Stepan Nikolayevich Khalturin (russian: Степан Николаевич Халтурин; 2 January
Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._21_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>
O.S._21_December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._21_December1857_–_3_April_[O.S._22_March.html" ;"title="Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 21 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 21 December1857 – 3 April [O.S. 22 March">Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 21 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 21 December1857 – 3 April [O.S. 22 March1882) was a revolutionary from 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. ...
, member of Narodnaya Volya, and responsible for an attempted assassination of Alexander II of Russia.
Early life
Khalturin was born in 1857 in Khalevinskaya,
Vyatka Governorate
Vyatka Governorate (russian: Вятская губерния, udm, Ватка губерний, mhr, Виче губерний, tt-Cyrl, Вәтке губернасы) was a governorate of the Russian Empire and Russian Soviet Federative Socia ...
,
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. ...
. The son of a peasant, he became a carpenter, employed in several factories in
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 ...
.
Revolutionary life
Khalturin became involved in revolutionary politics, joining
The People's Will
Narodnaya Volya ( rus, Наро́дная во́ля, p=nɐˈrodnəjə ˈvolʲə, t=People's Will) was a late 19th-century revolutionary political organization in the Russian Empire which conducted assassinations of government officials in an at ...
. In 1880, he got a job as a carpenter at the
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Emperor of all the Russias, Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The p ...
, allowing him to sleep on the premises; this allowed him to bring in packets of
dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
each day, concealing them in his room, within his bedding.
![Attacco Chalturin Palazzo d'Inverno](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Attacco_Chalturin_Palazzo_d%27Inverno.jpg)
Under the orders of the Narodnaya Volya, Khalturin constructed a mine on 17 February 1880, in the basement of the building under the dining-room. The mine was set to go off at the time which Narodnaya Volya had calculated the Tsar to be having dinner. Unfortunately for the assassins, Alexander II's guest
Prince Alexander of Battenberg arrived late, delaying dinner, so the dining-room was empty. The Tsar was thus able to escape assassination unharmed, though 11
Imperial Guards were killed and 45 more people were badly injured by the explosion.
After the failed assassination, Khalturin escaped to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
and then to
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
. On 18 March 1882, he participated in the assassination of police general Strelnikov who was sent to Odessa in order to eradicate the revolutionary movement. Khalturin's accomplice Zhelvakov shot Strelnikov in the head, killing him instantly. Khalturin, disguised as a cabman, was supposed to help Zhelvakov flee, but both were overpowered by the crowd and arrested. Both men gave the police fake names. Under an order by Alexander III, they were swiftly court-martialed and hanged. Khalturin was executed without being known to be the bomber of the Winter Palace.
Memory
Khalturin was portrayed in Soviet historiography as a hero of the Russian workers' movement. Dozens of streets and enterprises throughout Russia and other Soviet Republics were named after him, many of them still bear his name. Vladimir Lenin's office in the Kremlin was decorated with two haut-reliefs, one of Karl Marx and the other of Khalturin. Four different monuments of Khalturin were built in his birth place in the
Kirov Oblast
Kirov Oblast (russian: Ки́ровская о́бласть, ''Kirovskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. Population: 1,341,312 ( 2010 Census).
Geography
Na ...
.
His biographical film ''
Stepan Khalturin
Stepan Nikolayevich Khalturin (russian: Степан Николаевич Халтурин; 2 January Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._21_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/> O.S._21_December">Old_St ...
'' was directed by
Aleksandr Ivanovsky
Aleksandr Viktorovich Ivanovsky (; November 29, 1881 – January 12, 1968) was a screenwriter and film director in Soviet Union. He was awarded the USSR State Prize, Stalin Prize in 1941, for his work on the 1940 film ''Musical Story''. His 1944 o ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalturin, Stepan
1857 births
1882 deaths
People from Kirov Oblast
People from Orlovsky Uyezd (Vyatka Governorate)
Revolutionaries from the Russian Empire
Narodnaya Volya