#sofya perovskaya

[klimbims]

Sofya Perovskaya | Софья Перовская в детстве, 1863 by Olga

[nesiacha]

I'm not infallible , feel free to criticize me.

"Two women, born into the Russian aristocracy, could have had brilliant marriages and lived out lives of ease in the highest ranks of St. Petersburg society — at least until 1917. One of them, Katerina Dolgorukoya, abandoned her youth, her beauty, her family, all worldly pleasures, and her place of first rank in the aristocratic world of her birth for a life of luxurious imprisonment in the inner chambers of the Winter Palace as the mistress of Aleksandr II. She was convinced she was carrying out a noble purpose of bringing happiness to a melancholy monarch and encouraging him to make concessions "to the people." The other woman, Sof'ya Perovskaya, abandoned a similar heritage for the turbulent life of a revolutionary, and in the end sacrificed her life to what she believed to be the cause of freedom for her country"

Margaret Maxwell, Narodniki women: Russian women who sacrificed themselves for the dream of freedom

I came across this excerpt, and I personally find it very well written, even though I absolutely do not subscribe to the idea of Alexander II of Russia as “the great liberator of the people” (contrary to what I’ve seen on some websites) even though he abolished serfdom, nor do I support the methods used by Narodnaya Volya, one of which was assassination. In my view, that achieves nothing except turning the ruler into a martyr and giving the ruling class an excuse to increase repression. If they truly wanted to get rid of the system, they should have overthrown it rather than killing a single leader.

That said, let’s be honest: Catherine Dolgorukov was subjected to some criticism that, in my opinion, was often sexist, particularly regarding her morganatic marriage (after the death of his first wife) to Alexander II. Some people placed more blame on her than on the ruler himself, even though he was the one who held the power to make the final decision. Of course, it must have been extremely difficult for his first wife, Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (born Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt), to witness this during her lifetime, on top of the hardships she already endured but the first person at fault in this case is her husband.. Dolgorukov was even blamed sometimes for unpopular decisions made by Alexander II, which is unfair—he was an autocrat with full power, so the decisions were his, not hers.

As for Sofia Perovskaya, she faced even harsher trials. Despite having everything, she chose to sacrifice it all for what she believed was the cause of the Russian people and freedom. Unfortunately, I’ve read articles that criticize her just as harshly, suggesting that she rose up against the tsar for little reason, as if she were “blind” and refused to see his supposed qualities (a view that relies on the idealized image of Alexander II). Even worse, I’ve come across claims that she became a determined opponent of tsarism only because of Andrei Zhelyabov—as if, because she was a woman, she needed a man to think for her.

Seriously, assassinating the tsar was, once again, a grave mistake (not to mention the civilians harmed in these attacks). However, people like her did have real grievances against him, and she was perfectly capable of thinking for herself.