Kuprin, Slashchev, the Smenovekhovtsy and the Cossacks, or Four Reasons to Return to the Homeland
To a foreign land
About the Cossacks, the native ashes and the graves of our fathers
The Civil War generated a flood of refugees from the collapsed Russian Empire—the first wave of emigration. The peak of the exodus of our compatriots occurred in November 1920, when approximately 150 people left Crimea along with the army of Lieutenant General Baron P.N. Wrangel. People had left earlier, and not only through Crimea. It's enough to recall the Russian city of Harbin with the grave of Lieutenant General V.O. Kappel.
Between 1917 and 1920, between 1 million and 1,5 million people left the former empire.
The motives that compelled so many people to leave their homeland varied, as did those for some to return; however, for the Cossacks, they were generally similar. Their psychology hadn't changed much since the Middle Ages, when, to recall Cicero's famous dictum, blood was shed for altars and hearths.
Cossacks on the island of Lemnos, 1921
For the Cossacks, zipuns also played an important role, as discussed in the article. What we take from the Bolsheviks is ours! Or, What the Cossacks Fought for in the Civil War.
This way of life, somewhat reminiscent of the lifestyle of a Byzantine acritus, and somewhat reminiscent of a Horde raider, was reflected in the work of the remarkable poet of the first wave of emigration, N. N. Turoverov:
Grow up, become strong, villages,
Ringing with an ancient song;
Lead the Cossack, young lady
For new horse campaigns,
For new raids in the desert,
In the remote Asian distance...
Ringing with an ancient song;
Lead the Cossack, young lady
For new horse campaigns,
For new raids in the desert,
In the remote Asian distance...
Without their native altars and hearths, far from the graves of their ancestors, the Cossacks' purpose in life was lost. Therefore, of the approximately 100 Cossacks who left their homeland between 1918 and 1922, according to historian L. P. Reshetnikov, only 10-12% returned home. In fact, not so few.
N. N. Turoverov
Those who remained recreated traditional forms of communal living in foreign lands, wherever fate took them. And fate took them not only to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, France and Czechoslovakia, but also to Brazil, Peru, and Paraguay, not to mention China, where the Cossacks found it easy to maintain their traditional way of life due to similar natural and climatic conditions and the relative weakness of local government in the 1920s.
Interestingly, the Cossacks went to Paraguay in response to the call of the White Guard Major General I. T. Belyaev—an astonishing man whose military talent helped the country defeat Bolivia in the Chaco War. Many years ago, I dedicated an article to Ivan Timofeevich. Russians in battles for Paraguay.
Moreover, the Cossacks not only reproduced their familiar way of life, but also popularized it abroad: the world-famous Don Choir of A.S. Zharov.
A. S. Zharov and the Cossacks of his choir
And yet, even though they had settled down well in a foreign land, they retained a longing for the villages, as reflected in the piercing lines of Turover:
O bitterness of the Zadonsk wormwood,
A pinch of Cossack land!
Or is my heart broken?
No – the heart beats and beats.
Fatherland, am I not your voice?
Did you hear it in the Parisian night?
A pinch of Cossack land!
Or is my heart broken?
No – the heart beats and beats.
Fatherland, am I not your voice?
Did you hear it in the Parisian night?
It was this melancholy that motivated some of the Cossacks to prepare for the return journey. But, as we know, it wasn't only the Cossacks who returned to their homeland. City dwellers, primarily intellectuals, including military personnel, also returned. It's no coincidence that I said "city dwellers."
Unlike villages or stanitsas, where the ancient way of life was long preserved, city life was more secularized. Consequently, city dwellers found it easier to integrate into the cosmopolitan realities of émigré life. But they, too, returned.
The reasons were complex: difficulties in everyday life, material security, and socially, emigration pushed a significant portion of our compatriots down a peg. Some were forced into this downward spiral, like the father of the once-famous Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, born to a family of diplomats in Lausanne and who spent his childhood in comfort and prosperity.
After the revolution, the family emigrated to France, and there, according to Bishop Anthony:
My father lived apart from us, adopting a peculiar position: when we emigrated, he decided that his class, his social group, bore a heavy responsibility for everything that had happened in Russia, and that he had no right to enjoy the advantages his upbringing, education, and class had given him. And so he didn't seek any work where he could use his knowledge of Eastern languages (the Metropolitan's father had once served as a diplomat in Persia – I.Kh.), his university education, or Western languages, and became a laborer. He lived alone, in utter squalor, praying, keeping silent, reading ascetic literature, and truly living completely alone, mercilessly alone, I must say. He had a tiny room at the top of a tall building, and on the door was a note: "Don't bother knocking: I'm home, but I won't open the door."
