On January 9, 1905, in the city of St. Petersburg, tsarist troops shot down a peaceful procession of workers. They went to the king to hand him a petition with their demands. This event happened on a Sunday, so it went down in history as Bloody Sunday. It served as an impetus for the beginning of the revolution of 1905-1907.
background
The mass procession of people happened for a reason. It was preceded by a series of events in which the Ministry of the Interior played an important role. Russian Empire. At the initiative of the police department in 1903, it was created Collection of Russian factory workers. The organization was legal, and its main task was to weaken the influence of various revolutionary currents on the working class.
At the head of the workers' organization, a special department of the Police Department placed a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Georgy Apollonovich Gapon (1870-1906). This man was extremely proud. Very soon he imagined himself a historical figure and the leader of the working class. This was facilitated by the representatives of the authorities themselves, as they removed themselves from control, placing the workers' business under the complete control of Gapon.
The nimble priest immediately took advantage of this and began to pursue his own policy, which he considered the only true and correct one. As planned by the authorities, the organization they created was supposed to deal with issues of enlightenment, education, and mutual assistance. And the newly minted leader founded a secret committee. Its members began to get acquainted with illegal literature, studied the history of revolutionary movements and actively discussed plans for the struggle for the political and economic interests of the workers.
Georgy Apollonovich enlisted the support of the Karelins. They came from a social-democratic milieu and had great prestige among the workers. With their direct assistance, the Assembly of Russian Factory Workers significantly increased its numbers. In the spring of 1904, the organization already numbered several thousand people.
In March 1904, a secret program was adopted, the so-called "program of five". It contained clear economic and political demands. They formed the basis of the petition with which the workers went to the tsar on January 9, 1905.
Very soon, the Karelinas took a leading position in the Assembly. They had many of their people, and they organized a kind of opposition. She began to play a much more important role than the leader of the organization. That is, Gapon turned into a convenient cover, which his leaders from the Police Department did not even know about.
However, Georgy Apollonovich himself was an energetic and purposeful person, so he cannot be regarded as a puppet in the hands of the Karelins. He lacked the experience of revolutionary struggle, authority among the working masses, but he quickly learned and acquired the necessary skills.
At the end of November 1904, he put forward a proposal to apply to the authorities with a working petition. This proposal was supported by a majority vote. Accordingly, the authority of Georgy Apollonovich grew, and the number of members of the organization began to grow even faster. In January 1905, it already numbered 20 thousand people.
At the same time, the initiative of the clergyman gave rise to serious disagreements among like-minded people. The Karelins and their supporters insisted on the immediate filing of a petition, and Gapon believed that first it was necessary to organize an uprising, show the strength of the masses, and only after that demand economic and political freedoms. Otherwise, the Assembly will be shut down and the leaders arrested.
All this aggravated relations between the Karelins and Georgy Apollonovich to the extreme. The couple began to actively campaign for the overthrow of the leader. It is not known how it would all end, but circumstances intervened.
Incident at the Putilov factory
In early December 1904, 4 workers were fired at the Putilov factory. These are Fedorov, Injections, Sergunin and Subbotin. All of them were members of the Assembly. The master Tetyavkin fired them for production violations. But rumors quickly spread among the workers that people had been kicked out of the factory for their membership in the Assembly.
All this came to Gapon, and he stated that this dismissal was a challenge to him personally. The Assembly is obliged to protect its members, otherwise it is worthless. It was decided to send 3 deputations. The first to Smirnov, the director of the plant. The second to Chizhov, the inspector in charge of the plant. And the third to Fullon, the mayor.
A resolution with requirements was approved. This is the reinstatement of the dismissed and the dismissal of master Tetyavkin. In case of refusal, it was supposed to start a mass strike.
Deputations came to Smirnov and Chizhov on December 28 and were categorically refused. The third deputation was met the next day by the mayor Fullon. He was polite, helpful and promised to render all possible assistance.
Fullon talked personally with Witte about the unrest at the Putilov factory. But he decided not to make concessions to the working class. On January 2, 1905, Gapon and his like-minded people decided to start a strike, and already on January 3, the Putilov factory stopped. At the same time, leaflets with a list of economic demands on the authorities began to be distributed at other factories.
After the start of the strike, Georgy Apollonovich, at the head of the delegation, appeared to the director of the plant, Smirnov. The economic demands were read to him, but the director replied that he refused to fulfill them. Already on January 5, the strike began to cover other factories in the capital, and Gapon decided to address his demands directly to the emperor. He believed that only the king could decide this issue.
On the eve of Bloody Sunday
The revolutionary clergyman believed that many thousands of workers were to come to the royal palace. In this case, the sovereign was simply obliged to consider the petition and somehow respond to it.
The text of the petition was read to all members of the Assembly. All who heard her signed the appeal. By the end of the day on January 8, there were more than 40,000 of them. Gapon himself claimed that he had collected at least 100,000 signatures.
Familiarization with the petition was accompanied by speeches with which Georgy Apollonovich spoke to people. They were so bright and sincere that the listeners fell into ecstasy. People swore that they would come to Palace Square on Sunday. The popularity of Gapon in these 3 days before the bloody events reached unimaginable heights. There was a rumor that he was a new messiah sent by God to free the common people. At one word, plants and factories that employed thousands of people stopped.
At the same time, the leader called for the march without any weapons, so as not to give the authorities a reason to use force. It was also forbidden to take alcohol with you and to allow hooligan antics. Nothing should have disturbed the peaceful procession to the sovereign. They also appointed people whose duty it was to protect the king from the moment he appeared before the people.
However, the organizers of the peaceful demonstration became more and more convinced that the emperor would not appear before the workers. Most likely, he will send troops against them. This scenario was more likely. The use of weapons by the troops was also allowed. But there was no going back. On the eve of January 9, the city froze in anxious expectation.
