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political
careers
and
become
active and
influential
among their
fellow
worker
revolutionaries.
Of the three
Grigor'eva
was
the oldest
by
five
years
and there
was a one
year
gap
between
Boldyreva
and Karelina.
They
were
all from
working
class
or
recent
peasant
backgrounds,
while
Grigor'eva
and
Karelina
spent
some
of their
early
life in
a
foundling
home.
Grigor'eva's
and
Boldyreva's
fathers
were
soldiers in the
Imperial
Army.
Karelina also
wrote
about
living
in
a
village
as a
foster child with the
family
of
a
soldier's
widow. Both
Boldyreva
and
Karelina
were
married. But while Karelina

62
stayed
with her husband and the
couple
shared their
political
views
working
closely
together
in each
organisation,
Boldyreva
soon
left her husband who did
not
share her
political
aspirations.
From her
marriage
Boldyreva
had three
children,
Karelina had
one,
while
Grigor'eva
remained childless.
Grigor'eva
and
Karelina received their
initial
education
in
the
foundling
homes
and
Boldyreva
attended
the
famous
Smolenskaia
Sunday
School for Workers
in
the Nevskaia Zastava district of St.
Petersburg.
(Sunday
Schools in Russia dated back
to
1859 and
were
set
up
to
give
working
class
people,
who
could
not
attend classes
on
other
days,
access
to
basic
education.)
Boldyreva
and
Karelina
also
attended
midwifery
courses
trying
to
improve
their
professional
career
prospects
though
neither turned this
training
into
a
profession
thereafter.
All three
were
persecuted
for their
political
activities and
received
several
prison
terms
and
exile
sentences.
During
the
1905
Revolution
Boldyreva
and Karelina
were
elected
to
the
Petersburg
Workers'
Soviet,
a
mark of
recognition
of their
political
influence
and
respect
among
their
fellow
workers.
However,
Karelina
soon
withdrew from the
political
scene,
apparently
for
reasons
of
ill health.
Grigor'eva
continued her work for the PSR for
a
number of
years
after
1905.
But
of the
three,
only Boldyreva
remained
politically
active
up
to
and
during
the 1917
Revolution.
I
have
not
been able
to
find any records with the
exact
dates of
their death.
All
that is known is that the three
were
still alive in 1930.
The information about other
women
workers who
were
members of the
Brusnev group is
considerably
more
fragmented.
Tat'iana Razuvaeva
was a
deputy
of
the
Petersburg
Workers' Soviet in 1905 and like Karelina
represented
the
Gapon
Society.
Norinskaia, Maklakova, Keizer,
Nikolaeva and
Zhelabina
worked in
a
rubber
factory.
Keizer and
Norinskaia
were
arrested in 1895 while the other female
revolutionaries
continued their active work in the
Petersburg
social democratic
organisations
right
up
to
the 1900s.
I
could
not
find
any
more
information
on
these
revolutionary
women
workers.
Sunday
Schools in
working
class districts
played
an
important
part
in
spreading
social democratic
propaganda
among
workers. Set up
by
the
government
to
teach
literacy
to
the
growing
numbers of the urban
proletariat they
attracted liberal
and Marxist
intelligentsia
eager
to
impart
their
knowledge
or
recruit
new
members
into
their
clandestine
circles.
A
considerable
number of
Sunday
school teachers
were
female
students from
women's
higher
courses.
For
example,
among the female
teachers
of Smolenskaia
Sunday
school
were
N.
Krupskaia,
A.
Iakubova,
Z.

63
Nevzorova,
L.Knipovich
and P.Kudelli
-
all of them later became
leading
Bolshevichki.
Other
Sunday
schools in
which
propaganda
and
agitation
was
directed
at
workers
were
the Glazovskaia and Obukhovskaia schools.
Though officially
the
subjects permitted
for
teaching
in
Sunday
schools
were
Russian
language,
mathematics, geography,
history,
and
literature,
the radical teachers also lectured
basics
of economy and about the
agrarian
issue.
