Alexander's entire reign had been a curse--and emancipation was a delusion and a lie.

He must yield or perish.

This vicious and degenerate organization had its center in a highly educated middle class, where men with nineteenth-century intelligence and aspirations were in frenzied revolt against methods suited to the time of the Khans.

The inspiring motive was not love of the people, but hatred of their oppressors.

Appeals to the peasantry brought small response, but the movement was eagerly joined by men and women from the highest ranks in Russia.
Secret societies and organizations were everywhere at work, recruited by misguided enthusiasts, and by human suffering from all classes.
Wherever there were hearts bruised and bleeding from official cruelty, in whatever ranks, there the terrible propaganda found sympathizers, if not a home; men--and still more, women--from the highest families in the nobility secretly pledging themselves to the movement, until Russian society was honeycombed with conspiracy extending even to the household of the Tsar.