Nihilist movement

This article is about the Russian cultural and political movement. For the philosophy of nihilism, see nihilism.

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. 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 the Tzar Alexander II they became known in the Western Europe as preconizers of destruction as the primary tool for political change.

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 and England. 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 owe its name to the novel Fathers and Sons by the Russian author Turgenev, which main character was a nihilist. But the nihilist themselves disliked the novel for portraying them as too harsh.

Nihilists refused to enjoy the wealth of their parents, as they saw those as being produced by slavery. 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. Their "go to the people" campaign became known as the Narodnik movement, which followed the philosophy of Narodism. This was not part of a political program, as the Nihilists were not organised as a political party nor were they revolutionaries either. Throghout most of their movement's life, they sincerely believed that the monarchy would grant them liberal social reforms.

While the Narodnik movement was gaining momentum, the government quickly moved to extirpate it. In response to the growing reaction of the government, a radical branch of the 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.

Political philosophy

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. After the Russian state moved to suppress it, some of their former supporters created what were essentially terrorist cells, barren of any real unifying philosophy beyond the call for destruction.

Nihilism greatly resembled anarchism, though there are three main differences:

Nihilism did not see the State as essentially bad. Reforms that would lead to fundamental changes in society were considered to be possible. This is not the case with anarchism (see Emma Goldman).
Nihilism was characterized by a rejection of all systems of authority and all social conventions. This is not necessarily the case with anarchism. In fact, many forms of anarchism rely on the existence or creation of a strong community.
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; radical Russian Nihilists sought to solve this problem by destroying it.

References

Categories: Political movements | Russian history