# Demons (The Possessed) serialised as an anti-radical novel, 1871–1872

Date: 1872

## The fact

Besy ran in 1871–72, using the Nechaev murder of [Ivanov](/people/hristo-ivanov) as a template for a cell that kills its own. It is not a court transcript of Nechaev and not Underground. Polarisation path: public hatred of radicals as possessed.

## Context

Mixed: it also diagnoses a real conspiracy-style murder. Shared with Katkov’s conservative journal. Bakunin’s name sits in the wider anti-nihilist air; he is not a co-author. Later uses as a police-minded classic are reception.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

## Evidence and sources

Gutenberg author page at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/314 locates English Demons neighbourhood. Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fyodor-Dostoyevsky independently dates 1871–72. Goslitmuz is the archival neighbourhood.

Official or archival record: Project Gutenberg — [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](/people/fyodor-dostoyevsky) author page (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/314; Project Gutenberg).

## Significance

Demons is a polarisation path of high confidence and moderate weight. It is not a unique 1870s arrest series. Mixed warning-value is why it is not stored as a pure justice gain.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Demons completed 1872. Not established: that it caused a unique crackdown. Distinct from the Diary’s later civic essays. Nechaev-template novel, Russkiy Vestnik 1871–72, anti-cell polarisation, not a trial transcript. Official https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/314 is not independent https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fyodor-Dostoyevsky. Later UNESCO listings and films are not this lifetime instrument. Nechaev-template novel, Russkiy Vestnik 1871–72, anti-cell polarisation, not a trial transcript. Official https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/314 is not independent https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fyodor-Dostoyevsky. Later UNESCO listings and films are not this lifetime instrument. Nechaev-template novel, Russkiy Vestnik 1871–72, anti-cell polarisation, not a trial transcript. Official https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/314 is not independent https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fyodor-Dostoyevsky. Later UNESCO listings and films are not this lifetime instrument.

The contribution type is direct. The attached driver is [political-polarization](/drivers/political-polarization). The welfare reading used in this dossier is worsening. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Demons is not the Diary’s antisemitic pages and not Underground. Mixed effects of Demons (The Possessed) serialised as an anti-radical novel, 1871–1872 are separate paths.

Shared responsibility is part of Demons (The Possessed) serialised as an anti-radical novel, 1871–1872. Naming Fyodor Dostoyevsky does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1872-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

## People

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky: https://factrail.ai/people/fyodor-dostoyevsky

## Drivers

- Political Polarization: https://factrail.ai/drivers/political-polarization

## Sources

- https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/314
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fyodor-Dostoyevsky

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/dost-demons-1872