Peeling skin can be caused by a variety of factors. To deal with ...
Who is Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov? Historians will say that this is a major politician, one of the chairmen of the pre-revolutionary State Duma, the leader of the Octobrists; someone will remember that it was he, together with Shulgin, who received from Emperor Nicholas II a manifesto on the abdication of the throne ... The figure is significant, but boring. A character from a history textbook. And only looking beyond textbooks and scientific monographs, you can find out that he was a completely unusual, temperamental, bright person, an adventurer in the style of Jules Verne's novels and one of the most desperate and reckless people of his time.
Based on my essay "Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov" from the series "Portraits of Political Leaders" prepared for the publication "The State Duma of the Russian Empire. 1906-1917. Portraits of Political Leaders" (Moscow: Pashkov Dom, 2006).
So, what information can you get in dictionaries and reference books? Guchkov Alexander Ivanovich (1862 - 1936), industrialist, leader and ideologist of the Octobrist Party ("Union of October 17th"), from 1910 to 1911 - Chairman of the III State Duma,
Minister of War and Navy of the Provisional Government. Since 1919 in exile.
But what is behind these lines?
The Guchkov family came from serfs. The great-grandfather of Alexander Ivanovich, Fyodor Alekseevich Guchkov, working at a weaving factory, managed to redeem himself and his family from serfdom back in the 18th century, went into business and soon already had his own factory near Moscow, in Semenovsky. His silk shawls, produced in the "Turkish and French manner", were sold in great demand in Moscow shops. The French in 1812 plundered and burned down Guchkov's factory, but he was able to quickly restore everything. He soon built another factory in Preobrazhensky and opened his stores in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. Sometimes he himself traded in them, but it happened that he worked at the factory machine in the old-fashioned way. True, Fyodor Alekseevich was a convinced Old Believer who had great authority in his midst, and he was well known in the city (he was the trustee of the Old Believer cemetery and orphanage), and this played a terrible role in his fate.
Fyodor Alekseevich Guchkov
The Old Believers under Nicholas I were persecuted, and during the next wave of persecution, he, without abandoning the old faith, was exiled to Petrozavodsk. Fyodor Guchkov was already in his advanced years and soon died in exile. His children and grandchildren were forced to go into one faith - a church in the form of the Old Believers, but subordinate to Orthodox hierarchs. The Guchkovs' business flourished, and the family moved to the front ranks of the Moscow merchants. Alexander Ivanovich's grandfather, Efim Fedorovich, became famous for building the largest textile factory in Moscow, but even more for charity work. Already at the age of 25, he became a trustee of cholera hospitals, visited patients in wards every day and generously spent his own money to improve their situation and buy additional medicines. At his factory, he opened a hospital for workers and an orphanage with a school for homeless and orphaned children. In 1857, he was elected mayor, helped numerous petitioners and invested in various charitable projects.
Efim Fyodorovich Guchkov
The father of Alexander Ivanovich was Ivan Efimovich Guchkov, the successor of the family business, the merchant of the first guild, hereditary honorary citizen of Moscow, co-owner of the trading company “Efima Guchkova sons”. He was one of the enlightened merchants with liberal views. The Russianized Frenchwoman Coralie Wakier became his wife. Alexander by seniority was the third son in their family ... All the children of the Guchkovs were different bright characters and great activity in public affairs. However, the most famous of the whole family was Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov, whose name appears in all works concerning historical events in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov
In 1896, the Guchkovs closed the factory, but continued their trading business, and by 1911, trading operations at the Guchkovs' firm - owners of large capitals - had ceased, and they could afford to live by other interests. However, Alexander Ivanovich held a high position on the board of the insurance company "Russia" - one of the largest financial institutions that time.
« Of all the representatives of this family, the most famous were undoubtedly Alexander and Nikolai Ivanovich, - wrote a connoisseur of the Moscow merchant environment, a contemporary of A.I. Guchkova Pavel Buryshkin. - With his participation in the Russo-Japanese War, and especially his trip to the Boers who fought against the British, he [Alexander Ivanovich], as it were, became a legend. Here I will note one thing: despite the fact that he came from a genuine Moscow merchant class, he was not considered completely his own person, but a "politician." He had genuine commercial and industrial qualifications, for example, he was the director of the board of the insurance company "Russia", but he did not represent the Moscow merchants…»
Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov really broke away from his native merchant environment. He received an excellent education, graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, then attended several courses of lectures on history and philosophy at the Berlin and Heidelberg universities.
However, despite serious training, Guchkov's scientific career did not take place - more than scientific pursuits, he was attracted by travel and social activities.
After graduating from university, he was drafted as a private in the First Life Guards Yekaterinoslavsky regiment. Having passed the exam, in October 1885 he became a junior non-commissioned officer, then he was discharged into the reserve, and a year later he was promoted to ensign in the reserve of the army infantry. The military career of the future State Duma expert on army affairs began rather late, and he never rose above the rank of ensign. But forever fell in love with everything connected with the army and military affairs.
Having retired, Guchkov was back in Moscow and became the voice of the City Duma, but ... soon the craving for adventure won out, and he set off on a dangerous journey through the lands of the Ottoman Empire, engulfed in the flames of the Turkish-Armenian conflict. Needless to say, on the way, he actively intervened in what was happening, protecting the Armenians.
During the famine of the early 1890s, in 1892-1893 he worked on the staff of the Nizhny Novgorod governor, was in charge of food and charitable affairs in the Lukoyanovsky district and proved himself as a smart organizer in the field of charity. In January 1894 Guchkov was awarded the Order of Anna of the third degree "for special labors" in the fight against the consequences of a crop failure (later, in 1896, "for work and diligence" he was awarded the Order of Stanislav of the second degree).
Both awards were considered very honorable and opened up brilliant prospects for the recipient in the field of civil service. But Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov was not attracted by such a career. The craving for adventure leads him to Far East...
In 1897, he was already a junior officer in the Cossack squadron, responsible for the protection of the CER, and was on patrol in the steppes of Manchuria.
Two years later, he was expelled from service for a duel (and according to another version - for an attempt to independently put things in order in the "housing issue" in the distribution of official housing for gentlemen officers; however, both of these facts do not exclude each other - the apartment scandal could well have followed duel), Alexander Guchkov volunteered for the Boer forces in South Africa and went to fight in the Transvaal.
Episode of the Boer War
All of Russia warmly sympathized with the Boers and sang songs about the vicissitudes of their liberation struggle, but only a few daredevils risked going to the other end of the world to take personal part in this struggle. In 1900, the wounded Guchkov was captured by the British in the combat zone. This wound caused lameness, which tormented Guchkov until the end of his days.
However, the captive, educated and fluent in languages, commands respect from opponents and seems to the English a real gentleman. The English officer, sensing a friendly disposition towards Alexander Guchkov, releases the prisoner of war on his word of honor. Guchkov, who promised to leave South Africa, keeps his word. But he has not yet fought. Soon the restless Russian volunteer finds himself already in China, where the so-called "boxing" uprising against the British, French and Japanese is in full swing, and is actively involved in it ...
But in Moscow the bride was waiting for him! Alas, the return to Moscow was short-lived - in 1903, literally on the eve of his own wedding, Alexander Guchkov left for Macedonia to help the Slavic brothers in the anti-Turkish uprising. The uprising broke out in the summer, on Ilyin's day (Ilin den in South Slavic languages), which is why it got the name Ilindensky. Not all Macedonians and Bulgarians took part in it, but Guchkov could not stand aside.
A group of Macedonian rebels, 1903
The aggravation of the situation in the Balkans forced Guchkov to immediately abandon all business in Moscow and go there in August 1903. No persuasion of loved ones, including the bride, changed his intentions. Guchkov had a characteristic character trait that his friends called inflexibility of will, and ill-wishers called stubbornness. Having made a decision, he tried with all his might to fulfill it, often, as it seemed from the outside, contrary to the logic and sound arguments of others. But if something seemed important to Guchkov, no one could dissuade him.
The bride of Alexander Guchkov Maria Ziloti with her friend Vera Komissarzhevskaya
Subsequently, the wedding with his beloved woman did take place. Guchkov married Maria Ilyinichna Ziloti (sometimes the surname is written as Zilotti), a representative of one of the most famous musical and artistic families in Moscow, sister of the famous pianist and conductor A.I. Zeloti.
But the marriage did little to change the character of Alexander Guchkov - with the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, he, as the main commissioner of the Red Cross Society, was sent to the active army in the Far East. There was a lot of work - it was necessary to deploy field hospitals, organize hospitals, organize the work of medical trains ... In many ways, this work was carried out with donations from individuals and members of the imperial family. Guchkov also invested his own huge funds in helping the wounded.
The Red Cross ambulance train, equipped with funds from the Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna, sister of Nicholas II, goes to the front of the Russo-Japanese War (Ksenia Alexandrovna in the center, in a coat and hat)
In May 1904, his wife came to Guchkov and began working at the Red Cross Hospital in Harbin. But they rarely saw each other, Alexander Ivanovich constantly disappeared in positions from which it was necessary to take out the wounded, he had no time for quiet family joys. In the fall of 1904, Maria Guchkova, who was expecting a baby, returned to Moscow.
Having devoted himself entirely to the organization of assistance to the wounded, A.I. Guchkov constantly moved from place to place both in the rear and on the front line, resolved many current issues of the work of sanitary detachments, the placement of hospitals and field hospitals, providing them with the necessary equipment, medicines, and food.
A detachment of sisters of mercy, leaving for the front (in the center is John of Kronstadt, who came to bless and see off the girls)
In the spring of 1905, Guchkov was captured by the Japanese, as he considered it impossible for himself to retreat with army units near Mukden, leaving the wounded in the hospital. Contemporaries assessed his decision as nothing more than a "feat of self-sacrifice." It was with these words that they spoke about the actions of A.I. Guchkov at a meeting of the Moscow City Duma on March 8, 1905. Even Witte, who disliked Guchkov, said of him: "a lover of strong sensations and a brave man."
In general, his heroic behavior made a strong impression not only on his compatriots, but also on the Japanese command. After being interned for one month, he was allowed to return to his own.
However, noble adventures in the style of the novels of Jules Verne did not prevent Alexander Guchkov from establishing himself as a major politician and as business person... In 1902-1908, with a break for military campaigns, uprisings and being in captivity, he served as director of the Moscow Accounting Bank, was awarded the title of full state councilor, was repeatedly elected as a justice of the peace and a member of zemstvo organizations.
Returning from Japan in the midst of the revolutionary events of 1905, Guchkov turned out to be one of the most popular people in Moscow society and immediately took a leading position.
« His appearance in the meeting room of the City Duma on Voskresenskaya Square on May 17 was triumphant. As the Duma magazine testifies, “the vowels got up from their seats and with prolonged applause expressed their warm greetings to A.I. Guchkov ". According to a contemporary, “his participation in the Russo-Japanese War and especially his trip to the Boers who fought against the British made him a legend.", - wrote Alexander Bokhanov.
1905 year. Barricades on Sadovo-Kudrinskaya Street
In May 1905 A.I. Guchkov took part in the work of the Zemstvo Congress held in Moscow. The contemporaries considered the controversy of the speeches extremely acute and even oppositional in relation to the ruling regime... Nevertheless, it was a very moderate opposition that did not crave global changes in the state structure of Russia.
