Shulgin is a politician. “Even without wanting it, we created a revolution

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.

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 showed 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 once again in Kyiv, 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 in early 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 Kyiv, and Shulgin, who fought with them at the front, refused to publish a newspaper in protest, addressing the Germans who came to Kyiv 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 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. Returning 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 just 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”, “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.

Vasily Vitalievich Shulgin was born on January 1, 1878 in Kyiv. He was the son of Kyiv University professor Vitaly Yakovlevich Shulgin, founder and publisher of the Kievlyanin newspaper. The mother was the father's student.

Unfortunately, Shulgin's father died when he was only a year old. But Vasily Vitalievich was lucky with his stepfather. He became a university professor, economist, and later a member of D. I. Pikhno.

After graduating from the Kyiv gymnasium, Vasily entered Kyiv University, where he studied law. Already at the university, he formed a negative attitude towards the revolution. This was due to the actions of revolutionary-minded students.

Having graduated from the university in 1900, he served military service from 1901-1902. He retired as a warrant officer. After this, he lived in the village for some time, but by 1905 he became a leading employee of the Kievlyanin newspaper, which at that time was headed by his stepfather. And already in 1911 he became the chief editor of the brainchild of his late father.

Since 1907, he devoted himself entirely to politics, and was a deputy of the II-IV State Dumas from the Volyn province. He was a member of the faction of Russian nationalists and moderate rightists. In 1913, Shulgin spoke on the pages of his newspaper about the Beilis case, accusing the prosecutor's office of falsifying the case and bias. The newspaper's copy was confiscated by the authorities, and the author himself was sentenced to three months in prison.

Then it began and Vasily Vitalievich volunteered for the front, where he was wounded. Already in 1915, he left the nationalist faction and formed the Progressive Group of Nationalists, and later became a member of the Progressive Bloc bureau from the progressive nationalist faction, a member of the Special Conference on Defense.

On February 27, 1917, Vasily Shulgin was elected to the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. He and A.I. On March 2 of the same year, Guchkov went to Pskov to accept a document on abdication in favor of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, and on March 3 he was present at Mikhail Alexandrovich’s abdication of the throne and participated in the drafting and editing of the act of abdication.

At state meetings he spoke out against the abolition of the death penalty, against elected committees in the army, for strong power against the autonomy of Ukraine, and supported the program of General L. G. Kornilov. He was a member of the League of Russian Culture founded by P. B. Struve. At the end of August, he was arrested as a Kornilovite and editor of the newspaper “Kievlyanin” by order of the Committee for the Protection of the Revolution. He was soon released. Already in October in Kyiv he headed the Russian National Union.

After the coup of October 25th, he becomes the founder of a secret intelligence organization called “Azbuka”. Subsequently, this organization will become an alternative intelligence service to the Volunteer Army. Already at the beginning of 1918 he traveled to Novocherkassk and became one of the founders of the Volunteer Army together with.

He developed the “Regulations on the Special Meeting of the Supreme Leader of the Volunteer Army,” of which he became a member in November 1918. At the end of 1918, he published the newspaper Rossiya, in which he promoted monarchism and nationalism. Since January 1919, Shulgin headed the commission on national affairs. And from August, the release of “Kievlanin” continued.

After the Crimean collapse, Vasily will have to go into exile, this will happen in November 1920. First will follow Constantinople, where he will be included by Wrangel in the “Russian Council”. From 1922-23 he visited Bulgaria, Germany and France. And from 1924 it will be in Serbia. There he published a lot of emigrant periodicals and published memoir essays.

At the end of 1925 and beginning of 1926 he visited Russia illegally. Shulgin will be invited by the underground anti-Soviet organization "Trust". As it turns out later, this organization was under the control of the State Political Administration. In Russia, he managed to visit his native Kyiv, Moscow and St. Petersburg. He would later write a book, Three Capitals: A Journey to Red Russia, about the changes in Russia after the revolution.

Vasily Shulgin was a member of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS) since 1924, the National Labor Union of the New Generation (since 1933); while living in Yugoslavia, he worked as an accountant. In December 1944, the Red Army entered Yugoslavia. On December 24, 1944, Shulgin was arrested and sent to the internal MGB prison in Moscow.

