THE NIHILISTS.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1587, 5 September 1882, Page 4

THE NIHILI STS.

Titk following is the text of the Jcttei addreased-by the "Tenoiist" paifcy to the now'Cznr last year at his accession. "Wo hav<o taken it' from tin; paper published b s y' Prince Kropotkin (hiniholt n Nihilist) in ihe May mimbei o£ the Foilnfyhtly • Jin'fic.— this situation there a*v, but U\o issues— e.ll'oi ie\olu tion, which cannot be put I u k b> executions, or appeal fioin the Emperor to the nation. In the mteiests of our country, to avoid the useless Mask' of g»ti t-ngtli, •and the <li-pa(lftil calamities inscpaiablo from revolution, tlio J<!\eiuti\e Committee adxises YOUR MAJ IWTY to chose, the second. Bo sure that as soon as the Supreme Power shall cease from lining despotic — as soon as it shall take a firm resolution to accompli&h the wishes oi the conscience of the people, you may safely dismiss the spies — the shame of Government — send your escorts quietly to the barracks, and burn the gallows. T,he Executive Committee itself will stop ifca task, and the forces organised about it will scatter for peaceful, civilising work throughout the country. Peaceful discussion will take the place of brute force, the use of which is even more hateful to us than to Your officials, and is only resorted to by us out of a miserable necessity. ," We address ourselves directly to YOU, putting aside prejudices that are the. growth of centuries. We forget that You. are the representative of that power which has so long deceived and wronged the people. We speak to you as a citizen and an honest man. We hope that no feeling of personal anger will stifle in You the sentiment ol moral obligations and the desire to know the truth. We, too, have the right of being angry, j Yon have lost your father. We have j lost, not our fathers only, but our brothers, our wives, our children, and our best friends. But we will not take our personal feelings into account, if it is necessary for the welfare of our country. And we expect the same from You. •' We are not imposing conditions on you. Do not, we pi ay, be shocked by our proposals. The conditions which must be fulfilled to put an end to the revolutionary agitation, and make peaceful development possible, arc not of our dictating. We do not impose conditions ; we only remember them. " These conditions we see to be two ; "(1.) A general amnesty for all past political crimes, inasmuch as they >vere not crimes, but performance of civil duties. "(2.) The convocation of delegates representing the whole .Russian people, tor the revision of all fundamental laws in conformity "\\ ith the people's will." On this the Spectator makes the following remarks : — "The capital letters are those given by Prince Kropotkin, and are intended, we presume, to exclude the idea of insult. The message was rejected, the Czar decided to retain the autocracy, the conspiracies recommenced, and Prince Kropotkin now intimates in this paper that actual popular insurrection is at baud, that in spiing a movement will commence which can be nothing else than a jacquerie. The prophecies put forward are so ominous, that we give the whole passage : — ' One year ago, there was an easy way of escapo from the difliculfcy. But now the difficulty is intensified by the intervention of a new and important clement. During the Hist ten yeais after the Emancipation, the peasants have remained quiet. But the famines of the last two yeais have fully revealed to them their miserable fate, and they have begun to protest once more. The outbreaks against Jews in the south-west, and against the Russian bunrgifmie in the south-east, as well as the incendiarism and "no rent" movement in the central provinces, arc but a fore-shadowing of far more intense movements which are growing in the villages. The people already talk of the gcucial paititiou of laud, of " the great war and bloodshed," which are to begin some time in the spring. Until now, the Revolutionary Party has scarcely applied its forces at all to a serious agraiian agitation ; but it is easy to foresee the quality and momentum of forces that will rise ready to their hands among the peasantry, if Russian revolutionists should only apply to agrarian agitation the determination and the capacities of organisation they have shown in their struggle against Government ; and this \\ ill be done— the Will of tin JPcopfe says — if the neco-. ary improvements cannot be obtained otherwise." We add an account of .\.hilistic objects and aims, given by the Nihilist v. liter above quoted, f i om one of the oigans of his party ; — "As to ouischcs, we aie popular Socialists. Wo hold that libcitj, equality, and tiatnnity, the economical wcllaie of all, and tine piogrcss, can be established only on a bocidistic basis. And we hold t'uit all forms ot society m«4 leceive their sanction from the will oi the people, and that the development of the nation \\ ill only be assured when the people's conscience and the peoplcVt \\ ill shall become the common laM of lile As popular Socialists, then fore, our iiist ambition must bo — (!) to lclieve the people of the burden of the present (lovuininent, and to biing about a political i solution which shall give power to the people. . (2) We belies c that the people's will might be adequately expressed by an AbtiCHibh'c CoustitiKinfc, composed of delegates elected hy universal gull rage, and receiving instinct ons fioin their clcctois. Such Assembly is not, of couise, an ideal representation of the popular will, but it is the only one possible in our time; and therefore Me think it necessary to advocate its com ocation. . . Whilst ready absolutely to obey the national will, thus expressed, we shall, ncvcithelcss, as a party, submit our own programme to the consideration of the nation. This we. shall premh before the revolution, and we shall ad\oonte its adoption at the elections and before the Assembly. It is— (l.) The permanent repicscntatiou of the people on the pirnciples ahoady fm undated — imivcisal suffrage and com[ leto fieedom of elections — audits sovcieignty in all Btatc affairs. (2.) A large self-government for the provinces, guaranteed by the application of election to the appointment of all ofHcials by the autonomy of i nial communes, and by the economical independence of the people. (3.) The autonomy of the rural Assembly [Mu ) as an economical and administrative unity. (4.) The right of the people to the land (nationalisation of land). (<">.) The intioduction of a system of measures tending tow aids the transfer of manufactures to the working classes. (6.) Absolute lihertv of religion, of thought, of association, of meeting, and of dlectoral agitation. (7.) Universal suffrage. (8.) The substitution for the (standing army of asj stem of ten ilorial defence."