The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-05-29
NIHILISM.
Tho Movement. More than Fifty Years Old

The Movement. More than Fifty Years Old.
A correspondent of the COiogue Ga
sette writing from St. Petersburg just
before the late attempt on the life OF the
Gar, 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, placards, and pamphlets of
revolutionary character have been de-
iivered 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
confederacy has been in existence
Ia confederacy whose members are
abroad known as Nihilists, and inR ussia
as Socialists, but who call themselves the
Revolutionary party-it is impossible to
ascertain with exactness. AT any rate
the movement has assumed 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 precision that excites
the utmost horror and astonishment. At
first little Importance was in general at
tached to the manifestos of the reroln-
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, II
Nihilism; others are endeavoring to
show the indentity of the Russian reyo-
lutionists with the eInternationale. This
view is, however, false one, and he who
is prepossessed by it has much to learn
/; of Russia and its people. Possibly, the
Internationale and the Russian revolu.
tionaries 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 calo from those of the Inter-
rationale, and have desperately little, in
common even with Nihiiism. TO lind
the real commencement of present rev.
olution we should have to go back as far
as the accession of the Emperor Nicho-
las. It was in 1925 that for the first
time loud demand was made in Russia
I. for Constitution, which it was also en-
deavored to secure oy violent means.
This movement the energetic Car quick
ly crushed. Under his iron rule there
may have been 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.
Z Bnt at length, last year it came forth 6rm,
audacious, and in terrible form. AT
that timo there appeared in all the Eu-
ropean cities of the Empire publications
fan insurreclionary character, accusing
the highest officials and dignitaries of
dishonorable conduct, avarice, and bar
barous brutally. Their removal from the
encourage of the Emperor was demanded
failing which q 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
peaceable way, then by force. They
further demanded Constitution, the
suppression of his Majesty's private chan
ceilery-commonly called the Third Di-
vision'-the abolition of corporal pun
isbmeut with the stick in prisons, better
treatment of political prisoners, reform
in the courts ofjussice, and changes in
the procedure in preliminary examina-
tions under the secret police. The
persons whose dismissal from. the ranks of
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 Gar really
govern the country, we shall, unless at
iention is paid to our wishes, enter upon
the illegal way, and we shall shoot, stab,
and murder, until our demands are sat
isfied and the Camarilla is sweptfrom the
face of the earth According to the pro-
eramme of the Socialists, or Revolution
ary party, the Third Division IVES to be
first done away with. The private chan
CELERY of his Majesty, it was declared,
was an institution utterly irreconcilable
with the spirit of the present-an insti-
tuition which, standing above and outside
all law, could not be reached by any le-
gal way. The Chief of the Third Divis-
iun was threatened with murder or as
sassination, if he continued to torture
prisoners into confession by subjecting
Them to the pangs of hunger, and thirst
and the knout. A certain time was
granted him within which to mend his
ways. The authorities, upon receiving
these intimations, employed every exer-
ton to get clue to the audacious au-
thors and distributors of these publica,
tions, but all without success. Hand
bills and placards seemed over night 70
grow out Of the earth. The army was de.
luged with them; the laborer found
them in his pocket in the morning. No
body knew whence they came, but there
they we're. every day in increasing mum,
bers. Before long simple hand bills
were not sufficient. Newspapers began
to appear, printed and published in
regular form, some aboard, Others in the
capital itself.
LAND AND WATER.
"For some time the Storm Bell had
been published in London and the For
,rard in Geneva, when suddenly, in st
Petersburg, there appeared the chief or
gan of the Revolutionary party-a pa,
per which, in foolhardiness, surpassed
everything that had hitherto been known
in the same line. 1t bears the name
II Il,