ABSTRACT
In the beginning Russia displayed what might be described as a nationwide passion for secret societies and circles. Young people, when confronted by an overwhelming authority, whether the state's, the family's, or the school's, naturally seek a means of expressing their need for privacy and fellowship in some form of communal grouping designed to escape the solicitous eye of elders and superiors. Nicholas Ogarev in 1857 composed a paper to convince his skeptical friend Herzen that a revolutionary conspiracy in Russia "is desirable, possible, and necessary." The main clue to the precise membership of this conspiracy, and who the actual authors of its declarations were, was held by and probably died with Vladimir Obruchev. Vladimir Obruchev's later career turned out better than might have been expected.