The congress made a decision to send a deputation to the emperor in order to put before the sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich the question of the need to convene the people's representatives and "establish an updated social order". The participants in the congress believed that the emperor could be persuaded to go for some democratization of social relations, and this should be resolved peacefully. Guchkov was delegated to negotiate with the tsar.
Zemsky Congress of 1905. Guchkov in the second row, fourth from the left, twirling his mustache thoughtfully
« Even Guchkov's bitter, implacable enemy, Witte, admitted that "the zemstvo congresses had nominated Guchkov."
V.A. Maklakov, in his memoirs, published in Sovremennye Zapiski, recently quoted the words of a "left European", Professor M.M. Kovalevsky, said in the fall of 1905: “I saw only one statesman at the congress: this is Guchkov", - recalled I.I. Tkhorzhevsky, chamberlain of the court and public figure.
A.I. Guchkov among the liberal leaders took a place on the right flank, and on the issue of Poland's autonomy, which was hotly discussed in those days (it was a very painful question for both state power and for society as a whole), entered into a rather sharp polemic with his old acquaintance and university classmate P.N. Milyukov.
Guchkov was a supporter of the concept of "a single and indivisible empire", believing that any administrative and political isolation will inevitably lead to the collapse of the state. Miliukov later recalled:
«… A.I.Guchkov spoke out sharply against Polish autonomy. I answered him no less harshly and fervently. This controversy created a sensation in Moscow; it later served as the first line of the dividing line between the Cadets and the Octobrists. Guchkov referred to the "organic nature" of his "soil" convictions, to which he contrasted my "bookishness».
After the Zemstvo Congress in May 1905, Nicholas II invited A.I. Guchkov to her place for a conversation. Alexander Ivanovich's conversation with the tsar lasted for several hours. The very fact of such an audience testified that the position of A.I. Guchkov, which he announced publicly. Guchkov, returning from the battlefields, could tell a lot about the situation at the front and about the mood in society. He called on the sovereign to agree to the convocation of the people's representatives.
In November 1905, at a meeting with N.I. Guchkov, the elected Moscow mayor, the tsar remarked: "Your brother was with us, and although he told us about the constitution, we liked him very much."
The manifesto of October 17, 1905, promising imminent changes in the social life of Russia, A.I. Guchkov took it with enthusiasm, like many liberals, intoxicated with a sense of unprecedented freedom.
The October Declaration of 1905 became for A.I. Guchkov's political landmark, which determined his activities for many years. “I belong to that political party, - he declared in the fall of 1907, - for which it is clear that the Manifesto of October 17 contains a voluntary act of the monarch's renunciation of the rights of unlimited ... We, constitutionalists, do not see in the establishment of our constitutional monarchy any belittling of the tsarist power; on the contrary, in the updated state forms we see the introduction of this power to a new splendor, the revelation of a glorious future for it. "
Demonstration on October 17, 1905. Ilya Repin's painting testifies to the enthusiasm with which the public received the manifesto of October 17
A.I. Guchkova in the front ranks Russian politicians... The Octobrist Party, of which he became the leader, played a very significant role in the historical changes taking place in the country.
And his wife had grievances against Guchkov - in 1905 they had a son, and the father, disappearing at political congresses and party meetings, devoted less time to the family than he would like.
The assessments of Guchkov's personality left by his contemporaries, the perception of his talents and business qualities sometimes diverge in diametrically opposite directions.
Many considered him an outstanding orator, a man capable of subjugating wide public circles, and were even a little afraid of his influence.
« The speaker, as well as the politician, A.I. Guchkov was born. And he loved the very craft of politics. Loved me too much! Passion for "craft" sometimes darkened even his clear head", - wrote Tkhorzhevsky. But some of those who knew Guchkov closely perceived him as a sophisticated master of behind-the-scenes intrigue, capable of incorrect actions to achieve their goals.
« Guchkov was undoubtedly an outstanding person; an extremely keen observer, intelligent and engaging conversationalist, he was created for political intrigue, and in an atmosphere of conspiracy, secret intelligence and secret negotiations, he felt himself in his element. He should have served in a secret police like the English Itelliense Service, and I'm sure he would have had no equal as a spy-spy. I do not deny his patriotism under the indispensable condition that in this "Patria" he himself played a leading role, for the most characteristic feature of his character, which prevailed over all others, was his all-consuming, insatiable ambition. He was never satisfied with what he was doing at the moment, he needed to be the center of everything. When he was specially authorized for one of the armies, he intervened in the affairs of the other. He had connections everywhere, in every military and industrial department, he was aware of everything that was happening. He told so many interesting things that it was no wonder that everywhere, at the front and in the rear, he was a welcome guest; they listened to him, one might say, hanging ears, but, unfortunately, one thing was not taken into account: the partiality of his judgments and overexposure of the truth» ,
- affirmed Princess Lydia Leonidovna Vasilchikova.
And yet, not all contemporaries highly appreciated Guchkov as a party leader, as an orator and as a public figure. Even the ability for subtle intrigue was not recognized by everyone. Political opponents on the left flank of the struggle spoke especially harshly about him.
L. D. Trotsky, who was a very popular publicist in the left milieu, noted in his article "Guchkov and Guchkovshchina":
« From the breed of small "great people", Guchkov fell into a case of history, because it had nothing to plug the hole of the most barren and most mediocre epoch. Guchkov did not utter a single significant political speech in his lifetime, did not write a single article and, of course, did not commit a single action that could be recorded in the book of social development. As a historical gag, he appropriated external significance to himself with reservations to other people's actions, speeches and articles. Guchkov always walks around the bush, is profoundly silent, and if he speaks, then in roundabouts, dodges, where possible, from voting or retreats in difficult times to the Far East».
And he: “ Guchkov is Guchkov. This name sounds like an echo of an entire era and like a political verdict.».
Leon Trotsky
In the revolutionary year 1905 and in 1906, during the Duma elections, the moderate ideas of the Octobrists headed by Guchkov were not yet very popular. A society drunk with freedom was more radical. This probably explains the fact that A.I. Guchkov, with strong support from the “right,” was unable to get into either the First or the Second Duma, which was elected a few months later.
A longtime acquaintance, a representative of the famous merchant family I.I. Shchukin wrote to him on February 20, 1906 from Paris: “Your will, and the most cunning and well-meaning attempts to restore the Tatar-Byzantine chambers in the European Art Nouveau style seem to me an unrealizable illusion ... The Russian liberalism, suppressed from childhood, driven down and downtrodden, fearfully looks around, timidly, as if stealthily, now ascends into the political arena. So in the old days, quivering petitioners probably entered the reception room of the formidable authorities. It is not without reason that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish a party program from a meek petition ".
In 1907, Guchkov was elected to the upper house of the Russian parliament - the State Council, and then went to the elections to the Third State Duma. Duma activities seemed to him more important and interesting, and Guchkov resigned as a member of the State Council.
The Octobrist faction in the Third Duma was quite influential, and A.I. Guchkov, as the chairman of the party, rightfully took a leading position in it.
To be continued.
GUCHKOV ALEXANDER IVANOVICH
(born in 1862 - died in 1936)
Leader of the Octobrist Party in Russia, one of the organizers of the February Revolution of 1917, Minister of the Provisional Government.
Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov was born in a Moscow Old Believer (non-popov trend) merchant family. His great-grandfather was a serf peasant, who later redeemed himself free, built a weaving factory and became an honorary citizen, merchant and manufacturer. The father of the future revolutionary, Ivan Efimovich, was a vowel of the Moscow Duma, a merchant of the first guild, an honorary citizen, one of the richest bankers in the empire. Ivan Efimovich was married to a Frenchwoman Caroline Vakye, from whom Alexander Guchkov inherited his “southern temperament”. He wrote about himself as a "seeker of adventure", and his contemporaries called him now "an eccentric fanfare", now a "pirate", now a "man of action."
Alexander Guchkov graduated from the Second Moscow Gymnasium and the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, attended lectures at the Berlin, Vienna, Heidelberg universities. In 1885 he joined the Life Guards and rose to the rank of ensign.
Since 1886, Guchkov was repeatedly elected in Moscow as an honorary magistrate. In 1893 he became a member of the Moscow City Council, and in 1896-1897 he served as deputy mayor of Moscow. Soon, Alexander Ivanovich becomes a member of the city duma. It seemed that he was destined for a brilliant career as a government official or a Moscow head. But at the age of 34, he abruptly changed his fate - leaving the Moscow "elite", he returned to military service. In 1897-1899, Guchkov served as an officer of the Cossack Hundreds in the security guard of the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria. He was expelled from the army for challenging one of the CER engineers to a duel. In general, Alexander Ivanovich, having an explosive and eccentric character, in his youth was considered not only a "secular lion", but also a duelist, he had six duels and several failed due to the refusal of opponents to shoot. Later, Guchkov had frequent conflicts even with the deputies of the Duma - he challenged the leader of the Cadets, Milyukov, to a duel, and fought with Count Uvarov.
After leaving the army, in 1899, Alexander Guchkov, together with his brother Fyodor, volunteered for the Anglo-Boer War in distant South Africa. He fought against the British on the side of the Boers, was wounded in the leg (after which he limped all his life), languished in captivity by the British for some time.
In 1900, Guchkov went to China, where he witnessed the "boxing uprising" of the Chinese against the British and French. And in 1903, Alexander Ivanovich managed to fight in Macedonia "for the freedom of the southern Slavs from the Turkish yoke." Witte described Guchkov as follows: "A lover of strong sensations and a brave man." Having married the daughter of the leader of the Starobelsk nobility, Maria Zilotti, Guchkov seemed to settle down. Soon the family had two children.
At the beginning of 1904, the Russo-Japanese War broke out, and Guchkov rushed to the front as an assistant to the head of the Red Cross Society. During the Mukden battle, he is among the soldiers, and after the Russians fled from Mukden, he remains with the wounded in the abandoned Mukden, voluntarily surrendering to the Japanese troops.
Guchkov returned from captivity to revolutionary Moscow in May 1905. The City Duma was then almost the center of the revolution, and Alexander Ivanovich himself became the recognized leader of the Russian liberal constitutionalists. He greeted with delight the tsarist manifesto on October 17, 1905, in which he saw the main achievement of the revolution - "the monarch's voluntary renunciation of the rights of the unlimited monarchy." In October 1905, Guchkov became one of the largest political figures in Russia - the head of the Octobrist party "Union of October 17". In May 1907, he was elected to the State Council, but in October 1905 he gave up this honor, but in September 1915 he was re-elected. Alexander Guchkov was elected to the State Duma of the 3rd convocation, and from March 1910 to March 1911 he was the chairman of the Third Duma.
In 1912, Guchkov received the title of actual state councilor. He resigned from the post of chairman of the State Duma in protest against the Duma's adoption of the Stolypin law on zemstvo in the western provinces. At the same time, Guchkov had personal friendly relations with Prime Minister Stolypin. Back in 1907, Stolypin offered him the post of Minister of Trade and Industry in his cabinet.
In the Third Duma, Alexander Guchkov headed the commission for state defense and the faction of the Octobrist party, which fought for a constitutional monarchy while preserving the "united and indivisible Russian Empire." Already in 1908, Guchkov sharply criticized the monarchy, the tsar and the "court camarilla", and somewhat later became one of the main accusers of the tsar's favorite Grigory Rasputin, arousing the hatred of the crowned spouses. The Emperor's wife Alexandra Feodorovna wrote to Nicholas II: "Oh, if only Guchkov could be hanged!" "Guchkov is working against our dynasty." At the same time, Guchkov was engaged in business, was the director of a large bank, and in 1917 his property and bank papers were estimated at a million gold rubles.
