The power of one person over another destroys, first of all, the one who rules.

Lev Tolstoy

Bloody Sunday- a mass procession of workers on January 9, 1905 to the tsar to present a Letter of demand. The demonstration was shot down, and its instigator, Pop Gapon, fled Russia. According to official figures, 130 people were killed and several hundred wounded that day. About how true these figures are, and how important the events of Bloody Sunday turned out to be for Russia, I will briefly talk in this material.

On January 3, 1905, a rebellion began at the Putilov factory. This was a consequence of the deterioration of the social situation of workers in Russia, and the reason was the dismissal of some workers of the Putilov factory. A strike began, which in just a few days swept the entire capital, virtually paralyzing its work. The rebellion gained mass character largely due to the "Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg." The organization was led by priest George Gapon. By January 8, when more than 200 thousand people were involved in the rebellion, it was decided to go to the king in order to deliver to him "the demands of the people." The document contained the following sections and requirements.

Petition of the people to the king

Group	Requirements
Measures against the ignorance and lack of rights of the people	Release of all those affected by political opinions
	Declaration of freedoms and inviolability of the person
	General public education at the expense of the state
	Responsibility of Ministers to the people
	Equality of all before the law
	Separation of church and state
Measures against people's poverty	Abolition of indirect taxes
	Cancellation of redemption payments for land
	Execution of all government orders within the country, not abroad
	Cessation of the war
Measures against the oppression of capital over the ruble	Cancellation of factory inspectors
	Creation of work commissions at all plants and factories
	Freedom of trade unions
	8-hour working day and overtime rationing
	Freedom of struggle between labor and capital
	Wage increase

Only measures against the oppression of capital over the ruble can be called "workers", that is, those that really worried the rebellious factory workers. The first 2 groups have nothing to do with the position of the workers, and were obviously brought in under pressure from the revolutionary organizations. Moreover, it was the first 2nd groups of demands that created Bloody Sunday, which began in the form of a struggle for the rights of workers, and ended in the form of a struggle against the autocracy. Freedom of the press, freedom of political parties, an immediate end to the war, the abolition of indirect taxes, an amnesty for political prisoners, the separation of church and state - how does all this relate to the demands of the workers and their needs? At the very least, some points can be connected with the needs of the manufacturers, but how, for example, everyday life workers associated with the separation of church and state and the amnesty of all political prisoners? But it was these 2 points that transferred the rally to the category of revolution ...

Course of events

Chronology of the events of January 1905:

• January 3 - rebellion at the Putilov plant in response to the dismissal of workers. At the head of the rebellion is Pope Gapon, chairman of the Assembly.
• January 4-5 - the growth of the rebellion in other plants and factories. More than 150 thousand people are involved. The work of almost all plants and factories was stopped.
• January 6 - there were no significant events, since the holiday "Baptism" was celebrated.
• January 7 - 382 enterprises of St. Petersburg were engulfed in a rebellion, so the events could be called universal. On the same day, Gapon voices the idea of ​​a mass procession to the king in order to convey the demands.
• January 8 - Gapon passes a copy of the Appeal to the Tsar to the Minister of Justice - N.V. Muravyov. The government has been gathering the army into the city in the morning and blocking the center, since the revolutionary nature of the demands is obvious.
• January 9 - mass sixth columns to the Winter Palace. Execution of a demonstration by government troops.

The chronology of Bloody Sunday allows us to draw a paradoxical conclusion - the events were a provocation, and a mutual one at that. On the one hand, there were the police agencies of Russia (they wanted to show that they could solve any problem and scare the people), and on the other hand, revolutionary organizations (they needed a reason for the strike to develop into a revolution, and they could openly advocate the overthrow of the autocracy). And this provocation was successful. There were shots from the workers, there were shots from the army. As a result, shooting began. Official sources speak of 130 dead. In fact, there were many more victims. The press, for example, wrote (later Lenin used this figure) about 4,600 dead.

Gapon and his role

After the strikes began, Gapon gained great influence, who led the Assembly of Russian Factory Workers. Nevertheless, it is impossible to say that Gapon was the key figure of Bloody Sunday. Today, the idea is widely spread that the priest was an agent of the tsarist secret police and a provocateur. Many prominent historians talk about this, but not one of them has yet cited a single fact to prove this theory. Contacts between Gapon and the tsarist secret police were in 1904, and Gapon himself did not hide this. Moreover, the people who were members of the Assembly knew about it. But there is not a single fact that in January 1905 Gapon was a tsarist agent. Although after the revolution this issue was actively dealt with. If the Bolsheviks did not find any documents in the archives linking Gapon with the special services, then there really are none. So this theory is invalid.

Gapon put forward the idea of ​​creating a petition to the king, organizing a procession, and even led this procession himself. But he did not manage the process. If he really was the ideological inspirer of the mass upsurge of the workers, then the petition to the tsar would not have contained those revolutionary points.

After the events of January 9, Gapon fled abroad. He returned to Russia in 1906. Later he was arrested by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and executed for cooperation with the tsarist police. It happened on March 26, 1906.

Actions of the authorities

Characters:

• Lopukhin is the director of the police department.
• Muravyov is the Minister of Justice.
• Svyatopolk-Mirsky - Minister of the Interior. As a result, he was replaced by Trepov.
• Fullon is the mayor of St. Petersburg. As a result, he was replaced by Dedulin.
• Meshetic, Fullon - generals of the tsarist army

As for the shooting, it was the inevitable consequence of calling in the troops. After all, they were not called for the parade, were they?

Until the end of the day on January 7, the authorities did not consider the popular uprising as a real threat. In general, no steps were taken to restore order. But on January 7, it became clear what threat Russia was facing. In the morning, the issue of introducing martial law in St. Petersburg is being discussed. In the evening, a meeting of all the actors takes place and a decision is made to send troops into the city, but martial law is not introduced. At the same meeting, the question of arresting Gapon was raised, but this idea was abandoned, not wanting to further provoke the people. Later, Witte wrote: “At the meeting, it was decided that the workers’ demonstrators should not be allowed further than the known limits located on Palace Square.”

