Essays on the Russian Time of Troubles volume 3. Essays on the Russian Time of Troubles: Denikin A. I. - Alphabetical catalog - Runiverse Electronic Library. Chapter II The beginning of the struggle: General Kornilov, Kerensky and Savinkov. Kornilov’s “note” on the reorganization of the army

After February Revolution Simultaneously with the system of bourgeois bodies, other authorities, fundamentally different from it, emerged - Councils of workers, soldiers, peasants and other deputies.

At the end of February 1917, after a general strike of workers in Petrograd, factories began to elect deputies to the Petrograd Soviet. Petrograd Soviet Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies became the first body of revolutionary power; after it, Councils of Workers', Soldiers', Peasants' and various other deputies were created throughout the country. Initially, the Petrograd Soviet served as the leader Soviet system, which soon began to come into order.

The Soviets created their own executive bodies- district, provincial and other executive committees of the Soviets. At the head of both systems were, respectively, the Central Executive Committee of Peasant Soviets and the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, elected by the above-mentioned congresses. In June 1917, the Executive Committee of the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies decided on the need to unite the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils with the Central Executive Committee, although in practice this unification took place after October.

All Soviet bodies were elected. The first Soviets of Workers' Deputies were elected at meetings labor collectives, soldiers' committees - for military units and units, peasant councils - at village gatherings. The bourgeoisie did not participate in these elections, but the working people had universal suffrage.

The Soviets immediately became authorities, a situation arose dual power, when the Provisional Government had nominal power, and the Soviets had actual power.

In the spring of 1917, the Bolshevization of the Soviets gradually began. This process intensified in August-September, when the Soviets of Moscow and Petrograd passed into the hands of the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks initiated the convening of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets.

The Second Congress of Soviets opened on October 25, 1917. The absolute majority of the Soviets represented at the congress demanded the elimination of the power of landowners and capitalists and its transfer into the hands of the Soviets. A Soviet government was formed to govern the country - the Council People's Commissars. It was also envisaged to create bodies sectoral management– people's commissariats (commissions). A new Central Executive Committee was elected. The Supreme body of the Soviet state, possessing full power, became the All-Russian Congress of Soviets.

On January 13, 1918, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies merged with the III All-Russian Congress of Peasants' Deputies, which put an end to the existence of the two Soviet systems.

On March 14–16, 1918, the Extraordinary IV All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Moscow, the central issue on the agenda of which was the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. The main decision of the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which opened on July 4, 1918, was the adoption of the first Soviet Constitution, which finally consolidated the power of the soviets.

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N. I. Podvoisky

Ivanovo-Voznesensk is a city with more than 60 thousand workers. By the very way of its proletarian life it differs from all other cities in Russia. Class discord is striking here as nowhere else: luxury and then, literally, horrific poverty; on the main street there are capitalist palaces, asphalt, lighting, fast racing trotters, rich shops, and when you turn the corner - shacks, miserable little shops, dirt, rare kerosene lanterns, poorly dressed, emaciated people...

In the center there is wealth, all around there is a ring of working-class districts. And from morning to night, dozens of factory chimneys continuously smoke, discordant whistles blow, endless carts with bales rumble along the pavements, and a mass of workers hurriedly moves from the outskirts to the factories and back. This workers' way of life, interests, deprivations, the sharpness of class contradictions and the demands and demands arising from this should have resulted in a powerful proletarian mass movement, creating strong workers' organizations...

At the beginning of 1905, when the working class of Russia had already entered into an armed conflict with tsarism, the Ivanovo-Voznesensk people already had one of the most harmonious workers' Social Democratic Bolshevik organizations in Russia. It immediately became apparent how influential the Social Democratic organization of the Bolsheviks was among the working masses. In response to Bloody Sunday on January 9 in St. Petersburg, the Ivanovo-Voznesensk group holds a series of strikes, deepening its influence on the masses. She skillfully accumulates and organizes proletarian forces. Proclamations are drawn up and large quantities spread both among workers and among peasants and soldiers. The demands of the workers of various factories are coordinated in such a way as to unite all factories positively. By April, the will of the workers of all factories for a unanimous strike was finally revealed. A proclamation appears signed by the Ivanovo-Voznesensk group of the Northern Committee (seal - “Kostroma group of the Northern Com. RSDLP”). It is widespread throughout the city and even the region.

On May 1, the Ivanovo-Voznesensk proletariat created its own mass labor holiday, and on this day, social democratic speakers not only used May Day slogans, but also expressed in their speeches those economic demands that were at that time in Ivanovo-Voznesensk the demands of every weaver and weaver. .

The war greatly inflated the prices of basic necessities, while wages remained almost at the level of previous years. The demands made by the workers of individual factories were systematically left unsatisfied by the factory owners. The position of the proletariat has deteriorated to the extreme.

Shortly after May 1, Ivanovo-Voznesensk was engulfed in a general strike. Up to 60 thousand men and women went on strike. This mass of workers, emerging from their slave position, immediately became the masters of the city. The bourgeoisie, along with the police and officials, trembled. The Social Democratic Party firmly led the Ivanovo people along the path of organized revolutionary struggle.

On May 15, at a general meeting of 35 thousand workers on the Talka River, a world unprecedented labor organization- Council of Workers' Deputies, which served as the prototype of the St. Petersburg and Moscow Soviets in 1905.

Only the revolutionary proletarian vanguard, connected with the depths of life of the working masses, having absorbed for many years all the rich experience of the mass labor movement, could create such an organization.