With the outbreak of the First World War, in the fateful August 1914, Guchkov became a commissioner of the Red Cross at the front, organized hospitals and a medical service, and in July 1915 he headed the Central Military-Industrial Committee. In the fall of 1916, Guchkov, together with the influential masons Tereshchenko and Nekrasov, was preparing a palace coup, as a result of which a constitutional monarchy was to be established in Russia and a "government responsible to the people" was created under the regency of Mikhail Romanov.
Guchkov was one of the main organizers of the February Revolution of 1917; during the days of the uprising in Petrograd, he collaborated with the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. It was Alexander Guchkov who received on the evening of March 2, 1917 from Nicholas II a manifesto on renouncing Russian throne... From March 2 to April 30, 1917, Guchkov was the military and naval minister of the revolutionary Provisional Government of Russia. In his orders, he replaced the concept of "lower rank" with "soldier", abolished the title in the armed forces; demanded when addressing the soldiers and sailors to say "you", the military was allowed to participate in organizations "formed for a political purpose", but condemned Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet, because it sowed anarchy in army units.
Guchkov advocated the abolition of national, religious, class and political restrictions on the production of officers, allowed the workers of military factories to elect factory committees. During his short term of office as minister in companies, regiments and armies, elective, soldier's in composition, committees were introduced. Guchkov replaced part of the army's high command personnel, ridding it of the reactionary generals and officers.
At the same time, he was a supporter of the continuation of the war with Germany "to a victorious end", for the struggle against the influence of the Soviets in the army. Guchkov was the first to try to create "reliable military units" to curb anarchy and establish order and nominated General Kornilov to the commander-in-chief - dictators. Guchkov also thought about a military conspiracy to establish a "revolutionary dictatorship" in Russia. Sometimes Alexander Ivanovich blurted out: "... we must again drive the crowd into place."
Already on April 20, 1917, Guchkov declared that the "fatherland is in danger" not because of the German threat, but because of the "pacifist ideas" of the Russian socialists. Guchkov believed that the reason for the economic chaos and powerlessness of the authorities was the pernicious influence of "Russian revolutionary democracy." At the end of April 1917, he announced his resignation from the post of minister due to general inaction and accusations against him by the "left" forces. In May 1917, Guchkov headed the Society for the Economic Revival of Russia, which helped "moderate" candidates in the elections to the Constituent Assembly and supported Kornilov in preparing a military coup.
In the summer of 1917, Alexander Guchkov became one of the founders of the Liberal Republican Party. After the defeat of the Kornilov rebellion on August 31, 1917, as the main ideologist of the rebellion, he was arrested, but on September 1, 1917, by order of Prime Minister Kerensky, he was released. Guchkov was hostile to the October Revolution, went underground and hid under a false name. Until the summer of 1918, Guchkov lived in Soviet Russia, and later made his way to the location of the White Guard troops. Alexander Ivanovich can be safely called the organizer of the "white case" - he was one of the first to give a significant amount of money for the formation of the Volunteer Army. But he could no longer play a noticeable role in the white movement because of his former revolutionary affiliation. In the spring of 1919, at the request of Denikin, Guchkov left for Europe to negotiate with the leaders of the Entente countries about support white movement.
After the failure of the "white case" Alexander Ivanovich and his family settled in Paris. In exile, Guchkov organizes the work of the foreign Russian Red Cross, tries to organize aid to the starving in the USSR, and visits Masonic lodges. Russian émigré monarchists accuse him of "organizing the revolution and the destruction of the empire" and persecuting him. Once they even beat up old Guchkov.
In early February 1936, Alexander Ivanovich dies of intestinal cancer, and his ashes find rest in the Parisian cemetery Père Lachaise, where the Parisian Communards and the anarchist Makhno are buried.
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From the book Soldier's Valor the author Vaganov Ivan MaksimovichTEPLENICHEV Alexander Ivanovich (02/03/1937). Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 07/13/1990 to 08/23/1991 Member of the CPSU Central Committee since 1990 Member of the CPSU since 1964 Born in the village of the 2nd Bolshoy Dvor of the Cherepovets district Vologda region in the family of a collective farmer. Russian. In 1956 he graduated from the Mozdok elevator
From book silver Age... Portrait gallery of cultural heroes of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Volume 1. AI the author Fokin Pavel EvgenievichBashkin Alexander Ivanovich Born in 1922 in the family of a peasant from the village of Pryakhino, Venevsky District, Tula Region. After graduating from eight classes high school, worked in the Mordvesky branch of the State Bank. In the early days of the Great Patriotic War went to the front. In battles with
From the book The Silver Age. Portrait gallery of cultural heroes of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Volume 2. K-R the author Fokin Pavel EvgenievichGrigoriev Alexander Ivanovich Born in 1923 in the village of Bogoslovka, Kamensky District, Tula Region. After graduating from the Arkhangelsk seven-year school in 1937, he worked on a collective farm. In 1941 he was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet Army. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded on July 22, 1944
From the book The Silver Age. A portrait gallery of cultural heroes at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. Volume 3.S-Z the author Fokin Pavel EvgenievichKUTEPOV ALEXANDER IVANOVICH From 1942 until the end of the war, A. I. Kutepov served in intelligence. His feats of arms began in Belarus, he went for "languages" in Ukraine and Moldova, Hungary and Romania. Exterminated invaders in their own lair, disarmed divisions
From the book Shchepkin the author Ivashnev Vitaly IvanovichMININ ALEXANDER IVANOVICH It was at the Kursk-Oryol Bulge. A platoon of submachine gunners, which was assigned to the calculation of Sergeant Minin, was ordered to move to the outskirts of Ponyri station, seize the hill, gain a foothold on it and help the battalion advance with its fire.
From the author's bookALEXANDER IVANOVICH SPITSYN The division, in which Alexander Spitsyn fought, liberated over 40 cities, thousands of villages and workers' settlements. More than twenty rivers were crossed by Spitsyn, 18 "languages" he handed over to the battalion headquarters. 12 destroyed machine guns, three pillboxes, ten fortified dugouts on
From the author's book From the author's book From the author's bookKOSOROTOV Alexander Ivanovich pseudo. Third Party; 24.2 (7.3) .1868 - 13 (26) .4.1912 Playwright, prose writer, publicist. Employee of the magazines "New Time", "Theater and Art". Plays "Princess Zorenka (Mirror)" (1903), "Spring Stream" (1905), "God's Flower Garden" (1905), "Corinthian Miracle" (1906), "Dream of Love" (1912)
From the author's bookKUPRIN Alexander Ivanovich 26.8 (7.9). 1870 - 25.8.1938 Prozaik. Publications in magazines " Russian wealth"," Peace of God "," Modern world"And others, newspapers" Kievlyanin "," Country "," Life and Art "," Kiev Word "and others, in collections and almanacs" Knowledge "," Earth "," Zarnitsy "," Harvest ".
From the author's book From the author's book From the author's bookAlexander Ivanovich Herzen Not only Turgenev, being in disgrace, was warmed by Shchepkin's friendly participation. The artist made similar voyages to Herzen and Shevchenko, but in biographical literature these facts are either passed over in silence, or are mentioned in passing, or even
(1862-1936), political and statesman... One of the founders and leader of the Octobrist Party. Deputy and since 1910 Chairman of the 3rd. In 1915-1917. Chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee. In 1917, Minister of War and Marine. One of the organizers of the speech of General L.G. Kornilov. Since 1919 in exile.
Major Russian capitalist, founder and leader of the Octobrist party. Born into a family of Moscow merchants. On November 10, 1905, together with other leaders of the minority of the Zemstvo-City Congresses (Count P. A. Heyden and D. N. Shipov), he published a proclamation to organize the Union of October 17 (the Octobrist Party). G. welcomed the defeat of the December armed uprisings of 1905 and approved the introduction of military courts. In December 1906 he founded the newspaper Golos Moskvy. In May 1907 he was elected a representative from trade and industry to the State Council, in November 1907 - in the 3rd, from March 1910 to March 1911 - its chairman During the 1st World War (in 1915 - 1917) Chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee and a member of the Special Defense Conference, participated in the "Progressive Bloc". After the February Revolution of 1917, the first composition was the Minister of War and the Naval Minister. In August 1917, he was one of the organizers of the Kornilov movement. After the victory October revolution 1917 fought against Soviet power. In 1918 he emigrated to Berlin.
Literature:
- Lenin V.I., Poln. collection cit., 5th ed. (see Reference volume, part 2, p. 431);
- The fall of the tsarist regime, vol. 6, M. - .T. , 1926.
(1862, Moscow - 1936, Paris), entrepreneur, public and political figure. Full state councilor (1912), hereditary honorary citizen. Brother N.I. Guchkov and F.I. Guchkov. Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University (1886), continued his education at the Berlin and Heidelberg Universities (Germany). In 1888 he was elected an honorary magistrate in Moscow. In 1892-1893. in the state of the Nizhny Novgorod governor. Then in the Moscow city administration, in 1893-1897. member of the City Council. In 1897-1907. vowel of the City Duma. In 1895, together with his brother Fyodor, he made an unofficial trip through the territory of the Ottoman Empire, in 1896 - a crossing through Tibet. In 1897-1899. served as a junior officer in the protection of the CER in Manchuria. In 1900, together with Fedor, he volunteered on the side of the Boers in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. In 1903 he traveled to Macedonia during the anti-Turkish Ilinden Uprising. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. as a representative of the Moscow City Duma and Russian society Of the Red Cross and the Committee of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was in the theater of operations. He was engaged in entrepreneurship. In 1902-1908. director of the Moscow accounting bank, then a member of the boards of the Petrograd accounting and loan bank of the insurance company "Russia", Partnership A.S. Suvorin - "New time". In 1905 he took part in zemstvo-city congresses, in the creation of the "Union of October 17" (from 1906 he headed it). He was a supporter of a constitutional monarchy with a strong central executive branch. He defended the principle of "one and indivisible empire", but recognized the right of individual peoples to cultural autonomy. In December 1906 he founded the newspaper Golos Moskvy. In the early years he supported the Stolypin reforms. He considered the introduction of military courts in 1906 as a form of self-defense of state power and the protection of civilians in the course of national, social and other conflicts. In May 1907 he was elected a member of the State Council from industry and trade, in October he renounced this title, was elected deputy of the 3rd, led the Octobrist faction. He was the chairman of the Duma Defense Commission, in March 1910 - April 1911 chairman. He resigned in protest against the law on zemstvo in the western provinces bypassing the Duma. In 1913 he was the initiator of the transition of the "Union of October 17" in opposition to the government. At the beginning of the First World War, at the front, as a special representative of the Russian Red Cross Society, he was involved in the organization of hospitals. He was one of the organizers and chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee, a member of the Special Defense Conference. In 1915 he was re-elected to the State Council for the Commercial and Industrial Curia. Public accusations of the Rasputin clique aroused the discontent of the emperor and the court. At the end of 1916 - beginning of 1917. hatched plans for a dynastic coup (the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of the heir under the regency of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich) and the creation of a ministry responsible to the Duma of liberal politicians. As a representative (together with V.V. Shulgin) on March 2, 1917 in Pskov he accepted the abdication of Nicholas II from power. After the February Revolution, the Minister of War and Navy in the first composition of the Provisional Government (March 2-April 30), then a participant in the preparation of L.G. Kornilov. During the Civil War, he provided active assistance to the White movement. After the end of the war - in exile in Paris.
