Ivan Vasilievich Babushkin was born on January 3 (15), 1873, in the village of Ledengskoye, Vologda province, into a peasant family. From an early age, he began to work: first as an assistant in a shop, and from 1887 to 1891, he studied locksmithing at a torpedo workshop in Kronstadt. In the summer of 1891, he got a job as a locksmith at the locomotive mechanical workshop at the Semyannikov factory in St. Petersburg, where he worked until 1896.

His path to revolution began in 1894 when he started attending a workers' Marxist circle led by V. I. Lenin. The following year, Babushkin actively participated in the activities of the Petersburg 'Union for the Liberation of the Working Class.' He organized new workers' circles and libraries, working not only with the workers of his factory but also at the Alexandrovsky and Steklyannyy factories. In January 1896, he was arrested by the police, and in February 1897, he was exiled to Yekaterinoslav due to the case of the 'Union for the Liberation of the Working Class.' In Yekaterinoslav, he continued his revolutionary activities, helping to organize the local branch of the 'Union' in December 1897, the Yekaterinoslav committee of the RSDRP in October 1898, and in 1900, the illegal newspaper 'Southern Worker.' He actively collaborated with Lenin's 'Iskra' as a correspondent and agent.

In 1900 and 1901, Babushkin, as an agent of 'Iskra,' worked in various cities of the Russian Empire, such as Moscow, Smolensk, Polotsk, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, and Ivanovo-Voznesensk. Under his leadership, the Orekhovo-Bogorodskaya organization of the RSDRP was created in October 1901, the first in the country to recognize 'Iskra' as its central printed organ. In December 1901, he was arrested at a meeting of the Orekhovo-Bogorodsky committee of the RSDRP, but in 1902, he managed to escape from the Yekaterinoslav prison and moved to London. In October of the same year, he returned to Russia and participated in discussions with the 'economists' and Zubatovites. In 1903, he was arrested again and exiled to Verkhoyansk (Yakutia), but in 1905, he was amnestied.

During the 1905 revolution, Babushkin was a member of the Irkutsk and Chita committees of the RSDRP and worked for the Bolshevik newspaper 'Transbaikal Worker.' He became one of the leaders of the Chita armed uprising along with Viktor Kurnatovsky and Anton Kostiushko-Valyuzhanich.

On December 31, 1905 (January 13, 1906), he left Chita and, along with five comrades, accompanied a train with weapons for the workers of Irkutsk. They were detained by the expedition of General Alexander Meller-Zakomyelsky at the Slyudyanka station. On January 5 (18), 1906, Babushkin and his comrades, telegraphists Klyushnikov, Savin, Yermolaev, and Byalykh, were executed by the verdict of a military field court at the Mysovaya station, now the city of Babushkin in Buryatia.