Obnorsky, Victor Pavlovich

Origins and early years

Victor Pavlovich Obnorsky was born in Gryazovets. The metric book records the date of November 11, 1851 ^[1] . Data on the social origin of the future revolutionary vary. The Soviet historical encyclopedia writes "from the philistines" ^[2] . Other sources write that the father of the revolutionary, Pavel Ivanovich, had the rank of non-commissioned officer and served until the 1860s (mainly in Kronstadt). Upon his retirement, Pavel Ivanovich moved to his wife Pelageya Lvovna and children in Gryazovets and became a member of the disabled team ^[1] .

The Obnorsky family had four children. The eldest was Eugene, the average were the twins born in 1846, Alexander and Vasily, the youngest was Victor ^[1] . After the death of Pavel Ivanovich, Pelageya Lvovna moved to her brother in Vologda. Victor entered studies in the Vologda district school ^[3] . Victor Obnorsky studied diligently and successfully graduated from college, but due to lack of finances he could not continue further studies ^[4] .

After searching for work, he was able to get a student in locksmith workshops in the village of Novinka, on the Moscow highway ^[4] .

Revolutionary Activities

Leaders of the South Russian Union of Workers

In 1869, Obnorsky moved to the capital of the Russian Empire, the city of St. Petersburg ^[5] . Victor’s attempt to get a job at a plant in Kronstadt failed. Thanks to the help of his brother Alexander, who worked at the cartridge plant in St. Petersburg, he began to work as a mechanic at this plant. There were many revolutionary circles of the populist trend at the plant: “Sinegubovtsy”, “Lavristy”, “Tchaikovtsy” . Worker S.V. Mitrofanov brought Obnorsky into the circle of "Tchaikovtsy" ^[6] . This happened in 1872 ^[2] . In 1869-1873, Viktor Pavlovich worked at various factories of the capital: at the cartridge factory, at the Nobel factory, at the Pliss factory and others ^[7] . At the end of 1873, the Tchaikovsky circle was defeated, but Obnorsky managed to escape, he switched to the illegal position of a revolutionary and, together with A. A. Lisovsky, moved to Moscow and then Odessa ^[8] .

Obnorsky arrived in Odessa under the name Tretyakov. Viktor Pavlovich worked at the Falk factory, the city water supply in railway workshops ^[9] . In Odessa, Obnorsky met with F. I. Kravchenko, N. B. Naddachin, Barantsev, M. P. Square, I. O. Rybitsky, Izotov ^[9] . According to a number of sources, with E. O. Zaslavsky ^[2] . These people in 1875 became the organizers of the "South Russian Union of Workers" ^[10] .

In 1873, fearing arrest, V.P. Obnorsky got a job as a lubricant on the ship and on December 21, 1873 he went abroad ^[10] . In 1874, Obnorsky traveled to London, Paris, and in Geneva got a job as a mechanic at the Wannner plant ^[10] . In Geneva, Victor Pavlovich actively studied French. He became acquainted with the European labor movement, adopted social democratic ideas and returned to Russia with the intention of creating a political workers' organization in St. Petersburg, similar to the South Russian Union ^[11] .

February 3, 1875 returned to Russia. Due to the arrests of revolutionaries in the capital, Obnorsky, together with Monakov and Nikolai Levashov, soon left St. Petersburg, went to the village of Felkhoma of the Arkhangelsk province ^[11] There, the revolutionaries bought a forge and continued revolutionary propaganda. In the summer of 1875, Obnorsky left Felkhoma and returned to the capital ^[11] , where he met S. N. Khalturin ^[12] .

In July 1875 - the first half of 1876, January - August 1878 he was engaged in the creation of the organization "North Russian Workers' Union" ^[2] , became one of the authors of his program.

In November 1876, Obnorsky again went abroad. He visited London, Paris, Geneva. In Geneva, Viktor Pavlovich became a member of the “Society for Political Exiles Benefit from Russia” ^[13] . In January 1878 he returned to Russia. In the spring and summer of 1878, together with other leaders of the North Russian Workers' Union, he wrote the union program, adopted at meetings on December 23 and 30, 1878 ^[14] .

In 1878, planning to create a newspaper for workers, Obnorsky went abroad for the third time. He planned to buy printing supplies. Viktor Pavlovich managed to buy a machine in Paris from the Nabatovites . But having bought it, he left it to the editor, instructing Cherkezov to transport the machine to Russia after receiving instructions ^[15] . In November 1878, in Paris, he met with P.L. Lavrov , from whom he learned the secret appearances of Polish socialists. Obnorsky, returning back, visited Krakow and Warsaw ^[2] . At the beginning of 1879, the program of the Northern Union began to be distributed in Warsaw and Polish industrial cities in manuscript form ^[16] . Having passed the Polish provinces, Obnorsky stopped under a different surname in Moscow ^[17]

Hard labor and 1917 revolutions

For the arrest of Obnorsky in the Northern Union, the Third Division introduced Nikolai Vasilyevich Reinstein and his wife Tatyana Reinstein. Upon learning that the charter of the union was approved in the capital, Obnorsky hurried to St. Petersburg. N. Reinstein gave Viktor Pavlovich a new fake passport and announced the date of Obnorsky’s departure to the Third Division. January 24, 1878 Viktor Pavlovich boarded the train. Along with him went a few lard, including T. Reinstein ^[17] .

