Process. The case of Vera Zasulich. Vera Ivanovna Zasulich: biography, attempt on Trepov's life Vera Zasulich made an attempt on Trepov's life
Vera Zasulich was born in the village of Mikhailovka, Gzhatsky district, Smolensk province, into an impoverished noble family. Three years later (1852) her father, a retired officer, died; the mother was forced to send Vera as one of three sisters to financially better-off relatives (Makulich) in the village of Byakolovo near Gzhatsk. In 1864 she was sent to a Moscow private boarding school. After graduating from boarding school, she received a diploma as a home teacher (1867). She served as a clerk for a justice of the peace in Serpukhov for about a year (1867-1868). From the beginning of 1868, she got a job as a bookbinder in St. Petersburg and was engaged in self-education.
She took part in revolutionary circles. In May 1869 she was arrested and in 1869-1871 she was imprisoned in connection with the Nechaev case, then in exile in the Novgorod province, then in Tver. She was again arrested for distributing prohibited literature and deported to Soligalich, Kostroma province.
From the end of 1873, she studied obstetric courses in Kharkov. She became a member of the populist Kyiv circle of “southern rebels”. In the fall of 1875 she went illegal. After the defeat of the group of “southern rebels”, she moved to St. Petersburg (1877).
On January 24 (according to other sources, January 28), 1878, she shot at the St. Petersburg mayor F. F. Trepov, on whose orders the prisoner revolutionary Bogolyubov (Emelyanov A.) was flogged, and wounded him. The acquittal verdict handed down to her on March 31, 1878 by the jury (chairman A.F. Koni, defense attorney P.A. Alexandrov) evoked unanimous approval from the public. At the insistence of friends and not wanting to be subjected to a new arrest, the order of which was given after the acquittal, Zasulich emigrated to Switzerland.
In 1879 she returned to Russia, together with L. G. Deitch and G. V. Plekhanov joined the “Black Redistribution”. In 1880 she emigrated again and was a foreign representative of the Red Cross and Narodnaya Volya. In 1883, having switched to the position of Marxism, she became a member of the “Emancipation of Labor” group, translated the works of K. Marx and F. Engels, and corresponded with them. At the end of 1899, she came to Russia illegally to establish contacts with Social Democratic groups. In 1900, she joined the editorial boards of Iskra and Zarya. Participated in the congresses of the Second International.
At the Second Congress of the RSDLP (1903) it joined the minority Iskra-ists; after the congress she became one of the leaders of Menshevism. In 1905 she returned to Russia. After the revolution of 1905, in 1907-1910, she was one of the “liquidators,” i.e., supporters of the liquidation of underground illegal party structures and the creation of a legal political organization. During the First World War of 1914-1918, she took a defensist position (“social-chauvinist”), that is, in contrast to the Bolsheviks who advocated the defeat of Russia, she advocated the defense of the fatherland. In 1917 he was a member of the Menshevik group “Unity”. V.I. Lenin, sharply criticizing the Menshevik position of Zasulich, highly appreciated her previous revolutionary services. October Revolution 1917 was met with hostility, rightly accusing the Bolsheviks of usurping power and repression.
Literary activity
The first journalistic work was a speech for the 50th anniversary of the Polish uprising of 1831, published in translation into Polish language in the collection Biblioteka “Równosci” (Geneva, 1881). Zasulich owns an essay on the history of the International Workers' Association, a book about J. J. Rousseau (1899, second edition 1923) and Voltaire (the first Russian biography of Voltaire “Voltaire. His Life and literary activity", 1893, second edition 1909), as well as literary critical articles about D. I. Pisarev (1900), N. G. Chernyshevsky, S. M. Kravchinsky (Stepnyak), about the story by V. A. Sleptsov “Difficult Time "(1897), the novel by P. D. Boborykin "In a different way", and other writers and works. Having entered the editorial office of the Iskra newspaper, she published an article about N.A. Dobrolyubov, obituaries about Gleb Uspensky and Mikhailovsky. After the revolution of 1905, in search of income, she took on translations of the prose of H. Wells and Voltaire’s novel “The White Bull”. She was a member of the All-Russian Society of Writers and the All-Russian Literary Society. In her literary critical works, Zasulich continued the traditions of revolutionary democratic literary criticism and journalism. IN last years wrote memoirs published posthumously.