So, at the age of 63, he was sentenced to 25 years for previous counter-revolutionary activities. He served his sentence in Vladimir. In 1956 he was released and sent to a home for the disabled in Gorokhovets. Later in 1961 he was a guest of the XXII Congress of the CPSU. He starred in the documentary film “Before the Judgment of History.” Vasily Vitalievich died on February 15, 1976. He was 99 years old. He almost lived to be a hundred years old.

After the summer break, we continue under the heading “Historical Calendar” . The project, which we called “Gravediggers of the Russian Kingdom,” is dedicated to those responsible for the collapse of the autocratic monarchy in Russia - professional revolutionaries, confrontational aristocrats, liberal politicians; generals, officers and soldiers who have forgotten about their duty, as well as other active figures of the so-called. “liberation movement”, voluntarily or unwittingly, contributed to the triumph of the revolution - first the February, and then the October. The column continues with an essay dedicated to a prominent Russian politician, deputyII‒IV State Duma, one of the leaders of Russian nationalism V.V. Shulgin, whose lot it fell to accept the abdication of Emperor NicholasII.

Born on January 1, 1878 in the family of a hereditary nobleman, professor of general history at the Kyiv University of St. Vladimir V.Ya. Shulgin (1822-1878), who published the patriotic newspaper “Kievlyanin” from 1864. However, in the year of Vasily’s birth, his father died and the future politician was raised by his stepfather, professor-economist D.I. Pikhno, who had a great influence on the formation of Shulgin’s political views.

After graduating from the 2nd Kyiv Gymnasium (1895) and the Law Faculty of Kiev University (1900), Vasily Shulgin studied for a year at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, after which in 1902 he served military service in the 3rd Engineer Brigade, retiring to the reserve with the rank of field ensign engineering troops. Returning to the Volyn province after completing his military service, Shulgin took up farming, but the war with Japan that began soon caused an upsurge of patriotic feelings in him, and the reserve officer volunteered to go to the theater of military operations. However, this war, unsuccessful for Russia, ended before Shulgin managed to reach the front. The young officer was sent to Kyiv, where he had to take part in restoring order disrupted by the revolution. Shulgin later expressed his attitude towards the revolution of 1905, which he then referred to only as “Its Trash,” in the following words: “We knew that a revolution was underway - merciless, cruel, which was already spewing blasphemy against everything sacred and dear, which would trample the Motherland into the mud, if now, without waiting a minute longer, we did not give it... “in the face””. After retiring, V.V. Shulgin settled on his estate, where he continued farming and social work (he was a zemstvo councilor), and also became interested in journalism, quickly becoming the leading journalist of Kievlyanin.

Shulgin appeared on the political scene already at the end of the revolution - in 1907. The impetus for his political activity was the desire of the Poles to appoint only their own candidates to the State Duma from the Kyiv, Podolsk and Volyn provinces. Not wanting to allow such an outcome of the election campaign, Shulgin took an active part in the elections to the Second Duma, trying in every possible way to stir up local residents who were indifferent to politics. The campaigning brought Vasily Vitalievich popularity, and he himself turned out to be one of the candidates for deputy, soon becoming a deputy. In the “Duma of Popular Ignorance” Shulgin joined the few rightists:, P.A. Krushevan, Count V.A. Bobrinsky, Bishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) and others, soon becoming one of the leaders of the conservative wing of the “Russian parliament”.

As is known, the activities of the Second Duma took place during a period when revolutionary terror was still at its height, and the measures introduced by P.A. Stolypin's military courts severely punished revolutionaries. The Duma, composed primarily of representatives of the radical left and liberal parties, seethed with anger at the government's brutal suppression of the revolution. Under these conditions, Shulgin demanded a public condemnation of revolutionary terror by the liberal-left majority of the Duma, but it avoided condemning the revolutionary terrorists. In the midst of attacks on the brutality of the government, Shulgin asked the Duma majority a question: “I, gentlemen, ask you to answer: can you honestly and honestly say to me: “Does any of you, gentlemen, have a bomb in your pocket?”. And although in the hall there were representatives of the Socialist Revolutionaries, who openly approved of the terror of their militants, as well as liberals who were in no hurry to condemn the revolutionary terror of the left, which was beneficial to them, they were “offended” by Shulgin. Amid leftist cries of “vulgar!” he was removed from the boardroom and became "notorious" as a "reactionary".

