Marxman
20th September 2002, 10:16
Narodism
A set of revolutionary tactics once used by the Russian Narodniks, and shortly later the People's Will party, which fought for the class position of Russia's peasantry.
Narodism arose in Russia after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, which signalled the comming end of the fuedalist age in Russia. Seeing the free serfs being sold into wage-slavery, once under landlords, now under the bourgeoisie, narodism was an expression of political reaction against what had happened. Narodniks held a nostalgia for the past; despising the landlord of the past, but hating even worse the uprooting of the peasants from the ancient obshchina, the russian commune.
Lenin defined Narodism as:
"By Narodism we mean a system of views, which comprises the following three features:
1) Belief that capitalism in Russia represents a deterioration, a retrogression. Hence the urge and desire to "retard"", "halt", "stop the break-up" of the age-old foundations by capitalism, and similar reactionary cries.
2) Belief in the exceptional character of the Russian economic system in general, and of the peasantry, with its village commune, artel, etc. in particular. It is not considered necessary to apply to Russian economic relationships the concepts elaborated by modern science concerning the different social classes and their conflicts. The village-commune peasantry is regarded as something higher and better than captitalism; there is a disposition to idealise the "foundations". The existence among the peasantry of contradictions characteristic of every commodity and capitalist economy is denied or slurred over; it is denied that any connection exists between these contradictions and their more developed form in capitalist industry and capitalist agriculture.
3) Disregard of the connection between the "intelligentsia" and the country's legal and political institutions, on the one hand, and the material interests of definite social classes, on the other. Denial of this connection, lack of a materialist explanation of these social factors, induces the belief that they represent a force capable of "dragging history along another line, of "diversion from the path", and so on.
The Heritage We Renounce
1897 SW 1, p. 74
Narodism later took up the position of the seperate path theory, that stipulated that the productive forces in Russia could leap from fuedalism to socialism without the need for capitalism; stressing that the revolutionary class that could accomplish this was the peasantry.
After unsuccessful struggle to unite the peasantry to overthrow the tsar, due to the peasantry's idolisation of the tsar as someone "on their side", Narodism developed the practice of terrorism: the peasantry, they believed, must be shown that the tsar was not supernatural, that he could be killed. This theory, called direct struggle; would show an "uninterrupted demonstration of the possibility of struggling against the government, in this manner lifting the revolutionary spirit of the people and its faith in the success of the cause, and organising those capable of fighting." (from the Programme of the People's Will, 1879) This theory also, lead to short-term failure, as the peasantry as a whole was horrified with what had happened. These events did, however, help sow the roots of the comming revolution of 1905.
In the early 1900s, after the disolution of the People's Will, other political parties emerged following Narodnism, namely the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Popular Socialists, and Trudoviks.
A set of revolutionary tactics once used by the Russian Narodniks, and shortly later the People's Will party, which fought for the class position of Russia's peasantry.
Narodism arose in Russia after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, which signalled the comming end of the fuedalist age in Russia. Seeing the free serfs being sold into wage-slavery, once under landlords, now under the bourgeoisie, narodism was an expression of political reaction against what had happened. Narodniks held a nostalgia for the past; despising the landlord of the past, but hating even worse the uprooting of the peasants from the ancient obshchina, the russian commune.
Lenin defined Narodism as:
"By Narodism we mean a system of views, which comprises the following three features:
1) Belief that capitalism in Russia represents a deterioration, a retrogression. Hence the urge and desire to "retard"", "halt", "stop the break-up" of the age-old foundations by capitalism, and similar reactionary cries.
2) Belief in the exceptional character of the Russian economic system in general, and of the peasantry, with its village commune, artel, etc. in particular. It is not considered necessary to apply to Russian economic relationships the concepts elaborated by modern science concerning the different social classes and their conflicts. The village-commune peasantry is regarded as something higher and better than captitalism; there is a disposition to idealise the "foundations". The existence among the peasantry of contradictions characteristic of every commodity and capitalist economy is denied or slurred over; it is denied that any connection exists between these contradictions and their more developed form in capitalist industry and capitalist agriculture.
3) Disregard of the connection between the "intelligentsia" and the country's legal and political institutions, on the one hand, and the material interests of definite social classes, on the other. Denial of this connection, lack of a materialist explanation of these social factors, induces the belief that they represent a force capable of "dragging history along another line, of "diversion from the path", and so on.
The Heritage We Renounce
1897 SW 1, p. 74
Narodism later took up the position of the seperate path theory, that stipulated that the productive forces in Russia could leap from fuedalism to socialism without the need for capitalism; stressing that the revolutionary class that could accomplish this was the peasantry.
After unsuccessful struggle to unite the peasantry to overthrow the tsar, due to the peasantry's idolisation of the tsar as someone "on their side", Narodism developed the practice of terrorism: the peasantry, they believed, must be shown that the tsar was not supernatural, that he could be killed. This theory, called direct struggle; would show an "uninterrupted demonstration of the possibility of struggling against the government, in this manner lifting the revolutionary spirit of the people and its faith in the success of the cause, and organising those capable of fighting." (from the Programme of the People's Will, 1879) This theory also, lead to short-term failure, as the peasantry as a whole was horrified with what had happened. These events did, however, help sow the roots of the comming revolution of 1905.
In the early 1900s, after the disolution of the People's Will, other political parties emerged following Narodnism, namely the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Popular Socialists, and Trudoviks.