Lenin’s Revolutionary Elder Brother: Alexander Ulyanov
By: Tarik Ata
Tags: History, Russia, Politics, Culture, Revolution

Lenin’s Revolutionary Elder Brother: Alexander Ulyanov

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is a man whose name is synonymous with revolution, an incredible intellectual and masterful theorist of Marxism, brutish in his attaining of power in Russia, and a man who was the central figure in the founding of one of the major superpowers of the 20th century. A man who was also pledged into calls for revolution primarily to avenge one man, his elder brother: Alexander Ulyanov.

Alexander Ulyanov, often referred to as Sasha, had a profound influence on his younger brother, and his death, by the order of Tsar Alexander III, sent the Ulyanov family into a spiral of destruction, being publicly shamed and excluded, sending Lenin on a path to avenge his brother. Yet, Sasha’s effect and influence on Lenin is often not discussed, even though he proves to be deeply influential and evidently had a tremendous effect on his brother.

So, who was Alexander Ulyanov? What influence did he have on his younger brother? And why was he executed?

Who was Alexander Ulyanov?

Sasha was born in Nizhny Novgorod, a city located in the Volga region, in 1866. He was the eldest brother and the second born, out of a total of eight brothers and sisters. Sasha was a bright and intelligent, young man who was exceptional academically — similarly to his younger brother Lenin who was known to attempt to imitate Sasha — and often praised by his teachers for his studious attitude. Sasha’s academic excellence and studious attitude won him many appraisals, this is also reiterated by historian and political scientist Adam Ulam who has stated that:

“His natural seriousness would at times turn into melancholy. It was difficult to draw him away from his studies, even to eat…” (Ulam, Spartacus Educational)

The Ulyanov family were middle-class, their father and mother, Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov and Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova were employed as school teachers. Ilya was also a Russian public figure, being appointed as inspector of public schools in 1869 and later, in 1882, being promoted to the rank of Active State Councillor, providing him with the privilege of hereditary nobility. Their family, as suggested by British historian Robert Service, was liberal, coming from a culturally, ethnically, and religiously, diverse family background.

Their father’s family history is debated amongst historians. Still, it is believed he was of possible Tatar, Kirgiz, Kalmyk, Chuvash, and Mordvinian descent. The mother, Maria, had Jewish, German, and Swedish ancestry, the aspect of her Jewish ancestry is also still debated by researchers. However, despite the family’s diversity, Ilya and Maria raised their family as Orthodox Christians and in the parameters of Russian culture (Service, Lenin: A Biography, 2010).

Graduating from the College of Simbirsk in 1883, Sasha later attended the St. Petersburg University, where he studied the natural sciences and developed a fascination on the biology of annular worms. The university was known for its intellectually rich history and it was common of the natural science and engineering students to jibe against the monarchy, which Sasha partook in. His dissertation was awarded a golden medal, a proof of his academic excellence. While in St. Petersburg he began to change, experiencing an intellectual revolution, becoming a revolutionary sympathiser, and calling for the transformation of the Russian political and social structure.

Sasha encountered some health issues in his early life, experiencing stomach inflammation, which appears to be something of a predisposed condition as many of the Ulyanov’s also later suffered from their stomachs. But these health issues did not prevent the family from pursuing revolutionary aims, as is seen by Sasha and namely with Lenin. Poor health in the family is as a reoccurring theme, even in the death of their father Ilya in 1886, due to a believed brain haemorrhage.

Their father’s death caused massive sorrow and upset which also lead Lenin to become far more disruptive and mischievous, which Sasha did not tolerate. Sasha would ridicule Lenin for his cheeky behaviour towards their widowed mother, scolding him as a father would. It could be interpreted as Sasha in some ways filling the role as Lenin’s father. But the death of their father also affected Sasha immensely, haunting him for many weeks, leaving some fearful that he would commit suicide.

Still, Sasha was far more resilient and determined than many believed, continuing his studies in St. Petersburg. In his letters home he often complained about the cost of accommodation (not much has changed then), poor food, and the unsavoury ladies. He also did not offer to drop his studies to come home and help his widowed mother as their eldest sister Anna Ulyanova did. This was primarily due to his desire to consolidate his career as well as pursue revolutionary activities, which was the very outcome his father had feared (Service, Lenin: A Biography, 2010).

Ulanyov Family, Sasha is the child standing in the middle. Credits: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/196258496237515350/?d=t&mt=login

What influence did he have on Lenin?

Sasha played an important role in Lenin’s life which according to Service, saw Lenin bearing tremendous levels of love and admiration for Sasha, always wanting to impress him. He even imitated him even to the level of eating the same food as his older brother in search of his approval. This love and respect Lenin had for his elder brother was not entirely reciprocal as Anna Ulyanova has suggested in her memoirs that Sasha said he did not get on with his younger brother Lenin, who he deemed to be far too domineering for his liking. Nonetheless, throughout Lenin’s childhood Sasha was an important figure, as he was the family’s pride and joy, the eldest brother to which all younger siblings looked up too, specifically Lenin (Service, Lenin: A Biography, 2010).

Lenin’s work What is to Be Done? also indicates the influence Sasha had over him, as suggested by historian Philip Pomper. This scholar discusses how this statement in What is to Be Done?, “The spontaneous striving of the workers to defend the students who are being assaulted by the police and the Cossacks surpasses the conscious activity of the Social-Democratic organization!” is a recalling of the experiences Lenin has with his elder brother as well as his experiences in exile. Pomper also suggests that the refusal of Tsar Alexander III to commute Sasha’s sentence later provided Lenin with the motivation to order the execution of the Romanov family due to what the Tsarist regime had done to him and his family (Leonard, The George Washington University).

