Vladimir Purishkevich

Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich (Russian: Владимир Митрофанович Пуришкевич) (August 12, 1870, Kishinev – February 1, 1920, Novorossiysk, Russia), was a Russian politician before the Bolshevik revolution, noted for his monarchist and antisemitic views. He was also a significant proponent of the Blood Libel.

Born in a family of a poor nobleman in Bessarabia Purishkevich graduated from Odessa university with a degree in philosophy. Purishkevich was a far-rightist who in 1905 was one of the founders of the Union of the Russian People, and deputy chairman of the Union. Later after a split within the organization in 1908 he founded his own organization known as Union of Archangel Michael.

During the Russian Revolution of 1905 he organized Black Hundreds militia (officially to aid the police in the fight against left-wing extremists and the restoration of order), noted for its participation in numerous pogroms.

Purishkevich was elected as a deputee into II, III and IV Russian State Duma, where he became a notorious leader of the radical monarchist right and gained fame because of his emotional speeches, flamboyant and scandalous behaviour, and his monarchist and anti-Semitic views. During World War I Purishkevich quit politics and was put in charge of a medical aid train on the front.

In December 1916, together with Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Purishkevich participated in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin, an unsuccessful attempt to save the institution of monarchy. After the February Revolution in 1917, he called for the abolition of the Soviets. In October, he organized the "Committee for the Motherland's Salvation" in St. Petersburg, and was joined by a number of officers, military cadets and others.

In November 1917, Purishkevich was arrested by the Red Guards for his participation in a counterrevolutionary conspiracy, after the discovery of a letter sent by him to General Kaledin in which he urged the Cossack leader to come and restore order in Petrograd and he became the first person to be tried by the first Revolutionary Tribunal. At the time Purishkevich had a false passport under the surname "Yevreinov". He was condemned to four years of imprisonment with obligatory community service, but was amnestied the following May 1, on the condition of a promise to refrain from any political activity. After his release Purishkevich immediately moved to the Southern Russia, controlled by the White Army. There he published the monarchist journal "Blagovest". In 1920 Vladimir Purishkevich died from typhus in Novorossiysk.

Purishkevich was referred to as a "leader of early Russian fascism" by Semyon Reznik.