Grigory Andreyevich Gershuni (russian: Григорий Андреевич Гершуни; – ) was a Russian revolutionary 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, 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 forme ...

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), to a petty bourgeois 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 are ...

.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 Šiauliai (; bat-smg, Šiaulē; german: Schaulen, ) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 107,086. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County. Names Šiauliai is referred to by various names in different la ...

. At fifteen his uncle took him as an apprentice pharmacist and Gershuni traveled across Russia, including areas outside of the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...

. In 1895 he began his pharmacy studies at

Kiev University Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

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 ...

and a founding member of the Workers' Party for the Political Liberation of Russia. This led to his arrest in 1900 by the Okhrana (secret police). After his release he joined with fellow revolutionaries including

Catherine Breshkovsky Catherine Breshkovsky (real name Yekaterina Konstantinovna Breshko-Breshkovskaya (born Verigo), russian: Екатерина Константиновна Брешко-Брешковская; born 25 January (13 January old style) 1844 – 12 Sept ...

Victor Chernov Viktor Mikhailovich Chernov (russian: Ви́ктор Миха́йлович Черно́в; December 7, 1873 – April 15, 1952) was a Russian revolutionary and one of the founders of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party. He was the primar ...

Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, ; 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 from late July to early Nove ...

and Yevno Azef to establish the

in 1901. Gershuni also founded the SR Combat Organization 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 187 ...

, 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 Finl ...

, the Governor of Kharkov, in July 1902. Gershuni was unaware that Yevno Azef, 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 A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

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 Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

, which later was reduced to life imprisonment 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 Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

. 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 ferm ...

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 ...

to China. From China he traveled to Japan 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 territori ...

, giving speeches from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

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 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. Th ...

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, i ...

.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