Having soon become famous as one of the best right-wing speakers, Shulgin always stood out for his emphatically correct manners, speaking slowly, restrainedly, sincerely, but almost always ironically and poisonously, for which he even received a kind of panegyric from Purishkevich: “Your voice is quiet, and your appearance is timid, / But the devil is in you, Shulgin, / You are the Bickford cord of those boxes, / Where the pyroxylin is placed!”. Soviet author and contemporary Shulgin D.O. Zaslavsky left what appears to be very accurate evidence of how the right-wing politician was perceived by his political opponents: “There was so much subtle poison, so much evil irony in his polite words, in his correct smile, that one immediately felt an irreconcilable, mortal enemy of the revolution, democracy, even just liberalism... He was hated more than Purishkevich, more than Krushevan, Zamyslovsky, Krupensky and other Duma Black Hundreds... Shulgin was always impeccably polite. But his calm, well-calculated attacks brought the State Duma to white heat.”.

Vasily Shulgin was a staunch supporter of Stolypin and his reforms, which he supported with all his might from the Duma pulpit and from the pages of “Kievlyanin”. In the Third Duma, he joined the Council of the most conservative parliamentary group - the right-wing faction. During this period, Shulgin was a like-minded person of such prominent leaders of the Black Hundred movement as V.M. Purishkevich and N.E. Markov. He was the honorary chairman of one of the Volyn departments of the Union of the Russian People, was a full member of the Russian Assembly, even holding the position of fellow chairman of the Council of this oldest monarchist organization until the end of January 1911. Working closely with Purishkevich, Shulgin took part in meetings 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”. In 1909-1910 He repeatedly published articles on the national issue in the RNSMA magazine “Straight Path”. However, after the unification of the moderate right with Russian nationalists, Shulgin found himself in the ranks of the Main Council of the conservative-liberal All-Russian National Union (VNS) and left all Black Hundred organizations, setting a course for rapprochement with the moderate opposition.

Despite anti-Semitism, which, by Shulgin’s own admission, was inherent in him since his student years, the politician had a special position on the Jewish issue: he advocated granting equal rights to the Jews, and in 1913 he went against the position of the leadership of the Supreme Soviet, publicly condemning the initiators of the “Beilis Affair” , protesting from the pages of “Kievlyanin” against “accusing an entire religion of one of the most shameful superstitions.” (Mendel Beilis was accused of the ritual murder of 12-year-old Andrei Yushchinsky). This speech almost cost Shulgin a 3-month prison sentence “for disseminating deliberately false information about senior officials in the press,” but the Emperor stood up for him, deciding to “consider the matter not to have happened.” However, the rightists did not forgive their former ally for this trick, accusing him of corruption and betrayal of a just cause.

In 1914, when the First World War broke out, V.V. Shulgin changed his deputy frock coat to an officer's uniform, volunteering to go to the front. As an ensign of the 166th Rivne Infantry Regiment, he took part in battles on the Southwestern Front and was wounded during one of the attacks. Having recovered from his wound, Shulgin served for some time as the head of the zemstvo advanced dressing and nutritional detachment, but in the second half of 1915 he again returned to his deputy duties. With the formation of the liberal Progressive Bloc in opposition to the government, Shulgin found himself among its supporters and became one of the initiators of the split in the Duma faction of nationalists, becoming one of the leaders of the “progressive nationalists” who joined the bloc. Shulgin explained his action with a patriotic feeling, believing that “The interest of the present moment prevails over the precepts of the ancestors.” While in the leadership of the Progressive Bloc, Vasily Vitalievich became close to M.V. Rodzianko, and other liberal figures. Shulgin’s views at that time are perfectly characterized by the words from his letter to his wife: “How nice it would be if the stupid rightists were as smart as the Cadets and tried to restore their birthright by working for the war... But they cannot understand this and are spoiling the common cause.”.