The council immediately became popular in the eyes of the workers, since it included representatives of all factories and factories, and became even more influential because it also included women, who constituted the predominant element of the proletariat of Ivanovo-Voznesensk. From the very first steps, the council took upon itself to take care of the vital interests of the workers during the strike: negotiations with the city duma, with the governor, the police, as well as with local shopkeepers in order to get the latter to sell products on credit to the workers during the strike. The council acted as a government body representing the interests of the working masses. The police felt completely confused. The bourgeoisie and its directors left Ivanovo; the city council did not meet (all of May and June). The Ivanovo-Voznesensk Council was extremely popular not only in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, but throughout the entire region. To communicate with him, delegations were sent from the nearest factory points: Teikov, Sereda, Rodnikov, Shuya, Kokhma, etc. Complaints from neighboring factories were sent to the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council about the harassment of factory owners and the police with requests for justice, assistance and etc. Requests were made to send speakers, leaflets and instructions.

As the forces of the Council itself strengthened and developed, the faith of the proletariat in its own own strength, and with it the influence of the Social Democratic Party, which created the Council and led it, grew stronger.

The party felt the greatest responsibility for the course of the strikes, worked with gigantic persistence and energy, transferred party discipline to the broad working masses, taught a lot of dedication, setting an example of this dedication, and with its hard work showed an example of energy. The Ivanovo-Voznesensk organization of Bolsheviks, having created a Council to lead the strike, set up another important task: to prepare and create a cadre of revolutionary workers based on the experience of its grandiose organizational work. After the meeting and at every free minute, the Council assumed the position of a party school. Systematic lectures were given on issues of Marxism and the labor movement. In this way, up to 200 revolutionary workers were trained, who in October 1905 played a major organizational role in the labor movement, and many of them continue to play the same role in our Great Revolution up to this day.

The factory owners, together with the police, could not be indifferent to the systematic and deeply socialist work carried out by the leaders of the strike movement. The factory owners demanded that the police put an end to this and put an end to the “socialist university on the Talka River.” Unable to break the strike organized by the Workers' Council, the factory owners began provocation. They demanded the arrest of delegates and deputies. The governor banned the meeting. In response to this, the workers decided to continue the strike and continued to gather in Talka. The Ivanovo-Voznesensk strike, which dragged on for several weeks, began to attract the attention of workers throughout Russia. When bourgeois newspapers, like Russkoe Slovo, which sent their correspondents to Ivanovo-Voznesensk, began to write about how amicably and disciplinedly, under the skillful leadership of such leaders as Comrade. Dunaev, a strike is taking place, and when, therefore, the fame of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk strike spread throughout Russia, the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers felt a responsibility to all the workers of Russia and instinctively refrained from taking any step without the order of the Council.

The entire bourgeoisie of Russia became agitated and demanded reprisals against the workers.

On June 3, such reprisals followed with the help of the Cossacks and the police. The Astrakhan Cossacks, encouraged by the police, committed this savage massacre. They shot workers in groups and alone, tortured and mutilated them. In response to the shootings and in retaliation for the murdered comrades, the workers began to burn the houses and dachas of factory owners, and to destroy shops from which the sellers did not want to give credit to the workers. Ivanovo-Voznesensk was put under siege. Strikers were seized, arrested, beaten, and sent to prison. But the factory owners and the police had to give in. The workers again won the right to gather in Talka. The Council of Workers' Deputies, whose work the police had disrupted, was now deprived of the opportunity to be responsible for order in the city.

On June 23 (I don’t remember exactly) a grand procession of thousands of workers took place from Talka to the city to the square in front of the City Duma. Arriving at the square, the working masses, seeing themselves surrounded on all sides by Cossacks, sat down on the ground and began to quietly arm themselves with... stones. But the police did not dare to attack the workers. The rally lasted several hours. The slogan of the speakers’ speeches was “bread and work.” Bitterness bubbled in the chests of the working masses. On June 23, it was decided to continue the strike and seek satisfaction of the workers' demands. The manufacturers rejected these demands. The agitation of the workers reached extreme tension.

After the refusal of the factory owners on June 25, the Council of Workers' Deputies resigned, announcing at the meeting that it was no longer responsible for the consequences. Pogroms of flour and grocery stores began in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. Hungry workers rushed for food supplies. Up to 150 shops were destroyed. After this, the manufacturers decided to make concessions, but only minor concessions. The workers continued the strike. With a tremendous effort of all their strength, the hungry, exhausted workers continued their struggle and did not give up. The manufacturers made several more concessions.

The strike ended on July 17. The Bolshevik party organization brilliantly passed the test in terms of organization and agitation. The Council of Workers' Deputies showed the full strength and importance of proletarian power. Ivanovo-Voznesensk textile workers became the leaders of the entire labor revolutionary movement in Russia. The Ivanovo-Voznesensk strike and the Council of Workers' Deputies showed what the victory of the proletariat was and what path needed to be taken to achieve it.

The form of proletarian power, laid down by the Ivanovoznesensians on the Talka River in the form of a local Council of Deputies, was recreated in the fall of the same year by the St. Petersburg and Moscow proletariat in the form of the same Soviets.

The victory of the proletariat then turned out to be short-lived and fragile, but the Council of Workers' Deputies, which flashed brightly for a moment, brought itself into the pages of history in order to occupy there in a few years the grandiose world position that it now occupies.

Podvoisky N. First Council of Workers' Deputies (Ivanovo-Voznesensky - 1905). M., 1925. p. 3 - 10

F. N. Samoilov

On the morning of May 12, work proceeded at a normal pace in all factories and factories. Around noon, the workers at the Bakulin factory stopped work and walked out the gate. I then worked at the weaving factory of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Weaving Manufactory Partnership. We, members of the party organization, gathered in a group of several people, went out on reconnaissance two or three times to find out what was happening in other factories. We looked into Bakulin's factory: the workers, having quit their jobs, stood in a large crowd at the gate and talked noisily. On no long distance from them, just opposite the factory, a detachment of Cossacks stood in full battle formation...

