Pyotr Antonov

Pyotr Leontievich Antonov (Russian: Пётр Леонтьевич Антонов) (21 December 1859–18 June 1916) was a Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary and terrorist, who survived 20 years imprisonment.

Career Antonov was born in Mykolaiv (known in Russian as Nikolayev) in Ukraine. His grandparents were serfs. His grandfather was drafted into the Black Sea fleet. As a soldier's son, Pyotr's father was educated in a cantonist school, and worked as a bookbinder. He was made to work from the age of about six, but also received elementary schooling, so was able to read and write.

In 1876, after he had finished school, he attempted to organise a self-education circle for workers. In 1878, he organised a strike in Kharkiv. Later, he was employed as an engineer in the railway workshops in Poltava, where he came into contact with former defendants from the Trial of the 193, and joined Narodnaya Volya, and acted as a propagandist among workers and peasants in the Kharkov and Poltava regions. He was considered to be one of the party's best propagandists, He returned to Mykolaiv, and gave up political activity.