Intelligentsia:
- Size and influence grew in the 1870's
- Improvements in law courts had created critical lawyers
- Zemstva's encouraged debate
- Some were inspired by the Nihilist Movement - who wanted to create an entirely new society and were believers in religion and science and so were also in opposition to the Russian Orthodox church, not just the Tsar. In 1862, they created a manifesto called 'Young Russia" calling for "bloody and merciless revolution" - They were rumoured to be responsible for fires in St Petersburg in June 1862 .
- KEY FIGURE: Mikhail Bakunin believed in the removal of the state and the superiority of the peasant. Bakunin wanted collective ownership of land and income should be determined by the number of hours worked. Bakunin was influenced by Alexander Herzen. In 1869 he and Nechaev published "Catechism of a Revolutionary" . His was an influence on the beliefs of radical group - "Land and Liberty"
- Alexander Herzen was slightly different because he wanted a system of socialism which involved the mir ( the village commune where peasants worked) with a central governmental regime. He published the book "The Bell".
- Zemstva's were set up in 1864 and the Zemstvo of St Petersburg demanded a central body to co-ordinate the regional Zemstva
Populists:
In 1871 a radical peasant illegaly returned to St Petersburg to continue Herzens plea to "Go to the people". He murdered someone and fled. However he inspired the Chaikovsky Circle which produced pamphlets and banned books . There was a group of about 2,000 with their leader Key Figure: Pyotr Lavrov who went to the country in 1874 to "go to the people". They then became known as the Nardoniks.
They believed in Socialist ideas which were taking from the rich to give to the poor and sharing land among the peasants.
However the peasants didn't agree with the populists and were very hostile towards them, by autumn 1874 1,600 had been arrested.
Key Figure: Mikhail Romas - tried to set up a cooperative selling fruit and veg in return for manufacutred goods. But peasants were suspicious as to why his prices were so much cheaper. and his assitant who had been a peasant was brutally murdered.
From these failed attempts at "going to the people" the radical group "Land and Liberty" was set up in 1877. They found positions in peasant communes as doctors, teachers and work men however peasants still weren't swooned by this approach.
In their second year (1878) they assasinated General Mezmetsev who was head of the Third Section ( the secret police). Tsar was worried about how these assasinations were gaining the group popular support.
Dmitrii Milyutin said "the present leaders in government are powerless, not only to solve the problem, but even to understand it" and said the govt. "demands basic reform"
However in 1979 Land and Liberty split into the Black Partition and the People's Will:
Black Partition:
- Organised by Georgi Plekhanov
- Wanted to share the black soil provinces of Russia
- Peacefull - spread propoganda
- Weakened by arrests in 1880-1881
The People's Will:
- Led by Timofei Mikhailov - who planted a spy in the Third Section
- Bigger Group
- Advocated Violence
- 1879 declared Tsar needed to be removed- although it said it would withdraw the threat if the Tsar agreed to a constitution
Significance of Opposition:
- Marxism took a more definite form
- moderate educated Russians began to deman reform from below - specifically members of the Zemstva
- Populism stopped revolutionary activity being underground - which madepeople and govt more aware of ublic feeling and the threat of change.
- Failure of open trials and bad secret police force reinforced the belief that the regime had lost direction
- People high in the ranks were become reactionary which was making it difficult for the Tsar to run the country the way he wanted
- H had given people a taste of reform which encouraged them to want more
