Zemlya i Volya

Zemlya i Volya, first Russian political party to openly advocate a policy of revolution; it had been preceded only by conspiratorial groups. Founded in 1876, the party two years later took its name from an earlier (1861–64) secret society. A product of the Narodnik (Populist) movement, the party maintained that the peasantry would be the source of social revolution. Its members, especially doctors and teachers, settled among the peasants and encouraged them to improve their condition by changing the social system. The party also had groups operating among the intelligentsia and urban workers and had administrative and “disorganizing” sections; all its activities were coordinated by a central “basic circle.”

By 1878–79 many of those working among the peasantry had become frustrated by police repression, which convinced them of the need for political as well as social reform. They favoured emphasis on the party’s “disorganizing” activities (i.e., terrorism) to bring about reforms that would in the end result in revolution. The reforms first would provide the political freedom to conduct agitation leading to the undermining of the state structure, and thus publicly exposing the state’s vulnerability and encouraging revolution. Disagreeing over tactics, the members of Zemlya i Volya split into two groups in 1879. Those favouring terror formed the Narodnaya Volya (“People’s Will”), which was effectively crushed by the police after it assassinated Alexander II (1881). The others, preferring to emphasize direct agitation among the people, became the Chorny Peredel (“Black Repartition”), which operated until several of its leaders left it (1883) to form a Social-Democratic organization abroad.