Shleisner, Olga

Shleisner, Ol’ga Aleksandrovna 

(married name, Na-tanson). Born circa 1850 in Kursk Province; died Mar. 16 (28), 1881, in St. Petersburg. Russian revolutionary Narodnik (Populist). Wife of M. A. Natanson.

The daughter of a dvorianin (nobleman), Shleisner joined the revolutionary movement in 1870 and helped establish the Chai-kovskii circle. She helped found Land and Liberty in 1876 and became a member of its governing body, the Grand Council. She was also an organizer of Narodnik settlements in Saratov Province.

In October 1878, Shleisner was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In May 1880 the St. Petersburg Military District Court gave her a sentence of six years’ hard labor, which was commuted to exile in Siberia. Since she was terminally ill, she was kept in St. Petersburg and was released in February 1881, with a sponsor taking responsibility for her actions. Shleisner died shortly thereafter.

REFERENCES

Tkachenko, P. S. Revoliutsionnaia narodnicheskaia organizatsiia “Zemlia i volia.” Moscow, 1961.
Troitskii, N. A. Bol’shoe obshchestvo propagandy 1871–1874 gg. (t. n. “chaikovtsy”). Saratov, 1963.