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Rh viously distinct, was amalgamated with that of Russia; simultaneously the peasants were openly supported against the Polish aristocracy. Reaction was intensified because many Russians participated in the rising; and also because Herzen, influenced by the suggestions of Bakunin, espoused the cause of the Poles.

Russiffication speedily extended from Poland to other non-russian areas, beginning in 1869 with the Baltic provinces.

It is true that administrative reforms were undertaken, but the way in which they were carried out was soon influenced by the spirit of reaction. The resolute character of the retrograde movement was displayed in 1864 by the condemnation of Černyševskii, the most popular of progressive writers, who was exiled to Siberia. Pisarev was sentenced to imprisonment in a fortress. The secret society of which Karakozov was a leading spirit was now formed, and in 1866 took place the first attempt on the life of Alexander II. Whilst reaction became intense and more deliberate, opposition in its turn became more energetic and increasingly revolutionary. It grew ever plainer that the tsar was infirm of purpose, and his autocratic inclinations could not long be veiled in liberal phraseology. In 1869, Nečaev the Bakuninist was engaged in anarchistic plots which ended in the assassination of one of his own comrades, a student named Ivanov. Nečaev secured few adherents among progressive and revolutionary youth in general; but in the early seventies began the propagandist activity of the cultural societies, the first group under Čaikovskii being exceptionally well organised. The political influence of western Europe became yet more marked. The example of the Paris commune, the growth of socialism and anarchism, and the widespread agitation carried on with the aid of clandestinely imported literature, exercised a stimulating and encouraging effect. An additional factor in the movement was the acquaintanceship young Russians had obtained with Europe and European universities. During the reign of Alexander II attendance at western universities was at first permitted on a more liberal scale than had been the case under Nicholas, and young people were not slow to avail themselves of the privilege. Russian students of both sexes visited Zurich by the hundred. In 1873 an order for their recall was suddenly issued, and Russia was thereby peopled by large numbers of persons belonging to the cultured opposition. From 1872