Catherine Breshkovsky
Encyclopedia
Catherine Breshkovsky was a Russia
n socialist
and revolutionary, better known as Babushka
("Grandmother") or, more solemnly, the Grandmother of the Russian Revolution.
Mikhail Bakunin
in Kiev
. As a Narodnik
revolutionary, she was imprisoned 1874 at Katorga
and exiled to Siberia
in 1878. After her release in 1896, she formed a Socialist-Revolutionary group and helped to organize the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
in 1901.
She escaped to Switzerland
and the United States
in 1900. After returning to Imperial Russia in 1905, she was captured and exiled to Siberia again. After the February Revolution
of 1917, political prisoners were released, and Breshkovsky was given a seat in Aleksandr Kerensky's government. When the Bolshevik
organized the October Revolution
, Breshkovsky was again forced to flee. She died in Czechoslovakia
.
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...
n socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and revolutionary, better known as Babushka
Babushka
Babushka , babooshka, babouchka or baboushka may refer to:*A Western term for a woman's headscarf tied below the chin in the Eastern European manner.**Babushka Lady, who wore such a headscarf....
("Grandmother") or, more solemnly, the Grandmother of the Russian Revolution.
Revolutionary life
She left her home at the age of 26 to join followers of anarchistAnarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...
in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. As a Narodnik
Narodnik
Narodniks was the name for Russian socially conscious members of the middle class in the 1860s and 1870s. Their ideas and actions were known as Narodnichestvo which can be translated as "Peopleism", though is more commonly rendered "populism"...
revolutionary, she was imprisoned 1874 at Katorga
Katorga
Katorga was a system of penal servitude of the prison farm type in Tsarist Russia...
and exiled to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
in 1878. After her release in 1896, she formed a Socialist-Revolutionary group and helped to organize the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
thumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...
in 1901.
She escaped to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1900. After returning to Imperial Russia in 1905, she was captured and exiled to Siberia again. After the February Revolution
February 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...
of 1917, political prisoners were released, and Breshkovsky was given a seat in Aleksandr Kerensky's government. When 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....
organized the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, Breshkovsky was again forced to flee. She died in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
English Translations
- The Little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution: Reminiscences and Letters, Little, Brown and Co, Boston, 1918. from Archive.org