person
Lev Alexandrovich Tikhomirov
Tikhomirov
also: Тихомиров, Л. А. Тихомиров
A former revolutionary populist and leading theorist of Narodnaya Volya ("People's Will") who, in 1888, published a notorious open letter ("Why I Ceased to Be a Revolutionary") to Tsar Alexander III renouncing revolutionary activity and requesting a pardon. Chekhov cites this letter as evidence that even socialism, as a form of "Russian excitement," has burned itself out -- a dateable topical political reference specific to late 1888.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Suvorin, 30 December 1888. Moscow. §10 It is in Tikhomirov's letter to the Tsar.
NEW ENTITY -- Lev Alexandrovich Tikhomirov, a former revolutionary populist of Narodnaya Volya who had recently published a notorious open letter to Tsar Alexander III (1888) renouncing revolutionary activity and requesting a pardon. Chekhov cites this as evidence that even socialism, as a form of "Russian excitement," has burned itself out -- a dateable topical political reference specific to late 1888.
- To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 11 February 1889. Moscow. §5 Tikhomirov's pamphlet "Why I Ceased to Be a Socialist"
Lev Alexandrovich Tikhomirov's 1888 pamphlet, published after his open letter to Tsar Alexander III renouncing revolutionary activity; Ostrovsky and Chekhov debate whether Tikhomirov's reframing of his revolutionary past as a mere "logical error" rather than a sin or crime is intellectually honest.