Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-05-04
THE NIHyEISTS,
A SIX etch of the Great Russian Social
COnsplraey


The papers lately published dispatch to the
London DdAy Telegraph from Cracow, stating
that inc russian railroads. were incumbered
threatened disturbances in various centers Of
education. These disturbances are said to be
largely made up of the better educated por5io t
of the Russian nation, and is giving Infinite
trouble and anxiety to the Car. The word
Mill means nothing, and the idea of the
OF chaOS-tO commence de moro and fashion
out the methods Of life in such a way as to
avoid an responsibility Tor paying taxes, or
The principles of the society are abolition in
its most radical senSe-abOlition of all the bar.
riers that the experience OF over a thousand
years have been found necessary to keen So
ciety together, and they offer nothing in the
place of what exists, however much there may
be of wrong in it.
ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY.
The society, known as the NihliSts has
been in existence several years. 1t originated
in the spring of 1869 with a gentleman named
Netchaief, who had adopted the views of So
in the works of Proudhon and the Able Con
slant, and found able and earnest fellow
workers in their dissemination in DOlgoff,
bers of the most educated section of MuscO.
vte society. The right of association aud the
freedom of the press being nOn-existent in
Russia, a secret organization affords in that
country the only means by which novel prin.
ciples, whether political, religious or social,
can be promulgated, and Netchaief proceeded,
therefore, to devise secret system of propa-
dents of the PetrOfsky university. The society
obtained numerous Affiliations among all
classes t OF the people and spread its ramfea
southern provinces. addresses from 1.-The
United" to 1.-The isolated" were widely cir
oulated, and groups Of the initiated formed
among the students of the colleges, the sol
UlcrS OF the parrlSOnS, the artisans of tha
towns, and the peasants of the rural dis,
tricts; Wherever five members were mi
tiated circle was formed, and certain mum
Der of such groups formed section. The di-
rectiOn of the society was vested in a commit
tee, to which judicial functions were assigned
x oa OF The is iad to the ne
Of the sOciety's proceedings We're con-
Quoted with the most profound secrecy.
All communications in writing were made
so that each member knew only the Nililsts
composing the circle to which he belonged. In
all the correspondence numbers We're subst-
mttee were known only to each other. There
came to be a division of opinion among the
leaders when the organization had taken root
a to the means by which the end they had in
view should be brought about, Orlof and Ikats.
chef being disposed to await the results of the
Gradual propagation of their ideas among the
PEOPLE. while Netchaief preferred the shorter
cut of revolution by physical force. The latter
Won over his cOadjutOrS to the adoption of his
views, but before the plot was ripe for execu-
ton some OF the peculiarities of personal APP
rtarance affected by the initiated-Such as
short hair and short rough coats-attracted
the attention of the authorities. and the police
,und IL necessary to make discoveries con-
corning them. Dogoff, who held position in
the society second only to that of Netchaief.
was arrested with Prince CherkeSOff, who had
supplied the funds for the agitation, and the
son OF military man named Rippono. Osher
arrests were made among the students of the
letrOfSky University, and a special commits
sion was opened at Moscow for the trial of the
accused. AL the prisoners We're convicted.
but as no acts OF treason could be proved
against them sentences were passed that were
considered lenent, Prince Cherkesoff being
deprived of his civil rights and his privileges
as a member of the nobility and banshed to
Siberia for five years, while the rest were con-
demned to various periods of Imprisonment
ranging from three weeks to eighteen months.
temporary lul1 in the Nihilist agitation. but it
was soon resumed, and the movement spread
by degrees to the shores of the Baltic. The
minority of decided Socialists had yielded re.
luctantly, to the pressure of circumstances
only; left to themselves they INDUCED in the
conviction OF the necessity of Overturning all
e exist Su order OF annihiiatng property
placing Communism instead Of Socialism on
the throne, and Of beginning this great work
by the murder Of the Gar
METHODS OF THE NIHILISTS
During the fall of 1874 printed inctem ants
to revolt We're extensively circulated through
out the country, and some of them got into
me hands of persons for whom they were not
intended. About the same time certain let
ters and documents came under the notice of
M: Zhikhareif, the prOcurator of the supreme
n the course Of
agitation, and created in the mind of that
functionary suspicion of plot. With the as
slstance OF M. Davidoff, juge dinstruction at
ter, and soon obtained a clue to a widespread
conspiracy, which had for its object the de-
struction OF the existing political and social
ment and society on the lines laid down by
the Communists. So deeply impressed were
the tors Of the order in Europe
revolution were synonymous terms that NM
Zhikhareff and DavidOf at once jumped to
the conclusion that the central com nittee
OF the International Association Of Workmen
were the authors of the plot, but the fur
ther prosecution OF the inquiry and the arrest
OF the incriminated persons dispelled that
Of the NihiistS. On the first report of NJ
Zhikharef to the government, General Sizes
Kin, the chief OF the Moscow gendarmerie, was
M ha 10
them with so much zeal and promptitude, and
probably with so little regard to the guilt or
Innocence, ,l OF the persons whom he swept from
their homes, that several hundreds were ar
rested In week, chiefly In the towns of
Saratoy, Samara, ZarOslay, Lambos and Pen
"a, and the neighbOring villages and hamlets,
surveillance of the police. A commissioner
was appointed at Moscow for the further in.
vestlgation OF the affair and NJ. Zhikhareff
placed at its head. The persons first arrested
were principally peasants and artisans and it
was thought that the wOrklngMen'S assOcia.
lons or mutual aid might have been instru-
mental in dittusing revolutionary ideas among
the labOring classes. Several of those iastitu.
lions were In consequence closed. but as thu
investigation proceeded evidence was obtained
which implicated many persons OF superior
education and social position, and among
these large proportion were officials of the
police and judicial departments. The m )re
prominent OF the accused were Professor
Dakh0vsky, of the LaroSar College of Law
and NJ khavankO, President Of the G .nsral
Sessions OF the Magistrates of Tchernigoff.
Besides these there were among the arrested
many superintendent of the rural police and
mediatOrS of the peace-Otficers appoin ed
under the decree for the emancipation of the
SerfS.
THE MEN WHO WERE SUSPECTED.
Among others who fell under suspicion and
whose houses were searched by the police We're
the President of the Supreme Tribunal Of
kaZan and the PrOcuratOr of Orenburg, suS-
piciOn having been directed against the latter
by his having carried some Nihilist NANTES
toes TO that town without, it seems, knowing
what they We're. So numerous were the ar
rests during November that M. Znik haretf
said early in the following month, in speaking
OF the labOrs of the Moscow commission, that
50 many persons were already in custody that
II the trial of each occupied only day the
proceedings WOu d last a year. He suggested,
therefore, that the accused be tried in patches