| Catherine Breshkovsky | |
|---|---|
Catherine Breshkovsky at work |
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| Born | 13 January 1844 Vitebsk, Russia |
| Died | 12 September 1934 Chvaly, Czechoslovakia |
Catherine Breshkovsky (real name Yekaterina Konstantinovna Breshko-Breshkovskaya (Russian: Екатерина Константиновна Брешко-Брешковская); 13 January 1844—12 September 1934) was a Russian socialist and revolutionary, better known as Babushka ("Grandmother") or, more solemnly, the Grandmother of the Russian Revolution.
She left her home at the age of 26 to join followers of anarchist Mikhail Bakunin in Kiev. As a Narodnik revolutionary, she was imprisoned 1874 at Katorga and exiled to Siberia in 1878. After her release in 1896, she formed a Socialist-Revolutionary group and helped to organize the Socialist-Revolutionary Party in 1901.
She escaped to Switzerland and the United States in 1900. After returning to Imperial Russia in 1905, she was captured and exiled to Siberia again. After the February Revolution of 1917, political prisoners were released, and Breshkovsky was given a seat in Aleksandr Kerensky's government. When the Bolshevik organized the October Revolution, Breshkovsky was again forced to flee. She died in Czechoslovakia.