|
Reading: Nechaev, Catechism of a Revolutionist (1869) What
happens after the revolution?
Reactions to Nechaev?
What
is the relationship between this guy and Bazarov?
What
would Turgenev think of this guy?
Where
have we run into this philosophy before in your educational life?
Serge
Nechaev
(1847-1882) The Terrorist Option Born
in Ivanova, already in mid 19th c. partly industrialized
town. His daddy was a waiter, sign painter and caterer. Origins:
petit-bourgeoisie, not gentry: his ancestors were serfs, but he is now
urban, not a peasant, He belongs to a new political group that will become larger and
larger and larger: the proleteriat. His father made sure his kid went to school. At age
18 in St. Petersburg, he passes a test to become a high school student.
There, he hangs out with college students in the late 1860’s who are way into revolution. He falls in with
the same guys who hung out with the radicals. 1869:
Attempt on the life of Tsar Alexander II, and the Third Section (the tsar's secret police) cracks down on
all of the radicals. Nechaev leaves and goes to Western Europe. He
tells the exiles there that he had been arrested too but managed to escape
from prison. He has abandoned his buddies. When he gets to Switzerland, he
is immediately embraced by the leading intellectual exiles in Russia.
His closest companion and mentor is Bakunin, the anarchist writer for
Herzen’s The Bell. Here is this young guy adopted by
Bakunin, perhaps his lover. So how did this guy mix in with the leading
intellectuals of the left in Europe? He writes The Catechism of the Revolutionary. He
sneaks back into Russia and forms a revolutionary
organization, and while this organization is at work, Nechaev thinks
perhaps that one member of this group is an informant or a rival, and
he convinces three other guys to help him murder the 'traitor' and dump
his
body into a frozen lake. He is forced to flee to Switerland once again.
He returns to Bakunin and is adopted again. He steals letters from
Bakunin to use to blackmail him in case Bakunin ever turns on him. The
exiles grow tired of him for being excessively radical. The Swiss
police
catch Nechaev, and he is returned to Russia where he is sentenced to 20
years hard labor. He converts his guards and helps organize the
terrorist group the People’s
Will which will eventually succeed in assassinating the tsar. As Paul Avrich
pointed out: "The last ten years of Nechayev's life were spent in
solitary confinement in the Peter-Paul Fortress... When General Potapov
of the secret police visited his cell and offered him leniency if he
would serve as a spy, Nechaev struck him across the face, drawing
blood. For the next two years his hands and feet remain in chains
until the flesh begins to rot." (Spartacus) In 1882 he dies
of scurvy. How
could this guy whose personal qualities are self evidently
dishonorable earn the resepct of the chief members of Russia's
revolutinary elite? How could these people find him someone worth
helping?
What would explain his appeal to other revolutionaries?
Foreground
to Text: This
has been a useful blueprint for revolutionaries since its publication:
the Red Brigade, Black Panthers. Al Quaeda also run along similar
lines. Nechaev-ism. Good American liberal historians like to cite
Nechaev because he appears to be a forbearer of the dirty Commie rats.
For the Communists, the ends justified the means, and the means could
include murder and war. So referring to Nechaev is a way of saying Stalin is
nothing more than Nechaev, and anyone can see that this is wrong. What
kind of human being could follow this ideology?
What
will Dostoevsky say about this guy?
Who
said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice”?
Yeats' comment?
Reasons
for Terrorist Action:
Reasons
Against Terrorism:
The
Duties of the Revolutionist to Himself The
Duties of the Revolutionist to Himself 1.
The revolutionist is a person doomed [obrechennyi, in
older usage signifying also "consecrated"]. He has no personal
interests, no business affairs, no emotions, no attachments, no
property, and no name. Everything in him is wholly absorbed in
the single thought and the single passion for revolution. 2.
The revolutionist knows that in the very depths of his being, not only
in words but also in deeds, he has broken all the bonds which tie him
to the civil order [grazhdanskim poriadkom] and the
civilized world with all its laws, moralities, and customs, and with
all its generally accepted conventions. He is their implacable
enemy, and if he continues to live with them it is only in order to
destroy them more speedily. 3.
The revolutionist despises all doctrines and refuses to accept the
mundane sciences, leaving them for future generations. He knows only one science: the science of destruction.