The tsar and his family left St. Petersburg for Tsarskoe Selo on the evening of January 6th. On the evening of January 8, the Minister of the Interior held an urgent meeting. It was decided not only not to allow workers to the Palace Square, but also to the city center. They decided to set up military outposts along the route of the demonstration, and in case of excesses, use force. But no one even thought of organizing a mass carnage. Officials believed that the mere sight of armed soldiers would frighten the workers, and they would be forced to go home. However, things did not work out as planned in advance.
In the early morning of January 9, 1905, the workers began to gather in their districts on the Vyborgskaya and Petersburg sides, behind the Neva and Narva outposts, in Kolpino, on Vasilyevsky Island. The total number of demonstrators numbered about 140 thousand people. All this mass of people moved in several columns to the Palace Square. There, the columns were to join by 2 o'clock in the afternoon and wait for the sovereign to come out to them.
The emperor had to accept the petition, and its delivery was entrusted to Gapon. At the same time, it was planned that the tsar would immediately sign 2 decrees: on the amnesty of political prisoners and on the convening of the Constituent Assembly. In the event that Nicholas II agreed with this demand, then the rebellious clergyman would go out to the people and wave a white handkerchief. This would serve as a signal for a nationwide celebration. In case of refusal, Gapon had to wave a red handkerchief, which would mean a signal for an uprising.
On the evening of January 8, the troops of the St. Petersburg Military District began to arrive in the capital of the empire. Already on the night of January 9, combat units took up combat positions. In total, there were about 31 thousand cavalry and infantry. You can also add 10 thousand police officers to this. Thus, the government put up more than 40,000 people against the peaceful demonstration. All bridges were blocked by military detachments, cavalrymen rode along the street. The city in a few hours turned into a huge military camp.
Chronology of events
The workers of the Izhora plant from Kolpino were the first to move to Palace Square. because they had to travel the longest distance. At 9 o'clock in the morning they connected with the workers of the Nevsky Zastava. On the Shlisselburg tract, they were blocked by the Cossacks of the Ataman regiment. There were about 16 thousand workers. There were two hundred Cossacks. They fired several volleys with blanks. The crowd retreated, broke down the fence separating the street from the Neva, and moved on along the ice of the river.
On Vasilyevsky Island, the workers set off at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. There were about 6 thousand of them. The Cossacks and infantry blocked their way. The cavalry detachment of Cossacks wedged into the crowd. People were chopped down with swords, whipped with whips, trampled on by horses. The human mass retreated and began to build barricades from fallen telegraph poles. Red flags appeared from somewhere.
The soldiers opened fire, captured one barricade, but by this time the workers had already built another. Before the end of the day, the proletarians erected several more barricades. But all of them were captured by the troops, and live ammunition was fired at the rebels.
At the Narva outpost, Gapon came to the assembled workers. He put on the full vestments of a priest. A huge crowd of 50,000 people gathered at this place. People walked with icons and portraits of the king. The troops blocked their path at the Narva Gate. At first, the peaceful procession was attacked by the grenadiers, but the horsemen did not frighten the huge mass of people. Then the infantry began to shoot. The soldiers fired five volleys and the crowd began to disperse. The dead and wounded lay on the snow. In this skirmish, one of the bullets wounded Gapon in the arm, but he was quickly taken away from the fire.
On the Petersburg side, the crowd reached 20 thousand people. People walked in a dense mass, holding hands. The Pavlovsky regiment blocked their way. The soldiers started firing. Three shots were fired. The crowd trembled and rushed back. The dead and wounded lay on the snow. The cavalry was sent after the fleeing. Those who were caught up were trampled on by horses and cut down with swords.
But on the Vyborg side there were no casualties. The cavalry was sent to meet the procession. She dispersed the crowd. People, fleeing from horses, crossed over the ice across the Neva and continued on their way to the city center in small groups.
Despite the continuous military barriers, by noon a significant mass of people had gathered on Palace Square.. They managed to penetrate the city center in small groups. In addition to the workers, there were many onlookers and passers-by in the crowd. The day was Sunday, and everyone came to see how the rebellious people would hand over the petition to the tsar.
At two o'clock in the afternoon the cavalry units tried to disperse the crowd. But people joined hands, insults rained down on the soldiers. The Preobrazhensky Regiment entered the square. The soldiers lined up in a line and, on command, took their guns to the ready. The officer shouted to the crowd to disperse, but the crowd did not budge. The soldiers fired 2 volleys at the people. Everyone started to run. The dead and wounded remained lying on the square.
A huge crowd crowded on Nevsky Prospekt. By 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the entire avenue was blocked by workers and onlookers. They were not allowed to pass to the Palace Square by cavalry detachments. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, volleys were heard from the side of Palace Square. This made people angry. Stones and pieces of ice flew at the cavalrymen. Those, in turn, tried to cut the crowd into pieces, but the riders did it poorly.
At 4 o'clock a company of the Semyonovsky regiment appeared. She began to push the demonstrators, but met with fierce resistance. And then came the order to open fire. In total, 6 volleys were fired at people. Local clashes continued until late in the evening. The workers even built a barricade blocking the Nevsky. Only by 11 p.m. the demonstrators were dispersed and order was put on the avenue.
Thus ended Bloody Sunday. As for casualties, a total of 150 people were killed and several hundred wounded. The exact figures are still unknown, and data from different sources vary significantly.
The yellow press called the figure more than 4 thousand killed. And the government reported 130 dead and 299 wounded. Some researchers are of the opinion that at least 200 people died and about 800 people were injured.
Conclusion
After the bloody events, Georgy Gapon fled abroad. In March 1906, he was strangled by the Socialist-Revolutionaries at one of the dachas near St. Petersburg. His body was found on 30 April. The dacha was rented by the Socialist-Revolutionary Pyotr Rutenberg. Apparently, he lured the former labor leader to the dacha. The failed leader was buried at the Assumption cemetery in the capital.
