Serno-Solovyevich N.A. (1834-1866), revolutionary

Categories / Social Life/Personalia
SERNO-SOLOVYEVICH Nikolay Alexandrovich (1834, St. Petersburg - 1866), public figure, man of letters. Upon graduating from Alexandrovsky Lyceum (1853) served at the State Chancellery; On 24 September 1858 submitted a petition to Emperor Alexander II, in which he demonstrated the necessity of emancipating peasants as the first step of fundamental improvements for Russia. From December 1858 served in the Land Department of the Ministry for Internal Affairs, since late 1859 in retirement with the rank of Count Counsellor. Having criticised the results of Peasant Reform of 1861, became one of the founders of the secret society Land and Freedom (1861), he was a member of its People Central Committee. Contributed to Petersburg magazines Sovremennik, Vek, Russkoe Slovo. Promoted the creation of Sunday schools, in early 1862 opened a bookshop and library-athenaeum (24 Nevsky Prospect), which became meeting points for the radical community and students. On 7 July 1862 he was arrested, imprisoned in the Alexeevsky Ravelin, in 1865 sentenced to life-long exile to Siberia. On 2 June 1865 on Mytninskaya Square he underwent the rite of civil execution (stripped of all ranks and civil rights). Died in a halting place on the way to Irkutsk. A.A. Cherkesov inherited the library and the shop of Serno-Solovyevich in 1867.

References: Володарский И. Б. Н. А. Серно-Соловьевич в годы заточения в Алексеевском равелине // Революционная ситуация в России в 1859-1861 гг. М., 1960. С. 340-359; Баренбаум И. Е. Н. А. Серно-Соловьевич (1834-1866): Очерк книготорг. и книгоизд. деятельности. М., 1961.

A. N. Svalov. Alexander II, Emperor
Cherkesov Alexander Alexandrovich
Serno-Solovyevich Nikolay Alexandrovich
Mytninskaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 24
Володарский И. Б. Н. А. Серно-Соловьевич в годы заточения в Алексеевском равелине // Революционная ситуация в России в 1859-1861 гг. М., 1960
Баренбаум И. Е. Н. А. Серно-Соловьевич (1834-1866): Очерк книготорг. и книгоизд. деятельности. М., 1961 Lyceum
State Chancellery
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Zemlya i Volya (Land and Liberty) of 1860s
Sovremennik (Contemporary), journal
Russkoe slovo (The Russian Word), journal, 1859-1866
Alexeevsky Ravelin