By 6 o'clock in the morning on January 8, 26.5 infantry companies (about 2.5 thousand people) were brought into the city, which began to settle down with the aim of "preventing". By evening, a plan was approved for the deployment of troops around Palace Square, but there was no specific plan of action! There was only a recommendation - not to allow people. Therefore, in fact, everything was assigned to the army generals. They decided...

The spontaneous nature of the procession

Most history textbooks say that the uprising of the workers in Petrograd was spontaneous: the workers were tired of arbitrariness and the dismissal of 100 people from the Putilov factory was the last straw that forced the workers to take action. It is said that the workers were headed only by the priest George Gapon, but there was no organization in this movement. The only thing they wanted simple people- convey to the king the severity of his position. There are 2 points that refute this hypothesis:

1. More than 50% of the items in the demands of the workers are political, economic and religious demands. This has nothing to do with the daily needs of the factory owners, and indicates that there were people behind them who used the discontent of the people to foment the revolution.
2. The mutiny that escalated into "Bloody Sunday" happened in 5 days. The work of all factories in St. Petersburg was paralyzed. More than 200 thousand people took part in the movement. Can this happen spontaneously and by itself?

On January 3, 1905, an uprising broke out at the Putilov factory. About 10 thousand people are involved in it. On January 4, 15,000 people were already on strike, and on January 8, about 180,000 people. It is obvious that an organization was needed to stop the entire industry of the capital and start a riot of 180 thousand people. Otherwise, nothing would have happened in such a short time.

The role of Nicholas 2

Nicholas 2 is a very controversial figure in Russian history. On the one hand, today everyone justifies him (even canonized), but on the other hand, the collapse of the Russian Empire, Bloody Sunday, 2 revolutions are a direct consequence of his policy. At all important historical moments for Russia, Nikola 2 retired! So it was with Bloody Sunday. On January 8, 1908, everyone already understood that serious events were taking place in the country in the capital: more than 200 thousand people took part in strikes, the city’s industry was stopped, revolutionary organizations began to become active, a decision was made to send the army into the city, and even the question of introducing martial law in Petrograd was being considered. . And in such a difficult situation, the king was not in the capital on January 9, 1905! Historians today attribute this to 2 reasons:

1. They feared an assassination attempt on the emperor. Let's say, but what prevented the king, who is responsible for the country, from being in the capital under heavy guard and leading the process, making decisions? If they were afraid of an assassination attempt, then it was possible not to go out to the people, but the emperor is simply obliged at such moments to lead the country and make responsible decisions. It is equivalent if, during the defense of Moscow in 1941, Stalin left and was not even interested in what was happening there. This is not even possible! Nicholas 2 did just that, and modern liberals are still trying to justify him.
2. Nicholas 2 took care of his family and retired to protect his family. The argument is clearly sucked from the finger, but let's say. One question arises - what did all this lead to? During February Revolution Nicholas 2, just like on Bloody Sunday, abstained from making decisions - as a result, he lost his country, and it was because of this that his family was shot. In any case, the king is responsible not only for the family, but also for the country (or rather, primarily for the country).

The events of Bloody Sunday on January 9, 1905, they most clearly highlight the reasons why the Russian Empire collapsed - the tsar did not care about what was happening. On January 8, everyone knew that there would be a procession to the Winter Palace, everyone knew that it would be numerous. In preparation for this, the army is brought in, decrees are issued (albeit imperceptible to the masses) forbidding processions. At such an important moment for the country, when everyone understands that a serious event is being prepared - the king is not in the capital! Can you imagine this, for example, under Ivan the Terrible, Peter 1, Alexander 3? Of course not. That's the whole difference. Nicholas 2 was a "local" person who thought only about himself and his family, and not about the country, for which he was responsible before God.

Who gave the order to shoot

The question of who gave the order to shoot during Bloody Sunday is one of the most difficult. Only one thing can be said for certain and for sure - Nicholas 2 did not give such an order, because he did not manage these events in any way (the reasons were discussed above). The version that the government wanted the shooting also does not stand up to scrutiny by the facts. Suffice it to say that on January 9, Svyatopolk-Mirsky and Fullon were removed from their posts. If we assume that Bloody Sunday was a government provocation, then the resignations of the main characters who know the truth are illogical.

It is more likely that the authorities did not expect this (including provocations), but they should have expected it, especially when regular troops were brought into St. Petersburg. Further, army generals simply acted in accordance with the order "not to allow." They did not allow people to move.

Significance and historical implications

The events of Bloody Sunday on January 9 and the shooting of a peaceful demonstration of workers were a terrible blow to the positions of the autocracy in Russia. If before 1905 no one said aloud that Russia did not need a tsar, but they spoke at most about convening a Constituent Assembly as a means of influencing the policy of the tsar, then after January 9, the slogans “Down with the autocracy!” began to be openly proclaimed. Already on January 9 and 10, spontaneous rallies began to form, where Nikolai 2 was the main object of criticism.

The second important consequence of the execution of the demonstration is the beginning of the revolution. Despite the strikes in St. Petersburg, it was only 1 city, but when the army shot the workers, the whole country rebelled and opposed the tsar. And it was the revolution of 1905-1907 that created the basis on which the events of 1917 were built. And all this is due to the fact that Nicholas 2 did not rule the country at critical moments.

Sources and literature:

• History of Russia, edited by A.N. Sakhorov
• History of Russia, Ostrovsky, Utkin.
• Beginning of the first Russian revolution. Documents and materials. Moscow, 1955.
• Red chronicle 1922-1928.

Emperor Nicholas II ascended the throne completely unprepared for the role of Emperor. Many blame Emperor Alexander III for not preparing him, in fact, perhaps this is true, but on the other hand, Emperor Alexander III could never think that he would die so soon, and therefore, naturally, he put everything off for the future the time of preparing his son for the throne, finding him still too young to be engaged in public affairs.

