Pavel Filippov

Born 1825 in St. Petersburg Province; died Sept. 17 (29), 1855. Figure in the Russian liberation movement. Member of the Petrashevskii circle.

The son of a nobleman, Filippov studied at the University of St. Petersburg, during which time he frequented the circles of M. V. Petrashevskii and S. F. Durov. His pamphlet The Ten Commandments, addressed to the peasants in the form of a biblical exegesis, explained the incongruity of serfdom with religious precepts and condemned the landowners and government officials. He helped N. A. Speshnev’s group set up a secret press. In 1849, Filippov was sentenced to be shot, but his sentence was commuted to four years’ exile in penal battalions. In December 1853 he was sent as a private to a front-line battalion; he was fatally wounded in the assault on Kars.