A rumor suddenly spread among the assembled workers that some individuals, who had appeared from nowhere, were walking among the strikers and were quietly making marks with chalk on the backs of the most prominent strike leaders. Everyone quickly and anxiously began to look around and move from place to place, looking for these mysterious persons in order to deal with them. But no one was found. It is possible that this provocative rumor was started by police agents in order to cause confusion among the strikers.

When we returned to our factory from the last reconnaissance, it was already about four or five o'clock in the evening. The workers were still working. Despite the high, clearly strike mood, it was not easy to mobilize the working masses to go on strike. All members of the organization at the factory walked around the buildings and campaigned for a strike, but the workers did not dare to quit their jobs.

Finally we learned that striking workers from the neighboring weaving factories of Zubkov and Polushin had approached the rear gate of the factory and were demanding that we immediately join them. Then we got down to business more decisively and began shouting loudly everywhere: “Quit your job! Long live the strike!” The workers quickly, as if on command, stopped the looms in the two weaving buildings and in the spinning building, and in a dense crowd began to come out into the wide courtyard of the factory. And there, behind the back gate, the weavers of two neighboring factories demanded that the gates be opened.

When we, a group of party members, at the head of a huge crowd of weavers and spinners, approached the gate, two policemen and several watchmen were already there. The police stood at the very gate in a decisive position, with the clear intention of not letting anyone through. A few steps short of the police, we stopped indecisively. Silence lasted for several seconds. The police did not move. Finally I and some others went after the police. The whole crowd followed us. The police were repulsed. The gates opened. The strikers from neighboring factories quickly united with us, and we moved across the courtyard en masse to another, the so-called upper gate.

At this time, one of my comrades said that I should immediately appear at a secret meeting. I quickly headed there. The meeting took place in the forest, near the Talka River. When I arrived, comrades Terenty, Marta and many others were already there. We discussed the situation and made a number of decisions on the issue of leading the strike.

Meanwhile, striking workers from all factories and factories moved to the main city square along the city street. Here, after a short speech by one of the comrades, it was decided to immediately go home, and the next day to gather again right there at 10 o’clock in the morning.

The next day, as early as 9 o'clock, strikers flocked in thick crowds from all working-class neighborhoods to the main city square. At about 10 o'clock the entire square and a significant part of the streets adjacent to it were completely crowded with workers. In the center of the square, just opposite the city government building, the entire city Social Democratic organization gathered, surrounded by a living wall of workers. Everything in the city stopped, the factory chimneys stopped smoking, industrial life came to a standstill. All shops and shops were closed. The workers became masters of the situation; authorities and manufacturers were powerless...

The square became crowded, and people continued to arrive. It was quiet. Those gathered behaved very calmly and peacefully. Thick red faces looked expectantly from the windows of the city government.

According to the governor's report to the Minister of Internal Affairs, the number of people who went on strike on the first day was 40 thousand people.

At about 11 o'clock one of the comrades brought a stool and placed it in the center of our group of party members. E. Dunaev stood up, and instantly there was silence. Everyone's eyes turned to the speaker. Having examined the huge crowd, Dunaev, after a pause that lasted several seconds, made a short speech. He spoke of the need to fight until our demands, which we make to manufacturers and breeders, are met. He urged people to keep themselves as calm as possible: don’t make noise, don’t shout, don’t touch anyone.

It was in vain that these people closed their shops and stores,” he said, “we are not thieves, not robbers, not some kind of swindlers, but honest workers, toilers who have never lived at someone else’s expense or on someone else’s labor. All our lives we support with our own labor a multitude of all sorts of exploiters and parasites, idle slackers. Therefore, let the people who have closed their shops and stores not measure us by their own yardstick; let them know that honest workers - workers - are not at all like them.

When Dunaev finished speaking, a roar of approval rang through the crowd. After this, on the initiative of the Social Democratic organization, it was proposed to make collections in favor of the strikers. Reliable comrades, 10^ - 15 people, were proposed as candidates for collectors. The meeting approved them by a unanimous show of hands. I was one of these collectors. We immediately began gathering, going our separate ways different directions. A lot of time passed until we went around the entire huge crowd, collecting labor coppers, small silver coins, and sometimes small pieces of paper in our caps. I visited not only the striking workers, but also all the owners of shops and shops who, after Dunaev’s speech, reopened trade. They also threw it into my cap various little things, but they did it very reluctantly. Many of them asked with concern:

When will all this end for you?

What is this? - I asked them in turn.

Yes, this is it,” they continued, nodding their heads at the meeting, “the strike is yours, or what?”

“But it has just begun, and you want it to end,” I answered.

But this is a mess, they continued.

And when our owners tear our skins clean, is that okay? - I asked them a question, already starting to worry. - As soon as the owners satisfy our demands, we will end the strike.

After this, those asking sullenly fell silent and went to their shops.

When all the collectors returned, each had an almost full cap of coppers, silver coins and small pieces of paper. This marked the beginning of the strike fund.

In addition to Dunaev, other comrades spoke at the meeting: they talked about the demands put forward by the workers and explained why it was necessary to fight for these demands.

The Cossacks and police behaved calmly. The meeting ended late in the evening; the next day they decided to get together again. Immediately after the meeting we went to the safe house and counted the money collected. There were already several hundred rubles in the strike fund...

The governor arrived in the city. Together with other royal officials, he restlessly looked from the windows of the city government at the sea of ​​heads that had flooded the city square. From the very first days of the strike, the governor began to gather troops in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, informing the central government in detail about the current situation...

The next day the meeting in the square resumed. Simultaneously in different parts square, speeches were organized by prominent members of the Social Democratic organization, explaining the demands made on the owners. Then the performances began general: talked about the plight of the working class, the reasons for this and the need for a decisive struggle to improve their situation. Cossacks stood in the square in full armor. During the speeches of the agitators, representatives of the authorities and some well-dressed ladies and gentlemen looked from the windows of the city government.

