The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-05-29
NIHILISM.
The Movemen. More than rIny Year. Old

a..
A correspondent of the Coioyue ia.
=ete writing from ST. Petersburg JUL
Car, says:
"It is Just about year since the Rus
sian Socialists first surprised their fellow
countrymen with display of their plan
of action. Within the past twelve
months bills, plncards, and pamphlets of
u revolutionary character have been de-
livcred at the doors of Ministers, now at
the cottage Of the laborer with an audac.
ity for which we should have to travel far
to find parallel. How long the dismal
coniederacy has been in existence
"a confederacy whose members are
abroad known us Nihilists, and in Il u,sa
as Socialists. but who call themselves the
Revolutionary party-it is impossible to
ascertain wth eXactness. At any rate
the movement has assumed IL fixed shape
only within the past year, and it is since
that time that we have learned the san
culinary task which the terrorists have
undertaken, and which they have been
executing with a precision that excites
the utmost horror and establishment. At
first little Importance was in general at
tnched TO the manifesto5 of the revoln-
tionary party. The prevailing convic-
ton was that its principal elements con-
sisted of eccentric, Over-eXcited students
who could never prove dangerous to the
State or to society To-day, the opinion
has very much altered, at least in Rus
STA itself. Abroad people are still attri-
buting the movement, which, in the
meantime, has spread all over Russia, to
NihiIism others are endeavu-. ing TO
show the indentity of the Russian revo-
lutionists with the Internationale This
view is, however, false one, and he who
Is preposscssed by il has much to learn
of Russia and its people. Possibly, the
internationalc and the Russian revolu.
ti0naries have certain relations with one
another, and it may be granted that there
are many Nihilists among them but
taken generally, the Russian Socialists
are pursuing paths of their own which
differ toto carlo from those of the Inter-
rationale. and have desperately little, in
common even with Nihilism. 10 find
the real commencement of present rev.
uulion we should have to 60 back as far
ss the accession of the Emperor Nicho-
las 1t was in 1925 that for the first
time loud demand was made in Russia
for Constitution, which it was also ell
deavored 10 secure by violent means.
This movement the energetic Car quick
ly crushed. Under his iron rule there
may have ,een occasional ferment, but
nothing To speak of came to the surface.
1t was only under the milder scepter Of
Alexander that the agitation first ven
tured to SHOW itself again. Since the
year 1868, when serfdom was actually
abolished, it increased from day to day,
and for fifteen years it has been increas
ing almost imperceptibly, and without
assuming fixed and definite shape.
Bnt ut length, last year it came forth firm,
audacious, and in terrible form. At
that time there appeared in all the Eu-
ropean cities of the Empire publications
of an insurreclionary character, accusing
the highest officials and dgnitaries ol
dishonurable conduct, avarice, and bar
barous brutally. Their removri from the
encourage of the Emperor was Z ,manded
failing which sanguinary revenge WAS
threatened. From the outset the Rus
sian Socialists declared that they did not
intend any injury to the Car. 1t was
the Court Camarilla they were aiming
at-that wall which separates the ruler
from his people, and through which lay
the only way to the monarch. This they
declared must be broken down, if not in
peaceabIe way, then by force. They
further demanded Constitution, the
suppression of his Majesty's private chan
cellery-commonly called the Third Di-
vision'-the abolition of corporal pun
ishment with the stick in prisons, better
treatment of political prisoners, reform
in the courts ofjustice, and changes in
the procedure ill preliminary exnInina-
ha
persons whose dismissal from. the ranks o
the government service was demanded
were mentioned by name. They were
not few; there were about 200 names on
the list. Underneath these names were
words to the following effect Since we
are unable to obtain any redress in le
gal way, and that because in Russia, not
The Gar, but those about the Car really
govern the country, we shall, unless at
tcntion is paid to our wishes, enter upon
the illegal way, and we shall shoot, stab
and murder, until our demands are sat
isiied and the Camarilla is swept from the
face of the earth According TO the pro
grammc of the Socialists, or Revolution
airy party, the Third Division was to bt
first done away with. The private chan
celery of his Majesty, it was declared
was an institution utterly irreconcilablt
with the spirit of the present-an insti
tuition which, standing above and outsid,
al! law, could not be reached by any lie
gal way. The Chief OF the Third Divis
ion was threatened with murder or as
sassination, if he continued to torture
prisoners into confession by subjectinl
them to the pangs OF hunger, and thirs
and the knout. A certain time wa
granted him within which to mend hi
ways. The authorities, upon receiving
these limitations, employed every exer
ton to get clue to the audacious au
thors and distributors Of these publica
tions, but all without success. Han'
bills and placards seemed over night T.
grow out of the earth. The army was de
luged with them; the laborer foun,
them in his pocket in the morning. No
body knew whence they came, but ther
they were. every day in increasing mum
hcrs. Before long simple hand bill
were not sufficient. Newspapers bega
IL appear, printed and published i
regular form, some aboard, others in tn
capital itself.
LAND AND WATER.
"For some time the Storm Bell ha
been published in London and the F6,
Wn,d in Geneva, when suddenly, in S
Petersburg, there appeared the chief OF
gan of the Revolutionary party-a ~
per which, in foolhnrdiness, surpasse
everything that had hitherto been know
in the same line. IL bears the nan,
.Scmidi Sraboda, Land and Liberty.
this print we see unfolded revolution