Petrograd) - activist of the Russian and international socialist movement, writer. At first she was a terrorist populist, then one of the first Russian social democrats.
Vera Zasulich was born in the village of Mikhailovka (now a tract in the Mozhaisky district of the Moscow region) of the Gzhatsky district of the Smolensk province into an impoverished Polish noble family. Three years later () her father, a retired officer, died; the mother was forced to send Vera, one of the three sisters, to more financially secure relatives (Makulich) in the village of Byakolovo near Gzhatsk. In 1864 she was sent to a Moscow private boarding school. After graduating from the boarding school, she received a diploma as a home teacher (). For about a year she served as a clerk for a justice of the peace in Serpukhov (-). From the beginning of 1868, she got a job as a bookbinder in St. Petersburg and was engaged in self-education.
She took part in revolutionary circles. In May 1869 she was arrested and in 1871 she was imprisoned in connection with the “Nechaev case”, then in exile in the Novgorod province, then in Tver. She was again arrested for distributing prohibited literature and exiled to Soligalich, Kostroma province.
The acquittal was enthusiastically greeted in society and was accompanied by a demonstration from those gathered outside the court building large mass public. The news of V. Zasulich's acquittal was greeted with great interest abroad. Newspapers in France, Germany, England, the USA, Italy and other countries gave detailed information about the process. In all these messages, along with Vera Zasulich, the names of lawyer P. A. Alexandrov and 34-year-old A. F. Koni, who presided over the trial, were invariably mentioned. He deservedly gained the reputation of a judge who did not make any compromises with his conscience, and in the liberal strata of Russian society they openly talked about him as a person in opposition to the autocracy. The government also responded to Zasulich’s acquittal. Minister K. I. Palen accused A. F. Koni of violations of the law and urged him to resign. Kony remained firm in his decision. Then began a long period of his disgrace: he was transferred to the civil department of the judicial chamber, and in 1900 he left judicial activity. The emperor's anger was so great that he did not spare the Minister of Justice. Count Palen was soon dismissed from his post “for careless handling of the case of V. Zasulich.”
The day after her release, the verdict was protested, and the police issued an order to capture Zasulich, but she managed to hide in a safe house and was soon transferred to her friends in Switzerland to avoid re-arrest.
Already on the second day after the acquittal, a memo appeared in the minister’s office about the need to streamline criminal provisions. By a personal decree, cases of armed resistance to the authorities, attacks on military and police officials and in general officials in the performance of their official duties, if these crimes were accompanied by murder or attempted murder, wounding, mutilation, etc., were transferred to a military court, and the perpetrators were subject to punishment under Article 279 Military regulations on punishments, that is, deprivation of all rights of fortune and the death penalty. This measure was considered timely when four months later S. M. Kravchinsky killed the chief of gendarmes N. V. Mezentsev.
It is interesting that lawyer V.I. Zhukovsky, who refused to act as a prosecutor in the Zasulich case, left - under pressure from the authorities dissatisfied with the outcome of the case - the field of prosecutor and subsequently worked in the legal profession.
At the insistence of friends and not wanting to be subjected to a new arrest, the order of which was given after the acquittal, Zasulich emigrated to Switzerland, where G. V. Plekhanov, P. B. Axelrod, V. N. Ignatov and L. G. Deitch created the first Marxist social democratic group "Emancipation of Labor".
In 1899, she came to Russia illegally using a Bulgarian passport in the name of Velika Dmitrieva. She used this name to publish her articles and established contacts with local social democratic groups in Russia. In St. Petersburg I met V.I. Lenin.
Social democracy does not want to allow liberals to power, believing that the only revolutionary good class is the proletariat, and the rest are traitors.
In March 1917, she joined the group of right-wing Menshevik-defencists “Unity” and advocated with them for continuing the war to a victorious end (she outlined these views in the brochure “Loyalty to the Allies.” Pg., 1917). In April, she signed an appeal to Russian citizens, calling for support for the Provisional Government, which had become a coalition.
In July 1917, as the confrontation between the Bolsheviks and other political forces intensified, she took a firm position of supporting the current government, was elected to the members of the Petrograd Provisional City Duma, and on behalf of the “old revolutionaries” called for unification to protect against the “united armies of the enemy.” Just before the October Revolution, she was nominated as a candidate for membership in the Constituent Assembly.