On January 10, 1905, the sovereign dismissed the mayor Fullon and the Minister of the Interior Svyatopolk-Mirsky. On January 20, the tsar received a delegation of workers and expressed sincere regret over what had happened. At the same time, he condemned the mass procession, saying that it was a crime to go to him in a rebellious crowd.
After the disappearance of Gapon, the enthusiasm of the workers disappeared. They went to work and the mass strike ended. But it was only a small respite. In the near future, new victims and political upheavals awaited the country.
On January 22 (9 according to the old style), 1905, the troops and the police broke up a peaceful procession of St. Petersburg workers who were going to the Winter Palace to hand Nicholas II a collective petition about the needs of the workers. In the course of the demonstration, as Maxim Gorky described the events in his famous novel The Life of Klim Samgin, ordinary people also joined the workers. The bullets flew at them too. Many were trampled down by a frightened crowd of demonstrators who rushed to run after the execution began.
Everything that happened in St. Petersburg on January 22 went down in history under the name "Bloody Sunday". In many ways, it was the bloody events of that day off that predetermined the further decline of the Russian Empire.
But like any global event that turned the course of history, "Bloody Sunday" gave rise to a lot of rumors and mysteries, which hardly anyone can unravel after 109 years. What are these riddles - in the selection of "RG".
1. Proletarian solidarity or a cunning conspiracy?
The spark from which the flame flared up was the dismissal of four workers from the Putilov factory in St. Petersburg, famous for the fact that at one time the first cannonball was cast there and the production of railway rails was launched. “When the demand for their return was not satisfied,” writes an eyewitness of what was happening, “the plant immediately became very friendly. they sent a deputation to other factories with a message of their demands and a proposal to join. Thousands and tens of thousands of workers began to join the movement. As a result, 26,000 people were on strike. A meeting of Russian factory workers in St. Petersburg, headed by priest Georgy Gapon, prepared a petition for the needs of the workers and residents of St. Petersburg. The main idea there was the convening of a people's representation on the terms of universal, secret and equal voting. In addition to this, a number of political and economic demands were put forward, such as freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion, public education at public expense, equality of all before the law, responsibility of ministers to the people, guarantees of the legality of government, replacement of indirect taxes with direct progressive income tax, introduction of an 8-hour working day, amnesty for political prisoners, separation of church and state The petition ended with a direct appeal to the king. Moreover, this idea belonged to Gapon himself and was expressed by him long before the January events. Menshevik A. A. Sukhov recalled that back in the spring of 1904, Gapon, in a conversation with workers, developed his idea: “The officials interfere with the people, but the people will come to an agreement with the tsar.
However, there is no smoke without fire. Therefore, subsequently, both the monarchist-minded parties and movements, and the Russian emigration, assessed the Sunday procession as nothing more than a carefully prepared conspiracy, one of the developers of which was Leon Trotsky, and main goal which was the assassination of the king. The workers were simply set up, as they say. And Gapon was chosen as the leader of the uprising only because he was popular among the workers of St. Petersburg. Peaceful manifestations were not planned. According to the plan of the engineer and active revolutionary Peter Rutenberg, clashes and a general uprising were to take place, the weapons for which were already available. And it was delivered from abroad, in particular, Japan. Ideally, the king should have gone out to the people. And the conspirators planned to kill the king. But was it really so? Or was it still ordinary proletarian solidarity? The workers were simply very annoyed by the fact that they were forced to work seven days a week, paid little and irregularly, and, in addition, they were fired. And then it went and went.
2. A provocateur or an agent of the tsarist secret police?
Around George Gapon, a half-educated priest (at one time he abandoned the Poltava Theological Seminary), there were always many legends. How could this young man, although, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, possessed a bright appearance and outstanding oratorical qualities, become the leader of the workers?
In the notes of the prosecutor of the St. Petersburg Court of Justice to the Minister of Justice dated January 4-9, 1905, there is such a note: “The named priest has acquired extraordinary importance in the eyes of the people. Most consider him a prophet who came from God to protect the working people. To this, legends about him are added invulnerability, elusiveness, etc. Women speak of him with tears in their eyes. Relying on the religiosity of the vast majority of workers, Gapon carried away the entire mass of factory workers and artisans, so that at present about 200,000 people are participating in the movement. Using precisely this side of the moral forces of a Russian commoner, Gapon, in the words of one person, "slapped" the revolutionaries, who lost all significance in these unrest, issuing only 3 proclamations in an insignificant number. By order of Father Gapon, the workers drive the agitators away from themselves and destroy the leaflets, blindly follow her spiritual father. With this way of thinking of the crowd, she undoubtedly firmly and convincedly believes in the rightness of his desire to submit a petition to the king and have an answer from him, believing that if students are persecuted for their propaganda and demonstrations, then an attack on a crowd going to the king with a cross and a priest will be clear evidence of the impossibility for the subjects of the king to ask him for their needs.
During the Soviet era in historical literature the prevailing version was that Gapon was an agent provocateur of the tsarist secret police. "Back in 1904, before the Putilov strike," it was said in " short course VKP(b)", - with the help of the provocateur Priest Gapon, the police created their own organization among the workers - "Assembly of Russian Factory Workers". This organization had its branches in all districts of St. Petersburg. When the strike began, Priest Gapon at the meetings of his society proposed provocative plan: on January 9, let all the workers gather and in a peaceful procession with banners and royal portraits go to the Winter Palace and submit a petition (request) to the tsar about their needs. The tsar, they say, will come out to the people, listen and satisfy their demands. Gapon undertook to help the tsar's Okhrana: call for the execution of the workers and drown the labor movement in blood.
Although for some reason Lenin's statements were completely forgotten in the "Short Course". A few days after January 9 (22), V. I. Lenin wrote in the article "Revolutionary Days": "Letters from Gapon, written by him after the massacre on January 9, that "we have no tsar", calling him to fight for freedom etc. - all these are facts that speak in favor of his honesty and sincerity, because such powerful agitation for the continuation of the uprising could no longer be included in the tasks of a provocateur. Further, Lenin wrote that the question of Gapon's sincerity "could be decided only by unfolding historical events, only by facts, facts and facts. And the facts decided this question in favor of Gapon." After the arrival of Gapon abroad, when he set about preparing an armed uprising, the revolutionaries openly recognized him as their colleague. However, after the return of Gapon to Russia after the Manifesto of October 17, the old enmity flared up with renewed vigor.
