Andrei Ivanovich Zhelyabov
Андрей Иванович Желябов
The Narodnaya Volya leader who organized the assassination of Alexander II and declared his party's creed to the court that condemned him
"I have served the cause of the people's liberation. This is my sole occupation, to which I have devoted my entire being for many years" — at the preliminary investigation, 1881.
Born a serf, Zhelyabov became the de facto leader of the Narodnaya Volya Executive Committee. He masterminded the assassination of Alexander II. Arrested two days before, the attack succeeded without him. At trial he declared his sole occupation was the people's liberation, and he was hanged in April 1881.
Career timeline
- 1869–1871Entered Novorossiysk University law faculty, Odessa; expelled for leading student unrest
- 1873–1877Joined the Chaikovtsy circle; 'Going to the People' propaganda; acquitted at the Trial of the 193
- 1879.06Attended the Lipetsk Congress; founding member of the Narodnaya Volya Executive Committee
- 1879.11Attempted to blow up the imperial train at Alexandrovsk
- 1880.02Directed Stepan Khalturin's Winter Palace bombing
- 1880–1881De facto head of the Executive Committee; built workers', student, and military networks; planned the tsaricide
- 1881.02.27Arrested two days before the assassination; demanded to be joined to the case
- 1881.04.03Hanged at the Semyonovsky parade ground with the other 'First Marchers'