Zasulich considered the October Revolution of 1917 a counter-revolutionary coup that interrupted the normal political development bourgeois-democratic revolution, and regarded the system created by the Bolsheviks Soviet power a mirror image of the tsarist regime. She argued that the new ruling minority had simply “overwhelmed the starving and degenerating gagged majority.” Claiming that the Bolsheviks were “destroying capital, destroying large-scale industry,” she sometimes decided to public performance(at the "Workers' Banner" club on April 1, 1918). Lenin, criticizing her speeches, nevertheless recognized that Zasulich was “the most prominent revolutionary.”
“It’s hard to live, it’s not worth living,” she complained to her colleague in the populist circle L. G. Deitch, feeling dissatisfied with the life she had lived, punished by the mistakes she had made [ ] . Having become seriously ill, until the last hour she wrote her memoirs, published posthumously.
In the winter of 1919 there was a fire in her room. She was sheltered by two sisters who lived in the same yard, but she developed pneumonia and died.
The first journalistic work is a speech on the 50th anniversary of the Polish uprising of 1831, published translated into Polish in the collection Biblioteka “Równosci” (Geneva,). Zasulich owns an essay on the history of the International Workers' Association, a book about J.-J. Rousseau (2nd edition) and
Greetings, dear friends, to the website. On the line Andrey Puchkov and in this post we will talk about a case over 140 years ago - about the shot by Vera Zasulich on February 5, 1878 at the mayor of St. Petersburg Fyodor Trepov.
It will seem to many that the matter is clear, but still there are some myths and even inaccuracies in it, which are admitted by all and sundry.
What is special about Vera Zasulich’s action? The fact is that if you, dear reader, look at the criminal cases of the 19th century, you will discover one most curious thing: all the murders in which women were the main participants are associated with revenge for personal grievances. Some woman's husband left him for his mistress, some woman left his lover for his wife. In general, the motive of revenge is visible to the naked eye.
Vera Zasulich, being a woman, made an attempt on the life of a man not out of personal revenge, and not for any personal reasons. She did not know student Bogolyubov (real name Arkhip Emelyanov) before Trepov’s act. The question arises: for what reasons did an ordinary St. Petersburg bookbinder decide to make an attempt on the life of a godforsaken student?
To understand this issue, let’s look a little at Vera’s biography and at the mayor’s very act.
A Little Biography of Vera Zasulich
The main defendant in the Bogolyubov case was born in one of the villages of the Smolensk province. Her family was from impoverished Poles. Her father soon died, and her mother sent her daughter to her sisters. As a result, Vera studied at a private Moscow boarding school and received a diploma as a home teacher.
However, apparently, Vera was not attracted to this role and she left for St. Petersburg. In fact, even today St. Petersburg is a city to which many of my friends and acquaintances from university move from the outback. I think Vera went to the intellectual and cultural capital of Russia for the same reasons: to breathe in the spirit of genuine culture and free ideas
The act of mayor F. Trepov
In the second half of the 19th century in prisons Russian Empire the prisoners were treated extremely badly. Well, imagine if only from the beginning of the reign of Alexander II corporal punishment was banned in Russia. And before that, they were used for a good thousand years and were considered quite normal.
Those arrested for political reasons were put in solitary confinement, in which gentle intellectual souls quickly withered away and left for another world. What can we say about the fact that even after the corresponding decree of the Emperor, corporal punishment was still used: out of habit.
Student Arkhip Emelyanov was arrested for youth participation in a demonstration near the Kazan Cathedral. For the uninitiated, it is not clear why they are being arrested here. Yes, at least for the fact that they just got together. After all, any gatherings of citizens were prohibited by the Laws of the Empire. So, for example, after work, the three of you gathered to drink kefir: fig with butter! The security will grab you right away.
Students at universities were quietly put in a punishment cell at the educational building, and usually it was the commandant who put them in... Overall, it was fun.
And so Arkhip found himself in a pre-trial detention cell. On one of the walks around the territory inside the prison, together with other prisoners, Arkhip, like other prisoners, met face to face with the mayor. On this day (July 13, 1877) Trepov arrived as usual with a check. All the prisoners took off their hats as a sign that high authorities had arrived. But student Bogolyubov did not take it off. Trepov took a quick glance at the “student” and ordered him to be put in a punishment cell for such an oversight.
