Anastasia Alekseevna Bitsenko, née Kameristaya (, née Камeристая; 10 November 1875 – 16 June 1938) was a

Narodnik The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

-inspired, later Communist, Russian revolutionary. As a member of a socialist revolutionary (SR) flying combat detachment, she came to fame for assassinating the former Russian

Minister of War A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

Viktor Sakharov Viktor Viktorovich Sakharov (; 20 July 1848 in Moscow – 22 November 1905 in Saratov) was a Russian lieutenant general and Imperial Minister of War (1904–1905). Biography Sakharov was a graduate of the Nicholas Academy of the General Staff ...

in 1905. After being held in detention for over 11 years, she was freed during the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

and joined the

Left Socialist-Revolutionaries The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries-Internationalists () was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Russian Pro ...

. For her achievements, the party designated her as their representative within the Soviet delegation for the German-Russian peace negotiations in World War I, which resulted in the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

. She returned to Russia and held various Soviet party positions, before being executed during the Stalinist purges.

Early life

Anastasia (Nastya) Kameristaya was born on 10 November 1875 in the small village of Aleksandrovka (now part of

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

) in the

Bakhmutsky Uyezd Bakhmut uezd (, pre-1918: Бахмутскій уѣздъ; ) was an administrative subdivision, or ''uezd'', of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate in the Russian Empire. The city of Bakhmut served as its capital. Demographics At the time of the 189 ...

of the

Yekaterinoslav Governorate Yekaterinoslav Governorate} was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yekaterinoslav. Covering an area of , and being composed of a inhabitant of 2,113,674 by the census of 1897, it bordere ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Born into a peasant family, she benefited "from the educational reforms of

Tsar Alexander II Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland fro ...

ndacquired enough schooling to qualify as a teacher" in primary schools. During a famine that spread across Russia in 1899, she organised a communal kitchen for the starving, hungry in Kazan. Later, she attended further courses in Moscow in order to qualify to teach at the secondary level as well.

Revolutionary activities

During her studies, she got drawn into the emerging Russian revolutionary scene, probably fostered by meeting her future husband Mikhail Stepanovich Bitsenko, who was a fellow student at the

Moscow Agricultural Institute Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and a socialist revolutionary (SR) agitator. In 1901 they were picked up by the police for participating in students disorders and banished from Moscow to the remote

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

province. Returning to European Russia in 1903, they "assisted in the founding of an SR organisation in

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

", but they probably broke up later that year, when Anastasiya left Smolensk for

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, while "Mikhail continued to work with the Smolensk SRs." They never reunited again, but she maintained his surname throughout her life. In St. Petersburg, Anastasiya became a full-time activist of the SR party and was involved in a female terrorist group that aimed to assassinate the Minister of the Interior,

Vyacheslav von Plehve Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve ( rus, Вячесла́в Константи́нович фон Пле́ве, p=vʲɪtɕɪˈslaf kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ fɐn ˈplʲevʲɪ; – ) was a Russian politician who served as the directo ...

. Betrayed by an informer, she was arrested in late January 1904 and kept in preliminary detention until mid-March 1905 when she was exiled to

Vologda Vologda (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: The city serves as ...

near the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

. After just one month in the settlement she escaped abroad, to Geneva, but in August returned to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, as a member of the Moscow committee of the SR party, responsible for organising railroad workers. In the following November she joined an SR flying combat detachment. (The central

SR Combat Organization The Combat Organization (, BO) was the Terrorism, terrorist wing of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR) in the Russian Empire, active from 1902 to 1907. Established by the PSR Central Committee, its primary purpose was to carry out political a ...

had been temporarily disbanded and the PSR's central committee had decided to discontinue terror after the issue of the

October Manifesto The October Manifesto (), officially "The Manifesto on the Improvement of the State Order" (), is a document that served as a precursor to the Russian Empire's first Constitution, which was adopted the following year in 1906. The Manifesto was is ...

. Many members and groups, however, would not abide by the party's decision). Bitsenko volunteered to lead a terrorist plot against the "butcher of

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

", as revolutionaries would call ex-

, who had been dispatched to the Saratov province in order to repress peasant unrests. On 22 November Bitsenko managed to slip into governor Piotr Stolypin's palace in Saratov and got herself admitted into the presence of General Sakharov. During their meeting she immediately laid down the death sentence written by the local SR committee onto Sakharov's desk and then shot him dead. She was captured, brought to trial, and initially sentenced to be hanged; but her punishment was soon commuted to penal labour for life to be served at the

Nerchinsk katorga Nerchinsk katorga (Russian: Нерчинская каторга, Nerchinskaya katorga) was a system of ''katorga'' — a type of penal labour — practiced by the Russian Empire in the area of the . That district embraced a large part of eastern T ...

