Melnikov, Iuvenalii Dmitrievich

Born Apr 23 (May 5), 1868, in the village of Krasnoe, now in Bakhmach Raion, Chernigov Oblast; died Apr. 24 (May 7), 1900, in Astrakhan. One of the first Ukrainian Marxist revolutionaries. Son of a petty official.

In 1888, Mel’nikov was a worker in railroad repair shops in Kharkov; he participated in revolutionary circles and subsequently was a propagandist in Taganrog and Rostov; he was under the influence of Populism. In the early 1890’s, Mel’nikov became a Marxist and established contacts with M. I. Brusnev and P. V. Tochisskii. In 1892, Mel’nikov began working in Kiev and founded the first Marxist circles, which subsequently formed the Kiev League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. Mel’nikov headed the first workers strike committee in Kiev in 1895. Arrested in 1889 and 1896, he was exiled in 1899 to Astrakhan, where he participated in founding a Social Democratic organization. Mel’nikov died of tuberculosis.