St. Petersburg house of pre-trial detention, where the incident with Bogolyubov took place
Don't think that the prison authorities were such inhumans. No one was going to put him in a punishment cell for such a trifle. But on the second round (the prisoners were walking in a circle), Trepov again came across Bogolyubov and asked why the “puppy” was not yet in the punishment cell? On the third round, Trepov ordered not only to put the young man in a punishment cell, but also to flog him.
For the uninitiated, I will again say that in Rus' there were such craftsmen who, with rods, could literally “knock out” the soul from a torn body with one or two blows. In fact, she flew out on her own. And Trepov ordered Bogolyubov to be flogged 25 times.
So it turns out that for nothing.
The case of Vera Zasulich
The fact of the flogging of an innocent student became known to the wider St. Petersburg public in a matter of days. This fact had a terrible impact on the tender souls of revolutionaries and intelligentsia. Actually, since 1878, Narodnaya Volya (a terrorist offshoot of Land and Freedom) sentenced the Tsar to death.
Trepov himself, by the way, recently after his act came to the famous St. Petersburg lawyer A.F. Horses “have some tea.” In the conversation, as the lawyer later recalled, Trepov did not regret his action at all, although he said that he had broken the law. The mayor wanted Koni to preside over the jury trial. Notice! Not her lawyer! Namely, the chairman. Trepov hinted that the matter should be resolved impartially.
On the same day, Koni went to see the Minister of Justice, Count K.I. Palen, tell me that Trepov’s act is really a crime. However, the minister, on the contrary, began to defend Trepov. Palen was so confident that he could disgrace Zasulich and send her to prison for 20 years that he took the case to a jury.
Minister of Justice, Count K.I. Palen
However, let us return to the winter February day of February 5, 1878. According to the subsequent testimony of Vera Zasulich, no one was going to do anything. Vera waited: who, who will punish the monster mayor. And she decided to do it herself, after waiting six months.
After the shot, Trepov (who survived) and Vera testified about how it all happened.
The mayor claimed that it was an ordinary reception day, when the head of the city received citizens with appeals (!). And this is in Tsarist Russia. It is strange that today, in a democracy, city leaders do not accept citizens’ appeals.
A girl came in, took out a pistol and fired a shot at the mayor. She missed and intended to take a second shot. But the chief of the guard tied her up. The girl, according to Trepov, struggled, wanting to make a shot, but she was not allowed.
According to Vera’s own testimony, she herself dropped the weapon after the first shot, not wanting to accidentally shoot at innocent people.
The trial of Vera Zasulich
So, the Minister of Justice transferred the already high-profile case of Vera Zasulich to a jury trial. K.P. Pobedonostsev at this time wrote to the future Tsar Alexander III: “Going to a jury trial with such a case, at such a moment, in the midst of such a society as St. Petersburg’s, is a serious matter.”
The shooter wanted to defend herself... Who would have given it to her? There were 18 jurors in the court, including: 9 officials, 1 nobleman, 1 merchant, 1 free artist. Court Counselor A.I. was elected as the foreman of the jury. Lokhov 😉
When the Minister of Justice K.I. Palen realized how everything could be, he began to hint to Koni, the chairman of the court, that everything must be resolved correctly... Kony assured that he would be impartial.
Famous St. Petersburg lawyer A.F. Horses
On March 31, 1878, the trial began. There were so many people that maybe they weren’t sitting on the chandelier. The prosecutor was K.I. Kessel. The defender (lawyer) was a famous man in the city, P.A. Alexandrov.
At the trial, Vera confirmed her testimony. She said that she was strongly impressed by Trepov’s act itself and its consequences - the student soon died. And no one was going to judge the mayor. As a result, she decided to administer justice herself.
After the indictment, defense attorney Alexandrov spoke. He structured his speech in such a way that he in no way justified Zasulich’s actions. But he indicated that he saw in the dock different women, and for the first time he sees a woman who committed a crime not for personal reasons, but for moral reasons.
He also said that the court, of course, could convict her, but it was unlikely to break this woman even more. That Vera can leave the courtroom convicted, but she will not leave disgraced, since there is no shame in her action.
