Yakov Stefanovich in 1878–1879: unlearned lessons of the “Chigirin affair”

The article on the basis of a large complex of sources reconstructs the period of life of the narodnik revolutionary, main initiator of the "Chigirin plot" Y. Stefanovich in 1878-1879. The purpose of the article is to study in detail Stefanovich's activity, analyze his doctrinal views and reveal his role in the processes of transformation of program and tactical constructions of Russian revolutionary-narodniks organizations of the late 1870s. The paper examines the revolutionary biography of Stefanovich after the failure of the "Chigirin affair", the arrest and then the escape of its main organizers from the Kiev prison castle on the night of May 26-27, 1878. Much attention is paid to Stefanovich's stay in Geneva, where he collaborated in the journal of the Bakunist narodniks called "Commune". His activity in Russia in July-August 1879 during the period of the aggravated ideological and theoretical crisis in "Land and Liberty" is studied in detail. Based on the surviving testimonies of the participants of those events, the author shows that Stefanovich's popularity among the supporters of the old apolitical "Land and Liberty" and his desire to realize his ideas at any cost played an important role in the split of "Land and Liberty". In August 1879, being one of the leaders of the new Narodnik organization "Black Repartition", Stefanovich and his associates tried to repeat the Chigirin attempt in practice, but failed in the implementation of these plans. In turn, the failure of this endeavor and the arrests that have started led to the mass emigration in early 1880 of the leading core of the Black Repartition, including Stefanovich, and the actual shutdown of the organization of the Black Repartition. In conclusion, the unlearned lessons of the "Chigirin affair" and the mythologized notions about the revolutionary potential of these places, replicated mainly by Stefanovich, played a cruel joke with the supporters of the "Black Repartition". By all means, holding to the idea of creating a "people's revolutionary organization" based on Stefanovich's models, the "Black Repartitionists" proved to be untenable both theoretically and practically. Trapped in the "utopia of Stefanovich", they de-facto passed into historical oblivion, having failed to realize their plans for work in the countryside. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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