German Lopatin
Encyclopedia
German Lopatin was a Russia
n revolutionary
, journalist and writer.
, Büchner
and Moleschott
, which were then extremely popular among Russian radicals.
. Nothing much came of this. On his return to Russia, Lopatin became involved in the populist ('narodnik
') movement. He belonged to the Ishutin
Circle. Together with F.V. Volkhovsky
, he organised the "One Ruble Society", a group dedicated to to educational work and revolutionary propaganda among the common people.
Lopatin was soon arrested. Exiled to Stavropol
in 1868, he began to study the writings of Karl Marx
. He became one of the first Russian revolutionaries to be strongly influenced by Marxism. Marx and Engels thought highly of him. Under their influence he came to see revolution not so much as a coup to be carried out at will by a minority, but rather as a mass uprising requiring certain 'material preconditions'.
In 1870 Lopatin secretly returned to St. Petersburg and there helped organise the escape of P.L. Lavrov from banishment. Lopatin escaped to Western Europe soon after. In France he joined the First International and became a member of its General Council. In the summer of 1870 he visited London, England, where he struck up a friendship with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
and began work on a translation of volume 1 of Marx' book 'Capital'. This translation was later completed by N.F. Danielson
. In the winter of the busy and eventful year of 1870, Lopatin returned to Russia, intending to free the respected revolutionary writer N.G. Chernyshevsky
from Siberia. However, Lopatin was himself arrested. He escaped from Siberia in 1873 and returned to Western Europe. Lopatin sided with Marx during the latter's conflict with Bakunin, which eventually destroyed the First International. He especially opposed the 'nihilistic' ideology of S.G. Nechaev
, who was then an associate of Bakunin's.
In 1879 Lopatin returned clandestinely to Russia to work with 'Land and Liberty
'. When that organisation split the same year, Lopatin sided with 'The People's Will'. However, he was arrested again. In 1883 he escaped from Siberia once more and returned to the West. In Paris he collaborated with Lavrov and other exiles in reviving 'The People's Will', trying to convert it from a Blanquist conspiratorial organisation into a mass party and arguing that the party should seek to organise the emerging industrial proletariat. Lopatin became a member of the party's Administrative Committee and served as its de facto leader. He was instrumental in unmasking the secret police agent S.P. Degaev
.
However, in October 1884, in the course of yet another daring secret mission to Russia, he was arrested. A large number of addresses were found on him, leading to mass arrests and to the Trial of the 21 in 1887. Lopatin was sentenced to life imprisonment in the notorious Shlisselburg Fortress. During this incarceration Lopatin's health was seriously compromised. Lopatin was freed during the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905
. He sympathised with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
, but was also respected by the Social-Democrats
. Due to his broken health he did not become politically active but settled in Vilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania). He returned to St. Petersburg in 1913 and live in the 'House of Literati'. Lopatin welcomed the February Revolution
of 1917 enthusiastically but opposed the October Revolution
.
, G.I. Uspensky
, L.N. Tolstoy
and Maksim Gorky
.
German Lopatin died of cancer in 1918.
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 revolutionary
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...
, journalist and writer.
Biography
Lopatin came from an aristocratic family. He studied physics and mathematics at the University of St. Petersburg, where he graduated in 1866 with a thesis On Spontaneous Formation. This thesis reflected the materialist ideas of the philosophers VogtKarl Vogt
Carl Christoph Vogt was a German scientist who emigrated to Switzerland. Vogt published a number of notable works on zoology, geology and physiology...
, Büchner
Ludwig Büchner
Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig Büchner was a German philosopher, physiologist and physician who became one of the exponents of 19th century scientific materialism.Büchner was born at Darmstadt, Germany, on 29 March 1824...
and Moleschott
Jacob Moleschott
Jacob Moleschott was a Dutch physiologist and writer on dietetics.Moleschott studied at Heidelberg and began the practice of medicine at Utrecht in 1845, but soon moved to Heidelberg where he lectured on physiology at the university, beginning in 1847...
, which were then extremely popular among Russian radicals.
Career
In the course of his studies, Lopatin had become involved in radical student politics. In 1867 he travelled to Italy, hoping to join the revolutionary army of Giuseppe GaribaldiGiuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
. Nothing much came of this. On his return to Russia, Lopatin became involved in the populist ('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"...
') movement. He belonged to the Ishutin
Nikolai Ishutin
Nikolai Andreyevich Ishutin was one of the first Russian utopian socialists, who combined socialist propaganda among the people with conspiratorial and terrorist tactics....
