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275:. As Benni was trying to leave his troublesome companion behind, the latter retaliated: he returned to Saint Petersburg with the theory of Benni being an "English spy," backing his allegations by the stories of his "suspicious behaviour" which involved, among other things, refusing to participate in drunken sprees and sex orgies, and defending the local "reactionaries" whom Nechiporenko has made a habit of insulting in their own homes. The idea was eagerly accepted by the Petersburg "revolutionaries", now embarrassed and frightened by Benni's eagerness. Another project of Arthur Benni, that of collecting signatures under the Constitutional petition, addressed to the Tsar, failed too.
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This tragicomic 'naturalized
English subject' who came to Russia with the view of making social-democratic revolution… has demonstrated such inability to organize other people as to quickly turn this new business of his into a joke," Leskov commented. The commune proved a disaster. What was worse, by this time a bunch of male 'communards' have made his flat their home, spending the host's money, stealing his clothes and even driving him off, from time to time. Benni became seriously ill as a result of spending two sleepless nights in the open air on the banks of
262:, Andrei Nichiporenko and others) who started referring to him as 'a Hertzen's envoy' (something Benni had never claimed to be) and instilling into him the idea that "everything was ready in Russia for a revolt." Unimpressed, Benni demanded a demonstration of "the revolutionary forces," but only five people came up, some by foot "others by cabs so as to make retreat easier, just in case," as Leskov put it. Disillusioned with the 'revolutionary situation' in Saint Petersburgh, Benni with Nichiporenko, the
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Alexandra Jacobi, assisted by an
English priest, managed to transfer him to Sant'Agata hospital where conditions were better. What appeared to be a slight wound led to the amputation of the right hand, but even this proved to be too late. On 27 December (16 November or 27 November, according to other sources) Arthur Benni died in Rome, from complications of
336:, created the Znamensky commune. One of the workers there was Maria Kopteva, a girl from a respectable Moscow family, and Benni fell in love with her. Starting to look for a real job, Benni realised what his reputation of a "spy" meant in reality: none of the "progressive" press wanted him. Warmer was the reception in the centrist magazines,
441:." This story, short as it was, provided ground for a new rumour, that of Benni having been killed by a Garibaldi man, as a Russian spy. "And the same industrious people, who could have been blamed for poor Benni's initial troubles, all of a sudden with unheard of energy started to support this new slander," Nikolai Leskov wrote in
197:. Still without any books to aid, he came to the conclusion that at the root of all the injustice in the world around him was the economic and political system. He became friends with some Russian soldiers (simply in defiance of his Polish classmates, who hated them), learned from them of primal ways of collective ownership (
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home and sent to a single cell in the
Spassky jail. Pastor Hermann Benni sent in the money to pay his brother's debts, but by the time they came in, Benni has been considered already a political prisoner. Now part of the so-called 32 Process, or "The Case of people accused of contacts with the London
396:
The
Russian Senate sentenced him to three months imprisonment and deportation which was a mild sentence. Benni applied for the Russian citizenship but was refused. In jail he spent his time reading a lot, and reportedly, once confessed: "Would you imagine, it is only now, as they are throwing me out
324:
As the commune disintegrated, Benni brought the four type-setting machines into the house and invited four more female communards in. "This enterprise was doomed, like all of the others he's been involved in, for Benni, whom simple men thought to be 'a scheming type', was, in fact, naïve as a child.
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Up until then ignorant of the native ways, Benni was instantly appalled by them. "Common with those boys were lies, deceit and dirty talk which in my father's home was unheard of. What was totally unacceptable to me, though, was the contemptuous way they treated people of lower classes and their own
299:
For some reason the women's liberation movement activists in Russia preferred to involve their protégés in printing business which naturally made authorities, who were hunting the proclamations distributors, suspicious. "There were few honest men in the capital who sincerely wanted to provide women
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scholar, was an evangelical pastor in Tomaszów. Although a Polish native he, much under the influence of his wife (who's never even attempted to learn Polish language) was keeping an "English house", bringing his sons up in a 'knighthood' tradition and gave them a classic primary education, so that
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novel was published in 1864 by
Boborykin in Arthur Benni's translation. By this time though, according to Leskov, "he was a wasted, disillusioned man, taken to apathy… Even his love for a Russian girl failed to bring him happiness, in fact, it seemed to make him even more lost and misguided, his
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correspondent. According to Jacobi, as the 9th regiment commander had been killed, Garibaldi's son
Menotti asked Benni to take the leadership upon himself. He did, was injured in the right hand and on 4 November found himself in the Sant'Onofrio hospital in Rome, in the most awful conditions.
168:-born father and English mother, the fourth child in the family; he had two brothers, Fryderyk Emanuel Hermann (1834–1900) and Karol Abraham Henryk (1843–1916), and two sisters, Amalia Anna (b. 1830) and Maria Rachela (1836–1909). His father, Jan Jakub Benni (1800–1863), a
131:
associate, Socialist activist and women liberation commune-founder. He served a three months prison sentence as part of the "32 Process", was deported from the country and died in 1867 in Rome hospital, after having been injured, as a member of the
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edition with them, embarked upon a trip to the province. Due to the latter's obnoxiousness, though, the pair has been thrown out of every house they tried to stay in, following their recommendation list. Finally, the two fell afoul of the local
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new issue, he was stopped at the
Russian border, was arrested and taken to the Russian capital for interrogation where he eagerly reported on every person he knew, including Benni and Leskov, as well as the others whom he had never met, like
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According to the alternative account, credited to some 'private sources', Benni has been hit by a French cavalry man as he was walking by his small carriage, armless, fell and fainted, then was taken to the
Garibaldi camp where gangrene
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editorial office, then took them to the Grech house in Saint
Petersburgh, where they became known as The Grech commune. This enterprise proved inefficient: Bennihad to do all the work himself and paid his employees from his own pocket.
