Northern Union of Russian Workers

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NORTHERN UNION OF RUSSIAN WORKERS, the first underground revolutionary organization of workers in St. Petersburg. It was founded in 1876 with D.N. Smirnov, A.E. Gorodnichy, V.I. Savelyev, and S.I. Volkov at the head. Secret meetings were held at 20 15th Line, Vasilievsky Island. The organization was soon headed by S.N. Khalturin and V. P. Obnorsky. The charter and the program were approved in December 1878 and published in January 1879 as a leaflet titled To The Russian Workers! The Union opened its branches in worker districts of the capital, with a committee at the head of each branch and a representative of the Central Circle in each committee, organized an illegal library and a fund, and opened an underground printing office in February 1880 to print its leaflets and issue 1 of the newspaper Rabochaya Zarya. Members of the Union, about 200 in all, tried to organize walk-outs and swiftly turn the Union into an All-Russian organization. As numerous arrests led to dissolution of the Union in 1880, a number of its members joined Narodnaya Volya.

Reference: Корольчук Э. А. "Северный союз русских рабочих" и революционное рабочее движение 70-х годов XIX в. в Петербурге. Л., 1946; В начале пути: Воспоминания петерб. рабочих, 1872-1897 гг. Л., 1975.

Z. P. Solovyeva. Gorodnichy Anton Egorovich
Khalturin Stepan Nikolaevich
Obnorsky Viktor Pavlovich
Savelyev V.I.
Smirnov Dmitry Nikolaevich
Volkov S.K.
15th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 20
Корольчук Э. А. "Северный союз русских рабочих" и революционное рабочее движение 70-х годов XIX в. в Петербурге. Л., 1946
В начале пути: Воспоминания петерб. рабочих, 1872-1897 гг. Л., 1975 Narodnaya Volya
1876