“We are impoverished, we are oppressed”: a Sunday they don’t want to remember. Russia, which we have lost. © Separation of Church and State

05:00 — REGNUM An event that happened 113 years ago, remember in modern Russia not accepted. We are talking about the tragic events of Sunday on January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg, as a result of which hundreds of innocent people were killed and injured. On this day, a demonstration of workers who petitioned the to the Russian Emperor Nikolai Romanov.

In the history of Russia, this day was called “Bloody Sunday”. As a result of the shooting of a peaceful demonstration, according to official data from the police department alone, 130 people were ultimately killed and about 300 more were injured. “Bloody Sunday” became the trigger for the beginning of the Russian Revolution of 1905–1907, the number of victims of which was no longer in the hundreds, but in the thousands.

Today, very often and rightly, we hear how representatives of the authorities and the clergy declare the need to remember the history of our country as it is, without falsehood. It’s hard to disagree with this, and therefore it’s worth remembering what preceded the events of January 9 and what intentions were those who came out on that day to “seek truth and protection” from Emperor Nicholas II.

In December 1904, several workers were fired at the Putilov plant in St. Petersburg. All of them were members of the “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers”. At the end of December, a meeting of workers was held, following which it was decided to submit a petition to the director of the plant and the mayor. Threatening a strike, the workers demanded that all those laid off have their labor rights restored. A deputation from among the members of the “Assembly” was sent to the director. However, the director ignored their demands, saying that the deputation had no authority. As a result, on January 3, 1905, a strike of workers of the Putilov plant began, which was subsequently supported by workers of other enterprises in the city. By January 8, the number of strikers in St. Petersburg numbered about 150 thousand people.

However, by January 5, it became clear to the strikers that, despite the protests of the workers, the plant owners did not intend to make concessions, and the “Assembly” decided to directly appeal to Nicholas II. Petition drawn up by a priest Georgy Gapon, was approved and sent to the emperor on January 8. What did the workers demand? To do this, you need to refer to the text of the petition:

“Sovereign! We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent. We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir. The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.”

The petition further states that the factory owners do not even intend to discuss the needs of the workers, and that the demands for an 8-hour working day, the abolition of overtime and increased wages are called “illegal” by the factory owners:

“Everything turned out, in the opinion of our owners and the factory administration, to be illegal, every request of ours is a crime, and our desire to improve our situation is insolence, offensive to them.”

“Any of us who dares to raise our voices in defense of the interests of the working class and the people are thrown into prison and sent into exile. They are punished as if for a crime, for a kind heart, for a sympathetic soul. To feel sorry for a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means to commit a serious crime. The entire people, workers and peasants, are given over to the mercy of an bureaucratic government consisting of embezzlers and robbers, who not only do not care about the interests of the people, but trample on these interests. The bureaucratic government has brought the country to complete ruin, brought upon it a shameful war and is leading Russia further and further to destruction.”

Further, the workers propose to take measures to organize popular representation to govern Russia, since, according to the demonstrators, “officials are embezzlers and robbers of the Russian people” are not capable of governing the state and a Constituent Assembly is required on the basis of equal rights of election and subject to universal, secret and equal election votes. The petition also indicates the necessary measures that should be taken against the poverty and lawlessness of the Russian people:

"I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people. 1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots. 2) Immediate announcement of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion. 3) General and mandatory public education to the state account. 4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government. 5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception. 6) Separation of church and state. II. Measures against people's poverty. 1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with a direct progressive income tax. 2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land to the people. 3) The execution of orders from the military maritime department must be in Russia, and not abroad. 4) Ending the war by the will of the people.”

Did the workers demand much? By today's standards, their demands are reasonable and fair. I am convinced that many of our fellow citizens would subscribe to them today. But by the standards of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, all these demands, as well as the way they were presented, were revolutionary. The workers not only demanded the “impossible,” they did this by directly appealing to the emperor, which is illegal under the laws of the Russian Empire.

“I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and streamlined, but be patient. You yourself, in all conscience, understand that you should be fair to your employers and take into account the conditions of our industry. But telling Me about your needs in a rebellious crowd is criminal.<…>I believe in the honest feelings of working people and their unwavering devotion to Me, and therefore I forgive them their guilt.” “, - said Nicholas II on January 19, 1905 in his speech to the deputation.

However, as time has shown, the “devotion” of the workers to Nicholas II after the bloody events on Sunday, January 9, 1905, was considerably shaken. Over the next year and a half, the First Russian Revolution will begin to blaze in Russia, during which workers and peasants defended not only their labor rights, but also the right to be considered people, and not silent and powerless slaves.

As we know from subsequent events, the revolution will be suppressed. Nicholas II made some concessions, in particular, the State Duma was established, and the unaffordable redemption payments of former landowner peasants, which they paid for land after liberation from serfdom by the reform of 1861, were reduced and then abolished.

However, these measures did not, and could not, remove the social tension that caused the First Russian Revolution. Accumulated for last centuries the contradictions were never resolved, which determined the preconditions for the revolutionary events of 1917. This is why we need to remember the events of Sunday, January 9, 1905. Moreover, according to a number of contemporaries, on that day a bloody outcome could have been avoided, and even raised the prestige of the monarchy. To do this, Nicholas II should have accepted the petition and deputation of the workers on the same day, made some concessions and influenced the inspirer of the procession, priest Gapon. Others disputed such assumptions, believing that Bloody Sunday was inevitable.

