The sovereign's strength has reached the limit of patience. Family archive. II. Measures against people's poverty

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 Shipyard went on strike, on January 4, the Franco-Russian Shipyard and the Nevsky Shipyard, and on January 8, the total number of 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. 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 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 purpose they ordered that elections be held in constituent Assembly took 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 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 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 wage- 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 tsar, 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 the commander-in-chief of the St. Petersburg Military District and the troops of the Guard, 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 who had gathered behind the Narva and Nevskaya outposts, on the Vyborg and St. Petersburg sides, on Vasilievsky Island and in Kolpino, moved towards 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 were supposed to shoot at different places city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and difficult!”

By the highest order of January 11, 1905 on new position Major General D.F. Trepov, a determined fighter against revolutionary uprisings, was appointed 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. Worker 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 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 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.

What the workers asked for 105 years before the current events in Kuzbass.

Petition of workers to Tsar Nicholas II

The original text of the working petition for submission to the Tsar, written by Gapon himself on the night of January 6-7, 1905.

Sovereign!

We, the workers of the city of St. Petersburg, 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.

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 want only that without which life is not life, but hard labor, eternal torment.

Our first request was that our hosts discuss our needs with us, but this was also denied to us; we were denied the right to speak 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 eight a day, to set prices for our work together with us and with our consent, to resolve our misunderstandings with the lower administration of the plant, to increase wages for unskilled workers and women for their work to one ruble 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 hosts, to be illegal, every request we made was a crime, and our desire to improve our situation was insolence, offensive to our hosts.

Sovereign! There are more than three hundred thousand of us here - and all of these are people only in appearance, only in appearance; in reality, we are not recognized with a single human right, not even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss our needs, or take measures to improve our situation.

Anyone of us who dares to raise his voice in defense of the interests of the working class is 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 worker, a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means committing a serious crime!

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 and officials-treasury thieves, robbers of the Russian people live and enjoy.

This is what stands before us, sir! And this is what 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 positioned for the happiness of the people, and officials are snatching this happiness from our hands; it doesn’t 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. It is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves: after all, they alone know their true needs. Don’t push away his help, accept it! They ordered to immediately, right now, call upon representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all estates. 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, order that elections to the constituent assembly take place under the condition of universal, direct, secret and equal voting. This is our most important request; everything is based in it and on it. This is the main and only plaster for our painful wounds, without which these wounds will forever ooze and quickly move us towards death.

But one measure still cannot heal all our wounds. We also need

Others, and we directly and openly, like a father, tell you, sir, about them.

Required:

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

1) Freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.

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

3) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government.

4) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.

5) Immediate return of all victims for their convictions.

II. Measures against people's poverty:

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

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

III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor:

1) Labor protection by law.

2) Freedom of consumer-productive and professional labor unions.

3) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work.

4) Freedom of struggle between labor and capital.

5) Participation of workers’ representatives in the development of a bill on state insurance of workers.

6) Normal salary.

Here, sir, are our main needs with which we came to you! Command and swear to fulfill them, and you will make Russia happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of us 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 need to! We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave. Point out, sir, any of them, we will follow it unquestioningly, even if it is the path to death.

Let our lives be a sacrifice for suffering Russia! We do not feel sorry for this sacrifice, we willingly make it!

Petition of workers and residents of St. Petersburg for submission to Tsar Nicholas II. Date of creation: January 7, 1905, publ.: 1905

According to her, Nicholas II was a kind and honest person, but lacking strength of character. In his imagination, Gapon created the image of an ideal tsar who had no opportunity to show himself, but from whom only one could expect the salvation of Russia. “I thought,” Gapon wrote, “that when the moment came, he would show himself in his true light, listen to his people and make them happy.” According to the testimony of the Menshevik A. A. Sukhov, already in March 1904, Gapon willingly developed his idea at meetings with workers. “Officials are interfering with the people,” said Gapon, “but the people will come to an understanding with the tsar. Just you have to not achieve your goal by force, but by asking, in the old-fashioned way.” Around the same time, he expressed the idea of ​​appealing to the king collectively, “the whole world.” “We all need to ask,” he said at one meeting of workers. “We will walk peacefully, and they will hear us.”

March "Program of Five"

The first draft of the petition was drawn up by Gapon in March 1904 and in historical literature was called "Programs of Five". Already at the end of 1903, Gapon established relations with an influential group of workers from Vasilyevsky Island, known as Karelin group. Many of them passed through Social Democratic circles, but had tactical differences with the Social Democratic Party. In an effort to attract them to work in his “Assembly,” Gapon convinced them that the “Assembly” was aimed at the real struggle of workers for their rights. However, the workers were greatly embarrassed by Gapon’s connection with the Police Department, and for a long time they could not overcome their mistrust of the mysterious priest. To find out Gapon's political face, the workers invited him to directly express his views. “Why aren’t you, comrades, helping?” - Gapon often asked them, to which the workers answered: “Georgy Apollonovich, who are you, tell me - maybe we will be your comrades, but until now we don’t know anything about you.”

In March 1904, Gapon gathered on his apartment of four workers and, obliging them with their word of honor that everything that would be discussed would remain secret, outlined to them his program. The meeting was attended by workers A. E. Karelin, D. V. Kuzin, I. V. Vasiliev and N. M. Varnashev. According to the story of I. I. Pavlov, Karelin once again invited Gapon to show his cards. “Yes, finally, tell us, oh. Georgy, who are you and what are you? What is your program and tactics, and where and why are you taking us?” “Who am I and what am I,” Gapon objected, “I already told you, and where and why am I taking you... here, look,” and Gapon threw on the table a paper covered in red ink, which listed the items of need working people. This was the draft petition of 1905, and then it was considered as a program of the leading circle of the “Assembly”. The project included three groups of requirements: ; II. Measures against people's poverty And , - and was subsequently included in its entirety in the first edition of Gaponov’s petition.

After reading the text of the program, the workers came to the conclusion that it was acceptable to them. “We were amazed then,” recalled A.E. Karelin. - After all, I was a Bolshevik, I didn’t break with the party, I helped it, I figured it out; Kuzin was a Menshevik. Varnashev and Vasiliev, although they were non-partisan, were honest, devoted, good, understanding people. And so we all saw that what Gapon wrote was broader than the Social Democrats. We realized then that Gapon fair man, and they believed him." N.M. Varnashev added in his memoirs that “the program was not a surprise to any of those present, because partly they were the ones who forced Gapon to develop it.” When asked by the workers how he was going to make his program public, Gapon replied that he was not going to make it public, but intended to first expand the activities of his “Assembly” so that it would include as many people as possible more people. Numbering thousands and tens of thousands of people in its ranks, the “Assembly” will turn into a force with which both capitalists and the government will necessarily have to reckon. When an economic strike arises on the basis of general discontent, then it will be possible to present political demands to the government. The workers agreed to this plan.

After this incident, Gapon managed to overcome the distrust of the radical workers, and they agreed to help him. Having joined the ranks of the “Assembly”, Karelin and his comrades led a campaign among the masses for joining Gapon’s society, and its numbers began to grow. At the same time, the Karelinians continued to ensure that Gapon did not deviate from the planned program, and at every opportunity they reminded him of his obligations.

Zemstvo Petition Campaign

In the fall of 1904, with the appointment of P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky as Minister of Internal Affairs, a political awakening began in the country, called the “spring of Svyatopolk-Mirsky.” During this period, the activities of liberal forces intensified, demanding restrictions on autocracy and the introduction of a constitution. At the head liberal opposition there was the “Union of Liberation” created in 1903, uniting wide circles of the intelligentsia and zemstvo leaders. At the initiative of the Liberation Union, a large-scale campaign of zemstvo petitions began in the country in November 1904. Zemstvos and other public institutions appealed to the highest authorities with petitions or resolutions, which called for the introduction of political freedoms and popular representation in the country. An example of such a resolution was the Resolution of the Zemsky Congress, held in St. Petersburg on November 6-9, 1904. As a result of the weakening of censorship allowed by the government, the texts of zemstvo petitions found their way into the press and became the subject of general discussion. The general political upsurge began to affect the mood of the workers. “In our circles they listened to everything, and everything that happened worried us a lot,” recalled one of the workers. “A fresh stream of air made our heads spin, and one meeting followed another.” Those around Gapon began to say whether it was time for the workers to join the common voice of all of Russia.