An important aspect of the daily life and psychology of some of the first-wave emigrants. People in intellectual professions tend to reflect on the events in the country—the fate of Father Bishop Anthony is a vivid and, perhaps, extreme example.
Another group of emigrants interpreted the events that had taken place in Russia and the prospects for the new government in a positive light: the Smenovekhov movement had formed abroad, advocating for the reconciliation of the Whites with the Bolsheviks and for a return to the homeland.
His ideological inspiration was the philosopher N. I. Ustrialov, a man with a tragic fate and a fascinating thinker. Ultimately, he, like some of the Smena Vekhovites, returned to the USSR and were repressed. Ustrialov was executed.
Among the military, Smena Vekhov's views were shared by the former commander of the elite 1st Army Corps of the Volunteer Army—in which the equally elite "colored" divisions, which remained combat-ready until the last day of the White Struggle, fought—Lieutenant General E. I. Dostovalov, who returned to the USSR and was also executed in 1938.
It should be noted that in the early 1920s, the military émigré community was not monolithic. While some of it, primarily members of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), held uncompromising positions against the Reds, others were inclined to abandon anti-Bolshevik activity. Among the latter were former senior White Guard officials, which created a rift within the military émigré community.
Lieutenant General A.K. Kelchevsky
The two lieutenant generals in question were the former commander of the Don Army, A. I. Sidorin, his chief of staff, A. K. Kelchevsky, and the commander of the 3rd Army Corps of the Armed Forces of South Russia, S. K. Dobrorolsky. They did not return to their homeland, but they did not share anti-Bolshevik views.
He always wanted to die in Russia
Not all returnees had such tragic fates as those of the Smenovekhovtsy who set foot on their native land. For A. I. Kuprin, for example, it was the opposite. Alexander Ivanovich, who lived in Gatchina, emigrated first to Finland and then to France after the defeat of General of the Infantry N. N. Yudenich's army.
In 1937, already ill, he returned to the USSR. Why? I believe no one has answered this question better than Lieutenant General A. I. Denikin's biographer, D. V. Lekhovich—incidentally, his book about Anton Ivanovich, I believe, is the best of all those devoted to this extraordinary man. What does Denikin have to do with it? The two writers were friends.
I did not make a reservation about Denikin the writer, for he left behind not only the multi-volume “Essays on the Russian Time of Troubles,” but also talentedly written works of art, to which I will dedicate a separate article.
The old and ill A. I. Kuprin with his wife in the USSR
Here I will cite Lekhovich’s reasoning about the reasons for Kuprin’s departure:
He always wanted to die in Russia. He compared this desire to the instinct of a wild animal that retreats to its den to die. But by the time of his departure, physical illness and cerebral sclerosis had sapped Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin's strength and sanity, and his financial situation was dire. Meanwhile, the Soviet embassy in Paris promised him and his wife a quiet and secure life in a writers' retreat near Moscow.
In the late spring of 1937, he came to see the Denikins. The general's wife vividly remembered how A.I. Kuprin, without saying a word, walked into Anton Ivanovich's room, sat down on a chair near the desk, stared at the general for a long moment, and suddenly burst into tears, the way only small children cry. The door to the room closed, and Ksenia Vasilyevna heard only Kuprin's voice, and then her husband's. After a while, Anton Ivanovich politely escorted his visitor to the stairs and, to his wife's astonished question, "What's wrong?" he answered curtly, "He's getting ready to return to Russia."
In the late spring of 1937, he came to see the Denikins. The general's wife vividly remembered how A.I. Kuprin, without saying a word, walked into Anton Ivanovich's room, sat down on a chair near the desk, stared at the general for a long moment, and suddenly burst into tears, the way only small children cry. The door to the room closed, and Ksenia Vasilyevna heard only Kuprin's voice, and then her husband's. After a while, Anton Ivanovich politely escorted his visitor to the stairs and, to his wife's astonished question, "What's wrong?" he answered curtly, "He's getting ready to return to Russia."
Kuprin, who had a military education, was, at heart, a civilian. But true military men, perhaps of all the representatives of the émigré community, felt the exile most acutely. Again, civilians could return to their former jobs.
A jacket instead of a uniform
Some officers also held civilian professions—a prime example being Wrangel, who had earned a degree in mining engineering. But such individuals were few in number. And the majority of officers were not always able to return to uniform, as, for example, was the case with Lieutenant General I. G. Barbović, who served in the Yugoslav Army's War Ministry.
