Pyotr Nikitich Tkachev: biography, literary activity, pseudonyms, political views

Petr Nikitich Tkachev (1844-1885) - a famous Russian revolutionary, an ideologist of Narodism. The article examines in detail his biography, views and ideas.

Childhood and Years of Youth

Petr Nikitich Tkachev was born on June 29, 1844 in the Pskov province (the village of Sivtsovo). His parents were petty nobles. First Peter Nikitich visited the 2nd Petersburg Gymnasium. Then from the fifth grade of this gymnasium in 1861 entered the St. Petersburg University, the Faculty of Law. However, Peter Tkachev did not have to study. The fact is that at that time student unrest began, as a result of which the university was closed. Among other active participants in these unrest, Tkachev was imprisoned first in the Peter and Paul Fortress (in October), and then in Kronstadt, from which he left in December.

Defense of the dissertation, a feature of revolutionary views

The king ordered to leave Peter Nikitich in the capital, instructing his mother. Tkachev did not have the opportunity to continue his studies at the university. However, after seven years he still passed the exams externally, presented his thesis and became a candidate of law. Later, while criticizing Lavrov for being too detached from the revolutionary movement, Pyotr Nikitich wrote about himself that since the time of the gymnasium he knew no other society than those young men who were fond of student gatherings, arranged reading rooms and Sunday schools, started communes and Artels, etc. He was always not only with them, but also among them, even when he was in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Pyotr Nikitich's focus on the immediate solution of various tasks of the revolutionary movement formed the characteristic features of his socialist conception.

Participation in revolutionary associations

Tkachev, while studying at the gymnasium, began to read socialist literature. He got acquainted with the editions of Ogarev and Herzen, with the articles of Dobrolyubov and Chernyshevsky. Already in the early verses, dating back to the 1860-62's. (Some of them went on lists), Tkachev preached the peasant revolution. He finally embarked on the revolutionary path since 1861. Since that time, Tkachev actively participated in the student movement, as a result of which he was many times subjected to arrests, searches, interrogations. Pyotr Nikitich was constantly under the supervision of the police. He served his prison sentence almost every year.

In 1862, he became an accessory to the circle of L. Olshevsky. This circle prepared for publication several proclamations, which called for the overthrow of the king. In 1865 and 1866, Pyotr Nikitich Tkachev was close to the organization of IA Khudyakov and NA Ishutin, and in 1867 and 1868 - to the "Rublevsky Society," whose members conducted propaganda under the guise of traveling teachers. It is also known that Peter Tkachev in 1868 adjoined the commune "Smorgon", which is the forerunner of the organization created by SG Nechaev. Then, in 1868-1869, Pyotr Nikitich, together with Nechaev, was a member of the steering committee of the St. Petersburg student movement.

The beginning of literary activity

In June 1862, the literary activity of Peter Nikitich began. His literary talent was revealed in the 60s. As one of the theoreticians of revolutionary Narodism, a brilliant critic and publicist, Tkachev collaborated with several progressive journals. It should be noted that already in his first articles on the criticism of judicial reform, which the government planned, it is noticeably revolutionary-democratic, oppositional mood. They were published in the journals Epoch and Time of the Dostoevsky brothers, and also in the Library for Reading.

Introduction to the works of Marx

In a number of articles created between 1862 and 1864, Petr Nikitich advanced the idea of changing social relations existing in Russia on a socialist basis by establishing a network of educational land-industrial associations, primarily in unoccupied lands. At about this time, I met some of the works of Karl Marx Peter Nikitich Tkachev.

His biography in December 1865 is marked by the fact that in the "Russian word" he for the first time in the legal press of our country expounded the main thesis of K. Marx, connected with the materialistic understanding of history, which he presented in the preface to "To the Critique of Political Economy." It should be noted that by this time Tkachev was already a regular in two democratic magazines ("Delo" and "Russian word"). He actually succeeded at the post of Pisarev, who was placed in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The above-mentioned thesis Pyotr Nikitich propagandized in the future, right? In its interpretation, somewhat simplistic.

Designing the concept of Tkachev

In 1868 Tkachev PN published the charter of the First International in translation (in the annex to Becher's book), as well as the charter of the People's Bank of Proudhon. The views of Peter Nikitich by the end of the 1860s were formed in a certain concept. He called for a political and social revolution in the country. This concept was expressed in the "Program of Revolutionary Actions", which left the circle of Tkachev and Nechayev.

Peter-Pavel's Fortress

It must be said that much of what Tkachev PN wrote either was forbidden, or did not pass under the conditions of censorship, or was selected with numerous arrests. When during the next student unrest (in March 1869) Tkachev was again arrested, he was immediately put forward three literary accusations. The first of them - for the creation and publication of the appeal "To the Society!", In which the demands of the students were presented; The second - for the publication of the collection under the name "Ray", published instead of the banned "Russian word"; The third - for the fact that he published the book "The Working Question" by E. Becher. This time the Peter and Paul Fortress was for Petr Nikitich a place of imprisonment for almost four years. In early 1873 Tkachev was sent into exile in Velikie Luki, home. From there, he fled abroad with the help of MV Kupriyanov, also a revolutionary.

