Black Repartition (; also known as Black Partition) was a revolutionary

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

organization in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in the early 1880s. Black Repartition (BR) was established in August-September 1879 after the split of Zemlya i volya (Land and Liberty). The name comes from the Russian countryside, where rumors circulated among

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

s about the approaching repartition. "Chyornyi" in this context does not literally mean "black", but instead "general" or "universal". Originally, the BR members shared the ideas of ''Zemlya i volya'', renounced the necessity of political struggle and were against terror and

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agre ...

tactics Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tact ...

Narodnaya Volya Narodnaya Volya ( rus, Наро́дная во́ля, p=nɐˈrodnəjə ˈvolʲə, t=People's Will) was a late 19th-century revolutionary political organization in the Russian Empire which conducted assassinations of government officials in an att ...

. BR preferred propaganda and agitation ('agitprop') as their tactics. The organizers of BR’s central body in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

were Georgi Plekhanov,

Pavel Akselrod Pavel Borisovich Axelrod (russian: Па́вел Бори́сович Аксельро́д; 25 August 1850 – 16 April 1928) was an early Russian Marxist revolutionary. Along with Georgi Plekhanov, Vera Zasulich, and Leo Deutsch, he was one of ...

, Osip Aptekman, Lev Deich,

Vera Zasulich Vera Ivanovna Zasulich (russian: link=no, Ве́ра Ива́новна Засу́лич; – 8 May 1919) was a Russian socialist activist, Menshevik writer and revolutionary. Radical beginnings Zasulich was born in Mikhaylovka, in the Smol ...

and others. This group organized a print shop and started publishing magazines ''Black repartition'' and ''Core'' (''Зерно'', or Zerno), simultaneously developing ties with students and workers. BR’s peripheral organs were active in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places *Perm, Russia, a city in Russia ** Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 **Perm Governorate, an administra ...

, Saratov, Samara and other cities. After Plekhanov, Deich, Zasulich and some other BR members had

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

d in the beginning of 1880, Anatoly Bulanov, M.Reshko, K.Zagorsky, M.Sheftel and others replaced them as BR’s leaders. They opened a new printing-house in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

and widened their contacts with workers. BR’s central body moved to Moscow. In the spring of 1880, BR members

Yelizaveta Kovalskaya Yelizaveta Nikolayevna Kovalskaya (; June 17 (29), 1849 or 1851 – 1943) was a Russian revolutionary, narodnik, and founding member of Black Repartition. Early life Kovalskaya was born near Kharkiv. Her mother was a serf, who belonged to he ...

and Nikolai Schedrin organized the Worker’s Union of Southern Russia (''Южнорусский рабочий союз'', or Yuzhnorusskiy rabochiy soyuz), which comprised several hundreds of workers. By this time, BR’s vision of

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

had changed in a number of ways. The arrests in 1880-1881 significantly weakened the organization. Seeing the success of ''Narodnaya Volya'', many BR members (

Yakov Stefanovich Yakov Vasilevich Stefanovich ( Russian: Яков Васильевич Стефанович) (10 December (28 November old style) 1854 –14 April 1915) was a Ukrainian narodnik revolutionary. Stefanovich led an unsuccessful attempt to incite a pea ...

, Bulanov and others) adopted its ideology. By the end of 1881, BR ceased to exist as an organization but separate BR clubs continued to operate up until the mid-1880s. Plekhanov, Deich, Zasulich and other ex-members of BR took sides with

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

and created the first Russian Marxist organization called Emancipation of Labor (''Освобождение труда'', or Osvobozhdeniye truda) in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

in 1883.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Authority control 1879 establishments in the Russian Empire 1881 disestablishments in the Russian Empire Defunct socialist parties in Russia Political parties established in 1879 Political parties disestablished in 1881 Political parties in the Russian Empire Secret societies in Russia