Major General of Wrangel's army and lieutenant of Franco's army N. V. Shinkarenko
And if they were fortunate enough to do so, it was rarely at their previous rank. For example, Major General N. N. Shinkarenko, who fought in Franco's army against the Republicans and received the rank of lieutenant—albeit along with Spanish citizenship and a pension.
The same rank was held in the French Foreign Legion by the Kuban colonel F. F. Eliseev, the author of the most interesting memoirs “With the Kornilov Cavalry,” “In the Foreign Legion and in Japanese Captivity.”
In relation to officers, one must also take into account the psychological factor: from time immemorial, the right to wear personal weapons – a sign of a free person in a traditional society, which formed a sense of elitism among the military.
The uniform played a significant role, distinguishing an officer from a civilian, which also determined the psychology of a military man, his stereotype of behavior, and ideas about honor, part of which were, for example, duels.
An entire culture associated with weapons developed: their ownership, carrying, presentation, and use. All of this included a certain ritual inherent to the military establishment. It's no surprise that officers were recognized by their demeanor and bearing, even in what was then called civilian dress.
And exchanging his uniform for a rumpled, cheap taxi driver's jacket somewhere in Paris or a miner's uniform in Lorraine, tearing an officer away from his familiar world, was a painful blow to his pride. In such circumstances, some saw a return to military service as a solution, even in the Red Army, especially given their faith in a Soviet Thermidor and a new Bonaparte.
Our compatriots are the first wave of emigrants
In this case, it is worth noting that in the public consciousness of the first wave of emigration, somewhere up until the mid-1920s, the Russian Revolution was measured by the template of the Great French Revolution, believing that the first, in the logic of events, repeated the second.
Dreaming of a Russian Thermidor
Were there grounds for such hopes? With some reservations, yes. I'll examine this using the example of the legendary Lieutenant General Ya. A. Slashchev.
There's a common misconception that he was the inspiration for General Khludov from "The Flight." This isn't true:
A careful study of the general's biography, writes historian A. S. Kruchinin, one of the country's leading specialists on the Civil War, forces us to conclude that Bulgakov's hero, insane, gloomy, and shrouded in an atmosphere of delirium and "dreams," is not only not identical to the personality of Yakov Alexandrovich, but is in many ways his opposite—and, conversely, as if these enthusiastic lines were written about Slashchev:
You whose wide overcoat
Reminded sails
Whose spurs rang merrily
And the voices,
And whose eyes are like diamonds
A mark was cut out on the heart,
Charming dandies
Years gone by!
Three hundred won - three!
Only the dead did not get up from the ground.
You were children and heroes
You all could.
Which is also touching youth
How is your mad army?
You are the golden-haired fortune
Led like a mother.
You won and loved
Love and the saber's edge,
And fun crossed
Into oblivion!
You whose wide overcoat
Reminded sails
Whose spurs rang merrily
And the voices,
And whose eyes are like diamonds
A mark was cut out on the heart,
Charming dandies
Years gone by!
Three hundred won - three!
Only the dead did not get up from the ground.
You were children and heroes
You all could.
Which is also touching youth
How is your mad army?
You are the golden-haired fortune
Led like a mother.
You won and loved
Love and the saber's edge,
And fun crossed
Into oblivion!
It is wrong to see in General Khludov, brilliantly played by V. V. Dvorzhetsky, a prototype of Ya. A. Slashchev
The reasons for Slashchev's return in 1921 remain the subject of debate to this day. A. S. Kruchinin explains the general's motivation as follows:
And while General Kutepov (who headed not only the ROVS, but also a combat organization within it, which was engaged in subversive activities in the USSR – I.Kh.) was preparing his fighters and General Wrangel was collecting funds for the fight, officer circles were gathering within the USSR, “threads” were being drawn abroad, General Slashchev was discussing something with the young “Red Committees,” and his old comrade Colonel V.V. Zherve was visiting him, gathering and, perhaps, uniting Finnish officers... But what could they all count on?
Slashchev had plenty to talk about with the guests gathered in his apartment and plenty to teach them. But, as is well known, he longed to join the ranks and saw himself as part of the Red Army command staff.
