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A National Liberation Movement and the Shift in Russian Liberalism, 1901-1903

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Gregory L. Freeze
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Slavic Review , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , March 1969 , pp. 81 - 91
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Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1969

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References

1. Collectively called the“Second Element,” the semtsy were elected zemstvo officials; the professional employees of the zemstvo (e.g., doctors, teachers) were known as the“Third Element.“

2. V Maklakov, asilii, Vlasf i obshchestvennost’ na sakate staroi Rossii (Paris, n.d.), pp. 141–42Google Scholar. See also Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, ,“Russian Liberalism,” Russian Review, 10, no. 1 (January 1951): 6–9 Google Scholar; Karpovich, Michael,“Two Types of Russian Liberalism: Maklakov and Miliukov,” in Continuity and Change in Russian and Soviet Thought, ed. Simmons, E. J. (Cambridge, Mass., 1955), pp. 130–31Google Scholar; Kuskova, E.,“Kren nalevo (iz proshlogo),” Sovremennyia sapiski, AA (1930): 384–90Google Scholar; Leontovitsch, Victor, Geschichte des Liberalismus in Russland (Frankfurt am Main, 1957), pp. 277–85Google Scholar; Treadgold, Donald W., Lenin and His Rivals (New York, 1955), pp. 114–37 Google Scholar; Marjorie Morse,“The Political Career of Paul Nikolaevich Miliukov” (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1950), pp. 8-10; Nathan Smith,“The Constitutional-Democratic Movement in Russia, 1902-1906” (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1958), esp. pp. 41, 130, 136, 151, 518-20.

3. Fischer, George, Russian Liberalism, from Gentry to Intelligentsia (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), pp. 119, 122, and 38CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. Maklakov, pp. 291-95.

5. See Shipov, D. N., Vospominaniia i dumy o pereshitom (Moscow, 1918), pp. 135–55Google Scholar, and Shakhovskoi, D. I.,“Soiuz osvobozhdeniia,” Zarnitsy: Literaturno-politicheskii sbornik (St. Petersburg, 1909), 2, pt. 2: 103–4Google Scholar. For valuable archival materials see Chermensky, E. D.,“Zemsko-liberal'noe dvizhenie nakanune revoliutsii 1905-1907 gg.,” Istoriia SSSR, 9, no. 5 (September-October 1965): 42–51 Google Scholar.

6. Maklakov, p. 298.

7. See Veselovsky, B. B., Istoriia semstva sa sorok let (St. Petersburg, 1909-11), 3: 528–34, 552Google Scholar.

8. See Petrunkevich, I. I., Is sapisok obshchestvennogo deiatelia (Berlin, 1934), pp. 336–37 Google Scholar (Arkhiv russkoi revoliutsii, vol. 21). Other publicist ventures of the semtsy are described in Gessen, I. V., V dvukh vekakh: Zhiznennyi otchet (Berlin, 1937), pp. 164–66 Google Scholar (Arkhiv russkoi revoliutsii, vol. 22).

9. See “Pis'mo k zemtsam,” Iskra, no. 18 (Mar. 18, 1902), pp. 2-3.

10. Zemtsy composed half of the first central committee; see Chermensky,“Zemskoliberal'noe dvizhenie,” p. 51.

11. Maklakov, p. 142. The article appeared in Osvoboshdenie, no. 1 (June 18, 1902), pp. 7-12. Petrunkevich and Shakhovskoi helped write the final draft of the article, and a group of liberal zemtsy in a private Moscow meeting unanimously approved it. See Petrunkevich, p. 336, and Kizevetter, A. A., Na rubeshe dvukh stoletii (Prague, 1929), pp. 336–37 Google Scholar.

12. Fischer, , Russian Liberalism, p. 122 Google Scholar; also see pp. 30-38, 67, and 141.

13. Ibid., pp. 63-64. Fischer's distinction between the upper and lower intelligentsia is a valuable insight but, unfortunately, remains submerged beneath the presentation of his main thesis.

14. Ibid., pp. 75, 70.

15. Kuskova, p. 376; Veselovsky, 3: 465-66, 553-55; Chermensky, E. D., Burzhuaziia i tsarizm v revoliutsii 1905-1907 gg. (Moscow, 1939), pp. 27–28 Google Scholar. As an example see Peshekhonov, A. V.,“Avtobiografiia,” Russkie vedomosti, 1863-1913 (St. Petersburg, 1913), pt. 2, pp. 63–64 Google Scholar.

