Why did the daughter of the St. Petersburg governor join the terrorists and how she killed Tsar Alexander II

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Alexander II is an emperor who conscientiously tried to improve and reform the structure of the state, and he wanted to do this without any pressure on the progressive strata of society. The first half of his reign is often called the "thaw", he was so different in approaches from his pedantic and tough father Nicholas I. However, the progressively thinking part of society, unfortunately, did not understand that not everything that happens in the country can be made against him.

The politically active part of the country's population needed to resolve the issue of the hard life of the people right here and now, they did not recognize the principle of gradualness, phasing. It was established for centuries, it was impossible to change in a moment. Instead of joining the initiated democratic reforms, such as Sophia Perovskaya, shook the situation in the country, provoked a reaction from the government. Joint constructive work could bring good results, and so - began a mutually directed activity to destroy each other.

How did it happen that the excellent student Sofya Perovskaya went against the will of her father and joined the revolutionaries

Sophia Perovskaya was the daughter of the Governor of St. Petersburg Lev Nikolaevich Perovsky. The girl loved to read, thought a lot. She entered the evening women's courses that had just opened in St. Petersburg at the 5th gymnasium at the Alarchin bridge. Female education was then still a completely outlandish phenomenon (homeschooling was customary). And then Professor Engelhardt invited four alarchinks to work in his laboratory in chemistry. Sophia, brave, intelligent and decisive, of course was among them. This was a group of like-minded people who were struck by the lawlessness, ruin, impoverishment of the peasantry, which came after the abolition of serfdom, the no less powerless and hard life of the workers. They wanted to change this state of affairs, but how? How to make people's lives meaningful, fair and reasonable - this is the main question that Sophia asked.

Everything that the girl lived now was contrary to the views of her father. It was not enough for her to get an education, she wanted to be independent and to control her own destiny. All attempts by Lev Nikolayevich to reason with his daughter did not lead to anything (in response to her father's demand to stop acquaintance with "dubious persons", she even ran away from home), he gave her a separate residence permit. From that time on, Sonya lived her own, completely independent life. She had one great desire - to find the most important thing to give her life.

In the library at the Medical-Surgical Academy, gatherings of students from various educational institutions took place, organized by Mark Nathanson. Sofia Perovskaya also took part in them. Moreover, Nathanson invited her to live in the Wolf commune, located in Kushelevka. Sophia's idea of the commune seemed very correct - it was easier to set things up, and people were in sight, life side by side makes it possible to quickly understand what and who is.

In 1871 he created a populist circle, which merged with Nathanson's circle. In 1872, both circles entered the similar organization of Tchaikovsky. Their main business was the propaganda of socialist ideas among the workers and peasants. For them, the king was evil, hindering the development of the country, and with him he was not on the way.

How did “going to the people” affect Perovskaya's career?

Under the influence of the works of Pisarev, Dobrolyubov, Flerovsky, Chernyshevsky in the young generation of those thinking and looking for a high meaning of life, striving to critically assess reality, a sense of moral obligation to the people arose and grew stronger. It is at the expense of the dispossessed, illiterate, ignorant people, who have worked for centuries by the sweat of their brows, that cultured people enjoy all the benefits.

In love with the people, the Narodniks did not really understand him. Therefore, we went with an open mind to propagandize in the village in the role of teachers and doctors (and we must pay tribute - they helped the peasants, really treated and taught). The goal is to fan a grassroots fire throughout Russia. Only they faced the fact that they could not reach the peasants. And from their point of view, it is not the peasants who are to blame for this (and it was they themselves who were totally submissive for centuries, confident in the fatality of their fate), but the situation is not the same, the conditions are not right. It is necessary to soften, or better to change the system. A constitutional monarchy or a republic is what you need. The Narodniks were glad that the peasants understood that the will did not bring them real freedom.

Since 1872, Sophia Perovskaya has been taking part in "going to the people", working in a rural school. In 1873, she still seeks to obtain a certificate of teacher education. Sophia Perovskaya was soon arrested for her activities in revolutionary circles. After several months in the Peter and Paul Fortress, she was released on bail to her father. What happened did not in any way change the mood of the girl (which her father secretly hoped for), on the contrary - revolutionary ideas captured her completely. The trial of the 193s, the reading of Lavrov's Modern Doctrine of Morality, the appeal of the revolutionary Goncharov in the self-published sheet "The Hangman" - all this was rethought by Perovskaya, she suddenly clearly saw the immediate goal - the organization of advanced student youth, the creation of cadres of a truly people's party.

How a young teacher became the leader of Narodnaya Volya and why she organized a real hunt for the Tsar

Sofia Perovskaya in 1878 became a member of the party "Land and Freedom", for participation in the underground activities of which she was exiled to the Olonets province. On the way there, Perovskaya managed to escape from the gendarmes accompanying her. She completely switched to an illegal position and started preparing the escape of political prisoners.

After the collapse of the party, Perovskaya, Zhelyabov and their associates created the People's Will organization, the main goal of which is to force the government to democratic reforms, and the next stage is to fight for the social transformation of society. The reaction and failure of propaganda activities forced them to take a course of individual terror as a means of political struggle. Now they believed that only the murder of the king or high-ranking dignitaries could lead the people to revolution. The main task was the preparation of attempts on the life of Emperor Alexander II.

It was a real hunt for the king. The Narodnaya Volya alone made three assassination attempts, but there were eight in total, seven of which did not reach the goal.

Terrorist attack on Nevsky Prospekt and what sentence was passed on Sofya Perovskaya

The competent authorities of the empire worked with all their might. One by one, the members of Narodnaya Volya are detained and arrested. The organization is practically beheaded. Through the efforts of the Narodnaya Volya members who remained at large, a new assassination attempt is being prepared directly in the capital. Sophia Perovskaya takes over the management.

This time, in addition to the mine laid on the emperor's route, four bombers are being deployed. As soon as Perovskaya saw the carriage of Alexander II, she immediately gave a sign to Nikolai Rysakov - she waved her white handkerchief. His bomb damaged the carriage, but the emperor himself was alive. While Rysakov was arrested, Alexander Nikolaevich, stunned by what had happened, went towards the victims of the explosion.

At that moment, Ignatius Grinevitsky, who was not noticed by anyone, approached him and threw a bomb at the sovereign's feet. Both were mortally wounded. All the main participants in the conspiracy were sentenced to death by hanging. The rest were sent to hard labor. Sophia Perovskaya had a chance to hide, but she considered it her duty to help the release of her comrades to the last, was arrested and executed.

And after all, among the regicides, Sophia Perovskaya takes far from the first place, yielding to more colorful characters.