Witte S.Yu. Memories

FROM THE WORKERS' PETITION, JANUARY 9, 1905

We, workers and residents of St. Petersburg, of various classes, our wives and children, and helpless old parents, have come to you, sovereign, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, we are burdened with overwork, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure their bitter fate and remain silent.<…>It is not impudence that speaks in us, but the consciousness of the need to get out of a situation that is unbearable for all. Russia is too big, her needs are too varied and numerous, for officials alone to manage her. Popular representation is necessary, it is necessary that the people themselves help themselves and govern themselves.<…>Let there be a capitalist, and a worker, and an official, and a priest, and a doctor, and a teacher - let everyone, whoever they are, elect their representatives.

Reader on the history of Russia: tutorial/ A.S. Orlov, V.A. Georgiev, N.G. Georgieva et al. M., 2004

PETERSBURG SECURITY DEPARTMENT, JANUARY 8

According to intelligence information received, expected tomorrow, at the initiative of Father Gapon, the revolutionary organizations of the capital also intend to use the procession to the Palace Square of the striking workers to stage an anti-government demonstration.

For this purpose, flags with criminal inscriptions are being made today, and these flags will be hidden until such time as the police begin to act against the procession of workers; then, taking advantage of the confusion, the flag-bearers will take out their flags in order to create the situation that the workers are marching under the flags of the revolutionary organizations.

Then the Socialist-Revolutionaries intend to take advantage of the disorder to plunder the gun shops along Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street and Liteiny Avenue.

Today, during a meeting of workers in the Narva department, some agitator from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, apparently a student, appeared there to agitate. St. Petersburg University Valerian Pavlov Karetnikov, but was beaten by workers.

In one of the departments of the Assembly in the city district, the same fate befell the members of the local Social Democratic organization known to the Police Department, Alexander Kharik and Yulia Zhilevich (Note of the Department of January 3, No. 6).

Reporting on what has been stated to your excellency, I add that possible measures have been taken to withdraw the flags.

Lieutenant Colonel Kremenetsky

REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

On Monday, January 3rd, strikes began at St. the Nevsky Mechanical and Shipbuilding Plant with 6,000 workers, the Neva paper spinning plant with 2,000 workers, and the Yekateringof paper spinning plant with 700 workers. As has already become clear from the demands made by the workers of the first two factories, the main harassment of the strikers is as follows: 1) the establishment of an 8-hour working day; 2) granting the workers the right to participate, on an equal basis with the administration of the plant, in resolving questions on the amount of wages, on the dismissal of workers from service, and in general in considering any claims of individual workers; 3) increase in wages for weekly working men and women; 4) the removal of some foremen from their posts; and 5) the issuance of wages for all absenteeism during the strike. In addition, a number of wishes of secondary importance were presented. The above requirements seem illegal, and partly impossible for breeders. Workers cannot demand a reduction in working time to 8 hours, since the law gives the breeder the right to occupy workers with classes up to 11 ½ hours during the day and 10 hours at night, which norms are established for very serious economic reasons by the highest opinion of the State Council approved on June 2, 1897; in particular, for the Putilov plant, which fulfills urgent and responsible orders for the needs of the Manchurian army, the establishment of an 8-hour working day and according to technical conditions is hardly acceptable ....

In view of the fact that the demands are presented by the workers in a form prohibited by our law, that they seem impossible for the industrialists, and that in some factories the cessation of work was carried out by force, the strike taking place in St. Petersburg factories and plants attracts the most serious attention, especially since , as far as the circumstances of the case have clarified, it is in direct connection with the actions of the society "Assembly of Russian factory workers of the city of St. Petersburg", led by the priest Gapon, who is attached to the church of the St. Petersburg transit prison. So, at the first of the strike factories - Putilov - demands were made by the priest Gapon himself, together with members of the aforementioned society, and then similar demands began to be made at other factories. From this it can be seen that the workers are sufficiently united in Father Gapon's society and therefore act persistently.

Expressing serious misgivings about the outcome of the strike, especially in view of the results that the workers in Baku have achieved, I would recognize it as imperative that effective measures be taken both to ensure the safety of those workers who wish to return to their usual factory occupations, and and to protect the property of industrialists from plunder and destruction by fire; otherwise, both will be in a precarious position, in which industrialists and prudent workers were recently placed during the strike in Baku.

For my part, I would consider it my duty to assemble the industrialists for tomorrow, January 6, in order to discuss the circumstances of the case with them, to give them appropriate instructions for a prudent, calm and impartial consideration of all the demands made by the workers.

As for the actions of the society "Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg", I considered it my duty to turn to the Minister of the Interior about the very great fears that arose in me regarding the nature and results of its activities, since the charter of this society was approved by Ministry of the Interior, without contact with the financial department.

Note:

On the field is a sign of reading, put by Nicholas II.

LEAFLIET OF THE RSDLP ON THE SHOOTING OF WORKERS ON JANUARY 9

Proletarians of all countries, unite!

K S O L D A T A M

Soldiers! Yesterday you killed hundreds of your brothers with your rifles and cannons. You were not sent against the Japanese, not to defend Port Arthur, but to kill unarmed women and children. Your officers forced you to be assassins. Soldiers! Who did you kill? Those who went to the king to demand freedom and a better life - freedom and a better life for themselves and for you, for your fathers and brothers, for your wives and mothers. Shame and shame! You are our brothers, you need freedom, and you are shooting at us. Enough! Watch out, soldiers! You are our brothers! Kill those officers who tell you to shoot at us! Refuse to shoot people! Come to our side! Let's go together in friendly ranks against your enemies! Give us your guns!

Down with the murderous king!

Down with the executioners-officers!

Down with autocracy!

Long live freedom!

Long live socialism!

