(Vera Figner)Vera Nikolayevna Figner (June 25, 1852 – June 15, 1942) was a Russian revolutionary and one of the most prominent women in the radical movement against Tsarist autocracy. Born into a noble family in Kazan, she initially studied medicine in Zurich before dedicating her life to political activism.
Figner became a leading member of Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will), the revolutionary organization responsible for the 1881 assassination of Tsar Alexander II. As one of the few women in its executive committee, she played a crucial role in organizing clandestine operations and spreading the ideology of populist revolution.
Arrested in 1883, she spent over 20 years in solitary confinement in the Shlisselburg Fortress—an ordeal that made her a symbol of resistance and sacrifice. After her release, Figner continued to write, lecture, and document the revolutionary struggles of her generation, gaining recognition as both a political thinker and memoirist.
Vera Figner remains remembered as a fearless revolutionary, feminist icon, and chronicler of Russia’s underground resistance—a woman whose life embodied defiance against oppression.
