Aleksandr Ilyich Ulyanov (Александр Ильич Ульянов in Russian) (1866-May 8, 1887) was a Russian revolutionary, one of the leaders of Pervomartovtsi, older brother of V.I. Lenin.
In 1883, he graduated from the College of Simbirsk with a gold medal and entered Petersburg University and majored in Natural Sciences (also with a gold medal for his work in zoology). Aleksandr participated in illegal meetings, demonstrations and ran propaganda activities among students and working class people. In 1886, he became a member of the "Terrorist faction" of the Narodnaya Volya party. He was one of the authors of its program with obvious influence of marxism.
Acknowledging working class as a "nucleus of the Socialist Party", the party program affirmed the revolutionary intelligentsia's initiative in fighting with autocracy; terror was seen as a means of struggle.
Ulyanov and his comrades were preparing an assassination attempt on the life of Alexander III of Russia, however, on March 1, 1887 they were arrested. Ulyanov came forward with a political speech in court. On May 8, Aleksandr Ulyanov and his comrades Pakhomiy Andreyushkin, Vasili Generalov, Vasili Osipanov and Petr Shevyrev were sentenced to death and hanged.
The execution of his brother Alexander radicalized Lenin and he became more involved in student protests and revolutionary propaganda efforts.