In the same month, the leaders of the St. Petersburg Liberation Union established contact with the leadership of the Assembly of Russian Factory Workers. At the beginning of November 1904, a group of representatives of the Liberation Union met with Georgy Gapon and the leading circle of the Assembly. The meeting was attended by E. D. Kuskova, S. N. Prokopovich, V. Ya. Yakovlev-Bogucharsky and two more people. They invited Gapon and his workers to join the general campaign and appeal to the authorities with the same petition as the representatives of the zemstvos. Gapon enthusiastically seized on this idea and promised to use all his influence to carry it through at workers’ meetings. At the same time, Gapon and his comrades insisted on performing with their special working petition. The workers had desire“offer your own, from the bottom,” recalled meeting participant A.E. Karelin. During the meeting, the Osvobozhdenie members, examining the charter of Gapon’s “Assembly”, drew attention to some of its dubious paragraphs. In response, Gapon stated “that the charter is just a screen, that the real program of society is different, and asked the worker to bring the resolution they had developed of a political nature.” This was the March “Program of Five”. “Even then it was clear,” recalled one of the meeting participants, “that these resolutions coincided with the resolutions of the intelligentsia.” Having familiarized themselves with Gaponov’s program, the Osvobozhdenie people said that if they go with such a petition, then this is already a lot. “Well, it’s a good thing, it will make a lot of noise, there will be a big rise,” said Prokopovich, “but they’ll arrest you.” - “Well, that’s good!” - the workers answered.

On November 28, 1904, a meeting of the heads of departments of Gapon’s society was held, at which Gapon put forward the idea of ​​​​presenting a workers’ petition. Those gathered were to adopt the "Program of Five" under the name of a petition or resolution to publicly state the demands of the workers. Participants in the meeting were asked to weigh the seriousness of the step being taken and the responsibility they were taking on, and if they were unsympathetic, calmly step aside, giving their word of honor to remain silent. As a result of the meeting, it was decided to issue a working petition, but the question of the form and content of the petition was left to the discretion of Gapon. N.M. Varnashev, who chaired the meeting, in his memoirs calls this event a “conspiracy to speak out.” After this event, the leaders of the “Assembly” led a campaign among the masses to make political demands. “We quietly introduced the idea of ​​presenting a petition at every meeting, in every department,” recalled A.E. Karelin. At meetings of workers, zemstvo petitions published in newspapers began to be read and discussed, and the leaders of the “Assembly” interpreted them and connected political demands with the economic needs of the workers.

The struggle to file a petition

In December 1904, a split occurred in the leadership of the “Assembly” over the issue of filing a petition. Part of the leadership, led by Gapon, seeing the failure of the zemstvo petition campaign, began to postpone filing the petition for the future. Gapon was joined by workers D.V. Kuzin and N.M. Varnashev. Gapon was confident that filing a petition, not supported by an uprising of the masses, would only lead to the closure of the “Assembly” and the arrest of its leaders. In conversations with workers, he stated that the petition was “a dead matter, condemned to death in advance,” and called supporters of the immediate filing of the petition "skoropolitiki". As an alternative, Gapon proposed expanding the activities of the “Assembly”, spreading its influence to other cities, and only after that come forward with his demands. Initially, he planned to coincide with the expected fall of Port Arthur, and then moved it to February 19, the anniversary of the liberation of the peasants under Alexander II.

In contrast to Gapon, another part of the leadership, led by A.E. Karelin and I.V. Vasiliev, insisted on an early presentation of the petition. They were joined by the internal “opposition” to Gapon in the “Assembly”, represented by Karelin’s group and workers who had a more radical way of thinking. They believed that the right moment to petition had arrived and that the workers should act in concert with representatives of other classes. This group of workers was actively supported by intellectuals from the Liberation Union. One of the propagandists of the idea of ​​the petition was assistant attorney at law I.M. Finkel, who gave lectures on the work issue at the “Assembly”. Being a non-party member, Finkel was associated with the St. Petersburg Mensheviks and the left wing of the Liberation Union. In his speeches, he told the workers: “Zemstvo residents, lawyers and other public figures draw up and submit petitions outlining their demands, but the workers remain indifferent to this. If they don’t do this, then others, having received something according to their demands, will no longer remember the workers, and they will be left with nothing.”

Concerned about Finkel's growing influence, Gapon demanded that he and other intellectuals be removed from meetings of the leading circle of the Assembly, and in conversations with workers he began to turn them against the intelligentsia. “The intellectuals are shouting only to seize power, and then they will sit on our necks and on the peasant,” Gapon convinced them. “It will be worse than autocracy.” In response, supporters of the petition decided to act in their own way. According to the memoirs of I. I. Pavlov, the opposition hatched a conspiracy aimed at “toppling Gapon from his pedestal as a ‘worker leader’.” It was decided that if Gapon refused to present a petition, the opposition would go ahead without him. The conflict in the leadership of the “Assembly” escalated to the limit, but was stopped by the events associated with the Putilov strike.

Economic demands of workers

On January 3, a strike was declared at the Putilov plant, and on January 5 it was extended to other enterprises in St. Petersburg. By January 7, the strike had spread to all plants and factories in St. Petersburg and turned into a general one. The initial demand to reinstate fired workers gave way to a list of broad economic demands made on plant and factory management. During the strike, each factory and each workshop began to put forward their own economic demands and present them to their administration. To unify the requirements different factories and factories, the leadership of the “Assembly” compiled a standard list of economic demands of the working class. The list was reproduced by hectographing and in this form, signed by Gapon, was distributed to all enterprises in St. Petersburg. On January 4, Gapon, at the head of a deputation of workers, came to the director of the Putilov plant, S.I. Smirnov, and acquainted him with the list of demands. At other factories, deputations from workers presented a similar list of demands to their administration.

The standard list of workers' economic demands included items: an eight-hour working day; on setting prices for products together with workers and with their consent; on the creation of a joint commission with the workers to examine the claims and complaints of workers against the administration; on increasing pay for women and unskilled workers to one ruble a day; on the abolition of overtime work; about respectful attitude towards workers on the part of medical personnel; on improving the sanitary conditions of workshops, etc. Subsequently, all these demands were reproduced in the introductory part of the Petition on January 9, 1905. Their presentation was preceded by the words: “We asked for little, we wanted only that without which there would be no life, but hard labor, eternal torment.” The reluctance of the breeders to fulfill these demands motivated the appeal to the king and the entire political part of the petition.

Workers' resolution on their urgent needs

On January 4, it became finally clear to Gapon and his employees that the breeders would not fulfill economic demands and that the strike is lost. The lost strike was a disaster for Gapon's "Assembly". It was clear that the working masses would not forgive the leaders for unfulfilled expectations, and the government would close the “Assembly” and bring down repression on its leadership. According to factory inspector S.P. Chizhov, Gapon found himself in the position of a man who had nowhere to retreat. In this situation, Gapon and his assistants decided to take an extreme measure - to take the path of politics and turn to the tsar himself for help.

