Zemlya i Volya (Land and Liberty) of 1870s

Categories / Social Life/Political Parties and Organizations
ZEMLYA I VOLYA (Land and Liberty) of 1870s, an illegal revolutionary organization that was founded in St. Petersburg in 1876 as the Northern Revolutionary Group of Narodniks (Populists) or the Society of Narodniks renamed in 1878. The society was founded by M.A. Natanson, O.A. Schleisner (Natanson), A.D. Mikhaylov, A.D. Oboleshev, G.V. Plekhanov, A.A. Kvyatkovsky, D.A. Lizogub, V.A. Osinsky, O.V. Aptekman, et al. and later joined by S.M. Kravchinsky, D.A. Klemenz, N.A. Morozov, S.L. Perovskaya, M.F. Frolenko, L.A. Tikhomirov, and others. Preparation of peasants' revolution being their major goal, members of Zemlya i Volya drew up a program requiring transferring all land to peasants’ communities and reorganizing social life as the federation of self-governing communities. Members of Zemlya i Volya popularized their ideas by building settlements of revolutionists under the disguise of teachers, doctor's assistants, clerks, etc., organizing circles at industrial plants and all higher educational institutions in St. Petersburg, and helping workers to stage walk-outs. Members of Zemlya i Volya took part in preparing and holding the first political demonstration in Russia (see under Kazanskie Demonstrations) in December 1876. In 1877-79, Zemlya i Volya had three illegal printing offices in St. Petersburg where they printed issues 1 to 5 of the newspaper Zemlya i Volya, issues 1 to 6 of the circular Listok Zemli i Voli, and a number of leaflets. As commissioned by Zemlya i Volya, N.V. Kletochnikov started his service in the 3d department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery in the early 1879 to keep revolutionists informed of what the secret police were planning. An idea that spread gradually among members of Zemlya i Volya was to conduct political struggle against autocracy and gain political freedoms in order to succeed in socialist propaganda among people. Supporters of this trend were united at the editor's office of the circular Listok Zemli i Voli. Svoboda ili Smert (Liberty or Death) was another group founded in St. Petersburg in the early-to-mid 1879 to support individual terror tactics. It was Svoboda ili Smert that helped A.K. Solovyev to make an attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander II on April 2, 1879. The members of Zemlya i Volya who supported the political struggle tactics built an underground dynamite laboratory at 6 Baskov Lane in late May 1879. Disputes between the supporters of various trends brought to a split of Zemlya i Volya in June 1879. The organization finally split into Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) and Cherny Peredel (Black Repartition) at a congress held in Lesnoy in August 1879.

Reference: Ткаченко П. С. Революционная народническая организация "Земля и воля" (1876-1879). М., 1961; Революционеры 1870-х годов: Воспоминания участников народнич. движения в Петербурге. Л., 1986.

Z. P. Solovyeva. Alexander II, Emperor
Aptekman Osip Vasilievich
Frolenko Mikhail Fedorovich
Klemenz Dmitry Alexandrovich
Kletochnikov Nikolay Vasilievich
Kravchinsky Sergey Mikhailovich
Kvyatkovsky Alexander Alexandrovich
Lizogub Dmitry Andreevich
Mikhaylov Alexander Dmitrievich
Morozov Nikolay Alexandrovich
Natanson Mark Andreevich
Oboleshev Alexey Dmitrievich
Osinsky Valerian Andreevich
Perovskaya Sofia Lvovna
Plekhanov Georgy Valentinovich
Schleisner Olga Alexandrovna
Solovyev Alexander Konstantinovich
Tikhomirov Lev Alexandrovich
Ткаченко П. С. Революционная народническая организация "Земля и воля" (1876-1879). М., 1961
Революционеры 1870-х годов: Воспоминания участников народнич. движения в Петербурге. Л., 1986 Kazansky Demonstrations
Third Division
Narodnaya Volya
Cherny Peredel, revolutionary organizations
1879