But, despite the fact that de facto Shulgin found himself in the camp of the enemies of the autocracy, he still quite sincerely continued to consider himself a monarchist, apparently having forgotten his own conclusions about the revolution of 1905-1907, when, in his own words, “liberal reforms only incited the revolutionary elements and pushed them to take active action”. In 1915, from the Duma rostrum, Shulgin protested against the arrest and criminal conviction of Bolshevik deputies, considering this act illegal and a “major state mistake”; in October 1916 he called for the “great goal of the war” “to achieve a complete renewal of power, without which achieving victory is unthinkable and urgent reforms are impossible”, and on November 3, 1916, he gave a speech in the Duma in which he criticized the government, practically standing in solidarity with the thunder. In this regard, the leader of the Union of Russian People N.E. Markov noted in exile, not without reason: “The “right” Shulgin and Purishkevich turned out to be much more harmful than Miliukov himself. After all, only they, and the “patriot” Guchkov, and not Kerensky and Co., were trusted by all these generals who made the revolution a success.”.

Shulgin not only accepted the February Revolution, but also became an active participant in it. On February 27, he was elected by the Duma Council of Elders to the Temporary Committee of the State Duma (VKGD), and then for a day became commissioner of the Petrograd Telegraph Agency. Shulgin also took part in compiling the list of ministers of the Provisional Government, as well as the goals of its program. When the VKGD advocated the immediate abdication of Emperor Nicholas II from the throne, this task, as is known, was entrusted by the revolutionary authorities to Shulgin and the leader of the Octobrists, who completed it on March 2, 1917. Without ceasing to consider himself a monarchist and perceiving what happened as a tragedy, Shulgin reassured himself that the Emperor’s abdication provided a chance to save the monarchy and the dynasty. “The culminating moment of revealing one’s personality was the participation of V.V. Shulgin in the tragic moment of the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, ‒ wrote cadet E.A. Efimovsky . ‒ I once asked Vasily V[italevich]: how could this happen. He burst into tears and said: we never wanted this; but, if this was to happen, the monarchists should have been near the Emperor, and not left him to explain himself to his enemies.”. Shulgin would later explain his participation in the renunciation in these words: during the days of the revolution “Everyone was convinced that the transfer of power would improve the situation”. Emphasizing his respect for the personality of the Emperor, Shulgin criticized him for “lack of will,” emphasizing that “Nobody listened to Nikolai Alexandrovich at all”. Justifying his action, Shulgin gave the following arguments in his defense: “The issue of renunciation was a foregone conclusion. It would have happened regardless of whether Shulgin was present or not. He considered that at least one monarchist should be present... Shulgin feared that the Emperor might be killed. And he went to the Dno station with the goal of “creating a shield” so that the murder would not happen.”. Vasily Vitalievich had a chance to become a participant in negotiations with Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, as a result of which he refused to take the throne until the decision of the Constituent Assembly, in connection with which he later stated that he “ a convinced monarchist... had to, by some evil irony of fate, be present at the abdication of two Emperors". In exile, responding to numerous reproaches from the monarchist camp and to accusations of “betrayal,” Shulgin rather self-confidently declared that he had fulfilled the last duty of a loyal subject to Nicholas II: “by renunciation, performed almost like a sacrament, [managed] to erase in human memory everything that led to this act, leaving only the greatness of the last minute”. Even almost half a century after the events described, Shulgin continued to claim that although he “accepted abdication from the hands of the Emperor, but did it in a form that I dare to call gentlemanly”.

But then, immediately after the coup, Shulgin excitedly informed the readers of his newspaper “Kievlyanin”: “A revolution unheard of in the history of mankind took place - something fabulous, incredible, impossible. Within twenty-four hours, two Sovereigns abandoned the throne. The Romanov dynasty, having stood at the head of the Russian State for three hundred years, relinquished power, and, by a fatal coincidence, the first and last Tsar of this family bore the same name. There is something deeply mystical about this strange coincidence. Three hundred years ago, Michael, the first Russian Tsar from the House of Romanov, ascended the throne when, torn apart by terrible turmoil, Russia was all on fire with one common desire: “We need a Tsar!” Michael, the last Tsar, three hundred years later had to hear how the agitated masses of the people raised a menacing cry to him: “We don’t want a Tsar!” The revolution, as Shulgin wrote in those days, led to the fact that people “who love it” finally established themselves in power in Russia.