St. Petersburg Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party

VICTIMS

Historian A.L. Freiman, in his pamphlet The Ninth of January 1905 (L., 1955), claimed that more than 1,000 people were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded. In comparison with him, V.D. Bonch-Bruevich tried to somehow substantiate such figures (in his 1929 article). He proceeded from the fact that 12 companies of different regiments fired 32 volleys, a total of 2861 shots. Having allowed 16 misfires per volley per company, for 110 shots, Bonch-Bruevich threw off 15%, that is, 430 shots, attributed the same amount to misses, received 2000 hits in the remainder and came to the conclusion that at least 4 thousand people suffered. His methodology was thoroughly criticized by the historian S. N. Semanov in his book Bloody Sunday (L., 1965). For example, Bonch-Bruyevich considered a volley of two companies of grenadiers at the Sampsonievsky bridge (220 shots), while in fact no shots were fired at this place. Not 100 soldiers fired near the Alexander Garden, as Bonch-Bruevich believed, but 68. In addition, the even distribution of hits is completely incorrect - one bullet per person (many received several wounds, which was registered by hospital doctors); and part of the soldiers deliberately fired upwards. Semanov agreed with the Bolshevik V.I. Nevsky (who considered the most plausible total figure 800-1000 people), without specifying how many were killed and how many were wounded, although Nevsky gave such a division in his 1922 article: “The figures of five or more thousand, which were called in the early days, are clearly incorrect. You can roughly determine the number of wounded from 450 to 800 and killed from 150 to 200.

According to the same Semanov, the government first reported that only 76 people were killed and 223 were wounded, then they made an amendment that 130 were killed and 299 wounded. that "at least 150 people were killed, but many hundreds were wounded." Thus, everything revolves around the figure of 150 killed.

According to the modern publicist O. A. Platonov, A. A. Lopukhin reported to the tsar that on January 9, there were 96 killed (including a police officer) and up to 333 wounded, of which another 34 people died before January 27, according to the old style ( including one assistant bailiff). Thus, according to Lopukhin, a total of 130 people were killed and died of wounds and about 300 were wounded.

THE HIGHEST MANIFESTO OF AUGUST 6, 1905

by the grace of God
WE, NICHOLAS II,
emperor and autocrat of all Russia,
King of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland,
and other, and other, and other

We declare to all our loyal subjects:

The Russian state was built and strengthened by the inseparable unity of the tsar with the people and the people with the tsar. Consent and unity of the tsar and the people - the great moral force that has built Russia for centuries, defended it from all sorts of troubles and misfortunes, is to this day a guarantee of its unity, independence and integrity of material well-being and spiritual development in the present and future.

In our manifesto, given on February 26, 1903, we called for the close unity of all the faithful sons of the Fatherland in order to improve the state order by establishing a stable order in local life. And then we were preoccupied with the idea of ​​coordinating elected public institutions with government authorities and of eradicating the discord between them, which is so detrimental to the correct course of state life. The autocratic tsars, our predecessors, did not stop thinking about this.

Now the time has come, following their good undertakings, to call on elected people from all the Russian land to constant and active participation in the drafting of laws, including for this in the highest state institutions a special legislative institution, which is given the preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals and consideration of the list of state revenues. and expenses.

In these forms, keeping inviolable the basic law Russian Empire about the essence of autocratic power, we recognized it as a good thing to establish the State Duma and approved the regulation on elections to the Duma, extending the force of these laws to the entire expanse of the empire, with only those changes that will be deemed necessary for some of its outskirts, which are in special conditions.

We will specifically indicate the procedure for participation in the State Duma of elected representatives from the Grand Duchy of Finland on issues common to the empire and this region.

Together with this, we ordered the Minister of the Interior to immediately submit to us for approval the rules on bringing into force the provisions on elections to the State Duma, so that members from 50 provinces and the region of the Don Cossacks could appear in the Duma no later than mid-January 1906.

We reserve our full concern for the further improvement of the institution of the State Duma, and when life itself indicates the need for those changes in its institution that would fully satisfy the needs of the times and the good of the state, we will not fail to give appropriate instructions on this subject in due time.

We are confident that the people elected by the confidence of the entire population, who are now called to joint legislative work with the government, will show themselves before all of Russia worthy of the royal trust by which they are called to this great cause, and in full agreement with other state institutions and with the authorities, from appointed us, will render us useful and zealous assistance in our labors for the benefit of our common mother Russia, towards the establishment of the unity, security and greatness of the state and the people's order and prosperity.

Invoking the blessing of the Lord on the labors of the state establishment we are establishing, we, with an unshakable faith in the mercy of God and in the immutability of the great historical destinies predetermined by divine providence for our dear fatherland, firmly hope that with the help of Almighty God and the unanimous efforts of all her sons, Russia will emerge in triumph from the severe trials that have befallen her now and will be reborn in her thousand-year history of power, greatness and glory imprinted.

Given in Peterhof, on the 6th day of August, in the year from the birth of Christ one thousand nine hundred and five, while our reign is on the eleventh.

Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire, collection.3rd, t. XXV, otd. I, N 26 656

MANIFESTO OCTOBER 17

Troubles and unrest in the capitals and in many areas of our empire fill our hearts with great and heavy sorrow. The good of the Russian sovereign is inseparable from the good of the people, and the sadness of the people is his sadness. From the unrest that has now arisen, there may be a deep disorganization of the people and a threat to the integrity and unity of our state.

The great vow of royal service commands us to strive with all the forces of reason and our power to end as soon as possible the turmoil so dangerous for the state. Having commanded the subordinate authorities to take measures to eliminate direct manifestations of disorder, outrages and violence, to protect peaceful people striving for the calm fulfillment of their duty, we, in order to successfully carry out the general measures we intend to pacify the state life, recognized it necessary to unite the activities of the highest government.

We make it the duty of the government to carry out our inexorable will:

1. Grant the population the unshakable foundations of civil freedom on the basis of real inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and associations.

2. Without stopping the planned elections to the State Duma, immediately enlist in participation in the Duma, to the extent possible, corresponding to the multiplicity of the period remaining until the convocation of the Duma, those classes of the population who are now completely deprived of voting rights, leaving behind this the further development of the principle of general suffrage newly established legal order, and

3. Establish as an unshakable rule that no law can take effect without the approval of the State Duma and that the elected representatives of the people should be provided with the opportunity to really participate in supervising the regularity of the actions of the authorities appointed by us.

We call on all the faithful sons of Russia to remember their duty to the Motherland, to help put an end to this unheard-of turmoil and, together with us, exert all their strength to restore silence and peace in their native land.