After the debate between the parties, presiding officer Koni asked the jury three questions: “(1) Is Vera Zasulich guilty of the fact that, having decided to take revenge on the mayor Trepov and having acquired a revolver for this purpose, on January 24, with the general’s premeditated intention, she inflicted a wound on Adjutant Trepov in the pelvic cavity with a large-caliber bullet ; (2) if Zasulich committed this act, then did she have a premeditated intention to take the life of mayor Trepov; (3) if Zasulich had the goal of depriving the mayor of Trepov, then did she do everything that depended on her to achieve this goal, and death did not occur due to circumstances beyond Zasulich’s control.”
The jury answered all questions: “No, not guilty!” Koni had not yet had time to fully read out the jury's decision when cries of delight and approval erupted in the hall.
On the same day, Vera was released from prison. When the prosecutor's office recovered from the shock, they began to look for Zasulich in order to convict her and file an appeal. But the revolutionaries had already transported her to a safe house, and then abroad.
To be fair, it should be said that, of course, Vera Zasulich made an attempt on the life of a high official of the empire. And according to all the laws, she should have been sent to 20 years of hard labor in Siberia. But the public outcry that this case received led to her acquittal.
What do you think, is Vera Zasulich guilty or not?
Best regards, Andrey Puchkov
1849-1919), political figure. A participant in the populist movement of the 1870s, in 1878 she attempted the life of St. Petersburg mayor F. F. Trepov, and was acquitted by a jury. Since 1879, member of the Black Redistribution. In 1883, one of the organizers of the Liberation of Labor group. Since 1900, member of the editorial board of the newspaper Iskra and the magazine Zarya. Since 1903 in the Menshevik Party. Participant in the revolution of 1905-07, later from political activity moved away.
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ZASULICH Vera Ivanovna
(1849-1919) Polit. activist In 1867 she passed the exam for the title of national teacher. Participant of the rev. movement since 1868, populist. In 1878, on her own initiative, she shot at St. Petersburg. mayor F. Trepov, acquitted by a jury. In 1879-1905 in exile. Since 1903, member of the RSDLP, one of the leaders of the Mensheviks. Since 1905 in St. Petersburg, co-worker. legal gas. “The Beginning”, “Russian Life”, “People’s Duma”. After 1907 from the revolution. retired from activity, was engaged in translations of art. liters. Works on social-political, philosophical. or T. topics, incl. book “Voltaire, his life and lit. activity" (1893), "Jean Jacques Rousseau" (1899). Author of Memoirs (1919).
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ZASULICH Vera Ivanovna
1849–1919), Russian figure revolutionary movement. Came from ancient noble family. Grandfather is the leader of the district nobility in Gzhatsk. In addition to Vera, there were 2 more sisters in the family, who also became revolutionaries, and a brother who entered the military service. On January 24, 1878, Zasulich shot at the mayor of St. Petersburg, F. F. Trepov, which was the first terrorist act in Russia. The assassination attempt on Trepov (he was accused of corporal punishment of the populist Yemelyanov) was also prepared by other revolutionaries, but Zasulich was ahead of them. She was acquitted by a jury and immediately fled to Germany. Trepov, considering himself offended by Zasulich's acquittal, resigned.
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ZASULICH Vera Ivanovna
(1849-1919) - Russian public figure, populist, Marxist, literary critic and publicist. She participated in revolutionary circles since 1868. Since 1875 she was in an illegal position. In 1878 she shot at the St. Petersburg mayor F.F. Trepov. The reason for the assassination attempt was his order, according to which the political prisoner Bogolyubov (A.S. Emelyanov) was illegally flogged. Acquitted by a jury on March 31, 1878. In 1879 she joined the populist organization “Black Redistribution”. Since 1883 - a member of the "Emancipation of Labor" group, since 1900 - a member of the editorial board of the newspaper "Iskra" and the social democratic magazine "Zarya". Since 1903, she was one of the leaders of the Mensheviks. Author of articles about Russian XIX literature- beginning of the 20th century and "Memoirs" (1931).