Another common myth about Gapon was that he was a paid agent of the tsarist secret police. The studies of modern historians do not confirm this version, since it has no documentary basis. So, according to the research of the historian-archivist S. I. Potolov, Gapon cannot be considered an agent of the tsarist secret police, since he was never listed in the lists and file cabinets of agents of the security department. In addition, until 1905, Gapon legally could not be an agent of the security department, since the law strictly prohibited the recruitment of representatives of the clergy as agents. Gapon cannot be considered an agent of the Okhrana for factual reasons, since he has never been engaged in intelligence activities. Gapon is not involved in the extradition of a single person to the police who would be arrested or punished on his tip. There is not a single denunciation written by Gapon. According to the historian I. N. Ksenofontov, all attempts by Soviet ideologists to portray Gapon as a police agent were based on the juggling of facts.
Although Gapon, of course, cooperated with the Police Department and even received large sums of money from him. But this cooperation was not of the nature of undercover activity. According to Generals A. I. Spiridovich and A. V. Gerasimov, Gapon was invited to cooperate with the Police Department not as an agent, but as an organizer and agitator. Gapon's task was to fight the influence of revolutionary propagandists and convince the workers of the advantages of peaceful methods of fighting for their interests. In accordance with this attitude, Gapon set up and his students explained to the workers the advantages of legal methods of struggle. The police department, considering this activity useful for the state, supported Gapon and from time to time supplied him with sums of money. Gapon himself, as the head of the "Assembly", went to officials from the Police Department and made reports to them on the state of the labor issue in St. Petersburg. Gapon did not hide his relationship with the Police Department and the receipt of money from him from his workers. Living abroad, in his autobiography, Gapon described the history of his relationship with the Police Department, in which he explained the fact of receiving money from the police.
Did he know what he was leading the workers on January 9 (22)? Here is what Gapon himself wrote: "January 9 is a fatal misunderstanding. In this, in any case, it is not society that is to blame with me at the head ... I really went to the king with naive faith for the truth, and the phrase:" at the cost of our own lives, we guarantee the inviolability of the individual sovereign" was not an empty phrase. But if for me and for my faithful comrades the person of the sovereign was and is sacred, then the good of the Russian people is dearest to us. at the head, under the bullets and bayonets of the soldiers, in order to testify with their blood to the truth - namely, the urgency of the renewal of Russia on the basis of truth. (G. A. Gapon. Letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs ").
3. Who killed Gapon?
In March 1906, Georgy Gapon left Petersburg along the Finnish railway and didn't come back. According to the workers, he went to business meeting with a representative of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. When leaving, Gapon did not take any things or weapons with him, and promised to return by evening. The workers were worried that something bad had happened to him. But no one did much research.
It was only in mid-April that reports appeared in the newspapers that Gapon had been killed by Peter Rutenberg, a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. It was reported that Gapon was strangled with a rope and his corpse was hanging on one of the empty dachas near St. Petersburg. The messages have been confirmed. On April 30, at the dacha of Zverzhinskaya in Ozerki, the body of a murdered man was found, who by all signs resembled Gapon. The workers of the Gapon organizations confirmed that the murdered man was Georgy Gapon. An autopsy showed that death was due to strangulation. According to preliminary data, Gapon was invited to the dacha by a person well known to him, was attacked and strangled with a rope and hung on a hook driven into the wall. At least 3-4 people were involved in the murder. The person who rented the dacha was identified by a janitor from a photograph. It turned out to be engineer Peter Rutenberg.
Rutenberg himself did not admit to the allegations and subsequently claimed that Gapon was killed by the workers. According to a certain "hunter for provocateurs" Burtsev, Gapon was strangled with his own hand by a certain Derental, a professional killer from the entourage of the terrorist B. Savinkov.
4. How many victims were there?
The "Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks" contained the following data: more than 1,000 killed and more than 2,000 wounded. at the same time, in his article "Revolutionary Days" in the newspaper "Vperyod" Lenin wrote: the figure cannot be complete, because even during the day (not to mention the night) it would be impossible to count all the dead and wounded in all the skirmishes.
In comparison with him, the writer V. D. Bonch-Bruevich tried to somehow substantiate such figures (in his article of 1929). He proceeded from the fact that 12 companies of different regiments fired 32 volleys, a total of 2861 shots. Having allowed 16 misfires per volley per company, for 110 shots, Bonch-Bruevich threw off 15 percent, that is, 430 shots, attributed the same amount to misses, received 2000 hits in the remainder and came to the conclusion that at least 4 thousand people suffered. His methodology was thoroughly criticized by the historian S. N. Semanov in his book Bloody Sunday. For example, Bonch-Bruyevich considered a volley of two companies of grenadiers at the Sampsonievsky bridge (220 shots), while in fact no shots were fired at this place. Not 100 soldiers fired at the Alexander Garden, as Bonch-Bruevich believed, but 68. In addition, the even distribution of hits is completely incorrect - one bullet per person (many received several wounds, which was registered by hospital doctors); and part of the soldiers deliberately fired upwards. Semanov was in solidarity with the Bolshevik V.I. Nevsky (who considered the most plausible total figure of 800-1000 people), without specifying how many were killed and how many wounded, although Nevsky gave such a division in his 1922 article: "Figures of five or more thousand, which were called in the early days are clearly incorrect. One can approximately determine the number of wounded from 450 to 800 and killed from 150 to 200. "
According to the same Semanov, the government first reported that only 76 people were killed and 223 were wounded, then they made an amendment that 130 were killed and 229 were wounded. To this it must be added that a leaflet issued by the RSDLP immediately after the events of January 9 stated that "at least 150 people were killed, but many hundreds were wounded."
