In Russian revolutionary history the eventful years of 1879–81 inaugurated what is generally known as the decade of Narodnaia Volia. While Chernyi Peredel was fighting for its survival, Narodnaia Volia initiated a string of terrorist operations which culminated in the assassination of Alexander II in 1881. As an apparently invincible revolutionary force Narodnaia Volia attracted scores of radicals who otherwise might have supported Chernyi Peredel. It thereby, inadvertently, sealed the fate of Chernyi Peredel which not only had to be content with bearing the brunt of the government's all out repression of the revolutionary movement, but also lost many of its members to Narodnaia Volia which now appeared as the only viable alternative to achieve revolutionary change in Russia. Jews figured prominently among these new converts to Narodovoltsy Populism.

Jewish radicals were drawn to Narodnaia Volia because it gave priority to political objectives as a preliminary stage to socialism. Although their own notion of socialism was largely devoid of Populist characteristics, Jews were sufficiently impressed by the ‘political realism’ of Narodnaia Volia to join its ranks in large numbers. Indeed throughout the 1880s, this ‘realism’ proved to be a powerful revolutionary incentive for Jews: besides accommodating their striving for universal social and civic emancipation – the maximalist and minimalist ideals of Jewish socialists – it also answered their quest for immediate political action that would liberalize Russian society.