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Zasulich Vera Ivanovna
Vera Ivanovna Zasulich - writer, participant in the revolutionary movement of the last quarter of the 19th century. On January 24, 1878, she made an attempt on the life of the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov, who ordered the flogging of the political prisoner Bogolyubov in the pretrial detention house for not taking off his hat in front of Trepov. On March 31, the jurors acquitted Zasulich, which was met with very sympathy in society and was accompanied by a demonstration from a large crowd of people gathered at the courthouse. After this, Zasulich went into hiding (the verdict was protested) and soon went abroad, where she was one of the founders of the “labor emancipation group” - a social democratic movement that was then new in Russia. Abroad, Zasulich worked a lot for the development of the Social Democratic Party and returned to Russia after October 17, 1905. Zasulich’s main literary works: “Rousseau”, “Voltaire”, “Essay on the history of the international society of workers”, “” Elements of idealism in socialism." A significant part of them was published separately in two volumes.Zasulich Vera Ivanovna
1849–1919
Revolutionary populist, leader of the Russian and international socialist movement.
Vera Zasulich was born in the village of Mikhailovka, Gzhatsky district, Smolensk province, into an impoverished Polish noble family. Vera's father, an officer, died when the girl was three years old. The mother, left alone with three daughters, was forced to send Vera to wealthier relatives. In 1864, she was sent to a Moscow private boarding school, where she was taught foreign languages and trained governesses. After graduating from the boarding school, in 1867, Vera Zasulich passed the exam for the title of home teacher and moved to St. Petersburg. For about a year she served as a secretary for a justice of the peace in Serpukhov. From the beginning of 1868, she got a job as a bookbinder in St. Petersburg and was engaged in self-education.
Having begun to attend revolutionary circles, Zasulich at the end of 1868 met S.G. Nechaev, who unsuccessfully tried to involve her in the revolutionary organization “People's Retribution” he was creating. Zasulich refused, considering his plans fantastic, but, nevertheless, provided her address for receiving and transmitting letters from illegal immigrants. For a letter received from abroad for delivery to another person, Vera Zasulich was arrested on April 30, 1869. She spent about a year in prison in the “Nechaev case” of the murder of a student. In March 1871, she was released, but exiled to Kresttsy, Novgorod province, and then to Tver. In Tver, Zasulich was again arrested for distributing illegal literature and deported to the Kostroma province, and from there, in December 1873, to Kharkov.
In Kharkov she studied obstetric courses. From 1875 she lived under police supervision, becoming fascinated by the teachings of M.A. Bakunin, joined the “Southern Rebels” circle, which was created in Kyiv, but had branches throughout Ukraine, uniting about 25 former members"going to the people." Zasulich and other “rebel” Bakuninists tried to raise the peasant revolt under the slogan of equalizing redistribution of land. The plan of the “rebels” to prepare an uprising could not be carried out; in 1877, the organization was destroyed, and Zasulich, fleeing police persecution, went to the capital, where it was easier to get lost.
Having moved to St. Petersburg, Zasulich worked in the underground “Free Russian Printing House”, and then joined the “Land and Freedom” society, to which this printing house belonged.
In July 1877, the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov ordered the flogging of the political prisoner Narodnik Bogolyubov because he did not take off his hat in front of him. Trepov's order to flog him was a violation of the law prohibiting corporal punishment of April 17, 1863. This incident on July 13, 1877 caused a riot in the prison, received wide publicity, and newspapers wrote about it. In different places, revolutionaries began to prepare attempts on the life of Mayor Trepov in order to avenge their comrade. On the morning of January 24, 1878, Zasulich came to see Trepov in the building of the St. Petersburg City Administration and shot him in the chest with a pistol, seriously wounding him. The terrorist was immediately arrested. The name of the shooter quickly became known. According to the card index of descriptions in the police department, there was a certain V. Zasulich, the daughter of the nobleman Ivan Petrovich Zasulich, who had previously been involved in the Nechaev case. They found the suspect’s mother, and during a meeting she identified the criminal as her daughter Vera Ivanovna Zasulich.
The whole of St. Petersburg was discussing the assassination attempt on Trepov. The governor was bad, but out of danger. They said that to the consoling words of the sovereign, who visited Trepov on the day of the assassination attempt, the old man replied: “This bullet, perhaps, was intended for you, Your Majesty, and I am happy that I took it for you.” Alexander II did not like this assurance very much; the sovereign did not visit Trepov again and in general began to noticeably grow colder towards him.
The event of January 24 made a great impression on all of Russia. The majority did not like Trepov and accused him of being corrupt and suppressing city government.
