Land and Liberty (; also sometimes translated Land and Freedom) was a Russian clandestine

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

organization in the period 1861–1864, and was re-established as a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the period 1876–1879. It was a central organ of the ''Narodnik'' movement.

The first composition (1861–1864)

The inspirers of the society were

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the precursor of Russian socialism and one of the main precursors of agrarian populism (being an ideological ancestor of the Narodniki, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Trudo ...

and Nikolay Chernyshevsky. The participants set as their goal the preparation of a peasant revolution, their policy documents created under the influence of the ideas of Herzen and Ogarev, the latter of which had coined the term "Land and Liberty" in one of his articles. The first Executive Committee of the organization included 6 of its organizers (Nikolai Obruchev, Sergey Rymarenko, the brothers Nikolai and Alexander Serno-Solovyevich, Alexander Sleptsov, Vasily Kurochkin). Land and Liberty was a union of circles located in 13-14 cities. The largest circles were

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

(Yuri Mosolov, Nikolai Shatilov) and St. Petersburg ( Nikolai Utin and Natalia Corsini). The militant organization Land and Liberty also formed links with the "Committee of Russian Officers in Poland" under the leadership of Second Lieutenant Andrei Potebnya. According to the data available to Alexander Sleptsov, Land and Liberty counted 3,000 people as members (the Moscow branch alone consisted of 400 members). In the summer of 1862, the tsarist authorities dealt a serious blow to the organization, arresting its leaders - Chernyshevsky and Serno-Solovyovich, as well as the radical journalist Dmitry Pisarev, who was associated with the revolutionaries. In 1863, due to the expiration of the Charter of the landlord and peasants, the members of the organization expected a powerful peasant uprising, which they wanted to organize in cooperation with the Polish revolutionaries. However, the Polish underground members were forced to organize an uprising ahead of the promised date, and hopes for a peasant revolt in Russia did not materialize. In addition, the liberals for the most part refused to support the revolutionary camp, believing in the progressiveness of the

reforms Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

that had begun in the country. Under the influence of all these factors, Land and Liberty was forced to dissolve itself in early 1864.

The second composition (1876–1879)

The second composition of Land and Liberty, which was restored in 1876 as a populist organization, included such figures as Alexander Mikhailov,

Georgi Plekhanov Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov ( rus, Георгий Валентинович Плеханов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj vəlʲɪnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ plʲɪˈxanəf, a=Ru-Georgi Plekhanov-JermyRei.ogg; – 30 May 1918) was a Russian revolutionary, ...

, Mark Natanson, Dmitry Lizogub, later Sergey Stepnyak-Kravchinsky, Nikolai Morozov, Sophia Perovskaya, Lev Tikhomirov and Nikolai Tyutchev. In total, the organization consisted of about 200 people. In its activities, Land and Liberty relied on a wide range of sympathizers. The name Land and Liberty was given to the Populist Society at the end of 1878, with the appearance of the organ of the same name. The organization consisted of the main circle (subdivided into seven special groups according to the type of activity) and local groups located in many large cities of the empire. Land and Liberty had its own organ with the same name. An agent of Land and Liberty, Nikolai Kletochnikov, was introduced into the Third Section. The revolutionaries chose to "settle" in the provinces of

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

Tambov Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

, the Don region and others. They also attempted to spread their revolutionary activities in the Northern

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

and the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

. Land and Liberty organized clandestine

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and distribution of the revolutionary

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, conducted

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

among workers and took part in several strikes in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1878-1879. It also influenced the development of the student movement by organizing or supporting demonstrations in Petersburg and other cities, including the so-called Kazan demonstration of 1876, where they would openly admit the organization’s existence for the first time. The Kazan demonstration was the first political demonstration in Russia with the participation of advanced workers. The demonstration was organized and conducted by the Zemstvoi Narodniks and associated members of workers' circles on Kazanskaya Square in St. Petersburg. About 400 people gathered in the square, where Georgi Plekhanov delivered a passionate revolutionary speech to the audience. Land and Liberty’s disappointment with the revolutionary activity in the countryside, intensification of the governmental repressions and political discontent during the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

and ripening of the revolutionary situation favored the conception and development of new sentiments in the organization itself. The Lipetsk Congress was held in June 1879 in

Lipetsk Lipetsk (, ), also Romanization of Russian, romanized as Lipeck, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Voronezh (river), Voronezh River in the Do ...