But what is absolutely indisputable is that the protests at the beginning of the 20th century are interconnected with the plight of the working people in Russian Empire, who began the fight for his basic rights, which seem inalienable today. And the revolutionary events of the early 20th century in Russia are not the result of a conspiracy of foreign powers and the use of “orange technologies,” but a consequence of deep-seated contradictions that Nicholas II was never able to resolve “from above.” And if in 1905 repressions against workers were able to preserve the monarchy, then the dissatisfaction of workers and peasants driven underground with the existing regime turned into a large powder keg, which in 1917 exploded so that the very existence historical Russia turned out to be questionable. And it was possible to defend statehood largely thanks to the iron will of the Bolsheviks, who defended independence Soviet Russia during Civil War and interventions by foreign powers.

There is no doubt that 2018 in our country will be marked by the centenary of the execution of Nikolai Romanov, who abdicated the throne in March 1917, and his family. And this event needs and must be remembered. However, at the same time, we have no right to forget a whole series of bloody events during the reign of last emperor, including the shooting of a peaceful demonstration on January 9, 1905 of poor and oppressed people who were only demanding the legal right to consider themselves human.

On January 9, 1905, Nicholas of Holstein-Gottorp shot a peaceful procession of people with a petition to him in the capital of the empire.

Here is her text:

Sovereign!

We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg, of different classes, our wives, children and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection.

We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent.

We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir! The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.

And so we quit work and told our employers that we would not start working until they fulfilled our demands. We asked for little, we wanted only that without which there would be no life, but hard labor, eternal torment.

Our first request was that our hosts discuss our needs with us. But we were denied this. We were denied the right to talk about our needs, finding that the law did not recognize such a right for us. Our requests also turned out to be illegal: to reduce the number of working hours to 8 per day; set the price for our work together with us and with our consent, resolve our misunderstandings with the lower administration of the factories; increase wages for unskilled workers and women for their work to one ruble per day, abolish overtime work; treat us carefully and without insults; arrange workshops so that you can work in them, and not find death there from terrible drafts, rain and snow.

Everything turned out, in the opinion of our owners and the factory administration, to be against the law, every request we made was a crime, and our desire to improve our situation was an insolence that was offensive to them.

Sire, there are many thousands of us here, and all these people are only in appearance, only in appearance, but in reality, we, as well as the entire Russian people, do not recognize a single human right, not even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss needs, take measures to improve our situation.

We were enslaved and enslaved under the auspices of your officials, with their help, with their assistance. Any of us who dares to raise our voices in defense of the interests of the working class and the people are thrown into prison and sent into exile. They are punished as if for a crime, for a kind heart, for a sympathetic soul. To feel sorry for a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means to commit a serious crime.

The entire people, workers and peasants, are given over to the mercy of an bureaucratic government consisting of embezzlers and robbers, who not only do not care about the interests of the people, but trample on these interests. The bureaucratic government brought the country to complete ruin, brought upon it a shameful war and is leading Russia further and further towards destruction. We, the workers and the people, have no say in how the huge taxes levied on us are spent. We don’t even know where and for what the money collected from the impoverished people goes. The people are deprived of the opportunity to express their desires, demands, and participate in setting taxes and spending them. Workers are deprived of the opportunity to organize into unions to protect their interests.

Sovereign! Is this in accordance with the divine laws, by whose grace you reign? And is it possible to live under such laws? Isn't it better to die, to die for all of us, the working people of all Russia? Let the capitalists-exploiters of the working class and the officials-treasury thieves and robbers of the Russian people live and enjoy.

This is what stands before us, sir, and this is what has brought us to the walls of your palace. Here we are looking for the last salvation. Do not refuse to help your people, bring them out of the grave of lawlessness, poverty and ignorance, give them the opportunity to decide their own destiny, throw off the unbearable oppression of officials. Destroy the wall between you and your people, and let them rule the country with you. After all, you are assigned to the happiness of the people, and officials snatch this happiness from our hands, it does not reach us, we only get grief and humiliation.

Look carefully at our requests without anger, they are directed not towards evil, but towards good, both for us and for you, sir. It is not insolence that speaks in us, but the awareness of the need to get out of a situation that is unbearable for everyone. Russia is too large, its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. [People's] representation is necessary, it is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves and govern themselves. After all, he alone knows his true needs. Do not push away his help, accept it, commanded immediately, now to call on representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all classes, representatives and from workers. Let there be a capitalist, a worker, an official, a priest, a doctor, and a teacher - let everyone, no matter who they are, elect their representatives. Let everyone be equal and free in the right to vote, and for this, it was ordered that elections to the constituent assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting.

But one measure still cannot heal all our wounds. Others are also needed, and we speak to you directly and openly, like a father, sir, about them on behalf of the entire working class of Russia.

Required:

I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people.

1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots.

2) Immediate announcement of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.

3) General and compulsory public education at the state expense.

