Lev Tikhomirov

Lev Tikhomirov (Russian: Лев Тихомиров; 1850-1922) was a Russian revolutionary and one of members on the Executive Committee of the Narodnaya Volya.

Lev Tikhomirov was born in the Don province, Russia. As a student he was deeply influenced by the ideas of Sergey Nechayev and joined the People's Will group.

In 1880 there was strong disagreement in People's Will about the purpose of terrorism. One faction that included Nikolai Morozov and Olga Liubatovich argued that the main objective was to force the government to grant democratic rights to the people of Russia. However, another faction led by Tikhomirov believed that it was possible for a small group of revolutionaries to use terrorism in order to directly capture power.

Olga Liubatovich and Nikolai Morozov strongly disagreed with the ideas of Lev Tikhomirov. They argued that this was an example of Jacobinism and would result in the kind of dictatorship that had taken place after the French Revolution. Liubatovich and Morozov left the organization and Tikomirov's views prevailed.

After the assassination of Alexander II Tikhomirov was jailed at Petropavlovsky Bastion jail in St. Petersburg. He was pardoned by Alexander III, who was impressed by the depth of his repentance. But he was not allowed to remain in Russia and left for Europe, where he began research on history of different types of ruling state institutions, which existed in the world from the beginning of times. After the years of study and research he wrote a monumental work, a book - "The Statehood of Monarchy", in which he came to a logical conclusion that an only ideal ruling institution is the Russian Monarchy, and is a direct heir to King David's Kingdom and a continuation of Bizantine Empire. It was a complete turnaround for him politically and ideologically. He became a fervent defender and loyalist of Russian Monarchy. Tikhomirov lived in several European countries and published biographies of Sophia Perovskaya, Andrei Zhelyabov and Nikolai Kibalchich.

In 1888 Tikhomirov publicly apologized for his past revolutionary activities and was allowed to return to Russia. He then became an opponent of radical leftist ideas (Marxism, etc.) and became one of Russia's leading conservative journalists. Lev Tikhomirov died in 1922.