Ariadna
Tyrkova, the daughter of a landowner, was born in Novogorod in 1869.
Tyrkova took no interest in politics until her brother was arrested
and exiled for being a member of the People's
Will.
Tyrkova
had wanted to become a doctor but the policies of Alexander
III made this an impossibility. She joined the illegal Social
Democratic Labour Party and in 1903 was arrested and charged with
smuggling radical newspapers into Russia. She managed to escape and
fled to Germany.
In exile
Tyrkova lived with Peter Struve and his
family in Stuttgart. She returned to Russia after the 1905
Revolution. Over the next few years Tyrkova became one of the
most important leaders of the Women's Liberation movement in Russia.
Tyrkova
became disillusioned with the various revolutionary groups and joined
the Constitutional Democrat Party (Cadets)
party. She also married the English journalist, Harold
Williams.
After the
October Revolution Tyrkova went to
live in London where she formed the Russian
Liberation Committee. Ariadna Tyrkova died in 1962.
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