Pierre Lavrov was born in Russia in 1823 to a wealthy family and a father who was a loyal subject of the tsar. A mathematics teacher and philosopher, his philosophical thinking led him to an integral socialism that was about more than resolving material conditions. His subjective method enabled him to observe and judge facts in the name of an ideal and a moral conviction. For him, history is made by conscious, critical individuals with the help of the organised, educated, working and suffering masses. For their action to be effective, they must become a historical force, a social force.

A supporter of the Narodnaîa Volïa (People's Will), he was sentenced to deportation. He escaped in 1870 and reached Paris in March. Lavrov was in contact with Eugène Varlin and a member of the Ternes section of the First International when he found himself in the middle of the Commune. He was interested in school organisation, but the Commune sent him to London to meet Marx and the General Council of the International. It was a fruitless mission for the Commune, but a rich experience for Lavrov, who became close to Marx and Engels.
After the Commune, during his exile in Zurich, he tried in his writings to reconcile Marx and Bakunin, which Engels reproached him for, concluding that "our friend Lavrov is an eclectic". Despite everything, he deserves to be known. An idealist, Marxist and revolutionary, back in Paris he was at the heart of Russian political refugees and played an active part in the Russian socialist and revolutionary movement. He also took part in the founding of the Second International in Paris in 1889. He died 10 years later.

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