On January 5, speaking in one of the departments of the Assembly, Gapon said that if the factory owners prevail over the workers, it is because the bureaucratic government is on their side. Therefore, the workers must turn directly to the tsar and demand that he eliminate the bureaucratic “mediastinum” between him and his people. “If the existing government turns away from us at a critical moment in our lives, if it not only does not help us, but even takes the side of entrepreneurs,” said Gapon, “then we must demand the destruction of a political system in which only one thing falls to our lot.” lack of rights. And from now on let our slogan be: “Down with bureaucratic government!” From that moment on, the strike acquired a political character, and the question of formulating political demands came up on the agenda. It was clear that the supporters of the petition had the upper hand, and all that remained was to prepare this petition and present it to the king. Starting from January 4-5, Gapon, who was opposed to the immediate filing of the petition, became its active supporter.

On the same day, Gapon began preparing a petition. According to the agreement, the petition was to be based on the March “Program of Five,” which expressed the general demands of the working class and had long been regarded as the secret program of Gapon’s “Assembly.” On January 5, the "Program of Five" was made public for the first time and was read out in workers' meetings as a draft petition or resolution to appeal to the Tsar. However, the program had significant drawback: it contained only a list of workers’ demands without any prefaces or explanations to them. It was necessary to supplement the list with a text containing a description of the plight of the workers and the motives that prompted them to address their demands to the tsar. For this purpose, Gapon turned to several representatives of the intelligentsia, inviting them to write a draft of such a text.

The first person Gapon turned to was the famous journalist and writer S. Ya. Stechkin, who wrote in the Russkaya Gazeta under the pseudonym N. Stroev. On January 5, Stechkin gathered a group of party intellectuals from among the Mensheviks in his apartment on Gorokhovaya Street. According to the memoirs of I. I. Pavlov, having arrived at the apartment on Gorokhovaya, Gapon declared that “events are unfolding with amazing speed, the procession to the Palace is inevitable, and for now this is all I have...” - with these words he threw it on the table three sheets of paper covered with red ink. It was a draft petition, or rather, the same “Program of Five”, which had been kept unchanged since March 1904. Having familiarized themselves with the draft, the Mensheviks declared that such a petition was unacceptable for the Social Democrats, and Gapon invited them to make changes to it or write their own version of the petition. On the same day, the Mensheviks, together with Stechkin, drew up their draft petition, called “Workers’ Resolutions on Their urgent needs". This text, in the spirit of party programs, was read out on the same day in several departments of the Assembly, and several thousand signatures were collected under it. The central point in it was the demand for the convening of a Constituent Assembly; it also contained demands for a political amnesty, an end to the war and the nationalization of factories, factories and landowners' lands.

Drawing up Gapon's petition

The “Workers' Resolution on Their Urgent Needs,” written by the Mensheviks, did not satisfy Gapon. The resolution was written in dry, businesslike language, there was no appeal to the tsar, and the demands were presented in a categorical form. As an experienced preacher, Gapon knew that the language of the party revolutionaries did not find a response in the souls of the common people. Therefore, on the same days, January 5-6, he approached three more intellectuals with a proposal to write a draft petition: one of the leaders of the Liberation Union V. Ya. Yakovlev-Bogucharsky, writer and ethnographer V. G. Tan-Bogoraz and journalist newspaper “Our Days” to A. I. Matyushensky. Historian V. Ya. Yakovlev-Bogucharsky, who received the draft petition from Gapon on January 6, refused to make changes to it on the grounds that at least 7,000 workers’ signatures had already been collected. Subsequently, he recalled these events, speaking about himself in the third person:

“On January 6, at 7-8 o’clock in the evening, one of the Osvobozhdeniye activists who knew Gapon (let’s call him NN), having received information that Gapon was giving workers to sign some kind of petition, went to the department for Vyborg side, where he met Gapon. The latter immediately gave NN the petition, informing him that 7,000 signatures had already been collected under it (many workers continued to give their signatures in the presence of NN) and asked him to edit the petition and make changes to it that NN would find necessary. Having taken the petition to his home and studied it carefully, NN was fully convinced - which he insists on now in the most decisive manner - that this petition was only a development of those theses that NN saw in Gapon's written form back in November 1904. The petition really needed changes, but due to the fact that workers’ signatures had already been collected under it, NN and his comrades did not consider themselves entitled to make even the slightest changes to it. Therefore, the petition was returned to Gapon (at Tserkovnaya, 6) the next day (January 7) by 12 noon in the same form in which it was received from Gapon the day before.”

Two other representatives of the intelligentsia who received the draft petition turned out to be more accommodating than Bogucharsky. According to some reports, one of the text versions was written by V. G. Tan-Bogoraz, however, both its content and further fate remained unknown. The latest version of the text was written by journalist A. I. Matyushensky, an employee of Our Days. Matyushensky was known as the author of articles about the life of Baku workers and the Baku labor strike. On January 6, he published in the newspapers his interview with the director of the Putilov plant S.I. Smirnov, which attracted the attention of Gapon. Some sources claim that it was the text written by Matyushensky that Gapon took as a basis when drawing up his petition. Matyushensky himself subsequently stated that the petition was written by him, but historians have strong doubts about this statement.

According to the researcher of the petition A. A. Shilov, its text is written in the style of church rhetoric, which clearly indicates the authorship of Gapon, who was accustomed to such sermons and reasoning. Gapon's authorship is also established by the testimony of participants in the events of January 9. Thus, worker V.A. Yanov, chairman of the Narva department of the “Meeting,” answered the investigator’s question about the petition: “It was written by Gapon’s hand, was always with him, and he often remade it.” The chairman of the Kolomna department of the “Collection” I. M. Kharitonov, who did not part with Gapon in the days before January 9, argued that it was written by Gapon, and Matyushensky only corrected the style at the beginning and at the end of the text. And the treasurer of the “Assembly” A.E. Karelin in his memoirs pointed out that the petition was written in a characteristic Gaponov style: “This Gaponov style is special. This syllable is simple, clear, precise, gripping the soul, like his voice.” It is possible, however, that Gapon still used Matyushensky’s draft when composing his text, but there is no direct evidence of this.

One way or another, on the night of January 6-7, Gapon, having familiarized himself with the options offered to him by intellectuals, rejected them all and wrote his own version of the petition, which went down in history under the name Petition of January 9, 1905. The petition was based on the March “Program of Five”, which was included in the first edition of the text without changes. At the beginning, an extensive preface was added to it, containing an appeal to the tsar, a description of the plight of the workers, their unsuccessful struggle with the factory owners, a demand to eliminate the power of officials and introduce popular representation in the form of a Constituent Assembly. And at the end there was added an appeal to the king to go to the people and accept the petition. This text was read in the “Collection” departments on January 7, 8 and 9, and tens of thousands of signatures were collected under it. During the discussion of the petition on January 7 and 8, some amendments and additions continued to be made to it, as a result of which the final text of the petition took on a more popular character. On January 8, this last, edited text of the petition was typed in 12 copies: one for Gapon himself and one for 11 departments of the Assembly. It was with this text of the petition that the workers went to the Tsar on January 9, 1905. One of the copies of the text, signed by Gapon and the worker I.V. Vasiliev, was subsequently kept in the Leningrad Museum of Revolution.

Structure and content of the petition

Priest Georgy Gapon

According to its structure, the text of Gaponov’s petition was divided into three parts. First part The petition began with an appeal to the king. In accordance with the biblical and ancient Russian tradition, the petition addressed the tsar with “You” and informed him that the workers and residents of St. Petersburg had come to him to seek truth and protection. The petition further spoke about the plight of the workers, their poverty and oppression, and compared the situation of the workers with the situation of slaves, who must endure their bitter fate and remain silent. It was also said that the workers endured, but their situation became worse and worse, and their patience came to an end. “For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.”

Then the petition set out the history of the litigation of workers with factory owners and factory owners, who were collectively called masters. It was told how the workers quit their jobs and told their employers that they would not work until they met their demands. It then set out a list of demands made by the workers against their employers during the January strike. It was said that these demands were insignificant, but the owners refused to even satisfy the workers. The petition further indicated the reason for the refusal, which was that the workers' demands were found to be inconsistent with the law. It was said that, from the point of view of the owners, every request from the workers turned out to be a crime, and their desire to improve their situation was unacceptable insolence.

