Alekseeva Emilia Avgustovna is a Russian revolutionary of Finnish origin, an activist of the Russian women's movement in the early twentieth century, who gained worldwide fame and made a great contribution to the popularization of the 8 March holiday.
Emilia Solin, or “Milya,” as her parents affectionately called her, and then her comrades-in-arms in the Barnaul underground, mercilessly criticizing the shortcomings of their other colleagues, but always finding only good words for this blue-eyed and cheerful woman, is an undeservedly forgotten historical personality, the ideal of an emancipated woman -revolutionaries at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Biography
The future activist was born in 1890 in cold Finland. The Alekseev family experienced serious financial difficulties at home, and because of this they decided to move to Russia. There, the head of the family received the position of a foundry worker at the Putilov factory. After some time, a major accident occurred at the plant (an explosion in the foundry), as a result of which the father was injured and tragically died, leaving the inconsolable family almost without a livelihood, dooming his widow and daughter to dire need.
This event forced Emilia to look for a job right after school. She was quickly lucky to get the position of telephone operator. But she did not work there for long. Alekseeva took the most ardent part in the strike committee of the telephone exchange and went on strikes several times, for which she was arrested. After serving a three-week sentence, Emilia was expelled from St. Petersburg and deprived of the right to live in this city for life.
Revolutionary activity
After the industrial upsurge of the nineties of the 19th century, at the beginning of the 20th century, Russia was going through a serious crisis, the so-called period of depression, when ordinary workers were oppressed and disenfranchised people, and the power relied on an absolute monarchy that did not stop at bloody massacres.
Socio-political processes in the country led to the growth of revolutionary sentiments. The revolution of 1905-1907 ended with general searches, arrests, repressions, exile and reprisals. The discontent of the people was growing. The women of the working class, who are acutely aware of all the injustice of the existing system with its feudal remnants, did not stand aside either.
In 1910, Emilia was admitted to the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. There she became active in the publication of the magazine "Rabotnitsa". Just before the first issue came out, almost everyone who worked on the publications was arrested. But despite this, the magazine was published on time, largely thanks to Alekseeva, who actively collected money and materials for the release, convinced people that this publication was extremely important for working women, and easily found the right people to write materials.
At the end of 1914, the revolutionary took an active part in organizing protests against the First World War. The girl was caught and exiled to the small Siberian village of Kuragino for three years. Alekseeva was able to develop a vigorous activity there as well. She became close friends with the famous revolutionary E. D. Stasova, went through a good political "educational program" under her leadership, corresponded with activists from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and also disseminated information about the decisions and actions of the Bolshevik party in Minusinsk district.
After three years of exile, Emilia came to St. Petersburg. The events of February 1917 allowed her to settle in the capital and re-engage in a creative career in the magazine "Rabotnitsa". In the same year, she headed the committee of working women of the city of St. Petersburg, and in November held a conference on the topic "Organization of labor for women workers", becoming a representative of the congress from the plant "Aivaz", where she worked at that time.
In 1918, the revolutionary was sent to Altai, where she was engaged in promoting anti-war ideas and ideals of Bolshevism. Having got a job at the Credit Union, Emilia lived on Mikhailovskaya Street in a house that quickly became a turnout for the Bolsheviks. Noisy gatherings at which politics were discussed became popular among the Bolsheviks.
She was soft in communication, quiet and modest, but very energetic. Milya managed to be in ten places at the same time: distributing leaflets, collecting donations for revolutionary needs, convincing people of the advantages of Bolshevism, helping political prisoners. For this energy, the comrades-in-arms awarded Emilia a new nickname "Boiling water".
In May of the same year, a riot broke out in Barnaul, and the revolutionaries were imprisoned. Alekseev was released two months later. After that, she continued to work under an assumed name - Maria Zvereva. In August 1919, she came to the attention of Kolchak's agents and was captured. Fearing torture and exposure, Emilia committed suicide with poison.
Personal life
The famous revolutionary was married. While in exile in the village of Kuragino, Emilia met a factory worker and the Bolshevik Alekseev Mikhail Nikolaevich, whom she married. Later they had a son, who was named Boris. After the tragic death of Emilia, her longtime friend and faithful companion Frida Andray took in the boy.
The child grew up knowing about his parents. When the Great Patriotic War broke out, Boris Mikhailovich, like many other young people at that time, went to the front as a volunteer. Unfortunately, his life ended in 1941 on the Leningrad front.
