Ivan Babushkin

Who was Ivan Babushkin?

Ivan Babushkin was a Russian professional Bolshevik revolutionary. He was born in the selo of Ledengskoye of the Vologda Governorate, currently in Babushkinsky District of Vologda Oblast.

Babushkin worked as an apprentice metalworker in Kronstadt between 1887-91. In the summer of 1891, he found work at the Semiannikov Factory in St. Petersburg. In 1894, he made the acquaintance of Lenin during the workers' Marxist circle meetings, which Lenin conducted. A year later, he was an active participant in the St. Petersburg’s League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. He also organized revolutionary activities targeting the workers of the Semiannikov and Aleksandrov factories.

His role in the League of Struggle resulted in arrest and subsequent exile to Ekaterinoslav in 1897. Less than ten months later he was one of the organizers of the Ekaterinoslav League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. In October of the following year he set up the Ekaterinoslav Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In 1900, Babushkin established an illegal newspaper, Luzhnyi Rabochii. Babushkin was a key agent and correspondent for Lenin’s Iskra. Between 1900–01 he was behind notable revolutionary activities in Moscow, Smolensk, Polotsk, Orekhovo-Zuevo, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, and other cities. In 1902 he managed to escape from the Ekaterinoslav prison, and sneaked into London. He returned to Russia in October 1902.