Zasulich Vera Ivanovna: biography, attempt on Trepov

Zasulich Vera Ivanovna is a very ambiguous historical personality. Those who are not particularly interested in the details of the biography of this woman, most likely, will remember her in the image of a heroine who shot at the outrageous Trepov official. Despite the brunt of the deed and the fact that the girl intended to commit the most terrible crime - to kill a person, the jury fully acquitted her at court. The local authorities categorically disagreed with this decision and literally the next day issued an order to re-detain Zasulich. But while this decision was made, Vera managed to travel abroad and avoid imprisonment.

World fame

Due to the fact that the trial of Vera Zasulich at one time had an international resonance, her name is associated with many in many with justice and the fact that the laws written by the authorities are not universal. In domestic works on history, she is mentioned as a publicist, translator of the works of Engels and Marx, as well as an active Russian public figure.

In many sources, she is mentioned as the organizer of the very first Marxist organization called "Emancipation of Labor". But at the same time, some of those who more carefully studied information about the Faith, call it a simple gangster, an outlaw, a terrorist and an anarchist.

Zasulich Vera Ivanovna: biography, childhood and family

July 27, 1849 in a small Russian village Mikhailovka, which territorially referred to the Smolensk province, a girl was born Vera. Her family could not boast of a special income, as the parents were considered impoverished noblemen. In addition to the Faith, they had two more daughters. Father - Ivan Zasulich, was a retired officer. He died in 1852, when Vera was only three years old. Mother was not able to feed three children and therefore one of the daughters was decided to send to a richer relative. The choice fell on Vera, and she went to the village of Byakolovo, where her aunt's aunt lived. She spent all her childhood there, and it was relatives who raised the girl completely.

Youth and education

At the age of fifteen, Zasulich Vera Ivanovna was sent to a private Moscow boarding house. There she studied foreign languages and was prepared to work as a governess. Having fairly mastered all the sciences taught in the boarding house, in 1867 Vera received a diploma of a home teacher and went with him to conquer Petersburg. Unfortunately, for a young girl without experience and recommendations there was no work in the specialty. As money for a life still needed to be earned, she settled herself to a justice of the peace. After serving as a letterhead for about a year, Vera left this work and decided to return to the capital. There she is arranged to work as a bookbinder and, having received free access to a variety of books, constantly reads and engages in self-development. It was at this time that Zasulich began to realize a strong desire for revolution and a desire to actively act.

Participation in revolutionary movements and fatal acquaintance with Nechaev

After living in St. Petersburg for a year, Zasulich Vera Ivanovna managed to take part in the work of many revolutionary circles. At the end of 1862, visiting one of them, the girl gets acquainted with the notorious revolutionary Nechayev. Observing the Faith and apparently having seen in it a considerable revolutionary fuse and potential, long enough he tried to entice her into his organization called "People's Massacre".

Zasulich rejected such proposals, because she considered all Nechaev's ideas to be unrealistic and fantastic. At the same time, while remaining committed to revolutionary views, she left him her residence address. Later Nechaev used it to receive and send letters by illegal immigrants. One such letter, despite the fact that Vera did not even read it, and became the reason for her first arrest.

Arrests and imprisonment

During the transfer of the letter to one of the illegal immigrants Zasulich Vera Ivanovna was arrested for the first time. For almost a year she was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Almost after 2 years, the woman is released, but literally immediately re-arrested for distributing illegal literature and sent to exile in punishment. Vera leaves her at first in Novgorod province, and then in Tver.

Life Zasulich after the link

In 1875 the girl is in Kharkov. All the time she is under close surveillance of the police. In order to somehow arrange her future life, Vera decides to enter midwives, but she was not going to say goodbye to revolutionary activities either.

In 1872, she became a member of the organization "Southern rebels", which was located in Kiev, but had its offices throughout Ukraine. Staying in its ranks, Vera took an active part in organizing peasant riots. After a series of failures, Zasulich again returns to St. Petersburg and starts working in one of the clandestine printing houses, which belonged to the organization "Land and Freedom". Vera joined her ranks and after a short time, in January 1878, she committed her legendary attempt on Trepov.

