Young Emigration

(Molodaia emigratsiia), the Russian revolutionary emigration of the 1860’s; the first wave of Russian revolutionaries of the raznochintsy (intellectuals of no definite class), who left their native land because they were persecuted by the tsarist government. The name “Young Emigration” originated among emigres of the 1860’s, who contrasted themselves to the lone emigres of the 1840’s and 1850’s, who were “old” in terms of their age and the duration of their status as emigres and “backward” in their sociopolitical opinions. The Young Emigration consisted primarily of young students, the followers of N. G. Chernyshevskii. The Young Emigration included members of Land and Liberty (Zemlia i Volia), the Committee of Russian officers in Poland, and other revolutionary organizations; participants in the student demonstrations of 1861 and the Kazan conspiracy of 1863; and publishers of revolutionary proclamations.

The Young Emigration, which developed primarily between 1862 and 1864, included fugitives from arrest (N. I. Zhukovskii, N. I. Utin, M. S. Gulevich), persons who had refused to appear at government trials (A. A. Serno-Solov’evich, V. I. Kasatkin, A. A. Cherkesov), and individuals who had escaped from prison and exile (I. I. Kel’siev, E. K. Gizhitskii). Also among its members were individuals who had been compromised by previous activities abroad (for example, L. I. Mechnikov, a supporter of Garibaldi), as well as Russians who were abroad to handle the affairs of revolutionary organizations (A. A. Sleptsov). The Young Emigration was also joined by participants in the revolutionary movement who had gone abroad to further their education (V. O. Kovalevskii, V. F. Luginin, N. D. Nozhin, N. la. Nikoladze, A. F. Stuart). Some of them, including V. O. Bakst, A. L. Linev, and P. I. lakobi, became emigres. Between 1865 and 1869, the Young Emigration was joined by M. K. Elpidin, S. la. Zhemanov, and A. la. Shcherbakov, who had escaped from prison; by V. A. Ozerov and A. D. Trusov, who had fled from persecution; and by V. I. Bartenev, E. G. Bartenev, O. S. Levasheva, and V. A. Zaitsev, among others, who had come abroad legally.

United around the editorial board of Kolokol, the Young Emigration acted as a foreign section of Land and Liberty from 1862 to 1864, maintaining ties with the Central Committee, transporting publications of the Free Russian Press into Russia, and aiding the party known as the Reds in the Polish Uprising of 1863–64. The Russian reading room in Heidelberg and the Bern press, both of which were established by the Young Emigration, played an important role in these activities. After Land and Liberty was dissolved, and the Polish Uprising of 1863–64 had been defeated, the leaders of the Young Emigration, Utin, Serno-Solov’evich, and lakobi, proposed a project for creating a revolutionary center abroad and converting Kolokol into an organ representing all emigres. A. I. Herzen, who considered it impossible to direct the revolutionary movement from abroad, voiced strong objections to the project, which laid the foundation for disagreements between the Young Emigration and the editors of Kolokol The Geneva congress of emigres (late December 1864 to early January 1865) and a number of subsequent negotiations did not lead to agreement between the two groups. Serno-Solov’-evich’s pamphlet Our Internal Affairs (1867), which contained a just criticism of Herzen’s liberal vacillations, as well as a number of sharp and unfair attacks, led to a final split between the Young Emigration and KolokoVs editors.

Lacking resources and powerful literary talent, the Young Emigration was unable to establish its own press organ. Some of its members, including Utin, Mechnikov, Nikoladze, and Elpidin, occasionally contributed articles to Kolokol. Newspapers edited by Elpidin (PodpoVnoe slovo, 1866, nos. 1–2, and Letuchie listki, 1868, no. 1) and by Mechnikov and Nikoladze (Sovremennost) 1868, nos. 1–7) were issued for a brief time. The Young Emigration’s most significant accomplishment in publishing was the completion of the first collection of Chernyshevskii’s works, a project begun by Elpidin and contributed to by Nikoladze.

By the late 1860’s, the Young Emigration had declined numerically. Its remaining members united around M. A. Bakunin, who had supported the Young Emigration in its dispute with Herzen. The group published the journal Narodnoe delo (1868). After the first issue, however, Bakunin refused to contribute to the journal. It was taken over by Utin and other emigres, who in late 1869 and in early 1870 organized the Russian Section of the First International (V. I. Bartenev, E. G. Bartenev, O. S. Levasheva, and A. D. Trusov). Zaitsev, Zhukovskii, Mechnikov, Ozerov, and Elpidin played a significant role in the subsequent activity of the Russian émigrés.