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8009273 D o n a l d s o n , C h r i s t i n e F r a n c e s RUSSIAN NIHILISM OF THE 1860’S: A SCIENCE-BASED SOCIAL MOVEMENT The Ohio Slate University Ph.D. 1979 University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 18 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4EJ, England RUSSIAN NIHILISM OF THE 1860'S: A SCIENCE-BASED SOCIAL MOVEMENT DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Christine Frances Donaldson, A.B. , M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1979 Reading Committee: Approved By Dr. Michael W. Curran, Adviser Dr. Charles Morley Dr. Allan K. Wildman Adviser Department of History PREFACE In 1862 young Russians turned for leadership to Dmitrii Pisarev, a young radical literary critic who was rapidly becoming known for his extremist attitudes—a set of views that he aptly labeled nihilism. Because so many young Pussians accepted Pisarev's views through the next half decade, his nihilism became not m erely a radical pattern of thought, but also a social movement. Behind Pisarev's ideas and his following lay an intensifying desire on the part of young Russians to institute widespread social change. This dissertation places the nihilist movement--Russia's Pisarevshchina--in its social context. It examines nihilists, their ideas, and their society. In doing so, it concentrates on interrelationships between the movement and social developments external to it. It examines the social dynamics that resulted in the nihilist movement's dramatic growth. Chapter I delineates this study's scope andapproach. Chapter II presents an overview of nihilism to describe clearly the trends that characterized Russia's radical movement through the I860's. The over view not only describes the sequence of events that led to Pisarev's emergence as a radical leader, but also places nihilism in its intellectual context by discussing the similarities and differences between Pisarev's ideas and the ideas developed by his predecessors and contemporaries. Rather than use a chronological arrangement, the succeeding chapters use a topical arrangement to express the interrelationships between nihilist thought and social developments. The interrelationships discussed in Chapters III through VII are diagrammed in Appendix C. Chapter III examines the lives of individuals who were nihilists during the 1860's. The purpose of this chapter is to answer such questions as: Were the nihilists old or young? Were they privileged or unprivileged? Were they well-educated or only partially educated? Determining the nihilists' group characteristics points to specific social and intellectual developments separate from the nihilist move ment that influenced these radicals' lives. Thus, through the nihilists' group characteristics, interrelationships between the nihilist movement and specific social and intellectual developments external to it emerge. These interrelationships are examined in the chapters that follow. Chapter IV examines the educated elite during the period immediately preceding the emergence of nihilist thought, and concludes that a growing interest in the sciences developed within this group—the group from which nihilists were to emerge. Chapter V shows how Pisarev, his colleagues, and the students who became their followers used science to create the nihilist pattern of thought. iii Chapter VI parallels Chapters III, IV, and V in time, and contrasts the existing social system's distrust of science with the nihilists' more positive inclinations. Chapter VII interrelates the developments discussed in Chapters III, IV, and V with those discussed in Chapter VI. It shows how the nihilists' positive use of science clashed with the negative attitudes prevalent in the existing social system to give rise to nihilism: a radical social movement grounded in science. Unless indicated otherwise, the translations in this dissertation are my own. Bibliographical citations were transliterated according to the Library of Congress system. In transliterating nineteenth-century citations, spelling was changed where necessary to conform to contem porary Russian orthography. Names were spelled as they would be spelled in Russian; although certain names, such as Nicholas I, Alexander II, and Alexander Herzen, were kept in their more familiar Anglicized forms. I wish to thank the staffs at the University of Helsinki Library, the University Library at the University of Illinois^, the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and the Library of The Ohio State University for the help that they so generously offered. The year spent working at the University of Helsinki Library proved to be especially fruitful-. This study is based to a large extent on the lives of nihilists. Tracing their identities and locating information on their lives was iv greatly facilitated by the completeness of the Helsinki holdings. I also wish to express my appreciation to The Ohio State University for grant ing me the University Fellowship that made access to the Helsinki holdings possible. I wish to thank Dr. Michael W. Curran for serving as disserta tion adviser. I also wish to acknowledge the reading committee: Dr. Charles Morley, Dr. Allan K. Wildman, and Dr. George J. Demko. Dr. Wildman's detailed critique of an earlier draft proved especially useful in preparing the final version. I also wish to thank John Flynn and Chuck Moore for their helpful discussions. A special thanks goes to Barbara Austin for typing this manuscript. v VITA October 12, 1946 ........................ Born - Pittsfield, Massachusetts 1968 .................................................... A.B., Guilford College , Greensboro-,. North Carolina 1968-1972 ........................................ Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 197 1.................................................... M.A. , The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Russian History Secondary Fields: Chinese History East European History Nineteenth-Century Intellectual History vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE..................................................................................................................... ii VITA ......................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................... x Chapter I. A DELINEATION OF THE PRESENT STUDY'S SCOPE AND APPROACH..................................................................... 1 II. AN OVERVIEW OF RUSSIA'S PISAREVSHCHINA....................... 9 III. A SOCIAL ANALYSIS OF PISAREVIAN NIHILISTS................... 45 IV. THE GROWING INTEREST IN SCIENCE WITHIN THE NIHILISTS' SOCIAL M IL IE U ................................................. 97 V. THE NIHILISTS' USE OF SCIENCE TO CREATE NIHILIST THOUGHT............................................................................. 128 VI. SCIENCE AS A PERCEIVED THREAT TO EXISTING SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS..................................................................... 179 VII. NIHILISM: A RADICAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT GROUNDED IN SCIENCE................................................................. 223 VIII. EPILOGUE............................................................................................... 238 APPENDICES A. BIOGRAPHIES OF THE TWENTY NIHILISTS EXAMINED IN THIS STUDY............................................................. 249 vii Page B. SOCIOLOGICAL DATA .................................................................... 287 C. THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS DISCUSSED IN CHAPTERS III THROUGH VII DIAGRAMMED.................................................... 295 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................... 297 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Data Collected by the Ministry of Education........................ 99 2. Tabulations From Lisovskii's Listings................................... 101 3. Graduates From St. Petersburg University, 1850-1863 Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences ................ 1G4 4. Year of B i r t h ........................................................................................ 287 5. Social Origin ........................................................................................ 288 6. Occupations These Individuals Engaged in During the 1 8 6 0 's............................................................................................. 289 7. G e n d e r .................................................................................................... 290 8. Education Categorized According to the Most Advanced School A tte n d e d............................................................ 291 9. Education Categorized According to Areas of Specialization ........................................................ 292 10. Contact with Western Europe ....................................................... 293 11. The Nihilists' Surveillance and Arrest Record Through the 1 8 6 0 's ............................................................................. 294 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Ministry of Education's Data Revealing a Growing Interest in the Sciences ............................................... 98 2. New Scientific Periodicals Revealing