The investigation into the Zasulich case was carried out at a rapid pace and was completed by the end of February. According to the law, such crimes were punishable by 15 to 20 years in prison. The jury on April 12, 1878 completely acquitted Zasulich. “The acquittal of Zasulich took place as if in some kind of terrible nightmare; no one could understand how such a terrible mockery of the state’s top servants and such an arrogant triumph of sedition could take place in the courtroom of an autocratic empire,” wrote Prince V.P. Meshchersky about the trial of Vera Zasulich.
The day after her release, the verdict was protested and the police issued an order to capture Zasulich, but she managed to hide in a safe house and was soon transferred to her friends in Sweden to avoid re-arrest.
She was the first of the female revolutionaries to try the method of individual terror, but she was also the first to be disappointed in its effectiveness.
In 1879, she secretly returned from emigration to Russia. After the collapse in June - August, “Land and Freedom” joined the group of those who sympathized with the views of G.V. Plekhanov. Zasulich, together with Plekhanov, participated in the creation of the “Black Redistribution” group; they denied the need for political struggle, did not accept terrorist and conspiratorial tactics, and were supporters of widespread agitation and propaganda among the masses. They were convinced of the need for a peasant revolution.
The police crushed the “Black Redistribution”; in January 1880, Zasulich was again forced to emigrate, fleeing another arrest. She went to Paris, where the political “Red Cross” operated - created by P.L. Lavrov’s Foreign Union for Assistance to Political Prisoners and Exiles, whose goal was to raise funds for them.
While in Europe, she realized the utopian nature of populism and became a staunch supporter revolutionary Marxism, became close to the Marxists and especially to Plekhanov, who came to Geneva. There, in 1883, Zasulich took part in the creation of the first Marxist organization of Russian emigrants - the Liberation of Labor group. Zasulich translated the works of Marx and Engels into Russian.
Zasulich represented Russian social democracy at three congresses of the Second International in 1896, 1900 and 1904. Having decisively abandoned her previous views, she promoted Marxism and denied terror - “a consequence of feelings and concepts inherited from autocracy.”
At the Second Congress of the RSDLP in 1903, it joined the minority Iskra-ists; after the congress she became one of the leaders of Menshevism. In 1905 she returned to Russia. After the revolution of 1905, in 1907–1910, she was a supporter of the liquidation of underground illegal party structures and the creation of a legal political organization. During the First World War of 1914–1918, she took a defensist position, that is, in contrast to the Bolsheviks who advocated the defeat of Russia, she advocated the defense of the fatherland.
She regarded the February revolution of 1917 as bourgeois-democratic, ironically stating: “Social democracy does not want to allow liberals to power, believing that the only revolutionary good class is the proletariat, and all the rest are traitors.” In March 1917, Zasulich joined the group of right-wing Menshevik defencists “Unity”, which advocated continuing the war to a victorious end and supporting the Provisional Government.
Zasulich considered the October Revolution of 1917 a counter-revolutionary coup that interrupted the normal political development of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, and regarded the system of Soviet power created by the Bolsheviks as a mirror image of the tsarist regime. She argued that the new ruling majority simply “crushed the starving and degenerating gagged majority.” IN AND. Lenin highly appreciated her previous revolutionary services.
“It’s hard to live, it’s not worth living,” she complained, feeling dissatisfied with the life she had lived, punished by the mistakes she had made. Having become seriously ill, until the last hour she wrote her memoirs, published posthumously.
In the winter of 1919, there was a fire in her room. She was sheltered by two sisters who lived in the same yard, but she developed pneumonia and died.
From the book Russian history in the biographies of its main figures author Kostomarov Nikolay IvanovichEmpress Anna Ivanovna Peter was always merciful and kindly kind to those of his blood who, like his brother Ivan, recognized their smallness in front of him, did not interfere in any political affairs, and even in matters relating to their home life, acted as was
From the book Women on the Russian Throne author Anisimov Evgeniy ViktorovichLandowner Ivanovna And Anna Ioannovna began to live and live in St. Petersburg. In 1732, the case of the soldier Ivan Sedov was considered in the Secret Chancellery. He allowed himself to insultingly comment on the story of a comrade who observed a wonderful scene near the palace. Her Majesty
From the book Alexander II. Spring of Russia author Carrère d'Encausse HélèneShot by Vera Zasulich The day after the end of the “trial of the 193s,” the opportunity arose to assess how unsuccessful the attempt to instill fear in the participants of the revolutionary movement was. On this day, January 24, 1878, a twenty-seven-year-old girl, mixed with
From the book Secrets of the Old and New Worlds. Conspiracies. Intrigues. Hoaxes. author Chernyak Efim BorisovichThe greedy Anna Ivanovna Napoleon's chief intelligence officer Schulmeister managed to distinguish himself during the Erfurt meeting of the French and Russian emperors (September 1808), organizing well-organized surveillance of its participants, and especially, of course, of Tsar Alexander I.