According to the modern publicist O. A. Platonov, on January 9, there were 96 killed (including a police officer) and up to 333 wounded, of which 34 more people died by the old style by January 27 (including one assistant bailiff). Thus, in total, 130 people were killed and died of wounds and about 300 were injured.
5. Come out the king to the balcony ...
"A hard day! Serious unrest occurred in St. Petersburg due to the desire of the workers to reach the Winter Palace. The troops were supposed to shoot in different parts of the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and hard!" Nicholas II wrote after the events in St. Petersburg .
Baron Wrangel’s comment is noteworthy: “One thing seems certain to me: if the Sovereign came out onto the balcony, if he listened to the people one way or another, nothing would happen, except that the tsar would become more popular than he was ... How the prestige of his great-grandfather, Nicholas I, was strengthened, after his appearance during the cholera riot on Sennaya Square! But the Tsar was only Nicholas II, and not the Second Nicholas ... "The Tsar did not go anywhere. And what happened happened.
6. A sign from above?
According to eyewitnesses, during the dispersal of the procession on January 9, a rare a natural phenomenon- halo. According to the memoirs of the writer L. Ya. Gurevich, “in the cloudy, hazy sky, the cloudy-red sun gave two reflections around itself in the fog, and it seemed to the eyes that there were three suns in the sky. Then, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, an unusual bright rainbow in winter lit up in the sky, and when it dimmed and disappeared, a snow storm arose.
Other witnesses saw a similar picture. According to scientists, a similar natural phenomenon is observed in frosty weather and is caused by the refraction of sunlight in ice crystals floating in the atmosphere. Visually, it manifests itself in the form of false suns (parhelia), circles, rainbows or solar pillars. In the old days, such phenomena were considered as heavenly signs, foreshadowing trouble.
One of the most tragic events that took place in the history of Russia is Bloody Sunday. In short, on January 9, 1905, a demonstration was shot down, in which about 140 thousand representatives of the working class became participants. It happened in St. Petersburg during which after that the people began to call Bloody. Many historians believe that it was the decisive impetus for the start of the 1905 revolution.
a brief history
At the end of 1904, political ferment began in the country, this happened after the defeat that the state suffered in the notorious Russo-Japanese War. What events led to the mass execution of workers - a tragedy that went down in history as Bloody Sunday? In short, it all started with the organization of the “Assembly of Russian Factory Workers”.
Interestingly, he actively contributed to the creation of this organization. This was due to the fact that the authorities were concerned about the growing number of dissatisfied people in the working environment. The main purpose of the "Assembly" was originally to protect the representatives of the working class from the influence of revolutionary propaganda, the organization of mutual assistance, education. However, the "Assembly" was not properly controlled by the authorities, resulting in a sharp change in the course of the organization. This was largely due to the personality of the person who led it.
Georgy Gapon
What does Georgy Gapon have to do with the tragic day that is remembered as Bloody Sunday? In short, it was this clergyman who became the inspirer and organizer of the demonstration, the outcome of which turned out to be so sad. Gapon took over as head of the "Assembly" at the end of 1903, it soon found itself in his unlimited power. The ambitious clergyman dreamed that his name would go down in history, proclaiming himself the true leader of the working class.
The leader of the "Assembly" founded a secret committee whose members read forbidden literature, studied the history of revolutionary movements, and developed plans to fight for the interests of the working class. Gapon's associates were the Karelinas, who enjoyed great prestige among the workers.
The "Program of Five", including the specific political and economic demands of the members of the secret committee, was developed in March 1904. It was she who served as the source from which the demands were taken, which the demonstrators planned to present to the tsar on Bloody Sunday 1905. In short, they failed to achieve their goal. On that day, the petition did not fall into the hands of Nicholas II.
Incident at the Putilov factory
What event led the workers to decide on a massive demonstration on the day known as Bloody Sunday? You can briefly talk about this as follows: the impetus was the dismissal of several people who worked at the Putilov factory. All of them were members of the Assembly. Rumors spread that people were fired precisely because of their affiliation with the organization.
The unrest did not spread to other enterprises operating at that time in St. Petersburg. Mass strikes began, leaflets began to circulate with economic and political demands on the government. Inspired by Gapon, he decided to submit a petition personally to the autocrat Nicholas II. When the text of the appeal to the tsar was read to the participants of the "Assembly", whose number already exceeded 20 thousand, people expressed their desire to participate in the rally.
The date of the procession, which went down in history as Bloody Sunday, was also determined - January 9, 1905. Briefly about the main events are described below.
Bloodshed was not planned
The authorities became aware in advance of the impending demonstration, in which about 140,000 people were to take part. On January 6, Emperor Nicholas left with his family for Tsarskoye Selo. The Minister of the Interior called an urgent meeting the day before the event, which was remembered as Bloody Sunday 1905. In short, during the meeting, it was decided not to allow the meeting participants to go not only to Palace Square, but also to the city center.
It is worth mentioning that the bloodshed was not originally planned. Representatives of the authorities had no doubt that the sight of armed soldiers would make the crowd disperse, but these expectations were not justified.
Massacres
The procession, which moved to the Winter Palace, consisted of men, women and children who did not have weapons with them. Many participants in the procession were holding portraits of Nicholas II, banners. At the Nevsky Gates, the demonstration was attacked by cavalry, then shooting began, five shots were fired.
The next shots rang out near the Trinity Bridge from the Petersburg and Vyborg sides. Several volleys were also fired at the Winter Palace, when the demonstrators reached the Alexander Garden. The scenes of the events soon became littered with the bodies of the wounded and the dead. Local skirmishes continued until late in the evening, only by 11 p.m. did the authorities manage to disperse the demonstrators.