After this, the petition moved on to the main thesis - to an indication of lack of rights workers as main reason their oppression by their masters. It was said that the workers, like the entire Russian people, are not recognized with a single human right, not even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss their needs and take measures to improve their situation. Mention was made of repression against people who defended the interests of the working class. Then the petition again turned to the king and pointed out to him the divine origin of royal power and the contradiction that existed between human and divine laws. It was argued that existing laws contradict divine decrees, that they are unjust, and that it is impossible for the common people 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 and officials-treasury thieves, robbers of the Russian people live and enjoy.” Finally, the reason for the unjust laws was also pointed out - the dominance of officials who usurped power and turned into mediastinum between the king and his people.

The petition then moved on to its second part- to present the demands with which the workers came to the walls of the royal palace. The main demand of the workers was declared destruction of the power of officials, which became a wall between the king and his people, and the admission of the people to govern the state. It was said that Russia is too large, and its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. From this the conclusion was drawn about the need for popular representation. “It is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves, because only they know their true needs.” The Tsar was called upon to immediately convene people's representatives from all classes and all estates - workers, capitalists, officials, clergy, intelligentsia - and elect a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, direct, secret and equal suffrage. This requirement was announced main request workers, “in which and on which everything is based,” and the main cure for their sore wounds.

Further, the demand for popular representation was supplemented by a list additional requirements, necessary to heal people's wounds. This list was a statement of the March “Program of Five,” which was included in the first edition of the petition without changes. The list consisted of three paragraphs: I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people, II. Measures against people's poverty And III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor.

First paragraph - Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people- included the following points: freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion; general and compulsory public education at state expense; responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantee of the legality of government; equality before the law for everyone without exception; immediate return of all victims of their convictions. Second paragraph - Measures against people's poverty- included the following points: abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with direct, progressive and income taxes; abolition of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of lands to the people. Finally, in the third paragraph - Measures against the oppression of capital over labor- included items: labor protection by law; freedom of consumer-productive and professional labor unions; eight-hour working day and normalization of overtime work; freedom of struggle between labor and capital; participation of representatives of the working class in the development of a bill on state insurance for workers; normal salary.

In the second and final version of the petition, with which the workers went to the Tsar on January 9, several more points were added to these demands, in particular: separation of church and state; execution of orders from the military and naval departments in Russia, and not abroad; ending the war by the will of the people; abolition of the institution of factory inspectors. As a result, the total number of demands increased to 17 points, with some of the demands being strengthened by the addition of the word “immediately”.

The list of demands was followed by the last one, final part petitions. It contained another appeal to the tsar with an appeal to accept the petition and fulfill its demands, and the tsar was required not only to accept, but also to swear to their fulfillment. “Command and swear to fulfill them, and You will make Russia happy and glorious, and You will imprint Your name in the hearts of us and our descendants for eternity.” Otherwise, the workers expressed their readiness to die at the walls of the royal palace. “If you don’t command, don’t respond to our prayer, we will die here, in this square, in front of your palace. We have nowhere else to go and no need to! We have only two paths - either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave.” This part ended with an expression of readiness to sacrifice their lives for suffering Russia and the assertion that the workers do not feel sorry for this sacrifice and they willingly make it.

Reading and collecting signatures on a petition

"Gapon reads a petition at a workers' meeting." Drawing by an unknown artist.

Beginning on January 7, Gapon’s petition was read in all departments of the workers’ Assembly. By this time, there were 11 departments of the “Collection” in St. Petersburg: Vyborg, Narvsky, Vasileostrovsky, Kolomensky, Rozhdestvensky, Petersburg, Nevsky, Moscow, Gavansky, Kolpinsky and on the Obvodny Canal. In some departments, the petition was read by Gapon himself, in other places the reading was carried out by department chairmen, their assistants and ordinary activists of the “Assembly”. These days, Gapon's departments became a place of mass pilgrimage for St. Petersburg workers. People came from all areas to listen to speeches in which they saw for the first time in their lives in simple words political wisdom was revealed. These days, many speakers emerged from the working environment who knew how to speak in a language understandable to the masses. Lines of people came to the departments, listened to the petition and put their signatures on it, and then left, giving way to others. The departments became the centers of working life in St. Petersburg. According to eyewitnesses, the city resembled one mass meeting, at which such broad freedom of speech reigned as St. Petersburg had never seen.

Typically, the reading of the petition was carried out as follows. The next batch of people was allowed into the department premises, after which one of the speakers made an opening speech, and the other began reading the petition. When the reading reached specific points in the petition, the speaker gave each point detailed interpretation, and then addressed the audience with the question: “Is that right, comrades?” or “So, comrades?” - “That’s right!.. So!..” - the crowd answered in unison. In cases where the crowd did not give a unanimous answer, the controversial point was interpreted again and again until the audience was brought to agreement. After this, the next point was interpreted, then the third, and so on until the end. Having achieved agreement with all points, the speaker read the final part of the petition, which spoke of the workers’ readiness to die at the walls of the royal palace if their demands were not met. Then he addressed the audience with the question: “Are you ready to stand up for these demands to the end? Are you ready to die for them? Do you swear to this? - And the crowd answered in unison: “We swear!.. We will all die as one!..” Such scenes took place in all departments of the “Assembly.” According to numerous testimonies, an atmosphere of religious exaltation reigned in the departments: people cried, beat their fists against the walls and vowed to come to the square and die for truth and freedom.

The greatest excitement reigned where Gapon himself spoke. Gapon traveled to all departments of the “Assembly”, took control of the audience, read and interpreted the petition. Finishing reading the petition, he said that if the tsar did not come out to the workers and accept the petition, then he is no longer the king: “Then I will be the first to say that we do not have a king.” Gapon's performances were expected for many hours in the bitter cold. In the Nevsky department, where he arrived on the evening of January 7, a crowd of thousands gathered, which could not fit into the department premises. Gapon, together with the chairman of the department, went out into the courtyard, stood on a tank of water and, by the light of torches, began to interpret the petition. A crowd of thousands of workers listened in grave silence, afraid to miss even one word of the speaker. When Gapon finished reading with the words: “Let our lives be a sacrifice for suffering Russia. We do not regret this sacrifice, we willingly make it!” - the whole crowd, as one person, burst out with a thunderclap: “Let it go!.. It’s not a pity!.. We’ll die!..” And after the words that if the tsar does not accept the workers, then “we don’t need such a tsar,” a roar of thousands was heard : “Yes!.. Don’t!..”

Similar scenes took place in all departments of the “Assembly”, through which tens of thousands of people passed these days. In the Vasileostrovsky department, one elderly speaker said: “Comrades, do you remember Minin, who turned to the people to save Rus'! But from whom? From the Poles. Now we must save Rus' from the officials... I will go first, in the first rows, and when we fall, the second rows will follow us. But it cannot be that he will order to shoot at us...” On the eve of January 9, it was already said in all departments that the tsar might not accept the workers and send soldiers against them. However, this did not stop the workers, but gave the whole movement the character of some kind of religious ecstasy. In all departments of the “Assembly” the collection of signatures for the petition continued until January 9. The workers believed so much in the power of their signature that they attached magical meaning to it. The sick, old people and disabled people were brought in their arms to the table where signatures were collected to perform this “holy act”. Total the number of signatures collected is unknown, but it was in the tens of thousands. In one department alone, journalist N. Simbirsky counted about 40 thousand signatures. The sheets with the workers’ signatures were kept by the historian N.P. Pavlov-Silvansky, and after his death in 1908 they were confiscated by the police. Their further fate is unknown.

