Anna Pawlowna Filossofowa

Anna Pavlovna Filosofova (Russian: Анна Павловна Философова; née Diaghileva; 5 April 1837 – 17 March 1912) was a Russian feminist and activist of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Born into a wealthy, noble family, she married Vladimir Filosofov and they had six children. Initially concerned with the plight of serfs, Filosofova became a feminist in the late 1850s after joining the salon of Maria Trubnikova, who educated her on the subject. Alongside Trubnikova and Nadezhda Stasova, Filosofova was one of the earliest leaders of the Russian women's movement. Together, the three friends and allies were referred to as the "triumvirate". They founded and led several charitable organizations designed to promote women's cultural and economic independence, such as the Society for Cheap Lodgings and Other Benefits for the Citizens of St. Petersburg. Filosofova served as the president of that organization for several years.

Subsequently, the triumvirate pressured government officials to allow higher education for women, resulting in the creation of the Vladimirskii courses and the Bestuzhev Courses. Continuing opposition meant that their successes were sometimes limited or reversed. Filosofova also founded a mixed-gender school at her own family's estate. From 1879 to 1881, Filosofova was briefly exiled on suspicion of revolutionary sympathies. After her return to Russia, she continued to work as an activist and philanthropist in support of Russian women. Outliving both Trubnikova and Stasova, she survived to participate in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and chair the first Russian women's congress in 1908, becoming a revered feminist figure. Filosofova died in 1912.

Early life and education

Anna Pavlovna Diaghileva was born on 5 April 1837 in Saint Petersburg to a rich and aristocratic family. Diaghileva was the oldest of nine children. Her father, Pavel Diaghilev, retired from a role with the Ministry of Finance in 1850 and opened a distillery. Her mother, Anna Ivanovna, ran the distillery after 1855, as Pavel had become fanatically religious.

As was typical for aristocratic Russians, Diaghileva was educated at home; she later wrote that all she learned was "French, German, and curtseying". In 1855, she married Vladimir Filosofov, a high-ranking official in the Ministry of War and Defence who was seventeen years her senior. Their first child was born in 1858; they eventually had six, three girls and three boys (including Dmitry, who became a well-known writer). The scholar Rochelle Ruthchild writes that Filosofova was "almost constantly pregnant" between 1858 and 1872, although it did not appear to significantly affect her health or work.

Filosofova's husband came from a serf-owning family, and after their marriage she made frequent visits to the Filosofov estate near Bezhanitsy in Pskov Oblast. The visits had a powerful effect on Filosofova, whose family did not keep serfs. Filosofova's father-in-law is described as a "tyrannical figure" by the academic Marianna Muravyeva; he sexually abused the serfs under his control. Filosofova began to contemplate social issues, and especially the plight of poor peasants and serfs. Upon Russia's liberation of the serfs in 1861, Filosofova wrote that it was a "holy day".

In the late 1850s, Filosofova met Maria Trubnikova through the latter's salon. Trubnikova gave her books on women's issues and Filosofova credited this mentorship with helping develop her beliefs. She later said of Trubnikova that "she was an angel, gentle and patient. She developed me, read with me. This was hard, since I didn't know anything." The two became close friends and allies, along with Nadezhda Stasova, and were referred to by their contemporaries as the "triumvirate". The three became leaders of the feminist movement in the Russian Empire, though they did not describe themselves as feminists. The historian Richard Stites describes the triumvirate as "the three major [feminist] figures", who drew on support from wider circles of dozens of women who "moved in and out" of various roles. The later author Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams wrote that "[The triumvirate's] members perfectly complemented one another. The plans and will came from Trubnikova. Stasova's part was the performance, the persistence in doing the job. Filosofova embodied spirituality and ethics."

In contrast to the contemporaneous Russian nihilist movement, Filosofova and the other members of the triumvirate were not radical in public style or fashion, and retained their stations in the good graces of the upper class. Criticized by a nihilist adherent for dressing like "a doll" at an important meeting, Filosofova replied that "clothes do not make the woman", according to Ruthchild. Filosofova and her husband maintained a close relationship, even as her work sometimes resulted in setbacks for his governmental career. She did not wish to be subordinated, writing to him that "to yield to you is beyond my power".

Activism and career

Through Trubnikova's salon, Filosofova became connected with a large group of wealthy women concerned with the economic and educational status of women in Russia. The triumvirate, alongside several other women, founded the Society for Cheap Lodgings and Other Benefits for the Citizens of St. Petersburg in 1859. The group, focused on assisting needy women and their children, had two factions, the "German party" and the "Russian party", which differed on their preferred approach. The "Germans" favored a then-traditional method of philanthropy that involved close supervision of the poor. The "Russians" focused on self-help and direct aid, attempting to avoid patronization and maintain the privacy of those aided. The society underwent "two years of planning and experimentation" before getting underway, according to Stites.

In early 1861, the new organization split in two, with the Stasova–Trubnikova–Filosofova triumvirate leading the "Russians". A charter for their society, now smaller, was approved by the Tsarist government in February 1861. The society soon acquired its own building and a large contract for sewing work from the military. It provided housing and work as seamstresses to its clients (primarily widows and wives whose husbands had abandoned them). The organization also operated a day care center and a communal kitchen. Trubnikova was the first president; Filosofova also served as president of the society for several years before its closure in 1879. Filosofova was clear in her goal, which she once expressed in a letter to Anatoly Koni: "giving women the opportunity for an autonomous path to employment and a morally and materially independent status." She also provided support for a proposed large-scale Society for Women's Labor in 1865, but the organization was never incorporated.

The triumvirate and Anna Engelhardt founded the Russian Women's Publishing Cooperative in 1863. Employing upwards of thirty women, the cooperative focused on writing and translation. It published a wide variety of books, including textbooks, scientific works and children's stories, such as Darwin's On the Origin of Species and Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. Although it was initially successful, the cooperative never received governmental approval and suffered financial difficulties after Trubnikova and Stasova went abroad and its bookselling partner went bankrupt. Nevertheless, under Filosofova's management, it lasted until 1879.