NOTES OF THE GENDARME

In the revolutionary fever that engulfed the whole country after January 9, terrorist acts were committed here and there against representatives of the authorities. Members of various revolutionary parties fired. They also said in Kyiv that we should shoot someone, we should throw a bomb somewhere. Most often called the name of Baron Stackelberg. I finally received absolutely definite information from one of the employees that we were preparing an attempt on the life of General Kleigels, that from abroad our committee was asked to deal with precisely this issue. That was the work of Azef.

After the assassination of Plehve, in Geneva, under the chairmanship of Azef, the militant organization of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party was finally constructed. Its charter was developed, Azef was appointed its head or managing member, and Savinkov his assistant. The two of them and Schweitzer made up the supreme body of the organization or its committee.

At a meeting of this committee that took place later in Paris, it was decided to organize the murders of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in Moscow, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich in St. Petersburg, and our Governor-General Kleigels. The first case was entrusted to Savinkov, the second to Schweitzer, and the Kiev one to a certain Baryshansky ... But fortunately for us, Baryshansky acted very carelessly. As already mentioned, he appealed to the local forces, and our agitation against the murder and the spying in Pechersk did their job. Those who were persuaded by Baryshansky did not agree to commit murder, and Baryshansky himself refused it. Azev's plan has failed with us.

Things turned out differently in Moscow, where Savinkov was sent to organize an assassination attempt on the Grand Duke. In order to avoid failure, Savinkov decided to act independently, in addition to the local organization, and thus escaped from the employees of the security department. But something, thanks to Savinkov's first steps and thanks to his negotiations with one of the representatives of the local party committee, as well as with one of the liberals, reached the department, and, anticipating the attempt, asked the police department through the mayor Trepov to release a loan for a special protection of the Grand Duke. The department refused. Then in Moscow something happened that we feared in Kyiv. Working independently, Savinkov managed to prepare an assassination attempt, and the Grand Duke was killed under the following circumstances.

Among the militants who were part of Savinkov's detachment was his friend at the gymnasium, the son of a police officer, expelled from St. Petersburg University for unrest, I. Kalyaev, 28 years old ... In Moscow, he was intended as one of the bombers.

February 4<1905 г.>Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who did not want, despite repeated requests from those close to him, to change the hours and routes of his departures, left in a carriage, as always, at 2 hours 30 minutes from the Nikolaev Palace in the Kremlin towards the Nikolsky Gate. The carriage had not gone 65 paces to the gate when it was met by Kalyaev, who shortly before had received from Savinkov a bomb that Dora Brilliant had made. Kalyaev was dressed in an undergarment, was wearing a lambskin hat, high boots, and was carrying a bomb in a bundle in a scarf.

Letting the carriage approach, Kalyaev threw a bomb at it with a running start. The Grand Duke was torn to pieces, the coachman was mortally wounded, while Kalyaev was wounded and arrested.

The Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, who remained in the palace, heard the explosion, exclaimed: "This is Sergey" - and in what she rushed to the square. Having reached the site of the explosion, she, sobbing, fell to her knees and began to collect the bloodied remains of her husband...

At this time, Kalyaev was taken to prison, and he shouted: - "Down with the tsar, down with the government." Savinkov and Dora Brilliant hurried to the Kremlin to make sure of the success of their enterprise, but the soul of the whole affair, Azef, somewhere maliciously laughed at his superiors, compiling a new eloquent report to him.

On the day of this murder, I was in St. Petersburg, where I arrived for explanations with the head of the special department, Makarov ... Not finding the previous support in the department, not seeing the case and dissatisfied with Makarov's inattention, I decided to leave the security department. I went to Governor-General Trepov and asked him to take me to him. Trepov greeted me well and asked me to visit him in three days. This term fell on 5 or 6 February. I found Trepov very upset. He tore and threw at the police department because of the murder of the Grand Duke. He accused the director of refusing a loan for the protection of the Grand Duke and therefore considered him responsible for what had happened in Moscow.

In 1905-1907, events took place in Russia, which were later called the first Russian revolution. The beginning of these events is considered to be January 1905, when the workers of one of the St. Petersburg factories entered the political struggle. Back in 1904, a young priest of the St. Petersburg transit prison Georgy Gapon, with the assistance of the police and city authorities, created in the city working organization"Collection of Russian factory workers of St. Petersburg". In the first months, the workers simply arranged general evenings, often with tea, dancing, and opened a mutual benefit fund.

By the end of 1904, about 9 thousand people were already members of the "Assembly". In December 1904, one of the masters of the Putilov factory fired four workers who were members of the organization. The "assembly" immediately came out in support of the comrades, sent a delegation to the director of the plant, and, despite his attempts to smooth over the conflict, the workers decided to stop work in protest. On January 2, 1905, the huge Putilov factory stopped. The strikers put forward already increased demands: to establish an 8-hour working day, to increase salaries. Other metropolitan factories gradually joined the strike, and a few days later 150,000 workers were on strike in St. Petersburg.

G. Gapon spoke at meetings, calling for a peaceful procession to the tsar, who alone could intercede for the workers. He even helped prepare an appeal to Nicholas II, in which there were such lines: “We have become impoverished, we are oppressed, .. people do not recognize us, they treat us like slaves ... No more strength, Sovereign ... That terrible moment has come for us, when death is better than the continuation of unbearable torments. Look without anger ... at our requests, they are directed not to evil, but to good, both for us and for You, Sovereign!" The appeal listed the requests of the workers, for the first time it included demands for political freedoms, the organization of the Constituent Assembly - it was practically a revolutionary program. On January 9, a peaceful procession to the Winter Palace was scheduled. Gapon assured that the tsar should go out to the workers and accept an appeal from them.

On January 9, about 140,000 workers took to the streets of St. Petersburg. The columns headed by G. Gapon went to the Winter Palace. The workers came with their families, children, festively dressed, they carried portraits of the king, icons, crosses, sang prayers. Throughout the city, the procession met armed soldiers, but no one wanted to believe that they could shoot. Nicholas II was in Tsarskoye Selo that day, but the workers believed that he would come to listen to their requests.

