Kritskii Circle

Kritskii Circle 

a secret revolutionary circle in Moscow in 1826–27, founded by Petr Kritskii (born c. 1806), a student at Moscow University. The other members were his brothers Mikhail (born c. 1809) and Vasilii (born c. 1809), Nikolai Popovall students at Moscow University—Nikolai Lushnikov (born c. 1809), who was preparing to enter the university, and Daniil Tiurin (date of birth unknown), a civil servant.

The members of the circle considered themselves continuers of the Decembrist cause and intended to create a large secret political organization for the purpose of introducing a constitution in Russia. They read and disseminated the freedom-loving poems of A. S. Pushkin and K. F. Ryleev, discussed the possibility of regicide and turning to the people with a proclamation, and tried to carry out revolutionary propaganda among civil servants, soldiers, and the students of Moscow University. The official investigation involved 13 persons. By personal order of Emperor Nicholas I, Vasilii and Mikhail Kritskii were imprisoned in the Solovki Monastery. Vasilii was later transferred to ShlissePburg, where he died on May 21, 1831, and Mikhail was transferred to the Caucasus in 1834, where he died in battle several years later. Imprisoned until 1834, Petr Kritskii subsequently served in penal battalions and in field armies as a private. This was also the fate of Lushnikov, who only in 1841 was allowed to enter civilian service. Tiurin, after spending nearly three years in prison, was assigned to the Caucasian Corps.