The latter, in terms of his origins, experience of service with the Reds and Whites, as well as in the national formations generated by the Time of Troubles, presented a very mixed picture:
In general, the 1920s, writes historian E. N. Durnev, were a very ambiguous time, to which black-and-white assessments are inapplicable. Thus, during the Civil War, the Red Army often recruited people who—as many today believe—could never have been recruited. For example, former Staff Captain N. Ya. Aversky, head of the regiment's chemical service, served in the Hetman's secret services. Milles, a teacher at the Kamenev School, was a former military official who served under Denikin in OSVAG and counterintelligence. Vladislav Goncharov, citing Minakov, mentioned Colonel Dilaktorsky, a former White Army colonel who served in 1923 at Red Army headquarters and who was Miller's head of counterintelligence in 1919. Staff Captain M. M. Dyakovsky, who had served in the Red Army as an instructor since 1920, had previously served as an adjutant at Shkuro's headquarters. Colonel Glinsky, who had served as head of the administration of the Kamenev Kyiv Unified School since 1922, had already been an activist in the Ukrainian nationalist movement during his service in the old army, and later as a confidant of Hetman Skoropadsky. In the spring of 1918, he commanded the Officers' Regiment, which became P. P. Skoropadsky's military support during the coup d'état; he then served as a senior sergeant major for the Hetman's Chief of Staff (he was promoted to general ensign on October 29, 1918). Similarly, in 1920, an officer clearly unwilling to serve in the Red Army, Lieutenant Colonel S. I. Dobrovolsky, was enlisted. From February 1918, he served in the Ukrainian army: as head of the Kyiv district's transport operations and commandant of the Kyiv railway junction. From January 1919, he held leadership positions in the UPR Army's military communications department. In May, he was captured by the Poles, escaping captivity in the fall and returning to Kyiv. He joined the Armed Forces of South Russia, with which he retreated to Odessa and was captured by the Red Army in February 1920. He was sent to Kharkiv, but escaped en route and reached Polish-occupied Kyiv, where he re-enlisted in the UPR Army, only to be captured again by the Red Army a few days later. He served in the Red Army from late 20, but was dismissed as an unreliable element in 1921.
Colorful biographies. It's important to understand that, unlike many military specialists from the General Staff—for example, the Chief of Staff of the Red Army, former Major General P. P. Lebedev, celebrated his 50th birthday in 1922, a respectable age at the time—captured White Guard officers were young and often assigned to combat positions in the armies of yesterday's enemy. This was especially true for technical specialists, primarily artillerymen.
In total, in 1921, according to the eminent historian A. G. Kavtaradze, 12 thousand former White officers served in the Red Army.
And this is against the backdrop of the explosive situation in the country in the first years after the Civil War:
In a devastated and not entirely calm Russia, writes historian S. T. Minakov, whose untapped rebellious energy continued to focus on the "World Revolution," it was not only what was thought of the "revolutionary military leaders" within Russia that mattered. Equally important was how they were perceived and ranked outside Russia and the Red Army, in the Russian diaspora.
And in it reigned, as the aforementioned researcher notes:
Expectations and hopes for an internal, “national-Bonapartist” rebirth of Soviet Russia and the decisive role of the Soviet military elite in this matter.
As an example, I will cite lines from the diary of a prominent figure in the ROVS, Major General A. A. von Lampe, for April 1920:
I'm very interested in the essence of the Red Army. It was created as a socialist delusion, but the fight against us, the introduction of real officers, the gradual return to pre-revolutionary order—that's also a chapter in the book I dream of.
According to A.S. Kruchinin, Slashchev set out, figuratively speaking, to write the book von Lampe had dreamed of. The result is well known. After all, something resembling the Soviet Thermidor could only have been achieved in command positions in the ranks.
Ya. A. Slashchev with the staff of the Crimean Corps and his true combat friend N. N. Nechvolodova, 1920.
But the Bolshevik leadership kept Slashchev away from the troops. Other repatriates who had previously held command positions under Denikin and Wrangel, including Lieutenant Generals Yu. K. Gravitsky, E. I. Dostovalov, and A. S. Sekretev, were also denied combat positions.
The Kremlin had a similar attitude towards its charismatic commanders, because the ideas themselves – whether red or white – were personified in their bearers.
That's why the 1st Cavalry was disbanded after the Civil War, separating S. M. Budyonny from the troops, though nominally promoted—"Red Murat" became a member of the Revolutionary Military Council. The same happened to M. N. Tukhachevsky—he was removed from his post as army commander and appointed head of the Military Academy. Incidentally, Mikhail Nikolayevich had no academic education.
But these were charismatic military leaders who aroused fear in the Soviet government. The less charismatic White Guard officers captured during the Civil War survived in the Red Army until the second half of the 1930s, and some even outlived them. Perhaps the most colorful biography here belongs to Major General of Kolchak's army and Lieutenant General of the Soviet army, A. Ya. Kruse. A wonderful scholarly article by historian A. V. Ganin, "Kolchak's General with the Order of Lenin," is about him.