Consequences
The report, which was presented to Nicholas II, significantly underestimated the number of people affected on January 9th. Bloody Sunday summary which is retold in this article, claimed the lives of 130 people, another 299 were injured, if you rely on this report. In reality, the number of dead and wounded exceeded four thousand people, the exact figure remained a mystery.
Georgy Gapon managed to escape abroad, but in March 1906 the clergyman was killed by the Socialist-Revolutionaries. Mayor Fullon, who was directly involved in the events of Bloody Sunday, was dismissed on January 10, 1905. The Minister of the Interior Svyatopolk-Mirsky also lost his post. The meeting of the emperor with the working delegation took place during it, Nicholas II expressed regret that so many people had died. However, he nevertheless stated that the demonstrators had committed a crime and condemned the mass procession.
Conclusion
After the disappearance of Gapon, the mass strike stopped, the unrest subsided. However, this turned out to be only the calm before the storm, soon the state was expected by new political upheavals and victims.
In 1905-1907, events took place in Russia, which were later called the first Russian revolution. The beginning of these events is considered January 1905, when in political struggle entered the workers of one of the St. Petersburg factories. Back in 1904, a young priest of the St. Petersburg transit prison, Georgy Gapon, with the assistance of the police and city authorities, created in the city a working organization "Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg." In the first months, the workers simply arranged general evenings, often with tea, dancing, and opened a mutual benefit fund.
By the end of 1904, about 9 thousand people were already members of the "Assembly". In December 1904, one of the foremen of the Putilov factory fired four workers who were members of the organization. The "assembly" immediately came out in support of the comrades, sent a delegation to the director of the plant, and, despite his attempts to smooth over the conflict, the workers decided to stop work in protest. On January 2, 1905, the huge Putilov factory stopped. The strikers put forward already increased demands: to establish an 8-hour working day, to increase salaries. Other metropolitan factories gradually joined the strike, and a few days later 150,000 workers were on strike in St. Petersburg.
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G. Gapon spoke at meetings, calling for a peaceful procession to the tsar, who alone could intercede for the workers. He even helped prepare an appeal to Nicholas II, in which there were such lines: “We have become impoverished, we are oppressed, .. people do not recognize us, they treat us like slaves ... No more strength, Sovereign ... That terrible moment has come for us, when better death than the continuation of unbearable torment. Look without anger ... at our requests, they are directed not to evil, but to good, both for us and for You, Sovereign! "The appeal listed the requests of the workers, it included for the first time the demands of political freedoms, the organization of the Constituent Assembly, - it was practically a revolutionary program.A peaceful procession to the Winter Palace was scheduled for January 9. Gapon assured that the tsar should go out to the workers and accept an appeal from them.
On January 9, about 140,000 workers took to the streets of St. Petersburg. The columns headed by G. Gapon went to the Winter Palace. The workers came with their families, children, festively dressed, they carried portraits of the king, icons, crosses, sang prayers. Throughout the city, the procession met armed soldiers, but no one wanted to believe that they could shoot. Nicholas II was in Tsarskoye Selo that day, but the workers believed that he would come to listen to their requests.
On the eve of the tragic events of January 9, 1905, Nicholas II introduced martial law in St. Petersburg. All power in the capital automatically passed to his uncle, the Commander-in-Chief of the Guards of the St. Petersburg Military District, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.
Vladimir Alexandrovich on his birthday, April 10, 1847, was appointed chief of the Life Guards Dragoon Regiment, was a member of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment and the Life Guards Sapper Battalion. On March 2, 1881, he was appointed commander of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District. By the manifesto of Emperor Alexander III of March 14, 1881, he was appointed regent ("Ruler of the State") in the event of the death of the emperor - until the age of heir to the throne Nikolai Alexandrovich (or in the event of the death of the latter).
From 1884 to 1905 Grand Duke served as Commander-in-Chief of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District. During the riots on January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg, it was he who gave the order to shoot at the crowd.
During the execution, Gapon was pulled out from under the bullets by the Socialist-Revolutionary P. M. Rutenberg, and for some time he hid in the apartment of A. M. Gorky. With a changed appearance, short-haired, he left the apartment and in the evening of the same day, under a false name, delivered a diatribe in the Free Economic Society. "Brothers, comrades-workers!", edited by Rutenberg in the spirit of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, in which, among other things, he called for terror and, calling the king a beast, wrote: Russian land. Death to them all!"
The events of "Bloody Sunday" shocked the whole of Russia. Portraits of the king, previously revered as shrines, were torn and trampled right on the streets. Shocked by the execution of the workers, G. Gapon exclaimed: "There is no more God, no more tsar!" On the night after Bloody Sunday, he wrote a leaflet:
Soon after the January events, Georgy Gapon fled abroad. In March 1905 he was defrocked and expelled from the clergy.
Gapon was very popular abroad. He was, in the words of L. D. Trotsky, a figure of almost biblical style. Gapon met with J. Jaurès, J. Clemenceau and other leaders of European socialists and radicals. In London I saw P. A. Kropotkin.
In exile, Georgy Gapon founded the "Gapon Fund", where donations for the Russian revolution flocked. In May-June 1905, he dictated his memoirs, which were originally published in translation into English language. Gapon also met with G. V. Plekhanov and V. I. Lenin, joined the RSDLP.
Regarding the rumors about Gapon's provocateurism, Lenin wrote:
Through an intermediary, Gapon received 50 thousand francs from the Japanese envoy to purchase weapons and deliver them to the Russian revolutionaries. The ship "John Crafton", which carried weapons, ran aground near the Russian coast, and almost all the cargo went to the police. In April 1905, the freshly minted Social Democrat held a conference of socialist parties in Paris with the aim of working out common tactics and uniting them into a Combat Alliance. In May of the same year, he left the RSDLP and, with the assistance of V. M. Chernov, joined the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, however, he was soon expelled due to "political illiteracy."
Return to Russia. The end of the provocateur.