4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantee of the legality of government.

5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.

6) Separation of church and state.

II. Measures against people's poverty.

1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with a progressive income tax.

2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land to the people.

Here, sir, are our main needs with which we came to you. Only if they are satisfied is it possible for our homeland to be liberated from slavery and poverty, for it to prosper, and for workers to organize to protect their interests from the brazen exploitation of the capitalists and the bureaucratic government that plunders and strangles the people.

Command and swear to fulfill them and you will make Russia happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of ours and our descendants for eternity. If you don’t command, don’t respond to our prayer, we will die here, on this square, in front of your palace. We have nowhere else to go and no reason to. We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave... let our lives be a sacrifice for suffering Russia. We do not regret this sacrifice, we willingly make it!

The people's response was execution. Then the First Russian Revolution began.

CHRONOS LIBRARY

PETITION WORKERS AND RESIDENTS OF ST. PETERSBURG

FOR SUBMISSION TO TSAR NICHOLAS II

Sovereign!

We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent. We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir. The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than death. continuation of unbearable torment (...)

Look carefully at our requests without anger, they are directed not towards evil, but towards good, both for us and for you, sir! It is not insolence that speaks in us, but the consciousness of the need to get out of a situation that is unbearable for everyone. Russia is too large, its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. Popular representation is necessary, it is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves and govern themselves. After all, he alone knows his true needs. Do not push away his help, they commanded immediately, now to call upon representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all estates, representatives and from workers. Let there be a capitalist, a worker, an official, a priest, a doctor, and a teacher - let everyone, no matter who they are, elect their representatives. Let everyone be equal and free in the right to vote - and for this they ordered that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting. This is our most important request...

But one measure still cannot heal our wounds. Others are also needed:

I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people

1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs,

for strikes and peasant riots.

2) Immediate announcement of freedom and integrity of the person, freedom of speech,

press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.

3) General and compulsory public education at the state expense.

4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantee of the legality of government.

5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.

6) Separation of church and state.

II. Measures against people's poverty

1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with a direct progressive income tax.

2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land to the people.

3) The execution of orders from the military maritime department must be in Russia, and not abroad.

4) Ending the war by the will of the people.

III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor

1) Abolition of the institution of factory inspectors.

2) The establishment at plants and factories of permanent commissions elected [from] workers, which, together with the administration, would examine all the claims of individual workers. The dismissal of a worker cannot take place except with a decision of this commission.

3) Freedom of consumer-production and trade unions - immediately.

4) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work.

5) Freedom of struggle between labor and capital - immediately.

6) Normal wages - immediately.

7) The indispensable participation of representatives of the working classes in the development of a bill on state insurance for workers - immediately. (...)

The beginning of the first Russian revolution. January-March 1905. Documents and materials. M., 1955. P. 28-31.

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E.A. Nikolsky is a captain from the General Staff.

Published from the book: Nikolsky E.A. Notes about the past.

Comp. and preparation text by D.G. Browns. M., Russian way, 2007. p. 133-137.

On Sunday January 9, 1905 with the permission of the civil authorities, workers protected by the police under the leadership of a well-known priest Gapon, revolutionary Rutenberg and others moved in masses with icons and banners to the Winter Palace, wanting to express their wishes to the Emperor. Military authorities as is known, They opposed the permitted demonstration only the day before, when, due to the short time remaining, it was no longer possible to cancel the procession. At the same time, the Emperor and his family left for Tsarskoe Selo.

I lived on the Petersburg side. When I walked to headquarters in the morning across the Palace Bridge and passed the Winter Palace, I saw that units of the Guards cavalry, infantry and artillery were heading towards Palace Square from all sides.

Next, I outline what I observed from the window of the General Staff building. Very soon almost the entire area was filled with troops. Cavalry guards and cuirassiers stood in front. At about twelve o'clock in the afternoon, individual people appeared in the Alexander Garden, then quite quickly the garden began to fill with crowds of men, women and teenagers. Separate groups appeared from the direction of the Palace Bridge. When the people approached the bars of the Alexander Garden, infantry appeared from the depths of the square, passing the square at a quick pace. Having lined up with a deployed front towards the Alexander Garden, after three times warning by the bugles about opening fire the infantry began firing volleys at the masses of people filling the garden. The crowds fled back, leaving many wounded and dead in the snow. The cavalry also set out in separate detachments. Some of them galloped to the Palace Bridge, and some - across the square to Nevsky Prospekt, to Gorokhovaya Street, chopping everyone he met with sabers.

I decided to leave the headquarters not through the Palace Bridge, but to try to somehow quickly exit through the arch of the General Staff on Morskaya Street to some side street and then take a roundabout route to the Petersburg side. He went out through the back door through the gate directly facing Morskaya Street. Further - to the corner of the latter and Nevsky. There I saw a company of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, in front of which I walked Colonel Riman. I paused at the corner while the company crossed Morskaya, heading towards the Police Bridge. Interested, I walked along Nevsky Prospekt directly behind the company. Near the bridge, at Riemann's command, the company was divided into three parts - half a company and two platoons. Half a company stopped in the middle of the bridge. One platoon stood to the right of Nevsky, and the other to the left, with fronts along the Moika River.

