Stenka Razin Stepan ( Sten ' ka ) Timofeyevich Razin ( ) Тимофеевич Разин " , ; 1630 – ) was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar ' s bureaucracy in South Russia . Early life . He is first noted by history in 1661 , as part of a diplomatic mission from the Don Cossacks to the Kalmyk s . That same year Razin went on a long - distance pilgrimage to the great Solovetsky Monastery on the White Sea for the benefit of his soul . After that , all trace of him is lost for six years , when he reappears as the leader of a robber community established at Panshinskoye , among the marshes between the rivers Tishina and Ilovlya , from whence he levied tribute from all vessels passing up and down the Volga . A long war with Poland in 1654 - 1667 and Sweden in 1656 - 1658 put heavy demands upon the people of Russia . Tax es increased as did conscription . Many peasants hoping to escape these burdens fled south and joined bands of Razin ' s marauding Cossacks . They were also joined by many others who were disaffected with the Russian government , including people of the lower classes as well as representatives of non - Russian ethnic groups , such as Kalmyk s , that were , at the time , being oppressed . Razin ' s first considerable exploit was to destroy the great naval convoy consisting of the treasury barges and the barges of the Patriarch and the wealthy merchants of Moscow . Razin then sailed down the Volga with a fleet of thirty - five vessels , capturing the more important fort s on his way and devastating the country . At the beginning of 1668 he defeated the voivode Yakov Bezobrazov , sent against him from Astrakhan , and in the spring embarked on a predatory expedition into Daghestan and Persia which lasted for eighteen months . Background . Russia began the 17th century with the Time of Troubles , which lasted from 1598 to 1613 . This time marked the end of the Rurik dynasty and the beginning of the Romanov dynasty . Michael Romanov ( tsar from 1613 to 1645 ) and his son Alexis ( tsar from 1645 to 1676 ) both strove to strengthen the power of the tsar in order to stabilize the country after the turmoil of the Time of Troubles . As a result , the Zemsky Sobor and the boyar council , two other bodies of government in Russia , slowly lost influence . The Russian population went from fifteen years of “ near anarchy ” to the reigns of two strong , centralizing autocrats . In addition , a deep divide existed between the lower peasant class in Russia and the noble class . Recent changes in the treatment and legal standing of peasants , including the institutionalization of serfdom in the Law Code of 1649 also contributed to the unrest among the peasant class . The Don Cossacks , a lower class group that lived independently near the Don River and whom the tsar ’ s government supplied in exchange for defending Russia , led Razin ’ s rebellion . Historian Paul Avrich characterizes Razin ’ s revolt as a “ curious mixture of brigandage and revolt , ” similar to other popular uprising of the period . Razin revolted against the “ traitor - boyars ” rather than the tsar . The Cossacks supported the tsar because they worked for him . Departure from the Don . In 1667 Razin gathered a small group of Cossacks and left the Don for an expedition in the Caspian Sea . He aimed to set up a base in Yaitsk ( now known as Oral , located in Kazakhstan on the Ural River ) and plunder villages from there . However , Moscow learned of Razin ’ s plans and attempted to stop him . As Razin traveled down the Volga River to Tsaritsyn , the voevodes of Astrakhan warned Andrei Unkovsky ( the voevoda or governor of Tsaritsyn ) of Razin ’ s arrival and recommended that he not allow the Cossacks to enter the town . Unkovsky attempted to negotiate with Razin , but Razin threatened to set fire to Tsaritsyn if Unkovsky interfered . When he encountered a group of political prisoners being transported by the tsar ’ s representatives on his way from the Don to the Volga , Razin reportedly said , “ I shall not force you to join me , but whoever chooses to come with me will be a free Cossack . I have come to fight only the boyars and the wealthy lords . As for the poor and plain folk , I shall treat them as brothers . ” However , when Razin sailed by Tsartisyn , Unkovsky did not attack ( possibly either because Unkovsky felt that Razin posed a threat or the guards of Tsaritsyn sympathized with Razin ’ s Cossacks ) . This incident gave Razin the reputation of an “ invincible warrior endowed with supernatural powers . ” He continued his travels down the Volga and into the Caspian Sea , defeating several detachments of streltsy , or armed guardsmen . In July 1667 , Razin captured Yaitsk by disguising himself and some of his companions as pilgrims to pray at the cathedral . Once inside Yaitsk , they opened the gates for the rest of the troops to enter and occupy the city . The opposition sent to fight Razin felt reluctant to do so because they sympathized with the Cossacks ’ lower - class background . In the spring of 1668 , Razin led the majority of his men down the Yaik River ( also known as the Ural River ) while a small portion stayed behind to guard Yaitsk . However , the government defeated Razin ’ s men in Yaitsk and Razin lost his base there . Persian expedition . After losing Yaitsk , Razin sailed south down the coast of the Caspian Sea to continue his pillaging . He and his men took Baku ( located on the Absheron Peninsula in present - day Azerbaijan ) easily , but at Rasht ( in the southwest Caspian Sea in modern Iran ) the Persians killed roughly 400 Cossacks in a surprise attack . Razin went to Isfahan to ask the shah for land in Persia in exchange for loyalty to the shah , but departed on the Caspian for more pillaging before they could reach an agreement . Razin arrived in Farahabad ( on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea in Iran ) and masqueraded as a merchant in the city for several days before he and his men pillaged the city for two days . That winter the Cossacks with Razin fended off starvation and disease on the Mian Kaleh Peninsula , and in the spring of 1669 Razin built a base on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea and began raiding Turkmen villages . Then in the spring of 1669 he established himself on the isle of Suina , off which , in July , he annihilated a Persian fleet sent against him . Stenka Razin , as he was generally called , had now become