On the eve of the tragic events of January 9, 1905, Nicholas II introduced martial law in St. Petersburg. All power in the capital automatically passed to his uncle, the Commander-in-Chief of the Guards of the St. Petersburg Military District, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.

Vladimir Alexandrovich on his birthday, April 10, 1847, was appointed chief of the Life Guards Dragoon Regiment, was a member of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment and the Life Guards Sapper Battalion. On March 2, 1881, he was appointed commander of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District. By the manifesto of Emperor Alexander III of March 14, 1881, he was appointed regent ("Ruler of the State") in the event of the death of the emperor - until the heir to the throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich, came of age (or in the event of the death of the latter).

From 1884 to 1905, the Grand Duke served as Commander-in-Chief of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District. During the riots on January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg, it was he who gave the order to shoot at the crowd.

During the execution, Gapon was pulled out from under the bullets by the Socialist-Revolutionary P. M. Rutenberg, and for some time he hid in the apartment of A. M. Gorky. With a changed appearance, short hair, he left the apartment and in the evening of the same day, under a false name, delivered a diatribe in the Free Economic Society. “Brothers, comrade workers!”, edited by Rutenberg in the spirit of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, in which, among other things, he called for terror and, calling the king a beast, wrote: “So let us take revenge, brothers, on the king cursed by the people and all his snake offspring, ministers, all the robbers Russian land. Death to them all!"

The events of "Bloody Sunday" shocked the whole of Russia. Portraits of the king, previously revered as shrines, were torn and trampled right on the streets. Shocked by the execution of the workers, G. Gapon exclaimed: "There is no more God, no more tsar!" On the night after Bloody Sunday, he wrote a leaflet:

Soon after the January events, Georgy Gapon fled abroad. In March 1905 he was defrocked and expelled from the clergy.

Gapon was very popular abroad. He was, in the words of L. D. Trotsky, a figure of almost biblical style. Gapon met with J. Jaurès, J. Clemenceau and other leaders of European socialists and radicals. In London I saw P. A. Kropotkin.

In exile, Georgy Gapon founded the "Gapon Fund", where donations for the Russian revolution flocked. In May-June 1905, he dictated his memoirs, which were originally published in translation into English language. Gapon also met with G. V. Plekhanov and V. I. Lenin, joined the RSDLP.

Regarding the rumors about Gapon's provocateurism, Lenin wrote:

Through an intermediary, Gapon received 50 thousand francs from the Japanese envoy to purchase weapons and deliver them to the Russian revolutionaries. The ship "John Crafton", which carried weapons, ran aground near the Russian coast, and almost all the cargo went to the police. In April 1905, the freshly minted Social Democrat held a conference of socialist parties in Paris with the aim of working out common tactics and uniting them into a Combat Alliance. In May of the same year, he left the RSDLP and, with the assistance of V. M. Chernov, joined the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, however, he was soon expelled due to "political illiteracy."

Return to Russia. The end of the provocateur.

After the amnesty announced by the manifesto on October 17, 1905, he returned to Russia. Wrote a penitential letter to Witte. In response, the prime minister promised to give permission for the restoration of Gapon's "Assembly ...". But after the arrest of the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies and the suppression of the Moscow uprising in December 1905, the promises were forgotten, and articles appeared in some newspapers accusing Gapon of having connections with the police and receiving money from a Japanese agent. Perhaps these publications were inspired by the government in order to discredit Gapon, mainly in the eyes of the workers.

In January 1906, the activities of the "Assembly ..." were banned. And then Gapon takes a very risky step - he proposes to the head of the political department of the Police Department P.I. Minister of Internal Affairs P. N. Durnovo agreed to this operation and allowed to pay 25 thousand rubles for it. Perhaps Gapon, as was his custom before, was playing a double game.

However, this time he paid dearly for it: Rutenberg announced Gapon's proposal to the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, after which it was decided to kill Gapon. Taking into account Gapon's still remaining popularity among the working class, the Central Committee demanded that Rutenberg organize the double murder of Gapon and Rachkovsky, so that evidence of the former priest's betrayal would be available. But Rachkovsky, having suspected something, did not appear at the meeting with Gapon and Rutenberg at the restaurant. And then Rutenberg lured Gapon to a dacha in Ozerki near St. Petersburg, where he previously hid the "Gaponov" workers. During a frank conversation about the extradition of the Combat Organization, angry workers burst into the room, who immediately hanged their recent idol. Such is the event outline of Gapon's murder, according to Rutenberg's notes.

Maxim Gorky, shocked no less than others by what happened, later wrote an essay "January 9", in which he spoke about the events of this terrible day: "It seemed that most of all in the chest of people poured cold, soul-dead astonishment. After all, a few insignificant minutes before that, they walked, clearly seeing the goal of the path in front of them, majestically stood before them a fabulous image ... Two volleys, blood, corpses, groans and - everyone stood before the gray emptiness, powerless, with torn hearts.

The tragic events of January 9 in St. Petersburg are also reflected in the notorious novel of the future classic of Soviet literature, The Life of Klim Samgin. They became the day of the beginning of the first Russian revolution, which swept the whole of Russia.

Another culprit of the bloody events, the Grand Duke and uncle of the Tsar Vladimir Alexandrovich, was soon forced to resign from the post of Commander of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District (dismissed on October 26, 1905). However, his resignation was by no means connected with the unjustified use of military force against a peaceful demonstration of St. Petersburg workers. On October 8, 1905, the eldest son of the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich married the divorced Grand Duchess of Hesse, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. There was no Imperial permission for marriage, although there was the blessing of the Dowager Empress Maria Pavlovna. The bride of Cyril was the former wife of the brother of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Despite this, marriage with a "divorced woman" was considered indecent for a member of the imperial family. He deprived Grand Duke Kirill of all rights to the Russian throne and, to a certain extent, discredited his close relatives.

