was possible to forgo the capitalist phase of Russia's development and proceed directly to socialism.

The Narodniks saw the peasantry as the revolutionary class that would overthrow the monarchy, and perceived the village commune as the embryo of socialism. However, they also believed that the peasantry would not achieve revolution on their own, insisting instead that history could only be made by outstanding personalities, who would lead an otherwise passive peasantry to revolution. Vasily Vorontsov called for the Russian intelligentsia to "bestir itself from the mental lethargy into which, in contrast to the sensitive and lively years of the seventies, it had fallen and formulate a scientific theory of Russian economic development". However, some Narodnik intellectuals called for an immediate revolution that went beyond philosophical and political discussion.

In the spring of 1874, the Narodnik intelligentsia left the cities for the villages, "going to the people", attempting to teach the peasantry their moral imperative to revolt. They found almost no support. Given the Narodniks' generally middle- and upper-middle-class social background, they found difficulty relating to the impoverished peasants and their culture. They spent much of their time learning peasant customs, such as clothing and dancing. Narodniks were viewed with suspicion by many Russian peasants, who were completely removed from the more modernized culture of the urban sphere. The authorities responded to the Narodniks' attempt with repression: revolutionaries and their peasant sympathizers were imprisoned and exiled.

Arrest of a Propagandist (1892) by Ilya Repin.

One response to this repression was the formation of Russia's first organized revolutionary party, Narodnaya Volya ("People's Will"). It favoured secret society-led terrorism, justified “as a means of exerting pressure on the government for reform, as the spark that would ignite a vast peasant uprising, and as the inevitable response to the regime's use of violence against the revolutionaries”. The attempt to get the peasantry to overthrow the Tsar was unsuccessful, due to the peasantry's idolisation of the latter as someone "on their side". Narodism therefore developed the practice of terrorism: the peasantry, they believed, had to be shown that the Tsar was not supernatural, and could be killed. This theory, called "direct struggle", was meant to show an "uninterrupted demonstration of the possibility of struggling against the government, in this manner lifting the revolutionary spirit of the people and its faith in the success of the cause, and organising those capable of fighting". On March 1, 1881, they succeeded in assassinating Alexander II. This act backfired on a political level, because the peasantry were generally horrified by the murder, and the government had many Narodnaya Volya leaders hanged, leaving the group unorganized and ineffective.

However, these events did not mark the end of the movement, and the later Socialist-Revolutionaries, Popular Socialists, and Trudoviks all pursued similar ideas and tactics to the Narodniks. The philosophy and actions of the Narodniks therefore helped prepare the way for the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

Influence outside Russia

Narodnichestvo had a direct influence on politics and culture in Romania, through the writings of Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea and the advocacy of the Bessarabian-born Constantin Stere (who was a member of Narodnaya Volya in his youth). The latter helped found various groups, included one formed around the literary magazine Viața Românească, which he published along with Garabet Ibrăileanu and Paul Bujor.

Stere and the Poporanist (from popor, Romanian for "people") movement eventually rejected revolution altogether. Nevertheless, he shared the Narodnik view that capitalism was not a necessary stage in the development of an agrarian country. This perspective, which contradicted traditional Marxism, also influenced Ion Mihalache's Peasants' Party and its successor, the National Peasants' Party, as well as the philosophy of Virgil Madgearu.

See also

• David Riazanov
• Mikhail Bakunin
• Nihilist movement
• Nikolai Danielson

Bibliography

• Pedler, Anne. "Going to the People. The Russian Narodniki in 1874–5." The Slavonic Review 6.16 (1927): 130–141. Web. 19 Oct. 2011

• von Laue, Theodore H. "The Fate of Capitalism in Russia: The Narodnik Version." American Slavic and East European Review 13.1 (1954): 11–28. Web. 19 Oct. 2011

External links

• Vladimir Lenin. The Heritage We Renounce, 1897 at Marxists.org

Die Narodniki (russ. Volkstümler, Volksfreunde; Singular Narodnik) waren eine sozialrevolutionäre Bewegung im Russischen Kaiserreich, die in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts in Erscheinung trat.

Im Vordergrund dieser Bewegung standen revolutionäre Intellektuelle, die ihre gewohnte Umgebung verließen und als einfache Arbeiter lebten. Sie klärten das einfache Volk über soziale Missstände auf. Propagiert wurde die Erneuerung Russlands durch eine Bauernbewegung zu einem Sozialismus, in dessen theoretischem Mittelpunkt die Dorfgemeinde (Obschtschina) stand, die durch das Emanzipationsstatut von 1861 noch gestützt worden war. Ein Bauer hatte innerhalb der Gemeinde kein Eigentumsrecht, sondern nur ein Nutzungsrecht, dessen Umfang die Gemeinde festlegte; sein Recht, aus der Gemeinde auszuscheiden, war beschränkt; ein System eines staatlichen Paternalismus diente nicht zuletzt dazu, das System Steuern einzutreiben wirksam zu erhalten.

