Anna Filosofova

Anna Pavlovna Filosofova (Анна Павловна Философова; née Diaghileva; April 5, 1837 – March 17, 1912) was a Russian feminist, activist, and philanthropist.

Filosofova was born into a noble, wealthy family. She married Vladimir Filosofov at a young age; she and her husband had six children. Initially concerned with the plight of serfs, she became a feminist 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 a number of years.

Subsequently, the triumvirate successfully pushed 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
Born as Anna Pavlovna Diaghileva on April 5, 1837 in Saint Petersburg, she was from a rich, aristocratic family. Diaghileva was the oldest of nine children. Diaghileva's father, Pavel Diaghilev, retired from a role with the Ministry of Finance in 1850 and started a distillery business. Her mother was named Anna Ivanovna and ran the distillery after 1855, as Pavel had become fanatically religious.

As was typical for wealthy Russians, Diaghileva was educated at home, and later wrote that all she learned was "French, German, and curtseying." In 1855 she married Vladimir Dmitryevich Filosofov, seventeen years her senior, a senior official in the Ministry of War and Defence. 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 her work.

Filosofova's husband came from a serf-owning family, and after their marriage she made frequent visits to the Filosofov estate in Bezhanitsy. Filosofov's father-in-law is described as a "tyrannical figure" by academic Marianna Muravyeva, and the lifestyle at the estate had a powerful effect on Filosofova, whose family did not keep serfs. Filosofova's father-in-law sexually abused the serfs under his control. At the Filosofov estate, she first began to consider social issues, and especially the plight of poor peasants and serfs. Upon the 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 Filosofova books on women's issues and discussed them with her, and Filosofova credited Trubnikova with helping develop her beliefs. Filosofova 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." Filosofova, Trubnikova, and Nadezhda Stasova became close friends and allies, and were referred to by their contemporaries as the "triumvirate". The three spent much of their lives working to advance the cause of women, leading the first organized feminist movement in the Russian Empire. 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, along with a number of others, founded the Society for Cheap Lodgings and Other Benefits for the Citizens of St. Petersburg in 1859. The group 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.

In early 1861, the organization split in two, with the triumvirate leading the "Russians". The reduced group's charter was approved in February 1861. The organization provided housing and work as seamstresses to its female clients (primarily widows and women whose husbands had abandoned them). It included a day care and a communal kitchen. The society acquired its own building, and a large contract for sewing work from the military. Trubnikova was the first president; Filosofova also served as president of the society for a number of years until its closure in 1879. Filosofova was clear in her goal, as she once wrote 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.

Women's education
In 1867, the triumvirate began pushing for Russian universities to create courses for women. Demonstrating "considerable skill in rallying popular support", according to the historian Christine Johansen, the women wrote a carefully-worded petition to Tsar Alexander II. They gathered over 400 signatures among middle and upper-class women. However, there was widespread opposition to the education of women, including by the relevant minister, Dmitry Tolstoy. Tolstoy argued that women would abandon education after being married, and dismissed the signatories by stating that they were "sheep" merely following the latest fashion. He rejected the petition in late 1868, but allowed mixed-gender public lectures which women could attend. However, these were rapidly taken up, overwhelmingly by women. Filosofova also opened a local school at her husband's Bezhanitsy estate, which survived well into the 20th century.

In Tsarist Russia, state policy was poorly coordinated and inconsistent due to the competing impulses of rival ministers, and the triumvirate looked for another path to support women's education. They appealed to more liberal war minister Dmitry Milyutin, who, persuaded by his wife, daughter, and Filosofova, agreed to host courses for women in St. Petersburg. Filosofova's husband was at that time serving as a chief aide to Milyutin. Tolstoy countered by allowing the lectures at his own apartments, where he could monitor them. The political movement in favor of women's education continued to grow, and by October 1869, the Russian government permitted a limited set of courses for women on advanced subjects. The courses began in January 1870. They became known as the Vladimirskii courses, after their host beginning in 1872, the Vladimir college. Some female students felt they did not go far enough, and formed a separate set of lectures called the Alarchinskie courses. Many women seeking higher education went abroad in order to complete their education, largely to Zurich. The Vladimirskii courses were closed in 1875. In 1876, Filosofova obtained approbation to open the first Russian university aimed at women, known as the Bestuzhev Courses, after their nominal head, Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin. These courses, too, were eventually shut down (in 1886) and re-opened under strict government control in 1889.

Exile and return
Filosofova was known for her kindness and generosity, and occasionally provided aid to the families of exiled or imprisoned revolutionaries. Her sympathies were unpopular with Russian officials. In 1879, she was exiled abroad for raising money for a revolutionary group, and only allowed to return in 1881. After the conservative backlash following the assassination of the Tsar in 1881, Filosofova could not find supporters for further social projects. Her husband's official position was also weakened because of her revolutionary connections, and the family was forced to live at a lower income level.

Filosofova resumed her activities at the end of the 1880s with charitable work to aid the famine-struck Volga region. In 1892 she joined the Saint Petersburg Committee for the Promotion of Literacy. In 1895 Filosofova, along with Stasova and others, founded the Russian Women's Mutual Philanthropic Society, which, under the restrictive laws of the Tsarist autocracy, was limited to philanthropic ventures such as a kindergarten, hostel, and employment service. Filosofova was recognized by Tsar Nicholas II in 1904 for her work with the Society for Assistance for Higher Women's Courses. In 1905, the universities of Russia were opened to women and the women's university courses were no longer necessary.

Revolution of 1905 and acclaim
Filosofova was elected chairman of the International Council of Women in 1899, attending its first meeting in London. She "actively" took part in the Russian Revolution of 1905, joining the Constitutional Democratic Party and eventually acting as chairwoman of the first Russian women's congress in 1908. Filosofova's goal for the meeting, to unify the Russian's women movement, was largely unrealized. After the congress, Filosofova and some of her associates received deprecating letters from the ultra-conservative Duma deputy Vladimir Purishkevich; he called it "an assembly of whores". Filosofova made the letter public and took Purishkevich to court; he was sentenced to one month in jail.

In 1908, Filosofova helped establish the Russian Theosophical Society. Three years later, a celebration was held for the fiftieth jubilee of Filosofova's work. Scores of women's organizations, both from Russia and beyond, dedicated speeches to Filosofova, while Duma members feted her at the Mariinsky Palace. Muravyeva writes that Filosofova had become a "living legend" for younger generations of feminists, as a symbol of progress and the "last living founder" of the movement. She died in Saint Petersburg on March 17, 1912, and her funeral drew thousands of attendees.