Vladimir Alexandrovich was a well-known philanthropist, patronized many artists, and collected a valuable collection of paintings. Since 1869, the comrade (deputy) of the president (Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna), since 1876 - the president of the Imperial Academy of Arts, was a trustee of the Rumyantsev Museum. On February 4, 1909, his death was officially announced by the Supreme Manifesto of the same day; On February 7, the transfer of his body from his palace to the Peter and Paul Cathedral took place, on February 8 - the funeral and burial in the same place, which was headed by Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg and Ladoga; the emperor, the widow of the late Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (arrived with Nicholas II), other members of the imperial family, Chairman of the Council of Ministers P. A. Stolypin and other ministers, as well as the Tsar of Bulgaria Ferdinand were present.

Thus, the instigator of the demonstrations that resulted in riots on the streets of St. Petersburg in January 1905 was double agent Georgy Gapon, and the bloody denouement was initiated by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. As a result, Emperor Nicholas II received only the title of "bloody", although he was least of all involved in the events described.

January 9 (according to the new style January 22), 1905 - an important historical event in recent history Russia. On this day, with the tacit consent of Emperor Nicholas II, a 150,000-strong procession of workers was shot in St. Petersburg, who were going to hand over to the tsar a petition signed by tens of thousands of Petersburgers with a request for reforms.

The reason for organizing the procession to the Winter Palace was the dismissal of four workers of the largest Putilov plant in St. Petersburg (now the Kirov plant). On January 3, a strike of 13,000 factory workers began demanding the return of those laid off, the introduction of an 8-hour working day, and the abolition of overtime work.

The strikers created an elective commission from the workers to jointly with the administration analyze the claims of the workers. Demands were developed: to introduce an 8-hour working day, to abolish mandatory overtime work, to establish a minimum wage, not to punish strikers, etc. On January 5, the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic workers from other factories to join it.

The Putilovites were supported by the Obukhovsky, Nevsky shipbuilding, cartridge and other factories, by January 7 the strike became general (according to incomplete official data, over 106 thousand people took part in it).

Nicholas II handed over power in the capital to the military command, which decided to crush the labor movement before it turned into a revolution. The main role in suppressing the riots was assigned to the Guard, it was reinforced by other military units of the Petersburg District. 20 infantry battalions and over 20 cavalry squadrons were concentrated at predetermined points.

On the evening of January 8, a group of writers and scientists, with the participation of Maxim Gorky, turned to the ministers with a demand to prevent the execution of workers, but they did not want to listen to her.

On January 9, a peaceful procession to the Winter Palace was scheduled. The procession was prepared by the legal organization "Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg" headed by priest Georgy Gapon. Gapon spoke at meetings, calling for a peaceful procession to the tsar, who alone could intercede for the workers. Gapon assured that the tsar should go out to the workers and accept an appeal from them.

On the eve of the procession, the Bolsheviks issued a proclamation "To all St. Petersburg workers", in which they explained the futility and danger of the procession conceived by Gapon.

On January 9, about 150,000 workers took to the streets of St. Petersburg. The columns headed by Gapon headed for the Winter Palace.

The workers came with their families, carried portraits of the tsar, icons, crosses, sang prayers. Throughout the city, the procession met armed soldiers, but no one wanted to believe that they could shoot. Emperor Nicholas II was in Tsarskoye Selo that day. When one of the columns approached the Winter Palace, shots suddenly rang out. The units stationed at the Winter Palace fired three volleys at the procession participants (in the Alexander Garden, at the Palace Bridge and at the General Staff building). The cavalry and mounted gendarmes chopped down the workers with swords and finished off the wounded.

According to official figures, 96 people were killed and 330 wounded, according to unofficial data - more than a thousand killed and two thousand wounded.

According to journalists from St. Petersburg newspapers, the number of killed and wounded was about 4.9 thousand people.

The murdered police secretly buried at night at the Preobrazhensky, Mitrofanevsky, Uspensky and Smolensky cemeteries.

The Bolsheviks of Vasilyevsky Island distributed a leaflet in which they called on the workers to seize weapons and start an armed struggle against the autocracy. The workers seized weapons stores and warehouses, disarmed the police. The first barricades were erected on Vasilyevsky Island.

Somehow it was quickly forgotten that the impetus that became the main cause of the first Russian revolution of 1905 was the execution on January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg by the imperial troops of a peaceful demonstration of workers, led by, later called Bloody Sunday. In this action, on the orders of the "democratic" authorities, 96 unarmed demonstrators were shot and 333 were wounded, of which 34 more people later died. The figures are taken from the report of the Director of the Police Department A. A. Lopukhin to the Minister of Internal Affairs A. G. Bulygin about the events of that day.

When the execution of a peaceful demonstration of workers took place, he was in exile, the Social Democrats did not in any way influence either the course or the result of what happened. Subsequently, communist history declared Georgy Gapon a provocateur and a villain, although the memoirs of contemporaries and the documents of the priest Gapon himself indicate that there was no treacherous or provocative intent in his actions. It can be seen that life in Russia was not so sweet and rich, even if priests began to lead revolutionary circles and movements.

In addition, Father George himself, driven at first by good feelings, later became proud and imagined himself to be a kind of messiah, dreamed of becoming a peasant king.

The conflict, as often happens, began with a banality. In December 1904, 4 workers were fired from the Putilov factory - members of the Gaponov "Assembly of Russian Factory Workers". At the same time, the master told the fired: "Go to your" Assembly ", it will support you and feed you." The workers followed the insulting "advice" of the master and turned to Gapon. An investigation carried out on behalf of Father George showed that three of the four were dismissed unfairly and illegally, and the master himself was biased towards members of the Gapon organization.

Gapon quite rightly saw in the master's act a challenge thrown to the Assembly by the administration of the plant. And if the organization does not protect its members, it thereby loses its credibility among the members of the assembly and other workers.

On January 3, a strike at the Putilov factory began, which gradually spread to other enterprises in St. Petersburg. The following took part in the strike:

• From the pipe factory of the Military Department on Vasilyevsky Island - 6 thousand workers;
• From the Nevsky Mechanical and Shipbuilding Plants - also 6 thousand workers;
• From the Franco-Russian factory, the Neva thread, and the Neva paper-spinning manufactory - 2 thousand workers left their jobs;

In total, more than 120 enterprises with a total number of about 88,000 people took part in the strike. Mass strikes, for their part, also served as the reason for such a disloyal attitude towards the procession of workers.

