Young Russia

(Molodaia Rossiia), a revolutionary proclamation of the 1860’s, written by P. G. Zaichnevskii. It was printed by a secret press in Riazan’ Province in May 1862 and distributed in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the provinces. The proclamation developed Russian Blanquist ideas and called for the overthrow of the monarchy and the annihilation of the Romanov family. It outlined the revolution that was to be carried out by the intelligentsia and the army. The future state was conceived as a federative republic—an alliance of regions consisting of self-governing agricultural communes. The proclamation called for the creation of public factories and trade enterprises and the levying of taxes in accordance with individual means. It proclaimed the right of all peoples to self-determination and recognized Poland’s right to independence. The proclamation polemicized against Kolokol and Velikoruss, whose views it regarded as liberal. Young Russia was the most left-wing of the revolutionary publications of the 1860’s.