Life abroad, a polemic with Engels and Lavrov

Journalistic activities, interrupted by the arrest, resumed in 1872. Tkachev again began to publish his articles in the "Case". However, he signed them not by his surname, but by different pseudonyms (All the same, P. Grachioli, P. Grie-li, P. N. Postny, PN Niyonov, P. Nikitin).

In London and Geneva, Pyotr Nikitich co-operated with PL Lavrov (his portrait is presented above) at one time in preparation for the publication of the journal Vpered !. Nevertheless, his first steps, made in emigration, were marked by a serious polemic with F. Engels and Lavrov. In 1874, Tkachev's pamphlets The Tasks of Revolutionary Propaganda ... and The Open Letter to Friedrich Engels were published in Zurich and London. This polemic immediately put Peter Nikitich in an isolated position abroad.

The emigrant literature of F. Engels, Lavrov and others stood on a slightly different position than Peter Nikitich. The essence of the disagreement between them was that Tkachev considered the political struggle as an integral prerequisite for a future revolution. However, he underestimated the role of the popular masses in it, which many Russian emigres could not agree with. In his view, the revolutionary minority must win power, establish a new state, carry out revolutionary changes that express the interests of the people. The last thing left is to use the results. Peter Tkachev was mistaken in his opinion that the autocracy does not have a social ground in Russia, that it does not express the interests of a particular class. Friedrich Engels, in turn, wrote in his articles criticized Tkachev's views, which he considered petty-bourgeois.

Edition of the magazine "Nabat"

Pyotr Nikitich, coming out of "Forward!", Found supporters among the circle "Cercle Slave" (in translation - "Slavic circle"), which united the Russian-Polish emigrants. With their help Tkachev in 1875 began to publish the magazine "Nabat" in Geneva. In this journal he took the position of editor. This publication became the organ of the Jacobin trend, close to Blanquism, in revolutionary populism. Tkachev at this time openly expressed his socialist views, arguing about the issues of theoretical substantiation of socialism, tactics and strategy of the revolutionary struggle. In the magazine "Nabat" Peter Nikitich led a polemic with PL Lavrov and MA Bakunin. His ideas, which at first did not have much influence, and often irritated, began to find supporters by the end of the 1870s. This happened as far as the turn of the Russian revolutionaries was going to the political and social methods and the requirements of the revolutionary struggle.

"Society of People's Liberation"

In 1877, Pyotr Nikitich together with his supporters managed to organize a "Society of People's Liberation". This strictly conspiratorial association was created with the help of Blanquist Communards from France (F. Courne, E. Grange, E. Vayan, etc.). The society was based in its activity on some Russian circles (in particular, IM Kovalsky in Odessa and Zaichnevsky in Orel). Tkachev in 1880 worked in the newspaper "Neither God nor Mr." O. Blanky.

Nevertheless, the prejudice against Petr Nikitich remained very strong. So much so that "Narodnaya Volya" (according to VI Lenin, her work was prepared by Tkachev's ideology) rejected the alliance with "Nabat", which was supposed earlier. "Nabat" ceased to be published after its short release in 1881 in the form of a newspaper.

Publication under different pseudonyms

Tkachev, while living abroad, continued to be published in the legal Russian press under various pseudonyms, which (All the same, P. Grachioli and others) we have already listed. As one of the main employees of the "Dela", Petr Nikitich published many articles on philosophy, law, history, pedagogy, economics, etc. However, after the editor of this journal, GE Blagosvetlov, died, cooperation has become less regular. Tkachev's articles appeared less and less frequently. It seemed that the literary and revolutionary activities of Peter Nikitich faded, but in reality it was not so.

By now some new facts have become known concerning the last years of Tkachev's life in emigration. They testify that this Russian literary critic and revolutionary continued to actively create. Recently it was possible to discover the socialist newspaper "Nabat" ("Le Tocsin"), which was published in the south of France (in Narbonne) in 1882. Editorials for her were written by Tkachev, who concealed his name under the pseudonym "Gracchus." Most likely, these statements in the press can be considered the last.

Since November 1882, Tkachev's disease progressed, as a result of which he was hospitalized. Petr Nikitich died in Paris on December 23, 1885. Selected works of his forever entered the history of the revolution.

Philosophical views of Tkachev

At first glance, in such a rich and diverse activity of the tribune-publicist-politician there is no room for a serious philosophy, or it has a subordinate, purely random role. Indeed, on the formal side, Petr Nikitich Tkachev himself, apparently, gives us an excuse for this assumption. After all, he was a fierce critic of all philosophical systems.

However, already in one of his first articles (published in 1863, "Legal Metaphysics") Tkachev formulates his program of reform of philosophy. He says that it is necessary to build a true, fruitful, living philosophy that is alien to any kind of metaphysics. It must tie together parts of social science that are forcibly dissolved. This philosophy will be a social, social science. It should benefit society.

Tkachev, as a publicist, often returns to the problem of the usefulness of philosophy. In his opinion, it should become the basis for transforming the world, an instrument of science, the core of a faithful worldview. As a politician, Pyotr Nikitich Tkachev specifically developed the problems of revolution, sociology, a just and reasonable social order. He called his philosophical position "realism" (or rationalism).

Here such curious person was Peter Nikitich Tkachev. Interesting facts about him are almost all related to the revolution, which he gave his whole life.