For some time the company stood inactive. But then on Nevsky Prospect and on both sides of the Moika River, groups of people - men and women - began to appear. Waiting for more of them to gather, Colonel Riman, standing in the center of the company, without giving any warning, as established by the charter, he commanded:

- Shooting in volleys straight at the crowds!

After this command, each officer of his unit repeated Riemann's command. The soldiers took the position, then at the command “Platoon” they put their rifles to their shoulders, and on command« Pli» volleys rang out which were repeated several times. After the shooting according to people who were no further than forty to fifty steps from the company, the survivors rushed headlong to run back. After two or three minutes, Riemann gave the command:

- Fire in batches straight at the running people!

Random, rapid fire began, and many who managed to run three hundred to four hundred steps fell under the shots. The fire continued for three or four minutes, after which the bugler played a ceasefire.

I came closer to Riemann and began to look at him for a long time, carefully - his face and the look of his eyes seemed to me like that of a madman. His face kept twitching in a nervous spasm; for a moment he seemed to be laughing, for a moment he was crying. His eyes looked straight ahead, and it was clear that they saw nothing. A few minutes later he came to his senses, took out a handkerchief, took off his cap and wiped his sweaty face.

Watching Riemann closely, I did not notice where the well-dressed man came from at that time. Raising his hat with his left hand, he approached Riemann and in a very polite manner asked his permission to go to the Alexander Garden, expressing the hope that near Gorokhovaya he might find a cab to go to the doctor. Moreover, he pointed to his right arm near the shoulder, from the torn sleeve of which blood was oozing and falling into the snow.

At first Riemann listened to him, as if not understanding, but then, hiding his handkerchief in his pocket, he grabbed a revolver from his holster. Hitting the man standing in front of him in the face, he uttered a vulgar curse and shouted: “Go wherever you want, even to hell!”

When this man walked away from Riemann, I saw that his whole face was covered in blood. After waiting a little longer, I approached Riemann and asked him:

Colonel, will you shoot again? I’m asking you because I need to walk along the Moika embankment to the Pevchesky Bridge.

Don’t you see that I have no one else to shoot at, all this bastard got scared and ran away,” was Riemann’s answer.

I turned along the Moika, but at the very first gate to the left in front of me lay a janitor with a badge on his chest, and not far from him was a woman holding a girl’s hand. All three were dead. In a small space about ten to twelve paces, I counted nine corpses. And then I came across dead and wounded. Seeing me, the wounded extended their hands and asked for help.

I went back to Riemann and told him to call for help immediately. He answered me:

Go your own way. None of your business.

I was no longer able to walk along the Moika, and therefore I walked back along Morskaya, went back into the headquarters from the back door, and from there I called the mayor’s office by phone. I asked to be connected to the mayor's office. The official on duty answered. I told him that I was now at the Police Bridge, there were many wounded there and immediate medical attention was needed. The order will be made now, was his answer.

I decided to go home across the Palace Bridge. Approaching the Alexander Garden, I saw that the garden was full of wounded and dead. I didn’t have the strength to walk along the garden to the Palace Bridge. Having crossed the square between the troops, I walked past the Winter Palace to the left, along Millionnaya Street, along the Neva River Embankment and across the Liteiny Bridge to my home. All the streets were deserted, I didn’t meet anyone along the way. The huge city seemed to have died out. I came home completely nervous and physically broken. I went to bed and got up only the next morning.

On Monday I had to go to headquarters, since urgent papers that were not completed on Sunday were waiting for me there. Walking, as always, along the bars of the Alexander Garden, I saw that the corpses and wounded had all been removed. True, in many places they were still visible small parts of corpses torn off by volley fire. They stood out brightly against the white snow, surrounded by blood. For some reason, I was particularly impressed by a piece of a skull with hair that had somehow stuck to the iron grate. He apparently froze to it, and the cleaners did not notice him. This piece of skull with hair remained there for several days. For twenty-seven years now this piece has been before my eyes. The iron grating of the garden, made of rather thick rods, was cut in many places by rifle bullets.

For quite some time, the scene at the Police Bridge was reconstructed in my memory in the smallest detail. And Riemann’s face appeared before me as if alive. To this day I see a woman with a girl and the hands of the wounded reaching out to me.

Then it turned out that during the shooting along different streets random bullets killed and wounded several people in their apartments who were located at a great distance from the shooting sites. For example, I know of a case where a guard of the Alexander Lyceum was killed in his guardhouse on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt.

After some time, I had to talk at headquarters about the incident on January 9 with one of the senior commanders of the military units of the guard. Under the influence of the still vivid impression of the bloody event, I could not restrain myself and expressed my opinion to him.

In my opinion, the shooting of unarmed people walking with icons and banners with any kind of request to their Monarch was a big mistake that will be fraught with consequences. The Emperor should not have left for Tsarskoe Selo. It was necessary to go out onto the balcony of the palace, give a soothing speech and talk personally with the summoned delegates, but only real workers who had served in their factories for at least ten to fifteen years. A warm, welcoming word from the emperor to the entire mass of the people would only raise his prestige and strengthen his power. The whole event could turn into a powerful patriotic manifestation, the force of which would extinguish the voice of the revolutionaries.

