Russia Under the Tzars

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1885. Authorized Edition. Hardcover. xvi, [2], 381, [21] pages. Occasional footnotes. Cover has some wear and soiling. Some front board weakness. Author's Preface the the American Edition. Slip stating imported by Chas. Scribner's Sons laid in. Ink notation on fep states Stepniak alias for a man named Krauchinski--an ex artillery officer who assassinated Mezentsev head of the notorious third division. Signature and date of previous owner also on fep. Part I chapter headings include: The Mir; The Vetche; A Russian Republic; Survival of Self-Government; The Making of the Depotism; The Power of the Church; The Russian Theocracy; The Great Reformer; Emancipation; Tzar's justice; Military Tribunals; Siberia; Life in Exile; Education; The Zestvo; Alexander II; Russia and Europe, There are Parts II and III (Dark Places and Administrative Exile ending with chapter XXXII. Sergey Mikhaylovich Stepnyak-Kravchinsky (July 1, 1851 – 23 December 1895), known in the 19th century London revolutionary circles as Sergius Stepniak, was a Russian revolutionary mainly known for assassinating General Nikolai Mezentsov, the chief of Russia's Gendarme corps and the head of the country's secret police, with a dagger in the streets of St. Petersburg in 1878. He received a liberal education, and when he left school, he went on to attend Military academy and the artillery school before joining the Russian army. He reached the rank of second lieutenant before resigning his commission in 1871. Together with a few other men of birth and education, he began secretly to sow the sentiments of democracy among the peasants, as a member of the Circle of Tchaikovsky. His teaching did not long remain a secret, and in 1874 he was arrested. He succeeded in making his escape, possibly being permitted to escape on account of his youth, and immediately began a more vigorous campaign against autocracy. His sympathetic nature was influenced by indignation against the brutal methods adopted towards prisoners, especially political prisoners, and by the stern measures which the government of tsar Alexander II felt compelled to adopt in order to repress the revolutionary movement. In 1874 Stepniak went to the Balkans and joined the rising against the Turks in Bosnia in 1876, and used that experience to write a manual on guerrilla warfare. He also joined the anarchist Errico Malatesta in his small rebellion in the Italian province of Benevento in 1877. He returned to Russia in 1878, joining Zemlya i volya (Land and Liberty), where he along with Nikolai Morozov and Olga Liubatovich edited the party journal. For a time he was convinced that individual acts of political terrorism would convince tsar Alexander II to introduce democratic reforms. On August 4, 1878 O.S. he assassinated General Nikolai Mezentsov, the chief of the Gendarme corps and head of the country's secret police, with a dagger in the streets of St. Petersburg. After the killing, he exposed himself to danger by remaining in Russia, and in 1880 he was obliged to leave the country. He settled for a short time in Switzerland, then a favorite resort of revolutionary leaders, and after a few years came to London. He was already known in England by his book, Underground Russia, which had been published in London in 1882. In England he established the Society of Friends of Russian Freedom and the Russia Free Press, linking with Karl Pearson, Wilfrid Voynich and Charlotte Wilson. He was also an editor for the Society's house organ, Free Russia. Stepniak constantly wrote and lectured, both in Great Britain and the United States, in support of his views, and his energy, added to the interest of his personality, won him many friends. He was chiefly identified with the Socialists in England and the Social Democratic parties on the Continent; but he was regarded by people of all opinions as an agitator whose motives had always been pure and disinterested. Russian anarchist leader Peter Kropotkin, who knew Stepniak personally, testified as to his character. Condition: Good / No dust jacket present.

Keywords: Russia, Tzar, Czar, Tsar, Mir, Vetche, Self-Government, Depotism, Theocracy, Reform, Emancipation, Justice, Military Tribunals, Siberia, Exile, Zestvo, Alexander II, Political Trials

[Book #84905]

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