They supplied illegal
literature
to
the
workers. Later
Krupskaia
remembered the
trust
their students held in them
sharing
with
them their
personal
feelings
and doubts.
So who
were
these
women
that
played
an
important
part
in
shaping
social
democratic
views among
Petersburg
workers?
Nadezhda
Krupskaia
(b. 1869)
came
from
an
impoverished, democratically
minded
gentry
family.
Her
father
was
an
army officer who had been
suspected
of
secretly
sympathising
with Polish
insurgents
in the
early
1860s. In
1890
Krupskaia
attended the
Higher
Women's
(Bestuzhev)
Courses in
Petersburg. (Like
the Alarchin
Courses in
the
1870s, they
were
opened
for
women
in 1878 and had
two
faculties:
Philology
and
Mathematics)
There she
joined
a
student circle
led
by
Brusnev before
beginning
to
teach in
a
Sunday
school.
In
1894 she
met
Vladimir
Ul'ianov
(Lenin)
whose wife she later became. In 1896 she
was
arrested
for
membership
of the Union
of
Struggle
for the Liberation of
Working
Class
(Union
of
Struggle)
and exiled.
In
1898 she
joined
the RSDRP and became
one
of the
leading
women
Bolsheviks. She
wrote
extensively
for the
party
press
on
women's and educational issues before and
after
the October Revolution.
Zinaida Nevzorova
(b.
1870)
was one
of
three
daughters
(all
of whom became
Bolshevichki)
from
a
teaching family.
Like
Krupskaia
she
was a
graduate
of
the
Bestuzhev
Courses
though
she
was a
member of
a
social democratic circle in her
hometown
of Nizhnii
Novgorod
before
coming
to
Petersburg.
She
joined
the Union of
Struggle
in 1895 but
was
arrested in 1896 and exiled
to
Siberia. In Siberia she married
G.Krzhyzhanovskii,
also
a
member
of the RSDRP
and
a
Bolshevik.
Between 1900
and 1905 she
was an
active
agent
for
Iskra,
the RSDRP newspaper.
Praskov'ia
Kudelli (b.l859)
was a
daughter
of
a
former Polish serf who after
the
abolition
of serfdom became
a
doctor. In 1878 she
came
to
Petersburg
to
attend
the Alarchin
Courses. Her first involvement with revolutionaries
was
through
student
Populist
circles.
In 1890 she became
acquainted
with Marxist
theory
and decided
to
work with workers in
a
Sunday
school where she made the
acquaintance
of other

64
socialist
female teachers. After her
arrest
in 1900 she
went to
Pskov where she
supported
the efforts of the Iskra
organisation.
In 1903 she
joined
the RSDRP
(b).
So in
contrast
to
the
women
workers from the Brusnev group the three
women
teachers
came
from
more
privileged,
if
not
wealthy,
families. The eldest of
the
three,
Kudelli,
had been
involved
in the
Populist
movement
but did
not
take
part
in any
terrorist
acts.
In
her
autobiography
Kudelli,
who
described
the
poet
Nekrasov
as
her
first real
political
influence,
recollected
her
early
student
days:
Revolutionary
views
were
growing
stronger
in
me
but
I
found
terrorism
per
se
instinctively
repulsive.9
For
Krupskaia
and Nevzorova such
early
influence
came
from within their families.
They
became
attracted
to
the social
democratic
movement
during
their student
days
and all three
were
professional teachers, turning
later into
professional
female
revolutionaries.
Krupskaia
and Nevzorova married fellow
revolutionaries
in exile
(incidentally
both
couples
were
in Eastern Siberia
at
the
same
time and had close
contacts).
Kudelli remained
single.
None had
children.
Krupskaia,
Kudelli and
Nevzorova
were
active members of the Union of
Struggle
and later
joined
the ranks of
the
Bolsheviks
after the
split
in the RSDRP in 1903. All three contributed
to
the
Bolshevik
party
press, and Kudelli and
Krupskaia
were
among
the
founding
members
of
Rabotnitsa
{The
Woman
Worker)
in 1914
(revived
after the
February
Revolution
in
1917),
a
Bolshevik
magazine specifically
aimed
at
women
workers. Like their
counterparts
from the
women
workers these
female revolutionaries
were
arrested,
imprisoned
and exiled
on
many
occasions.