Circle. Together with F.V. Volkhovsky
Feliks Volkhovsky
Feliks Vadimovich Volkhovsky was a Russian revolutionary, journalist and writer.Volkhovsky became involved in radical student politics in St Petersburg in the 1860s. In 1867 he co-founded the 'One Rouble Society' with German Lopatin; it was dedicated to propaganda and educational work among the...
, he organised the "One Ruble Society", a group dedicated to to educational work and revolutionary propaganda among the common people.
Lopatin was soon arrested. Exiled to Stavropol
Stavropol
-International relations:-Twin towns/sister cities:Stavropol is twinned with: Des Moines, United States Béziers, France Pazardzhik, Bulgaria-External links:* **...
in 1868, he began to study the writings of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
. He became one of the first Russian revolutionaries to be strongly influenced by Marxism. Marx and Engels thought highly of him. Under their influence he came to see revolution not so much as a coup to be carried out at will by a minority, but rather as a mass uprising requiring certain 'material preconditions'.
In 1870 Lopatin secretly returned to St. Petersburg and there helped organise the escape of P.L. Lavrov from banishment. Lopatin escaped to Western Europe soon after. In France he joined the First International and became a member of its General Council. In the summer of 1870 he visited London, England, where he struck up a friendship with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
and began work on a translation of volume 1 of Marx' book 'Capital'. This translation was later completed by N.F. Danielson
Nikolai Danielson
Nikolai Frantsevich Danielson was a Russian economist and sociologist.-Early Life:...
. In the winter of the busy and eventful year of 1870, Lopatin returned to Russia, intending to free the respected revolutionary writer N.G. Chernyshevsky
Nikolai Chernyshevsky
Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was a Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist...
from Siberia. However, Lopatin was himself arrested. He escaped from Siberia in 1873 and returned to Western Europe. Lopatin sided with Marx during the latter's conflict with Bakunin, which eventually destroyed the First International. He especially opposed the 'nihilistic' ideology of S.G. Nechaev
Sergey Nechayev
Sergey Gennadiyevich Nyechayev was a Russian revolutionary associated with the Nihilist movement and known for his single-minded pursuit of revolution by any means necessary, including political violence.-Early life in Russia:...
, who was then an associate of Bakunin's.
In 1879 Lopatin returned clandestinely to Russia to work with 'Land and Liberty
Land and Liberty (Russia)
Land and Liberty was a Russian clandestine revolutionary organization of Narodniki in the 1870s...
'. When that organisation split the same year, Lopatin sided with 'The People's Will'. However, he was arrested again. In 1883 he escaped from Siberia once more and returned to the West. In Paris he collaborated with Lavrov and other exiles in reviving 'The People's Will', trying to convert it from a Blanquist conspiratorial organisation into a mass party and arguing that the party should seek to organise the emerging industrial proletariat. Lopatin became a member of the party's Administrative Committee and served as its de facto leader. He was instrumental in unmasking the secret police agent S.P. Degaev
Sergey Degayev
Sergey Petrovich Degayev was a Russian terrorist, an agent of the Okhrana, and the murderer of inspector of secret police Georgy Sudeykin...
.
However, in October 1884, in the course of yet another daring secret mission to Russia, he was arrested. A large number of addresses were found on him, leading to mass arrests and to the Trial of the 21 in 1887. Lopatin was sentenced to life imprisonment in the notorious Shlisselburg Fortress. During this incarceration Lopatin's health was seriously compromised. Lopatin was freed during the abortive 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...
. He sympathised with 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...
, but was also respected by the Social-Democrats
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party , also known as Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or Russian Social Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations into one party...
. Due to his broken health he did not become politically active but settled in Vilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania). He returned to St. Petersburg in 1913 and live in the 'House of Literati'. Lopatin welcomed 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 enthusiastically but opposed 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...
.
Literary works
Lopatin was also a respected literary figure. In addition to his journalism, he wrote extensive poetry, short stories and an autobiography. Russian writers who praised him included I.S. TurgenevIvan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...
, G.I. Uspensky
Gleb Uspensky
- Early life :Uspensky was born in the city of Tula, where his father was a government official. He attended the gymnasiums at Tula and Chernihiv, devoting much of his time to the reading of the Russian classics. He studied at the university of St. Petersburg for a short time in 1861, until it was...
, L.N. Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
and Maksim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
.
German Lopatin died of cancer in 1918.