Grigory Andreyevich Gershuni (russian: Григорий Андреевич Гершуни; – ) was a Russian

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

and one of the founders of the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

Early life

Gershuni was born in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

, in the

Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate ( rus, Ковенская губеpния, r=Kovenskaya guberniya; lt, Kauno gubernija) or Governorate of Kaunas was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kaunas (Kovno in Russian). It was formed ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(present-day

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

), to a

petty bourgeois ''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, literally 'small bourgeoisie'; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a French term that refers to a social class composed of semi-autonomous peasants and small-scale merchants whose politico-economic ideological ...

family of

Lithuanian Jews Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas ...

.The Morality of Terrorism: Religious and Secular Justifications by David C. Rapoport, p. 242
/ref> At the age of three his family moved to Šiauliai. At fifteen his uncle took him as an apprentice

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

and Gershuni traveled across Russia, including areas outside of the Pale of Settlement. In 1895 he began his pharmacy studies at Kiev University and became involved in student activities, for which he was briefly arrested. After graduation in 1897, he opened his own chemical- bacteriological laboratory in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Revolutionary life

Gershuni was a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and a founding member of the Workers' Party for the Political Liberation of Russia. This led to his arrest in 1900 by the

Okhrana The Department for Protecting the Public Security and Order (russian: Отделение по охранению общественной безопасности и порядка), usually called Guard Department ( rus, Охранное отд ...

(secret police). After his release he joined with fellow revolutionaries including Catherine Breshkovsky, Victor Chernov,

Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, ; Reforms of Russian orthography, original spelling: ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months ...

and

Yevno Azef Yevno Fishelevich Azef (russian: Евгений Филиппович (Евно Фишелевич) Азеф, also transliterated as ''Evno'' Azef, 1869–1918) was a Russian socialist revolutionary who also operated as a double agent and agent ...

to establish the

in 1901. Gershuni also founded the

SR Combat Organization The Combat Organization (, or the Fighting Organization) was the terrorist branch within the Social Revolutionary Party of Russia. It was a terror sub-group that was given autonomy under that Party. In his memoirs, group member Boris Savinkov c ...

in 1902, which planned and executed the assassination of

Dmitry Sipyagin Dmitry Sergeyevich Sipyagin (russian: Дми́трий Серге́евич Сипя́гин) ( – ) was a Russian politician. Political career Born in Kiev, Sipyagin graduated from the Judicial Department of St Petersburg University in 18 ...

, the Minister of Interior, in April 1902 and of N. M. Bogdanovich, the Governor of Ufa, in May 1903. They failed to assassinate Prince

Ivan Mikhailovich Obolensky ''Knyaz'' Ivan Mikhailovich Obolensky (russian: Ива́н Миха́йлович Оболе́нский), or Prince John Obolenski (1853 – 28 February 1910), was an Imperial Russian Lieutenant-General. He served as the Governor-General of Finla ...

, the Governor of Kharkov, in July 1902. Gershuni was unaware that

, his deputy, was working as an Okhrana spy.Entangled in Terror: The Azef Affair and the Russian Revolution by Anna Geifman, pp. 54–55
/ref> In May 1903, Gershuni was arrested in Kiev. In February 1904, Gershuni was tried by a military court in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and received a death sentence, which later was reduced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

at a hard

labour camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. In 1906, he hid in a barrel of

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferme ...

and escaped from the

Akatuy katorga Akatuy katorga prison (Russian: Акатуйская каторжная тюрьма, Akatuyskaya katorzhnaya tyur'ma) was part of the Nerchinsk katorga system of the Russian Empire, and was situated in today's Alexandrovo-Zavodsky District of Tr ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. From China he traveled to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, giving speeches from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in support of the socialist-revolutionary causes.The American monthly review of reviews, Volume 35, p. 492
/ref> In Chicago he met

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

.Twenty Years at Hull House: With Autobiographical Notes by Jane Addams, p. 419
/ref> He returned to Europe in February 1907 in time for the Second Extraordinary Party conference of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. There he continued to argue for a campaign of terror to overthrow the Tsarist Empire in Russia. Gershuni strongly defended Azef against claims of being a traitor. However, he soon died in Zurich of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

.The Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party Before the First World War by Manfred Hildermeier, pp. 42–43
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gershuni, Grigory 1870 births 1908 deaths Politicians from Kaunas People from Kovensky Uyezd Lithuanian Jews Socialist Revolutionary Party politicians Russian escapees Escapees from Russian detention Jewish socialists Russian revolutionaries Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Switzerland Lithuanian pharmacists Prisoners of Shlisselburg fortress