Chigirin affair

Chigirin, or Chyhyryn, District, Kyiv Province, was located southeast of Kyiv, between the Dnepr and Tiasmin rivers in modern day Ukraine. In the 1860s, the population of the district was largely made up of former state peasants. In 1861 the Russian government had abolished serfdom throughout the empire. In 1866, the government extended the emancipation statutes to state peasants. The government in St. Petersburg ruled in 1867 that former state peasants were to purchase for the land they had been cultivating from the state. In this act, the government ordered the land of former state peasants to be surveyed and appraised in order to adjust the payments former state peasants were to make for the land. The land was passed down from fathers to sons. == Phase One ==

Various dusheviki groups from several villages in Kyiv district rallied together and issued statements declaring their refusal to submit to the government acts favoring the tenure system based on households. The dusheviki stated that by a recent ukaz, Alexander II had redistributed the land by souls rather than tenure. This ukaz was not real and was the result of a rumor that the tsar had redistributed the land by granting the peasants land that was owned by the state and nobility. This method proved effective as many of the dusheviki returned to paying taxes and other dues to the government. After nine months the soldiers were removed from the village. Priadko was the only one who reached the capital; the others were sent home by the police. When Priadko returned from the capital, he traveled to the various villages in Chigirin affirming the dusheviki in their insistence of reallocation of land by souls. In November 1875, Priadko was arrested by the police. He was imprisoned and tried by court in Kyiv in 1876. He was eventually exiled to Siberia. The affair would then move into the second phase. == Phase Two ==

Iakov Stefanovich and Accomplices The dusheviki gained new momentum under the leadership of Iakov Stefanovich, an educated revolutionary who was the son of a Ukrainian priest. Stefanovich was a populist who had previously attempted to provoke peasants to rebel against the government. He escaped arrest by escaping to Switzerland in 1874. His intent was to create a revolutionary movement in the province through which he would incite the peasants to rebel. In the village, Stefanovich assumed the identity of a peasant from Kherson province. He met with Lazar Tenenik, an influential peasant from the region, who Stefanovich told he would represent the village and wishes of the dusheviki to the tsar. Stefanovich's journey took months. In the summer of 1876, Stefanovich was in Elizavetgrad. Stefanovich was joined by other revolutionaries, notably Lev Deich and Vladimir Debogory-Mokrievich. In reality, the documents had been crafted by Stefanovich. The society was to be made up of peasants to fight for their freedom as the tsar was surrounded by people who blocked his will. The Code of the Secret Druzhina The Code, also drafted by Stefanovich and falsely in the name of the tsar, held that the peasants were to take the land by force and end the taxes that were forced to pay. The Code specified the organizational structure of the secret society. The Ceremony of the Holy Oath The oath was required for a peasant to become a member of the secret society. An initiate needed two members to vouch for them. Secret Druzhina Shortly after returning to Chigirin in November, Stefanovich persuaded a few peasants to join his secret society. Some peasants were but Stefanovich managed to persuade 8 peasants to join his society. The society grew rapidly, reaching to about 500 members after a few months. The officials in the district began to investigate the rumor. Knowledge of the society reached the governor of the province then the gendarmerie. In July 1877, a team of investigators was sent to Chigirin. An investigation was carried out for two weeks but without success. == Outcome ==

In 1877, Erofei Prukii, a member of the society, was arrested. Another member produced a copy of the Charter that Stefanovich had given him. When the society was destroyed more than 1,000 people were implicated. "Stefanovich, Bokhanovskii, Deich and more than thousand peasants from 20 villages of Chigirin district were arrested by December of 1877." The three revolutionary leaders were imprisoned in the Lukianvoskii Holding Facility. Only 22 members of the society were put on trial and only 6 were sentenced. The rest were acquitted. == Legacy ==

The Chigirin affair is considered to have sealed the fate of the Narodnik movement and closed a period of peasant upheaval in Russia. Additionally, revolutionaries of the day debated about the ethics of using deception in their undertakings. While the secret society had been stamped out my the local government, the Secret Druzhina nonetheless continued to figure into life in Chigirin district. Some former members of the society joined Stundist groups in Kyiv province. Two of the peasants who had been sentenced converted to the religious persuasion. When these individuals were released from prison they "disseminated rumours that “in the future all the land would be distributed equally among all peasants, and that the government and clergy would cease to exist.”" One of these peasants noted that the populists who were imprisoned because of their involvement in the Chigirin affair told him stories of a "country where all the land was distributed equally among all people." Both peasants believed that the people who had assassinated Alexander II intended to create this economic equality in Russia. Both peasants were tried in court for "high treason" in light of this teaching. However, they were acquitted on August 17.1881. Local officials urged the case to be reconsidered in light of the significant involvement of both peasants in the Secret Druzhina. == References ==