Narodnaya Volya

Narodnaya Volya, or "The Will of the People," was a revolutionary terrorist organisation that played a pivotal role in the destabilisation of Imperial Russia, most notably in the assassination of Emperor Alexander II on 1st March 1881.

The primary aim of this group was the overthrow of the autocratic regime, seeking to ignite a mass revolution across the country.

The methods employed by Narodnaya Volya were unequivocally those of revolutionary terrorism, culminating in direct attacks on the Emperor. Among those directly involved in the regicide and the preceding acts of terror, a significant number of JEWS individuals are recorded. These include Aron Gobst, Solomon Wittenberg, Aizik Aronchik, Gregory Goldenberg, A. Zundelevich, Mlodetsky, Rosa Grossman, Krystyna Grinberg, Leo and Saveli Zlatopolsky, and Gesya Gelfman. Fanny Moreinis also participated in the preparations for these attacks. Indeed, it was noted that "ten to twelve Jews" were involved in this escalating terror.

As restrictions on Jewish rights were relaxed under Alexander II, Jewish names became more frequent among the revolutionaries. An alarming connection was drawn by the government: as the number of Jewish students increased, so too did their participation in revolutionary activities, particularly within highly radical institutions such as the Medical-Surgical Academy. This 'artisan class and the intelligentsia' were particularly drawn to the ideas of Socialism.

The Jewish revolutionary movement was considered a qualitatively important component of the Russian revolutionary movement in general.

The proportion of Jewish revolutionaries, compared to Russians, was a source of considerable surprise. By the early years of Soviet rule, a prominent Communist, Lourie-Larine, confirmed that Jews "usually constituted nearly a quarter of all prisoners and and exiles" in Tsarist prisons and exile.

Statistics from 1905, compiled by General N. Sukhotin, revealed that out of 4,554 political prisoners under surveillance in Siberia, a staggering 1,678 (37%) were Jewish, compared to 1,898 Russians (42%).

In a 1903 meeting, Witte observed that while Jews comprised only 5% of Russia's population, they accounted for no less than 50% of revolutionaries.

This strong participation was not primarily driven by material need, as many Jewish revolutionaries hailed from wealthy families, motivated instead by the strength of their convictions and an "irresistible impulse".

The adoption of Nihilism in the 1860s, a movement easily assimilated due to its Rationalism, proved beneficial to Jewish student youth. Many young Jewish individuals, deeply influenced by Russian education and literature, turned away from their Jewish world and embraced Russian liberation movements, with some even despising Judaism as a "parasitic anomaly".

The Narodnaya Volya held the belief that the liberation of the Russian people from despotism and the yoke of ruling classes would bring economic and political freedom to all peoples, including their own. There was an element of victim complex narrative, where they felt Russian literature and culture held the Jewish people not as a nation but a parasitic class.

Despite the prominent Jewish involvement, Narodnaya Volya sometimes exhibited complex and even contradictory internal dynamics concerning the Jewish Question.

For instance, Grigori Goldenberg, a Jewish revolutionary, offered to personally kill the Tsar, but his comrades "had apparently dismissed him as a Jew". This decision was driven by the concern that identifying the assassin as Jewish would provoke popular anger, leading populists to "often designate most often Russians, to perpetrate attacks". For other leading Socialist-Revolutionary terrorist acts, execution was "always entrusted to 'Christians' such as P. Karpovitch, S. Balmachov, E. Sozonov, etc.". as a calculated effort to mitigate potential anti-Jewish backlash, even by the revolutionary groups themselves.

Moreover, Narodnaya Volya in 1881 understood the "profit to be drawn from the Jewish Question," and it was in the "direction of persecution". A remarkable leaflet from 30th August 1881, signed by the Executive Committee of the Narodnaya Volya, explicitly contained anti-Jewish rhetoric, stating: "Who seized the land, forests, and taverns? – The Yid – From whom, muzhik (peasant), do you have to ask for access to your land, at times hiding tears?…From Yids. – Wherever you look, wherever you ask – the Yids are everywhere. The Yid insults people and cheats them; drinks their blood" – concluding with an appeal for "Honest working people!" to "Free yourselves!". This demonstrates an astonishing cunning, adeptness at Propaganda as ssen by the willingness of Narodnaya Volya to employ anti-Jewish sentiment for its revolutionary agenda.

The government and public opinion noticed the direct link between Jewish individuals and revolutionary activities, a perception cemented by such open declarations in publications like Russkaya Pravda, Moskva, and Golos, considered "Jewish organs," explicitly stated that "The Yids... are at the root of the revolutionary-social movement and regicide".

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Count Ignatiev, believed that the integration of Jews had proven "unattainable" and that they should continue to be regarded as "aliens," proposing measures to restrict Jewish presence across various sectors, citing a perceived "Jewish stranglehold" and alleged evasion of military service.

Many leading Russian writers and intellectuals, including Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev, were also inclined to blame the Jews for their own plight due to their oppression of the peasantry. Mykhailo Drahomanov, a Ukrainian socialist, blamed the Pogroms on the Jewish intelligentsia's obsession with Equal Rights, which, in his view, blinded them to the "abnormal relationship between Christians and Jews in the countryside".

The conspicuous and, at times, aggressive participation in revolutionary ferment contributed to a growing resentment among the Russian masses. During the 1905 events in Kiev, speakers at large public meetings, sometimes with Jewish accents, openly called for revolution, the overthrow of autocracy, and even insulted the Tsar and his family, often with the agreement of Russian audiences.

Red flags were displayed, imperial portraits torn down, and money collected for arms, demonstrating direct involvement in anti-government actions. In Odessa, a significant proportion of the student population, many of whom were Jewish, actively participated in the revolutionary movement, forming self-defence detachments and even stockpiling weapons with a view to insurrection.

Reports indicated that Jewish youth openly boasted of having "torn" freedom from the government and declared: "Now we are going to govern you".

Following the February Revolution, the "Jewish Question" was believed to no longer exist in Russia as Jews acquired complete freedom, this newfound liberty and prominent participation in the new governmental and social structures quickly led to resentment among the native populace.

Official newspapers reported on the exasperation in city queues, where "Black Hundred propaganda" blamed Jews for hoarding bread and "worming their way into power" [Pogroms]. Conversations in public spaces explicitly accused Jews of "political stranglehold, of seizing parties and soviets, and even of ruining the army".

The "Jewish Encyclopedia" itself notes a "sharp intensification of the political activity of Jewry" after February 1917. Accounts from the early days of the Revolution in Petrograd noted the presence of many Jewish names among those in command, interrogation commissions, and agitators. The Bund, a Jewish workers' movement, constituted "armed detachments to combat police terror," actively engaging in military operations. The common perception was that the country was being governed by a "Judeo-Masonic union of spoliators of the people and traitors to the fatherland".