From the book The Tragedy of Russia. Regicide March 1, 1881 author Bryukhanov Vladimir Andreevich3.6. Trepov and Vera Zasulich While Alexander II was in the Balkans - at the headquarters of the heroically fighting Russian army, in Russia a strong political blow was dealt to him in the back - and we do not mean revolutionaries at all. The blow was dealt to his own loved ones
author Pavlovsky Gleb Olegovich62. Vera Zasulich, Masha Kolenkina and heroic men - In the archive of Vera Zasulich, I read all her letters, including the last ones, where she curses her party friends, the Mensheviks, for their spinelessness. This is a woman who was once devoted to Lenin, devoted to him in the literal sense, and why
There will be no Third Millennium from the book. Russian history of playing with humanity author Pavlovsky Gleb Olegovich74. Secret correspondence with the populists. Marx’s letter to Vera Zasulich - Do you remember how in 1973 you thought about the “Marx continuum”? You then began a new cycle of reflections about Marx and Russia. - Well, of course. There was an episode, I learned about it in the Leningrad Plekhanov House. Boris
authorMarfa Ivanovna
From the book The Life of Count Dmitry Milyutin author Petelin Viktor VasilievichChapter 1 LIBERATION OF VERA ZASULICH BY THE JURY The war seemed to be left behind, negotiations were still going on with the Turks, the Sultan wrote letters to Alexander II, Totleben insisted on clearing the Bulgarian cities of Varna and Shumla from Turkish troops, but even more was already happening in Russia
From the book From the Neolithic to Glavlit author Blum Arlen ViktorovichV.I. Zasulich Words cannot be killed (...) By tireless struggle, the Russian people will prove - they will prove to themselves, and this is very important - that, in addition to despots and slaves, in Russia there are citizens, many citizens who value the dignity and honor of their country, its freedom - more than your personal
From the book Suicide of an Empire. Terrorism and bureaucracy. 1866–1916 author Ikonnikov-Galitsky Andrzej A.The long echo of Vera Zasulich's shot Vera Zasulich's assassination attempt on the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov in 1878 is one of the most famous terrorist acts in the history of Russia. It is distinguished from other political assassinations by its amazing simplicity and clarity of plot.
From book Russian history in the faces author Fortunatov Vladimir Valentinovich5.7.3. Did Zasulich shoot in vain? IN modern Russia Terrorism has a heavy trail: Budennovsk, Moscow, Beslan. But it would be ahistorical to put terrorists on the same level as the other half of the 19th century V. and terrorists of the late 20th – early 21st centuries. Different times– various terrorisms and terrorists. On
From the book History of Russia. Time of Troubles author Morozova Lyudmila EvgenievnaMarfa Ivanovna Marfa Ivanovna (Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova) (? - 1631) - wife of F. N. Romanov (Filaret) and mother of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. She came from the old Moscow boyar family of the Morozov-Saltykovs. Her father died early and left her and her eldest daughter a good dowry. In 1590
From the book Teacher author Davydov Alil NuratinovichAlla Ivanovna Gadzhieva Speaking about the life and multifaceted activities of Bulach Imadutdinovich, it should be noted that it would be impossible to do so much in life without a strong “rear”, without great and daily help in all matters of his beloved wife Alla Ivanovna. Since 1953, when
From book Complete collection essays. Volume 24. September 1913 - March 1914 author Lenin Vladimir IlyichHow V. Zasulich is killing liquidationism In No. 8 of “Living Life” (15), dated July 19, 1913, there is a wonderful article by V. Zasulich in defense of liquidationism (“On One Question”). We draw the keen attention of all those interested in issues of the labor movement and democracy to
From the book Comparative Theology. Book 3 author Team of authors