Shulgin answered about his political views during the revolutionary days as follows: “People often ask me: “Are you a monarchist or a republican?” I answer: “I am for the winners.”. Developing this idea, he explained that victory over Germany would lead to the establishment of a republic in Russia, “ and the monarchy can only be reborn after the horrors of defeat.”. "Under such conditions, - summarized V.V. Shulgin , - it turns out a strange combination when the most sincere monarchists, by all inclinations and sympathies, have to pray to God that we have a republic". “If this republican government saves Russia, I will become a republican”“,” he added.

However, despite the fact that Shulgin became one of the main heroes of February, disappointment in the revolution came to him quite quickly. Already at the beginning of April 1917, he wrote with bitterness: “ There is no need to create unnecessary illusions for yourself. There will be no freedom, no real freedom. It will come only when human souls are imbued with respect for other people's rights and other people's beliefs. But it won't be so soon. This will happen when the souls of democrats, strange as it may sound, become aristocratic.” Speaking in August 1917 at the State Conference in Moscow, Shulgin demanded “unlimited power,” the preservation of the death penalty, the prohibition of elected committees in the army, and the prevention of autonomy for Ukraine. And already on August 30, he was arrested during his next visit to Kyiv by the Committee for the Protection of the Revolution, as the editor of “Kievlyanin”, but was soon released. Shulgin later expressed his attitude towards the February events with the following words: “Machine guns - that’s what I wanted. For I felt that only the language of machine guns was accessible to the street crowd and that only he, the lead, could drive back into his lair the terrible beast that had broken free... Alas - this beast was... His Majesty the Russian people... What we were so afraid that we wanted to avoid it at all costs, it was already a fact. The revolution has begun". But at the same time, the politician admitted his guilt in the disaster: “I won’t say that the entire Duma entirely wanted the revolution; this would not be true... But even without wanting it, we created a revolution... We cannot renounce this revolution, we connected with it, we became welded together with it and bear moral responsibility for this.”.

After the Bolsheviks came to power, Shulgin moved to Kyiv, where he headed the Russian National Union. Not recognizing Soviet power, the politician began to fight against it, heading the illegal secret organization “Azbuka”, which was engaged in political intelligence and recruiting officers into the White Army. Considering Bolshevism a national catastrophe, Shulgin spoke of it as follows: “This is nothing more than a grandiose and extremely subtle German provocation, carried out with the help of a Russian-Jewish gang that fooled several thousand Russian soldiers and workers.”. In one of his private letters, Vasily Vitalievich wrote about the outbreak of the Civil War: “ Obviously we didn't like the fact that we weren't in the Middle Ages. We have been making a revolution for a hundred years... Now we have achieved it: the Middle Ages reign... Now families are cut down to the stump... and brother is responsible for brother.”.

On the pages of the Kievlyanin, which continued to appear, Shulgin fought against parliamentarism, Ukrainian nationalism and separatism. The politician took an active part in the formation of the Volunteer Army, categorically opposed any agreement with the Germans, and was outraged by the Brest Peace Treaty concluded by the Bolsheviks. In August 1918, Shulgin came to General A.I. Denikin, where he developed the “Regulations on the Special Meeting under the Supreme Leader of the Volunteer Army” and compiled a list of the Meeting. He published the newspaper “Russia” (then “Great Russia”), in which he praised monarchical and nationalist principles, advocated the purity of the “White Idea,” and collaborated with Denikin’s Information Agency (Osvag). At this time, Shulgin again revised his views. Shulgin’s brochure “The Monarchists” (1918) is very indicative in this regard, in which he was forced to state that after what happened to the country in 1917‒1918, “No one will dare anymore, except perhaps the most stupid, to talk about Stürmer, Rasputin, etc. Rasputin finally faded in comparison to Leiba Trotsky, and Sturmer was a patriot and statesman compared to Lenin, Grushevsky, Skoropadsky and the rest of the company.”. And that “old regime,” which seemed unbearable to Shulgin a year ago, now, after all the horrors of the revolution and civil war, “It seems almost heavenly bliss”. Defending the monarchical principle, in one of his newspaper articles Shulgin noted that “only monarchists in Russia know how to die for their Motherland”. But, advocating the restoration of the monarchy, Shulgin saw it no longer autocratic, but constitutional. However, the white generals did not dare to accept the monarchical idea even in the constitutional version.