A worker from the Gryaznovsky factory, Comrade Lakin 1, came to the podium and, making an impressive gesture towards the council, began to recite Nekrasov’s “Reflections at the Front Entrance.” His voice was loud, and his recitation made a strong impression. Those gathered were delighted, but all the faces looking out of the windows of the council instantly disappeared, the windows closed and for a long time didn't open. Comrade Lakin was one of the leaders of the strike and subsequently gained great fame among the workers as a fiery and talented speaker and organizer.

In the first days of the strike, the mood of the workers was very high, the number of strikers increased every day. The striking workers of textile factories and mechanical plants were joined by more and more groups of workers from small workshops. Those newly involved in the strike went straight to the square, joined the general mass and, through their leaders, spoke in simple and ingenuous words about their difficult situation and their demands. Listening to the terrible stories of workers of small enterprises about the inhumane exploitation of their employers, the crowd was dully worried, approvingly greeted all those newly joining its ranks and promised them their fraternal support.

During the days of the strike, factory owner Burylin wrote in a letter to his relative: “What happened in three days defies description. An unprecedented picture of events... I am deprived of a coachman, I boil the tea myself, the last watchman was removed from the factory, I guard the factory myself. The authorities are confused... There is a feeling of dual power in the city...”

A few days later, the authorities asked the strikers to stop assemblies in the square “so as not to disrupt traffic" From that time on, meetings took place near the station railway, at the edge of the forest, on the Talka River.

The senior factory inspector of the Vladimir province, Svirsky, on behalf of the owners of enterprises and the authorities, suggested that the strikers break up into factories and negotiate with each owner separately; but we immediately rejected this impudent demand.

On May 14, the strikers elected 150 deputies to negotiate with government officials and to lead the strike. This was done with the knowledge and consent of the governor, who guaranteed the inviolability of the personalities of the workers' deputies. Elections of deputies (commissioners) were carried out in factories under the leadership of local party cells. There were no special instructions from the Northern Committee group in this regard, and it did not discuss the issue of the composition of the Board of Commissioners. When, at a meeting with M.V. Frunze, I told him that the workers of our factory had elected me and S. Balashov (Strannik) as a deputy, Mikhail Vasilyevich asked in bewilderment:

Well, Arkhipych 2, after all, you are both members of the group, but who will work in the group?

In response to my remark that the workers trust us and have chosen us unanimously and that we will be able to work in the Deputy Assembly and in the group, Frunze, after thinking, said:

Perhaps it’s better this way - through you the group will be more closely connected with the meeting of deputies, and through it with the working masses...

On May 15, the first meeting of workers' deputies took place in the town council, at which a presidium was elected. This is how the Council of Commissioners was formed, which went down in history as the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Council of Workers' Deputies.

This first Council of Workers' Deputies arose as the body leading the economic strike. His initial role was limited to negotiating with the authorities and factory owners and general leadership of the economic struggle of the Ivanovo workers. But according to the natural course of the struggle of the working class, the general strike of the Ivanovoites, which began on economic grounds, very soon took on a political overtones, as can be seen from the demand for the convocation of Constituent Assembly, unanimously adopted by the strikers at a rally of thousands on the third day of the strike, May 15.

Was the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Deputy Assembly a real Council of Workers' Deputies in the true sense of the word? When resolving this issue, for a long time it was necessary to be guided only by the memories of the strike participants and a small number of secondary archival documents. The main documents - the protocols, despite all efforts, were not found (according to the participants in the events, they were taken by one of the strike leaders abroad and got lost there).

Important archival documents covering this issue have now been discovered.

At the first meeting of the Council of Workers' Deputies of Ivanovo-Voznesensk, the senior factory inspector of the Vladimir province Svirsky and his two assistants were present. The economic and political demands presented by the striking business owners and the authorities were discussed.

Much was said at this meeting about the introduction of an 8-hour working day. All the speakers ardently argued for the need to achieve this demand at all costs, and only E. Dunaev, during the discussion of this issue, suddenly said a few words that, as a last resort, we could temporarily be satisfied with 9- one hour day. But this proposal met with decisive resistance. The decision to introduce an 8-hour working day was made unanimously.

At this meeting, representatives of the factory inspection, as in the first days of the strike, asked workers to break up into factories and present demands separately to each owner of the enterprise. This proposal met with strong opposition here too and was unanimously defeated. Decisions on all issues discussed at this meeting were made unanimously, without much debate.

Representatives of the factory inspection pretended to respect the impartiality of a third, disinterested party. But after the failure of their proposal to split into factories, the mood of the inspectors changed, no matter how hard they tried to hide it. Representatives of the factory inspection became even more nervous after the Council of Workers' Deputies refused a government official's request to print urgent paper in one of the striking printing houses. The inspectorate strongly supported this request.

At the very first meeting of the Council, the demands of the workers were considered, which were then printed on a hectograph by the Social Democratic organization, and at the top of the sheet it read: “Russian Social Democratic Labor Party” and “Workers of all countries, unite!” I remember when we submitted these demands to the director of our factory, he resolutely refused to accept them - on the grounds that they came from the Social Democratic Party, and not from the workers of his factory. He and I had an argument about this. We insisted on accepting the demands in this form, but he stubbornly refused to accept them, declaring that the Social Democratic Party was illegal and could not officially speak on behalf of the workers. But in the end he was forced to give in and accepted the demands of the workers in the form in which we offered them to him.