a potentate with whom princes did not disdain to treat . In August 1669 he reappeared at Astrakhan , and accepted a fresh offer of pardon from tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich there ; the common people were fascinated by his adventures . The lawless Russian border region of Astrakhan , where the whole atmosphere was predatory and many people were still nomadic , was the natural milieu for such a rebellion as Razin ' s . Open rebellion . In 1670 Razin , while ostensibly on his way to report himself at the Cossack headquarters on the Don , openly rebelled against the government , capturing Cherkassk , and Tsaritsyn . After capturing Tsaritsyn , Razin sailed up the Volga with his army of almost 7000 men . The men traveled toward Cherny Yar , a government stronghold between Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan . Razin and his men swiftly took Cherny Yar when the Cherny Yar streltsy rose up against their officers and joined the Cossack cause in June 1670 . On June 24 he reached the city of Astrakhan . Astrakhan , Moscow ’ s wealthy “ window on the East , ” occupied a strategically important location at the mouth of the Volga River on the shore of the Caspian Sea . Razin plundered the city despite its location on a strongly fortified island and the stone walls and brass cannons that surrounded the central citadel . The local streltsy ’ s rebellion allowed Razin to gain access to the city . After massacring all who opposed him ( including two Princes Prozorovsky ) and giving the rich bazaar s of the city over to pillage , he converted Astrakhan into a Cossack republic , dividing the population into thousands , hundreds and tens , with their proper officers , all of whom were appointed by a veche or general assembly , whose first act was to proclaim Stepan Timofeyevich their " gosudar " ( sovereign ) . After a three - week carnival of blood and debauchery Razin quit Astrakhan with two hundred barges full of troops . His aim was to establish the Cossack republic along the whole length of the Volga as a preliminary step towards advancing against Moscow . Saratov and Samara were captured , but Simbirsk defied all efforts , and after two bloody encounters close at hand on the banks of the Sviyaga River ( October 1 and 4 ) , Razin was ultimately routed by the army of Yuri Baryatinsky and fled down the Volga , leaving the bulk of his followers to be extirpated by the victors . But the rebellion was by no means over . The emissaries of Razin , armed with inflammatory proclamations , had stirred up the inhabitants of the modern governments of Nizhny Novgorod , Tambov and Penza , and penetrated even so far as Moscow and Novgorod . It was not difficult to stir the oppressed population to revolt by promising deliverance from their yoke . Razin proclaimed that his object was to root out the boyars and all officials , to level all ranks and dignities , and establish Cossackdom , with its corollary of absolute equality , throughout Muscovy . Even at the beginning of 1671 the issue of the struggle was doubtful . Eight battles had been fought before the insurrection showed signs of weakening , and it continued for six months after Razin had received his quietus . At Simbirsk his prestige had been shattered . Even his own settlements at Saratov and Samara refused to open their gates to him , and the Don Cossacks , hearing that the patriarch of Moscow had anathema tized Stenka , also declared against him . The tsar sent troops to suppress the revolt . As Paul Avrich notes in " Russian Rebels : 1600 - 1800 " , “ The brutality of the repressions by far exceeded the atrocities committed by the insurgents . ” The tsar ’ s troops mutilated the rebels ’ bodies and displayed them in public to serve as a warning to potential dissenters . In 1671 he and his brother Frol Razin were captured at Kaganlyk , his last fortress , and carried to Moscow , where , after tortures , Stepan was quartered alive at Lobnoye Mesto . However , the rebellion did not end with Razin ’ s death . The rebels in Astrakhan held out until November 26 , 1671 , when Prince Ivan Miloslavsky restored government control . Implications . Razin originally set out to loot villages , but as he became a symbol of peasant unrest , his movement turned political . Razin wanted to protect the independence of the Cossacks and to protest an increasingly centralized government . The Cossacks supported the tsar and autocracy , but they wanted a tsar that responded to the needs of the people and not just those of the upper class . By destroying and pillaging villages , Razin intended to take power from the government officials and give more autonomy to the peasants . However , Razin ’ s movement failed and the rebellion led to increased government control . The Cossacks lost some of their autonomy , and the tsar bonded more closely with the upper class because both feared more rebellion . On the other hand , as Avrich asserts , “ [ Razin ’ s revolt ] awakened , however dimly , the social consciousness of the poor , gave them a new sense of power , and made the upper class tremble for their lives and possessions . ” At the time of the Russian Civil War , the famous writer and White emigre Ivan Bunin compared Razin to Bolshevik leaders , writing " Good God ! What striking similarity there is between the time of Sten ' ka and the pillaging that is going on today in the name of the ' Third International . ' " In Russian culture and folklore . Razin is the subject of a symphonic poem by Alexander Glazunov , a cantata by Shostakovich , a novel " I Have Come To Give You Freedom " ( ) by Vasily Shukshin . Stenka Razin is the hero of a popular Russian folk song , " Ponizovaya Volnitsa " , better known by the words " Volga , Volga mat ' rodnaya " . The words were written by Dmitri Sadovnikov ( Дмитрий Николаевич Садовников ) in 1883 ; the music is folk . The song gave the title to the famous Soviet musical comedy " Volga - Volga " . The melody was used by Tom Springfield in the song " The Carnival Is Over " that placed The Seekers at # 1 in 1965 in Australia and the UK . The lyrics of the song were dramatized in one of the very first Russian narrative films , " Stenka Razin " directed by Vladimir Romashkov in 1908 . The film lasts about 10 minutes . The screenplay was written by Vasily Goncharov , and the music ( the first film music to be specially written to accompany a silent film ) was by Mikhail Ippolitov - Ivanov .