Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams
Encyclopedia
Ariadna Vladimirovna Tyrkova-Williams (November 13, 1869, Saint Petersburg
- January 12, 1962, Washington, DC, Ariadna Borman during the first marriage) was a liberal
politician, journalist, writer and feminist in Russia during the revolutionary period until 1920. Afterwards she lived as a writer in Britain (1920-1951) and the United States (1951-1962).
.
There she married A. N. Borman, an engineer, and with him had a son, Arcadiy (b. 1891). In the early 1900s she became active among liberal opposition groups linked to Pyotr Struve's Osvobozhdenie, and in 1904 was arrested while trying to smuggle 400 copies of Osvobozhdenie into Russia . Later the same year she was arrested again, sentenced to 30 months in prison and fled to Germany
.
Returning to Russia under the general amnesty granted by the October Manifesto
during the Russian Revolution of 1905
, she helped found the Constitutional Democratic party
(aka the Kadet party), and in 1906 became a member of its Central Committee.
-British
Slavist who was working as a journalist in Saint Petersburg for the Morning Post
. The same year she joined the All-Russian Union for Women's Equality and, with Ekaterina Kuskova, became a leading campaigner for equal rights for women, prompting the Constitutional Democratic party to add women's suffrage to its platform .
After the defeat of the revolution in late 1907 Tyrkova-Williams moved to the far Right of the Constitutional Democratic party, and advocated an alliance with the Progressive faction in the State Duma and the Left wing of the Octobrist
party .
In 1911 the family was briefly embroiled in controversy, when Harold Williams was accused of espionage
, supposedly as a result of Russian secret police machinations .
During World War I
she worked in the All-Russian Union of Cities. She also spent a year in Turkey
and wrote a book about her experiences there .
, Tyrkova-Williams was elected a member of the Petrograd Committee of the Kadet party. She coordinated party publications in Petrograd, and in the summer of 1917 was elected to the Petrograd Duma
, where she led the Constitutional Democratic faction. In August she became a member of the Democratic Conference, and in September was elected to the Pre-Parliament. After the Bolshevik
seizure of power during the October Revolution of 1917 she ran for the Constituent Assembly
in November elections, and, with Alexander Izgoev, briefly edited the newspaper Borba, until it was shut down by the Bolshevik government.
After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks she helped organize anti-Bolshevik resistance in southern Russia; but in the spring of 1918 she emigrated to Britain, where she published an account of the first year of the Russian revolution, From Liberty to Brest-Litovsk.
In the spring of 1919 she went back to Russia
; when Harold Williams was sent to the areas controlled by Gen. Anton Denikin to report on the progress of the White Movement
. By then she had moved further to the Right, and wrote:
In late 1919 Denikin was defeated; and in 1920 Tyrkova-Williams returned to Britain. In London, she became a founder of the Russian Liberation Committee, edited its publications, and raised money for Russian orphans .
In 1928 her husband died. Afterwards she wrote a biography of Alexander Pushkin (Life of Pushkin, 1928–1929) , and a book about her late husband (1935).
In March 1951 she migrated to the United States of America; and afterwards published three volumes of memoirs (1952, 1954, 1956).
She died on 12 January 1962 in Washington DC.
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
- January 12, 1962, Washington, DC, Ariadna Borman during the first marriage) was a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
politician, journalist, writer and feminist in Russia during the revolutionary period until 1920. Afterwards she lived as a writer in Britain (1920-1951) and the United States (1951-1962).
Revolutionary beginnings
Ariadna Vladimirovna Tyrkova was born on 13 November 1869, the daughter of Vladimir Tyrkov, a landowner whose hereditary estate was Vergezhi in the Novgorod region. She studied in Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
.
There she married A. N. Borman, an engineer, and with him had a son, Arcadiy (b. 1891). In the early 1900s she became active among liberal opposition groups linked to Pyotr Struve's Osvobozhdenie, and in 1904 was arrested while trying to smuggle 400 copies of Osvobozhdenie into Russia . Later the same year she was arrested again, sentenced to 30 months in prison and fled to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Returning to Russia under the general amnesty granted by the October Manifesto
October Manifesto
The October Manifesto was issued on 17 October, 1905 by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia under the influence of Count Sergei Witte as a response to the Russian Revolution of 1905....
during the Russian Revolution of 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
, she helped found the Constitutional Democratic party
Constitutional Democratic party
The Constitutional Democratic Party was a liberal political party in the Russian Empire. Party members were called Kadets, from the abbreviation K-D of the party name...