In the first days, meetings of the Council took place in the town council, and the police did not interfere with them. Then the police demanded that the protocols be presented to her for review. The council categorically refused. After this, meetings in the premises of the town council were prohibited, and the Council of Workers' Deputies moved them to the banks of the Talka River, where daily meetings of all striking workers were held. M. V. Frunze always actively participated in the meetings of the Council.

From the very first days of the emergence of the Council, the authorities entered into negotiations with it on various issues related to the strike, and thereby actually recognized in the Council the body of legal representation of striking workers.

In the very first days of the meetings at Talka, the workers of every factory and plant, in addition to general requirements you worked Additional requirements of a private nature concerning the installation of laundries, baths, etc.

In the mornings, before the start of the rally, the city party committee with party activists met and outlined the order of the day for the Council of Commissioners.

Meetings at Talka took place daily from 10 am. The order in which they were conducted was approximately as follows. In the morning, at about 9 o'clock, the plenum of the Council of Commissioners met. The meetings of the plenum took place at the forest gatehouse, on a small lawn, separated from the place of the general meeting of workers by the Talka River, which at this place makes a sharp bend, forming a small peninsula in the form of a semicircular area overgrown with thick green grass. At the plenum, all issues related to the leadership of the strike were discussed and the order of the day for the general meeting of strikers was developed. Only members of the Council and representatives of the party organization were present at the plenum. No outside public was allowed except when there was an important and urgent message to be made.

Every day, towards the end of the plenum of the Council of Commissioners, several thousand strikers gathered in Talka. Then the plenum was closed. The deputies went to the podium, to the place of the general meeting (the barrel served as a podium), and the meeting opened with a speech from one of the deputies or party workers: the workers were informed about the progress of the strike, about negotiations with the owners, about relations with the authorities, etc. Then it went on brief discussion practical issues, relating to the current affairs of the strike, and proposals made on behalf of the Council were voted on. And then usually one of the party workers gave a big propaganda political speech on the topic of the situation of the working class, the reasons for its lack of rights and economic need and ways to eliminate them. The speakers also spoke about the development of the labor movement here and abroad, about political parties, about trade unions, they talked about other topics that awakened the consciousness of the workers; the meeting turned into a kind of free workers' university. The strikers listened to these speeches with great attention, often interrupting them with shouts of approval and applause. The first speaker was followed by a second, a third, and the meeting continued until the listeners were tired; then revolutionary songs were sung, and the meeting was closed.

In the very first days of the strike, the Council of Commissioners demanded that the authorities close all state-owned wine shops for the duration of the strike. This demand was satisfied. At that time, there was an order in the city that had never been seen before the strike: no drunks were visible, no fights, no scandals, no gambling, which the Council also prohibited.

But, despite the great revolutionary upsurge, at first there were no decisive calls for armed struggle in the speeches at these meetings; most of the strikers still lived under the illusion that anything could be achieved peacefully.

Once F. Kukushkin (nicknamed Gogol) 3 after a short speech shouted from the podium: “Down with autocracy!” The meeting protested, and it took a lot of work to calm it down. After this incident, it became especially clear to us that the strikers still need to be prepared for the struggle, educated politically, and that the approach to them must be skillful and cautious.

During the rallies in Talka, there were often cases of hostile agitation among the strikers; deputies and party members who were among the workers immediately intervened in conversations directed against the strike, exposing the enemies.

The most prominent and popular deputies were E. Dunaev, N. Grachev (secretary of the Council), M. Lakin, D. Shorokhov, Kosyakov, V. Morozov (Ermak), K. Makarov, N. Zhidelev, D. Chernikova, Saramantova (Marta ), P. Kozlov (Tolstoy), Tsarsky.

Kosyakov and Grachev most often went to negotiate with manufacturers and authorities as representatives of the Council.

One day several people came to the governor, authorized by the Council workers' deputies to clarify the situation created in connection with the stubborn intransigence of the owners. The delegates waited for the governor for a long time in the reception room; no one even invited them to sit down.

Finally the governor came out, accompanied by several associates. We said hello and were about to start business conversation, when suddenly there was a deafening clap of thunder and a bright, dazzling lightning flashed. The governor and his entire retinue crossed themselves vigorously.

“And we,” said one of the delegates, “didn’t blink an eye, no one even thought about being baptized. We stand calmly, watching them cross themselves, and some of us even couldn’t help but smile ironically. “Don’t you really believe in God?” - exclaimed the governor, surprised by our behavior. Then comrade, who was among the delegates. Kosyakov answered him that we have nothing to be afraid of thunderstorms, we have seen all sorts of thunderstorms, but if we are threatened by hunger, then we are afraid of it - we are very familiar with it and know that it is worse than any thunderstorm and it is impossible to disown it. Without answering Kosyakov, the governor cited some excerpt from Krylov’s fable. Then Comrade Kosyakov answered him with Krylov’s fable “The Pig under the Oak Tree.”

After this, the mood of the authorities changed greatly for the worse for us,” another delegate reported. - No private conversations that have no direct relationship to the point, there was no more. After the governor’s brief answer that he couldn’t do anything, that the owners had the right to give in to us or not, we, as always happened, left the authorities with nothing.

The worker Evlampy Dunaev spoke especially often at meetings and in negotiations with the authorities. He was extremely popular among the strikers. he said in simple language, understandable to the broad working masses. He approached questions skillfully and covered them intelligently and clearly. He looked like the most ordinary worker: thin, of average height, always dressed in a worn blue blouse or a simple shirt of the same color. With his clear and simple speech, he inspired special confidence in the workers; they felt that this was their man. The authorities considered Dunaev one of the prominent leaders of the strike and took all measures to arrest him, but due to good conspiracy they did not succeed. One day, a worker appeared at a general meeting on Talka and said that he had been arrested, mistaking him for Dunaev, and was kept under arrest for several days until they learned that Dunaev continued to speak daily at meetings of strikers.

