Exemplifying political ideas Russian revolutionary circles before 1917 (original) (raw)

Contradictions lie at the heart of revolutionary groups operating in underground conditions: how can the trust and secrecy of the circle be combined with spreading the message to far-fl ung masses? Can the ideals for the future society be manifested in the way the revolutionaries are themselves organized? Th is paper examines the disputes on these questions that raged among Russian radicals before 1917, which are important because of their subsequent global infl uence. It analyzes the dynamical changes in the forms taken by certain major revolutionary circles, and argues that the diff erentiated social forms, which morphed via crucial decisions from their origin in egalitarian multi-voiced circles, stemmed from the internal debate that was essential to the circle and was to a great extent an outcome of the philosophical and revolutionary ideas espoused.