Literature:
- Buryshkin P.A., Merchant Moscow, M., 1991;
- A.I. Guchkov tells ..., M., 1993;
- Senin A.S., A.I. Guchkov, "Questions of history", 1993, no. 7.
A.N. Bokhanov.
(October 14, 1862 - February 14, 1936). From a Moscow merchant family. He was educated at the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University (1886). For a short time he served in Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow city institutions. Member of the Moscow City Council, then a member of the City Duma. He traveled a lot, served as a junior officer in the Cossack squadron in the protection of the Chinese Eastern Railway (1897-1899), volunteered for the armed forces of the Boers in 1900 and was captured by the British, in 1903 he was in Macedonia during the uprising against the Turks. Since 1903 he has been married to Maria Ilyinichna Ziloti, who belonged to one of the most famous families of the Moscow intelligentsia, the sister of the famous pianist and conductor A.I. Zeloti. During the Russo-Japanese War - Chief Commissioner of the Red Cross in the active army. In 1902-1908. Director of the Moscow Accounting Bank, later engaged in entrepreneurial activity (by 1917 he had a fortune of about 600-700 thousand rubles). Valid state councilor. One of the founders and since 1906 chairman of the Central Committee of the party "Union of October 17". In 1907 he was elected to the State Council; then - in III, in connection with which he resigned as a member of the upper chamber. In the Duma, he headed the Octobrist faction - the mainstay of the reformist course of the P.A. Stolypin, as well as the State Defense Commission, which, despite the limited competence of the Duma in relation to the military and naval departments, he managed to turn into one of the most influential parliamentary commissions. From March 8, 1910 to March 14, 1911, the chairman (in June 1910 he resigned to serve his sentence for a duel with the deputy of the Duma, Count A.A.Uvarov, which took place on November 17, 1909; re-elected head of the chamber on October 29 1910). He left the chair in protest against the break in the sessions of the Duma, insulting to the dignity of the people's representation, carried out by Nicholas II at the insistence of Stolypin to pass, in addition to legislative institutions, a law on zemstvo in the western provinces. He lost the elections to the IV Duma in Moscow. After the outbreak of the World War, he worked in the institutions of the Red Cross. Organizer of the military-industrial committees and, since July 1915, chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee. Since the summer of 1915, one of the leaders of the Progressive Bloc; was considered along with M.V. Rodzianko and Prince. G.E. Lvov as a possible opposition candidate for the post of prime minister. On September 16, 1915, he was elected by the trade and industrial curia to the State Council, as a representative of which he entered the Special Conference to discuss and unite measures for the defense of the state; at the meeting he headed the Commission for the revision of the standards of sanitary and medical supply of the army. In 1916 - early 1917, a supporter of a radical way to resolve the country's internal problems, one of the organizers of the conspiracy, the purpose of which was to implement palace coup... On February 28, 1917, Guchkov was elected a member of the Military Commission, then became the chairman of this commission. During the days of the revolution, he was commissar of the Provisional Committee for the War Ministry. On March 2, together with V.V. Shulgin accepted the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne in Pskov. From March 2 to May 2, 1917, the minister of war and naval in the first composition. One of the organizers of the so-called "Kornilov rebellion". After the October Revolution, a member of the white movement. Since 1919 in exile. Died in Paris. After his death in August-September 1936, the newspaper "Latest News" (Paris) published records of his oral recollections. The full version of the transcripts of these stories was published more than half a century later: Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov tells ..: Memoirs of the Chairman of the State Duma and the Minister of War of the Provisional Government. M., 1993.
Used materials from the bibliographic dictionary in the book: Ya.V. Glinka, Eleven years in the State Duma. 1906-1917. Diary and Memories. M., 2001.
(1862-1936), Russian statesman. Born October 14 (26), 1862 in Moscow in an old merchant family. Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University; continued his education abroad; attended lectures on history and philosophy at the Berlin, Vienna and Heidelberg universities. Initially he planned to devote his life to a scientific career, but then abandoned this intention. In 1885-1886. served in the Life Guards. In 1886 he was elected an honorary justice of the peace in Moscow. In 1892-1893. organized aid to the starving in the Lukoyanovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province; awarded the order St. Anne 3rd degree. In 1893 he became a member of the Moscow City Council. In 1896-1897. was a comrade (deputy) of the Moscow mayor. In 1897 he was elected a vowel (deputy) of the Moscow City Duma.
He was distinguished by his inclination to take risks. In 1895, at the height of the anti-Armenian hysteria in Turkey, he visited the territories of the Ottoman Empire inhabited by Armenians. In December 1897 he went to Manchuria and entered the service of the Cossack squadron, guarding the Chinese-Eastern Railway; in February 1899 he was transferred to the reserve for a duel and returned to Moscow. In the same year he left for South Africa, where he volunteered for the Boer War on the side of the Boers; was wounded in the leg and taken prisoner by the British. In 1900 he was in China during the Boxer Rebellion against foreign domination that broke out there. In 1903 he went to Macedonia to support the local rebels in their fight against Turkish oppression. After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, in March 1904 he departed for the front as a representative of the Moscow City Duma and assistant to the chief commissioner of the Red Cross Society; with extraordinary energy he was engaged in the organization of the sanitary service; at the end of 1904 he became the chief commissioner of the Red Cross Society. After the defeat of the Russian army near Mukden in February 1905, in a situation of general panic and chaos, he refused to abandon the unevacuated wounded and transferred the hospital to the Japanese in accordance with international rules; a month later he was released by the Japanese command and returned to Moscow, where he was given a triumphant meeting.
During the First Russian Revolution 1905-1907. took a moderately liberal position, advocating a constitutional monarchy and the preservation of the territorial unity of the Russian Empire; led a polemic with P.N. Milyukov on the issue of Poland's autonomy. Welcomed the Manifesto on October 17, 1905; became one of the founders of the "Union of October 17" (the party of the Octobrists); participated in the development of its program documents. In 1906 he became the head of the Union. He condemned the anti-government actions of the revolutionaries, spoke out for the use of harsh measures against them, demanding the introduction of military courts.
Defeated in the 1st and 2nd elections. In May 1907, with the support of P.A. Stolypin, he was elected to the State Council. In the summer of 1907, he received an offer from him to take the post of Minister of Trade and Industry, but put forward conditions unacceptable for the government. In October 1907 he became the 3rd deputy, heading the Octobrist faction and the State Defense Commission. He actively supported the policy of P.A. Stolypin. In November 1908, he openly demanded that the budget of the Grand Dukes be cut, causing sharp discontent with Nicholas II. In March 1910 he was elected chairman of the Duma, but in March 1911 he resigned in protest against the government's passage of a law on zemstvo in the western provinces bypassing the Duma. In January 1912, he was one of the first to publicly condemn G.E. Rasputin's sinister role at court; by this time he was finally convinced of the political doom of the Romanov dynasty. In the fall of 1912 he failed in the 4th elections. In November 1913, at a meeting of the Octobrists in St. Petersburg, he declared the impossibility of reforming the regime and the imminence of a revolutionary explosion.
With the outbreak of the First World War, he went to the front as a special commissioner of the Red Cross Society; was engaged in the organization of hospitals and providing them with everything necessary. In July 1915 he became chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee. In September he was elected to the State Council from the commercial and industrial curia. He took an active part in the activities of the Duma Progressive Bloc, which united nationalists, Octobrists, Cadets, progressives and centrists. Together with NV Nekrasov and MI Tereshchenko, he developed plans for a palace coup and the creation of a "responsible ministry".
In the days of the February Revolution, on the instructions of March 2 (15), 1917, together with V.V. Shulgin, he went to Pskov to see Nicholas II for negotiations on his abdication in favor of his son Alexei; the emperor, however, proclaimed his brother Michael to be his successor. On his return to Petrograd on March 3 (16), together with P.N. Milyukov, he tried to persuade Grand Duke Mikhail to accept the throne, but failed.
In the first composition, he took the post of Minister of War and Navy. Purge the high command. He carried out a number of measures to democratize the army (abolition of titling, allowing servicemen to be members of political associations, abolishing national, religious and class restrictions on the production of officers, introducing an eight-hour working day at military factories). At the same time, he tried to prevent the creation of elective soldiers' committees in military units, which controlled the decisions of commanders, thereby undermining the principle of one-man command, but was soon forced to authorize their existence. Being a supporter of the war to the bitter end, he made significant efforts to maintain discipline in the army and mobilize the military industry. In March, he appointed General LG Kornilov, the commander of the troops of the Petrograd military district, a "strong personality", who began to form special units to fight the revolution (detachments of "people's freedom"). In April, he proposed to the government to resort to tough measures and liquidate the Soviets, but was supported only by the Minister of Foreign Affairs P.N. Milyukov. Realizing the impossibility of preventing the collapse of the armed forces, on April 30 (May 13), he resigned and returned to the post of chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee.
In May 1917 he headed the Society for the Economic Revival of Russia, created to support moderate candidates in the elections to the Constituent Assembly and to fight the influence of the socialists at the front. In the summer, together with MV Rodzianko, he founded the Liberal Republican Party, which he intended to make a “party of order”. He actively supported L.G. Kornilov, who became the supreme commander in chief, in his plans to establish a military dictatorship. On August 14 (27), he spoke at the State Conference in Moscow, condemning the economic chaos in the country and the impotence of the state authorities.
During the Kornilov revolt, he was at the headquarters of the 12th army; after the defeat of the mutiny on August 31 (September 13), 1917, he was arrested, but a few days later he was released on the orders of A.F. Kerensky. After living for some time in Petrograd, at the end of September he left for Moscow, and then for Kislovodsk.
He met the October Revolution with hostility. In December 1917, he was one of the first to provide significant financial assistance to the Volunteer Army that was being formed on the Don; led agitation among the officers, urging them to join the ranks of volunteers. He was constantly under the threat of arrest by the Bolshevik authorities; in the spring of 1918 he became illegal, and in June fled from Kislovodsk. He was hiding in Essentuki; in August he made his way to Yekaterinodar, which was occupied by White.
In the spring of 1919, on the instructions of AI Denikin, he went to Europe as a diplomatic representative of the White movement. During his mission (1919-1920) he negotiated with the governments of France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, having achieved significant assistance with weapons, ammunition and food. After the defeat of A.I.Denikin and P.N. Wrangel remained in the West. Lived in Paris; from 1921 he was a member of the leadership of the Foreign Red Cross. He did not adhere to any emigre group, but participated in many all-Russian political events. He was considered by the monarchist wing of the emigration as one of the main culprits in the fall of the Romanovs; in 1921 in Berlin he was even beaten by the extremist Taborissky. By the end of the 20s. moved away from public political activities... Shortly before his death, he began to write memoirs that remained unfinished. He died in Paris on February 14, 1936 and was buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery.