On May 17, the owners sent answers to the workers' demands through the factory inspection. Each owner answered separately, and there were a lot of these answers, sealed in envelopes. At the moment these answers were received, a general meeting of the strikers was taking place; one of the party workers, comrade. Terenty, taking this whole pile of envelopes with the owner’s answers into his arms, climbed up to the podium and, showing them, said: “Now we have finally received an answer to our demands from the owners. Let’s see what they, our “breadwinners” and “benefactors,” write to us,” and announced a break in the meeting.

To consider the bosses' responses to the workers' demands, a plenum of the Council was urgently convened. The answers to all the demands were negative, except for the consent of the owners to certain insignificant increases and their satisfaction of certain small demands regarding baths and laundries in factories. The owners said about the political demands that they were sent to the wrong address, that their satisfaction did not depend on them. ..

After considering the owners' responses, it was decided to continue the strike, and political demands were sent to the Minister of the Interior. The deputies signed them, accurately indicating their professions...

At the end of May, the workers of Shuya (9,048 people), then the workers of Teikov (9,127 people) joined the striking Ivanovo workers. Factories went on strike in the village of Yuzhe (6,127 people), Grodzilov (1,805 people) and some others. During this period, there were about 70 thousand strikers in the Ivanovo region. All of them kept in touch with the Ivanovo Council, received advice and instructions from it. Thus, the Ivanovo Soviet actually led the strike movement of the entire region.

The technology in the Social Democratic organization was well established at that moment. I was entrusted with supplying the printing house with paper, paint and other materials. The printing house was located on the outskirts of the city, along the Bolshoy Lezhnevsky tract. I bought paper, paint, etc. at Ilyinsky’s store and, with the help of several comrades, delivered it to the printing house by roundabout routes. The printing house printed daily bulletins on the progress of the strike, which were distributed to general meetings; These ballots had great propaganda value...

Contrary to the prohibition of the authorities, on May 23, in the city square, by order of the Council, a meeting of strikers was again held under the slogan “Work, bread!” Returning from the square to Talka, the demonstrators threw out a red flag and sang “Bravely, comrades, in step...”. This was the first demonstration with a red banner during the entire strike.

Business owners disappeared from the city. Only managers, directors and other administration remained in the factories, with whom the workers entered into negotiations through their deputies. At one of the meetings in Talka, at the suggestion of the Council, it was decided to go to the factories to demand payment of wages during the strike. But when the workers’ deputies came to the factories, the administration told them that there were no owners and no authority was left to anyone on this issue. There were big disputes in many factories. As a result, the very next day the governor issued an order in which he threatened to “take action against persons who allow themselves threats and noise during negotiations with the factory administration on the issue of payment for the strike.”

The owners nevertheless decided to give the workers a certain amount, albeit a very small one, it seems, one ruble per person. During the strike, such extraditions were made two or three times.

The popularity of the strike and the authority of the Council of Workers' Deputies grew every day and spread far beyond the city limits. Our Council received various requests and complaints from workers in nearby cities and towns about oppression by their employers. It is important to note that the Council also received complaints from peasants about oppression by landowners and various village authorities. For example, the Shuya peasants sent walkers to complain about the illegal actions of the forester. The other ten peasant walkers asked for instructions “on how to take away the land and destroy the zemstvo leaders.” Peasants from Murom and other districts appealed to the Council...

Delegates from workers from different parts of the province often came for advice and with all kinds of complaints against the owners. They were invited to meetings of the Council, listened to, given the necessary instructions, advice, and sometimes one of the deputies or party workers was sent with them to the site to organize a strike. The workers of Shuya, Teikov, Lezhnev, Rodnikov and other industrial centers of the Ivanovo region came to the Council of Workers' Deputies.

In bourgeois newspapers (“ Russian word”, “Russian Vedomosti”, etc.) a lot was written then about the events in “Russian Manchester”, as they called Ivanovo-Voznesensk. These newspapers covered the strike in different ways: some, like Russkoe Slovo and Russkie Vedomosti, printed long articles about the strike, fawned, “approved” restraint, discipline, etc., but did not approve of the immoderation of such demands as the demand of the Constituent Assembly and etc.; others, like Russky Leaf, swore and slandered the strikers in every possible way...

The police continued to behave calmly outwardly, but they kept an eye on the strike leaders and even secretly hunted them. Some comrades were arrested in the first weeks of the strike, but were released after some time. These arrests embittered the strikers and invariably contributed to an even greater growth of class consciousness. When one of the comrades appeared on the podium after two or three weeks of arrest, he was given an enthusiastic welcome...

The council instructed the police to monitor order in the city and not allow strikebreakers to work. During the first weeks of the strike, police patrols appointed by the Council were stationed near the factories in the mornings to check whether anyone was going to work. I also had to go on patrol on behalf of the Council several times. Early in the morning, when the sun was just rising, you would stand on the main road leading to the factory, and look to see if a strikebreaker would appear somewhere. But an hour passes, then another - everything around is quiet and deserted. There are silent giant buildings of factories and factories located on both banks of the Uvodi River flowing through the city. Their huge chimneys do not smoke, and the usual noise and chatter of looms is not heard.

A lot of bitterness has accumulated in the hearts of the workers from all sorts of insults and oppression over the course of decades. It is difficult to fight against enemies of unequal strength - capitalists: you have to starve and endure the need for all the essentials. But the Ivanovo workers do not bend. There are no strikebreakers, complete desolation all around...