Die Narodniki sahen nun in der Dorfkommune, die die wichtigsten Elemente einer sozialistischen Gesellschaft enthalte, eine Möglichkeit, die Entwicklung zum Kapitalismus zu umgehen und auf direktem Wege den Sozialismus zu erreichen. Trotz der wichtigen Fortschritte des Kapitalismus in der russischen Landwirtschaft nach der Bauernreform von 1861 waren die neuen Strukturen für sie ein künstliches Produkt, das keinen Zusammenhang mit der russischen Geschichte aufwies. Anstatt den langen und qualvollen Prozess der kapitalistischen Entwicklung zu durchlaufen, könnten die russischen Revolutionäre, den Narodniki zufolge, die besonderen historischen Bedingungen Russlands im Interesse der Bauern nutzen, um einen Sozialismus zu gründen.

Im Frühjahr 1874 erfolgte ein spontaner und unorganisierter Aufstand, welcher jedoch niedergeschlagen wurde.

Die bekanntesten Vertreter dieser revolutionären Richtung waren Alexander Iwanowitsch Herzen, Nikolai Gawrilowitsch Tschernyschewski und Pjotr Lawrowitsch Lawrow.

Das Spektrum ihrer Anschauungen reichte von bürgerlich-demokratischer Aufklärung, über Philanthropie bis zum sozialrevolutionären Terrorismus.

Intellektuelle Vertreter suchten auch Kontakt zu Karl Marx (z. B. Wera Iwanowna Sassulitsch); das Scheitern ihrer Kulturrevolution wie ihres Terrorismus führte namentlich Plechanow zur Ablehnung der Narodniki und zur Auffassung, dass die russischen sozialen Probleme nur durch den Marxismus und die Sozialdemokratie zu lösen seien.

Ein Teil der Narodniki bildete 1879 die Geheimgesellschaft Narodnaja Wolja (Volkswille), welche die Ermordung (1881) des Zaren Alexander II. organisierte.

Das heterogene und schwärmerische Denken der Volkstümler beeinflusste den Schriftsteller Lew Tolstoj und war auch die Triebfeder für die russische Partei der "Sozialrevolutionäre". Ihr rechter Flügel war eine Partei in der Koalition der "Provisorischen Regierung" nach der Februarrevolution 1917; ihr linker Flügel regierte zusammen mit den Bolschewiki vom November 1917 bis zum Juni 1918. (Attentat auf den deutschen Botschafter Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff und auf Lenin, um den separaten Friedensvertrag von Brest-Litowsk zu brechen).

Einzelnachweise

Plantilla:Ébauche Narodniki est le nom d'un mouvement socialiste agraire actif de 1860 à la fin du Plantilla:XIXe siècle fondé par des populistes russes.

Contexte politique

Influencés par les écrits d'Alexandre Herzen et de Nikolaï Tchernychevski, dont les convictions ont été affinées par Nikolaï Mikhaïlovski, les Narodniks ont essayé d'adapter la doctrine socialiste aux conditions russes. Ils ont envisagé une société dans laquelle la souveraineté reposerait sur de petites unités économiques autonomes rassemblant les communes de village et liées dans une confédération remplaçant l'État. Les Narodniks sont allés pour la première fois dans un village en 1874, propager leur doctrine parmi les paysans, mais ils ont vite été rejetés.

En 1876, ils se sont transformés en société secrète, connue sous le nom de Terre et Liberté, pour favoriser un soulèvement révolutionnaire de masse. Expulsés de la campagne par la police, ils sont bientôt dominés par l'aile terroriste du mouvement formée en 1879, sous le nom de Narodnaïa Volia, qui a entrepris plusieurs assassinats politiques; en 1881 plusieurs membres de ce groupe, notamment Andreï Jeliabov et sa compagne Sofia Perovskaïa qui lui succédera après son arrestation, ont organisé l'assassinat du tsar Alexandre II en mars 1881. Sofia Perovskaïa sera arrêtée quelques jours plus tard. Les conjurés seront jugés et condamnés à mort pour régicide et pendus en place public le 1Plantilla:Er avril 1881.

En 1901, le Parti socialiste révolutionnaire (Russie) (SR) a été fondé en tant qu'héritier au mouvement des narodniks.

Voir aussi

• Narodnaïa Volia (XIXe siècle)
• Parti socialiste révolutionnaire (Russie)
• Nihilisme