Nikolai Vasil'evich Shelgunov (1824–1891) was a Russian forestry professor, journalist, and literary critic, who became a notable figure of the

Russian nihilist movement The Russian nihilist movementOccasionally, ''nihilism'' will be capitalized when referring to the Russian movement though this is not ubiquitous nor does it correspond with Russian usage. was a philosophical, cultural, and revolutionary movem ...

. Nikolai was born the son of a nobleman, on 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 ...

. He studied at the Imperial Forestry Institute in Saint Petersburg, graduating in 1841 and joining the staff of the forestry department of the Ministry of State Domains. By the late 1850s he was appointed professor at the Forestry Institute. Shelgunov met M. L. Mikhailov in 1855. The two men travelled to London in 1858 and 1859, meeting

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен, translit=Alexándr Ivánovich Gértsen; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism" and one of the main fathers of agra ...

and

Nikolay Ogarev Nikolay Platonovich Ogarev (Ogaryov; ; – ) was a Russian poet, historian and political activist. He was deeply critical of the limitations of the Emancipation reform of 1861 claiming that the serfs were not free but had simply exchanged one f ...

. Shelgunov returned to Russia and got involved with

Nikolay Chernyshevsky Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky ( – ) was a Russian literary and social critic, journalist, novelist, democrat, and socialist philosopher, often identified as a utopian socialist and leading theoretician of Russian nihilism. He was ...

contributing to the journals ''Russkoe slovo'', ''Sovremennik'', and ''Vek''. He participated in the revolutionary movement of the 1860s co-writing ''To the Younger Generation'' with Mikhailov. He also wrote the unpublished proclamation ''To Russian Soldiers From Their Well-wishers''. He also introduced the Russian public to

Frederick Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' The Condition of the Working Class in England ''The Condition of the Working Class in England'' (german: Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England) is an 1845 book by the German philosopher Friedrich Engels, a study of the industrial working class in Victorian England. Engels' first book, ...

'' through his article 'The Working Proletariat in England and France' (''Sovremennik'', 1861, nos. 9–11).

Publications

* ''Sochineniia'', 3rd ed, vols. 1–3. St. Petersburg

904 __NOTOC__ Year 904 ( CMIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * July 29 – Sack of Thessalonica: A Muslim fleet, led by the Greek ren ...

* ''Literaturnaia kritika'' Leningrad, 1974. * ''Vospominaniia'' in N. V. Shelgunov, L. P. Shelgunova, and M. L. Mikhailov, Vospominaniia, vol. 1. Moscow, 1967. * ''Neizdannye stranitsy vospominanii'' Prometei, vol 2. Moscow, 1967. 1824 births 1891 deaths 19th-century journalists 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire Forestry academics Forestry in Russia Journalists from the Russian Empire Literary critics from the Russian Empire Male writers from the Russian Empire Russian foresters Russian male journalists Russian nihilists Saint-Petersburg State Forestry University alumni Saint-Petersburg State Forestry University faculty Writers from Saint Petersburg {{forestry-researcher-stub