(aka the Kadet party), and in 1906 became a member of its Central Committee.
Between the Revolutions
In 1906 also she married Harold Williams (1876–1928), a New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
-British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
Slavist who was working as a journalist in Saint Petersburg for the Morning Post
Morning Post
The Morning Post, as the paper was named on its masthead, was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by The Daily Telegraph.- History :...
. The same year she joined the All-Russian Union for Women's Equality and, with Ekaterina Kuskova, became a leading campaigner for equal rights for women, prompting the Constitutional Democratic party to add women's suffrage to its platform .
After the defeat of the revolution in late 1907 Tyrkova-Williams moved to the far Right of the Constitutional Democratic party, and advocated an alliance with the Progressive faction in the State Duma and the Left wing of the Octobrist
Octobrist
The Octobrist Party was a non-revolutionary centrist Russian political party formally called Union of October 17 . The party's programme of moderate constitutionalism called for the fulfilment of Tsar Nicholas II's October Manifesto granted at the peak of the Russian Revolution of 1905...
party .
In 1911 the family was briefly embroiled in controversy, when Harold Williams was accused of espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, supposedly as a result of Russian secret police machinations .
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
she worked in the All-Russian Union of Cities. She also spent a year in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and wrote a book about her experiences there .
1917 Revolution and emigration
On March 17, 1917, immediately after the February RevolutionFebruary Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
, Tyrkova-Williams was elected a member of the Petrograd Committee of the Kadet party. She coordinated party publications in Petrograd, and in the summer of 1917 was elected to the Petrograd Duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
, where she led the Constitutional Democratic faction. In August she became a member of the Democratic Conference, and in September was elected to the Pre-Parliament. After the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
seizure of power during the October Revolution of 1917 she ran for the Constituent Assembly
Russian Constituent Assembly
The All Russian Constituent Assembly was a constitutional body convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It is generally reckoned as the first democratically elected legislative body of any kind in Russian history. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m...
in November elections, and, with Alexander Izgoev, briefly edited the newspaper Borba, until it was shut down by the Bolshevik government.
After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks she helped organize anti-Bolshevik resistance in southern Russia; but in the spring of 1918 she emigrated to Britain, where she published an account of the first year of the Russian revolution, From Liberty to Brest-Litovsk.
In the spring of 1919 she went back to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
; when Harold Williams was sent to the areas controlled by Gen. Anton Denikin to report on the progress of the White Movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
. By then she had moved further to the Right, and wrote:
- We must support the army first and place the democratic programs in the background. We must create a ruling class and not a dictatorship of the majority. The universal hegemony of Western democracy is a fraud, which politicians have foisted upon us. We must have the courage to look directly into the eye of the wild beast -- which is called the people .
In late 1919 Denikin was defeated; and in 1920 Tyrkova-Williams returned to Britain. In London, she became a founder of the Russian Liberation Committee, edited its publications, and raised money for Russian orphans .
In 1928 her husband died. Afterwards she wrote a biography of Alexander Pushkin (Life of Pushkin, 1928–1929) , and a book about her late husband (1935).
In March 1951 she migrated to the United States of America; and afterwards published three volumes of memoirs (1952, 1954, 1956).
She died on 12 January 1962 in Washington DC.
Works
- Staraya Turtsia i Mladoturki: god v Konstantinopole, Petrograd, Tip. B. M. Volfa, 1916, 179p.
- From Liberty to Brest-Litovsk, the First Year of the Russian Revolution, London, Macmillan, 1919, 526p.
- Second edition Westport, CT, Hyperion Press, 1977, ISBN 0-88355-448-8, 526 p.
- Cheerful Giver: the Life of Harold Williams, by his wife, Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, London, P. Davies, 1935, xii, 337 p.
- Na Putyakh k svobode, New York, Izd-vo im. Chekhova, 1952, 429p.
- To, chego bol'she ne budet, Paris, Vozrozhdenie, [1954], 267p.
- Zhizn' Pushkina (Life of Pushkin) vol. 1 (1799–1824), vol. 2 (1824–1837), Paris, Sklad izd. Knizhnyi magazin Vozrozhdeniia, 1929.
- 2nd edition, Paris, YMCA Press, 1948.
- 3rd edition, Moscow, Molodaia Gvardiia, 1998, ISBN 5-235-02310-2 (set), ISBN 5-235-02301-3 (v. 1), ISBN 5-235-02302-1 (v. 2)