After the end of the Civil War, the time of emigrant wanderings began for Shulgin - Türkiye, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Poland, France. In the mid-1920s, he became the victim of a skillful provocation by Soviet intelligence, which went down in history as Operation Trust. In the fall of 1925, the emigre politician illegally crossed the Soviet border, making what he thought was a “secret” trip to the USSR, during which he visited Kyiv, Moscow and Leningrad, accompanied by Trest agents, about which he later wrote the book “Three Capitals.” After the disclosure of this OGPU operation, which received wide publicity abroad, Shulgin’s credibility among emigrants was undermined, and from the second half of the 1930s he withdrew from active political activity.

On the eve of World War II, Shulgin lived in Sremski Karlovci (Yugoslavia), devoting himself to literary activity. In Hitler's invasion of the USSR, he saw a threat to the security of historical Russia and decided not to support the Nazis, but not to fight them either. This decision saved his life. When, after his arrest by Smersh in 1945, Shulgin was tried for thirty years (1907-1937) of anti-communist activity, the USSR MGB, taking into account the politician’s non-involvement in cooperation with the Germans, sentenced him to imprisonment for 25 years. After being in prison from 1947 to 1956, Shulgin was released early and settled in Vladimir. He had the opportunity not only to become the main character in the Soviet documentary-journalistic film “Before the Judgment of History” (1965), but also to participate as a guest at the XXII Congress of the CPSU. Taking, in essence, the position of National Bolshevism (already in emigration, the politician noted that under the shell of Soviet power processes were taking place “that have nothing in common... with Bolshevism”, that the Bolsheviks “restored the Russian army” and raised “the banner of United Russia” , that soon the country will be led by a “Bolshevik in energy and a nationalist in convictions,” and that the “former decadent intelligentsia” will be replaced by a “healthy, strong class of creators of material culture,” capable of fighting off the next “Drang nach Osten”), Shulgin characterized his attitude towards Soviet power: “My opinion, formed over forty years of observation and reflection, boils down to the fact that for the destinies of all mankind it is not only important, but simply necessary, that the communist experience, which has gone so far, should be unhinderedly completed... (...) The great suffering of the Russian people obliges us to do this. To survive everything that has been experienced and not achieve the goal? So all the sacrifices are in vain? No! The experience has gone too far... I cannot lie and say that I welcome the “Lenin Experience”. If it were up to me, I would prefer that this experiment be carried out anywhere, but not in my homeland. However, if it has been started and has gone so far, then it is absolutely necessary that this “Lenin Experience” be completed. And it may not be finished if we are too proud.”

The long 98-year life of Vasily Shulgin, covering the period from the reign of Emperor Alexander II to the reign of L.I. Brezhnev, ended on February 15, 1976 in Vladimir, on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. They buried him in the cemetery church next to the Vladimir prison, where he spent 12 years.

At the end of his days, V.V. Shulgin became increasingly sensitive to his participation in the revolution and involvement in the tragic fate of the Royal Family. “My life will be connected with the Tsar and the Queen until my last days, although they are somewhere in another world, and I continue to live in this one. And this connection does not decrease over time. On the contrary, it is growing every year. And now, in 1966, this connectedness seemed to have reached its limit,‒ noted Shulgin . - Every person in the former Russia, if he thinks about the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II, will certainly remember me, Shulgin. And back. If anyone gets to know me, then inevitably the shadow of the monarch who handed me the abdication of the throne 50 years ago will appear in his mind.”. Considering that “both the Sovereign and the loyal subject, who dared to ask for abdication, were victims of circumstances, inexorable and inevitable”, Shulgin at the same time wrote: “Yes, I accepted the abdication so that the Tsar would not be killed, like Paul I, Peter III, Alexander II... But Nicholas II was still killed! And therefore, and therefore I am condemned: I failed to save the Tsar, the Queen, their children and relatives. Failed! It’s as if I’m wrapped in a scroll of barbed wire that hurts me every time I touch it.”. Therefore, Shulgin bequeathed, “We must also pray for us, purely sinful, powerless, weak-willed and hopeless confused people. The fact that we are entangled in a web woven from the tragic contradictions of our century can be not an excuse, but only a mitigation of our guilt.”...

