In this episode we pick up the story of Russia with the reign of the "Great Reformer" Alexander II and the development of the Nihilist and Populist movements. We show how discontent for serfdom and the monarchy grew and how different groups took up the struggle for a more equal society until it found a voice (and strategy) in the ideas of Karl Marx. We discuss the pathways that ultimately led to the formation of Vladimir Lenin's vanguard, the Bolsheviks. We've drawn extensively on the work of the historian Mark Steinberg @TheGreatCourses. PS: Alexander II died in 1881.

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