Petition and the tsarist government

Graves of the victims of Bloody Sunday

The tsarist government learned about the contents of Gapon’s petition no later than January 7. On this day, Gapon came to an appointment with the Minister of Justice N.V. Muravyov and handed him one of the lists of the petition. The minister surprised Gapon with the message that he already had such a text. According to Gapon’s recollections, the minister turned to him with the question: “What are you doing?” Gapon replied: “The mask must be removed. The people can no longer bear such oppression and injustice and are going to the king tomorrow, and I will go with him and tell him everything.” Having looked through the text of the petition, the minister exclaimed with a gesture of despair: “But you want to limit the autocracy!” Gapon stated that such a restriction is inevitable and will be for the benefit of not only the people, but also the tsar himself. If the government does not give reforms from above, a revolution will break out in Russia, “the struggle will last for years and cause terrible bloodshed.” He urged the minister to fall at the feet of the king and beg him to accept the petition, promising that his name would be written down in the annals of history. Muravyov thought about it, but replied that he would remain true to his duty. On the same day, Gapon tried to meet with the Minister of Internal Affairs P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, whom he contacted by telephone. However, he refused to accept him, saying that he already knew everything. Subsequently, Svyatopolk-Mirsky explained his reluctance to meet with Gapon by the fact that he did not know him personally.

The next day, January 8, a government meeting was held, which brought together the highest officials of the state. By this time, all members of the government had familiarized themselves with the text of Gapon’s petition. Several copies were delivered to the office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At the meeting, Minister of Justice Muravyov informed the audience about his meeting with Gapon. The minister described Gapon as an ardent revolutionary and a socialist convinced to the point of fanaticism. Muravyov put forward a proposal to arrest Gapon and thereby decapitate the emerging movement. Muravyov was supported by the Minister of Finance V.N. Kokovtsov. The Minister of Internal Affairs Svyatopolk-Mirsky and the mayor I. A. Fullon weakly objected. As a result of the meeting, it was decided to arrest Gapon and set up barriers of troops to prevent workers from reaching the royal palace. Then Svyatopolk-Mirsky went to Tsar Nicholas II in Tsarskoye Selo and acquainted him with the contents of the petition. According to Muravyov, the minister characterized Gapon as a “socialist” and reported on the measures taken. Nikolai wrote about this in his diary. Judging by the tsar's records, the minister's messages were of a reassuring nature.

According to numerous testimonies, no one in the government assumed that the workers would have to be shot. Everyone was confident that the crowd could be dispersed by police measures. The question of accepting the petition was not even raised. The content of the petition, which demanded restrictions on autocracy, made it unacceptable to the authorities. A government report described the petition's political demands as "audacious". The very appearance of the petition was unexpected for the government and took it by surprise. Deputy Minister of Finance V.I. Timiryazev, who participated in the meeting on January 8, recalled: “No one expected such a phenomenon, and where has it been seen that in twenty-four hours a crowd of one and a half hundred thousand was gathered to the palace and that in twenty-four hours they were given a Constituent Assembly , - after all, this is an unprecedented thing, give it all at once. We were all confused and didn’t know what to do.” The authorities did not take into account either the scale of the events or the consequences of possible shooting at unarmed people. Due to the government's confusion, the initiative passed into the hands of the military authorities. On the morning of January 9, 1905, masses of workers, led by Gapon, moved from different parts of the city to the Winter Palace. On the approaches to the center they were met by military units and scattered by cavalry and rifle fire. This day went down in history under the name “Bloody Sunday” and marked the beginning of the First Russian Revolution. A year later, in January 1906, in a letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Georgy Gapon wrote: “January 9, unfortunately, happened not in order to serve as the starting point for the renewal of Russia peacefully, under the leadership of the Sovereign, whose charm has increased a hundredfold, but in order to to serve as a starting point for the beginning of the revolution."

The petition in the assessments of contemporaries

The petition of January 9, 1905 was not published in any legal Russian publication. The drafting of the petition took place during a general strike in which all enterprises in St. Petersburg were drawn into. On January 7, all printing houses went on strike, and newspaper production ceased in the capital. On January 7 and 8, Gapon negotiated with publishers, promising to employ printing workers if the publishers agreed to print the petition. It was assumed that it would appear in all newspapers and be distributed throughout St. Petersburg in thousands of copies. However, this plan was not implemented due to lack of time. After January 9, when newspapers began to be published, the government prohibited them from publishing any materials about the events that took place, except for official reports.

As a result, the content of the petition remained unknown to the majority of the Russian population. According to the recollections of one of the officials, the order not to print the petition came from the Minister of Internal Affairs. The official noted with regret that the non-publication of the petition gave rise to rumors that the workers were going to the tsar with a complaint about their low earnings, and not with political demands. At the same time, the text of the petition in the first edition was published in a number of illegal publications - in the magazine “Osvobozhdenie”, in the newspapers “Iskra”, “Forward” and “Revolutionary Russia”, as well as in the foreign press. Representatives of the revolutionary and liberal intelligentsia discussed the petition and gave it different assessments.

Liberals in their comments pointed out the identity of the demands of the petition with the demands of the zemstvo resolutions of the end of 1904. According to liberals, the petition marked the joining of workers to the voice of the public, demanding popular representation and political freedoms. Representatives of revolutionary parties, on the contrary, found the influence of revolutionary propaganda in the petition. The Social Democratic newspapers claimed that the political demands of the petition were identical to the minimum program of the Social Democrats and were written under their influence. V.I. Lenin called the petition “an extremely interesting refraction in the minds of the masses or their little-conscious leaders of the program of social democracy.” It has been suggested that the petition was the result of an agreement between Gapon and the Social Democrats, who insisted on including political demands in exchange for their loyalty to Gapon's movement. Unlike the liberals, the Social Democrats emphasized the revolutionary nature of the petition's demands. L. D. Trotsky wrote that in the solemn notes of the petition, “the threat of the proletarians drowned out the request of the subjects.” According to Trotsky, “the petition not only contrasted the vague phraseology of liberal resolutions with the refined slogans of political democracy, but also infused them with class content with its demands for freedom to strike and an eight-hour working day.”

At the same time, the revolutionaries emphasized the dual nature of the petition, the contradiction between its form and content. The leaflet of the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP dated January 8 stated that the demands of the petition imply overthrow of the autocracy, and therefore it makes no sense to contact the king with them. The king and his officials cannot give up their privileges. Freedom is not given for nothing, it is won with arms in hand. Anarchist V. M. Volin noted that the petition in its final form represented the greatest historical paradox. “With all his loyalty to the tsar, what was required of him was nothing more or less than to allow - and even commit - a revolution that would ultimately deprive him of power... Decidedly, this was an invitation to suicide.” Similar judgments were made by liberals.

All commentators noted great inner strength petitions, their impact on the broad masses. French journalist E. Avenard wrote: “Resolutions of liberal banquets, even resolutions of zemstvos seem so pale next to the petition that the workers will try to present to the tsar tomorrow. It is filled with reverent and tragic importance." St. Petersburg Menshevik I. N. Kubikov recalled: “This petition was drawn up with talent in the sense of adapting its style to the level and mood of the St. Petersburg working masses of that time, and its irresistible effect on the most gray listener was clearly reflected on the faces of the workers and their wives.” Bolshevik D. F. Sverchkov called the petition “the best artistic and historical document, which reflected, as in a mirror, all the moods that gripped the workers at that time.” “Strange but strong notes were heard in this historical document,” recalled the Socialist Revolutionary N.S. Rusanov. And according to the Socialist Revolutionary V.F. Goncharov, the petition was “a document that had an enormous, revolutionary impact on the working masses.” Many emphasized the practical significance of the petition. “Its historical significance, however, is not in the text, but in the fact,” noted L. Trotsky. “The petition was only an introduction to an action that united the working masses with the specter of an ideal monarchy - united in order to immediately contrast the proletariat and the real monarchy as two mortal enemies.”

