Russian revolutionaries and English sympathizers in 1890s London

Abstract

The topic of this paper is a unique Anglo-Russian intellectual and emotional exchange that developed in late Victorian London. The paper analyses the way political, cultural and personal aspects of this Anglo-Russian circle intertwined and influenced each other. It concentrates on the life and writing of Olive Garnett and Sergei Stepniak, as they are focal points of the contacts between English people and Russians in London in the 1890s. The figures of Garnett and Stepniak are set against the background of Russian revolutionary activity in Britain at that period. The findings described in this article raise questions about Anglo-Russian relations and their potential significance in the years preceding the October Revolution.