But
Krupskaia,
Lenin's closest
ally,
spent
a
long
time
working
for the
party
abroad between 1903 and 1917. All three
women
lived
on
well after the October Revolution. So there is
a
clear
difference
in the social
origins
and in their
political
careers
between these three
Bolshevichki
and the Brusnev
group
women,
while
Boldyreva's development
took her from the latter
to
the
Bolshevik
Party.
The efforts
to
recruit
more
members from the
working class,
and in
particular
women,
to
the ranks of the Social Democrats
were
not
limited
to
St.
Petersburg.
In
1891-92,
for
example,
there
were
women's
Marxist
circles inNizhnii
Novgorod,
9
VOSB,
fond
124,
case
1009

65
which
involved
a
number of
sisters,
including
O. and
E.
Chachina,
M.and E.
Dmitrieva,
A. and N.
Rukavishnikova,
M. and O.
Ivanitskaia.
In Ivanovo-Voznesensk
01'ga Varentsova,
a
weaver's
daughter (her
father had
his
own
small
workshop),
and
professional
revolutionary,
set
up
her first
study
circles
for
women
in 1892.
The
meetings
used
to
take
place
in her flat. In 1895 this circle
was
incorporated
into the Ivanovo branch of the Union of
Struggle.
The workers'
circles
which Varentsova had established
were
finally
crushed
by
the
police
in 1896.
Several members of Varentsova's
women
workers' circle
went
onto
conduct
their
own
propaganda
and
agitation
in their work
places,
and
to
join
the social
democratic
movement.
One of her students and circle members
was
Elizaveta
Volodina, daughter
of
a
textile worker and herself
a
seamstress,
who
joined
the
organisation
in 1894. As
an
energetic
and
determined
propagandist
and
organiser
Volodina
was
co-opted
into the work of the central circle and
was
made
responsible
for work among fellow
women
workers
at
her
factory.
Even before
committing
herself
to
the
organisation,
she had established the first
women
workers' circle there
by
the
end
of 1892.
Daughter
and mother
seamstresses,
Mariia and Ekaterina
Iovlevy,
were
active members in the
same
organisation.
Between 1896 and 1903 their flat
was
used
as a
safe house for
meetings,
clandestine literature and
printing equipment.
Another Ivanovo
woman
worker,
Vera
Zakharova,
joined
a
social democratic circle in
1897.
Elizaveta
Andreeva, afeldsher
from
Ekaterinoslav,
worked with
women
from
the local tobacco
factory
and
seamstresses
from 1896.
In
Moscow, Vinokurova,
a
midwife,
established
a
circle for
female
students,
which
involved
Sofia
Muralova,
Pelageia Karpuzi,
Anfisa
Smirnova,
E.
Petrova,
L.Birant,
M.Gorbacheva,
N.Zheliakova and N.Kush. At that
time,
the
seamstress
Mariia
Boie with her
two
brothers Konstantin and Fedor
(both
metal
workers)
were
all active in workers' circles in Moscow. The Vinokurova circle
developed
links
with
circles
of
women
workers in the textile mills and
millinery
workshops.
The students
taught
women
to
read
or
improve
their
literacy
skills
through illegal
literature. Until
one
of the circle
members,
Karpuzi,
managed
to
get
hold of
a
typewriter
the
women
would copy works
by
hand
for distribution
or
sale.
They
also
raised funds for the
movement,
even
organising
lotteries with
no
prizes
and
on one
occasion,
a
collection
to
help
a
fictitious
dying
female
student.10
S.Mitskevieh,
Na
gram
dvukh
epokh,
97

66
Muralova had
already
been
involved
in
a
study
circle in the
town
of
Taganrog.
