Alexander Herzen

Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen (Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен) (April 6 1812 - 1870) was a prominent Russian writer and thinker. He is known as the "father of Russian socialism".

Herzen was illegitimate child of a rich landowner, I. A. Yakovlev. While studying at Moscow University, he became involved in revolutionary propaganda. Herzen was sent to the provinces as a civil servant (as a punishment) in 1834. In 1840 he returned to Moscow, where he met Belinsky, who was strongly influenced by him. In 1847 Herzen left Russia, and settled in Paris, where he was influenced by many French thinkers, including Charles Fourier, and became more radical. He supported the revolution of 1848, but was disillusioned about European socialist movements after the failure of the revolution. A series of critics about European revolution were published in his book, From the Other Shore(1849).

Herzen went to live in England in 1852, and set up the first Russian press abroad. His radical weekly, Kolokol (The Bell), had great influence in Europe, as well as in Russia, where it was banned. He promoted socialism, as well as individualism, and argued that the full flowering of the individual could best be realized in a socialist order.

Herzen's other works including a novel, Who Is to Blame? (1847), The Russian People and Socialism, and his autobiography, My Past and Thoughts.