Historical significance of the petition

The events of January 9, 1905 marked the beginning of the First Russian Revolution. And just nine months later, on October 17, 1905, Emperor Nicholas II signed the Manifesto, which granted political freedoms to the people of Russia. The October 17 Manifesto satisfied the main demands made in the January 9 Petition. The manifesto granted the population personal integrity, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association. The manifesto established popular representation in the form of the State Duma and granted voting rights to all classes. He recognized the right of people's representatives to approve laws and oversee the legality of the actions of the authorities. Contemporaries noted the connection between the events of January 9 and the Manifesto of October 17. Journalist N. Simbirsky wrote on the anniversary of “Bloody Sunday”: “On this day, the workers went to gain freedom for the Russian people with their breasts... And they got it by littering the streets of St. Petersburg with the corpses of their best fighters...” A columnist for the newspaper “Slovo” noted: “Not This mass carried death with them, it was not destruction that these heroes were preparing - they carried a petition for freedom, that very freedom that is now only little by little being realized.” And the main author of the petition, Georgy Gapon, in an open letter to citizens reminded that the workers, heroes of January 9, “with their blood paved for you, citizens of Russia, a wide road to freedom.”

Contemporaries noted the historical uniqueness of the Petition of January 9, 1905. On the one hand, it was made in the spirit of a loyal request addressed to the monarch. On the other hand, it contained revolutionary demands, the implementation of which meant a complete transformation of the social and political system of the state. The petition became a historical milestone between the two eras. She was the last one in Russian history petition and at the same time the first revolutionary program brought to the square by hundreds of thousands of people. Bolshevik D.F. Sverchkov, comparing the petition with the program of the Social Democratic Party, wrote:

“And now, for the first time in the history of the world, the program of the revolutionary workers’ party was written not in a proclamation directed against the Tsar, but in a humble petition full of love and respect for this very Tsar. For the first time, this program was carried out into the streets by hundreds of thousands of workers, not under the red banners of the revolution, but under church banners, icons and royal portraits; for the first time, during the procession of workers who signed this petition, singing was heard not of the “Internationale” or the workers’ Marseillaise, but of the prayer “Save, Lord.” , Thy people...”, for the first time, at the head of this demonstration, unprecedented in the number of participants, revolutionary in essence and peaceful in form, a priest walked in vestments and with a cross in his hands... Such a procession had never before been seen by any country or one era."

Publicist I. Vardin noted radicalism social requirements petitions that anticipated the slogans of the October Revolution of 1917. The program set out in the petition was not an ordinary, bourgeois program, but a hitherto unprecedented workers’ and peasants’ social revolution. This program was directed not only against autocratic bureaucratic political oppression, but at the same time and with equal force - against economic oppression, against the omnipotence of landowners and capitalists. “On January 9, 1905, the most advanced, most complete revolution of all that had previously occurred began in Russia. That's why she shocked the whole world."

One of the leaders of the Liberation Union, E. D. Kuskova, called the petition Russian People's Charter. “The charter listed in detail those rights of the people that were to be secured to them as inalienable rights... Having been born under the bullets of a dispassionate army, the Russian People's Charter has since been following all sorts of paths towards its implementation... The martyrs of January 9 are quietly sleeping in their graves . The memory of them will live for a long time in the people’s consciousness, and for a long time they, the dead, will show the way to the living: to the people’s charter, which they carried and for which they died...”

Petition text

• // Red Chronicle. - L., 1925. - No. 2. - P. 30-31.
• // Red Chronicle

Notes

1. Adrianov P. Last petition // Leningradskaya Pravda. - L., 1928. - No. 19 (January 22). - P. 3.
2. Karelin A. A. Ninth (22nd) January 1905. - M., 1924. - 16 p.
3. Shilov A. A. On the documentary history of the petition of January 9, 1905 // Red Chronicle. - L., 1925. - No. 2. - P. 19-36.
4. // Red Chronicle. - L., 1925. - No. 2. - P. 33-35.
5. Report of the Director of the Police Department A. Lopukhin on the events of January 9, 1905 // Red Chronicle. - L., 1922. - No. 1. - P. 330-338.
6. Pavlov-Silvansky N. P. History and modernity. Lecture // History and historians: Historiographic Yearbook. 1972. - M., 1973.
7. Gurevich L. Ya. // Past. - St. Petersburg. , 1906. - No. 1. - P. 195-223..
8. Svyatlovsky V.V. Professional movement in Russia. - St. Petersburg. : Publishing house of M. V. Pirozhkov, 1907. - 406 p.
9. Gapon G. A. My life story = The Story of My Life. - M.: Book, 1990. - 64 p.
10. Sukhov A. A. Gapon and Gaponovism // E. Avenar. Bloody Sunday. - Kharkov, 1925. - P. 28-34.
11. Manasevich-Manuilov I. F. // New time. - St. Petersburg. , 1910. - No. dated January 9.
12. Karelin A. E. From the memories of a participant in Gaponov’s organization // January 9: Collection ed. A. A. Shilova. - M.-L., 1925. - P. 26-32.
13. Pavlov I. I. From memories of the “Workers’ Union” and the priest Gapon // Past years. - St. Petersburg. , 1908. - No. 3-4. - P. 21-57 (3), 79-107 (4).
14. Varnashev N. M. From start to finish with Gaponov’s organization // Historical and revolutionary collection. - L., 1924. - T. 1. - P. 177-208.
15. Karelin A. E. The ninth of January and Gapon. Memories // Red Chronicle. - L., 1922. - No. 1. - P. 106-116.
16. // I. P. Belokonsky. Zemstvo movement. - St. Petersburg. , 1914. - P. 221-222.
17. I. P. Belokonsky Zemstvo movement. - M.: “Zadruga”, 1914. - 397 p.
18. Potolov S.I. Georgy Gapon and the liberals (new documents) // Russia in the XIX-XX centuries. Collection of articles for the 70th anniversary of the birth of R. Sh. Ganelin. - St. Petersburg. , 1998.
19. Petrov N. P. Notes about Gapon // World Newsletter. - St. Petersburg. , 1907. - No. 1. - P. 35-51.
20. Kolokolnikov P. N. (K. Dmitriev). Excerpts from memories. 1905-1907 // Materials on the history of the professional movement in Russia. - M., 1924. - T. 2. - P. 211-233.
21. Protocol of interrogation of V. A. Yanov / On the history of the “Meeting of Russian factory workers of St. Petersburg.” Archival documents // Red Chronicle. - L., 1922. - No. 1. - P. 313-322.
22. // New time. - St. Petersburg. , 1905. - No. 10364 (January 5). - P. 4.

Sovereign!

We, the workers of the city of St. Petersburg, 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.

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 want only that without which life is not life, but hard labor, eternal torment.

Our first request was that our hosts discuss our needs with us, but this was also denied to us; we were denied the right to speak 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 eight a day, to set prices for our work together with us and with our consent, to resolve our misunderstandings with the lower administration of the plant, to increase wages for unskilled workers and women for their work to one ruble 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 hosts, to be illegal, every request we made was a crime, and our desire to improve our situation was insolence, offensive to our hosts.

Sovereign! There are more than three hundred thousand of us here - and all of these are people only in appearance, only in appearance; in reality, we are not recognized with a single human right, not even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss our needs, or take measures to improve our situation.

Anyone of us who dares to raise his voice in defense of the interests of the working class is 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 worker, a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means committing a serious crime!

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 and officials-treasury thieves, robbers of the Russian people live and enjoy.

This is what stands before us, sir! And this is what 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 positioned for the happiness of the people, and officials are snatching this happiness from our hands; it doesn’t 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. It is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves: after all, they alone know their true needs. Don’t push away his help, accept it! They ordered to immediately, right now, call upon representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all estates. 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, order that elections to the constituent assembly take place under the condition of universal, direct, secret and equal voting. This is our most important request; everything is based in it and on it. This is the main and only plaster for our painful wounds, without which these wounds will forever ooze and quickly move us towards death.

