Sarah Garnham
Tsarist rule in nineteenth century Russia consisted of brutal oppression and political repression. Attempts at liberalisation were farcical and the society was extremely backwards in comparison to most European countries. In this context emerged a layer of student revolutionaries drawn mainly from the nobility. They wanted a fundamental overturning of Russia's political and economic structures. Throughout the period from 1860-1880 they dedicated themselves to this task with tremendous bravery, creativity, integrity and daring. They began with propaganda work among the peasants, trying to stir them into action but, the failure of this strategy and the experience of extreme repression, led them to terrorism. The populism and terrorism of this time were ultimately hopeless, and were superseded by Marxism and working class organising in the following decades. However, this movement helped to build a revolutionary tradition in Russia. This talk will look at the strengths and weaknesses of this early revolutionary movement, and discuss the impact it had on the Bolsheviks and the two workers’ revolutions that swept Russia in the first decades of the twentieth century.