On January 5, Gapon made a proposal to turn to the king for help. In the following days, he drafted the text of the appeal, which included economic and several political demands, the main of which was the involvement of people's representatives in the constituent assembly. On Sunday, January 9, a religious procession to the king was scheduled.

The Bolsheviks tried to take advantage of the situation and draw the workers into the revolutionary movement. Students and agitators came to the departments of the Gapon Assembly, scattered leaflets, tried to make speeches, but the working masses followed Gapon and did not want to listen to the Social Democrats. According to one of the Bolsheviks, D.D. Himmer Gapon checkmate the Social Democrats.

For many years, communist history was silent about one event, incidental, but which influenced the subsequent outcome of Sunday. Perhaps they considered it insignificant, or, most likely, the silence of this fact¸ made it possible to expose the tsarist government as bloodthirsty monsters. On January 6, the Epiphany blessing of water took place on the Neva. Nicholas 2 himself took part in the event. One of the artillery pieces fired towards the royal tent. This weapon, intended for training shooting ranges, turned out to be a loaded live projectile that exploded almost next to the tent. It did some other damage. 4 glasses were broken in the palace and a policeman was wounded, by coincidence - the namesake of the emperor.

Then, during the investigation, it turned out that this shot was accidental, fired due to someone's negligence and oversight. However, he seriously scared the king, and he hastily left for Tsarskoye Selo. Everyone was convinced that a terrorist attack had been attempted.

Father Georgy assumed the possibility of clashes between the demonstrators and the police, and, wanting to avoid them, wrote 2 letters: to the Tsar and the Minister of the Interior P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky.

In a letter to His Imperial Majesty, Father George wrote:

The priest urged Nicholas 2 to go out to the people "with a courageous heart", informed that the workers would guarantee his safety "at the cost of their own lives."

In his book, Gapon recalled how difficult it was for him to convince the leaders of the workers to give the emperor this guarantee: the workers believed that if something happened to the king, they would be obliged to give up their lives. The letter was delivered to the Winter Palace, but it is not known whether it was handed over to the tsar. In a letter to Svyatopolk-Mirsky, written in approximately the same words, the priest asked the minister to immediately inform the tsar about the upcoming event and to acquaint him with the petition of the workers. It is known that the minister received the letter and on the evening of January 8 took it along with the petition to Tsarskoye Selo. However, no response was received from the king and his minister.

Addressing the workers, Gapon said: “Let's go, brothers, let's make sure that the Russian tsar really loves his people, as they say. If he gives all the freedoms, then he loves, and if not, then this is a lie, and then we can do with him as our conscience tells us ... "

On the morning of January 9, workers in holiday clothes gathered on the outskirts to move in columns to the palace square. People were in a peaceful mood, they came out with icons, portraits of the king and banners. There were women in the columns. The procession was attended by 140 thousand people.

Not only the workers were preparing for the procession, but also the tsarist government. Troops and police units were drawn to Petersburg. The city was divided into 8 parts. 40,000 military and police officers were involved in the suppression of popular unrest. Bloody Sunday has begun.

Results of the day

On this difficult day, gun salvos thundered on the Shlisselburg tract, at the Narva Gates, on the 4th line and Maly Prospekt of Vasilyevsky Island, next to the Troitsky Bridge and in other parts of the city. According to military reports and police reports, shooting was used where the workers refused to disperse. The military first fired a warning volley into the air, and when the crowd approached closer than a predetermined distance, they opened fire to kill. On this day, 2 policemen died, not a single one from the military. Gapon was taken from the square by the Socialist-Revolutionary Ruttenberg (the one who would later be held responsible for Gapon's death) to the apartment of Maxim Gorky.

The number of killed and wounded in different reports and documents varies.

Not all relatives found the bodies of their relatives in hospitals, which gave rise to rumors that the police underestimate the information about the dead, who were buried secretly in mass graves.

It can be assumed that if Nicholas II had ended up in the palace and went out to the people, or sent (at worst) a confidant, if he had listened to the delegates from the people, then there could have been no revolution at all. But the tsar and his ministers preferred to keep their distance from the people, setting up heavily armed gendarmes and soldiers against them. Thus, Nicholas 2 turned the people against him and provided carte blanche for the Bolsheviks. The events of Bloody Sunday are considered to be the beginning of the revolution.

Here is an entry from the emperor's diary:

Gapon grievously survived the execution of the workers. According to the recollections of one of the eyewitnesses, he sat for a long time, looking at one point, nervously clenching his fist and repeating "I swear ... I swear ...". A little moving away from the shock, he took the paper and wrote a message to the workers.

It is somehow hard to believe that if the priest were in the same basement with Nicholas 2, and if he had a weapon in his hands, he would begin to read sermons on Christian love and forgiveness, after everything that happened on that fateful day. He would take this weapon in his hands and shoot the king.

On this day, Gorky also addressed the people and the intelligentsia. The end result of this bloody Sunday was the beginning of the first Russian revolution.

The strike movement was gaining momentum, not only factories and plants, but also the army and navy went on strike. The Bolsheviks could not stand aside, and in November 1905 Lenin illegally returned to Russia on a false passport.

After what happened on Bloody Sunday on January 9, Svyatopolk-Mirsky was removed from his post and Bulygin was appointed to the post of Minister of the Interior. The post of governor-general of St. Petersburg appeared, to which the tsar appointed D.F. Trepov.

On February 29, Nicholas II created a commission, which was called upon to establish the reasons for the discontent of the St. Petersburg workers. Political demands were declared unacceptable. However, the activities of the commission turned out to be unproductive, since the workers put forward demands that were of a political nature:

• openness of committee meetings
• Release of those arrested;
• Freedom of the press;
• Restoration of 11 closed Gapon groups.

A wave of strikes swept across Russia, and affected the national outskirts.