After the amnesty announced by the manifesto on October 17, 1905, he returned to Russia. Wrote a penitential letter to Witte. In response, the prime minister promised to give permission for the restoration of Gapon's "Assembly ...". But after the arrest of the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies and the suppression of the Moscow uprising in December 1905, the promises were forgotten, and articles appeared in some newspapers accusing Gapon of having connections with the police and receiving money from a Japanese agent. Perhaps these publications were inspired by the government in order to discredit Gapon, mainly in the eyes of the workers.
In January 1906, the activities of the "Assembly ..." were banned. And then Gapon takes a very risky step - he invites the head of the political department of the Police Department P. I. Rachkovsky to extradite combat organization Socialist-Revolutionaries with the help of their savior P. M. Rutenberg, of course, not free of charge. Minister of Internal Affairs P. N. Durnovo agreed to this operation and allowed to pay 25 thousand rubles for it. Perhaps Gapon, as was his custom before, was playing a double game.
However, this time he paid dearly for it: Rutenberg announced Gapon's proposal to the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, after which it was decided to kill Gapon. Taking into account Gapon's still remaining popularity among the working class, the Central Committee demanded that Rutenberg organize the double murder of Gapon and Rachkovsky, so that evidence of the former priest's betrayal was available. But Rachkovsky, having suspected something, did not appear at the meeting with Gapon and Rutenberg at the restaurant. And then Rutenberg lured Gapon to a dacha in Ozerki near St. Petersburg, where he previously hid the "Gaponov" workers. During a frank conversation about the extradition of the Combat Organization, angry workers burst into the room, who immediately hanged their recent idol. Such is the event outline of Gapon's murder, according to Rutenberg's notes.
Maxim Gorky, no less shocked by what had happened, later wrote an essay on January 9, in which he spoke about the events of that terrible day: they walked, clearly seeing the goal of the path before them, a fabulous image stood majestically in front of them ... Two volleys, blood, corpses, groans and - everyone stood before the gray emptiness, powerless, with torn hearts.
The tragic events of January 9 in St. Petersburg are also reflected in the notorious novel of the future classic of Soviet literature, The Life of Klim Samgin. They became the day of the beginning of the first Russian revolution, which swept the whole of Russia.
Another culprit of the bloody events, the Grand Duke and uncle of the Tsar Vladimir Alexandrovich, was soon forced to resign from the post of Commander of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District (dismissed on October 26, 1905). However, his resignation was not at all related to the unjustified use of military force against a peaceful demonstration of St. Petersburg workers. On October 8, 1905, the eldest son of the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich married the divorced Grand Duchess of Hesse, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. There was no Imperial permission for marriage, although there was the blessing of the Dowager Empress Maria Pavlovna. Kirill's bride was ex-wife brother of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Despite this, marriage with a "divorced woman" was considered indecent for a member of the imperial family. He deprived the Grand Duke Kirill of all rights to Russian throne and to a certain extent discredited his close relatives.
Vladimir Alexandrovich was a well-known philanthropist, patronized many artists, and collected a valuable collection of paintings. Since 1869, the comrade (deputy) of the president (Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna), since 1876 - the president of the Imperial Academy of Arts, was a trustee of the Rumyantsev Museum. On February 4, 1909, his death was officially announced by the Supreme Manifesto of the same day; On February 7, the transfer of his body from his palace to the Peter and Paul Cathedral took place, on February 8 - the funeral and burial in the same place, which was headed by Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg and Ladoga; the emperor, the widow of the late Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (arrived with Nicholas II), other members of the imperial family, Chairman of the Council of Ministers P. A. Stolypin and other ministers, as well as the Tsar of Bulgaria Ferdinand were present.
Thus, the instigator of the demonstrations that turned into riots on the streets of St. Petersburg in January 1905 was the double agent Georgy Gapon, and the bloody denouement was initiated by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. As a result, Emperor Nicholas II received only the title of "bloody", although he was least of all involved in the events described.
Somehow it was quickly forgotten that the impetus that became the main cause of the first Russian revolution of 1905 was the execution on January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg by the imperial troops of a peaceful demonstration of workers, led by, later called Bloody Sunday. In this action, on the orders of the "democratic" authorities, 96 unarmed demonstrators were shot and 333 were wounded, of which 34 more people later died. The figures are taken from the report of the Director of the Police Department A. A. Lopukhin to the Minister of Internal Affairs A. G. Bulygin about the events of that day.
When the execution of a peaceful demonstration of workers took place, he was in exile, the Social Democrats did not in any way influence either the course or the result of what happened. Subsequently, communist history declared Georgy Gapon a provocateur and a villain, although the memoirs of contemporaries and the documents of the priest Gapon himself indicate that there was no treacherous or provocative intent in his actions. It can be seen that life in Russia was not so sweet and rich, even if priests began to lead revolutionary circles and movements.
In addition, Father George himself, driven at first by good feelings, later became proud and imagined himself to be a kind of messiah, dreamed of becoming a peasant king.
The conflict, as often happens, began with a banality. In December 1904, 4 workers were fired from the Putilov factory - members of the Gaponov "Assembly of Russian Factory Workers". At the same time, the master told the fired: "Go to your" Assembly ", it will support you and feed you." The workers followed the insulting "advice" of the master and turned to Gapon. An investigation carried out on behalf of Father George showed that three of the four were dismissed unfairly and illegally, and the master himself was biased towards members of the Gapon organization.
Gapon quite rightly saw in the master's act a challenge thrown to the Assembly by the administration of the plant. And if the organization does not protect its members, it thereby loses its credibility among the members of the assembly and other workers.
On January 3, a strike at the Putilov factory began, which gradually spread to other enterprises in St. Petersburg. The following took part in the strike:
- From the pipe factory of the Military Department on Vasilyevsky Island - 6 thousand workers;
- From the Nevsky Mechanical and Shipbuilding Plants - also 6 thousand workers;
- From the Franco-Russian factory, the Neva thread, and the Neva paper-spinning manufactory - 2 thousand workers left their jobs;
In total, more than 120 enterprises with a total number of about 88,000 people took part in the strike. Mass strikes, for their part, also served as the reason for such a disloyal attitude towards the procession of workers.
