81 Moscovian students’ protest

In the 1870s Russian women students in Moscow teamed up to introduce socialist ideas in factories. After being convicted in 1877 in what became known as the Trial of the Fifty, they were featured on photo assemblies, such as this one in England. The upper section of the text reads: ‘Convicted, after two years of solitary imprisonment, for social-revolutionary propaganda.’ Below is a quotation from the Russian poet Nikolay Nekrasov: ‘Your crown of thorns outshines the victor’s crown.’

Trial of the 50 in Saint Petersburg, March 1877
London: A.&J. Bool, 1877
Composite photograph with portraits of Aleksandra Chorževskaja, Sof’ja Illarionovna Bardina, Ol’ga Spiridonovna Ljubatovič, Vera Spiridonovna Ljubatovič, Mar’ja Subbotina, Anna Toporkova, Ekaterina Gamkrelidze, Evgenija Subbotina, 11 x 15