Russian Rulers History Podcast · Mark Schauss

The Role of Women in the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 - Part One

·24 min·20 clips

Episode 339 opens on the role of women in the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, part one of a two-part series. The host says the previous episode covered the Bolshevik revolution's effect on the Russian people, and this one widens the frame to women, arguing that without them the Bolshevik revolution and Tsar Nicholas's abdication might never have happened. The narration notes how many of the women were educated, keenly aware of Tsarist injustice, and willing to put themselves on the line for change. The story then goes back to 1905, where women are placed at the front of protests against the Tsarist regime, which they saw as failing to answer the economic depression gripping the country. Catherine Brezhkovsky is the main figure. Her life is traced through revolutionary work, family loss, false passports, arrest, and the Trial of the 193, described as the largest trial of revolutionaries yet held in St. Petersburg. The defendants act defiantly, verbally abuse the judges, and the badly handled proceedings push some acquitted revolutionaries into Narodnaya Volya, the group tied to the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. Brezhkovsky is then sentenced to katorga, later released in 1896, and shown struggling to connect with a younger generation of Russians. From there, the episode follows her political work: helping to build the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1901, touring the United States in 1904 to raise awareness and funds, returning to Russia in 1905, being arrested again in 1908, and later being released when the Provisional Government comes to power in 1917. The final figure is Zanadia Ivanova, writing as Mirovich, born near Smolensk in 1865. She is introduced as a translator of foreign works, including Henrik Ibsen and John Stuart Mill, and as one of the founders of the All-Russian Union for Women's Equality and later a member of the All-Russian League for Women's Equality. Her writing on women's rights continues until her death in 1913, tying her to the broader revolutionary current the episode has been tracing. The episode ends by promising to finish the series next time, noting that the host hopes to return in two weeks despite a total knee replacement the following week, and signing off in the same plain, direct style.

As heard by us

A direct look at the women whose education, conviction, and risks helped drive Russian revolutionary change.

This episode keeps its attention on women in the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, and that focus pays off. The strongest material ties education, political conviction, and risk-taking to the wider upheaval without losing sight of the people at the center of it.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Women move to the center of the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Russian Rulers History Podcast