from Scripture that he ought to resist the authorities.  The prudent muzhik whipped up his horse and tried to get out of hearing, but the two zealots ran after him and continued the sermon till they were completely out of breath.  Other propagandists were more practical, and preached a species of agrarian socialism which the rural population could understand.  At the time of the Emancipation the peasants were convinced as I have mentioned in a previous chapter, that the Tsar meant to give them all the land, and to compensate the landed proprietors by salaries.  Even when the law was read and explained to them, they clung obstinately to their old convictions, and confidently expected that the real Emancipation would be proclaimed shortly.  Taking advantage of this state of things, the propagandists to whom I refer confirmed the peasants in their error, and sought in this way to sow discontent against the proprietors and the Government.  Their watchword was “Land and Liberty,” and they formed for a good many years a distinct group, under that title (Zemlya i Volya, or more briefly Zemlevoltsi).

In the St. Petersburg group, which aspired to direct and control this movement, there were one or two men who held different views as to the real object of propaganda and agitation.  One of these, Prince Krapotkin, has told the world what his object was at that time.  He hoped that the Government would be frightened and that the Autocratic Power, as in France on the eve of the Revolution, would seek support in the landed proprietors, and call together a National Assembly.  Thus a constitution would be granted, and though the first Assembly might be conservative in spirit, autocracy would be compelled in the long run to yield to parliamentary pressure.

No such elaborate projects were entertained, I believe, by the majority of the propagandists.  Their reasoning was much simpler:  “The Government, having become reactionary, tries to prevent us from enlightening the people; we will do it in spite of the Government!” The dangers to which they exposed themselves only confirmed them in their resolution.  Though they honestly believed themselves to be Realists and Materialists, they were at heart romantic Idealists, panting to do something heroic.  They had been taught by the apostles whom they venerated, from Belinski downwards, that the man who simply talks about the good of the people, and does nothing to promote it, is among the most contemptible of human beings.  No such reproach must be addressed to them.  If the Government opposed and threatened, that was no excuse for inactivity.  They must be up and doing.  “Forward! forward!  Let us plunge into the people, identify ourselves with them, and work for their benefit!  Suffering is in store for us, but we must endure it with fortitude!” The type which Tchernishevski had depicted in his famous novel, under the name of Rakhmetof—­the youth who led an ascetic life and subjected himself