Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (1828 - 1889) was a Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist. He is seen by some as a utopian socialist. He was the leader of the revolutionary democratic movement of the 1860s, and was an influence on Lenin.

The son of a priest, Chernyshevsky was born in Saratov in 1828, and stayed there till 1846. After graduating from St. Petersburg University in 1850, he taught literature at a school (gymnasium) in Saratov. From 1853 to 1862, he lived in St. Petersburg, and became the chief editor of Sovremennik (Contemporary), in which he published his chief literary reviews and his essays on philosophy. In 1862, he was arrested and confined in the Fortress of St. Peter and Paul, where he wrote his famous novel What Is To Be Done? In 1862 he was sentenced to 'civil execution' (mock execution), followed by penal servitude (1864-72), and by exile to Vilyuisk , Siberia (1872-83). He died on October 17, 1889, at the age of 61.

Chernyshevsky was a founder of Narodism, Russian populism, and agitated for the revolutionary overthrow of the autocracy and the creation of a socialist society. He thought of creating socialism based on the old peasant commune.

Chernyshevsky's ideas were heavily influenced by Herzen, Belinsky, and Feuerbach. Philosophically, he was a materialist.

He saw class struggle as the means of society's forward movement and advocated for the interests of the working people. In his view, the masses were the chief maker of history.

List of Books

• Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality online
• Essays on the Gogol Period in Russian Literature
• Critique of Philosophical Prejudices Against Communal Ownership
• The Anthropological Principle in Philosophy
• What Is To Be Done?
• Prologue
• The Nature of Human Knowledge