Apostles into Terrorists: Women and the Revolutionary Movement in the Russia of Alexander II

In this volume, the author tells the story of Sofya Bardina, Vera Figner, Vera Zasulich, and many other women who participated in the revolutionary movement in Russia between 1860 and 1880. They were populists who started out as peaceful propagandists and preachers among workers and peasants but who gradually turned to political militancy, terrorism, and eventually regicide. As the author argues, they were also pioneers of female emancipation who supported feminist demands for higher education and economic independence for women. By choosing to enter the general political struggle to liberate the whole intellectual class, the author argues, they escaped the narrow confines of pure feminism and won for themselves complete equality with their male comrades.