Prepared Andrey Ivanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences

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 feeding 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 drafting 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

In the early seventies, strange rumors circulated around Vladimir: supposedly, there lived in the city a monarchist who king Nicholas II He accepted the abdication, and shook hands with all the White Guard generals.

Such conversations seemed sheer madness: what kind of monarchist is there half a century after the October Revolution, after the country noisily celebrated the centenary of his birth? Lenin?!

The most amazing thing is that it was the pure truth. In the midst of Russian antiquities and Soviet buildings, not just a witness, but a major figure from the times of the revolution and the Civil War lived out his life. Moreover, this figure sacrificed her entire life on the altar of the fight against the Bolsheviks.

Vasily Vitalievich Shulgin- an amazing person. It is difficult to say what was more in him: the prudence of a politician or the adventurism of Ostap Bender. We can say for sure that his life was like an adventure novel, which sometimes turned into a thriller.

Dmitry Ivanovich Pikhno, Shulgin's stepfather. Source: Public Domain

“I became an anti-Semite in my last year at university”

He was born in Kyiv on January 13, 1878. His father was a historian Vitaly Shulgin, who died when his son was not even a year old. Then Vasya’s mother passed away: his stepfather took custody of the boy, economist Dmitry Pikhno.

Shulgin studied mediocrely, was a C student, but after high school he entered the Kiev Imperial University of St. Vladimir to study law at the Faculty of Law. His stepfather's connections and noble origin helped.

Pikhno was a convinced monarchist and nationalist and passed on similar beliefs to his stepson. In student circles, on the contrary, revolutionary sentiments reigned: Shulgin was a “black sheep” at the university.

“I became an anti-Semite in my last year at university. And on the same day, and for the same reasons, I became a “rightist,” a “conservative,” a “nationalist,” a “white,” well, in a word, what I am now,” Shulgin said about himself in adulthood.

By the beginning of the first Russian revolution, Shulgin was an accomplished family man, had his own business, and in 1905 he began actively publishing his articles in the Kievlyanin newspaper, which was once headed by his father, and at that time by his stepfather Dmitry Pikhno.

Best speaker of the State Duma

Shulgin joined the organization "Union of the Russian People", and then joined the "Russian People's Union named after Michael the Archangel", which was headed by the most famous Black Hundred member Vladimir Purishkevich.

However, Purishkevich’s radicalism was still not close to him. Having been elected to the State Duma, Shulgin moved to more moderate positions. Being initially an opponent of parliamentarism, over time he not only began to consider popular representation necessary, but he himself became one of the most prominent speakers in the State Duma.

Shulgin's atypicality as a Black Hundred member was revealed during the scandalous Beilis case, which involved accusations of Jews in the ritual murders of Christian children. Shulgin, from the pages of Kievlyanin, directly accused the authorities of fabricating the case, which is why he almost ended up in prison.

With the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered to go to the front, was seriously wounded near Przemysl, and then headed the front-line feeding and dressing station. From the front to Petrograd he went to State Duma meetings.

Witness of renunciation

Having met February 1917 in the strange role of a liberal monarchist, dissatisfied with the policies of Nicholas II, Shulgin was a categorical opponent of the revolution. Even more: according to Shulgin, “the revolution makes you want to take up machine guns.”

But in the very first days of the unrest in Petrograd, he begins to act as if guided by the principle “if you want to prevent it, lead it.” For example, Shulgin, with his fiery speeches, ensured the transition of the garrison of the Peter and Paul Fortress to the side of the revolutionaries.

He was included in the Temporary Committee of the State Duma, which, in essence, was the headquarters of the February Revolution. In this capacity, together with Alexander Guchkov he was sent to Pskov, where he accepted the act of abdication from the hands of Nicholas II. The monarchists could not forgive Shulgin for this until the end of her life.

Shulgin with an employee during his visit to Nicholas II for abdication. Pskov, March 1917 Source: Public Domain

The enemy of Ukrainian nationalism

The revolutionary wave, however, soon pushed him to the periphery, and he left for Kyiv, where even greater chaos was happening. Here the factor of Ukrainian nationalists came into play, with whom Shulgin tried to fight with all his might, protesting against plans for “Ukrainization.”

Shulgin was involved in the attempted mutiny General Kornilov and was even arrested after his failure, but he was quickly released.

After the October Revolution, Shulgin went to Novocherkassk, where the formation of the first White Guard units was underway. But General Alekseev, who was dealing with this issue, asked Shulgin to return to Kyiv and start publishing the newspaper again, considering him more useful as a propagandist.

Power in Kyiv passed from hand to hand. Shulgin, arrested by the Bolsheviks, was released by them during the retreat. Apparently, knowing his views, the Reds decided not to leave Shulgin to be dealt with by the Ukrainian nationalists.

When Kyiv was occupied by German troops in February 1918, Shulgin closed his newspaper, writing in the last issue: “Since we did not invite the Germans, 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.”

Brief triumph followed by flight

Agents of France and Great Britain appreciated Shulgin’s impulse and offered him cooperation. Thanks to their help, Shulgin began to create an extensive intelligence network, called “ABC,” which made it possible to collect information, including in the territory occupied by the Bolsheviks.

He made enemies very quickly. The monarchists could not forgive him for his trip to Pskov; for the Bolsheviks he was an ideological opponent, and Hetman Skoropadsky and completely declared him a “personal enemy.”

Having got out of Kyiv, he reached Yekaterinodar, occupied by whites, where he published the newspaper “Russia”. Then in Odessa he acted as a representative of the Volunteer Army, from where he was forced to leave after a quarrel with the French occupation authorities.

In the summer of 1919, the Whites took Kyiv: Shulgin returned home in triumph, resuming the production of his “Kievlyanin”. The triumph was, however, short-lived: in December 1919, the Red Army entered the city and Shulgin barely managed to get out at the last moment.

He moved to Odessa, where he tried to rally the anti-Bolshevik forces around himself, but as good as Shulgin was as an orator, he was just as unimportant an organizer. The underground organization he created after the occupation of Odessa by the Reds was discovered, and the former State Duma deputy had to flee again.

Portrait of V.V. Shulgin in exile, 1934 Source: Public Domain

In the web of the "Trust"

After the final defeat of the whites in the Civil War, he moved to Constantinople. Shulgin lost many loved ones, including his two eldest sons. One of them died, and he knew nothing about the fate of the second for several decades. Only in the sixties did Shulgin learn that Benjamin, whose family name was Lyalya, died in the USSR in a psychiatric hospital in the mid-twenties.

In the first years of emigration, Shulgin wrote many journalistic works, advocated for the continuation of the struggle, and collaborated with the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS). On his instructions, he illegally went to the USSR, where an organization was operating that was preparing an anti-Bolshevik coup. After his return, Shulgin wrote the book “Three Capitals,” in which he described the USSR during the heyday of the NEP.

The book turned out to be too complimentary to Soviet reality, which many in the emigration did not like. And then a scandal broke out: it turned out that the underground organization in the USSR was part of an operation of the Soviet special services codenamed “Trust” and Shulgin spent the entire trip under the close tutelage of GPU employees.

Shulgin was shocked: until the end of his life he did not believe that he had fallen for the bait of the security officers. Nevertheless, he withdrew from active work in exile after the “Trust” scandal.

25 years instead of the gallows

In the thirties, Vasily Vitalievich looked into the abyss: he was among those Russian emigrants who welcomed the arrival Hitler to power and initially saw it as a way to liberate Russia from the Bolsheviks. Fortunately for himself, Shulgin managed to recoil in time, otherwise his story most likely would have ended the same way as the story generals Krasnov And Shkuro: Having sworn allegiance to Hitler, they were eventually hanged in Lefortovo prison in 1947.

Shulgin, who lived in Yugoslavia, after its liberation from the German occupation, was detained and sent to Moscow. An active member of the White Guard organization “Russian All-Military Union” was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the summer of 1947.

He later recalled that, of course, he expected punishment, but not so severe, calculating that, taking into account his age and the fact that a lot of time had passed since his active work, he would be given three years.

Shulgin sat in the Vladimir Central together with German and Japanese generals, disgraced Bolsheviks and other notable persons.

Photo of Shulgin from the materials of the investigative case.