HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

202 м. MiSHKiNSKYtory for a workers' union to propagate the removal "from the people'sconsciousness of all superstitions which interfere with the fraternal andequal union of people of different professions, sexes, and religions."Even more conspicuously it demanded equal rights for all minorities ofthe empire and freedom of expression for peoples of all confessionsand opinions.This position was lacking in the draft first program of the union, aswell as in the so-called second program adopted later, after the arrestof Koval'skaia and Shchedrin. 38 Quite the contrary, the draft programcited by Molinari proposed exploitation of national hatred for revolutionaryaims. Was that because the program's authors espoused theBakuninist formula that revolutionaries must proceed on the basis ofthe people's "aspirations" or "demands," which had already beencontradicted by Akselrod? Perhaps there was also another explanation.Koval'skaia and, in particular, Shchedrin were already free fromthe idealization of the "people" that was current in the 1870s, but theyremained convinced that popular revolution was close at hand. Theywere very eager to keep pace with historical events and to acceleratetheir development. Their attitudes, or those of their associates,seemed to follow Nechaev's infamous maxim that the ends justify themeans. That notion was evident in the actions recommended by theunion's program, that is, terror, arson, and assassination. Later,extreme moral relativism would color the pro-pogrom attitude takenby Narodnaia volia in 1881-1883.All this does not mean, of course, that Koval'skaia's subsequentaccount of these times was wholly untrue. It is likely that whenfrictions based on religious and ethnic biases occurred within themultinational membership of the union, its leaders tried to alleviatethem. Corroborating evidence is provided by a handwritten documentfound among the materials confiscated by the police when Koval'skaiawas arrested. While not totally discarding the general premise aboutAkselrod's role as an alleged founder of the Southern-Russian Workers' Union inKiev. Venturi supported the notion (Roots of Revolution, p. 518), ignoring Koval'-skaia's repeated and convincing denial of Akselrod's involvement; see E. Koval'-skaia, "O proiskhozhdenii iuzhno-russkikh rabochikh soiuzov," Kis 25 (1926):47-48; idem, "Neobkhodymye popravki," Kis 27 (1926) : 266-68. Compare alsoVoloshenko, Narysy, pp. 90-96; Kulczycki, Rewolucja rosyjska, pp. 381-84.38The program adopted was described as the "second" in the bill of indictmentagainst the union's members.