The investigation proved that all the crowds of people went to their Sovereign completely unarmed. The people wanted to find answers to questions that were painful to them.

“Perhaps you are right,” the general answered me, “but do not forget that Palace Square is the tactical key of St. Petersburg. If the crowd had taken possession of it and turned out to be armed, then it is unknown how it would have ended. Therefore, at a meeting on January 8, chaired by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, it was decided to resist by force in order to prevent the masses from gathering on Palace Square and advise the Emperor not to stay in St. Petersburg on January 9. Of course, if we could be sure that the people would go to the square unarmed, then our decision would be different. Yes, you are partly right, but what has been done cannot be changed.

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Read here:

Gapon Georgy Apollonovich (biographical materials).

Zubatov Sergei Vasilievich (1864 - 1917) gendarme colonel

Rutenberg Pinkhas Moiseevich (1878-1942)

— revolutionary, Zionist activist.

Pinchas was born in 1878 in the city of Romny, Poltava province, into a family merchant of the 2nd guild Moses Rutenberg. Mother - daughter of Rabbi Pinchas Margolin from Kremenchug. The family had seven children: four daughters and three sons. He studied at the cheder, at the Romensky real school, then entered St. Petersburg Institute of Technology . During his student years he took part in the revolutionary movement. At first he was a social democrat, then became a member Socialist Revolutionary Party(party nickname Martyn). He was expelled from the institute for participating in student unrest in 1899 and exiled to Yekaterinoslav. In the fall of 1900 he was reinstated at the institute and graduated with honors.

At the very beginning of the 1900s, P. Rutenberg married Olga Khomenko - participant revolutionary movement , owner of the publishing house “Library for Everyone”. This marriage could only take place if the Jew was baptized, which he did formally. Already in exile, in the synagogue of Florence, Pinchas will perform the medieval rite of repentance of an apostate - he will receive 39 blows with a whip and return to the faith of his fathers.

In 1904, P. Rutenberg became the head of the tool workshop of the Putilov plant. Through his friend, famous Socialist Revolutionary Boris Savinkov, established contact with Military organization of the Socialist Revolutionaries. At the same time, at the plant, he met the priest Georgy Gapon, who, with the support of Plehve and Zubatov, created the “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg,” which united over 20 thousand workers. This organization attracted the attention of revolutionaries, and P. Rutenberg became Gapon's closest ally.

On January 9, 1905, a procession heading to the Tsar was shot at the Winter Palace, 1216 Russian workers died, Although 130 casualties were officially announced. Pinchas Rutenberg accompanied Gapon in a column and took him to the nearest courtyard, where changed his clothes and cut his hair, after which he hid it in the apartment writer Batyushkov, and then helped to escape abroad. Rutenberg also went abroad, where, by decision of the Central Committee of the Social Revolutionaries, he was appointed Head of the Military Organization of the Party.

In the summer of 1905 he took part in unsuccessful attempt deliver weapons to Russia by ship« John Crafton».

In the fall of 1905 he was arrested and released according to the Manifesto of October 17. At the same time, in accordance with this manifesto, Gapon was able to return to Russia. In November-December 1905, P. Rutenberg led a fighting squad in one of the working-class districts of St. Petersburg.

Abroad, where Gapon was greeted as a hero, he published his memoirs. The fees allowed him to live widely, and he distributed them to revolutionaries, including V. Lenin. In the summer of 1905, Gapon was recruited by the police, P. Rachkovsky, the head of the political department of the police, contacted him. It was Gapon who told the head of the St. Petersburg security department that P. Rutenberg allegedly took part in the procession because he had a plan to shoot the tsar during his appearance before the people.

At the same time, he began to persuade P. Rutenberg to cooperate with the police. After this, Rutenberg went to Helsingfors (Helsinki), reported everything to the Central Committee, and he was tasked with killing Gapon and Rachkovsky. Azef - head of the Combat Organization, fearing his exposure, single-handedly authorized the liquidation only Gapon. It was necessary to convince the workers of Gapon’s “betrayal”. During Gapon's next meeting with Rutenberg, one of the workers disguised himself as a cab driver and overheard the entire conversation, during which Gapon persuaded Rutenberg to be an informant. On March 28, Gapon was hanged in Ozerki near St. Petersburg.. In 1909, P. Rutenberg published his memoirs about these events in Paris. In 1925, his book “The Murder of Gapon” was published in Leningrad.

Having moved away from the revolutionary movement, P. Rutenberg went to Germany in 1906 and lived in Italy from 1907 to 1915. It was then that he returned to Judaism and openly accepted the ideas of Zionism. Worked as an engineer, invented new system construction of dams for hydroelectric power stations. At one time he lived with Maxim Gorky in Capri. Created in Italy Society« About Causa Ebraica», defending the interests of Jews in the post-war« world order». Participated in the work of the society Zionist from Ekaterinoslav Ber Borochov.

In 1915, P. Rutenberg left for the USA, where he published the article “National Revival of the Jewish People.” His call to create Jewish Legion met support from D. Ben-Gurion. There, in the USA, P. Rutenberg prepared a complete plan for the irrigation of Eretz Israel.