16. See these works: Rodichev, F,“The Veteran of Russian Liberalism: Ivan Petrunkevich,” Slavonic and East European Review, 7, no. 20 (January 1929): 317 Google Scholar; Kizevetter, p. 222; Veselovsky, 3: 465-75; Potresov, A.,“Evoliutsiia obshchestvennopoliticheskoi mysli v predrevoliutsionnuiu epokhu,” in Obshchestvennoe dvizhenie v Rossii v nachale XX-go veka, ed. Martov, L., Maslov, S., and Potresov, A. (St. Petersburg, 1909-14), 1: 550–52Google Scholar. For example, see Petrunkevich, pp. 320-21, and Shakhovskoi, D. I.,“Avtobiografiia,” Russkie vedomosti, 1863-1913 (St. Petersburg, 1913), pt. 2, pp. 196–201 Google Scholar. Veselovsky, 3: 466-67, lists those zemstvo leaders who were also noted for work in a profession. The importance of such individuals is shown in the Voronezh outburst of 1902 in defense of the zemstvo, for the two key leaders were also professional men. See Belokorisky, I. P.,“Zemskoe dvizhenie do obrazovaniia partii narddnoi svobody,” Byloe, 2, no. 7 (July 1907): 233–40 Google Scholar.

17. Based on biographical studies of liberals, this criticism is in Judith Zimmerman,“Between Revolution and Reaction: The Russian Constitutionalist-Democratic Party, October 1905 to June 1907” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1967), esp. pp. 4-6.

18. Weber, Max,“Zur Lage der bürgerlichen Demokratie in Russland,” Archiv für Sosiahvissenschajt und Sozialpolitik, vol. 22 (Tubingen, 1906), esp. pp. 243–44Google Scholar.

19. Novobrantsev, N. [Peshekhonov, A.],“Osnovnye voprosy revoliutsionnoi programmy,” Revolitttsionnaia Rossiia, no. 32 (Sept. 15, 1903), p. 7 Google Scholar.

20. Struve, P. B.,“Ot redaktora,” Osvoboshdenie, no. 1 (June 18, 1902), p. 1 Google Scholar.

21. “Pis'mo v redaktsiiu ot zemskikh glasnykh,” ibid., no. 2 (July 1, 1902), p. 30. See also these works: P. B. Struve,“Predislovie [k pervomu izdaniiu],” in Witte, S., Samodershavie i zemstvo, ed. Struve, P. B., 2nd ed. (Stuttgart, 1903), pp. xvi–xvii Google Scholar; Struve,“Ot redaktora,” pp. 1-2;“Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov,” p. 9; quotations from a 1902 essay by Lvov in Chermensky,“Zemsko-liberal'noe dvizhenie,” p. 45.

22. “Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov,” p. 10.

23. Struve,“Ot redaktora,” pp. 2, 5.

24. “Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov,” p. 7.

25. Miliukov, Paul, Russia and Its Crisis (New York, 1962), pp. 406–7 Google Scholar.

26. Struve, P. B.,“Liberalizm i t.n. revoliutsionnyia napravleniia,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 7 (Sept. 18, 1902), p. 105 Google Scholar, and“15-go iiulia 1902 g.,” ibid., no. 3 (July 15, 1902), p. 35.

27. Debogori-Mokrievich, V., Vospominaniia (Paris, 1894), 1: 300; Rodichev, p. 318Google Scholar.

28. Martov, Iu., Obshchestvennye i umstvennye techeniia v Rossii, 1870-1905 (Leningrad, 1924), p. 75 Google Scholar. According to Fischer (p. 71), obshchestvo was an equivalent for“liberalism.” However, obshchestvo did not actually refer to a political ideology or movement but rather was used in prerevolutionary Russia to designate“those cultivated Russians who felt they stood for the highest values of the nation, but were denied the opportunity to work for them by the arbitrary restrictions of the autocracy.” See Allan Wildman, K., The Making of a Workers’ Revolution (Chicago, 1967), p. 15 Google Scholar.

29. “Vozzvanie Partii narodnago prava,” reprinted in Burtsev, V., Za sto let, 1800-96 (London, 1897), 1: 262 Google Scholar. Also see Potresov, pp. 553-54, and Kizevetter, p. 191. The resemblance between Narodnoe pravo and Union of Liberation is noted in Shakhovskoi,“Soiuz osvobozhdeniia,” p. 83, and Chernov, V., Pered burei (New York, 1953), p. 1953 Google Scholar.

