Trubnikova, Mariia

(née Ivasheva). Born Jan. 6 (18), 1835, in Petrovskii Zavod (now Petrovsk-Zabaikal’-skii); died Apr. 28 (May 10), 1897, in Tambov. Figure in the Russian women’s movement. Daughter of the exiled Decembrist V. P. Ivashev.

During the revolutionary situation of 1859–61, Trubnikova organized a women’s circle, which was influenced by the ideas of the brothers N. A. and A. A. Serno-Solov’evich; this circle became the first cell of the women’s movement in Russia (seeWOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN RUSSIA AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS). With N. V. Stasova and A. P. Filosofova she formed what was known as the female triumvirate. In 1859, Trubnikova helped organize the Society for Cheap Apartments, of which she was the first chairman, and on her initiative the Publishing Artel, an association of female translators, was established in 1863. She also participated in the struggle for women’s higher education, which resulted in the establishment of the Vladimir and Bestu-zhev courses in St. Petersburg in 1870 and 1878, respectively (seeADVANCED COURSES FOR WOMEN).

Trubnikova maintained ties with leaders of the women’s movements in Western Europe and the USA, and her articles on the woman question appeared in print in Russia and abroad. In 1880 she gave up active work because of a serious illness.