Konkordiya Nikolavna Samoilova (née Gromova) (Russian: Конкордия Николаевна Самойлова; 1876 – June 3, 1921) was a

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

revolutionary and a founding editor of the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n newspaper, ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...

'', in 1912. She was a revolutionary and activist for women workers both before and after the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...

. She devoted her life to the cause of

proletarian The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philoso ...

women. Feeling strongly as a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, she sometimes used the name "Natasha Bolshevikova".

Biography

Samoilova's father was an

Orthodox priest Presbyter is, in the Bible, a synonym for ''bishop'' (''episkopos''), referring to a leader in local church congregations. In modern Eastern Orthodox usage, it is distinct from ''bishop'' and synonymous with priest. Its literal meaning in Greek (' ...

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, and she had a sister, Kaleriia. Samoilova graduated with a gold medal from gymnasium in Irkutsk. She took part in her first demonstration in February 1897 while a university student, studying

Bestuzhev Courses The Bestuzhev Courses (russian: Бестужевские курсы) in Saint Petersburg were the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Imperial Russia. The institute opened its doors in 1878. It was named after Konst ...

St. 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 ...

. In 1901, she was expelled from school after three months in prison. She returned home to Irkutsk until early 1902, when she received a passport and left for Paris to study

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

at the ''Vol'naaia Russkaia shkola obshchestvennykh nauk'' (Free Russian School of Social Sciences) where the lecturers included

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

and

Julius Martov Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов; born Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum; 24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923) was a politician and revolutionary who became the leader of the Mensheviks in early 20th-century Russia. He was arguably the closes ...

and eventually joined their newspaper ''

Iskra ''Iskra'' ( rus, Искра, , ''the Spark'') was a political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). History Due to political repression under Tsar Nicho ...

'' as a journalist. In 1903, she joined the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolsheviks) "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

or RSDLP(b). She was arrested four times between 1902 and 1913, and spent a year in prison. At the First All-Russian Women's Congress in November 1918, she sat on the podium with

Inessa Armand Inessa Fyodorovna Armand (born Elisabeth-Inès Stéphane d'Herbenville; 8 May 1874 – 24 September 1920) was a French-Russian communist politician, member of the Bolsheviks and a feminist who spent most of her life in Russia. Armand, being ...

Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Theoretician ...

, and Klavdiia Nikolaeva. In 1912, she was a founding editor, and secretary of the editorial board, of the newspaper, ''Pravda''. She later joined the editorial staff of ''

Rabotnitsa ''Rabotnitsa'' (russian: Работница; en, The Woman Worker) is a women's journal, published in the Soviet Union and Russia and one of the oldest Russian magazines for women and families. Founded in 1914, and first published on Women's Day ...

''. She met Arkadi A. Samoilov in 1906 and they married in 1913. They had two children. The husband died in 1919 of typhoid fever, while Konkordiia died in 1921 of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samoilova, Konkordiia 1876 births 1921 deaths Writers from Irkutsk People from Irkutsk Governorate Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Bolsheviks Marxist feminists Russian feminists Russian socialist feminists Deaths from cholera Media founders Women founders Politicians from Irkutsk