Russian Troubles of 1917: a crisis at the top and preparations for a coup
The opposition that began to emerge from the summer of 1916 (considered in previous article) various groups of the Russian elite and the highest echelons of power, including the banking "St. Petersburg" and the merchant "Moscow", in October spread to the State Duma.
Political battles were fought only at the top of Russian society, the people were relatively indifferent to this and did not take part in sorting things out.
Since the summer there has been a break in the State Duma meetings, and the representative of the "St. Petersburg" - the Minister of Internal Affairs Protopopov (prior to this appointment, a former State Duma deputy from the Octobrist party) began to insist on the beginning of a plenary session in order to promote the ideas of this group. He prepared a new city regulation, according to which the electoral system was improved and women received the right to vote. He also presented a number of populist laws - on reforming the police, on the introduction of a luxury tax, on the freezing of rent and a ban on raising it.
By this time, the food issue had become aggravated. In the cities, interruptions in the supply of grain began, the peasants tried to hold back the grain to higher prices, and transport problems arose with its delivery to the cities. The Moscow merchant group offered its services for the purchase of grain and, naturally, wanted to make money on the speculative price difference.
Protopopov, on the contrary, proposed to solve this problem through the banks of the St. Petersburg banking group, which had a wide network of branches throughout the country and specialists in various industries, capable of purchasing grain and organizing its delivery to cities.
The faction of progressives in the State Duma, defending the interests of the Moscow merchants, was outraged by such behavior of Protopopov and the fact that he did not want to rely on "healthy forces", and the confrontation intensified.
The Moscow merchants decided to strike a blow at the St. Petersburg bankers by organizing, through their protege, Chief of the General Staff, General Alekseev, a counterintelligence check of the bankers' sugar assets with an attempt to accuse them of treason. The checks were moved to Kiev, where the main sugar assets were concentrated, and the arrests began.
The "Piterskie" through the government organized an inspection of the textile industry, the main asset of the merchants.
Mutual claims led to the weakening of both groups, and they agreed not to touch each other for the time being, dividing spheres of influence.
At the same time, the confrontation in the media sphere intensified: with the support of Protopopov and St. Petersburg banks, in October the St. Petersburg people allocate three million rubles and found their own newspaper Russkaya Volya in opposition to the Moscow ones with the media empire of the book publisher and newspaperman merchant Sytin and his newspaper Russkoe Slovo, reflecting the liberal point of view. Sytin, by the way, appeared in December 1905, helping the insurgent workers in Moscow.
Expanded propaganda in two powerful media resources with accusations of each other stirred up both capitals, and everyone expected serious events.
Milyukov's accusatory speech and its consequences
Events broke out on November 1 with the opening of a plenary meeting of the State Duma, where in the presence of the head of the government Sturmer and members of the government, the leader of the Progressives Miliukov made a well-prepared accusatory speech "Is this stupidity or treason?"
He spoke with pathos about the danger hanging over the country, and that after a series of defeats by the army in 1915, society lost faith in victory, about "painful, terrible suspicion, ominous rumors about betrayal and treason, about dark forces fighting in Germany's favor," rumors in government circles justifying the aimlessness of further struggle and the need to conclude a separate peace, about the formed court party around the queen (Sturmer, Rasputin, Protopopov) and about Sturmer's bribe, hinting at betrayal.
He ended his speech with the appeal "The government must resign!" The accusatory speech was built on rumors that were not confirmed by facts, and the deliberate emphasis in the speech on the queen and Sturmer was also connected with the fact that they were Germans by origin and they were trying to accuse them of treason.
Milyukov's speech had the effect of an exploding bomb, he accused the authorities and the tsar of inability to wage a victorious war and betrayal of his inner circle. This step of the progressives and the "Moscow" was well thought out, and they attributed the failures at the front to betrayal in the upper strata of society, which did not come close to reality. This speech launched the flywheel of the final discrediting of the tsarist power.
The government banned the publication of Milyukov's seditious speech, but the "Moscow" ones printed it in a million copies and disseminated it among the masses through Zemgor and the military-industrial complex, including at the front. A fierce information war broke out between the liberals and the government, the liberals won this war with a clear advantage.
Instead of organizing an information campaign, Sturmer demanded that the State Duma officially transmit Miliukov's speech in order to bring him to court for libel.
An unexpected blow to the tsar was struck by the speech of the military and naval ministers in the State Duma on November 4, greeted with applause, who supported Milyukov's speech and showed that the military leadership was not on the tsar's side. Nicholas II did not react in any way to such treacherous actions of his ministers, but to defuse the situation he dismissed Sturmer on November 9. He appointed the "strong business executive" Trepov (Minister of Railways) as the head of the government.