Transbaikal Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykal'ye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal at the south side of the eastern Si ...

. She was sent to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

in the company of five other prominent female SR terrorists, including

Maria Spiridonova Maria Alexandrovna Spiridonova (; 16 October 1884 – 11 September 1941) was a Narodnik-inspired Russian revolutionary. In 1906, as a novice member of a local combat group of the Tambov Socialists-Revolutionaries (SRs), she assassinated a securi ...

. The group was sometimes called the ''Shesterka'' ("Six") and they had gained enormous popularity for their feats. Their slow journey by train lasted around a month and turned into some kind of "triumphal progress", as the train was met at every stop by growing crowds of sympathizers. The revolutionaries (with Spiridonova ahead) would greet and talk with them as long as possible, expounding the SR political program. Bitsenko spent the following eleven years in the penal colonies of

Akatuy Akatuy may refer to: * Akatuy (village), a village in Siberia (Борзинский район Читинской области), a place of the Akatuy katorga * Akatuy katorga of Russian Empire * Akatuy (festival), Akatuy, Chuvash festival of lan ...

and Maltsev in the Nerchinsk katorga.

Soviet Russia

As a result of the

in 1917 she was freed and returned to political action within the

Socialist Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia. The party memb ...

firstly in Chita, and then Moscow, where she was elected again to the regional party committee. She participated during the October political uprising as a member of the

Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee The Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee (PMRC) () was a militant group of the Petrograd Soviet and one of several military revolutionary committees that were created in the Russian Republic. Initially the committee was created on 25 Oc ...

and then joined the

, rising through the ranks of the new party. She was a member of the Central Committee of the Left SRs, of the praesidium of the Moscow Soviet, and the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets. As reward for her efforts in the party, she was designated to be one of the seven members of the Soviet Delegation for the German-Soviet peace talks for

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Brest-Litovsk Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk and Brest-on-the-Bug, is a city in south-western Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the Polish town of Terespol, where the Bug and Mukhavets rivers meet, making it a border town. It serves as the admini ...

. Bitsenko was the only woman present during the negotiations; her appointment was a political manoeuvre by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

to give representation to the rival Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. The talks concluded with the signing of the

, a hugely popular peace treaty which ended the fighting on the Eastern Front. Bitsenko returned to Russia and continued her party activities. Being strongly opposed to the rupture with the Bolsheviks, she co-founded the splinter

Party of Revolutionary Communism Party of Revolutionary Communism (in Russian: Партия революционного коммунизма) was a political party in Russia 1918–1920. It was formed by a Narodnik group which broke away from the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries a ...

in September 1918. In November she joined the newly renamed

Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

, later holding various political and committee positions in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. After the death of

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, widespread

purges In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

were carried out within the ranks of the Communist Party by the new Soviet supreme leader

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, and she became one of the many targets. Accused of being a member of a terrorist organization, she was put on trial and sentenced to death. On 16 June 1938 she was shot and buried at the

Kommunarka shooting ground The Kommunarka firing range (), former dacha of secret police chief Genrikh Yagoda, was used as a burial ground from 1937 to 1941. Executions may have been carried out there by the NKVD during the Great Terror and until the war started; altern ...

. The Soviet authorities acquitted her posthumously in 1961.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

''Der Waffenstillstand von Brest-Litowsk''
(The Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty) - Archived original newsreel from 1917 documenting the delegates (including Bitsenko) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bitsenko, Anastasia 1875 births 1938 deaths Politicians from Donetsk People from Bakhmutsky Uyezd Left socialist-revolutionaries Bolsheviks Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiators Executed Soviet women Communists from the Russian Empire Marxists from the Russian Empire Revolutionaries of the Russian Revolution of 1905 Soviet women in politics Soviet women diplomats Russian female murderers Assassins from the Russian Empire Great Purge victims from Russia Female revolutionaries Executed assassins Executed revolutionaries Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union Prisoners sentenced to death by the Russian Empire Women sentenced to death Party of Revolutionary Communism politicians