Orzhikh, Boris Dmitrievich

Born Nov. 23 (Dec. 5), 1864, in Odessa; died sometime after 1934. Russian revolutionary. Member of the People’s Will.

Active in the revolutionary movement from 1880, Orzhikh became a member of the Odessa group of the People’s Will in the fall of 1882. In 1885 he united a number of People’s Will groups and circles in southern Russia into one organization and headed the new group. That same year he set up an underground printing press in Taganrog. Arrested in 1886, he was sentenced to death in 1888. The sentence was commuted to a term at hard labor of unspecified length, which Orzhikh served in the Shlissel’burg Fortress. In 1898 he was exiled to the Far East.

Orzhikh emigrated to Japan in 1904 and in the 1930’s lived in Chile. He was the author of songs and poems that were popular in revolutionary circles. His memoirs were published in the collection Narodovol’tsy, vol. 3, 1931.