Literature:
Political history of Russia in parties and persons. M., 1993;
Baryshnikov M.N. AI Guchkov in emigration: comprehension of the traversed path // Foreign Russia. 1917-1939 SPb, 2002;
D.A. Kuznetsov Reform of the Russian army (March-April 1917). AI Guchkov // Russian civilization: history and modernity. Issue 11, 2001;
Mozhaeva L.A. Guchkov Alexander Ivanovich (1862-1936) // New Historical Bulletin. 2002, No. 2;
Senin A.S. Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov. M., 1996.
Ivan Krivushin
(October 14, 1862, Moscow, - February 14, 1936, Paris). Born into a merchant family. Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, attended lectures at the Berlin, Vienna and Heidelberg universities. In 1885-1886. served in the Life Guards. Since 1888 he was repeatedly elected as an honorary magistrate in Moscow. Since 1893, a member of the Moscow City Council. In 1897 he was in the security guard of the CER; fired for a duel. In 1899 he was a volunteer in the Anglo-Boer War (on the side of the Boers). In 1900 he was in China during the popular, so-called boxing, uprising against the British, French, Japanese. In 1903 he fought with the Turks in Macedonia. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Chief Plenipotentiary of the Russian Red Cross Society and the Committee of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who provided assistance to the wounded. Participant of congresses of zemstvo and city leaders. He was engaged in entrepreneurship (by 1917, the value of property belonging to Guchkov was at least 600 thousand rubles). One of the founders of the party "Union of October 17", from 1906 he headed it. In 1907, in May, he was elected to the State Council, in October he gave up this title, and was elected to the 3rd convocation. From March 1910 to March 1911, Chairman of the State Duma; had frequent conflicts with the deputies (challenged P.N. Milyukov to a duel, fought with Count A.A.Uvarov). He resigned in protest against the conduct of P.A. Stolypin of the law on zemstvo in the western provinces bypassing the Duma. In the 3rd he headed the State Defense Commission, the Octobrist faction. Supporter of a constitutional monarchy with a strong central executive power, "one and indivisible empire", but recognized the right of individual peoples to cultural autonomy. Supported the reforms of P.A. Stolypin. Opposed drastic changes political system, fraught, in his opinion, with the suppression of historical evolution, the collapse of Russian statehood. Since 1912, he was a full state councilor. Since the beginning of the First World War, the commissioner of the Russian Red Cross Society at the front, organized hospitals. In July 1915 he headed the Central Military-Industrial Committee (TsVPK). In September 1915 he was elected to the State Council. Later, Guchkov said that in the fall of 1916, “the idea of a palace coup was born, as a result of which the sovereign would be forced to sign an abdication with the transfer of the throne to his legitimate heir. Within these limits, the plan took shape very quickly. To this group of two initiators [N.V. Nekrasov and Guchkov - Author] in the coming days joined by agreement with MI Nekrasov. Tereshchenko, and thus the group was formed, which took upon itself the implementation of this plan ... joined our circle ... Prince Vyazemsky "(DL - Author) (" AI Guchkov tells ... "" Questions of history ", 1991, No. 7/8, pp. 205 - 206).
During the days of the February Revolution of 1917, he worked closely with. On the evening of March 2, together with V.V. Shulgin received a manifesto on abdication from Nicholas II. From March 2 to April 30, Minister of War and Navy of the Provisional Government. I tried, whenever possible, to maintain the established order of work of these departments. Refused the salary due to the minister (15,000 rubles) and the funds issued for the representation (12,000 rubles). In his orders, he replaced the concept of "lower rank" with "soldier", abolished the title in the armed forces; demanded when addressing the soldiers and sailors to say "you", the servicemen were allowed to participate in alliances and societies "formed for a political purpose" ("Orders for the military department", P., 1917, p. 104). He condemned Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet, which, in particular, placed the political speeches of servicemen under the control of the Soviet and allowed the creation of elective committees of soldiers in the units. The Council sought to secure the signature of the Minister of War under Order No. 2 on certain issues of military service. Guchkov refused to sign it, but agreed to it after negotiations with a delegation of the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet.
Later, while in exile, he wrote: “I still find it difficult to say whether I did the right thing. Of course, I could completely break with the Council of the RSD [Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. - Author], but, firstly, it is doubtful that I would have found support in such a step among my colleagues in the Provisional Government, and, secondly, in this first period of the revolution, when the Petersburg garrison did not obey, a break with the Soviet could have consequence of anarchy and civil war "(" Latest news", 1936, September 23).
He spoke in favor of the abolition of national, religious, class and political restrictions on the production of officers, introduced an 8-hour working day at the artillery enterprises subordinate to the military department, allowed the workers of these enterprises to elect factory committees on the basis of universal, equal, direct and secret suffrage. In a private conversation, he expressed his views in the following way: “The revolution is a grave disaster for the state. It rips life off its usual tracks, the masses take to the streets. Now we have to drive the crowd back into place, but this is not an easy task "(Verkhovsky AI On a difficult pass, Moscow, 1959, p. 228). To revise the military legislation and preliminary discussion of reforms, he formed a commission on March 6, which developed a regulation on military committees, and Guchkov approved it: in companies, regiments and armies, elected, mainly soldiers in composition, committees with limited rights were introduced. For this, Guchkov was criticized by the military command. Subsequently, justifying himself, he wrote: "Before the Headquarters and the War Ministry, the question was not whether to introduce this revolutionary innovation into the army, but whether we are able to dissolve them" ("Latest News", 1936, September 20).
Guchkov changed a significant part of the highest command personnel of the army. In March-April, 8 commanders-in-chief of the armies of the fronts and commanders of the armies, 35 corps commanders (out of 68), 75 chiefs of divisions (out of 240) were replaced (Kavtaradze A.G. June offensive of the Russian army in 1917, "Military-Historical Journal" , 1967, No. 5, p. 113). He was a supporter of the continuation of the war "to a victorious end", which he called for in numerous appeals to the army. On March 8, at a meeting of all central trade and industrial organizations, he said: “We must implement in public consciousness the conviction that our position is strong, and that no one, no conspirators of the world will be able to knock us off it ”(“ Revolution of 1917 ”, volume 1, p. 77). Unlike P.N. Milyukov, did not openly support territorial claims to opponents. He was a supporter of "giving battle to the Council." To this end, he recommended the appointment of General L.G. Kornilov. Since its administration in April, special units of the "People's Freedom" from the most "reliable" troops "to ensure the existing state system" began to form in parts of the district. On April 20, at a joint meeting, the executive committees of the State Duma and the Petrograd Soviet of the RSD said that "the fatherland is in danger", that the main reason for this is the "stream of pacifist ideas" preached by socialist circles, that this preaching should be stopped, and discipline should be restored with the help of the Executive Committee of the Council (see: "Revolution of 1917", volume 2, p. 51).
During the April crisis, Guchkov's entourage hatched plans for a military conspiracy to eliminate the dual power and establish a dictatorship. On the night of April 30, Guchkov wrote a letter to the head of the government, Prince G.E. Lvov, in which he announced his resignation in view of the conditions "in which the government has been placed in the country." Being a supporter of "strong power", he emphasized that he could no longer "share responsibility for the grave sin that is happening in relation to the Motherland" ("The revolutionary movement in Russia in April 1917, the April crisis", M., 1958, p. 835 - 836). Since May, Guchkov again headed the Central Military Industrial Complex. On May 4, at a private meeting of members of the State Duma, he said: “It is impossible to govern the state on the basis of an incessant meeting, and even less is it possible to command an army on the basis of meetings and collegiate meetings. But we not only overthrew the bearers of power, we overthrew and abolished the very idea of power, destroyed those necessary foundations on which all power was built ”(“ The bourgeoisie and landowners in 1917. Transcripts of private meetings of members of the State Duma, ”M.-L. , 1932, p. 4, 5). “Our disease lies in the strange division between power and responsibility that we have established. Above - the fullness of power, but without a shadow of responsibility, and on the visible bearers of power - the fullness of responsibility, but without a shadow of power. If below they obey according to the formula that has been established in our country, "insofar as", then the collapse of government power is inevitable ... only a strong power can save the country from that anarchy, which in its further development will undoubtedly lead our Motherland to death "(" Revolution 1917 ", Volume 2, p. 104).
Trying to oppose the Soviets, in May he headed the Society for the Economic Revival of Russia, which included A.I. Putilov, N.N. Kutler, N.A. Belotsvetov, B.A. Kamenka, A.P. Meshchersky, A.I. Vyshnegradskiy. The society was supposed to provide assistance to the bourgeois candidates in the elections to the Constituent Assembly, but in fact, its funds were used to support General L.G. Kornilov, when he became the Supreme Commander, to prepare a military coup. On May 20, at a congress of representatives of the Military-Industrial Committees, he said: "... the mechanical transfer of capital from one hand to another, the so-called nationalization and socialization, is an experiment unprecedented in the world, with the help of which any industry can be radically killed" (ibid. , p. 181). On August 14, Guchkov spoke at the State Conference in Moscow. The reason for the economic chaos and powerlessness of the authorities, he considered the influence on all processes in the country of "Russian revolutionary democracy" with its " socialist ideology". Speaking about the position of industrialists, Guchkov noted: “It is not so much personal and class interests that divide us, but a different understanding of the structure human society and tasks of the state ”(“ State meeting ”, p. 288).
In the summer, together with M.V. Rodzianko founded the Liberal Republican Party, but it was unable to work out a sufficiently popular program to bring the country out of the deepest crisis. After the defeat of the Kornilov rebellion (August 31), he was arrested, but on September 1, Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet of the RSD reported that A.F. Kerensky ordered the release of Guchkov.
On the eve of the October Revolution, he moved to the North Caucasus. One of the first industrialists gave M.V. Alekseev and A.I. Denikin's money (10,000 rubles) for the formation of the Volunteer Army. In the spring of 1919, at Denikin's request, he left for Western Europe to negotiate with the leaders of the Entente countries about supporting the White armies. After the end of the Civil War in exile, he did not join any of the political organizations, jealously guarded his political independence.
Compositions:
A.I. Guchkov tells, "Questions of history", 1991, no. 7 - 10.
Literature:
- Kerensky A.F., A.I. Guchkov, "Modern Notes", 1936, no. 60;
- Bokhanov A.N., Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov. In the book: Historical Silhouettes, M., 1991.
A family
- Great-grandfather - Fedor Alekseevich, from the peasants of the Maloyaroslavets district of the Kaluga province, a courtyard. Came at the end of the 1780s. to Moscow, where he became an Old Believer, at the end of his life he was exiled to Petrozavodsk for refusing to convert to unanimity, where he died.
- Grandfather - Efim Fyodorovich, Fyodor Alekseevich's successor after his exile. Unlike his father, under the threat of reprisals by the authorities and confiscation of the enterprise, together with his brother Ivan and the children, in 1853 he switched to common faith - a trend in the Old Believers that retained the old rituals, but recognizes the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church and is in Eucharistic unity with the Orthodox, but the family is and A.I. Guchkov continued this tradition - he provided financial assistance to those Old Believers and Old Believer communities who did not go over to common faith. He founded a school for orphans at the enterprise. Elected by the Moscow mayor.
- Father - Ivan Efimovich (1833-1904), co-owner of the trading house "Guchkova Efima Sons", one of the founders and director of the Moscow Accounting Bank, was the guild head of the Moscow Merchant Council, then a member of the Moscow branch of the Council of Trade and Manufactures, an honorary magistrate of Moscow, served in the Moscow office of the State Bank, was elected to the foreman of the Moscow Exchange Committee.
