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The Nihilist movement was an 1860s Russian cultural movement which questioned the validity of all existing institutions and values. It is derived from the Latin word "Nihil", which means "nothing". After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II Nihilists were known throughout Europe as proponents of the use of violence as the primary tool for political change.

Contents 1 History 2 Historical context 3 Political philosophy 4 See also 5 References

The Nihilists were concerned by the disparity between Russian semi-feudal society and life in countries such as England and France. The movement owes its name to the 1862 novel Fathers and Sons by the Russian author Ivan Turgenev. Although the term had been used before, its widespread usage began with the book. The main character of the novel, Bazarov, is a Nihilist who wanted to use his knowledge to educate the people. This "go to the people — be the people" campaign reached its height in the 1870s, during which underground groups such as Circle of Tchaikovsky, People's Reprisal and Land and Liberty were formed. This became known as the Narodnik movement. The Russian State attempted to repress them. In actions described by the Nihilists as propaganda of the deed many government officials were assassinated. In 1881 Alexander II was murdered on the very day he had approved a proposal to call a representative assembly to consider new reforms.

Beginning with the reign of Peter the Great (1682–1725), there was considerable interest amongst the Russian elite in the technological, artistic, and intellectual achievements of Western Europe:

During the 1820s and 1830s Russian thought was influenced powerfully by several waves of German Romantic idealism and then the philosophy of Hegel, both of which raised to Russian consciousness the concept of distinct national identity and of “inevitable” historical progress… (Wasiolek, 3)

After the Crimean War (1853–56) however the Nihilists set themselves against the German-influenced liberals of the 1830–40s generation, decrying previous reforms as ineffective. Both of these types of reformers were opposed by the conservative Slavophiles, who believed that the solution to Russia's ills lay in her established traditions and cultural institutions.

Nihilist political philosophy saw all established religions and politicalinstitutions and traditional morality as opposed to Freedom, the ultimate ideal. Although Nihilism resembles Anarchism it did not see the State as automatically bad. The right sort of State would make fundamental changes in society. The Nihilists were not advocating belief in nothing, they supported the notion that no value.

• Narodism
• Narodnik

• Nihilism in Russian History
• Alexander Berkman, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist - online text
• Kropotkin, P., Memories of a Revolutionist
• George Kennan and the Russian Empire: How America’s Conscience Became an Enemy of Tsarism by Helen Hundley
• Wasiolek, Edward. Fathers and Sons: Russia at the Cross-roads. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993. ISBN 0-8057-9445-X