Sarra Naumovna Ravich (;

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

, Olga; 1879–1957) was a figure in the Russian revolutionary movement. She was the first wife of

Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to ...

Biography

She was born on August 1, 1879, in

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

into a Jewish family. Her father was a merchant, Nohim Leib Ravich, and her mother was Golda, née Yakhnim. She became a member of the RSDLP (

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

) in 1903. In June 1906, she moved 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 ...

, where she spent 6 months before relocating to Geneva. There, she met Grigory Zinoviev and became his wife (though their marriage was brief). She studied at the Faculty of Philosophy at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

. In 1908, she was arrested in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in connection with a case involving a robbery in Tiflis, during which she tried to exchange banknotes stolen during the heist. By no later than 1911, she married economist Vyacheslav Alekseevich Karpinsky. Together with her husband, she managed the library named after G. A. Kuklin in

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 ...

. She returned to Russia in 1917 in a sealed train along with

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 ...

, Zinoviev, and his second wife, Zlata Ionovna Lilina, and their son Stefan. She actively participated in party work, carrying out assignments from Lenin and the

Central Committee of the CPSU The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the Central committee, highest organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) between Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Congresses. Elected by the ...

(Communist Party of the Soviet Union). In 1917, she was a member of the Petrograd Committee of the RSDLP(b) (

Russian Social Democratic Labour 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 ...

). After the assassination of

Moisei Uritsky Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky (; ; – 30 August 1918), also known by his pen-name Boretsky () was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader in Russia. After the October Revolution, he was the chief of the Cheka secret police of the Petrograd Soviet. ...

, she performed the duties of the Commissioner for Internal Affairs of the Northern Region. She was a delegate to many party congresses and was a member of the

Congress of the CPSU The Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union () was the supreme decision-making body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Its meetings served as convention of all party delegates and their predecessors. Between the congresses ...

from 1924 to 1925. In 1918, she aligned with the "left communists" and, in 1920, became the first authorized representative of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs in

Petrograd 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, ...

.''Синова И. В.'' Региональные органы внешних сношений в условиях новой советской государственности в 1920-е годы (на примере Петрограда — Ленинграда) // Становление советской государственности: выбор пути и его последствия: Материалы XIV международной научной конференции. Екатеринбург, 22-25 июня 2022 г. — М.: Политическая энциклопедия; Президентский центр Б. Н. Ельцина, 2022. — С. 459. She wrote memoirs titled ''Beyond the Threshold of Life'' as well as articles on the philosophical and political views of

Nikolay Chernyshevsky Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky ( – ) was a Russian literary and social critic, journalist, novelist, democrat, and socialist philosopher, often identified as a utopian socialist and leading theoretician of Russian nihilism and the N ...

Vsevolod Garshin Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin (; 14 February 1855 – 5 April 1888) was a Russian author of short stories. Life Garshin was the son of an officer, from a family tracing its roots back to a 15th-century prince, who entered into the service of I ...

, and others.

Arrests, imprisonments, and exile

From 1922, she was a member of the Moscow branch of the All-Union Society of

Old Bolsheviks The Old Bolsheviks (), also called the Old Bolshevik Guard or Old Party Guard, were members of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Many Old Bolsheviks became leading politi ...

. She was an active participant in the opposition from 1926 to 1927. In 1927, she was expelled from the party but reinstated in 1928. In 1935, she was expelled again for "counter-revolutionary activities." Prior to her arrest, she was the manager of the Voronezh Confectionery Trust. On December 12, 1934, she was arrested and exiled to

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...

for 5 years. She was subsequently arrested again in 1937, 1946, and 1951, and was only released in 1954 following a decision by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office of the USSR, which lifted her criminal record but did not fully rehabilitate her in court. She died in a

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home, old folks' home, or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – or rest home, is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Ty ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravich, Sarra 1879 births 1957 deaths Left communists Soviet Marxists Women Marxists People from Vitebsk 20th-century memoirists 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers