January 13, 1878 Vasily Vitalievich Shulgin (1878, Kyiv - 1976, Vladimir) was born in Kyiv, a man of a unique, unusually eventful fate. Is it a joke to say: he was born during the reign of Alexander II, and passed away under the late Brezhnev. He was not destined to see his father, Vitaly Yakovlevich Shulgin; he died a month before the birth of his son. Vitaly Shulgin (1822 - 1877), professor of history at the Kyiv University of St. Vladimir was the founder of the legendary Kyiv newspaper "Kievlyanin", or rather, in 1864. took up editing the government-founded, little-known moderate liberal newspaper of the same name. The first editorial of what was essentially a new newspaper ended with the famous words “This is a Russian land, Russian, Russian!”, which later became the life motto for Vasily Shulgin.
The widow of the professor, soon after the death of her husband, married a young colleague and like-minded person of her husband - Dmitry Ivanovich Pikhno (1853, Chigirinsky district of the Kyiv province - 1913 Kyiv). The crooked grins can be discarded immediately; everything happened after the death of her husband. The memory of Vasily’s father was sacred in the new family; there was no question of what surname little Vasily should bear. Dmitry Ivanovich Pikhno in 1877 started working at the Kievlyanin newspaper as a specialist in legal and economic issues in 1879. took over the editing of the newspaper, completely continuing the editorial policy of the founder of the newspaper. For Vasily Shulgin, his stepfather became a truly close person for the rest of his life, raising him as his own son. By the way, Dmitry Ivanovich Pikhno was also born on January 13 (new style) 1853. and this anniversary post is dedicated to him. Learn more about this wonderful man.
By the 90s of the 19th century, the newspaper “Kievlyanin” became the most popular and read newspaper not only in Kyiv, but also in the entire South-Western region. This newspaper was not an organ of any organization, while its leading employees were members of one of the most powerful and influential political organizations in pre-revolutionary Kyiv, the Kiev Club of Russian Nationalists.It was to these people that the words of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin were addressed: “My sympathy and support are entirely on your side. I consider you and the people of your club in general to be the salt of this earth.”
I will give excerpts from the biography of Vasily Shulgin, author Alexander Repnikov:
“In 1900 Shulgin graduated from the university. He spent one year at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute. He became a zemstvo councilor and an honorary justice of the peace. At the same time, he was the leading journalist (from 1911 - editor) of Kievlyanin. In 1902 he was called up for military service in the 3rd Engineer Brigade, and in December of the same year he was transferred to the reserve with the rank of warrant officer of the reserve field engineering troops. After leaving the army, he went to the Volyn province, where he was engaged in agriculture until 1905. Shulgin was already a family man when the Russian-Japanese War began. In 1905, he volunteered for the Japanese front, but the war ended, and Shulgin was sent to Kyiv. After the publication of the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, unrest began in Kyiv and Shulgin tried to restore order on the streets of the city together with his soldiers.
During the elections to the Second State Duma in the summer of 1906, Shulgin proved himself to be an excellent agitator. He was elected as a landowner from the Volyn province (where he had 300 acres of land) first in the II, and then in the III and IV Dumas, where he was one of the leaders of the right and then of the nationalists. Speaking in the Duma, Shulgin, in contrast to another right-wing speaker V.M. Purishkevich, spoke quietly and politely, although he always ironically parried the attacks of his opponents, to whom he once addressed a caustic question: “Tell me frankly, gentlemen, do any of you have a bomb in your bosom?” Nicholas II received him several times. Shulgin repeatedly supported the actions of P.A. Stolypin, of whom he remained a staunch supporter until the end of his life, supporting not only the famous reforms, but also measures to suppress the revolutionary movement.
In 1913, in connection with the M. Beilis case, Shulgin spoke in Kievlyanin on September 27 with sharp criticism of the government’s actions. Shulgin said that the police officials were instructed from above to find the “Jew” at any cost; said, according to the investigator, that the main thing for the investigation is to prove the existence of ritual murders, and not the guilt of Beilis. “You yourself perform human sacrifice,” wrote Shulgin. “You treated Beilis like a rabbit being placed on a vivisection table.” For this article, he was sentenced to 3 months in prison “for disseminating in the press deliberately false information about senior officials...”, and the newspaper issue was confiscated. Those copies that had already sold out were resold for 10 rubles.
Shulgin met the First World War in Kyiv and hurried to the capital to take part in Duma meetings. Then he went to the front as a volunteer. With the rank of ensign of the 166th Rivne Infantry Regiment of the Southwestern Front, he participated in battles. He was wounded, and after being wounded, he headed the zemstvo advanced dressing and nutrition detachment. In 1915, Shulgin, from the Duma rostrum, unexpectedly spoke out against the arrest and criminal conviction of Social Democratic deputies, calling it a “major state mistake.” Then in August of the same year he left the Nationalist faction and formed the Nationalist Progressive Group.
On February 27, 1917, Shulgin was elected to the Temporary Committee of the State Duma. On March 2, he, together with A.I. Guchkov, was sent to Pskov for negotiations with the emperor and was present at the signing of the manifesto of abdication in favor of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, which he later wrote about in detail in his book “Days”. The next day - March 3, he was present at the renunciation of Mikhail Alexandrovich from the throne and participated in the preparation and editing of the act of abdication.
On August 14, at the State Conference, Shulgin spoke out sharply against the abolition of the death penalty, elected committees in the army and the autonomy of Ukraine. Responding to the opening speech of A.F. Kerensky, he emphasized that he wanted the power of the Provisional Government to be truly strong, and that the Little Russians, “like 300 years ago,” want to “keep a strong and unbreakable alliance with Moscow.” Shulgin, who arrived in Kyiv once again, was arrested on the night of August 30, 1917 by order of the “Committee for the Protection of the Revolution in the City of Kyiv.” The Kievlyanin newspaper was closed (on September 2, publication of the newspaper resumed). Shulgin was soon released and returned to Petrograd, but at the beginning of October 1917 he moved to Kyiv, where he headed the Russian National Union. In the elections to the Constituent Assembly, his candidacy was nominated by the monarchical union of the Southern Coast of Crimea. On October 17, a congress of Russian voters of the Kyiv province took place in Kyiv, chaired by Shulgin; adopted an order in which it was said that one of the main tasks of the Constituent Assembly should be the creation of solid state power.
In November 1917, Shulgin visited Novocherkassk, where he met with General M.V. Alekseev and took part in the formation of the Volunteer Army. He received the news of the conclusion of the Brest Peace with indignation. In January 1918, when the Reds occupied Kyiv, Shulgin was arrested, but was soon released.
In February 1918, German troops came to Kiev, and Shulgin, who fought with them at the front, refused to publish a newspaper in protest, addressing the Germans who came to Kiev in the last issue of “Kievlyanin” on March 10: “Since we the Germans were not invited, then we do not want to enjoy the benefits of relative peace and some political freedom that the Germans brought us. We have no right to this... We are your enemies. We may be your prisoners of war, but we will not be your friends as long as the war continues.” The release of "Kievlanin" was resumed after the occupation of Kyiv by the army of General A.I. Denikin and terminated in December 1919.
From March 1918 to January 1920, Shulgin became involved in illegal work, heading the secret organization “ABC” under Denikin’s army. This was the name given to the intelligence department at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command of the AFSR.
In August 1918, having crossed to the Don, Shulgin arrived in the Volunteer Army, where, with the participation of General A.M. Dragomirova developed the “Regulations on the Special Meeting” under the Supreme Leader of the Volunteer Army.” At the same time, he edited the newspaper Rossiya (Great Russia) in various cities, in which he promoted the “white idea.”
1920 finds Shulgin in Odessa. White armies left Crimea, trying to break through the Dniester. Having moved to Romania, Shulgin, along with other soldiers and officers, was disarmed and expelled from Romanian territory. Having returned to “red” Odessa, Shulgin lived there illegally until July 1920, then went to Crimea, to join P.N.’s army. Wrangel. Having learned that his nephew was arrested by Cheka officers, Shulgin made another attempt to illegally enter Odessa, where he contacted the White Guard underground, but without finding his nephew (who was later shot), he again finds himself in Romania. Having lost his three sons and wife in the turmoil of the civil war, he left for Constantinople. The “White Cause” failed in Russia. Trying to predict the future of Russia in the turmoil of the retreat, Shulgin comes to unexpected conclusions: “our ideas jumped over the front... they (the Bolsheviks - A.R.) restored the Russian army... As crazy as it may seem, it is so... The banner of United Russia was actually raised by the Bolsheviks... Someone will come who will take their “maternity” from them... Their determination is to accept their responsibility, to make incredible decisions. Their cruelty is carrying out once decided... He will be truly red in his willpower and truly white in the tasks he pursues. He will be a Bolshevik in energy and a nationalist in convictions. He has the lower jaw of a lone boar... And "Human Eyes." And the forehead of the thinker... All this horror that now hangs over Russia is only a terrible, difficult, terribly painful... birth of an autocrat.”
On the emigrant ship Shulgin met the daughter of General D.M. Sidelnikova Maria Dmitrievna, half his age. A love affair began, which continued abroad. The former wife was found here, but Shulgin in 1923 obtained her consent to divorce and already in the fall of 1924 he married his new wife.
From the autumn of 1922 to August 1923, Shulgin lived near Berlin. Since the formation of the Russian All-Military Union in 1923, he has been a member of this organization and carries out instructions from the head of Wrangel’s counterintelligence E.K. Klimovich, on whose instructions he contacts the leadership of the underground anti-Soviet organization “Trust” and illegally visits the USSR. In the fall of 1925, Shulgin leaves for Warsaw. On the night of December 23, 1925, he illegally crosses the border and arrives in Minsk, from where he moves to Kyiv, and then to Moscow. Living in a dacha near Moscow, he holds several meetings with A.A. Yakushev, as well as with other members of the Trust organization. In February 1926, with the help of Yakushev, Shulgin travels to Minsk, crosses the Polish border and from there leaves for Yugoslavia, where he informs Klimovich about the results of his trip. Shulgin outlined his impressions from his trip to the USSR in the book “Three Capitals” (I give link to this book, it is quite lengthy, but if you have a few free evenings, then it is worth reading - my comment).
After it became clear that Shulgin’s arrival in the USSR, all his movements around the country and meetings took place under the control of the OGPU, trust in him among emigrants was undermined. During the same period, Shulgin was actively involved in literary activities. From his pen, in addition to the already mentioned book “Three Capitals,” “Days,” “1920,” and “The Adventures of Prince Voronetsky” appear. Some of Shulgin's works were published in Soviet Russia.
After long wanderings, Shulgin, moving away from active political activity, settled in Yugoslavia, in the city of Sremski Karlovci. Being himself a Russian nationalist (but by no means a chauvinist), Shulgin saw in Hitler’s attack on the USSR not so much an opportunity to “get even” with former opponents, but rather a threat to the security of historical Russia.
In October 1944, Sremski Karlovci, where Shulgin lived, was liberated by the Soviet Army. On December 24, 1944, he was taken to the Yugoslav city of Novi Sad, and on January 2, 1945, he was detained by the detective of the 3rd department of the 1st department of the Smersh counterintelligence department of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Lieutenant Vedernikov, on the instructions of the head of the 3rd department A .AND. Chubarova. After the initial interrogation, Shulgin was taken first to Hungary, then to Moscow, where his arrest was formalized procedurally. After bringing charges and conducting an investigation that lasted more than two years, Shulgin, by decision of a Special Meeting at the USSR Ministry of State Security, was sentenced to imprisonment for 25 years. He was charged with a standard set of various parts of Art. 58. Criminal Code of the RSFSR. Shulgin served his term in Vladimir prison (1947-1956).
On the night of March 5, 1953, Shulgin had a dream: “A magnificent horse fell, fell on its hind legs, resting its front legs on the ground, which it covered with blood.” At first he connected the dream with the anniversary of the death of Alexander II, and only then learned about the death of I.V. Stalin. A different era arrived and in 1956 Shulgin was released. He was allowed to live with his wife, who was brought from exile. At first he lived in a nursing home in the city of Gorokhovets, Vladimir region, then in the city of Vladimir (the authorities gave him and his wife a one-room apartment).
In 1961, in the book “Letters to Russian Emigrants”, published in a hundred thousand copies, Shulgin admitted: what the communists are doing, defending the cause of peace in the second half of the 20th century, is not only useful, but also absolutely necessary for the people they lead and even saving for all humanity. With all the necessary reservations (the book mentions the leading role of the party and N.S. Khrushchev, whose personality “gradually captured” Shulgin), the book also contains reflections about God, the place and role of man on earth, atypical for Soviet publications of that time. etc. Shulgin was a guest at the XXII Congress of the CPSU and heard how the Program for Building Communism was adopted. Then he took part in the artistic and journalistic film “Before the Judgment of History,” directed by F.M. Ermler based on the script by V.P. Vladimirov, playing himself.
He was allowed to receive guests and even sometimes travel to Moscow. Gradually, a pilgrimage to Shulgin began. The writer M.K. met with Shulgin three times from August 1973 to August 1975. Kasvinov, author of the book “Twenty-three steps down”, dedicated to the history of the reign of Nicholas II. Director S.N. came Kolosov, who shot a television film about Operation Trust, L.V. Nikulin, author of a fictional chronicle novel dedicated to the same operation; writers D.A. Zhukov and A.I. Solzhenitsyn, artist I.S. Glazunov and others. Unexpectedly, Shulgin’s son, Dmitry, was found. They entered into correspondence, but the father wanted to see his son and Shulgin turned to the authorities with a request for a trip. After much ordeal, the answer came: “It’s not practical.”
Vasily Shulgin died in 1976. in the 99th year of his life, he was buried in Vladimir next to his wife, whom, alas, he outlived by almost 8 years.
History has preserved for us footage from Friedrich Ermler’s film “Before the Judgment of History.” The film was shot in 1965, in these frames Vasily Vitalievich is 87 years old, in my opinion he is a handsome man, may God grant everyone to retain such clear thinking and excellent memory at that age.
The amazing fate of Vasily Shulgin, a nobleman, nationalist, deputy of the Tsarist State Duma, was filled with historical paradoxes. Who was this man, a monarchist who accepted the resignation of Nicholas II, one of the founders of the White movement, who at the end of his life reconciled with Soviet power?
Most of Vasily Shulgin's life was connected with Ukraine. Here, in Kyiv, on January 1, 1878, he was born, here he studied at the gymnasium. His father, a famous historian and teacher, died when his son was not yet a year old. Soon, the mother married the famous scientist-economist, editor of the newspaper “Kievlyanin” Dmitry Pikhno (Vasily’s father, Vitaly Shulgin, was also the editor of this newspaper).
A nobleman with an impeccable past
The traditions of hereditary nobles and large landowners laid in Vasily, in addition to an ardent love for Russia, a passion for free-thinking, independent behavior and a certain inconsistency dictated by excessive emotionality to the detriment of logic and sobriety of thinking. All this led to the fact that already at the university Vasily, despite the craze for imaginary revolutionism, not only rejected these ideals, but also became an ardent monarchist, nationalist and even an anti-Semite.
Shulgin studied law at Kiev University. His stepfather got him a job at his newspaper, where Vasily quickly established himself as a talented publicist and writer. True, when the authorities “promoted” the Beilis case, giving it an anti-Semitic connotation, Shulgin criticized him, for which he had to serve a three-month prison sentence. Thus, already in his youth, Vasily Vitalievich proved that the political overtones of what was happening were not as important to him as the truth and family honor.
After graduating from university, he served in the army for a short time, and in 1902, after being transferred to the reserve, he moved to the Volyn province, started a family and took up farming. In 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War, he served as a junior officer in a sapper battalion, then again engaged in agricultural activities, combining it with journalism.
But in 1907, his life changed dramatically - Vasily Shulgin was elected a member of the Second State Duma from the Volyn province. The provincial landowner went to St. Petersburg, where the main events of his stormy life took place.
My thought, my thought...
From his first speeches in the Duma, Shulgin showed himself to be a skillful politician and an excellent speaker. He was elected to the II, III and IV State Dumas, where he was one of the leaders of the “right”. Shulgin always spoke quietly and politely, always remained calm, for which he was called the “spectacled snake.” “I was once in a fight. Scary? - he recalled. - No... It’s scary to speak in the State Duma... Why?
I don’t know... maybe because all of Russia is listening.”
In the Second and Third Dumas, he actively supported the government of Pyotr Stolypin, both in reforms and in the course of suppressing uprisings and strikes. He was received several times by Nicholas II, who at that time evoked nothing but enthusiastic respect.
But everything changed with the beginning of the First World War, when Vasily volunteered for the front. For the first time in his life, a Duma deputy and wealthy landowner saw the other side of reality: blood, chaos, the collapse of the army, its complete inability to fight.
Already on November 3, 1916, in his speech, he expressed doubts that the government is capable of bringing Russia to victory, and called for “to fight this government until it leaves.” In his next speech, he went so far as to call the tsar an opponent of everything “that, like air, the country needs.”
The passionate and consistent rejection of the personality of Nicholas II was one of the reasons that on March 2, 1917, Shulgin, together with Alexander Guchkov, the leader of the Octobrists, was sent to Pskov to negotiate with Nicholas II on abdication. They coped with this historical mission excellently. An emergency train with 7 passengers - Shulgin, Guchkov and 5 security soldiers - arrived at the Dno station, where Nicholas II signed the manifesto abdicating the throne. Among the many details, one seemingly very unimportant one was imprinted in Shulgin’s memory. When it was all over and Guchkov and Shulgin, tired, their jackets rumpled from when they arrived, left the former Tsar’s carriage, someone from Nicholas’s retinue approached Shulgin. Saying goodbye, he quietly said: “That’s it, Shulgin, what will happen there someday, who knows. But we won’t forget this “jacket”..."
And in fact, this episode almost determined the entire long and, of course, tragic fate of Shulgin.
After all
After Nikolai's abdication, Shulgin did not join the Provisional Government, although he actively supported it. In April, he made a prophetic speech, which included the following words: “We cannot renounce this revolution, we have connected with it, become welded together and bear moral responsibility for it.”
True, he increasingly came to the conviction that the revolution was going the wrong way. Seeing the inability of the Provisional Government to restore order in the country, in early July 1917 he moved to Kyiv, where he headed the Russian National Union.
After the October Revolution, Vasily Shulgin was ready to fight the Bolsheviks, so in November 1917 he went to Novocherkassk. Together with Denikin and Wrangel, he created an army that was supposed to return what he had actively destroyed throughout his previous life. The former monarchist became one of the founders of the White Volunteer Army. But here, too, deep disappointment awaited him: the idea of the White movement was gradually declining, the participants, mired in ideological disputes, were losing to the Reds on all counts. Seeing the disintegration of the White movement, Vasily Vitalievich wrote: “The White cause began almost as saints, and it ended almost as robbers.”
During the collapse of the empire, Shulgin lost everything: savings, two children, his wife, and soon his homeland - in 1920, after the final defeat of Wrangel, he went into exile.
There he worked actively, wrote articles, memoirs, continuing to fight the Soviet regime with his pen. In 1925-1926, he was offered to secretly visit the USSR using a false passport to establish connections with the underground anti-Soviet organization "Trust". Shulgin went, hoping to find his missing son, and at the same time see with his own eyes what was happening in his former homeland. When he returned, he wrote a book in which he predicted the imminent revival of Russia. And then a scandal broke out: it turned out that Operation Trust was a provocation of the Soviet special services and was carried out under the control of the OGPU. Confidence in Shulgin among emigrants was undermined, he moved to Yugoslavia and finally stopped political activities.
But politics caught up with him here too: in December 1944, he was detained and taken through Hungary to Moscow. As it turned out, the “father of nations” did not forget anything: on July 12, 1947, Shulgin was sentenced to 25 years in prison for “anti-Soviet activities.”
He never left the USSR again, despite the fact that after Stalin’s death he was released and even given an apartment in Vladimir. However, Vasily Vitalievich did not really strive to go abroad. He was already too old, and with age his attitude towards socialism softened somewhat.
In socialism itself, he saw the further development of the features inherent in Russian society - communal organization, love for authoritarian power. A serious problem, in his opinion, was the very low standard of living in the USSR.
Shulgin was a guest at the XXII Congress of the CPSU and heard how the Program for Building Communism was adopted, when Khrushchev uttered the historical phrase: “The current generation of Soviet people will live under communism!”
Surprisingly, back in the 1960s, Shulgin wrote in one of his books: “The position of Soviet power will be difficult if, at the moment of some weakening of the center, all sorts of nationalities that entered the union of the Russian Empire, and then inherited by the USSR, are picked up a tornado of belated nationalism... Colonizers, get out! Get out of Crimea! Get out! Get out of the Caucasus! Get out! ! Tatars! Siberia! Look, colonialists, from all fourteen republics. We will leave you only the fifteenth republic, the Russian one, and then within the borders of Muscovy, from which you captured half the world in raids!”
But no one paid attention to these words then - it seemed that this was nothing more than the delirium of an elderly monarchist.
So Vasily Shulgin, who died on February 15, 1976, left unheard by either Tsarist Russia or the Soviet Union...
Politician, publicist. Born into the family of a history professor at Kyiv University, the founder of the right-wing gas movement. "Kievite", who died in the year of Shulgin's birth.
Father - VYa. Shulgin - prof. history of Kyiv University. created gas in 1864. “Kyivian” (the editorial of the 1st issue ended with the words: “This is a Russian land, Russian, Russian!”; they later became the life motto for his son). The year Shulgin was born, his father died; mother soon married prof. DI. Pikhno. water teacher savings of the same university and took over the editing of "Kievlyanin". Shulgin always treated his stepfather with respect and shared his beliefs (the unlimited power of the tsar, the fight against corruption and injustice towards his subjects). Graduated from the 2nd Kyiv Gymnasium and Law. Faculty of Kyiv University (1900). He was elected zemstvo councilor and became the leading journalist of Kievlyanin.
Del. 2-4th State. Doom from the Volyn province. (had 300 acres of land there). He became known as a reactionary. In the Duma he established himself as one of the leaders of the right - a monarchist. groups of nationalist-progressives As a speaker, he stood out for his emphatically correct manners. spoke slowly, restrainedly, sincerely, but poisonously, ironically. In 1908 he opposed the abolition of the death penalty. He was a staunch supporter of Stolypin's PA and his reforms. Since 1911 ed. "Kievlanina".
He opposed the Jews. pogroms, believed that the lack of rights of Jews was corrupting the police. During the trial of M. Beilis (September-October 1913) he accused the prosecutor’s office of bias and wrote in “Kievlyanin”: “Accuses, the act in the Beilis case is not an accusation of this person, it is an accusation of an entire people in one of the grave crimes, this is accusing an entire religion of one of the most shameful superstitions" (quoted from the publication: Shulgin V.V., Days. 1920, M., 1990, p. 26). For this article, Shulgin was sentenced to prison for 3 months... and the newspaper issue was confiscated. The poems and stories he wrote went unnoticed (they were published as a separate book, “Recent Days.” Kharkov, 1910); author ist. novel "In the Land of Freedoms" (K., 1914).
In 1914 he volunteered for the front; participating in the attack. was injured; having recovered, he began to zemstvo advanced dressing and nutritional detachment. In Aug. 1915 in the leadership of the Progressive Bloc State. Duma, member of the Special Conference on Defense. In 1915, from the rostrum of the Duma he protested against his arrest and criminal conviction. article by the Social-Democrats deputies, calling this illegal act “a major government mistake” (ibid., p. 32). Got close to P.N. Miliukov, M.V. Rodzianko and other “leftists” called for “fighting the authorities until they go away” (ibid.).
27 Feb 1917 Shulgin was elected by the Council of Elders of the Duma. Duma Committee. His attitude towards Feb. he later expressed the events with the words: “Machine guns - that’s what I wanted” (ibid., p. 181). As Shulgin recalled, on March 1, he twice “persistently asked Miliukov” to “take up the list of ministers” (ibid., p. 222), participated in its compilation (Shulgin “personally stood behind Rodzianko” as prime minister) and discussion with the delegation of the executive committee of Petrograd. Council RSD goals and programs Temp. pr-va: “I don’t remember how many hours this lasted. I was completely exhausted and stopped helping Miliukov.” The rest were also completely exhausted. Only Miliukov sat stubborn and fresh... These three were against him [N.D. Sokolov, N N. Sukhanov, Yu. M. Steklov - members of the executive committee of the Council - Author] sat inexorably..." (ibid., p. 230). Time The committee decided that Nicholas II should immediately abdicate the throne in favor of his son Alexei during the regency. book Mikhail. For this purpose, Kt sent a delegation (A.I. Guchkov and Shulgin) to Pskov on March 2 for negotiations with the Tsar. But the tsar signed the Act of Abdication in favor of his brother Mikhail Alexandrovich on March 3 in Petrograd. Shulgin participated in negotiations with him, as a result of which he led. the prince refused to accept the throne until the decision of the Constitution. Collection Shulgin was among those who prepared and edited the Act of Mikhail Alexandrovich’s abdication of the throne.
27 Apr at celebrations, meetings of State deputies. Dumas of all 4 convocations Shulgin stated that the Temporary The government is, as it were, under house arrest: “In a certain way, a sentry has been assigned to him, to whom he is told: “Look, they are bourgeois, and therefore keep a vigilant eye on them and, if something happens, know the service.” .. Lenin is a company, and a whole pack of people huddles around him, who preach whatever comes into their heads. Don’t forget that our people are not so prepared for political activity and have difficulty understanding these things... "("Revolution of 1917", vol. 2, pp. 76-77), on May 4 at a private meeting of members of the State. Duma Shulgin argued that if the agitation against the allies continues. then they will have to “break with us”, that France and England will make peace with Germany at the expense of Russia and that “the only way to salvation lies through the troops, lies in the fact that these troops, ignited with all the heat, with all the fervor of roaring inspiration, cross on the offensive against the enemy of all freedom, against Germany" (ibid., p. 105).
Supporting A.F. Kerensky, who in his eyes was the height of radicalism. Shulgin at the same meeting of members of the State. Duma addressed the socialists: “We prefer to be beggars, but beggars in our own country. If you can save this country and save it, undress us, we won’t cry about it” (V.V. Shulgin, op. cit., p. 5). 26 Apr Shulgin admitted: “I won’t say that the entire Duma completely wanted a revolution; that would be untrue. But even without wanting it, we created a revolution. We cannot renounce this revolution, we got in touch with it, we became welded together with it.” and we bear moral responsibility for this" (ibid., p. 35).
Aug 10 At a private meeting of societies and figures in Moscow, Shulgin became a member of the bureau for the organization of societies and forces. Aug 14 on State At the meeting he spoke out against the abolition of the death penalty, against elected committees in the army, for “unlimited power”, against the autonomy of Ukraine. Responding to Kerensky's speech and clearly covering up for L.G. Kornilov, said: “Someone mentioned here “Stolypin’s famous “You will not intimidate.” Why is it listed here? So in the second State. The Duma was scared. Who and who is being scared here? Why do they always talk about saving the revolution when there is no threat? At least it's not being distributed here. Why do they say that an as yet invisible counter-revolution is threatening from somewhere? We need to give ourselves an account of this. Five months ago, anyone who would have dared to say anything against the revolution would have been torn to pieces. Why has everyone's mood changed now? The reason here is the mistakes of the government": "I want all the power [Temporary. pr-va]. power. among them, I don’t know whether or not there are people who almost suspect me of counter-revolution, so that this power is really strong”; “I declare that we (Little Russians), just like 300 years ago back, residents of this region, we wish to maintain a strong and unbreakable alliance with Moscow" ("State Conference", pp. 107, 109, III). On August 30, during his next visit to Kiev, Shulgin was arrested as the editor of "Kievlyanin", By order of the Committee for the Protection of the Revolution, the newspaper was closed, but was soon released.
In the beginning. Oct. Shulgin moved to Kyiv and headed the Russian National Union. Publicly refused to participate in the work of the Pre-Parliament. Monarchich. The Union of the Southern Coast of Crimea nominated him for the elections to the Establishment. Collection
Oct 17 In Kyiv, under his chairmanship, a congress of Russians took place. voters of the province; the adopted order stated that peace could only be concluded in full agreement with the allies, which was one of the main tasks of the Establishment. Collection there must be the creation of a solid state. authorities and the cessation of experiments in implementing social programs.
After Oct. Shulgin created the revolution in Kyiv in November. secret organization called. "ABC". His influential like-minded people (both civilians and officers) professed the fight against Bolshevism, loyalty to the allies and the monarchy. Legally, Shulgin fought in “Kievlyanin” with the Ukrainian. national movement, with parliamentarism, Establishment. The meeting. And I even wrote a statement: “I, the undersigned, if I am elected to the Founding Assembly, ... will consider the decision of this Founding Assembly not binding for myself” (Shulgin V.V., op. cit., p. 38) . In Nov-Dec. Shulgin visited Novocherkassk and participated in the formation of Dobrovolch. army. He was outraged by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
When in Feb. 1918 The Germans came to Kyiv. Shulgin, as a sign of protest, refused to publish a newspaper and in the last issue of Kievlyanin (dated March 10) wrote: “... Since we did not invite the Germans, we do not want to enjoy the benefits of relative peace and a certain amount of political freedom, which the Germans brought it to us. We have no right to this... We have always been honest opponents. And we will not change our principles. We say this openly and directly to the Germans who came to our city. We are your enemies. We may be your prisoners of war, but your We will not be friends as long as there is a war" (ibid., p. 38). From his letter to Gen. M.V. Alekseev: “The volunteer army must put an end to all hesitations, abandon the idea of the Founding Assembly and the rule of people, which no one among thinking people believes in Crimea, and concentrate all its forces on one task - to wrest the Russian imperial house from the physical possession of the Germans and put him in such a position that, relying on advancing Japan, in the name of the sovereign who ascended the throne, declare a holy war against the Germans who have taken possession of the Motherland" (ibid., p. 40). As A.I. recalled Denikin, “for Shulgin and his like-minded people, monarchism was not a form of state system, but a religion. In a fit of passion for the idea, they mistook their faith for knowledge, their desires for real facts) and their sentiments for the people’s” (ibid.).
When the "National Center" was formed (May - June 1918) with its military. organization, Shulgin collaborated with them. In Aug. 1918 he arrived in Dobrovolch. army, where, with the participation of Gen. A.M. Dragomirova developed the “Regulations on the Special Meeting under the Supreme Leader of the Volunteer Army” (from January 1919 he headed its Commission on National Affairs). From the end 1918 edited gas in Yekaterinodar. "Russia" (then "Great Russia"), praising the monarchy. and nationalist. principles and purity of the “white idea”.
After graduating from Civil. wars - in exile. In 1925-26 he visited Russia illegally. He published the books: “Days” (Belgrade, 1925), “1920” (Sofia, 1921), “Three Capitals” (Berlin, 1927), “The Adventure of Prince Voronetsky” (1934). Since the 30s. lived in Yugoslavia. In 1937 he retired from political activity. Shulgin saw Hitler’s invasion of the USSR primarily as a threat to Russia. In 1945, Shulgin was transported to Moscow and convicted. Released in 1956.
Russian political figure, publicist Vasily Vitalievich Shulgin was born on January 13 (January 1, old style) 1878 in Kyiv in the family of historian Vitaly Shulgin. His father died the year his son was born, the boy was raised by his stepfather, scientist-economist Dmitry Pikhno, editor of the monarchist newspaper "Kievlyanin" (replaced Vitaly Shulgin in this position), later a member of the State Council.
In 1900, Vasily Shulgin graduated from the Faculty of Law of Kyiv University, and studied for another year at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute.
He was elected zemstvo councilor, an honorary justice of the peace, and became the leading journalist of Kievlyanin.
Deputy of the II, III and IV State Duma from the Volyn province. First elected in 1907. Initially he was a member of the right-wing faction. He participated in the activities of monarchist organizations: he was a full member of the Russian Assembly (1911-1913) and was a member of its council; took part in the activities of the Main Chamber of the Russian People's Union named after. Michael the Archangel, was a member of the commission for compiling the “Book of Russian Sorrow” and the “Chronicle of the Troubled Pogroms of 1905-1907”.
After the outbreak of World War I, Shulgin volunteered to go to the front. With the rank of ensign of the 166th Rivne Infantry Regiment of the Southwestern Front, he participated in battles. He was wounded, and after being wounded he led the Zemstvo forward dressing and nutrition detachment.
In August 1915, Shulgin left the nationalist faction in the State Duma and formed the Progressive Group of Nationalists. At the same time, he became part of the leadership of the Progressive Bloc, in which he saw the union of the “conservative and liberal parts of society,” becoming closer to former political opponents.
In March (February old style) 1917, Shulgin was elected to the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. On March 15 (March 2, old style), he, along with Alexander Guchkov, was sent to Pskov for negotiations with the emperor and was present at the signing of the manifesto of abdication in favor of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, which he later wrote about in detail in his book “Days.” The next day - March 16 (March 3, old style) he was present at the renunciation of Mikhail Alexandrovich from the throne and participated in the preparation and editing of the act of abdication.
According to the conclusion of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation dated November 12, 2001, he was rehabilitated.
In 2008, in Vladimir, at house No. 1 on Feigina Street, where Shulgin lived from 1960 to 1976, a memorial plaque was installed.
The material was prepared based on information from open sources
SHULGIN, VASILY VITALIEVICH(1878–1976), Russian politician. Born on January 1 (13), 1878 in Kyiv in the family of V.Ya. Shulgin, a professor of history at Kyiv University and founder of the right-wing nationalist newspaper “Kievlyanin”, who died in the year of his birth. Godson of the Minister of Finance N.H. Bunge. He was raised by his stepfather, D.I. Pikhno, a professor of political economy at Kyiv University, who took upon himself the editing of “Kievlyanin”. He studied at the Second Kyiv Gymnasium and at the Faculty of Law of Kyiv University; During his student years, his right-wing nationalist and anti-Semitic beliefs were formed. After graduating from the university in 1900, he was elected zemstvo councilor; became the leading journalist of Kievlyanin. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, he was drafted into the army with the rank of ensign in the field engineer reserves and served in the 14th engineer battalion; did not participate in hostilities.
In 1907–1917 - deputy of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th State Duma from the Volyn province, where he had land property (three hundred acres of land in the village of Kurgany); member of the monarchist faction of the nationalists; became widely known as one of the leaders of the right camp. He sharply criticized the First Russian Revolution of 1905–1907 and actively supported the policies of P.A. Stolypin. In 1908 he opposed the abolition of the death penalty. In 1911 he headed the editorial office of Kievlyanin. Despite his anti-Semitism, he condemned the Jewish pogroms. During the trial of M. Beilis in September 1913, he accused the prosecutor's office of prejudicial handling of the case; the issue of Kievlyanin with his critical article was confiscated, and in 1914 he himself was sentenced to three months in prison. In the same year he published the first part of the historical novel (In the land of freedom).
With the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered for the front; fought near Przemysl as part of the 166th Rivne Infantry Regiment. After being wounded, he was seconded to the South-Western Regional Zemstvo Organization and became the head of the advanced dressing and nutritional detachment. At the beginning of 1915 he founded the faction of “progressive Russian nationalists” in the Duma. In August 1915 he joined the leadership of the Progressive Bloc, which united nationalists, Octobrists, cadets, progressives and centrists; Member of the Special Conference on Defense. Openly denounced the government for its inept conduct of the war and the collapse of the rear; opposed the arrest and conviction of Bolshevik deputies.
During the February Revolution on February 27 (March 12), 1917, he was elected a member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. He made every effort to stop the development of the revolution. Participated in the formation of the first Provisional Government, proposing M.V. Rodzianko as its head. On March 2 (15), together with A.I. Guchkov, he went to Pskov to see Nicholas II, inviting him, on behalf of the Provisional Committee, to renounce power in favor of his son Alexei; the emperor, however, signed an act of abdication in favor of his brother Michael. On March 3 (16), upon returning to Petrograd, he participated in negotiations with Mikhail, which ended with the Grand Duke’s renunciation of the Russian throne.
He accused the Provisional Government of weakness and indecisiveness. He took part in the Meeting of public figures in Moscow on August 8–10 (21–23), 1917, which condemned the corrupting activities of the Soviets in the rear and at the front and called for a decisive fight against them; elected member of the Permanent Council of Public Figures. On August 14 (27), he made a speech at the State Conference in Moscow against the abolition of the death penalty, against elected committees in the army and the autonomy of Ukraine. He considered it possible for Prime Minister A.F. Kerensky to cooperate with Commander-in-Chief L.G. Kornilov in restoring order in Russia. During the Kornilov speech, by order of the local Committee for the Protection of the Revolution on August 30 (September 12), 1917, he was arrested in Kyiv, and his newspaper was banned. After leaving prison, he founded the Russian National Union in Kyiv in early October 1917; refused to participate in the work of the Pre-Parliament. He was nominated by the Crimean monarchists as a candidate for the Constituent Assembly.
The October revolution was met with hostility. In November 1917 he created the secret monarchist organization “ABC” in Kyiv to fight the Bolsheviks. At the same time, he resumed the publication of “Kievlyanin”, criticizing the separatist policy of the Central Rada (the supreme body of power in Ukraine, created by local nationalists). In November-December he visited Novocherkassk, where he negotiated with the leaders of the White movement M.V. Alekseev and L.G. Kornilov. In January 1918, after the Bolsheviks captured Kyiv, he was arrested and escaped execution only thanks to the intercession of a prominent figure of the RSDLP (b) G.L. Pyatakov. At the end of January 1918, while remaining a firm supporter of Russia's alliance with the Entente, he strongly condemned the Brest-Litovsk Agreement of the Central Rada with Germany. When German troops entered Kyiv in early March 1918, he stopped publishing his newspaper as a sign of protest. He was in constant contact with the command of the Volunteer Army and with the leadership of the anti-Bolshevik National Center, organized in Moscow in May 1918. He was recruiting officers to send them to the Volunteer Army. In August 1918 he moved to Ekaterinodar to General A.D. Denikin; together with General A.M. Dragomirov developed Regulations on the Special Meeting under the Supreme Leader of the Volunteer Army, legally formalizing the management system in the territories occupied by whites. He was actually the main ideologist of the White movement in the south of Russia; published the monarchist newspaper “Russia” (then “Great Russia”) in Yekaterinodar. Founded the South Russian National Center, which set as its task the restoration of the constitutional monarchy; nominated Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich as a candidate for the Russian throne. From November 1918 he settled in Odessa. In January 1919 he headed the Commission on National Affairs at the Special Meeting. Called on A.I. Denikin to immediately implement agrarian reform. In August 1919 he moved to Kyiv, occupied by whites; resumed the publication of “Kievlyanin”, where he published lists of those executed by the Cheka and at the same time condemned Denikin’s people for violence against civilians and Jewish pogroms, which he considered destructive for the White cause.
After the defeat of A.I. Denikin’s troops in the fall of 1919, he returned to Odessa. When G.I. Kotovsky’s troops occupied the city in February 1920, he left as part of Colonel Stessel’s detachment along with his wife and two sons to the Romanian border, but the Romanian military did not allow them to enter Bessarabia. He hid in Odessa for some time, and then managed to move to the Crimea to General P. N. Wrangel.
After the Red Army entered Crimea in November 1920, he fled with his youngest son Dmitry to Constantinople. Trying to find his son Veniamin, who had disappeared in Crimea, he secretly came to Gurzuf in September 1921, but his search ended in failure. In 1921–1922 he was a member of the Russian Council, created by P.N. Wrangel as the Russian government in exile. Settled in Yugoslavia in the city of Sremskie Karlovice; wrote two books of memoirs - 1920 And Days. In 1925–1926, in search of his son, he again secretly visited Soviet Russia; visited Kyiv, Moscow and Leningrad; described his trip in an essay Three capitals, in which he expressed hope for the internal degeneration of the Bolshevik regime and the restoration of a strong Russian statehood. Upon returning from Russia, he continued his active journalistic, literary and artistic activities. In 1930 he published an anti-Semitic pamphlet What we don't like about them, in which he blamed the Jews for the Bolshevik revolution, in 1934 - the second part of the historical novel The Adventures of Prince Voronetsky (In the land of bondage), and in 1939 – work Ukrainians and us directed against Ukrainian nationalists. In 1937 he refused to participate in the political life of the Russian emigration.
Having sympathy for fascism (primarily in its Italian version) and having approved the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, however, with the outbreak of World War II, he switched to anti-German positions, seeing Hitlerism as a threat to Russia’s national interests. After the Germans captured Yugoslavia in April 1941, he refused any contact with the occupiers.
In October 1944, when Soviet troops entered Yugoslavia, he was arrested by SMERSH officers. In January 1945 he was sent to the USSR; for “anti-Soviet activities” he was sentenced to a long prison term. He served time in Vladimir prison. After his release in 1956, he remained to live in Vladimir, where he wrote a book Years about his ten years of work in the Duma (1907–1917). In the early 1960s, he addressed two open letters to the Russian emigration, calling on them to abandon their hostile attitude towards the USSR. Died in Vladimir on February 15, 1976.
Essays: Recent days. Kharkov, 1910; In the land of freedom. Kyiv, 1914; 1920 . Sofia, 1921; Days. Belgrade, 1925; Three capitals. Berlin, 1927; What we don’t like about them: About anti-Semitism in Russia. Paris, 1930; The Adventures of Prince Voronetsky. Belgrade, 1934; Ukrainians and us. Belgrade, 1939; Years. M., 1979.
Ivan Krivushin