The New International Encyclopædia/Nihilism

NIHILISM (from Lat. nihil, nil, nothing,from ne, not + hilum, trifle, little thing). Aterm applied to the tenets of the revolutionarywing of the Russian Liberal Party. The termwas first used in a novel by Ivan Turgenieff,Fathers and Sons. Originally it was a schoolof philosophic and ethical individualism whichheld aloof from political agitation. In the commonmind Nihilism is associated with assassinationand revolution, since Russian Nihilists seekto overthrow the present Government by force.The movement which resulted in the formationof the Nihilistic Party began early in thenineteenth century. As early as 1818 those whoaspired for greater freedom in Russia formed anassociation to further the common welfare. OnDecember 26 (old style, 14), 1825, occurred thecelebrated rising of the Decembrists among theofficers and soldiers of the army, which aimed atthe emancipation of the serfs and the introductionof constitutional government. The revolt waseasily quelled, and six leaders were executed; 125others were imprisoned or exiled. Toward themiddle of the century liberal ideas received animpetus from the study of socialistic writers ofother countries. On April 23, 1849, some thirty-threemen were arrested who belonged to anassociation formed by Petrashevsky, an officialof the Foreign Office. These were sentenced todeath, but the sentences were commuted toimprisonment and banishment. There were nofurther disturbances during the reign of NicholasI.

In 1857 Alexander Hertzen founded in Londonhis journal, the Kolokol (Tocsin), which hadenormous influence upon the Russian youth.About this time there arose in Russia itself aliterary movement, under the leadership ofTchernishevsky, which criticised existing societyand sought to arouse the people. Tchernishevsky'spaper was suppressed in 1862, but laterhe wrote a novel, What is to be Done? which hadgreat influence in popularizing revolutionaryideas. Shapoff, writing from the historical pointof view, urged the introduction of self-governmentand local autonomy. Organizations sprangup in the universities, and new regulations introducedby the Government increased the opposition of the students. The secret associations ofSaint Petersburg united in 1863 under the name‘Land and Freedom.’

During the decade from 1860 to 1870 trueNihilism was first developed. Its fundamentalprinciple was absolute individualism, thenegation of duties imposed by family, State, andreligion. An active materialistic propagandawas maintained. It stood for the rights of womenand children, demanding cciuality of treatmentfor women, and in this respect it won a decidedvictory. But this individualism was confrontedwith misery among the common people whichwas not removed by the emancipation of theserfs. Economic conditions forced a change ofpolicy and the development of political agitation.In 1868 Bakunin (q.v.) started a paper atGeneva, and became the leader of the anarchists,who gained control of the movement. Bakuninadvocated the total abolition of the State andthe substitution of small communes. The mir,or village commune (q.v.), had only to be freedfrom the State to make an ideal basis. TheRussian students, forbidden in 1873 to study atZurich, returned home to take active part in thepropaganda. Associations sprang up throughoutthe land. Many of the aristocrats took part inthis movement. The attention of the Governmentwas of course attracted, and in 1873 and1874 some 1500 persons were arrested. Mostof these were released after a few months'imprisonment; the rest were confined for three orfour years, and in 1877 193 were banished toSiberia. During this same period, and indeedat all times, there existed a more moderate party;but it did not satisfy the demands of the youngmen and women, particularly of the universities,which have been a hotbed of political agitation.About 1875 the ‘Narodniki’ became a prominentand widespread organization. It was under theleadership of the society at Saint Petersburg.The Government now became active, and during1876 and 1877 the prisons were filled withpropagandists. The trials of 1877 and 1878 mark theend of the first period of revolution. The numberof persons involved in these trials was about3800.

The attempts to organize the people into revoltnow ended. The cruelty of the Government ledto reprisals, and the Nihilism which began peacefullyin the seventies took on another nature.At first spies of the Government were murdered.February 5, 1878, Vera Zassulitch, a youngwoman of twenty-eight, shot at General Trepoff,who had caused a prisoner to be whipped forrefusing to take off his hat to him. She wastried before a jury of educated men, eight ofwhom held Government positions, and to thegeneral surprise, she was acquitted. The Governmentwas enraged at this, and the verdict wasannulled. August 4. 1878, General Mezentseffwas killed in the streets of Saint Petersburg.On February 21, 1879, the Governor of Kharkov,Prince Krapotkin, was assassinated, and otherattempts were made to assassinate hated officials.April 14, 1879, an attempt to assassinate theEmperor, Alexander II., was made by Solovieff,who was captured and hanged. Two laterattempts were likewise failures, but the next(March 13, 1881) was successful. (SeeAlexander II.) It was hoped that the terror inspiredby the death of the Emperor would lead to theintroduction of a constitutional system. Whenthis hope failed, constructive measures weresought. In 1880 two reform parties wereprominent: one of them had as its mouthpiecethe Tcherny Peredicl, which found its chiefsupport in the workingmen, and proposed to educateand organize society in order that social revolutionmight be effected. The second and moreimportant party was the Narodnaia Volia (Willof the People), which sought to overthrowdespotism by the communistic instincts of thepeasants. It set forth a programme with the followingdemands: (1) A representative assembly havingsupreme control in all State matters; (2)provincial self-government with elective officers;(3) village communes, which were to beeconomically and executively independent; (4) freedomof conscience, press, speech, association, andpolitical agitation; (5) manhood suffrage; (6)militia instead of a standing army; (7)nationalization of land; (8) measures to socializefactories, etc. The Narodnaia practicallydissolved in 1884. With its downfall there camea period of quiet in the social movement,although in the cities there still exists a reformmovement among the workingmen. SeeCommunism; Socialism.

Consult: Turgenieff, La Russie et les Russes(Paris, 1847); Hertzen, La conspiration russede 1825 (London, 1858); Thun, Geschichte desrussischen Nihilismus (Basel, 1883);Stepniak, Underground Russia (London, 1883); id.,Russia Under the Tsars (ib., 1885); Tikhomirov,Russia, Political and Social (ib., 1887); Oldenburg,Der russische Nihilismus {Leipzig, 1888);Stegmann, Handbuch des Socialismus, article“Russland” (Zurich, 1897); Karlowitsch, DieEntwickelung des russischen Nihilismus (3d ed.,Berlin, 1880), a convenient short history of themovement; Kennan, Siberia and the Exile System(New York, 1891); Krapotkin, Memoirs ofa Revolutionist (Boston, 1899).