leo tolstoy wrote of principles of revolution in his catechism of the revolutionary.
who wrote of principles of revolution in his catechism of the revolutionary ​?
leo tolstoy
catechism of a revolutionary









































the catechism of a revolutionary refers to a manifesto written by russian revolutionary sergey nechayev between april and august 1869.









































section::::the manifesto.









































the manifesto is a manual for the formation of secret societies.
catechism of a revolutionary
the image of nechayev is as much a result of his "catechism of a revolutionist" (1869) as any actions he actually took. the "catechism of a revolutionist" is an important document as it establishes the clear break between the formation of nihilism as a political philosophy and what it becomes as a practice of revolutionary action. it documents the revolutionary as a much transformed figure from the nihilist of the past decade. whereas the nihilist may have practiced asceticism, they argued for an uninhibited hedonism. nechayev assessed that by definition the revolutionary must live devoted to one aim and not allow themselves to be distracted by emotions or attachments. friendship was contingent on revolutionary fervor, relationships with strangers were quantified in terms of what resources they offered revolution and everyone had a role during the revolutionary moment that boiled down to how soon they would be lined up against the wall or when they would accept that they had to do the shooting. the uncompromising tone and content of the "catechism of a revolutionist" was influential far beyond the mere character nechayev personified in the minds of the revolutionaries. part of the reason for this is the way in which it extended nihilist principles into a revolutionary program. the rest of the reason was that the "catechism of a revolutionist" gave the revolutionary project a form of constitution and weight that the "men of the sixties" did not.
russian nihilist movement