- Mother - Coralie Petrovna, nee Vakye, French, kidnapped by I. Ye. Guchkov in France from her first husband and taken to Russia, converted to Orthodoxy. At first she gave birth to two twins: Nikolai and Fedor.
- Brother - Nikolai Ivanovich (1860-1935) - Moscow mayor (1905-1912), actual state councilor.
- Brother - Fyodor Ivanovich (1860-1913) - one of the founders of the "Union of October 17", the actual head of the newspaper "Voice of Moscow".
- Brother - Konstantin Ivanovich (1866-1934).
- Niece - Guchkova Natalya Konstantinovna, married to the philosopher Gustav Shpet
- Niece - Guchkova Olga Konstantinovna, married to I. D. Frenkin, a relative of I. V. Stalin's friend Academician Mikulin
- Wife - Maria Ilyinichna, nee Ziloti (1871-1938), cousin of the composer S.V. Rachmaninov, sister of A.I. admirals, younger sister Varvara Ilyinichny Ziloti - the wife of AI Guchkov's brother Konstantin Ivanovich, who was in charge of all the commercial affairs of the Guchkov brothers, especially during their risky travels.
- Son - Leo (1905-1916).
- Daughter - Vera Alexandrovna (Vera Trail; 1906-1987). In her first marriage, she is married to the leader of the "Eurasian" movement P. P. Suvchinsky. She was also close to another famous Eurasian, DP Svyatopolk-Mirsky, used the English pseudonym "Vera Mirsky". In the second marriage - to the Scottish communist Robert Trail. She collaborated with the Soviet special services.
Education and military service
Municipal leader, entrepreneur and official
From 1886 - for the first time he was a public official of the City Duma, was elected magistrate in Moscow. In 1892-1893 he took part in helping the starving people in Lukoyanovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province. In January 1894, Guchkov was awarded the Order of Anna of the third degree for "special labors" in the fight against the consequences of a crop failure. Later, in 1896 "for work and diligence" he was awarded the Order of Stanislav, second degree. These awards gave him the opportunity, simultaneously with commercial and social activities, to move up the ladder of career ranks, to receive personal, and then hereditary nobility.
But according to even Count S. Yu. Witte, who was critical of him, Guchkov is a lover of strong sensations and a brave man.
Duelist
He fought several times in duels, earned a reputation as a strapper.
- In 1899, he challenged an engineer who worked on the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway to a duel. After the latter refused to accept the challenge, he hit him in the face.
- In 1908, he challenged the leader of the Cadet Party, P. N. Milyukov, to a duel, who declared in the Duma that Guchkov "told a lie" on one of the issues discussed. Miliukov accepted the challenge; the five-day negotiations of the seconds ended with the reconciliation of the parties.
- In 1909, Guchkov had a duel with a member of the State Duma, Count A. A. Uvarov, who, according to one newspaper publication, in a conversation with Stolypin called Guchkov a "politician." In response, Guchkov wrote him an insulting letter, provoking a challenge to a duel and at the same time refused reconciliation. The duel ended with a harmless injury to Uvarov, who fired into the air.
- In 1912, he fought a duel with the gendarmerie lieutenant colonel S. N. Myasoedov, who defended the honor of the elderly military minister Sukhomlinov, with whom he was. Guchkov accused Sukhomlinov of creating a system of political surveillance of officers in the Russian armed forces in order to undermine the country's defense in the interests of its enemies. Myasoedov fired first and missed; Guchkov immediately after that fired into the air. After the duel, Myasoedov was forced to leave the army. In 1915, he was found guilty of high treason and executed (according to the majority of modern historians, including KF Shatsillo ("The Case of Lieutenant Colonel Myasoedov"), the case was fabricated and an innocent person was executed).
Politician
In 1905, after returning to Russia, he actively participated in zemstvo and city congresses, adhered to liberal-conservative views. He advocated the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor so that the emperor spoke at it with a program of reforms. He was nominated by the Moscow Zemstvo Congress in May 1905 as a member of the delegation for negotiations with Nicholas II. When the king asked him to stay for a conversation, instead of a few minutes, the conversation lasted for several hours. In November 1905, receiving his brother, Moscow mayor NI Guchkov, the sovereign said: "Although your brother, in spite of etiquette, told me about the constitution for several hours in a row, I really liked him." In the fall of 1905, he decisively opposed the idea of estate representation, for the election of the State Duma by universal equal secret ballot of citizens, albeit by indirect elections. But as a constitutional monarchist supported the Manifesto of October 17, 1905:
We, constitutionalists, do not see in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in our country any belittling of the tsarist power; on the contrary, in the updated state forms, we see the introduction of this power to a new splendor, the disclosure of a glorious future for it.
In a quiet, soft voice, he began his speech. But as his theses developed, the whole audience turned into hearing and attention. He challenged the principle of integral universality. If, when electing people's representatives, it is impossible to restrict the voter with a property qualification, then, in his opinion, a territorial qualification in a certain minimum amount is necessary. Further, it is necessary to restrict the right to be elected by the condition of literacy. He challenged the principle of direct elections, finding that with the vastness of the territories of our State, two-stage elections would more correctly reflect the interests of various groups of the population in parliament with the diversity of nationalities inhabiting Russia.
In October 1905, C. Yu. Witte offered him the post of Minister of Trade and Industry, but Guchkov, like other public figures, refused to enter the government, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in which was headed by a convinced, to put it mildly, conservative P.N. Durnovo.
In the fall of 1905, he became one of the founders of the liberal-conservative party "Union of October 17", which AI Guchkov headed as chairman of the Central Committee on October 29, 1906. He was defeated in the elections to the State Duma of the 1st and 2nd convocations. In May 1907 he was elected a member of the State Council from industry and trade, in October he refused membership in the Council, and was elected a deputy of the 3rd State Duma.
He was a supporter of the government of P.A.Stolypin, whom he considered a strong state leader, capable of carrying out reforms and ensuring order. In addition, PA Stolypin's brother was a prominent figure in the Octobrist Party - a supporter of AI Guchkov. AI Guchkov advocated a decisive fight against terrorism, including with the help of military courts. With reservations, but supported the dissolution of the II State Duma and the amendment of the electoral law on June 3, 1907.
We must recognize the dissolution of the State Duma as an act of state necessity. But we cannot greet him and rejoice, as our neighbors on the right do, because we consider it a great misfortune for the country that the government and the monarch were forced to resort to the act of June 3, which is a coup. On the other hand, it is sad that this act is a necessity "(Party" Union of October 17 ": Minutes of the III Congress, Conferences and Sessions of the Central Committee 1907-1915: In 2 volumes. M., 2000. V. 2. P. 11 ).
In the same year, he refused to enter the Stolypin government, but continued to support him.
In the III State Duma
In 1907-1912 he was a member of the III State Duma from Moscow. Under the new electoral law, the Octobrist party headed by him achieved impressive success in the elections to the 3rd State Duma (154 out of 442 seats). On the eve of the elections, its recognized leader declared:
He was the leader of the Octobrist parliamentary faction, actively contributed to the Duma's approval of the Stolypin agrarian reform. According to the Octobrist N.V. Savich:We know that the only thing the right way- this is the central path, the path of equilibrium along which we Octobrists are walking.
With a great mind, talent, and pronounced abilities of a parliamentary fighter, Guchkov was very proud, even vain, and, moreover, he was distinguished by his stubborn character, who could not tolerate opposition to his plans.
He was the chairman of the State Defense Commission - in this capacity he established contacts with many representatives of the generals, including A. A. Polivanov, V. I. Gurko. Paid considerable attention to modernization Russian army, in 1908 sharply criticized the activities of representatives of the House of Romanov in the army, urging them to resign. This circumstance worsened Guchkov's relationship with the court. There is information that Guchkov also disclosed the circumstances of a private conversation with the tsar, after which Nicholas II completely refused to trust him.
Together with V.K.
In 1910-1911 he was the chairman of the State Duma with a break of 4 months due to the fact that in June 1910 he resigned to serve a 4-month sentence in prison for a duel with the deputy of the Duma A.A. Uvarov, which took place on November 17, 1909. Although the emperor replaced 4-month imprisonment in prison with a two-week arrest, A.I. Guchkov was re-elected head of the chamber only on October 29, 1910. On March 15, 1911, he refused this title, not wanting to support the position of the Stolypin government in connection with the adoption of a bill on the introduction of zemstvo institutions in the western provinces (then Stolypin went to violate the "spirit" of the Basic Laws, initiating a temporary dissolution (March 12-15, 1911) Duma in order to carry out the decision he needed by decree of the emperor) (see the Law on the Zemstvo in the Western Provinces).
After the assassination of the head of the government P.A.Stolypin in Kiev, on September 5, 1911, Guchkov spoke in the Duma justifying the request of his faction regarding the attempt on the prime minister's life and drew attention to the situation in the country:
Our Russia has been sick for a long time, sick with a serious illness. The generation to which I belong was born under the shot of Karakozov, in the 70-80s. a bloody and dirty wave of terror swept through our fatherland ... Terror once slowed down and has slowed down since then the progressive course of reforms, terror gave weapons into the hands of reaction, terror enveloped the dawn of Russian freedom with its bloody fog.
From 1912 to February 1917
In 1912, as chairman of the Duma commission on defense, he clashed with Minister of War V. A. Sukhomlinov in connection with the introduction of political surveillance of officers in the army. Due to his advanced age, Sukhomlinov was summoned to a duel by the gendarme officer Myasoedov, who was under Sukhomlinov, who was accused of mediation between Sukhomlinov and Germany. There is information that Guchkov, considering Sukhomlinov a German agent and protégé of Rasputin, was personally involved in distributing four or five letters (possibly fake) that fell into his hands through Iliodor - one from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the rest from the Grand Duchesses to G.E. Rasputin. Correspondence was multiplied on the hectograph and distributed in the form of copies as propaganda material against the tsar. The tsar, having figured it out, instructed the War Minister Sukhomlinov, who was in conflict with Guchkov (who met with Guchkov on the affairs of the Duma Defense Commission), to tell Guchkov that he was a scoundrel.
The reasons why AI Guchkov was in irreconcilable hostility to Nicholas II were not only political, but also personal. According to the available information, the tsar at first was rather positive about Guchkov, appreciating his intelligence and abilities. However, Guchkov allowed himself to make public the details of a private conversation with Nicholas II. Octobrist N.V. Savich testified: “Guchkov told about his conversation with the tsar to many people, members of the faction under the presidium of the State Duma. The worst thing was that not only the facts about which were discussed, but also some of the opinions expressed by the Emperor were made public. The sovereign perceived the fact that his intimate conversation had been announced in print as an insult, as a betrayal. He abruptly and abruptly changed his attitude towards Guchkov, began to be clearly hostile. " The extremely ambitious Guchkov harbored a grudge against the tsar, which by 1916 had grown into hatred. It is believed that the overthrow of Emperor Nicholas II from the throne by 1916 became almost an end in itself for Guchkov, and allegedly in his desire to overthrow the tsar he was ready to unite with any forces. The sovereign called Guchkov "Yuan Shikai," after a high-ranking courtier of the Qing dynasty who had become a Chinese revolutionary dictator, and considered him his personal enemy. But Guchkov himself explained his behavior by the fact that, as the chairman of the State Duma commission on defense, he was conducting business not only of the armed forces themselves, but also of the Cossack regions, and was struck by the abuses of power there and the hatred of almost all Cossacks who had previously constituted the support of the autocracy - not only the Cossacks-Old Believers - to the regime of Nicholas II. Then he understood why the Cossacks in the elections supported the Cadets and progressists, but not the Octobrists and other monarchists. In particular, it was the old Cossacks who, according to the Cossacks who served in the Convoy of His Imperial Majesty, complained to him about Rasputin, whose introduction to the royal couple of “popular Orthodoxy” offended the religious feelings of the Cossacks, although the advice that Rasputin gave the Tsar was in line with the ideas of Rasputin himself. Guchkova: Russia needs peace and does not need any straits. As Guchkov explained, after meeting with representatives of the Kuban Cossack army, he firmly understood: in order to prevent revolution by the forces of the armed people led by the Cossacks and to preserve the monarchy, it was necessary to distance ourselves from the unpopular among the Cossacks and the people of Nicholas II.
