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CATECHISM
OF A REVOLUTIONIST The
Duties of the Revolutionist to Himself The
Duties of the Revolutionist to Himself 1. The revolutionist is a
person doomed [obrechennyi, in older
usage signifying also "consecrated"]. He has no personal
interests, no business affairs, no emotions, no attachments, no property, and
no name. Everything in him is wholly absorbed in the single thought and
the single passion for revolution. 2. The revolutionist knows
that in the very depths of his being, not only in words but also in deeds, he
has broken all the bonds which tie him to the civil order [grazhdanskim poriadkom]
and the civilized world with all its laws, moralities, and customs, and with
all its generally accepted conventions. He is their implacable enemy,
and if he continues to live with them it is only in order to destroy them
more speedily. 3. The revolutionist
despises all doctrines and refuses to accept the mundane sciences, leaving
them for future generations. He knows only one science: the science of
destruction. For this reason, but only for this reason, he will study
mechanics, physics, chemistry, and perhaps medicine. But all day and
all night he studies the vital science of human beings, their characteristics
and circumstances, at every possible level of social existence. The
object is perpetually the same: the surest and quickest way of destroying the
whole filthy order. 4. The revolutionist
despises public opinion. He despises and hates the existing social
morality in all its manifestations. For him, morality is everything
which contributes to the triumph of the revolution. Anything that stands in its way is
immoral and criminal. 5. The revolutionist is a
person obrechennyi [see first line].
He is merciless toward the state and toward the whole formal social structure
of educated society [soslovno-obrazovannogo
obshchestva]; and he can expect no mercy
from them. Between him and them there exists, declared or concealed, a
relentless and irreconcilable war to the death. He must accustom
himself to torture. 6. Tyrannical toward
himself, he must be tyrannical toward others. All the gentle and
enervating sentiments of kinship, love, friendship, gratitude, and even
honor, must be suppressed in him and give place to the cold and single-minded
passion for revolution. For him, there exists only one pleasure, one
consolation, one reward, one satisfaction -- the
success of the revolution. Night and day he must have but one thought,
one aim -- merciless destruction. Striving cold-bloodedly and
indefatigably toward this end, he must be prepared to destroy himself and to
destroy with his own hands everything that stands in the path of the
revolution. 7. The nature of the true
revolutionist excludes all sentimentality, romanticism, infatuation, and
exaltation. All private hatred and revenge must also be excluded.
Revolutionary passion, practiced at every moment of the day until it becomes
a habit, is to be employed with cold calculation. At all times, and in
all places, the revolutionist must obey not his personal impulses, but only
those which serve the cause of the revolution. The
Relations of the Revolutionist with his Revolutionary Comrades 8. The revolutionist can
have no friendship or attachment, except for those who have proved by their
actions that they, like him, are dedicated to revolution. The degree of
friendship, devotion and obligation toward such a comrade is determined
solely by the degree of his usefulness to the cause of total revolutionary
destruction. 9. It is superfluous to
speak of solidarity among revolutionists. The whole strength of
revolutionary work lies in this. Comrade-revolutionists [tovarishchi-revoliutsionery] who possess
the same revolutionary passion and understanding should, as much as possible,
deliberate all important matters together and come to unanimous
conclusions. When the plan is finally decided upon, then the
revolutionist must rely solely on himself. In carrying out acts of
destruction, each one should act alone, never running to another for advice
and assistance, except when these are necessary for the furtherance of the
plan. 10. All comrades should have
under them second- or third-degree revolutionists -- i.e., comrades who are
not completely initiated. these should be
regarded as part of the common revolutionary capital placed at his
disposal. This capital should, of course, be spent as economically as
possible in order to derive from it the greatest possible profit. The
real revolutionist should regard himself as capital consecrated to the
triumph of the revolution; however, he may not personally and alone dispose
of that capital without the unanimous consent of the fully initiated
comrades. 11. When a comrade is in
danger and the question arises whether he should be saved or not saved, the
decision must not be arrived at on the basis of sentiment, but solely in the
interests of the revolutionist cause. Therefore, it is necessary to
weigh carefully the usefulness of the comrade against the expenditure of
revolutionary forces necessary to save him, and the decision must be made
accordingly. The
Relations of the Revolutionist within [his revolutionary] Society [k obshchestvu] 12. The new member, having
given proof of his loyalty not by words but by deeds, can be received into
the society [tovarishchestvo] only by the
unanimous agreement of all the members. 13. The revolutionist enters
the world of the state, of the privileged classes [soslovnyi...mir], of the so-called civilization, and he lives
in this world only for the purpose of bringing about its speedy and total
destruction. He is not a revolutionist if he has any sympathy for this
world. He should not hesitate to destroy any position, any place, or
any man in this world. He must hate everyone and everything in it with
an equal hatred. All the worse for him if he has
any relations with parents, friends, or lovers; he is no longer a