The act of the mayor, which aroused the anger of Zasulich

One day a group of students arranged a demonstration near the Kazan Cathedral. For participation in it in December 1876 was arrested, and then sentenced to hard labor student Bogolyubov. At that time, corporal torture and punishment for prisoners on political grounds were categorically prohibited. But on the orders of the mayor Trepov Bogolyubov was brutally carved by rods. To date, information is already known that two years after the incident, the student died in the hospital. At the same time, because of the previous punishment, Bogolyubov was in a state of grim insanity.

The reason why the mayor gave the order to beat the guy with rods was that Bogolyubov did not take off his hat in front of him and thus showed his disrespect for the tsar's official. Such a decision Trepov caused a resonance among ordinary people and, of course, many were outraged. Revolutionaries could not ignore this fact.

Attempted murder

One of those who resented the arbitrariness of the mayor was Vera Zasulich.
The attempt on the life of Trepov, which she herself conceived, organized and implemented, went down in history and brought to her incredible glory. Later, her actions will be described as a terrorist act, and Vera herself will be called a girl who, by her act, activated revolutionary terror throughout Russia.

Planning the act of revenge, Zasulich signed up for a personal reception to the mayor. On the morning of January 24, 1878, she entered his office and shot, which seriously injured Trepov. Vera was arrested on the spot.

Participants of the court, included in the history of law

At this time, the president of the St. Petersburg District Court was AF Koni. The heads of the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office insisted that Vera Zasulich's case be decided by a jury, because their basic desire was to minimize the political aspect of the case. At the same time, ordinary people considered Trepov a corrupt bribe taker, and even before the order given to them, to cut Bogolyubov out with brooms, his reputation in society was not the best. After the story with the punishment of the student, the opinion about him, naturally, did not improve. So the decision that the verdict will be confirmed by the jury, played Zasulich only on hand.

Initially, she was not going to use the help of a lawyer, but after reading the accusatory sheet put forward to her by the prosecutor, Vera realized that she herself could not cope. Many people offered her help in defense (since any lawyer wanted to light up in such a loud case), but she gave preference to Peter Alexandrov.

He was the son of a priest and previously worked as a prosecutor of the court chamber. In conversations with his colleagues, Aleksandrov repeatedly assured that he would do everything possible to win the Zasulich case. And he fully justified the hopes of the Faith. Thanks to his brilliant speech, the jury found her innocent.

Life after justification

Since local authorities could not allow the spread of the opinion among the people that it is possible to shoot at high-ranking officials and then be justified, the next day the decision of the court was challenged and a new order was issued to detain Vera. She assumed such a possible outcome of the events, and literally immediately after her release with the help of friends Zasulich fled to Switzerland. She returned home only in 1879 and immediately together with Plekhanov began to take an active part in the creation of the organization Black Remaking.

Faith on myself tried the so-called method of "individual terror", but not only that it was very disappointed in its effectiveness, so the real threat of the second arrest again loomed over it. It was then that her second emigration happened in her life - Zasulich hastily left for Paris.

Revolutionary activity

While in France, Vera Ivanovna collected money for Russian political prisoners. Her views on terror change radically, and she becomes an adherent of revolutionary Marxism. She translates the works of Engels and Marx into Russian, prints her articles in many European democratic journals. Further, she moves to London, where she leads an active publicistic activity, engaged in scientific work. While in Geneva, in 1883, Vera became an active participant in the creation of the group "Emancipation of Labor", which was engaged in helping Russian emigrants. And only in 1899 under a false name the woman could return back to Petersburg. She personally knew Lenin, was part of the editorial staff of the magazine Zorya and the newspaper Iskra.

Death of Vera Zasulich

Despite such an active activity, by the end of her life, Vera Zasulich felt overwhelmed with disappointment. Based on its impressive experience, it strongly rejected and opposed any manifestation of terrorism as a revolutionary struggle.

February events of 1917, she perceived as a bourgeois-democratic revolution, but not the people's revolution. The October Revolution brought her only disappointments. Zasulich wrote about the fact that the created Soviet power is just a mirror image of the previous, tsarist regime.

Vera Ivanovna died on May 8, 1919. She was buried at Volkov cemetery, next to the grave of Plekhanov.