One
of
the
members, N.P.Perekrestov,
who conducted
propaganda
among workers in
a
local
railway depot,
acquainted
Muralova with female tobacco
workers,
who
were
eager
to
learn
literacy.
Muralova
met
regularly
with
them,
teaching
them
to
read and
write.
As
their class literature
they
used
to
read
political pamphlets.
Within
three
months
two
of the
seven
workers in Muralova's circle
were
carrying
out
their
own
propaganda
in the tobacco
factory.
Muralova herself still
had
no
clear idea what
socialism
was,
but she
was
convinced that the
working
class should lead the way.
In
1893,
she
went to
Moscow
to
continue such work. Rumours
were
rife that
not
only
was
there
a
strong
workers'
organisation
there,
but that Moscow workers
were on
the
brink
of
a mass
rising.
At her first
lecture she
met
Vinokurova and
Smirnova,
who
soon
invited
her
to
join
the female student circle. This is where Muralova's
political
education
began
in
earnest.
As
yet
there
were no
efforts
specifically
directed
at
women
workers in Moscow. When the female
propagandists
realised that workers'
wives and sisters
were
trying
to
prevent
them from
being
influenced
by
atheistic
intelligentsia,
it
was
decided
to
infiltrate
the
Sunday
schools for workers
by taking
posts
as
teachers. Muralova
jumped
at
the chance
to
resume
the work she had
begun
in
Taganrog.
In her
classes she
taught
students
through
using
examples
based
on
their
own
life
experiences
pointing
out to
them the
inequalities
of the
existing regime
and
stressing
their hard
working
and
living
conditions.
By
this time
(1895),
the Moscow Workers' Union had been formed but
women were
effectively
debarred from
entry
because of their low educational level
and lack of
political
preparation.
Members of the Moscow Union
were
not at
all
typical
of
the
city's
workers,
who
were
for the
most
part
recent
peasants
with
strong
ties
to
the
village.
Muralova
was
particularly
aware
that many
leading
members of the
Union
were
rather
dismissive,
even
contemptuous,
of
women
workers. Hence she
resolved
to
continue her
separate
work among the latter. She and the other female
intelligentsia
had considerable
success:
by
the
spring
of 1895 there
were
around 50
women
workers
organised
in
propaganda
circles attached
to
the
Moscow
Workers'
Union.
In
June, however,
Muralova and
most
of the
leading
female
propagandists
were
arrested.
n
S.Mitskevich,
Na
zare
rabochego
dvizheniia
v
Moskve,79-85,

67
Muralova had
gone
to
Moscow in search of revolution. Others of her social
class had less
overtly political
reasons
for
doing
so.
In 1892
Elizaveta
Elagina,
a
daughter
of
a
landowner,
came
to
Moscow
to
continue her education and married
a
student.
The
Elagins
both became involved in the work of social democratic circles.
Prior
to
that Elizaveta had
spent
two
years
fighting
famine and cholera in the
villages
of
Central
Russia,
inspired by Populist
ideals. Between 1896 and 1898 while
studying
at
a
midwifery
course
she carried
out
propaganda
there.
A
large
part
of the
reasoning
behind these efforts
to
recruit female
workers,
besides
the
feet
that their numbers
were
growing,
was a
fear of their
backwardness,
that
they
would
act
as a
drag
on
the labour
movement,
discourage
their husbands from
participating
in
it,
and
put
the interests of their families
over
that of their class.
Whatever the intentions of the
intelligentsia,
however,
the
women
workers
whose
consciousness
was
raised
set
about
spreading
the
new
ideas
themselves,
in
an
attempt
to
draw their
sisters into the labour
movement.
There did not,
as
yet,
seem
to
be
a
fear
that
women-only
circles would divide the labour movement, but rather there
was a
recognition
that
not
only
were
literacy
levels
considerably
lower among
women
than
men,
but also that the labour force
was
rigidly
divided
along gender lines,
that
women
often took
jobs
outside of
factories,
and that
as women
they
had
specific
needs. The
Brusnev circles did