The State Duma, seeing the tsar's weakness, decided to increase the pressure and demanded the resignation of Protopopov, Trepov wanted the same, but the tsar refused to even discuss the resignation of the loyal minister.
On this wave, the progressives decided to strengthen their influence in the State Duma and elected a prominent cadet Nekrasov as deputy head, who was promoted by supporters of the aggravation of the situation, Guchkov and Tereshchenko.
In the State Duma on November 19, the contradictions between the progressists and the Duma opposition intensified: in his speech, the monarchist Markov publicly insulted and called Rodzianko a fool and a scoundrel, which intensified the confrontation in the Duma ranks.
Another blow to the monarchy from the side of the privileged class was dealt at the end of November, in the Council of the United Nobility, demands in the spirit of opposition were put forward to Chairman Strukov, and no confidence was declared in him.
The ring of opponents around Nicholas II was narrowing, Trepov and Protopopov could not cope with the aggravated situation at the top, and the country started talking about dark forces.
Strengthening the opposition and killing Rasputin
Serious changes have also begun to take place in the international arena.
In early November, the head of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph, died, the rather weak Charles II became the heir, besides, his wife was an adherent of the Entente, and everyone expected the Austrians to leave the war.
A difficult economic situation was developing in Germany, Emperor Wilhelm II spoke in the Reichstag and said that he would not mind making peace with Russia, at the same time in Germany it was announced about the possibility of granting independence to Poland.
It was downright a gift to the progressists, they perked up and declared that the government was in collusion with Germany.
Coordinated actions at the top pushed the situation towards the resignation of the tsar.
The opposition was not preparing the liquidation of the monarchy, but the replacement of Nicholas II with a more convenient figure and considered two options: the Tsar's brother Mikhail and the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, offended by the Tsar and Tsarina for his resignation from the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Guchkov was treated in Kislovodsk in November and met there with Nikolai Nikolaevich, discussing with him the possibility of changes on the royal throne.
In early December, a scandal erupted, apparently a well-thought-out provocation of the opposition, allegedly with an attempt on the life of their leader Milyukov, organized by the Black Hundreds. Information appeared in the press that one of the members of the Union of the Russian People was preparing an attempt on Milyukov's life. The police found this man and arrested him, he decided to repent and made a confession of repentance. This episode was well played by the opposition-controlled press, a grandiose scandal was fanned out of it that dark forces, represented by the leadership of the Union of the Russian People, were hatching plans to liquidate Milyukov, and he became a victim of reactionary forces seeking to resist progress.
In society, this attempt was vigorously discussed, and the name of Milyukov was on everyone's lips. The progressives decided to warm up the current situation and discuss it at the Zemgora congress in Moscow.
Protopopov prudently banned the congress, which caused indignation and curses against him, and he became a symbol of a kind of impending reaction.
By this time, rumors about Rasputin's influence on government decision-making had grown. Trepov, on his own initiative, tried to persuade Rasputin and offered him money to leave St. Petersburg, but he refused. Among the tsar's entourage they saw that Rasputin was discrediting the tsar's family, and in order to save the throne, they decided to liquidate the annoying "elder".
A group of conspirators, which included Prince Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and one of the leaders of the monarchists in the State Duma, Purishkevich, organized the murder of Rasputin on December 20 and could not hide the traces of the crime. This act for the conspirators had the opposite result: everyone saw that with the elimination of the "elder" nothing had changed, and the tsar and tsarina began to be presented as the main culprits of all troubles.
The murder of such a person could not go unnoticed, the tsar immediately returned from Headquarters, purely symbolically punished the conspirators and began to make changes in the government, where a crisis was brewing. He fully trusted Protopopov and left him in office, accepting Trepov's resignation and removing a number of ministers supporting the opposition. As a temporary measure, the elderly prince Golitsin, who was far from politics, was appointed head of the government. This caused irony in the Duma environment, since she did not see him as an equal.
There is a version that the tsar was preparing the statesman and economist Pokrovsky, who previously led the Russian delegation at the Paris economic conference of the allies, for the post of prime minister. For the time being, the tsar appointed him minister of foreign affairs to interact with the allies, since an offensive on all fronts was planned for the spring, after which a conference on the post-war world order was to take place, and Pokrovsky by that time was supposed to head the government.
The day of the murder of Rasputin coincided by chance with the return of the main engine of the upcoming coup, Guchkov, to Petrograd, and immediately rumors spread that he had come to make a revolution; at the station he was greeted by a powerful crowd of supporters and Duma members.
At the same time, the second coup inspirer, Ryabushinsky, returned to Moscow.
Actions of the allies and Nicholas II
In December, events began to unfold on the fronts.
