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played an influential role in the development of
the Russian revolutionary movement in the
19th and early 20th centuries. Russia also pro-
duced two of the leading theorists of modern
anarchism, Mikhail BAKUNIN (1814-76) and Petr
KROPOTKIN (1842-1921), both of whom came
from prominent Russian noble families and both
of whom spent most of their adult lives in exile.
Their writings influenced the Russian revolu-
tionary movement as well as the anarchist move-
ment beyond Russia. In his writings, Bakunin
emphasized the collectivist roots of anarchism
and called for spontaneous mass rebellion as the
means for achieving the anarchists' goals.
Bakunin's belief that violence was an acceptable
tool to achieve anarchist goals influenced the
Russian POPULIST movement as it turned to ter-
rorism in the late 1870s, while his profound sus-
picions of the dictatorial elements inherent in
Karl Marx's socialism created divisions among
the members of the First International that has-
tened its collapse in 1881. A geologist by training,
Kropotkin developed a philosophy that rejected
violence and envisioned anarchism as a scientifi-
cally based ethical philosophy. In some respects,
Leo TOLSTOY 's religious-based nonviolence also
has anarchist undertones.
A home-grown anarchist movement devel-
oped in Russia after the 1905 Revolution. Most
of its members saw themselves as “anarcho-
communists,” in the tradition of Kropotkin, but
a significant element, the “anarcho-syndicalists”
took advantage of Russia's growing industrializa-
tion to develop roots among trade unions. A
third orientation known as “maximalists,” linked
initially to the Socialist Revolutionary Party,
resorted to terrorism like its Populist predeces-
sors from the 1870s. During the 1917 Revolu-
tion, anarchists opposed the Provisional
Government and worked (albeit uneasily) with
BOLSHEVIKS under the ideological umbrella of the
soviets. Anarchists also gained support among
sailors, particularly those of the Kronstadt naval
base. After the October Revolution the Bolshe-
viks cracked down on the anarchist movement
in leading Russian cities in the spring of 1918. A
rural anarchist base was established in Ukraine
in the peasant movement led by the guerrilla
leader Nestor MAKHNO . Although the KRONSTADT
REBELLION of 1921 had broader ideological
underpinnings, anarchist influence among the
sailors helped them fashion their anti-Bolshevik
but pro-Soviet message. The final public demon-
stration of anarchist feeling in Soviet Russia
came during the funeral of KROPOTKIN in Febru-
ary 1921, for which jailed anarchists were given
a one-day reprieve, in itself a sign of the political
defeat of the movement.
Andropov, Yuri Vladimirovich
(1914-1984)
Soviet ruler
Andropov succeeded Leonid BREZHNEV as gen-
eral secretary of the COMMUNIST PARTY in Novem-
ber 1982. In poor health for most of his brief
tenure, his main legacy was the promotion of
Mikhail GORBACHEV to the inner circles of Soviet
power. Andropov was born in Stavropol pro-
vince in southern Russia to the family of a rail-
way worker. After joining the KOMSOMOL
(Communist Youth League) in 1930, he held
numerous jobs while ascending through the
Komsomol apparatus, until becoming a full
Communist Party member in 1939. In the 1940s
he worked in Karelia, recently annexed from
Finland, where he met the Finnish Communist
Otto Kuusinen, who served as his mentor at this
stage. As Soviet ambassador to Hungary, he was
instrumental in coordinating the suppression of
the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and installing
the pro-Soviet János Kádár in power. Back in
Moscow, he continued to rise in the Communist
Party, joining its Central Committee in 1961 and
serving as Central Committee secretary from
1962 to 1967. In 1967 he was appointed director
of the KGB (secret police), a move that was
widely seen as an attempt by the party's ideolog-
ical guardian, Mikhail SUSLOV , to remove a tal-
ented rival, since there was tacit agreement that
the party secretary could not come from the
ranks of the security service. Andropov's KGB
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