But one measure still cannot heal all our wounds. Others are also needed, and we, directly and openly, like a father, tell you, sir, about them.

Required:

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

1) Freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.

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

3) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government.

4) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.

5) Immediate return of all victims for their convictions.

II. Measures against people's poverty:

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

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

III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor:

1) Labor protection by law.

2) Freedom of consumer-productive and professional labor unions.

3) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work.

4) Freedom of struggle between labor and capital.

5) Participation of workers’ representatives in the development of a bill on state insurance of workers.

6) Normal salary.

Here, sir, are our main needs with which we came to you! Command and swear to fulfill them, and you will make Russia happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of us 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 need to! We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave. Point out, sir, any of them, we will follow it unquestioningly, even if it is the path to death. Let our lives be a sacrifice for suffering Russia! We do not feel sorry for this sacrifice, we willingly make it!

April 6th, 2013

I suggest you familiarize yourself with this version of events:

At the first sprouts of the labor movement in Russia, F.M. Dostoevsky keenly noticed the scenario according to which it would develop. In his novel “Demons,” the Shpigulinskys “revolt,” that is, the workers of a local factory, “pushed to the extreme” by their owners; they crowded together and waited for “the authorities to sort it out.” But behind their backs lurk the demonic shadows of “well-wishers.” And they know that they are guaranteed to win no matter the outcome. If the authorities meet the working people halfway, they will show weakness, which means they will lose their authority. “We won’t give them a break, comrades! Let’s not stop there, tighten the requirements!” Will the authorities take a tough position and begin to restore order - “Higher is the banner of holy hatred! Shame and curse on the executioners!”

By the beginning of the 20th century. the rapid growth of capitalism has made labor movement one of the most important factors domestic Russian life. The economic struggle of workers and the state development of factory legislation led a joint attack on the arbitrariness of employers. By controlling this process, the state tried to contain the process of radicalization of the growing labor movement, which was dangerous for the country. But in the fight against the revolution for the people, it suffered a crushing defeat. And the decisive role here belongs to an event that will forever remain in history as “Bloody Sunday.”

Troops on Palace Square.

In January 1904, the war between Russia and Japan began. At first, this war, going on on the distant periphery of the Empire, did not affect the internal situation of Russia in any way, especially since the economy maintained its usual stability. But as soon as Russia began to suffer setbacks, society showed a lively interest in the war. They eagerly awaited new defeats and sent congratulatory telegrams to the Japanese emperor. It was joyful to hate Russia together with “progressive humanity”! Hatred of the Fatherland became so widespread that Japan began to regard Russian liberals and revolutionaries as its “fifth column.” A “Japanese trace” appeared in the sources of their financing. By shaking the state, haters of Russia tried to cause a revolutionary situation. The terrorist Socialist Revolutionaries undertook increasingly daring and bloody deeds; by the end of 1904, a strike movement began in the capital.

Priest Georgy Gapon and mayor I. A. Fullon at the opening of the Kolomna department of the Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg

At the same time, revolutionaries in the capital were preparing an action that was destined to become “Bloody Sunday.” The action was conceived only on the basis that there was a person in the capital capable of organizing and leading it - priest Georgy Gapon, and it must be admitted that this circumstance was used brilliantly. Who could lead a hitherto unprecedented crowd of St. Petersburg workers, most of them former peasants, if not their beloved priest? Both women and old people were ready to follow the “father,” multiplying the mass of the people’s procession.

Priest Georgy Gapon headed the legal labor organization"Meeting of Russian factory workers." In the “Meeting”, organized on the initiative of Colonel Zubatov, the leadership was actually captured by the revolutionaries, which the ordinary participants in the “Meeting” did not know about. Gapon was forced to maneuver between opposing forces, trying to “stand above the fray.” The workers surrounded him with love and trust, his authority grew, and the number of the “Assembly” grew, but, drawn into provocations and political games, the priest committed betrayal of his pastoral ministry.

At the end of 1904, the liberal intelligentsia became more active, demanding decisive liberal reforms, and at the beginning of January 1905, a strike engulfed St. Petersburg. At the same time, Gapon’s radical circle “threw” into the working masses the idea of ​​submitting a petition to the Tsar about the people’s needs. The presentation of this petition to the Emperor will be organized as a mass procession to the Winter Palace, which will be led by the priest George, beloved by the people. At first glance, the petition may seem like a strange document; it seems to have been written by different authors: the humbly loyal tone of the address to the Sovereign is combined with the utmost radicalism of the demands - right up to the convening of a constituent assembly. In other words, the legitimate authorities were demanded to abolish themselves. The text of the petition was not distributed among the people.

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 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 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, 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 a direct progressive income tax.

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

3) Orders from the military and naval departments must be executed in Russia, 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 of permanent commissions of elected workers at factories and factories, 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 working fee- 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 homeland to be liberated from slavery and poverty, for it to flourish, and for workers to organize to protect their interests from the exploitation of capitalists and the bureaucratic government that robs and strangles the people.

Command and swear to fulfill them, and you will make Russia both happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of us and our descendants for eternity. If you don’t believe us, don’t respond to our prayer, we will die here, on this square, in front of your palace. We have nowhere to go further and there is no need 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!”

Gapon knew for what purpose his “friends” were raising a mass procession to the palace; he rushed about, realizing what he was involved in, but did not find a way out and, continuing to portray himself as the people's leader, until the last moment he assured the people (and himself) that there would be no bloodshed. On the eve of the procession, the tsar left the capital, but no one tried to stop the disturbed popular element. Things were coming to a head. The people strove for Zimny, and the authorities were determined, realizing that the “capture of Zimny” would be a serious bid for victory by the enemies of the Tsar and the Russian state.

Until January 8, the authorities did not yet know that another petition with extremist demands had been prepared behind the workers’ backs.

And when they found out, they were horrified. The order is given to arrest Gapon, but it is too late, he has disappeared. But it is no longer possible to stop the huge avalanche - the revolutionary provocateurs have done a great job.

The St. Petersburg authorities, who gathered on the evening of January 8 for a meeting, realizing that it was no longer possible to stop the workers, decided not to allow them into the very center of the city (it was already clear that an actual assault on the Winter Palace was expected). the main task was not even to protect the Tsar (he was not in the city, he was in Tsarskoe Selo and did not intend to come), but to prevent riots, the inevitable crush and death of people as a result of the flow of huge masses from four sides on a narrow space of Nevsky Prospekt and Palace Square, among embankments and canals. The tsarist ministers remembered the Khodynka tragedy, when, as a result of the criminal negligence of local Moscow authorities, 1,389 people died in a stampede and about 1,300 were injured. Therefore, troops and Cossacks were gathered in the center with orders not to let people through and to use weapons if absolutely necessary.

In an effort to prevent a tragedy, authorities issued an announcement banning the January 9 march and warning of the danger. But due to the fact that there was only one printing house, the circulation of the advertisement was small, and it was posted too late.

January 9, 1905. Cavalrymen at the Pevchesky Bridge delay the movement of the procession to the Winter Palace.

Representatives of all parties were distributed among separate columns of workers (there should be eleven of them, according to the number of branches of Gapon’s organization). Socialist Revolutionary militants were preparing weapons. The Bolsheviks put together detachments, each of which consisted of a standard bearer, an agitator and a core that defended them (i.e. the same militants).

All members of the RSDLP are required to be at the collection points by six o'clock in the morning.

They prepared banners and banners: “Down with Autocracy!”, “Long live the revolution!”, “To arms, comrades!”

Before the start of the procession, a prayer service for the health of the Tsar was served in the chapel of the Putilov plant. The procession had all the features of a religious procession. In the first rows they carried icons, banners and royal portraits (it is interesting that some of the icons and banners were simply captured during the looting of two churches and a chapel along the route of the columns).

But from the very beginning, long before the first shots were fired, at the other end of the city, on Vasilyevsky Island and in some other places, groups of workers led by revolutionary provocateurs built barricades from telegraph poles and wire, and hoisted red flags.