. Members of Land and Liberty that gathered at the congress included Alexander Mikhailov, Aleksandr Kvyatkovsky, Lev Tikhomirov, Nikolai Morozov and Andrei Zhelyabov, among others. The congress decided to include in the organization's program the recognition of the need for a political struggle against the

Tsarist autocracy Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority an ...

as a primary and independent task. The participants in the Lipetsk Congress declared themselves the Executive Committee of the Social Revolutionary Party and adopted a charter based on centralism,

discipline Discipline is the self-control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed, and the ability to keep working at something that is difficult. Disciplinarians believe that such self-control is of the utmost importance and enforce a ...

and

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

. The Executive Committee, if the general congress of "land volunteers" in

agreed with the new program, was to take upon itself the implementation of the terror. Disagreements between the supporters of the former strategy of inciting the countryside called ''derevenschiki'', or "villagers" (

, Mikhail Popov, Osip Aptekman etc.) and defenders of transition towards political struggle by means of systematic terrorist methods called ''politicians'' (Aleksandr Mikhailov, Aleksandr Kvyatkovsky, Nikolai Morozov, Lev Tikhomirov etc.) led to the

convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a specia ...

of the

Voronezh Congress The Voronezh Congress of the Russian Narodnik Land and Liberty group was held in Voronezh in southwestern Russia in June 1879. It started on 18 June and went on for three to four days attended by about twenty people. It was a clandestine meeting ...

of Land and Liberty in June 1879, where the two rival groups would reach a short-term compromise. About 20 people took part, including

, Alexander Mikhailov, Andrei Zhelyabov, Vera Figner, Sophia Perovskaya, Nikolai Morozov, Mikhail Frolenko and Osip Aptekman. Supporters of political struggle and terror (Zhelyabov, Mikhailov, Morozov, and others) attended the congress as a close-knit group, which was organized at the Lipetsk Congress. The resolutions of the Congress were of a compromise: along with activities among the people, the need for political terror was also recognized. Plekhanov, who argued the danger of being carried away by terror for the prospects of working among the people, formally split from Land and Liberty and left the congress. By 15 August 1879, Land and Liberty had dissolved, breaking up into two independent organizations: the terrorist wing forming People's Will and the political wing forming the

Black Repartition Black Repartition (BR; ; also known as Black Partition) was a revolutionary organization in Russia in the early 1880s. Black Repartition was established in August-September 1879 after the split of Zemlya i volya (Land and Liberty) at the Voronez ...

Program

The formation of Land and Liberty, in

in 1876, was preceded by the analysis of the "

Going to the People Going to the People was a Populism, populist movement in the Russian Empire. It was largely inspired by the work of Russian theorists such as Mikhail Bakunin and Pyotr Lavrov, who advocated that groups of dedicated revolutionaries could inspire ...

" campaign (''Хождение в народ'', or Khozhdeniye v narod) of 1873-1875. As a result, the members of Land and Liberty defined the basics of the

political platform A political party platform (American English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British and often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principal goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, t ...

, which would be called ''narodnicheskaya'' (народническая, or "close to the people",

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

). They admitted a possibility of a special, non-capitalist way of development of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

with the

peasantry A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

as its basis. The members of Land and Liberty considered it necessary to adapt the purposes and slogans of the movement to independent revolutionary aspirations that had already existed among the

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

s, as they believed. The program proclaimed the ideal of " anarchy and collectivism" and its requirements, generalized in the slogan "Land and Liberty!", were designed to allow for the even distribution of all the lands "into the hands of the rural working

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

", "full communal self-management" and division of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

into parts "in accordance with the desires of the locals". The Program of Land and Liberty also envisioned a course of actions, aimed at "disorganization of the state", in its members' opinion. In particular, it allowed for physical elimination of "the most harmful or prominent members of the government". The most famous terrorist act of Land and Liberty was the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of the Chief of the

Gendarme A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (). In France and som ...

s Nikolai Mezentsov in 1878. The members of Land and Liberty saw the peasantry as the principal revolutionary force, as opposed to the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

, which would have to play a part of the "second fiddle". Proceeding from the inevitability of a "forced

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

", the revolutionaries considered agitation and organization of

revolt Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

s, demonstrations and

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

s to be very important. Land and Liberty represented a "rebellious" current of the revolutionary movement of the 1870s.

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

said that Land and Liberty’s "striving to enlist all the discontented in the organisation and to direct this organisation to resolute struggle against the autocracy … that was its great historical merit."

References

Bibliography

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External links