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Abstract
The advocates of opposing versions of Russian conservatism during the First World War, Progressive Nationalism and the Far Right, saw the tsar’s figure as a symbolic expression of state power, and not its real carrier. Instead, state power was seen as being in the hands of the government, which could be either supported or opposed, depending upon its policies. The conservatives’ participation in public politics influenced their political creed. They embraced the idea of a limitation of the monarch’s influence in making political decisions, transferring the major role in this process to public officials, which were considered autonomous political figures in spite of their appointment by the tsar.
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Notes
1 Rassypannoe tsarstvo, in Rozanov, Apokalipsis nashego vremeni, 6.
2 Sukhanov, Zapiski o revolutsii, 8.
3 See Diakin, Russkaia burzhuaziia i tsarizm; Katkov, Russia 1917; Hamm “Liberal Politics in War-time Russia”; Chermenskii, IV Gosudarstvennaia duma i sverzhenie tsarizma; Pearson, The Russian Moderates and the Crisis of Tsarism; Hasegawa, The February Revolution; Avrekh, Raspad tret’eiiun’skoi sistemy; Avrekh, Tsarizm nakanune sverzheniia.
4 See, for example Airapetov, Generaly, liberaly i predprinimateli; Gaida, Liberal’naia oppozitsiia na putiakh k vlasti; Kulikov, Biurokraticheskaia elita Rossiiskoi Imperii.
5 See Lohr, Nationalizing the Russian Empire; Fuller, The Foe Within; Kolonitskii, “Tragicheskaia erotica”.
6 See, for example Kir’ianov, Pravye partii v Rossii; Ivanov, Vladimir Purishkevich; Ivanov, Pravye v russkom parlamente.
7 See for details Loukianov, “Conservatives and ‘Renewed Russia’”; Gilbert, The Radical Right in Late Imperial Russia, 155–88.
8 Rendle, Defenders of the Motherland, 33.
9 Kir’ianov, Pravye partii v Rossii, 388.
10 On monarchists during the Revolution of 1905 see Rawson, Russian Rightists and the Revolution of 1905.
11 M. O. Men’shikov, “Gosudarstvennyi scandal.” Pis’ma k blizhnim, 1909, no. 3, 214.
12 Perovsky-Petrovo-Solovovo, “Partiia Nezavisimykh Konservatorov”, 7.
13 Vechevoi [I. I. von Zek] “Natsional’nyi ideal i ego protivniki”, in Novaia Rossiia, 75. On Russian national democracy see Chemakin, Istoki russkoi national-demokratii; Chemakin, Russkie national-demokraty v epokhu potriasenii.
14 Kazanskii, Vlast’ Vserossiiskogo Imperatora, 50.
15 “Ob ispravlenii kodifikatsii 1906 goda”, in Tikhomirov, K reforme obnovlennoi Rossii, 258.
16 This phrase was suggested as the substitution of the acting formula in the Article 86 of the Fundamental Laws, ‘No new law can be enacted without the approval of the State Council and the State Duma, and it shall not be legally binding without the approval of the Sovereign Emperor’. Ibid., 261.
17 G. A. Shechkov, “Nesostoiatel’nost’ Gosugarstvennoi Dumy nyne deistvuishchego zakona”, Mirnyi trud, 1913, no. 3, 39.
18 A. Ia. Avrekh compared his influence among the right with that of P.A. Kropotkin among the anarchists. See Avrekh, Tsarizm i IV Duma, 231.
19 K. N. Paskhalov, “Gosudarstvennaia shatkost’”, Moskovskie vedomosti, 1 July 1914, 1.
20 Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 3 April 1905, in Nikol’skii, Dnevnik, 48.
21 Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 15 April 1905, in Ibid., 55.
22 A. A. Kireev to Nicholas II, 3 June 1907, Otdel Rukopisei Rossiiskoi Gosudarstvennoi Biblioteki (OR RGB), fond (f.) 126, opis’ (op.) 1, delo (d.) 21/22, list (l.) 9оb.
23 Diary of A. A. Kireev, entry for December 1908, in Kireev, Dnevnik, 301.
24 Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 19 July 1909, in Krasnyi arkhiv, 1935, vol. 73 (6), 175.
25 М. M. Andronikov to A. A. Orlov, September 12, 1907, Rossiiski Gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv (RGIA), f. 1617, op. 1, d. 75, ll. 2–3.
26 See for details Kolonitskii, “Tragicheskaia erotica”, 73–98.
27 “Tsar’ i narod”, Novoe vremia, 21 July 1914, 3.
28 “Vse sily i zhizn’ – za Tsar’ia”, Kolokol, 22 July 1914, 2.
29 N. V. “Tsar’ i narod”, Russkoe znamia, 22 July 1914, 2.
30 Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 14 July 1914, in Nikol’skii, Dnevnik, 195.
31 Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 27 July 1914, in Ibid., 197.
32 See Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 31 July 1914, Gusudarstvennyi Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii (GARF), f. 634, op. 1, d. 22, l. 201оb.
33 See GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 990–1009.
34 A. Savenko, “Mysli i vpechatleniia. V Tavricheskom dvortse”, Kievlianin, 1 February 1915, 2.
35 Russkoe znamia, 25 January 1915, 1.
36 Russkoe znamia, 8 February 1915, 1.
37 Russkoe znamia, 30 May 1915, 1.
38 S. Glinka, “Ne opasno li?”, Zemshchina, 25 August 1914, 2.
39 Chermenskii, IV Gosudarstvennaia duma i sverzhenie tsarizma, 75.
40 Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 25 August 1914, in B. V. Nikol’skii, Dnevnik, 202.