In 1912 Guchkov delivered a speech in which there were extremely harsh attacks on G.E. Rasputin (after which Guchkov became the personal enemy of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna):
I want to say, I want to shout that the church is in danger and the state is in danger ... You all know what a difficult drama Russia is going through ... In the center of this drama is a mysterious tragicomic figure, like a native of the other world or a relic of the darkness of the centuries, a strange figure in the illumination of the 20th century ... In what ways did this man reach a central position, seizing such influence, before which external carriers of state and church authority bow down ... Grigory Rasputin is not alone; isn't there a whole gang behind him ...?
On October 19, 1912, surveillance began for Guchkov. The filers described the signs of the supervised as follows: 50 years old, above average height, full build, brown-haired, full, oblong face, straight nose, moderate, French beard slightly gray, wears pince-nez in a white frame, dressed in a winter drape coat with a lamb collar, black a lamb hat and black trousers, Orthodox denomination. The dealers gave him the nickname "Sanitary" in St. Petersburg and "Balkansky" in Moscow. The outdoor observation diary recorded every step of Guchkov, and it was noted that occasionally, when he used a car or his crew, he managed to elude the spies. But he managed to go to the First Balkan War, and fillers for a long time could not find his trace upon his return. At the end of 1912 he was not elected to the IV State Duma. Evolved rapidly towards an alliance with the Constitutional Democratic Party on an opposition basis. After his failure in the Duma elections in Moscow, Guchkov also refused to run for the vowels of the Moscow City Duma.
February revolution
In the last months of the monarchy's existence, he was the author and organizer of the palace coup, the purpose of which was, using connections with a number of military leaders (M.V. Alekseev, N.V. Ruzsky, etc.), to force Nicholas II to abdicate the throne (the abdication of the latter in favor of the heir- Tsarevich Alexei during the regency of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich). In fact, in the first days of March 1917, his plan was implemented, since the abdication of his son Alexei, announced by Nicholas II, according to the Code of Basic State Laws of the Russian Empire (Articles 37, 38 and 43 explained that the sovereign -the emperor had the right to abdicate not only for himself, but also for his underage son, and then Alexei Nikolaevich was only 12.5 years old) allowed Nikolai exclusively to continue to educate Alexei Nikolaevich until he came of age, but did not completely rule out the proclamation of Alexei Nikolaevich as tsar upon reaching they come of age, provided that Mikhail Alexandrovich, after the abdication of Nicholas II, will become not a tsar, but a regent. Although, instead of the staging of a popular uprising planned by the conspirators, a real uprising took place ahead of schedule, but the main characters in the abdication of the tsar were, according to a pre-planned plan, Guchkov himself, generals Alekseev and Ruzsky. However, since S.I.Ziloti passed away in 1914, A.I. Guchkov, and the conspiracy was a success only thanks to the February Revolution. Not only the reign of Nicholas II, but also, although this was not included in the plans of the monarchist Guchkov, the monarchical form of government in Russia was completed, since Mikhail Alexandrovich actually abdicated not only from the throne, but also from any form of power for himself and for the entire House of Romanov ... ...
Minister of War
In March - May 1917 he was Minister of War and Naval Minister in the first composition of the Provisional Government, a supporter of the continuation of the war. On his initiative, a large-scale purge of the command staff took place, during which both incapable generals and military leaders who were demanding of subordinates were dismissed. I tried to nominate relatively young, energetic generals to command posts [ ]. Initiated the abolition of national, religious, class and political restrictions on the production of officers. He opposed the activities of the soldiers' committees in the army, but was forced to agree to their legitimization. Legalized some of the provisions adopted by the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies "Order No. 1", which undermined discipline in the army - on the abolition of the titling of officers (instead of it, the form of address "Mr. Colonel (general, etc.)" was introduced, on the renaming of the "lower ranks" in the "soldier" and the duty of officers to address them to "you", to allow servicemen to participate in political organizations.
In April 1917, due to the inability to resist anarchy and the disintegration of the army, he decided to resign; officially left the Provisional Government in May, together with P. N. Milyukov. Guchkov's activities as minister disappointed many of his contemporaries, who saw in him a strong personality and hoped that he would be able to preserve the fighting efficiency of the army.
After his resignation from the post of minister, he again headed the Central Military-Industrial Committee. French Ambassador to Russia Maurice Paleologue wrote that
Guchkov's resignation marks no less than the bankruptcy of the Provisional Government and Russian liberalism. Soon Kerensky will be the unrestricted ruler of Russia ... awaiting Lenin.
Convinced of the impossibility of restoring the monarchy, together with MV Rodzianko, in the summer of 1917, he organized the Liberal Republican Party of Russia. Participated in the work of the State meeting. He was an active supporter of the speech of General L.G. Kornilov, after his defeat he was briefly arrested, but released a day later at the direction of A.F. Kerensky. He was a member of the Pre-Parliament. Donated 10 thousand rubles to General M.V. Alekseev for the formation of the Alekseevsk organization, agitated to join its ranks.
Activities during the civil war
Guchkov's activities attracted close attention of the Foreign Department of the OGPU, which recruited Guchkov's daughter Vera Alexandrovna. Knowing the entire elite of the White emigration, she did it under the influence of her lover Konstantin Rodzevich, who was associated with the OGPU. Alexander Ivanovich learned about his daughter's pro-Soviet sympathies in 1932, when she joined the French Communist Party.
He maintained business relations with General P.N. Wrangel, with whom he was in friendly correspondence. On the initiative of Guchkov, an Information Bureau was formed under the Russian Economic Bulletin in Paris to collect information on the economic situation in the USSR. He was in correspondence with many foreign political figures.
In 1922-1923. acted as one of the initiators of a military coup in Bulgaria with the aim of overthrowing the pro-Soviet government of Alexander Stamboliyskiy. In the coup, according to British newspapers, units of the Russian army played a key role. After that, the extreme right stopped attacking Guchkov. But P. N. Wrangel himself categorically denied the participation of the Russian army in the coup.
4th Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Empire |
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Date of Birth: |
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Place of Birth: |
Moscow, Russian Empire |
Date of death: |
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A place of death: |
Paris, France |
Education: |
University of Moscow |
Occupation: |
Entrepreneur |
Religion: |
Unity |
Awards and prizes |
Badge of the Order of St. George, 3rd class |
Traveling, participating in wars
In the III State Duma
Minister of War
Emigrant
Notes (edit)
(October 14, 1862, Moscow - February 14, 1936, Paris) - Russian politician, leader of the October 17 Union party. Chairman of the III State Duma (1910-1911). Minister of War and Navy of the Provisional Government of Russia (1917), deputy of the Duma (1907-1912), member of the State Council (1907 and 1915-1917).
Organizer of a conspiracy with the aim of a palace coup.
In his political activities, he had a penchant for using behind-the-scenes techniques.
He was an excellent orator, who, in the opinion of his contemporaries, was not inferior in his eloquence to the "Moscow Demosthenes" Plevako.
A family
A native of a Moscow merchant family.
- Great-grandfather - Fedor Alekseevich, from the peasants of the Maloyaroslavets district of the Kaluga province. He worked in Moscow at a weaving and spinning factory, having saved up money, he was able to redeem himself and his family free. In 1789 he founded his own weaving enterprise. For his adherence to the Old Believers he was exiled to Petrozavodsk, where he died in extreme old age.
- Grandfather - Efim Fyodorovich, Fyodor Alekseevich's successor as the owner of the enterprise, under which he founded a school for orphans. Elected by the Moscow mayor. Together with his brother Ivan and children, under the threat of reprisals from the authorities in 1853, he switched to common faith - a trend in Orthodoxy that retained the old rituals, but recognizes the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church).
- Father - Ivan Efimovich (1833-1904), co-owner of the trading house "Guchkova Efima sons", honorary magistrate.
- Mother - Coralie Petrovna, nee Vakye, French.
- Brother - Nikolai Ivanovich (1860-1935) - mayor of Moscow (1905-1912), actual state councilor.
- Brother - Fyodor Ivanovich (1860-1913) - one of the founders of the "Union of October 17", the actual head of the newspaper "Voice of Moscow".
- Brother - Konstantin Ivanovich (1866-1934).
- Wife - Maria Ilyinichna, née Zilotti (1871-1938).
- Son - Leo (1905-1916).
- Daughter - Vera Alexandrovna (Vera Trail; 1906-1987). In her first marriage, she is married to the leader of the "Eurasian" movement P. P. Suvchinsky. In the second - behind the Scottish communist Robert Trail. She collaborated with the Soviet special services.
Education and military service
Graduated from the gymnasium (1881), the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University (1886), studied history, state and international law, political economy, financial law and labor legislation at Berlin, Vienna and Heidelberg universities.
He served as a volunteer in the 1st Life-Grenadier Yekaterinoslav Regiment, enlisted in the reserve with the rank of ensign.
Municipal leader and entrepreneur
Since 1886 - Honorary Justice of the Peace in Moscow. In 1892-1893 he took part in helping the starving in the Lukoyanovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province.
Since 1893 - a member of the Moscow City Council. With his participation, the construction of the Mytishchi water pipeline was completed and the first stage of the sewage system was carried out. In 1896-1897 - comrade (deputy) of the Moscow mayor. From 1897 - a member of the Moscow City Duma, was a member of the railway, water supply and sewerage commissions, as well as commissions on gas lighting, on insurance of hired labor, on the development of the question of the care of homeless and homeless children.
From 1901 he was a director, then a manager of the Moscow Accounting Bank. He was the chairman of the supervisory committee of the insurance company "Russia". He was a wealthy man, but he was not actively engaged in entrepreneurial activity (he was sometimes called a "non-trading merchant").
Traveling, participating in wars
Repeatedly participated in life-threatening events outside Russia. As a schoolboy, he wanted to flee to the Russian-Turkish war for the liberation of Bulgaria.
In 1895, together with his brother Fyodor, he traveled through the territories of the Ottoman Empire inhabited by Armenians, where anti-Armenian demonstrations took place at that time. He collected materials that were then used in compiling a collection on the situation of Armenians in Turkey. In 1898 he left for the Far East, where he entered the service as a security officer on the construction of the Sino-Eastern railroad(KVZhD), in 1899 he was fired for insulting an engineer (but even before his dismissal he resigned). After that, together with his brother Fyodor, he made a risky journey to European Russia through China, Mongolia and Central Asia.