Feeling the inevitable defeat in the war, the Germans, for bargaining with the Entente, launched a demonstrative offensive in Romania, took Bucharest and in an aggressive manner began talking about concluding peace. They found mediators in the person of the Pope and US President Wilson, who issued a note of peace and offered himself to all parties as a mediator, hoping to make good money in this role, which then happened.
The banking system was also hit in December.
A middle-class entrepreneur from Kiev, Yaroshinsky, behind whom Ryabushinsky's team stood, began unexpectedly and successfully to buy up the assets of St. Petersburg banks and created a panic in the banking sector. This operation continued in 1917 under the Provisional Government with the involvement of Western banking capital and caused a lot of trouble for the St. Petersburg bankers, only the decrees of the Soviet government were able to stop this process.
In early January 1917, an offensive against Nicholas II and the allies began.
Leading French newspapers published an article with Milyukov's speech "Is this stupidity or treason?", Which he delivered on November 1. Such actions clearly indicated that there was a break in relations between the Entente and Russia, there they suspected Russia of preparing a separate peace with Germany.
To maintain their authority with the allies, Russian troops in January carried out a successful offensive in the Riga direction to distract the Germans from the Romanian front.
At this time, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, making it clear that it supported Britain and France, since they were the largest debtors of the United States and had to remain creditworthy, the Americans tried not to miss their benefits. At the same time, the United States began to strengthen economic relations with Russia by opening a branch of its largest bank in Petrograd.
To test Russia's readiness for the spring offensive, representatives of the Entente countries held a conference in Petrograd in January, as they feared a secret collusion between Russia and the Germans and suspected the empress of complicity with them. Representatives of the Entente persuaded the tsar on their trip to Moscow, where they met with the opposition, which convinced them to support the conduct of the war to a victorious end.
In January, the expectation of a palace coup was already hanging in society, which intensified after the assassination of Rasputin: everyone saw that the tsar was not able to resist the opposition and retain power, even the aristocracy and the grand ducal environment welcomed the removal of Nicholas II.
The tsar was informed about the developing situation, and he began to take preemptive steps and began by reforming the State Council, where the opposition was also strong. He rotated up to two dozen of its members, bringing in people loyal to him and putting at the head the lawyer Shcheglovitov, who was set to stop the actions of the opposition in the State Council. To a large extent, this task was solved, but the tsar had no opportunity to pacify the State Duma.
The State Duma has not met since December and was supposed to hear the new prime minister with his program on February 14. Golitsin could not offer anything worthwhile, he avoided serious clashes with the opposition and played only the role of the Tsar's informant about its actions in the State Duma.
An exacerbation suddenly occurred in Moscow.
Protopopov refused to approve the results of the elections to the city duma, in which the cadets supported by the merchants won an overwhelming majority, and this threatened the emergence of another center of confrontation with the tsarist power. Such arbitrariness of the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs caused a storm of indignation in the opposition, but she could not do anything.
Protopopov finally decided to deal with Zemgor and the military-industrial complex, where the opposition, using state funds, formed the structures opposing the authorities. He persuaded the tsar to reform Zemgor and send a Senate revision there to investigate financial violations, as well as to find out on what grounds people involved in Zemgor and the military-industrial complex are given a reservation from being drafted into the army, which caused natural indignation in society. Thanks to this privilege, a radical liberal and socialist public, evading sending to the front, dug in there.
In response to such actions by the authorities, the opposition decided to create a new organization, the Russian Trade and Industrial Union, headed by Ryabushinsky, and prepared on January 24 to hold a constituent congress in Moscow. Protopopov banned the congress and, in order to divert attention, appointed the opening of a commodity exchange in Petrograd on this day, which caused a boom in the purchase of shares.
The authorities nevertheless decided to start a struggle against the nests of the opposition-controlled revolutionary workers' movement that settled in the structures of Zemgor and the military-industrial complex, and on January 28 arrested the leadership of the military-industrial complex working group.
By the way, up to 500 representatives of plants and factories gathered at the meeting of the working group in Petrograd, where strikes were planned and local assistance committees were created, that is, it was a kind of strike network structure directed by Guchkov and Konovalov.
Protopopov, after the arrest of the leaders of the working groups, reported to the tsar that he had prevented the revolution, but did not take into account that the main conspirators remained at large, and the factories continued preparations for mass support of the coup.
So, by February, the crisis at the top came to its climax.
The liberal bourgeoisie was completing the stage of preparation for the coup, the state mechanism was upset by the frequent changes of the head of government and the leapfrog of ministers, the tsarist government was discredited by its connection with the "elder" Rasputin and accused of treason.
The aristocracy also went over to the side of the opposition, the labor movement as a shock force was subordinated to the opposition and was ready to start mass protests at their command, the allies did not trust the tsar and were ready to support his removal.
The coup became simply inevitable, all that was needed was a pretext for action.
To be continued ...
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