In February 1917 he returned to Russia. Head of the Provisional Government A. Kerensky appointed him deputy provincial commissioner. In October P. Rutenberg became assistant N. Kimkina- the government’s authorized representative for “restoring order in Petrograd.”

In days October revolution Rutenberg proposed to arrest and execute V. Lenin and L. Trotsky. But during the storming of the Winter Palace, he himself was arrested and spent six months in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Released at the request of M. Gorky and A. Kollontai. Then he worked in Moscow. After the announcement Soviet authorities“Red Terror”, Rutenberg fled to Kyiv, the capital of then independent Ukraine, then in Odessa he managed supplies in the French military administration.

In 1919, Rutenberg left Russia forever. He went to Palestine, where he began the electrification of the country. Helped V. Jabotinsky create a so-called Jewish self-defense during the Arab riots in Jerusalem in April 1920.

Then the fight began for obtaining a concession for the use of waters from the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers for power supply needs. In this he was supported by W. Churchill and H. Weizmann. In 1923, he established the Palestine Electric Company and began building power plants in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tiberias, and Nagaraim. For two years (1929-1931) P. Rutenberg headed the Jewish community of Palestine. He made great efforts to smooth out the contradictions in relations between Ben-Gurion and Jabotinsky. In 1940, he made a public appeal “To the Yishuv,” in which he called on the Jewish community for national unity, opposed party struggle and demanded equal rights for all residents of the Yishuv. In 1942, P. Rutenberg died in a Jerusalem hospital. He bequeathed his fortune, acquired in Italy and increased in Eretz Israel, to form the basis of the Rutenberg Foundation.

LIBRARY CHRONOS. Used materials from the site http://jew.dp.ua/ssarch/arch2003/08/sh7.htm

B. Savinkov. Memoirs of a terrorist. Publishing house "Proletary", Kharkov. 1928 Part II Ch. I. Attempt on Dubasov and Durnovo. XI. (About Gapon).

Spiridovich A. I."Revolutionary movement in Russia". Vol. 1st, “Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party”. St. Petersburg. 1914 Maklakov V.A. From memories. Publishing house named after Chekhov. New York 1954. Chapter Twelve.

E. Khlystalov The truth about the priest Gapon “The Lay” No. 4′ 2002

F. Lurie Gapon and Zubatov

Rutenberg P.M. Murder of Gapon. Leningrad. 1925.

Who made the two revolutions of 1917 (biographical index)

On December 27, 1904, a meeting of the “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg” was held, headed by priest Georgy Gapon. It was decided to go on strike. The reason was the dismissal of workers at the Putilov plant.

On January 3, 1905, the Putilov plant went on strike, on January 4, the Franco-Russian plant shipyard and Nevsky Shipyard, and on January 8 total number the strikers reached 150 thousand people.

On the night of January 6-7, priest Georgy Gapon wrote a petition to Nicholas. On January 8, the text of the petition was approved by members of the society.

Priest Georgy Gapon.

“Petition of the workers of St. Petersburg January 9, 1905
Sovereign!
We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent. We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir. The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.

And so we quit work and told our employers that we would not start working until they fulfilled our demands. We didn’t ask for much, we wanted only that without which there would be no life, but hard labor, eternal torment. Our first request was that our hosts discuss our needs with us. But we were denied this - we were denied the right to talk about our needs, that the law does not recognize such a right for us. Our requests also turned out to be illegal: to reduce the number of working hours to 8 per day; set the price for our work with us and with our consent; consider our misunderstandings with the lower administration of factories; increase wages for unskilled workers and women for their work to 1 ruble. in a day; cancel overtime work; treat us carefully and without insults; arrange workshops so that you can work in them, and not find death there from terrible drafts, rain and snow.

Everything turned out, in the opinion of our owners and the factory administration, to be illegal, every request we made was a crime, and our desire to improve our situation was insolence, offensive to them. Sire, there are many thousands of us here, and all of these are people only in appearance, only in appearance - in reality, we, as well as the entire Russian people, are not recognized with a single human right, not even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss needs, take measures to improve our situation. We were enslaved, and enslaved under the auspices of your officials, with their help, with their assistance.

Any of us who dares to raise our voices in defense of the interests of the working class and the people are thrown into prison and sent into exile. They are punished as if for a crime, for a kind heart, for a sympathetic soul. To feel sorry for a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means to commit a serious crime. The entire people, workers and peasants, are given over to the mercy of an bureaucratic government consisting of embezzlers and robbers, who not only do not care about the interests of the people, but trample on these interests. The bureaucratic government brought the country to complete ruin, brought upon it a shameful war and is leading Russia further and further towards destruction. We, the workers and the people, have no say in how the huge taxes levied on us are spent. We don’t even know where and for what the money collected from the impoverished people goes. The people are deprived of the opportunity to express their desires, demands, and participate in setting taxes and spending them.

