Narodniks

The Narodniks^[a] were an idealist revolutionary group in the Russian Empire. Unlike Marxists, they believed that the peasantry alone could overthrow Tsarism and landlordism without the proletariat. Russian Marxist Georgi Plekhanov was originally a Narodnik before becoming a Marxist and criticizing the Narondniks' idealist positions.^[1]

History

In 1881, the Narodnik secret society Narodnaya Volya, assassinated Tsar Alexander Nikolayevich. After the assassination, the Narodniks became reformists and began to support the feudal kulaks. The Narodniks dissolved in the 1890s after being criticized by Lenin.^[1]

Ideology

The Narodniks believed in an idealist theory of active "heroes" and a passive "mob," which asserted that the workers could not organize themselves and had to follow great individuals.^[1]

Notes

↑ Russian: Народники

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Joseph Stalin (1939). History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): 'The Struggle for the Creation of a Social-Democratic Labour Party in Russia'. [MIA]

[1] Russian: Народники

[:0-2] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Joseph Stalin (1939). History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): 'The Struggle for the Creation of a Social-Democratic Labour Party in Russia'. [MIA]

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