Kravchinsky S.M. (1851-1895), revolutionary, writer

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KRAVCHINSKY Sergey Mikhailovich (pen name Stepnyak) (1851-1895) revolutionary, writer. In St. Petersburg from 1867. On graduating from the Mikhailovsky Artillery College (1870) he was sent as a lieutenant to the artillery but resigned shortly afterwards. In 1871-73 he studied at the Agricultural Institute in St. Petersburg, participated in the students' movement, was involved in the circle of chaykovtsy, and gave lectures in workers' circles beyond the Narva Gates. In the summer of 1873, he attempted to spread revolutionary propaganda among the peasants which was one of the first experiments of the walking among the people. He is the author of propaganda brochures a Fairy Tale about a Coin, Fairy Tale about the Wise Woman Naumovna etc. From 1874, he was abroad. In 1878, he returned to St. Petersburg illegally, participated in the activity of the society Land and Freedom, he arranged an underground publishing house, he edited Zemlya i Volya paper. He mortally wounded the chief of the Third Department, N. V. Mezentsev, with a knife on Mikhailovskaya Square (today Iskusstv Square) near house 4, 4 August 1878. In November 1878, he emigrated again, lived in Great Britain from 1884. He is the author of the books Underground Russia (1882), Russia Under the Tsars (1889) etc. He is one of the organizers of the Society of Friends for Russian Freedom (1889) and of the Fund of the Free Russian Press (1891). He was tragically killed when he fell under an oncoming train.

References: Таратута Е. А. С. М. Степняк-Кравчинский - революционер и писатель. М., 1973.

A. N. Svalov. Kravchinsky Sergey Mikhailovich
Mezentsov Nikolay Vladimirovich
Iskusstv Square/Saint Petersburg, city, house 4
Zemlya i Volya (Land and Liberty) of 1870s
1878