In 1899, as a volunteer (together with his brother F.I. According to the recollections of contemporaries, in the course of heavy battles he was distinguished by resourcefulness and external calm, despite the danger.
In 1903 he traveled to Macedonia in order to participate in the uprising of the local population against the Ottoman Empire. In 1904-1905 during Russo-Japanese War was an assistant to the chief plenipotentiary of the Red Cross at the Manchurian army, plenipotentiary of the city of Moscow and the Committee of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. In the spring of 1905, he was captured by the Japanese, as he did not want to leave Mukden together with the retreating Russian troops and leave the wounded in the hospital. Soon he was released by the Japanese and returned to Russia. According to Count S. Yu. Witte, who was critical of him, Guchkov is a lover of strong sensations and a brave man.
Politician
In 1905, after returning to Russia, he actively participated in zemstvo and city congresses, adhered to liberal-conservative views. He advocated the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor so that the emperor spoke at it with a program of reforms. Constitutional monarchist, supported the manifesto on October 17, 1905:
In October 1905, S. Yu. Witte offered him the post of Minister of Trade and Industry, but Guchkov, like other public figures, refused to join the government, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in which was headed by the convinced conservative P.N. Durnovo.
In the fall of 1905 he became one of the founders of the liberal-conservative party "Union of October 17", which A. I. Guchkov headed as chairman of the Central Committee on October 29, 1906. advice from Moscow.
He was a supporter of the government of P. A. Stolypin, whom he considered a strong state leader, capable of carrying out reforms and ensuring order. He advocated a decisive struggle against the revolution, including with the help of military courts. He supported the dissolution of the Second State Duma and the amendment of the electoral law on June 3, 1907. In the same year he refused to join the Stolypin government, but continued to support him.
In the III State Duma
In 1907-1912 - a member of the III State Duma from Moscow. Under the new electoral law, the Octobrist party headed by him achieved impressive success in the elections to the 3rd State Duma (154 out of 442 seats). On the eve of the elections, its recognized leader declared:
He was the leader of the parliamentary faction of the party "Union of October 17", actively contributed to the Duma's approval of the Stolypin agrarian reform. According to the Octobrist N.V. Savich:
He was the chairman of the State Defense Commission - in this capacity he established contacts with many representatives of the generals, including A. A. Polivanov, V. I. Gurko. He paid considerable attention to the modernization of the Russian army, in 1908 he sharply criticized the activities in the army of representatives of the House of Romanov, urging them to resign. This circumstance worsened Guchkov's relationship with the court. There is information that Guchkov also disclosed the circumstances of a private conversation with the tsar, after which Nicholas II completely refused to trust him.
Together with V.K.
In 1910-1911 he was the chairman of the State Duma, but on March 15, 1911 he renounced this title, not wanting to support the position of the Stolypin government in connection with the adoption of a bill on the introduction of zemstvo institutions in the western provinces (then Stolypin violated the "spirit" of the Basic Laws, initiating temporary dissolution (March 12-15, 1911) of the Duma in order to carry out the necessary decision by the decree of the emperor).
After the assassination of the head of government in Kiev, on September 5, 1911, Guchkov spoke in the Duma with the rationale for the request of his faction regarding the attempt on the Prime Minister and drew attention to the situation in the country:
From 1912 to February 1917
There is information that Guchkov was personally involved in the distribution of four or five letters (possibly fake) that fell into his hands through Iliodor - one from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the rest from the Grand Duchesses to G.E. Rasputin. Correspondence was multiplied on the hectograph and distributed in the form of copies as propaganda material against the tsar. The tsar, having figured it out, instructed the Minister of War Sukhomlinov (who met with Guchkov on the affairs of the Duma Defense Commission) to tell Guchkov that he was a scoundrel. After this incident, Guchkov hated the tsar and his minister of war.
In 1912, Guchkov delivered a speech in which there were extremely sharp attacks on G.E.Rasputin (after which Guchkov became the personal enemy of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna):
At the end of 1912, he was not elected to the IV State Duma, quickly evolved towards an alliance with the Constitutional Democratic Party on an opposition basis.
During the First World War, he was a special commissioner of the Red Cross at the front. In 1915-1917 - Chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee. He was a member of the Special Meeting to discuss and unite measures for the defense of the state, in which he headed the Commission for the revision of the standards of sanitary and medical supply of the army.
In September 1915 he was re-elected to the State Council for the Commercial and Industrial Curia.
Participated in the activities of the Progressive Block.
In the last months of the monarchy's existence, he was the author and organizer of a palace coup with the aim of using connections with high-ranking generals (Alekseev M.V., Ruzsky N.V., etc.), to force Nicholas II to abdicate the throne (the latter's abdication in favor of the heir-Tsarevich Alexei during the regency of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich). Actually, in the first days of March 1917, his plan was implemented, the main characters were G. himself, generals Alekseev and Ruzsky, with their joint efforts the reign of Nicholas II was ended, and at the same time the monarchy was buried.
Duelist
He fought several times in duels, earned a reputation as a strapper.
- In 1899 he challenged an engineer who worked on the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway to a duel. After the latter refused to accept the challenge, he hit him in the face.
- In 1908, he challenged the leader of the Cadet Party, P. N. Milyukov, to a duel, who declared in the Duma that Guchkov "spoke a lie" on one of the issues discussed. Miliukov accepted the challenge; the five-day negotiations of the seconds ended with the reconciliation of the parties.
- In 1909, Guchkov had a duel with a member of the State Duma, Count AA Uvarov, who, according to one newspaper publication, in a conversation with Stolypin called Guchkov a "politician." In response, Guchkov wrote him an insulting letter, provoking a challenge to a duel and at the same time refused reconciliation. The duel ended with a harmless injury to Uvarov, who fired into the air.
- In 1912 he fought in a duel with Lieutenant Colonel S. N. Myasoedov, whom he accused of participating in the creation of a political investigation system in the army. Myasoedov fired first and missed; Guchkov immediately after that fired into the air. After the duel, Myasoedov was forced to leave the army. in 1915 he was found guilty of high treason and executed (according to the opinion of the majority of modern historians, including KF Shatsillo, the "Case of Lieutenant Colonel Myasoedov" in 1915 was fabricated and an innocent person was executed).
Minister of War
During the February Revolution, he was the chairman of the Military Commission of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, then became Commissar of the Provisional Committee for the War Ministry. On the morning of February 28, 1917, Guchkov had a telephone conversation with General Zankevich:
On March 2, 1917, together with V.V. Shulgin, he accepted the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne in Pskov. He spoke in support of the preservation of the monarchy, supporting P. N. Milyukov on this issue, but remaining in the minority among the new leaders of the country.
In March - May 1917 he was Minister of War and Naval Minister in the first composition of the Provisional Government, a supporter of the continuation of the war. On his initiative, a large-scale purge of the command staff took place, during which both incapable generals and military leaders who were demanding of subordinates were dismissed. He tried to nominate relatively young, energetic generals to command posts. Initiated the abolition of national, religious, class and political restrictions on the production of officers. Legalized some of the provisions adopted by the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies "Order No. 1", which undermined discipline in the army - on the abolition of titling of officers (instead of it, the form of address "mister colonel (general, etc.)" was introduced, on the renaming of "lower ranks" in the "soldier" and the duty of officers to address them to "you", to allow servicemen to participate in political organizations.Opposed the activities of the soldiers' committees in the army, but was forced to agree to their legitimation.
In April 1917, due to the inability to resist anarchy and the disintegration of the army, he decided to resign; officially left the Provisional Government in May, together with P. N. Milyukov. Guchkov's activities as minister disappointed many of his contemporaries, who saw in him a strong personality and hoped that he would be able to preserve the fighting efficiency of the army.
After his resignation from the post of minister, he again headed the Central Military-Industrial Committee. French Ambassador to Russia Maurice Paleologue wrote that
Later he was an active supporter of the speech of General L.G. Kornilov, after his defeat he was briefly arrested and soon released. Donated 10 thousand rubles to General M.V. Alekseev for the formation of the Alekseevsk organization, agitated to join its ranks.
Activities during the civil war
He lived in Kislovodsk, was forced to hide from the Bolshevik authorities in Yessentuki under the guise of a Protestant pastor. Then he got to Yekaterinodar at the location of the Volunteer Army, established the work of the military-industrial committees, advised A.I.Denikin on political issues.
Emigrant
In 1919, Denikin sent Guchkov as his representative to Europe to communicate with the leaders of the Entente countries. As a representative of the white movement, he was received by French President Raymond Poincaré and British Secretary of War Winston Churchill. He took part in organizing the supply of British weapons and equipment for the Russian North-Western Army of General N. N. Yudenich.
In London, Guchkov asked Churchill to help create an alliance of whites and independent states The Baltic states for the occupation of Petrograd. But all British aid went to Estonia. Then Alexander Ivanovich found and chartered several ships at his own expense, which were later intercepted by the Estonian authorities. After this event, Guchkov sent a letter of protest to Churchill:
In 1921-1923. was the chairman of the Russian parliamentary committee, advocated an active struggle against the Bolshevik government. He worked in the leadership of the Foreign Red Cross. He was sharply criticized by the extreme right-wing of the emigration, whose representatives accused him of treason to the emperor and the collapse of the army. In 1921 he was beaten in Berlin by the monarchist S. V. Taboritsky (according to other sources, the attacker was P. N. Shabelsky-Bork, who later became a participant in the assassination of the well-known leader of the Cadet party V. D. Nabokov).
Guchkov's activities attracted close attention of the Foreign Department of the OGPU, which recruited Guchkov's daughter Vera Alexandrovna. Knowing the entire elite of the White emigration, she did it under the influence of her lover Konstantin Rodzevich, who was associated with the OGPU. Alexander Ivanovich learned about his daughter's pro-Soviet sympathies in 1932, when she joined the French Communist Party.
In 1935, Guchkov fell seriously ill. Doctors diagnosed bowel cancer and hid it from their patient. While ill, Guchkov worked and believed in his recovery.
On February 14, 1936, Alexander Ivanovich died. On February 17, a funeral liturgy was held, where the entire elite of the White emigration gathered. By the will of Guchkov, his body was cremated, and the urn with the ashes was walled up in the wall of the columbarium in the Parisian cemetery of Pere Lachaise.
Notes (edit)
- Melgunov, S.P. March days of 1917 / S. P. Melgunov; preface by Yu. N. Emelyanov. - M .: Ayris-press, 2008 .-- 688 p. + Incl. 8 p. - (White Russia). ISBN 978-5-8112-2933-8, p. 478
- Prince A. D. Golitsyn Memories. - Moscow: Russian way, 2008 .-- P. 229
- Varlamov A. Iliodor. Historical sketch
- O. A. Platonov An assassination attempt on the Russian kingdom. - Moscow: Algorithm, 2004 .-- P. 299
- He maintained business relations with General P.N. Wrangel, with whom he was in friendly correspondence. On the initiative of Guchkov, an Information Bureau was formed under the Russian Economic Bulletin in Paris to collect information on the economic situation in the USSR. Corresponded with many foreign political figures
- After coming to power in Germany, A. Hitler predicted an imminent new war, the main opponents in which would be the USSR and Germany.
Proceedings
- Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov tells ..: Memoirs of the Chairman of the State Duma and the Minister of War of the Provisional Government. M., 1993 // Questions of history № 7-12, 1991.
