Alexander Antonov
Born	1888 Moscow, Russia
Died	June 24, 1922 Shybriay, Russia

Alexander Stepanovich Antonov (1888–1922) (Russian: Алекса́ндр Степа́нович Анто́нов) was the member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.

[edit] Biography

Antonov was born in Moscow, but grew up in a much smaller town of Kirsanov. Later he studied in the Tambov Real Institute (Realnoe Uchilische) from where he was expelled for revolutionary proclamations. He was afraid to come back home after that and found a job as an apprentice in the local train construction plant.

He had been member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party since 1904 when he was only 16. His party member included the famous Maria Spiridonova, Yuriy Podbelskiy, and several others. Taking example of his party protégés, he joined them in their terrorist actions that included assassinations, robberies, and other sort of expropriation. Soon he was arrested and put to trails for the robbery of the postal train wagon, which carried all kinds of valuables. Antonov was given 20 years of katorga spending them first in the Schlisselburg fortress and then in Vladimirsky Central.

The manifest of amnesty by the Russian Provisional Government liberated him from prison. He returned to Kirsanov by train and was met and well accepted back by his former colleagues, locally known as krasnobandochniki. In the local library, he was given a banquet as the great martyr for the cause of Revolution. At first, he came back to the plant where he started his career, but soon was elected on the post of the head of the Governorate Militia (police), a predecessor of the today's militsiya. Soon with the assistance of the fellow for workers and local administration, he declared a martial law which for a quite sometime solved a criminal issue that was developing in Tambov. He stayed on this post and after the coup of 1918, becoming the first head of the Governorate Militia in Soviet Tambov. Antonov also managed to disarm the Czechoslovaks legions and causing havoc on the local population.

Seeing all of the chaos caused by the Bolsheviks, Antonov quits the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and this event was widely publicised and criticised. He also asked the Governorate Executive Committee (Administration) to give his the position of a head of the District Militia (Uyezdnoy) in Kirsanov. With the help of the workers of the uyezd department of militia, he is approved for the transfer.

There he organised several people and waged a small warfare against the Soviet regime. Later June 24, 1922 he was killed in the firefight against Cheka along with his brother, Dmitriy. Documents state that he fought to the end never laying down his weapon and perished near the village of Shybriay. He was cornered by a Cheka detachment near Borisoglebsk and killed. Antonov was buried in Tambov along with the other members and his brother Dmitriy near the walls of the male monastery Kazan Mother of God on the fifth day after he perished.

[edit] See also