30. For an example see Akselrod, P. B., K voprosu o sovremennykh zadachakh i taktike russkikh sotsial-demokratov (Geneva, 1898)Google Scholar. For an analysis of the Social Democrats’ use of this idea, see Potresov, pp. 613-15, and Starover [A. Potresov],“Nashi zakliucheniia,” Iskra, no. 78 (Nov. 28, 1904), pp. 2-6.

31. Struve, Peter,“My Contacts and Conflicts with Lenin,” Slavonic and East European Review, 13, no. 37 (July 1934): 75–80 Google Scholar; Potresov, pp. 614-16; Kamenev, L. et al., eds., Leninskii sbornik (Moscow, 1924-40), 1: 72–75, 3: 124, 133-37, and 4: 130Google Scholar; Haimson, Leopold, The Russian Marxists and the Origins of Bolshevism (Cambridge, Mass., 1955), pp. 152–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32. “Demarkatsionnaia liniia,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 19 (Mar. 19, 1903), p. 329; also see“Samoderzhavie i bezpomoshchnost1,” ibid., no. 14 (Jan. 2, 1903), p. 225. P. B. Struve,“16-go ianvaria 1903 g.,” ibid., no. 15 (Jan. 18, 1903), p. 249. Novobrantsev [Peshekhonov],“Osnovnye voprosy,” p. 7.“Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov,” p. 9.

33. See, for example, Petrunkevich, p. 303;“Pis'mo ot budushchago sotrudnika,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 4 (Aug. 2, 1902), p. 53; Tyrkova-Williams, Ariadna, Na putiakh k svobode (New York, 1952), p. 1952 Google Scholar; Struve, ,“1-go iiulia 1902 g.,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 2 (July 1, 1902), pp. 19–20 Google Scholar.

34. “Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov,” pp. 8, 12.

35. [P. B. Struve],“Samoderzhavie i zemstvo,” Iskra, no. 4 (May 1901), p. 2.

36. Novoe vystuplenie russkikh liberalov,” Revoliutsionnaia Rossiia, no. 9 (July 1902), p. 4. See also Potresov, pp. 599-603, and Haimson, Leopold,“The Parties and the State: The Evolution of Political Attitudes,” in The Transformation of Russian Society, ed. Black, Cyril (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), pp. 124–32Google Scholar.

37. Struve,“Ot redaktora,” p. 3; Struve,“Predislovie [k pervomu izdaniiu],” p. xii.

38. “Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov,” pp. 7-8.

39. “Otkrytoe pis'mo ot gruppy zemskikh deiatelei,” Osvoboshdenie, no. 1 (June 18, 1902), pp. 13-14; P. B. Struve,“14-go avgusta 1902 g.,” ibid., no. 5 (Aug. 14, 1902), p. 67;“Lozhnyi shag,” ibid., no. 7 (Sept. 18, 1902), p. 101.

40. Veselovsky, 3: 524; see pp. 544-50 for an enumeration of the restrictions.

41. Struve,“14-go avgusta 1902 g.,” p. 66. The resolutions are in Shipov, pp. 165-68; on the Special Committees, see Veselovsky, 3: 557-68, and Kizevetter, pp. 341-43.

42. “Otkrytoe pis'mo ot gruppy zemskikh deiatelei,” p. 13.

43. “Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov,” p. 11.

44. For example, see Shipov, , Vospominaniia, p. 132.Google Scholar

45. “Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov,” pp. 11-12. For statistics on the social composition of the zemtsy, see Chermensky, , Burshuasiia i tsarizm, p. 17 Google Scholar.

46. Struve,“Ot redaktora,” p. 6; also see his“Liberalizm i t.n. revoliutsionnyia napravleniia,” p. 105.

47. “Mirnaia oppozitsiia ili revoliutsionnaia bor'ba,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 7 (Sept. 18, 1902), p. 108.

48. Struve,“1-go iiulia 1902 g.,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 2 (July 1, 1902), p. 20. The student disorders are discussed in“Chto delaetsia i chto delat1 v russkikh universitetakh?,“ ibid., pp. 21-23, and no. 3 (July 15, 1902), pp. 39-40.