On January 5, Gapon made a proposal to turn to the king for help. In the following days, he drafted the text of the appeal, which included economic and several political demands, the main of which was the involvement of people's representatives in the constituent assembly. On Sunday, January 9, a religious procession to the king was scheduled.
The Bolsheviks tried to take advantage of the situation and draw the workers into the revolutionary movement. Students and agitators came to the departments of the Gapon Assembly, scattered leaflets, tried to make speeches, but the working masses followed Gapon and did not want to listen to the Social Democrats. According to one of the Bolsheviks, D.D. Himmer Gapon checkmate the Social Democrats.
For many years, communist history was silent about one event, incidental, but which influenced the subsequent outcome of Sunday. Perhaps they considered it insignificant, or, most likely, the silence of this fact¸ made it possible to expose the tsarist government as bloodthirsty monsters. On January 6, the Epiphany blessing of water took place on the Neva. Nicholas 2 himself took part in the event. One of the artillery pieces fired towards the royal tent. This weapon, intended for training shooting ranges, turned out to be a loaded live projectile that exploded almost next to the tent. It did some other damage. 4 glasses were broken in the palace and a policeman was wounded, by coincidence - the namesake of the emperor.
Then, during the investigation, it turned out that this shot was accidental, fired due to someone's negligence and oversight. However, he seriously scared the king, and he hastily left for Tsarskoye Selo. Everyone was convinced that a terrorist attack had been attempted.
Father Georgy assumed the possibility of clashes between the demonstrators and the police, and, wanting to avoid them, wrote 2 letters: to the Tsar and the Minister of the Interior P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky.
In a letter to His Imperial Majesty, Father George wrote:
The priest urged Nicholas 2 to go out to the people "with a courageous heart", informed that the workers would guarantee his safety "at the cost of their own lives."
In his book, Gapon recalled how difficult it was for him to convince the leaders of the workers to give the emperor this guarantee: the workers believed that if something happened to the king, they would be obliged to give up their lives. The letter was delivered to the Winter Palace, but it is not known whether it was handed over to the tsar. In a letter to Svyatopolk-Mirsky, written in approximately the same words, the priest asked the minister to immediately inform the tsar about the upcoming event and to acquaint him with the petition of the workers. It is known that the minister received the letter and on the evening of January 8 took it along with the petition to Tsarskoye Selo. However, no response was received from the king and his minister.
Addressing the workers, Gapon said: “Let's go, brothers, let's make sure that the Russian tsar really loves his people, as they say. If he gives all the freedoms, then he loves, and if not, then this is a lie, and then we can do with him as our conscience tells us ... "
On the morning of January 9, workers in holiday clothes gathered on the outskirts to move in columns to the palace square. People were in a peaceful mood, they came out with icons, portraits of the king and banners. There were women in the columns. The procession was attended by 140 thousand people.
Not only the workers were preparing for the procession, but also the tsarist government. Troops and police units were drawn to Petersburg. The city was divided into 8 parts. 40,000 military and police officers were involved in the suppression of popular unrest. Bloody Sunday has begun.
Results of the day
On this difficult day, gun salvos thundered on the Shlisselburg tract, at the Narva Gates, on the 4th line and Maly Prospekt of Vasilyevsky Island, next to the Troitsky Bridge and in other parts of the city. According to military reports and police reports, shooting was used where the workers refused to disperse. The military first fired a warning volley into the air, and when the crowd approached closer than a predetermined distance, they opened fire to kill. On this day, 2 policemen died, not a single one from the military. Gapon was taken from the square by the Socialist-Revolutionary Ruttenberg (the one who would later be held responsible for Gapon's death) to the apartment of Maxim Gorky.
The number of killed and wounded in different reports and documents varies.
Not all relatives found the bodies of their relatives in hospitals, which gave rise to rumors that the police underestimate the information about the dead, who were buried secretly in mass graves.
It can be assumed that if Nicholas II had ended up in the palace and went out to the people, or sent (at worst) a confidant, if he had listened to the delegates from the people, then there could have been no revolution at all. But the tsar and his ministers preferred to keep their distance from the people, setting up heavily armed gendarmes and soldiers against them. Thus, Nicholas 2 turned the people against him and provided carte blanche for the Bolsheviks. The events of Bloody Sunday are considered to be the beginning of the revolution.
Here is an entry from the emperor's diary:
Gapon grievously survived the execution of the workers. According to one eyewitness, he for a long time sat, looking at one point, nervously clenching his fist and repeating "I swear ... I swear ...". A little moving away from the shock, he took the paper and wrote a message to the workers.
It is somehow hard to believe that if the priest were in the same basement with Nicholas 2, and if he had a weapon in his hands, he would begin to read sermons on Christian love and forgiveness, after everything that happened on that fateful day. He would take this weapon in his hands and shoot the king.
On this day, Gorky also addressed the people and the intelligentsia. The end result of this bloody Sunday was the beginning of the first Russian revolution.
The strike movement was gaining momentum, not only factories and plants, but also the army and navy went on strike. The Bolsheviks could not stand aside, and in November 1905 Lenin illegally returned to Russia on a false passport.
After what happened on Bloody Sunday on January 9, Svyatopolk-Mirsky was removed from his post and Bulygin was appointed to the post of Minister of the Interior. The post of governor-general of St. Petersburg appeared, to which the tsar appointed D.F. Trepov.
On February 29, Nicholas II created a commission, which was called upon to establish the reasons for the discontent of the St. Petersburg workers. Political demands were declared unacceptable. However, the activities of the commission turned out to be unproductive, since the workers put forward demands that were of a political nature:
- openness of committee meetings
- Release of those arrested;
- Freedom of the press;
- Restoration of 11 closed Gapon groups.
A wave of strikes swept across Russia, and affected the national outskirts.
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