Workers are deprived of the opportunity to organize into unions to protect their interests. Sovereign! Is this in accordance with the divine laws, by whose grace you reign? And is it possible to live under such laws? Isn't it better to die - to die for all of us, the working people of all Russia? Let the capitalists - exploiters of the working class and officials - embezzlers and robbers of the Russian people, live and enjoy. This is what stands before us, sir, and this is what has brought us to the walls of your palace. Here we are looking for the last salvation. Do not refuse to help your people, bring them out of the grave of lawlessness, poverty and ignorance, give them the opportunity to decide their own destiny, throw off the unbearable oppression of officials. Destroy the wall between you and your people, and let them rule the country with you. After all, you are assigned to the happiness of the people, and officials snatch this happiness from our hands, it does not reach us, we only get grief and humiliation. Look carefully at our requests without anger: they are directed not towards evil, but towards good, both for us and for you, sir! It is not insolence that speaks in us, but the awareness of the need to get out of a situation that is unbearable for everyone. Russia is too large, its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. Popular representation is necessary, it is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves and govern themselves. After all, he alone knows his true needs. Do not push away his help, they commanded immediately, now to call upon representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all estates, representatives and from workers. Let there be a capitalist, a worker, an official, a priest, a doctor, and a teacher - let everyone, no matter who they are, elect their representatives. Let everyone be equal and free in the right to vote - and for this they ordered that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting.

This is our most important request, everything is based on it and on it, this is the main and only plaster for our sore wounds, without which these wounds will ooze heavily and quickly move us towards death. But one measure still cannot heal our wounds. Others are also needed, and we speak to you directly and openly, like a father, sir, about them on behalf of the entire working class of Russia.

Required:

I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people.

1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots.
2) Immediate announcement of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.
3) General and compulsory public education at the state expense.
4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government.
5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.
6) Separation of church and state.

II. Measures against people's poverty.

1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with direct progressive income taxes
tax.
2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land
to the people.
3) The execution of orders from the military maritime department must be in Russia, and not abroad.
4) Ending the war by the will of the people.

III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor.

1) Abolition of the institution of factory inspectors.
2) Establishment of standing commissions elected from factories at factories
workers who, together with the administration, would sort out all claims
individual workers. The dismissal of a worker cannot take place except with
decisions of this commission.
3) Freedom of consumer-production and professional labor unions - immediately.
4) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work.
5) Freedom of struggle between labor and capital - immediately.
6) Normal wages - immediately.
7) The indispensable participation of representatives of the working classes in the development of a bill on state insurance for workers - immediately.

Here, sir, are our main needs with which we came to you; Only if they are satisfied is it possible for our Motherland to be liberated from slavery and poverty, for it to prosper, and for workers to organize to protect their interests from the brazen exploitation of capitalists and the bureaucratic government that plunders and strangles the people. Command and swear to fulfill them, and you will make Russia happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of ours and our descendants for eternity, but if you do not command, do not respond to our prayer, we will die here, on this square, in front of yours. palace. We have nowhere else to go and no reason to. We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave...”

The priest of the St. Petersburg transit prison Georgy Gapon and the mayor Ivan Fullon at the opening of the Kolomna department of the "Meeting of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg." 1904

On January 8, Nicholas II became familiar with the contents of the petition. Minister of Internal Affairs Prince P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky reassured the king, assuring him that, according to his information, nothing dangerous was foreseen. The Tsar did not come from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg.

According to Count S. Yu. Witte, the decision to prevent the procession from taking place on Palace Square was made on the evening of January 8 at a meeting with the Minister of Internal Affairs P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. The meeting was attended by St. Petersburg mayor I. A. Fullon, Minister of Finance V. N. Kokovtsov, Comrade Minister of Internal Affairs K. N. Rydzevsky, Chief of Staff of the Guard Troops and the St. Petersburg District, General. N.F. Meshetich and others. At the meeting, it was decided to arrest Gapon, but the arrest could not be carried out, since “he sat down in one of the houses of the working-class district and for the arrest it would have been necessary to sacrifice at least 10 police people.”

On the evening of January 8, by order of the emperor, martial law was introduced in St. Petersburg. All power in the capital passed into the hands of the military administration, headed by the commander of the Guards Corps, Prince. S. I. Vasilchikov. The direct superior of the prince. Vasilchikov was commander-in-chief of the St. Petersburg Military District and Guard troops Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. All military orders came from the Grand Duke, but the orders were signed by Prince Vasilchikov. Orders for the guard in sealed packages were transmitted to the units at night, with the obligation to print them at 6 am on January 9.

On the evening of January 8, a delegation came to Svyatopolk-Mirsky: Maxim Gorky, A. V. Peshekhonov, N. F. Annensky, I. V. Gessen, V. A. Myakotin, V. I. Semevsky, K. K. Arsenyev, E I. Kedrin, N. I. Kareev and worker D. Kuzin demanding the abolition of military measures. Svyatopolk-Mirsky refused to accept them. Then they came to S. Yu. Witte, trying to convince him to help the tsar accept the petition from the workers. Witte avoided taking decisive action. On January 11, 9 out of 10 deputies were arrested.

Sergei Witte.

On the morning of January 9, workers gathered outside the Narva and Nevskaya gates, on the Vyborg and St. Petersburg sides, on Vasilyevsky Island and in Kolpino, moved to Palace Square. Their total number reached about 50-100 thousand people.