For this reason, but only for this reason, he will study mechanics,
physics, chemistry, and perhaps medicine. But all day and all
night he studies the vital science of human beings, their
characteristics and circumstances, at every possible level of social
existence. The object is perpetually the same: the surest and
quickest way of destroying the whole filthy order. 4.
The revolutionist despises public opinion. He despises and hates
the existing social morality in all its manifestations. For him,
morality is everything which contributes to the triumph of the
revolution. Anything
that stands in its way is immoral and criminal. 5.
The revolutionist is a person obrechennyi [see first
line]. He is merciless toward the state and toward the whole formal
social structure of educated society [soslovno-obrazovannogo
obshchestva]; and he can expect no mercy from them.
Between him and them there exists, declared or concealed, a
relentless and irreconcilable war to the death. He must accustom
himself to torture. 6.
Tyrannical toward himself, he must be tyrannical toward others.
All the gentle and enervating sentiments of kinship, love, friendship,
gratitude, and even honor, must be suppressed in him and give place to
the cold and single-minded passion for revolution. For him, there
exists only one pleasure, one consolation, one reward, one satisfaction
-- the success of the revolution. Night and day he must have but
one thought, one aim -- merciless destruction. Striving
cold-bloodedly and indefatigably toward this end, he must be prepared
to destroy himself and to destroy with his own hands everything that
stands in the path of the revolution. 7.
The nature of the true revolutionist excludes all sentimentality,
romanticism, infatuation, and exaltation. All private hatred and
revenge must also be excluded. Revolutionary passion, practiced
at every moment of the day until it becomes a habit, is to be employed
with cold calculation. At all times, and in all places, the
revolutionist must obey not his personal impulses, but only those which
serve the cause of the revolution. The
Relations of the Revolutionist with his Revolutionary Comrades 8.
The revolutionist can have no friendship or attachment, except for
those who have proved by their actions that they, like him, are
dedicated to revolution. The degree of friendship, devotion and
obligation toward such a comrade is determined solely by the degree of
his usefulness to the cause of total revolutionary destruction. 9.
It is superfluous to speak of solidarity among revolutionists.
The whole strength of revolutionary work lies in this.
Comrade-revolutionists [tovarishchi-revoliutsionery] who
possess the same revolutionary passion and understanding should, as
much as possible, deliberate all important matters together and come to
unanimous conclusions. When the plan is finally decided upon,
then the revolutionist must rely solely on himself. In carrying
out acts of destruction, each one should act alone, never running to
another for advice and assistance, except when these are necessary for
the furtherance of the plan. 10.
All comrades should have under them second- or third-degree
revolutionists -- i.e., comrades who are not completely initiated.
These should be regarded as part of the common revolutionary
capital placed at his disposal. This capital should, of course,
be spent as economically as possible in order to derive from it the
greatest possible profit. The real revolutionist should regard
himself as capital consecrated to the triumph of the revolution;
however, he may not personally and alone dispose of that capital
without the unanimous consent of the fully initiated comrades. 11.
When a comrade is in danger and the question arises whether he should
be saved or not saved, the decision must not be arrived at on the basis
of sentiment, but solely in the interests of the revolutionist
cause. Therefore, it is necessary to weigh carefully the
usefulness of the comrade against the expenditure of revolutionary
forces necessary to save him, and the decision must be made
accordingly. The
Relations of the Revolutionist within [his revolutionary] Society [kobshchestvu] 12.
The new member, having given proof of his loyalty not by words but by
deeds, can be received into the society [tovarishchestvo] only
by the unanimous agreement of all the members. 13.
The revolutionist enters the world of the state, of the privileged
classes [soslovnyi...mir], of the so-called civilization,
and he lives in this world only for the purpose of bringing about its
speedy and total destruction. He is not a revolutionist if he has
any sympathy for this world. He should not hesitate to destroy
any position, any place, or any man in this world. He must hate
everyone and everything in it with an equal hatred. All
the worse for him if he has any relations with parents, friends, or
lovers; he is no longer a revolutionist if he is swayed by these
relationships. 14.
Aiming at implacable revolution, the revolutionist may and frequently
must live within society while pretending to be completely different
from what he really is, for he must penetrate everywhere, into all the
higher and middle-level social formations [sosloviia],
into the merchant's commercial establishment, into the church, the
gentry estate, and the world of the bureaucrat [mir biurokratskii]
and military, into literature, and also into the Third Section and
even the Winter Palace of the tsar. 15.
