he latter, himself a Russian and
more inclined toward violent anarchism than toward political
socialism. These doctrines were far too abstruse for the untutored and
practical minds of the peasants, and in most cases they had shown
animosity rather than sympathy toward the agitators.

Yet the Nihilist doctrines and program formed the basis for later
efforts toward creating a revolutionary spirit among the Russian
people. To this day the few surviving Nihilists of the early days,
notably Katherine Breshkovskaya, "the grandmother of the Russian
Revolution," are venerated by the people as the last representatives
of the heroic age.

It was not until the middle of the last decade of the nineteenth
century, after the succession of Nicholas II to the throne in 1894,
that revolutionary organization was revived in Russia. These modern
efforts were concentrated into two forms of organization. The largest
of these was the Social Democratic party, whose program consisted
mainly of organizing the working people in the large cities and
industrial centers. Its leaders were made up largely of recruits from
the educated middle classes and from the Jewish elements.

Second in size, though quite as important in influence, was the Social
Revolutionary organization. Though smaller in regard to membership,
its leaders and most active members were those same students from the
aristocratic classes which had made up the Nihilist groups. It was
interested in injecting its doctrines into the peasantry, rather than
propagating them among the working classes. And a certain branch of
the organization, known as the Fighting Branch, still practiced
assassination as a means to gaining its ends. As a result of its
activities some of the highest officials of the Government and the
most important dignitaries of the ruling clique lost their lives.

CHAPTER LXXII

REVOLUTIONARY DOCTRINES

As members of both these organizations are at present in power in
revolutionary Russia, it may be quite appropriate to enunciate their
fundamental principles.

The Russian Social Democrats, together with all the Socialist parties
of the world, stand for a democracy that shall be economic or
industrial as well as political. They contend that a nation, such as
the United States, which is democratic in its political organization,
but whose industries and natural resources are in private hands, is
democratic only in appearance. They stand for the socialized st