revolutionist if he is swayed by these relationships. 14. Aiming at implacable
revolution, the revolutionist may and frequently must live within society
while pretending to be completely different from what he really is, for he
must penetrate everywhere, into all the higher and middle-level social
formations [sosloviia], into the
merchant's commercial establishment, into the church, the gentry estate, and
the world of the bureaucrat [mir
biurokratskii] and military, into
literature, and also into the Third Section [ID]
and even the Winter Palace of the tsar. 15. This filthy social order
can be split up into several categories. The first category comprises
those who must be condemned to death without delay. Comrades should
compile a list of those to be condemned according to the relative gravity of
their crimes; and the executions should be carried out according to the
prepared order. 16. When a list of those who
are condemned is made, and the order of execution is prepared, no private
sense of outrage should be considered, nor is it necessary to pay attention
to the hatred provoked by these people among the comrades or the people. Hatred and the sense of outrage
may be partially and temporarily useful insofar as they incite the masses to
revolt. It is necessary to be guided only by the relative usefulness of
these executions for the sake of revolution. Above all, those who are
especially inimical to the revolutionary organization must be destroyed;
their violent and sudden deaths will produce the utmost panic in the
government, depriving it of its will to action by removing the cleverest and
most energetic supporters. 17. The second group
comprises those who will be spared for the time being in order that, by a
series of monstrous acts, they may drive the people into inevitable revolt. 18. The third category
consists of a great many brutes in high positions, distinguished neither by
their cleverness nor their energy, while enjoying riches, influence, power,
and high positions by virtue of their rank. These must be exploited in
every possible way; they must be implicated and embroiled in our affairs,
their dirty secrets must be ferreted out, and they must be transformed into
slaves. Their power, influence, and connections, their wealth and their
energy, will form an inexhaustible treasure and a precious help in all our
undertakings. 19. The fourth category
comprises ambitious office-holders and liberals of various shades of
opinion. The revolutionist must pretend to collaborate with them,
blindly following them, while at the same time, prying out their secrets
until they are completely in his power. They must be so compromised
that there is no way out for them, and then they can be used to create
disorder in the State. 20. The fifth category
consists of those doctrinaires, conspirators, and revolutionists who cut a
great figure on paper or in their circles [kruzhki]. They must be constantly driven on
to make compromising declarations: as a result, the majority of them will be
destroyed, while a minority will become genuine revolutionists. 21. The sixth category is
especially important: women. They can be divided into three main
groups. First, those frivolous,
thoughtless, and vapid women, whom we shall use as we use the third and
fourth category of men. Second, women who are ardent,
capable, and devoted, but whom do not belong to us because they have not yet
achieved a passionless and austere revolutionary understanding; these must be
used like the men of the fifth category. Finally, there are the women who
are completely on our side -- i.e., those who are wholly dedicated and who
have accepted our program in its entirety. We should regard these women
as the most valuable or our treasures; without their help, we would never
succeed. The
Attitude of the Society toward the People [narodu] 22. The Society has no aim
other than the complete liberation and happiness of the narod
-- i.e., of the people who live by manual labor. Convinced that their
emancipation and the achievement of this happiness can only come about as a
result of an all-destroying popular revolt, the Society will use all its
resources and energy toward increasing and intensifying the evils and
miseries of the people until at last their patience is exhausted and they are
driven to a general uprising. 23. By a revolution, the
society [tovarishchestvo] does not
mean an orderly revolt according to the classic western model -- a revolt
which always stops short of attacking the rights of property and the
traditional social systems of so-called civilization and morality.
Until now, such a revolution has always limited itself to the overthrow of
one political form in order to replace it by another, thereby attempting to
bring about a so-called revolutionary state. The only form of revolution
beneficial to the people is one which destroys the entire State to the roots
and exterminates all the state traditions, institutions, and classes [klassy] in Russia. 24. With this end in view,
the Society therefore refuses to impose any new organization from
above. Any future organization will doubtless work its way through the
movement and life of the people; but this is a matter for future generations
to decide. Our task is terrible, total, universal, and merciless
destruction. 25. Therefore, in drawing
closer to the people, we must above all make common cause with those elements
of the masses which, since the foundation of the state of Muscovy, have never
ceased to protest, not only in words but in deeds, against everything
directly or indirectly connected with the state: against nobility, against
bureaucracy [chinovnichestva],
against priests, against the merchant gild, and against the parasitic kulak
[rich peasant]. We must unite with the world of adventurous robber
bands, the only genuine revolutionists in Russia. 26. To weld this world into
one single unconquerable and all-destructive force -- this is our
organization [organizatsiia], our
conspiracy, our task. |