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This engaging biography tells the dramatic story of a Russian noblewoman turned revolutionary terrorist. Born in 1852 in the last years of serfdom, Vera Figner came of age as Imperial Russian society was being rocked by the massive upheaval that culminated in the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. At first a champion of populist causes and women's higher education, Figner later became a leader of the terrorist party the People's Will and was an accomplice in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Drawing on extensive archival research and careful reading of Figner's copious memoirs, Lynne Ann Hartnett reveals how Figner survived the Bolshevik revolution and Stalin's Great Purges and died a lionized revolutionary legend as the Nazis bore down on Moscow in 1942.
E-Book Content
THE DEFIANT LIFE OF
r e n g i Vera F
THE DEFIANT LIFE OF
r e n g i F a r e V SURVIVING THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
LY N N E A N N H A R T N E T T
India na Universit y Pr ess Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of Indiana University Press Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library 350 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA iupress.indiana.edu Telephone 800-842-6796 Fax 812-855-7931 © 2014 by Lynne Ann Hartnett All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-inPublication Data Hartnett, Lynne Ann, author. The defiant life of Vera Figner : surviving the Russian revolution / Lynne Ann Hartnett. pages ; cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-01284-5 (cl : alk. paper)— ISBN 978-0-253-01394-1 (eb) 1. Figner, Vera, 1852–1942. 2. Women revolutionaries— Russia—Biography. 3. Women socialists— Russia—Biography. 4. Women socialists— Soviet Union—Biography. I. Title. HX313.8.F54H37 2014 335'.83092—dc23 [B] 2013046385 1 2 3 4 5 19 18 17 16 15 14
For Paul, Brendan, Ryan, and Camryn
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix Introduction xiii
1 In the Twilight of a Fading Age 2 Age of Consciousness
1
22
3 Pioneers Diverted
37
4 Town and Country
62
5 The Tsar’s Death Sentence
91
6 Revolutionary Iconography
114
7 Transformation
136
8 Life and Death
151
9 Resurrection in Exile
179
viii
Con t e n ts
10 An Old Revolutionary in a New Revolution 11 Revolutionary Survivor Notes 263 Bibliography 305 Index 315
236
205
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For the last several years, my husband and children have grown accustomed to a familiar refrain in our house: the sound of my voice uttering the words “as soon as my book is done.” So now, as this book goes to press, it appears that I will be painting the rooms, organizing the closets, and filling the photo albums that have awaited my attention for far too long. I have postponed all of these tasks, some more gleefully than others, and spent my days and many late nights with a rather exacting, impatient Russian woman. For more years than I care to admit, Vera Figner has demanded a great deal of my attention. As I tried to balance Vera’s claim