Historian V.S. Milbach writes the following on this matter:
Former Whites served in the 1930s. During a tour of Siberia and the Far East, Mekhlis discovered a significant number of Kolchak supporters and former Whites in the troops and sought their dismissal from the People's Commissariat of Defense. Despite the difficult situation, when every Far Eastern commander counted, K. Ye. Voroshilov supported the idea of another purge, telegraphing to the Far East: "The proposal to remove all Kolchak supporters from the ranks of the Red Army has been accepted by the Main Military Council."
The position of Mekhlis and Voroshilov is a separate issue. For us, something else is more important: in the early 1920s, after the war with Poland ended, the Red Army's technical weakness went hand in hand with the unresolved military threat from its neighbors.
Red Army soldiers of the 1920s were often commanded by former White Guards, especially in artillery units
Let me remind you that the Bolsheviks did not recognize Romania's annexation of Bessarabia and waged war in Central Asia against the Basmachi. Furthermore, not only Wrangel's troops but also the White Guard units that had retreated to China remained combat-ready. It was only in 1921 that the Antonov Rebellion was suppressed, and Lieutenant General Baron R. F. Ungern von Sternberg was captured and executed.
That is, we are faced with a duality of the situation in which the Bolshevik leadership finds itself: yesterday's White officers are not seen as reliable, and qualified personnel are needed for combat positions.
Paradoxically, writes S. T. Minakov, although Red Army soldiers sang that "from the taiga to the British seas, the Red Army is the strongest of all," in the 20s, the Red Army as a force capable of ensuring the country's defense practically did not exist. This circumstance presented the military elite and political leadership with the problem of a painful search for the formula of a "real army."
The formula for a "real army" was eventually found in the USSR, albeit at an inordinately high price: the deaths of outstanding military figures such as Ya. A. Slashchev—I don't think that, had he been commissioned and maintained his loyalty to the Soviet regime, he would have become obsolete by 1941—Division Commander A. A. Svechin, the repressions against Colonel G. S. Isserson, and others.
Yes, I cited A.S. Kruchinin's assessment of Slashchev's return above. But this is merely a historian's assumption, albeit a weighty one. However, if Yakov Alexandrovich had realized in the 1930s that the anti-Bolshevik Thermidor would not materialize, he could have immersed himself in his native military environment and faithfully served the USSR. However, story does not tolerate the subjunctive mood.
And finally, a few words about the "formula for a real army." It's unthinkable without Svechin's "Strategy." This year marks the anniversary of its publication. Next time, we'll talk about both the book and its author.
References
White Cossack Emigration. Interview with L.P. Reshetnikov
Bocharova Z. S. Russian refugees: problems of resettlement, return to their homeland, and legal regulation (1920s-1930s)
Ganin, A.V. Kolchak's General with the Order of Lenin: Reconstruction of the Biography of A.Ya. Kruse // Civil War in the East of Russia: A Look Through the Documentary Heritage: Proceedings of the IV International Scientific-Practical Conference (October 20–21, 2021, Omsk, Russia). Omsk: Omsk State Technical University. pp. 50–57
Durnev E.N. To paraphrase Kavtaradze: White officers in the service of the Soviet Republic
Kavtaradze A.G. Military specialists in the service of the Republic of Soviets, 1917-1920. / Rep. ed. V.I. Petrov; Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Institute of History of the USSR. – M.: Nauka, 1988
Kruchinin A.S. The White Movement: Historical Portraits. – Moscow: Astrel, AST, 2006
Lekhovich D.V. Whites against the Reds. – M.: Voskresenye, 1992
V.S. Milbach, “Political Repressions of the Command Staff. 1937-1938. Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army.” Puchenkov, A.S., “That Same Slashchev…” [Review of the book: Ganin, A.V., “White General and Red Military Specialist Yakov Slashchev-Krymsky.” Moscow, 2021] // The Newest History of Russia. 2023. Vol. 13, No. 1. Pp. 219–231
Simonova T. Returnees. Repatriation to Soviet Russia before 1925 // Rodina. 2009. No. 4. Pp. 26–29
R.G. Tikidzhyan, Historical Fates of Cossack Re-Emigrants in Soviet Russia, 1920–1930 (Based on Materials from the Don and Kuban Regions)
Turoverov N.N. Russian poetry
Khodakov I.M. Russians in battles for Paraguay
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