Evgeniia Subbotina
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Evgeniia Dmitrievna Subbotina (; 1853–) was a Russian
revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...
. Born into a noble family in
Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, , ɐˈrʲɵl, a=ru-Орёл.ogg, links=y, ), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, situated on the Oka Rive ...
, she was educated in
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 ...
and moved abroad to
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, where she pursued her
higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
and became involved in
revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...
circles led by
Pyotr Lavrov Pyotr Lavrovich Lavrov (14 June O.S. 2 June">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 2 June1823 – 6 February .S. 25 January1900) was a prominent Russians, Russian theorist of narodism, philos ...
and Sophia Bardina. Upon her return to Russia, she took part in revolutionary agitation and propaganda, for which she was arrested and sentenced in the to exile in
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 ...
. Her attempts to escape failed, but she was able to assist the escape of other exiled revolutionary women. Subbotina herself remained in exile until the 1890s, when she was permitted to return to her home province of Oryol. After the establishment of 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 ...
, she joined the
Society of Former Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers The Society of Former Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers was a public organization in the Soviet Union that worked in 1921–1935. History The society was organized by Pavel Maslov (born 1890), Dmitry Novomirsky, and others. The opening took ...
.


Biography


Early life

Evgeniia Dmitrievna Subbotina was born in 1853, in the village of Podvorgolskoye, in the
Oryol Governorate Oryol Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 to 1928. Its seat was in the city of Oryol. Administrative division Oryol Governorate consisted of t ...
of the
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 ...
. Evgeniia was the eldest daughter of a noble landowner, Dmitrii Subbotin, who died shortly after the birth of his youngest daughter Nadezhda, leaving his children with a considerable inheritance. The girls' mother, Sofya Subbotina, endeavoured to provide them with the best possible education, enrolling them at a girls' school in
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 ...
in 1868.


Studies and activism abroad

After graduating in 1872, Evgeniia went abroad to study at the
University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
, along with and her younger sister Maria Subbotina. There she joined a student circle led by
Pyotr Lavrov Pyotr Lavrovich Lavrov (14 June O.S. 2 June">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 2 June1823 – 6 February .S. 25 January1900) was a prominent Russians, Russian theorist of narodism, philos ...
, for whom she worked as a typesetter for his magazine ''
Vpered Vpered ( rus, Вперёд, p=fpʲɪˈrʲɵt, a=Ru-вперёд.ogg, ''Forward'') was a subfaction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Although Vpered emerged from the Bolshevik wing of the party, it was critical of Lenin ...
'', as well as the ''Fritschi'' women's circle. Subbotina and Vera Lyubatovich, another member of ''Fritschi'' group, formed a close alliance with the city's Georgian nationalist students, led by , with whom they discussed the formation of a new
revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
. When Dzhandabari met with the women's group, he found Subbotina competing with her comrades for the attention of the group's leader Sophia Bardina.


Activism, arrest and trial

Subbotina was forbidden by the Tsarist government from completing her studies in Zurich, so in 1873, she moved to
Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
and then to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. In August 1874, she returned to Russia, settling briefly in the
Kursk Governorate Kursk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, which existed from 1796 to 1928 with its capital in Kursk. Administrative divisions As of 1914, Kursk Governorate included 15 uyezds. * Belgorods ...
before moving to Moscow at the end of the year. In February 1875, she participated in the founding of the All-Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Organisation, within which she conducted propaganda among the city's industrial workers. She briefly moved to
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
in order to care for her sick mother Sofya, but by August 1875, had returned to Moscow with typescript she had purchased in the imperial capital. She was arrested on 13 August at the flat of , but quickly released after a brief interrogation. She took the opportunity to destroy her typescript before she was arrested again. After she was detained a second time, she fell ill with
dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
, which forced the authorities to have her transferred to a hospital. After she recovered, she was transferred to Saint Petersburg and held in
pre-trial detention Pre-trial detention, also known as jail, preventive detention, provisional detention, or remand, is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is ...
, until she was tried for anti-government propaganda, in both the
Trial of the 193 The Trial of the 193 was a series of criminal trials held in Russia in 1877-1878 under the rule of Tsar Alexander II Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj n ...
and the .


Exile and later life

She was
acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...
in the Trial of the 193 on 19 February 1876, after the court found a lack of evidence for the charges against her. But on 14 March 1877, she was found guilty in the trial of the 50, which ordered her to be deprived of all her rights and exiled to Irkutsk province for 4 years. She was held in the capital's until the summer of 1878, while she recovered from her illness. On 2 August 1878, she was transferred 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 ...
; she arrived in
Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura ( ...
on 17 August 1878 and was subsequently settled in the village of Tunka. On 28 January 1879, she attempted to escape her Siberian exile, getting as far as
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 ...
before she was apprehended and transferred to the settlement of . In 1882, her family began petitioning for her to be transferred to
Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...
, on account of her poor health, but their appeals were repeatedly denied. She was instead transferred to Irkutsk, where she lived with Varvara Alexandrova and aided the escape of
Catherine Breshkovsky Yekaterina Konstantinovna Breshko-Breshkovskaya (; born  – 12 September 1934), also known in English sources as Catherine Breshkovsky, was a major figure in the Russian socialist movement, a Narodnik, and later one of the founders of the ...
from Barguzin,
Yelizaveta Kovalskaya Yelizaveta Nikolayevna Kovalskaya (; 17/29 June 1851 – 1943) was a Russian revolutionary, narodnik, and founding member of Black Repartition. Early life Kovalskaya was born near Kharkiv. Her mother was a serf, who belonged to her father, ...
and Sofya Bogomolets from Irkutsk. For this, she was exiled again to Verkholensk. There, on 1 June 1884, she married her fellow exile Vladimir Kozlovsky. By this time, petitions for her transfer to Tomsk had finally achieved success; she left for the city in May 1885. In February 1888, she was able to visit her sick mother in
Minusinsk Minusinsk (; ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 44,500 (1973). History "About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and ...
. On 29 March 1889, Subbotina was finally released from exile and her rights were restored, although she was to be kept in her chosen place of residence for 5 additional years, under strict police surveillance. In May 1889, she moved to
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, in
Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...
. She petitioned repeatedly for the removal of her police supervision, but these were all rejected. In September 1892, she was granted permission to return to her home province of Oryol and, on 22 November 1892, was finally released from police surveillance and her rights to live anywhere within the Empire were restored. After the establishment of 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 ...
, in 1930, she joined the
Society of Former Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers The Society of Former Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers was a public organization in the Soviet Union that worked in 1921–1935. History The society was organized by Pavel Maslov (born 1890), Dmitry Novomirsky, and others. The opening took ...
.


Selected works

*


References


Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Subbotina, Evgeniia 1853 births 1930s deaths Year of death unknown 19th-century women from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland Narodniks Prisoners and detainees of the Russian Empire Russian nobility Russian women activists Soviet women writers Evgeniia University of Zurich alumni