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The Nihilist movement was an 1860s Russian cultural movement marked by the questioning of the validity of all forms of preconceived ideas and social norms. It is derived from the Latin word "Nihil", which means "nothing". The Nihilists championed the independence of the individual and shocked the Russian establishment. Those ideas had a political impact, as they opposed servitude and demanded democratic reforms. Nihilists were denounced as agitators, and after the killing of Tsar Alexander II they became known as proponents of destruction and the primary tool for political change across Western Europe.
History
The Nihilists were mainly children of the aristocracy. They had access to education, were influenced by liberal ideas from the West, and realised the great gap between the Russian semi-feudal society and countries like France, England and Prussia. They rejected all preconceived ideas and social norms, to which they referred as "the conventional lies of civilized mankind". A sharp sincerity was their trademark. The movement owes its name to the 1862 novel Fathers and Sons by the Russian author Ivan Turgenev, the main character of which was a nihilist. But the nihilists themselves disliked the novel for portraying Bazarov, the fictional nihilist character in the novel, as too harsh.
Nihilists refused to enjoy the wealth of their parents. They saw those as being produced by slavery, and for that reason, preferred to live a commoner's life. They flocked to university towns. Women were denied higher education, so they went to learn a profession instead. This would save them both from the yoke of their parents and future husbands. Nihilists both wanted to become independent through learning, and use their knowledge to educate the people. This "go to the people -- be the people" campaign reached its height in the 1870s, during which decade many underground groups like the Circle of Tchaikovsky, the People's Reprisal and Land and Liberty were formed. This became known as the Narodnik movement, which followed the philosophy of Narodism.
While the Narodnik movement was gaining momentum, the government quickly moved to extirpate it. In response to the growing reaction of the government, radical Narodniks advocated and practiced terrorism. One after another, prominent officials were shot or killed by bombs. Finally, after several attempts, Alexander II was assassinated in 1881, on the very day he had approved a proposal to call a representative assembly to consider new reforms in addition to the abolition of serfdom designed to ameliorate revolutionary demands.
Historical context
After more than a century of Westernization that began with the reign of Peter the Great (1682-1725), a Russian national consciousness evolved slowly throughout the early decades of the nineteenth century, reflected in the development of a uniquely Russian literature (by authors such as Aleksandr Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov). But despite this growing national identity, European thought continued to exert considerable influence on Russia’s dominant political and cultural institutions: Russian troops brought back Western ideas while fighting in the Napoleonic wars (1805-12), and
During the 1820s and 1830s Russian thought was influenced powerfully by several waves of German Romantic idealism and then the philosophy of Hegel, both of which raised to Russian consciousness the concept of distinct national identity and of “inevitable” historical progress... (Wasiolek, 3)
In this time of European-influenced thought, Russian reformers tended to advocate change from within existing political institutions. However, after the Crimean War (1853-56), attitudes towards change themselves began to shift as nihilism spread. The nihilists of the 1850s and 1860s set themselves against the German-influenced liberals of the 1830s-1840s generation as they pushed for greater political freedoms and new social norms, decrying previous reforms as ineffective. Both of these types of reformers conflicted with the conservative Slavophiles, who believed that the solution to Russia's social ills lay in Russia's traditional spirituality and cultural institutions.
Political philosophy
Nihilism was not a political movement. It was a youth culture. Nevertheless, it led to the politization and radicalization of the Russian youth. Many revolutionaries like Nikolai Tchaikovsky, Sophia Perovskaya, Sergei Kravchinski, Vera Zasulich and Sergey Nechayev were adept of Nihilist values.
Nihilist political philosophy rejected all religious and political authority, social traditions, and traditional morality as standing in opposition to freedom, the ultimate ideal. In this sense, it can be seen as an extreme form of anarchism, but devoid of a revolutionary programme or political strategy.
Nihilism greatly resembled anarchism, though there are three main differences:
- Nihilism did not see the State as absolutely bad. Reforms that would lead to fundamental changes in society were considered to be possible. This is not the case with anarchism.
- Nihilism was more along the lines of a cultural rejection of all systems of authority and all social conventions. Anarchism is more along the lines of a political strategy which puts more emphasis on promoting and furthering a definite constructive revolutionary programme, although anarchism definitely places importance on opposing systems of authority as well.
- As a political movement, nihilism was primarily a Russian phenomenon.
The Nihilism movement differs from the modern philosophical concept of nihilism, literally meaning belief in nothing, which supposes that human existence has no purpose, meaning, or essential value. To the contrary, Russian Nihilists had very strong beliefs that they were willing to risk their lives for. What they had in common was a belief that the existing establishment had no value.
See also
References
- Nihilism in Russian History
- Alexander Berkman, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist - online text
- Kropotkin, P., Memories of a Revolutionist
- George Kennan and the Russian Empire: How America’s Conscience Became an Enemy of Tsarism by Helen Hundley
- Wasiolek, Edward. Fathers and Sons: Russia at the Cross-roads. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993. ISBN 080579445X
"Nihilist movement"