Bloody Sunday participants

At first, the workers did not bother with the barricades special attention, noticing, they were indignant. Exclamations were heard from the work columns moving towards the center: “These are not ours anymore, we don’t need this, these are students playing around.”

The total number of participants in the procession to Palace Square is estimated at approximately 300 thousand people. Individual columns numbered several tens of thousands of people. This huge mass fatally moved towards the center and, the closer it came to it, the more it was subjected to the agitation of revolutionary provocateurs. There were no shots yet, and some people were spreading the most incredible rumors about mass shootings. Attempts by the authorities to introduce the procession into the framework of order were specifically rebuffed organized groups(the pre-agreed routes of the columns were violated, two cordons were broken through and scattered).

The head of the Police Department, Lopukhin, who, by the way, sympathized with the socialists, wrote about these events: “Electrified by agitation, crowds of workers, not succumbing to the usual general police measures and even cavalry attacks, persistently strove for the Winter Palace, and then, irritated by the resistance, began to attack to military units. This state of affairs led to the need to take emergency measures to restore order, and military units I had to act against huge crowds of workers with firearms.

The procession from the Narva outpost was led by Gapon himself, who constantly shouted: “If we are refused, then we no longer have a Tsar.” The column approached the Obvodny Canal, where rows of soldiers blocked its path. The officers asked the increasingly pressing crowd to stop, but they did not obey. The first volleys followed, blanks. The crowd was ready to return, but Gapon and his assistants walked forward and carried the crowd along with them. Combat shots rang out.

Events developed in approximately the same way in other places - on the Vyborg side, on Vasilyevsky Island, on the Shlisselburg tract. Red banners and slogans appeared: “Down with Autocracy!”, “Long live the revolution!” The crowd, excited by trained militants, smashed weapons stores and erected barricades. On Vasilievsky Island a crowd led by the Bolshevik L.D. Davydov, seized Schaff's weapons workshop. “In Kirpichny Lane,” Lopukhin reported to the Tsar, “a crowd attacked two policemen, one of them was beaten.

On Morskaya Street Major General Elrich was beaten, on Gorokhovaya Street one captain was beaten and a courier was detained, and his engine was broken. The crowd pulled a cadet from the Nicholas Cavalry School who was passing by in a cab from his sleigh, broke the saber with which he defended himself, and inflicted beatings and wounds on him...

Gapon at the Narva Gate called on the people to clash with the troops: “Freedom or death!” and only by chance did he not die when the volleys rang out (the first two volleys were blank, the next volley of combat ones over the heads, the subsequent volleys into the crowd). The crowds going to “capture Winter” were scattered. About 120 people were killed, about 300 were injured. Immediately, a cry was raised throughout the whole world about the many thousands of victims of the “bloody tsarist regime”, calls were made for its immediate overthrow, and these calls were successful. The enemies of the Tsar and the Russian people, posing as his “well-wishers,” extracted the maximum propaganda effect from the tragedy of January 9. Subsequently, the communist government included this date in the calendar as a mandatory Day of Hate for the people.

Father Georgy Gapon believed in his mission, and, walking at the head of the people's procession, he could have died, but the Socialist-Revolutionary P. Rutenberg, who was assigned to him as a “commissar” from the revolutionaries, helped him escape alive from the shots. It is clear that Rutenberg and his friends knew about Gapon's connections with the Police Department. If his reputation had been impeccable, he would obviously have been shot dead under volleys in order to bring his image to the people in the aura of a hero and martyr. The possibility of destruction of this image by the authorities was the reason for Gapon’s salvation that day, but already in 1906 he was executed as a provocateur “in his circle” under the leadership of the same Rutenberg, who, as A.I. writes. Solzhenitsyn, “then left to recreate Palestine”...

In total, on January 9, 96 people were killed (including a police officer) and up to 333 people were wounded, of whom another 34 people died before January 27 (including one assistant police officer).” So, in total, 130 people were killed and about 300 were wounded.

Thus ended the pre-planned action of the revolutionaries. On the same day, the most incredible rumors began to spread about thousands of people executed and that the execution was specially organized by the sadistic Tsar, who wanted the blood of the workers.

Graves of victims of Bloody Sunday 1905

At the same time, some sources give a higher estimate of the number of victims - about a thousand killed and several thousand wounded. In particular, in an article by V.I. Lenin, published on January 18 (31), 1905 in the newspaper “Forward”, the figure of 4,600 killed and wounded, which subsequently became widely circulated in Soviet historiography, is given. According to the results of a study performed by Dr. historical sciences A. N. Zashikhin in 2008, there is no reason to recognize this figure as reliable.

Other foreign agencies reported similar inflated figures. Thus, the British Laffan agency reported 2,000 killed and 5,000 wounded, the Daily Mail newspaper reported more than 2,000 killed and 5,000 wounded, and the Standard newspaper reported 2,000–3,000 killed and 7,000–8,000 wounded. Subsequently, all this information was not confirmed. The magazine "Liberation" reported that a certain "organizing committee of the Technological Institute" published "secret police information" that determined the number of killed at 1,216 people. No confirmation of this message was found.

Subsequently, the press hostile to the Russian government exaggerated the number of victims tens of times, without bothering documentary evidence. Bolshevik V. Nevsky, who already in Soviet times studied the issue from documents, wrote that the number of deaths did not exceed 150-200 people (Red Chronicle, 1922. Petrograd. T.1. P. 55-57) This is the story of how revolutionary parties cynically used the sincere aspirations of the people for their own purposes, exposing them to the guaranteed bullets of the soldiers defending Winter.

From the diary of Nicholas II:

January 9th. Sunday. 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 of the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and difficult! ...

On January 16, the Holy Synod addressed the latest events with a message to all Orthodox Christians:

«<…>The Holy Synod, in sorrow, begs the children of the church to obey the authorities, the shepherds to preach and teach, those in power to defend the oppressed, the rich to generously do good deeds, and the workers to work by the sweat of their brow and to beware of false advisers - accomplices and mercenaries of the evil enemy.”

You allowed yourself to be drawn into delusion and deception by traitors and enemies of our homeland...Strikes and rebellious gatherings only excite the crowd to the kind of disorder that has always forced and will force the authorities to resort to military force, and this inevitably causes innocent victims. I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and streamlined... But for a rebellious crowd to tell me their demands is criminal.

Speaking about the hasty order of the frightened authorities who ordered the shooting, it should also be remembered that the atmosphere around the royal palace was very tense, because three days earlier an attempt had been made on the life of the Sovereign. On January 6, during the Epiphany blessing of water on the Neva, a fireworks display was fired in the Peter and Paul Fortress, during which one of the cannons fired a live charge towards the Emperor. A shot of grapeshot pierced the banner of the Naval Corps, hit the windows of the Winter Palace and seriously wounded the gendarmerie police officer on duty. The officer commanding the fireworks immediately committed suicide, so the reason for the shot remained a mystery. Immediately after this, the Emperor and his family left for Tsarskoe Selo, where he remained until January 11. Thus, the Tsar did not know about what was happening in the capital, he was not in St. Petersburg that day, but revolutionaries and liberals attributed the blame for what happened to him, calling him “Nicholas the Bloody” from then on.

By order of the Sovereign, all victims and families of the victims were paid benefits in the amount of one and a half years' earnings of a skilled worker. On January 18, Minister Svyatopolk-Mirsky was dismissed. On January 19, the Tsar received a deputation of workers from large factories and plants of the capital, who already on January 14, in an address to the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, expressed complete repentance for what had happened: “Only in our darkness did we allow that some persons alien to us expressed political desires on our behalf” and asked convey this repentance to the Emperor.

sources
http://www.russdom.ru/oldsayte/2005/200501i/200501012.html Vladimir Sergeevich ZHIKIN

Remember how we found out, and also tried to expose

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -