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94 vii. In the year 1877, a new Zemlja i Volja came into existence. The organs of this association advocated peaceful revolutionary propaganda. The agrarian problem was represented as the supreme social problem for Russia. The factory problem could be "left in the shade," since it did not really exist for Russia, but was the social problem of the west. In Russia, the supreme demands had always been for land and freedom. Land must be the property of those who tilled it, and must therefore be taken away from the landlords. For the Cossacks, liberty signified free self-governing communes, in which those elected to carry out the popular will were subject to recall. Quite similar were the views of the secret society Zemlja i Volja, as the successor of the revolutionary socialists Pugačev and Razin, men of the people. No attempt was made to formulate a more specific program; the future could take care of itself; for the time being it was necessary to realise "the revolution of the folk," that is to say to revolutionise the masses of the people, in order to render possible the socialistic organisation of the Russian nation.

The organisation of the society was directed towards the attainment of this aim. Its leadership was centralised, but not in accordance with the prescriptions of Bakunin and Tkačev. Where important questions had to be decided, the officers took a vote of the council, and in matters of supreme importance a ballot was taken of all the members. The council consisted of the members residing in St. Petersburg, which was the centre. The league was subdivided into four groups: intellectuals (for propaganda and for the organisation of university students); operatives; the village group (which contained the largest number of members); and the disorganisation group. The last-named was the most important, for it had life and death powers over the members. Its duties were to help imprisoned comrades, to set them at liberty whenever possible, and to protect them against the violence of the administration; from time to time these duties brought the society into open conflict with the government, although such conflict was not a regular part of its program. As a precaution against treachery, traitors might be killed in case of need. The disorganisation group kept the details of its plans and doings strictly secret, communicating them to the council in general outline merely.

In addition to the four groups there existed certain sections