The workers came with their families, children, festively dressed, they carried portraits of the Tsar, icons, crosses, and sang prayers. At the head of one of the columns walked the priest Gapon with a cross raised high.

At 11.30 in the morning, a column of 3 thousand people led by Gapon was stopped near the Narva Gate by the police, a squadron of horse grenadiers and two companies of the 93rd Irkutsk Infantry Regiment. At the first volley the crowd lay down on the ground, after which they tried to move forward again. The troops fired only five volleys into the crowd, after which they fled.

At 11.30 at the Trinity Bridge (approximately 10 thousand people) was stopped by the police and units of the Pavlovsky Regiment at the beginning of Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt. A salvo was fired.

Cavalrymen at the Pevchesky Bridge delay the movement of the procession to the Winter Palace. By 12 noon, the Alexander Garden was filled with crowds of men, women and teenagers. A company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment fired two volleys at the masses of people filling the Alexander Garden right through the garden bars.

At the Police Bridge, the 3rd battalion of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment under the command of Colonel N.K. Riman shot the crowd on the embankment of the Moika River.

From the memoirs of M. A. Voloshin:

“The sleigh was passed everywhere. And they let me cross the Police Bridge between the ranks of soldiers. At that moment they were loading their guns. The officer shouted to the cab driver: “Turn right.” The cab driver drove off a few steps and stopped. “It looks like they’re going to shoot!” The crowd was dense. But there were no workers. It was the usual Sunday crowd. “Murderers!.. Well, shoot!” - someone shouted. The horn sounded the attack signal. I ordered the cab driver to move on... As soon as we turned the corner, a shot was heard, a dry, weak sound. Then again and again."

From the memoirs of V. A. Serov:

“I will never forget what I saw from the windows of the Academy of Arts on January 9 - a restrained, majestic, unarmed crowd walking towards cavalry attacks and gun sights - a terrible sight.”

At five o'clock in the afternoon on Maly Prospekt, between the 4th and 8th lines, a crowd that reached up to 8 thousand people built a barricade, but was dispersed by troops who fired several volleys directly into the crowd.

In addition, volleys were fired on the Shlisselburgsky tract, on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and Gogol Street and on Kazan Square.

According to official figures, 130 people were shot and 299 were wounded.

"Hard day! Serious riots occurred in St. Petersburg as a result of the workers’ desire to reach the Winter Palace. The troops had to shoot in different places in the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and difficult!”

By the highest order of January 11, 1905, Major General D. F. Trepov, a determined fighter against revolutionary uprisings, was appointed to the new post of Governor General of St. Petersburg.

“It’s already been a year since Russia has been waging a bloody war with the pagans for its historical calling as the planter of Christian enlightenment<…>But now, a new test of God, a grief worse than the first, visited our beloved fatherland. Workers' strikes and street riots began in the capital and other cities of Russia... The criminal instigators of ordinary working people, having in their midst an unworthy clergyman who boldly violated the holy vows and is now subject to the judgment of the Church, were not ashamed to give into the hands of the deceived workers the honest cross forcibly taken from the chapel , holy icons and banners, so that, under the protection of shrines revered by believers, it would be more likely to lead them to disorder, and others to destruction. Toilers of the Russian land, working people! Work according to the commandment of the Lord by the sweat of your brow, remembering that he who does not work is not worthy of food. Beware of your false advisors<…>they are accomplices or mercenaries of an evil enemy seeking the ruin of the Russian land.”

On January 19, 1905, Emperor Nicholas II, in his speech to the deputation, stated: “I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and streamlined, but be patient. You yourself, in all conscience, understand that you should be fair to your employers and take into account the conditions of our industry. But telling Me about your needs in a rebellious crowd is criminal.<…>I believe in the honest feelings of working people and their unwavering devotion to Me, and therefore I forgive them their guilt.<…>“

After January 9, Nicholas II did not appear in public until the celebrations in honor of the tercentenary of the House of Romanov in 1913.

Read an excerpt from historical source and briefly answer questions C1-C3. Answers involve the use of information from the source, as well as the application of historical knowledge from the history course of the relevant period.

From a historical source.

“Sovereign!

We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We have become impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent... The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.

And so we quit our jobs and told our employers that we would not start working until they fulfilled our demands...

Sire, there are many thousands of us here, and all of these are people only in appearance, only in appearance - in reality, we, as well as the entire Russian people, are not recognized with a single human right, not even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss needs, take measures to improve our situation...

Russia is too large, its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. Popular representation is necessary, it is necessary for the people to help themselves and govern themselves...

Let everyone be free in the right to vote - and for this they ordered that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting...

But one measure still cannot heal our wounds. Others are also needed, and we tell you directly and openly, like a father, about them, sir, on behalf of the entire working class of Russia.

Required:

I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people.

1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots.

2) Immediate declaration of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion...

4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government

5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.

6) Separation of church and state.

II. Measures against people's poverty.

1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with a direct progressive income tax

2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land to the people...

4) Ending the war by the will of the people.

III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor...

3) Freedom of consumer-production and trade unions - immediately.

4) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work..."

What was the name of this document and to whom exactly was it addressed? When was this document created? With what event national history was he tied up?