Once, while on duty, I had to meet with the police chief of the city of Ivanovo-Voznesensk, Kozhelovsky, who subsequently shot at the workers. The sun was already high, there was the usual silence and solitude all around. The patrolmen were standing on the bank of a steep ravine near the Company factory when the police chief appeared along the road from the town of Dmitrievka. We all knew his figure well. He was traveling in a cab with a coachman and an armed guard and was heading towards us. We pretended not to pay attention to him. Before reaching us a few dozen steps, he said:

What? Are you on guard to prevent those who want to get a job? Are you forcing someone to go on strike? Look in vain: the factories won’t work! Don't be afraid, they won't turn around now! Soon you yourself will ask to be let in, but no, no, they won’t turn around! They won't wrap around for a long time! Now go on strike, go on strike!

We didn’t answer, pretending that this didn’t apply to us, and he left. Then it became known that the employers wanted to “starve us out” by artificially prolonging the strike.

Time passed, but the manufacturers remained silent. The need among the strikers grew and became more and more intolerable. At first, apart from the few hundred rubles we collected on the first day of the strike, there was nothing in the Soviet coffers. Then money began to arrive, collected by workers in other cities and industrial towns. We organized a commission to issue benefits. During the strike, as far as I remember, about 15 thousand rubles were received. The number of those in need grew, and since it was impossible to satisfy everyone, the commission had to strictly select those especially in need of benefits. Benefits were given not in money, but in checks and coupons from the consumer society, and those in need received benefits in food.

The "Unity is Strength" cooperative played a large positive role in the strike, providing food assistance to the strikers; he was a thorn in the side of the police. The police decided to stop the cooperative; Under the pretext that striking workers who came to the cooperative shop to buy food were allegedly interfering with trade, the police sent Cossacks to the shop, who brutally beat the workers.

The “university” on Talka continued to exist. The results of his political and educational work were becoming more and more noticeable. The same workers who, at the beginning of the strike, did not even want to listen to the revolutionary calls “Down with autocracy!”, “Long live the armed uprising!” etc., now, after completing the “initial course of political literacy,” they noisily applauded the hot political speeches directed against the tsarist autocracy. Now the workers sang revolutionary songs with great enthusiasm.

The most popular songs on Talka were “Whip”, “Dubinushka”, “Mashinushka”, “Trepov General”; they were sung by striking workers. Here are the words of “Nagaika” - a song composed by the people in 1905:

One day an interesting episode occurred in connection with this song. A group of warriors returning from a meeting encountered two Cossacks. In a short battle, the Cossacks were disarmed, and their whips were also taken away. At the next meeting, Evlampy Dunaev sang the song “Whip”, conducting a real Cossack whip. This caused general amusement, witticisms directed at the foolish Cossacks, and laughter. On this day, “Whip” was sung with special enthusiasm.

They often sang “Mashinushka”. The song ended with angry prophetic words:

But be afraid, terrible king!
We won't be like before,
Bear your grief patiently.
Like a wave in a storm,
Waking up from sleep
The working people are stormy like the sea.
Your luxurious palace
We will completely destroy!
And we will leave only ashes from the throne,
And we will take away your purple in battle
And we’ll cut it into banners for ourselves!
Manufacturers-merchants,
Your faithful sons,
We, like clouds, will scatter across the field,
And in place of hostility
Yes, severe need
We will establish brotherhood and freedom!

From these fighting songs of the revolution, the working people drew energy, perseverance and the will to fight, and faith in the inevitable victory of the workers' cause.

The political and educational work of the party organization was not limited to daytime, open rallies on the banks of the Talka. In the evenings, and sometimes late at night, conspiratorial meetings were held for a narrower circle of party and non-party activists in the forest, around the fire, where reports on political and social issues were heard. All party leaders were usually present at these meetings, and the night passed quietly in a lively exchange of opinions.

The authorities could not help but notice this. They understood that anti-government agitation had been going on in Talka for a long time. And they decided to put an end to this by dealing with the strikers.

On June 2, a decree of the governor was posted, according to which meetings of workers on Talka were strictly prohibited...

The authorities dropped the mask of a “third party” in the “dispute” between workers and factory owners and tried to break up our unity and organization by prohibiting meetings.

A secret meeting of deputies and party workers was held, at which they decided, despite the ban, to still gather at the usual time on Talka. This decision was communicated orally to the strikers. Before the meeting, on the morning of June 3, the vigilantes carried out reconnaissance of the forest surrounding the meeting place of the strikers; were found in different places Large groups of Cossacks and dragoons are in ambush. Around 11 o'clock at the edge of the forest, near the forest guardhouse, on the side of Talka opposite the usual meeting place, about three thousand workers gathered. Everyone sat on the ground and waited for the others to arrive to open the meeting. People kept coming.

But then from the direction of the station a large detachment of Cossacks appeared, led by Chief of Police Kozhelovsky. Those gathered continued to sit quietly, vigilantly watching the movement of the Cossacks.

The Cossacks drove up to a small bridge spanning Talka. After a moment's stop at the bridge, they quickly moved across it. Having crossed the river, the Cossacks stopped again for a minute. The police chief responded to an attempt by some members of the Council to negotiate with curses and threats. He shouted three times in a row: “Disperse! Disperse! Disperse!”, at the same moment he commanded: “Cossacks, forward!” - and he himself was the first to rush into the crowd. The Cossacks rushed after him, spurring their horses, shouting and hollering.

The people were already on their feet and began to retreat, at first slowly, and then faster and faster, and finally rushed into the forest in an avalanche in different directions. Most moved towards the railway line. We, the deputies, tried to stop this spontaneous flow, since in the forest it was possible to resist the mounted Cossacks with some success. But the wild howl, curses and whooping of the drunken Cossacks had their effect. The retreating Cossacks fired several volleys from rifles...

I somehow found myself in the crowd of those moving towards the railway tracks. With a feeling of great anger, I, along with other comrades, began to collect stones on the railway line, intending to organize resistance to the gang of scoundrels. The Cossacks continued to shoot at those running across the railway embankment, “taking them out” with bullets; Panic seized the fleeing people, and I realized that nothing could be done, that I had to leave. He joined a group of comrades heading into the forest, to the left of the railway. We walked through the forest for a long time until we reached a guardhouse, located at quite a distance from Talka.