The combined death of their father in 1886 and the execution of Sasha in 1887 scarred Lenin deeply, causing much pain and heartache, which left him angry and determined to avenge his elder brother, whom he admired so greatly. Lenin’s motivations to seek revenge are also supported by a Simbirsk newspaper which was reporting on the execution of Sasha and reported a seventeen-year-old Lenin as saying “I’ll make them pay for this! I swear it” (Spartacus Educational).

Lenin as a child. Credits: https://cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/v/Vladimir_Lenin.htm

His revolutionary activity and death

During his time at university in St Petersburg, Sasha was becoming a terrorist sympathiser, as were many other university students, seeking change within the Russian Empire and opposing the monarchy. In Sasha’s case, this was started due to the obscurantist attitudes towards science by the regime. He then later expanded upon his views and entered into a full rejection of the monarchy and all that it stood for, according to Service.

The officials treated students as a necessary evil and viewed them as suspects prone to subversion, causing the Ministry of Interior and Education to have a tight hold over them, only exacerbating the threat of subversion. This hostility towards students, by setting harsh regulations on the curriculum and books, all in an effort to prevent students interacting with philosophies of socialism, liberalism, atheism, and any philosophy that would challenge the status quo, also only led to an intensifying of the subversion (Service, Lenin: A Biography, 2010).

Sasha initially made friends with individuals who believed in instigating a revolutionary transformation by assassinating Tsar Alexander III. They spoke about it frequently, and gradually, Sasha became convinced and joined the group of conspirators. This group was a small faction, which had connections to the notorious Narodnaya Volya (Peoples Will), who was responsible for successful assassinations of officials, including the former Tsar Alexander II. Sasha made for a good recruit, a diligent young man that stuck to his will and decisions once he found something morally desirable. He was also a scientist with practical knowledge of chemistry, which the group wanted to exploit in the making of a nitroglycerine bomb.

Not only was Sasha’s knowledge of chemistry useful, but so were his abilities with language, making Sasha vital in the production of propaganda explaining the political aims and objectives of the group. With his scientific and linguistic talents, he often wrote about scientific law and insisted that sections of society which were oppressed all had an equal interest in the removal of the monarchy. Sasha even made use of his mastery over the German language and translated some of Marx’s work into Russian (Service, Lenin: A Biography, 2010).

The small factions, like the one Sasha belonged to, hoped that by assassinating Tsar Alexander III a full-scale revolution would be ignited, causing the end of the tyrannical monarchy. The date the conspirators chose was symbolic: 1 March 1887, the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. The group, however, were completely unsuccessful, their plan was foiled before it could even take place. On the day of the planned assassination, two members of the group were picked up by the authorities. The Okhrana (the secret police) interrogated the two men and one by one, apprehended virtually all the would-be assassins, including Sasha.

Amongst the arrests of the conspirators, family members were also brought into custody as possible suspects, Anna Ulyanova was incarcerated despite playing no role in the plot. During the interrogation, Sasha took it upon himself to take the blame for aspects of the conspiracy which he was not even involved in. He also decided to use his trial as a stage to disseminate revolutionary aims and ideals, in a last-ditch attempt to invoke change, even if it would cost him his life, as his attempts via the printing press were to no avail due to official censorship (Service, Lenin: A Biography, 2010).

Sasha’s mother, devastated by the death of her husband, was now fearful of potentially losing her eldest son and decided to write to Tsar Alexander III pleading for his release. She claimed that her atheist son was deeply ‘religious’ and tried her utmost to prevent his hanging. Sasha, however, did not play along with his mother’s lies and admitted to the most heinous crime in imperial law, leaving Maria Alexandrovna pleading Sasha to beg for mercy, as his fellow conspirators did, for his life.

However, rather than begging Tsar Alexander III for forgiveness, Sasha implored his mother to forgive him, while refusing to plea for a pardon and accepting death as his fate. The Emperor took note of the proceeding and concluded the execution would carry on and to take place on 8 May 1887 (Service, Lenin: A Biography, 2010). During his trial, Sasha refused to be represented by a counsel and in his final address to the court stated:

“My purpose was to aid in the liberation of the unhappy Russian people. Under a system which permits no freedom of expression and crushes every attempt to work for their welfare and enlightenment by legal means, the only instrument that remains is terror. We cannot fight this regime in open battle, because it is too firmly entrenched and commands enormous powers of repression. Therefore, any individual sensitive to injustice must resort to terror. Terror is our answer to the violence of the state. It is the only way to force a despotic regime to grant political freedom to the people.” He later stated that he was not afraid to die because “there is no death more honourable than death for the common good” (Spartacus Educational).

With the refusal of the Tsar for imperial clemency, Sasha and other prisoners were awoken at 3:30 a.m. and told that they would be executed in half an hour’s time. While other prisoners slept, these conspirators were taken to the gallows accompanied by a priest and guards. The men were offered priestly consolation, but all refused. Sasha stood on a stool with a noose around his neck, a sack was placed on his head, and then the stool was kicked from beneath him. Sasha was now dead (Rappaport, Conspirator: Lenin in Exile, 2009).

The effects on the family were disastrous. Maria Alexandrovna was distraught and even considered suicide and Olga Ulyanova, one of the younger siblings, fell to the floor in despair, then leapt up shouting threats against the Emperor. The Ulyanov family became socially ostracised, considered pariahs amongst the respectable people of Simbirsk. The efforts of Maria and Ilya to integrate the family into Imperial society failed, causing them to be sentenced to the margins of society.

This lead to an intensification of the anger and hatred that Lenin felt towards the monarchy. This event deeply affected his views of the Romanov Dynasty and Russian Imperial society as a whole, from the refusal of the Tsar to show mercy, to the ostracising of the Ulyanov family. The joining of all these factors sent Lenin down a revolutionary path (Service, Lenin: A Biography, 2010).