After several days of surveillance, on January 29, 1879 ^{[2] he} was arrested and imprisoned in the Trubetskoy bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress. On May 31, 1880, the trial began. On June 11, the verdict was announced ^[18] . Obnorsky was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor ^[2] and to eternal settlement in the Chita district ^[19] . At this point, N. Reinstein was killed, and the “North Russian Workers' Union” was defeated ^[20] On June 12, 1880, Obnorsky filed a motion to commute the sentence ^[19] . But on June 16, the verdict of the Petersburg District Court was confirmed. Viktor Pavlovich on foot in shackles was sent to the Carian penitentiary prison of the Chita province. He arrived at the place in February 1881. ^[21]

In connection with the coronation of May 15 ( 27 ), 1883 , Alexander III issued a manifesto, according to which the term of hard labor was reduced by a third. In 1884, Victor Pavlovich entered the settlement. Being on a settlement in Transbaikalia , Obnorsky worked at Daursky gold mines, visited Chita ^[21] . From 1909 to 1919 he lived in the city ​​of Kuznetsk under the supervision of the police. His first address was the house of Krasnukhin on Bazarnaya Square, and since 1914 he rented two rooms in the house of Stankeyev in Pharmacy Lane. Here he had a workshop where he was repairing pots, stoves, guns, samovars ^[22]

Viktor Pavlovich led a secluded life. He spoke on political topics only in a narrow circle ^[23] .

In 1913-1914 he tried to organize a cooperative movement of artisans, but failed to do this ^[24]

After the February Revolution, Obnorsky spoke at rallies, participated in the county congress of Soviets in 1918 . Around him rallied progressively-minded people of Kuznetsk, who often gathered for conversations in his workshop. Welcomed the October Revolution . ^[23] .

In 1918, Obnorsky fell ill and went to bed. Doctors have found that he has bladder cancer. After persuading his relatives, he agreed to go to the Tomsk hospital, despite the fact that Tomsk was under the control of Czechoslovakians and White Guards. In March 1919, we left Kuznetsk on a crossroads: we reached the Bolotnaya station , in the vestibule the trains reached the Taiga station, where, after changing trains, we reached Tomsk. Due to the fact that the hospital was crowded, Obnorsky lived in a private apartment in the city. Only on March 21 he was placed in the therapeutic department ^[25] .

Obnorsky died in Tomsk on April 17, 1919 ^[23] .

• In 1942, one of the central streets of Novokuznetsk received the name of Obnorsky. On October 26, 1967, in the Kuznetsk district at the intersection of Obnorsky and Smirnov streets, a bust was opened to the founder of the North Russian Workers Union, one of the first revolutionaries in Russia - Viktor Pavlovich Obnorsky (sculptor Belov). Currently, the bust of V.P. Obnorsky has been moved to the beginning of the street, to the square of the Fighters of the Revolution ^[26] .

• From November 1967, Obnorsky was named after one of the main streets in Gryazovets (until 1967 - Proletarskaya). In the 1960s, a project was put forward to rename Gryazovets to Obnorsk.

• Obnorsky streets are also in Tomsk ^[27] , Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod ^[28] .

• In October 2015, Victor Obnorsky fell into the list of persons covered by the law on decommunization published by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory ^[29] .

• 1873 he worked under the name Tretyakov , when meeting new people, he called himself Kozlov from Kharkov ^[9]
• 1875 Arkhangelsk province V. Pavlov ^[2]
• 1878 passport for traveling abroad Dmitry Fedorovich Seider ^[15]
• 1879 Moscow Ivan Ivanovich Kozlov ^[17]
• 1879 Reinstein's passport: Argentov Fedor Mikhailovich - a merchant's son from Bessarabia ^[17]

• Zaslavsky, Evgeny Osipovich
• Khalturin, Stepan Nikolaevich
• South Russian Workers Union
• North Russian Labor Union

• Nevsky V.I. History of the RCP (b). Short essay. - Reprint of the 2nd edition of 1926 "Surf". - St. Petersburg: Novy Prometheus, 2009 .-- 752 p. - 1,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9901606-1-3 .
• Levitsky V. Victor Obnorsky - founder of the Northern Union of Russian workers. - M.: Publishing House of the All-Union Society of Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers, 1929.
• E. M. Zhukov Ch. editor. Obnorsky Victor Pavlovich // Soviet Historical Encyclopedia. - Moscow: publishing house "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1967. - T. 10 NAHIMSON-PERGAM. - S. [396–397] (stb. 1040 with ill. And maps). - 59,500 copies.
• Egorov, Vasily Alexandrovich . Obnorsky Victor Pavlovich . - Vologda: Book publishing house, 1962. - 30 p.