Aleksandr Ulyanov | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ulyanov in 1887 | |
| Born | 12 April [O.S. 31 March] 1866 |
| Died | 20 May [O.S. 8 May] 1887 (aged 21) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Occupation(s) | Revolutionary socialist, political activist, student |
| Parents | |
| Relatives |
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Aleksandr Ilyich Ulyanov (Russian:Алекса́ндр Ильи́ч Улья́нов; 12 April [O.S. 31 March] 1866 – 20 May [O.S. 8 May] 1887)[1] was aRussian revolutionary and political activist who was executed for planning an assassination againstAlexander III of Russia. He was the elder brother ofVladimir Lenin, the founder of theSoviet Union; his execution pushed his younger brother into activism.
Ulyanov was born inNizhny Novgorod, the second child and eldest son of schoolteachersIlya Nikolayevich Ulyanov andMaria Alexandrovna Ulyanova. He was often referred to as Sasha, acommon diminutive form of the name Aleksandr.[2] Through his father, Ulyanov was a member of theRussian nobility.
He graduated with honors from the Classical Gymnasium ofSimbirsk in 1883 and later attendedSaint Petersburg Imperial University, where he majored inNatural Sciences and earned a degree inzoology. While at university, he participated in illegal meetings and demonstrations, often handing out pamphlets and making speeches to students and workers.
In 1886 Ulyanov became a member of the "terrorist faction", which was part of theNarodnaya Volya (People's Will) party. He was one of the authors of the party's program. Acknowledging the working class as the "nucleus of theSocialist Party", the program affirmed the revolutionary's initiative of fighting autocracy through terrorism.
Ulyanov and his comrades conspired toassassinateAlexander III of Russia. On 1 March 1887 (Julian calendar), the day of the sixth anniversary ofAlexander II's murder, three party members were arrested in theNevsky Prospekt carrying handmade bombs filled with dynamite and lead pellets poisoned withstrychnine. Police suspected that when Alexander III visited church on the anniversary of his father's assassination, the plotters would throw bombs into the Emperor's carriage. The attempt is known as "The Second First of March".[3]
Ulyanov, who served as both the main ideologist of the group as well as the bomb-maker, was later arrested. In court Ulyanov gave a political speech. The conspirators were initially sentenced to death; all but five were then pardoned by Alexander III. Ulyanov was not among those pardoned. On 8 May, he and his four comrades –Pakhomy Andreyushkin,Vasily Generalov,Vasili Osipanov, andPetr Shevyrev – were hanged atShlisselburg.[4]
Aleksandr's execution drove his younger brother Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (later known asVladimir Lenin) into fervent political activity. Before Aleksandr's arrest, Lenin and the family had not known of Aleksander's activism and were comfortably middle class and essentially apolitical, holding no strong feelings for or against the Russian monarchy.[5] Historian James D. White reported that Lenin's introduction to radical politics came only after Aleksandr's death in an attempt to understand the events: "The actions of Lenin and Olga in the period following Sasha’s [Aleksandr's nickname] execution suggest that they had resolved that their brother’s death would not be in vain and that they would serve the cause for which he had sacrificed himself – just as soon as they could discover what that cause had been."[6]
Later in life, Lenin recalled thinking, "No, my brother won't make a revolutionary, I thought at the time. A revolutionary can't give so much time to the study of worms." Lenin also remembered how his family were shunned by liberal circles in Simbirsk following his brother's arrest.[7]
Aminor planet,2112 Ulyanov, was discovered in 1972 bySoviet astronomerTamara Mikhailovna Smirnova and named after him.[8][9]