There were already several people in the guardhouse. We went in to ask for a drink. But the watchman who was in the yard at that time suddenly ran into the gatehouse and grabbed a revolver from the wall. At one point, several people attacked the watchman and disarmed him. He looked at us like a beast. At first we thought that he mistook us for robbers, and we began to explain to him who we were, saying that we didn’t wish anything bad for him and wouldn’t do anything to him. But he continued to look at us with hostility, and we moved on. They walked again for a long time through the forest until they came to the village of Bogorodskoye. There we met several comrades and, having rested a little, headed to the city... That same evening several wine shops were destroyed, many telephone and telegraph wires were torn. Telegraph poles littered the streets. Telegraph and telephone communications were interrupted. Crowds of angry workers beat up the police officers they came across.

It was clear that for the armed uprising of the workers, driven to the extreme by the brutal execution, the only thing missing was weapons. There were rumors in the city about a large number of killed and wounded, and curses and threats were heard everywhere against the perpetrators of the savage massacre of the strikers...

Samoilov F.I. In the footsteps of the past. M.. 1954. p. 63 - 75. 77 - 78

Notes:

1 He was killed by Black Hundreds in 1905 in the city of Undol, Vladimir province. Note auto

2 My then party nickname. Note auto

3 Subsequently he turned out to be a provocateur. Note auto

Deputies on the shore of Talka. June 1905. Photo by N. Alekseev

Council of Workers' Commissioners(after 1917 became known as Ivanovo-Voznesensky City Council of Workers' Deputies listen)) - an elected representative body of workers' government that existed in Ivanovo-Voznesensk (now Ivanovo) during the First Russian Revolution from May 15 (28) to July 19 (August 1), 1905. 151 deputies were elected to the Council from factories with more than a thousand workers (one deputy from every 500 people). There are 151 deputies in total. Chairman - A. E. Nozdrin. It is considered the first Council in Russia.

Creation

The council appeared in 1905 during the Ivanovo-Voznesensk strikes. Since May 12, there was a strike in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, in which more than 70 thousand people took part. The Bolsheviks played the leading role in the strike. The strikers demanded an eight-hour working day, higher wages, the abolition of fines, the elimination of factory police, freedom of speech, unions, the press, strikes, and the convening of a Constituent Assembly, but economic demands still prevailed.

On May 13, a meeting was held at the city government (now Revolution Square), at which the workers put forward their demands to the factory owners. However, the factory owners refused to negotiate with the crowd and insisted that workers elect representatives from each enterprise. In the evening of the same day, a representation norm was established at Talka: one deputy was elected per 500 workers from factories with more than a thousand workers, and elections began by open voting. On this day, 50 people were chosen. On May 15, the elections ended in Talka. 151 deputies were elected, including 25 women. As it turned out later, three (or two: V.P. Barashkov’s affiliation is controversial) deputies were secret police agents. The chairman was the Ivanovo-Voznesensk poet Avenir Evstigneevich Nozdrin. Contrary to the intentions of the factory owners, the deputies refused to conduct separate negotiations at each factory separately, but united into a citywide council. The council consisted almost entirely (with the exception of one employee) of workers, average age deputies was 23 years old.

Activity

The council was called upon to lead the strike and negotiations with the authorities and factory owners, as well as organize propaganda of Marxism and revolutionary ideas among the workers. On the evening of May 15, the first meeting of the Council was held in the building of the Meshchansky Council (now known as the House of the First Council), during which the council was guarded by workers. Later the meetings were moved to the shore of Talka. The council created fighting squads and an elected court. On May 20, a workers' militia was created, the leader of which was I. N. Utkin. On May 22, she was sent to maintain order in the city and protect factories from strikebreakers. The legal authorities tried to suppress the strike movement by evicting workers from factory barracks and raising food prices, but the Council tried to counteract this by opening factory shops and supplying food to the strikers. He created a commission for leading strikes, headed by S.I. Balashov, financial and food commissions. Power in the city was partially in the hands of the Council, with whose connivance arson and pogroms of factory owners' houses, shops and shops began in the city, and communications were disrupted in many places. A split emerged in the ranks of the factory owners.

The owners did not satisfy all the workers' demands, but made significant concessions. On average, the working day was reduced to 10.5 hours, wages increased by 10%.

At the end of June, the factory owner P. Gryaznov was the first to make concessions to the workers, and other factory owners soon joined: at the city’s enterprises the working day was shortened by various times (for example, at the Murashkin plant by 1.5 hours, at the Zhokhov plant by half an hour) and now amounted to 10.5 hours on average, wages increased by 10%, pregnant women and nursing mothers received some benefits, and strike participants were promised not to be fired. In view of this, on June 27, the Council adopted a resolution to end the strike from July 1. But at the beginning of July, the factory owners decided to refuse all concessions and organize a lockout in order to suppress the revolutionary movement. Despite the strikers' lack of funds, the rallies resumed. The Council began holding meetings again. The factory owners again made concessions and, although not all demands were met, the workers were satisfied with them. On July 19, the last meeting of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Council took place, at which the deputies decided to resume work.

Memory

In honor of the events of 1905, during Soviet times, since the 1970s, the city of Ivanovo bore the unofficial nickname “Motherland of the First Council.” The city houses the Museum of the First Council. In the 1970s, monuments were erected in the city in honor of revolutionary events 1905 - Monument to the fighters of the 1905 revolution (1975), Memorial complex "Red Talka" (1975), panel with a bas-relief and a statement by Lenin on the building of the House of Soviets (1977) (see.