This filthy social order can be split up into several categories.
The first category comprises those who must be condemned to death
without delay. Comrades should compile a list of those to be
condemned according to the relative gravity of their crimes; and the
executions should be carried out according to the prepared order. 16.
When a list of those who are condemned is made, and the order of
execution is prepared, no private sense of outrage should be
considered, nor is it necessary to pay attention to the hatred provoked
by these people among the comrades or the people. Hatred
and the sense of outrage may be partially and temporarily useful
insofar as they incite the masses to revolt. It is necessary to
be guided only by the relative usefulness of these executions for the
sake of revolution. Above all, those who are especially inimical
to the revolutionary organization must be destroyed; their violent and
sudden deaths will produce the utmost panic in the government,
depriving it of its will to action by removing the cleverest and most
energetic supporters. 17.
The second group comprises those who will be spared for the time being
in order that, by a series of monstrous acts, they may drive the people
into inevitable revolt. 18.
The third category consists of a great many brutes in high positions,
distinguished neither by their cleverness nor their energy, while
enjoying riches, influence, power, and high positions by virtue of
their rank. These must be exploited in every possible way; they
must be implicated and embroiled in our affairs, their dirty secrets
must be ferreted out, and they must be transformed into slaves.
Their power, influence, and connections, their wealth and their energy,
will form an inexhaustible treasure and a precious help in all our
undertakings. 19.
The fourth category comprises ambitious office-holders and liberals of
various shades of opinion. The revolutionist must pretend to
collaborate with them, blindly following them, while at the same time,
prying out their secrets until they are completely in his power.
They must be so compromised that there is no way out for them, and then
they can be used to create disorder in the State. 20.
The fifth category consists of those doctrinaires, conspirators, and
revolutionists who cut a great figure on paper or in their circles [kruzhki]. They
must be constantly driven on to make compromising declarations: as a
result, the majority of them will be destroyed, while a minority will
become genuine revolutionists. 21.
The sixth category is especially important: women. They can be
divided into three main groups. First,
those frivolous, thoughtless, and vapid women, whom we shall use as we
use the third and fourth category of men. Second,
women who are ardent, capable, and devoted, but who do not belong to
us because they have not yet achieved a passionless and austere
revolutionary understanding; these must be used like the men of the
fifth category. Finally,
there are the women who are completely on our side -- i.e., those who
are wholly dedicated and who have accepted our program in its
entirety. We should regard these women as the most valuable or
our treasures; without their help, we would never succeed. The
Attitude of the Society toward the People [narodu] 22.
The Society has no aim other than the complete liberation and happiness
of the narod -- i.e., of the people who live by manual
labor. Convinced that their emancipation and the achievement of
this happiness can only come about as a result of an all-destroying
popular revolt, the Society will use all its resources and energy
toward increasing and intensifying the evils and miseries of the people
until at last their patience is exhausted and they are driven to a
general uprising. 23.
By a revolution, the society [tovarishchestvo] does not
mean an orderly revolt according to the classic western model -- a
revolt which always stops short of attacking the rights of property and
the traditional social systems of so-called civilization and
morality. Until now, such a revolution has always limited itself
to the overthrow of one political form in order to replace it by
another, thereby attempting to bring about a so-called revolutionary
state. The only form of revolution beneficial to the people is
one which destroys the entire State to the roots and exterminates all
the state traditions, institutions, and classes [klassy] in
Russia. 24.
With this end in view, the Society therefore refuses to impose any new
organization from above. Any future organization will doubtless
work its way through the movement and life of the people; but this is a
matter for future generations to decide. Our task is terrible,
total, universal, and merciless destruction. 25.
Therefore, in drawing closer to the people, we must above all make
common cause with those elements of the masses which, since the
foundation of the state of Muscovy, have never ceased to protest, not
only in words but in deeds, against everything directly or indirectly
connected with the state: against nobility, against bureaucracy [chinovnichestva],
against priests, against the merchant gild, and against the parasitic
kulak [rich peasant]. We must unite with the world of adventurous
robber bands, the only genuine revolutionists in Russia. 26.
To weld this world into one single unconquerable and all-destructive
force -- this is our organization [organizatsiia], our
conspiracy, our task. |