49. Struve,“1-go iiulia 1902 g.,” pp. 17-19. Other important articles include:“Krest'ianskie bezporiadki,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 2 (July 1, 1902), pp. 23-24;“Obozrenie russkoi zhizni (II),” ibid., no. 4 (Aug. 2, 1902), pp. 55-57; P. B. Struve,“29-go noiabria 1902 g.,” ibid., no. 12 (Dec. 2, 1902), p. 187.

50. See“Obozrenie russkoi zhizni (I),” ibid., no. 2 (July 1, 1902), pp. 26-27, and“Rabochie bezporiadki: Pis'mo s votkinskogo zavoda,” ibid., no. 3 (July 15, 1902), pp. 45-46.

51. Of the series on Finland see“Sila i pravo v Finlandii,” ibid., no. 3 (July 15, 1902), pp. 42-43. On the church and state problem, see“Pis'mo iz Rossii: Samoderzhavie i pravoslavie,” ibid., no. 4 (Aug. 2, 1902), pp. 59-60, and no. 5 (Aug. 14, 1902), pp. 72-73.

52. Struve's editorial genius sometimes failed to resolve the conflicts and contradictions in publicist messages directed at diverse social groups; the first issue is a good example of this. Until political liberation had been achieved,“Ot russkikh konstitutsionalistov“ (p. 10) refused to consider such questions as“economic, financial, cultural, educational, and administrative reform, workers legislation, the agrarian question, decentralization, and reconstruction of local self-government.” By contrast, in“Ot redaktora“ (pp. 3, 5) Struve promised“to develop a positive program of wide political and social reforms” and gave this definition of the liberation movement:“This movement is naturally liberal and democratic—liberal because it seeks to acquire freedom and democratic because it defends the most vital material and spiritual interests of the masses.“

53. Struve, P. B.,“30-go oktiabria 1902 g.,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 10 (Nov. 2, 1902), pp. 145–50Google Scholar, and“29-go noiabria 1902 g.,” p. 189.

54. P. B. Struve,“16-go ianvaria 1903 g.,” p. 249.

55. [Miliukov, P. N.],“K ocherednym voprosam (I),” Osvobozhdenie, no. 17 (Feb. 16, 1903), pp. 289–91Google Scholar.

56. P. B. Struve,“K ocherednym voprosam (II),” ibid., p. 291.

57. See Shipov, Vospominaniia, pp. 170-92, on his discussions with Pleve and Witte; on the campaign against the Special Committees, see Smith,“The Constitutional - Democratic Movement,” pp. 62-73.

58. Struve, P. B.,“17-go dekabria 1902 g.,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 13 (Dec. 19, 1902), p. 201 Google Scholar; also see“Rostovskaia stachka,” ibid., pp. 205-7.

59. So impressed was Struve that he even included a special four-page“Prilozhenie— poslednyia novosti” to no. 28 (Aug. 2, 1903); in his editorial (p. 49) he emphasized the significance of the strikes:“The strike movement that has taken over South Russia is no mere series of strikes. It is a great political movement, significant for the tense, purely political attitude of the popular working masses.“

60. For instance, see Struve, ,“16-go oktiabria 1902 g.,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 9 (Oct. 19, 1902), pp. 129–35Google Scholar, and his“K ocherednym voprosam ( I I ) ,“ pp. 291-92.

61. Shakhovskoi,“Soiuz osvobozhdeniia,” pp. 111-12, notes that the first task of the Union of Liberation was“to recruit new members, to conduct agitation, to distribute the propaganda and ideas of the Union [of Liberation] among the intelligentsia.” Also see Struve, P. B.,“Organizatsiia i platforma demokraticheskoi partii,” Osvobozhdenie, no. 58 (Oct. 14, 1904), pp. 129–30Google Scholar.

62. Shakhovskoi,“Soiuz osvobozhdeniia,” p. 112.

63. Petrunkevich, pp. 339, 392; Kuskova, pp. 382-83; Tyrkova-Williams, Ariadna,“The Cadet Party,” Russian Review, 12, no. 3 (July 1953): 173 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

64. Gessen, , V dvakh vekakh, p. 175.Google Scholar

65. Belokonsky, I. P.,“Zemskoe dvizhenie do obrazovaniia partii narodnoi svobody,” By he, 3, no. 9 (September 1907): 258 Google Scholar.