684 



NIHILISTS. 



power by robbing it of energetic and intelli- 

 gent servants. The only revolution which can 

 remedy the ills of the people is that which will 

 tear up every notion of government by its very 

 roots, and which will upset all ranks of the 

 Russian Empire with all their traditions. Hav- 

 ing this object in view, the Revolutionary Com- 

 mittee does not propose subjecting the people 

 to any directing organization. The future or- 

 der of things will doubtless originate with the 

 people themselves; but we must leave that to 

 future generations. Our mission is only one 

 of universal, relentless, and terror-striking de- 

 struction. The object of our organization and 

 of our conspiracy is to concentrate all the forces 

 of this world into an invincible and all-destroy- 

 ing power." It is believed that the number 

 of persons who hold to these principles and act 

 upon them is in reality comparatively small, 

 and that they owe their power to the neutral 

 attitude of the Russians of the middle and 

 upper classes, who,' while they will not help 

 them, refuse at the same time to lend any sup- 

 port to the present system of government. 



The Nihilists seem to act under the direction 

 of a secret executive, whose authority is exer- 

 cised in the most positive and direct manner, 

 and whose orders are implicitly obeyed by the 

 individual members of the party. Their gov- 

 ernment is also said to be divided into sections, 

 each of which acts independently of the others, 

 and the members of which and the place of 

 meeting are changed often, so as to avoid dis- 

 covery and preserve an effective organization 

 of all the members in case one of the boards 

 should be captured. Each section has the right 

 of pronouncing sentence of death upon dan- 

 gerous or suspected persons, and is instructed 

 to enter into as close relations as possible with 

 members of high society. For this purpose, a 

 plan has been adopted of placing women be- 

 longing to the conspiracy, whenever it can be 

 done, as governesses in the families of high' 

 functionaries ; and under their machinations 

 and influence numerous women of position 

 have been imbued with Nihilistic doctrines 

 and drawn into connection with plots, so that 

 the heads of their families have been embar- 

 rassed and rendered unable to act against the 

 movement. The Nihilists have carried on their 

 operations with great boldness, and have kept 

 themselves prominent before the public every- 

 where in the empire ; yet they have preserved 

 their secrecy with marvelous success. The 

 whole country has been flooded with their 

 proclamations and handbills; their warnings 

 and notices have been posted on the walls of 

 public places in defiance of the vigilance of 

 the police, and posted up again just after they 

 were taken down, and have been deposited in 

 the public offices; yet the agents by whom 

 these things were done could seldom be de- 

 tected. Some wildly exaggerated stories and 

 many that had no foundation have been circu- 

 lated on this subject. Newspapers are pub- 

 lished in the interests of the Nihilists in Lon- 



don and Geneva, and in Russia. They are said 

 to be sustained mainly from the proceeds of a 

 bequest producing 60,000 rubles a year, which 

 a friend of the cause left for that purpose. The 

 principal journal is the "Zerulia i Svaboda" 

 ("Land and Liberty "), which is published at 

 St. Petersburg once or twice a month, and is 

 said to have regular subscribers, although the 

 police have not been able to find its office. It 

 is an official organ of the Executive Commit- 

 tee, and is the chief medium through which 

 the principles of the organization are promul- 

 gated, its warnings given out, and the reasons 

 for its acts explained after they have been 

 committed. 



The purposes of a part of the Nihilists have 

 gradually acquired shape, and they are under- 

 stood to embrace now the establishment of a 

 constitutional representative government, with 

 all the forms of political life as they are en- 

 joyed in other countries, and such as Russia 

 has herself caused to be given to Bulgaria. In 

 1878 publications appeared in all the cities of 

 the empire denouncing the highest officers for 

 malfeasance, and demanding a constitution, the 

 suppression of the Emperor's private chancel- 

 lery or secret police, the abolition of corporal 

 punishment in prisons, and reforms in the pro- 

 cedure and administration of justice. The re- 

 moval of about two hundred officers was de- 

 manded by name ; and the proclamations con- 

 tinued : " Since we are unable to obtain any re- 

 dress in a legal way, and that because in Rus- 

 eia not the Czar, but those about the Czar, 

 really govern the country, we shall, unless at- 

 tention is paid to our wishes, enter upon the 

 illegal way, and we shall shoot, stab, and mur- 

 der until our demands are satisfied and the 

 Camarilla is swept from the face of the earth." 

 At first they declared that they did not intend 

 any injury to the Czar, and no threat was made 

 against him till a short time before the attempt 

 upon his life by Solovieff in April, 1879, when 

 a proclamation was posted in St. Petersburg 

 telling " Alexander Nicolaievitch " that the 

 warnings and sentences which "the invisible 

 delegates of the murderously oppressed Rus- 

 sian people have sent to the various dignitaries 

 of the present despotic government in Russia 

 belong, as a rule, to the preparative work," 

 and that for that reason neither the Czar nor 

 any member of his family had as yet been 

 threatened, but cautioning him "against up- 

 holding the tyranny which the revolutionaries 

 are combating," and warning him that he was 

 "getting into dangerously deep waters." The 

 newspaper " Land and Liberty " declared that 

 Solovieff had no connection with the Executive 

 Committee, but belonged to a distinct band of 

 revolutionists ; but it threatened death to any 

 persons who should be concerned in torturing 

 him, if, to obtain information, that process 

 should be resorted to. It also reviewed the 

 condition of affairs which had produced the 

 present situation, and alienated from the Czai 

 the sympathy and affection of his people. Sear 