224:. Full of idealistic aspirations, Benni received the English passport and volunteered to go to Russia to investigate the revolutionary situation there (which was quite ripe, as his new friends were assuring him) and distribute Hertzen's
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in time. Had I done it, I'd be the first to dispute Herzen's idea of making revolution in Russia". Asked why, he replied: "Because no one can hope to instill any of the noble principles into the likes of
Nozdryov and Tchichikov, ever."
205:) and principles of mutual responsibility which existed in their country and, having formed in his mind his own, an idealistic concept of Russia, decided that was the land where his Socialist ideas could be put into practice.
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s latest issue he were to smuggle there. The self-proclaimed revolutionaries' sympathiser, a Russian merchant named Tomashewski who happened to be in London, agreed to accompany the 22-year-old Benni on his mission. In
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Starting to neglect his professional obligations, Benni soon lost his money and possessions, then became homeless. "He was talking nonsensical things in those days, making plans to go to
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Meanwhile, Nichiporenko came to England, met Hertzen there and made a good enough impression to be employed by the latter as another 'envoy'. Burdened with a stack of
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127:– 27 December 1867, Rome, Italy) was a Polish-born English citizen, known in Russia (where his name was spelled Арту′р Ива′нович Бе′нни) as a journalist,
421:(1866, book III), showed that "was still under the impression the revolution in Russia would be not only possible, but desirable," according to Leskov.
489:(now Non-Catholic Cemetery), his grave "full of white and red flowers with green leaves, symbolizing Italy's colours", according to Alexandra Jacobi.
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354:, who started to employ him as a stuff translator. In both magazines Benni was treated with sympathy and forged friendships – notably, with
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with jobs at the time, and Benni was one of them," Leskov wrote. What the latter did first was to bring a group of women translators to the
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415:. It was there that he officially married Maria, the girl he was in love with. One article, "The Russian Society" which he published in
437:, according to which "Arthur Benni, of whom different contradictory, mostly unfavourable rumors were being spread, has been killed in
384:, cried and prayed a lot," remembered Leskov, who's given him shelter. In the spring of 1863 Benni was arrested for debts in Leskov's
296:, a respectable newspaper where for the first time in Russia he found himself among people who treated him with respect and sympathy.
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Tomashewski declared that their ways from then on were to part, or either he'd report him to the police. Unthwarted, Benni, a load of
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servants, while in our house servants were treated in the mildest possible manner," Benni remembered, according to his friend, writer
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733:, "Weg und Ziel. Mitteilungsblatt des Hilfskomitees der evang.-luth. Deutschen aus Polen" 1960, No. 3, pp. 3–4.
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After leaving school Benni went to England to enroll at the technical college and, upon the graduation, joined the
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of Russia, that I can see how ignorant I was… All my misfortunes here stem from the fact that I've failed to read
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466:, who spent several months with Garibaldi men and was beside Benni all through November 1867. By the time of the
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and Nikolai Voskoboinikov. In March 1862 Benni participated in the publication of the two issues of illegal
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embankment after a woman, thrown out of her home by husband, came to his flat and settled in his bedroom.
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arsenal as an engineer. By this time, in 1858 he became close to the circle of Russians in exile, led by
784:, Tomaszowski Słownik Biograficzny, fasc. 6, Tomaszów Mazowiecki 2010, pp. 5–7 (biographical note).
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665:. The Works in 11 volumes. Vol.III. Moscow. Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Publishers. Archived from
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Rumors that were later spread in Russia, as to his real name being Benislawsky, were proven wrong.
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747:, "Friends of the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome. Newsletter" No. 16, Autumn 2011, p. 1.
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did much to clear Benni's name. The latter (who chose Benni as a prototype for Rainer, the
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The Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome. Its history, its people and its survival for 300 years
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Arthur, as he at the age of ten joined the local lyceum, felt, in his own words, "more a
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The Women's Liberation Movement in Russia: Feminism, Nihilsm, and Bolshevism, 1860–1930
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The women's liberation movement in Russia: feminism, nihilism and Bolshevism, 1860–1930
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in the summer of 1861, still eager to "serve the great cause of Russian liberation."
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novel's revolutionary character) wrote a posthumous essay on him called
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777:, Princeton (N.J.): Princeton University Press 1974, pp. 108–109.
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propagandists," he was accused of helping another Herzen's associate,
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Tomaschower Pastorensohn – ein Revolutionär! (Arthur Benni 1840–1867)
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whole persona seemingly disintegrating under the emotional stress."
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agent were being spread, much to his outrage and distress.
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The church in Tomaszów where Iohann Benni served as pastor
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Artur Wilhelm Benni, Артур Иванович (Иоганнович) Бенни
740:. "Harvard Slavic Studies" 4, 1957, pp. 203–224.
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and, after visiting the police, burnt their stack of
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604:. The Russian Biographical Dictionary
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822:Journalists from the Russian Empire
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521:. The Literary Encyclopedia. Vol.I
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837:People from Tomaszów Mazowiecki
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577:. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia
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546:. Princeton University Press.
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481:(according to other sources,
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808:. The original Russian text.
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602:"Benni, Artur Ivanovich"
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108:Socialist movement
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663:"The Mystery Man"
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160:Biography
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479:ergotism
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