Draft:Donat Cherepanov

The son of an unsuccessful Moscow entrepreneur the anarchist Cherepanov, Donat Andreevich  studied at the 3rd Moscow Gymnasium in the same class as V.F. Khodasevich, and, according to the latter’s recollections, he did not shine with success. According to unconfirmed reports, he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. Khodasevich, who last saw Cherepanov in the fall of 1916, writes that he

"' behaved with great swagger, talked about “girls”, about drinking, about the fact that there was just no money to turn around... I’ll be honest - he seemed like a hooligan to me. He didn't look like a revolutionary at all. But there is no doubt that he was a man who was bored to hell with his drab, working life. When I asked what he did, Cherepanov replied that he served in the statistical department of either the zemstvo or the city government'."He became interested in politics in 1917, joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party, then became a Left Socialist Revolutionary. He gained some fame, along with such figures as Spiridonova and Kamkov.

"Member of the Central Committee of the PLSR . He took a direct part in the uprising of July 1918 . After its failure, he went underground, becoming the leader of the so-called “left wing” of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who advocated an irreconcilable terrorist struggle against the Bolsheviks. The underground nickname is “Shard”. He established contact with a group of “underground anarchists” led by Kazimir Kovalevich, and together with him organized an explosion in Leontyevsky Lane on September 25, 1919". . this attack led to the death of Vladimir Zagorsky and 11 others.

Arrested by the MCHK on February 20, 1920, Cherepanov was personally interrogated by the leaders of the Cheka, Dzerzhinsky and Ksenofontov.

During interrogation he stated: Together with Kazimir Kovalevich, I organized the All-Russian Headquarters of Revolutionary Partisans, which outlined a number of terrorist acts as its main goal. This organization carried out the explosion in Leontievsky Lane. The preparation of this explosion, the development of a plan and its management until the very last moment were entrusted to me. According to the headquarters, I did not take part in throwing the bomb itself. If it weren't for this ruling, I would willingly take on the task of throwing the bomb. Before focusing on the terrorist act, this issue was debated for a long time at our headquarters. Several opinions have been expressed on this matter. It was proposed to throw a bomb at the Extraordinary Commission, but this proposal was rejected for the following reasons: the Cheka and citizen Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky himself are only tools, servants of the party and, therefore, in all politics, it is not the Chekas who are responsible, but the party.

The meeting on September 25 of the main responsible party workers in the Moscow Committee could not have been better considered as the main culprit, especially since the presence of citizen Lenin was expected at this meeting.

Of course, one must only regret that the victims of the explosion were not prominent party workers and none of the larger ones were injured. This act, in our opinion, was supposed to revolutionize the masses and indicate the path that real revolutionaries should follow: the path of terror and blows to the head of the rapists.

To the remark that many minor workers were injured in the explosion, I will point out that your emergency system is no better in this regard.

...I regret one thing: during the arrest, I was grabbed from behind, and I did not have time to shoot your agents.

What is happening now is a complete robe-spiriada

!

— According to the Cheka, he was exiled to Siberia.

In media

 * film The Sixth of July, 1968, Cherepanov was played by Grigori Ostrin.