Arthur Benni

Who was Arthur Benni?

Arthur Benni was a Polish-born English citizen, known in Russia as a journalist, Hertzen associate, Socialist activist and women liberation commune-founder. He served a three months prison sentence as part of the "32 Process", was deported from the country and died in 1867 in Rome hospital, after having been injured, as a member of the Giuseppe Garibaldi's squad. Arthur Benni's activities and persona caused controversy in Russia where rumours of him being a spy and a 3rd Department agent were being spread, much to his outrage and distress. Ivan Turgenev and Nikolai Leskov did much to clear Benni's name. The latter wrote a posthumous essay on him called The Mystery Man.