41 Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for August 1914, GARF, f. 634, op. 1, d. 22, l. 201оb.
42 Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 22 December 1914, GARF, f. 634, op. 1, d. 23, l. 222.
43 Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 3 June 1915, in Tikhomirov, Dnevnik L. A. Tikhomirova, 72.
44 Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 13 June 1915, in Ibid., 76.
45 D. A. Khomiakov to A. D. Sverbeev, 13 June 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1013, l. 100.
46 According to S. V. Kulikov, the changes in the government were initiated by the ‘shadow prime minister’ A. V. Krivoshein, who planned to replace Goremykin’s ministry with the government consisting not of professional bureaucrats only, but of civic leaders, as well. The preparations for the reconstruction of the government began earlier than Summer 1915, and the main reason for it was the eagerness of a part of the highest bureaucracy to introduce the principles of parliamentarianism into Russia’s governance. See Kulikov, Biurokraticheskaia elita Rossiiskoi Imperii, 45–55.
47 Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 8 June 1915, in Nikol’skii, Dnevnik, 218.
48 A. I. Sobolevskii to Iu. A. Kulakovskii, 16 June 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1023, l. 148.
49 S. D. Sheremetev to A. G. Bulygin, 22 June 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1024, l. 219.
50 S. D. Sheremetev to A. G. Bulygin, 14 July 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1025, l. 345.
51 Nikol’skii is referencing Aleksei Molchalin, one of the characters in the 1833 play ‘Woe from Wit’ by Aleksandr Griboedov, who readily agreed with his superiors. Nikol’skii underlines here that the Ministers were not independent figures, but simply followed the tsar’s will, and it was not good. Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 18 June 1915, in Nikol’skii, Dnevnik, 219.
52 Gosudarstvennia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia III (Petrograd, 1915), stb. 69–70.
53 Gosudarstvennyi Sovet: Stenograficheskie otchety, sessiia XI (Petrograd, 1915), stb. 35.
54 Gosudarstvennia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia IV (Petrograd, 1915), stb. 72. Later Markov declared this decision wrong. See Gosudarstvennia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia IV (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 2475. Стб. 2475.
55 Savenko wrote that he was totally against ‘being in one company with Durnovo and Markov’. See A. I. Savenko to N. K. Savenko, 10 August 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1031, l. 632.
56 In order to differentiate them from the members, who stayed in the Nationalist faction, they were called Progressive Nationalists, or less frequently National Progressives.
57 Gosudarstvennia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia IV (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 1162–3.
58 V. Shul’gin, Kievlianin, 1 September 1915, 1.
59 A. Savenko, “Mysli i vpechatleniia. Eshche o dumskom bloke”, Kievlianin, 3 September 1915, 2.
60 Kievlianin, 10 February 1916, 1.
61 “Pravitel’stvo i Gosudarstvennaia Duma”, Kievlianin, 6 November 1916, 2.
62 N. Pogodin, “Doverie k narodu i doverie naroda”, Kievlianin, 29 August 1915, 1.
63 V. Shul’gin, Kievlianin, 1 September 1915, 1.
64 Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia IV (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 2420–1.
65 Kievlianin, 14 February 1916, 2.
66 Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia V (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 68.
67 Ibid., stb. 290.
68 Ibid., stb. 296.
69 A. I. Savenko to N. K. Savenko, 10 December 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1066, l. 1603.
70 Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia V (Petrograd, 1917), stb. 1496.
71 On the conciliation between Purishkevich and Miliukov and the impression, which it produced, see Ivanov, Vladimir Purishkevich, 193–5.
72 See “Itogi pervogo boevogo goda: v tylakh i na fronte. Doklad V. M. Purishkevicha v Russkom Sobranii 4 sentiabria 1915 goda”, in Repnikov, ed., Pervaia mirovaia voina, 176–7.
73 Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia IV (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 1499–505. See also Purishkevich, Chego khochet Vil’gel’m II.
74 See Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia V (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 261–8.
75 See Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia V (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 358.
76 Nikolaev and Gavroeva, “M. V. Rodzianko i raskol fraktsii pravykh”; Nikolaev, “Protokol zasedanii soveshchaniia Gosudarstvennoi dumy”.
77 Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 26 July 1915 in Nikol’skii, Dnevnik, 226; N. A. Maklakov to K. N. Paskhalov, 30 July 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1026, ll. 500-500оb.
78 A. K. Varzhenevskii to S. D. Sheremetev, 3 August 1915, Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Drevnikh Aktov (RGADA), f. 1287, op. 1, d. 5128, l. 122ob.
79 Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 20 August 1915, in Tikhomirov, Dnevnik L. A. Tikhomirova, 102–3; Diary of B. V. Nikol’skii, entry for 27 August 1915, in Nikol’skii, Dnevnik, 232. Tikhomirov continued to assess the tsar negatively as a Supreme Commander-in- Chief later on. See, for example Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 6 May 1916, in Tikhomirov, Dnevnik L. A. Tikhomirova, 277; Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 17 November 1916, Ibid., 306.
80 A. I. Sobolevskii to I. S. Pal’mov, 26 August 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1029, l. 1230.
81 On the conventions and their resolutions see Kir’ianov, Pravye partii v Rossii, 238–55.
82 K. N. Paskhalov to N.N. Rodzevich, 8 September 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1014, l. 707.
83 Kir’ianov, Pravyie partii, 487–8. The Nizhnii Novgorod convention, which began its work some days later, fully supported the resolution. See Ibid., 513.
84 Ibid., 497.
85 Ibid., 498.
86 Indecipherable signature to Bishop Vasilii (Chernigov), 22 November 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1038, l. 2037. It is interesting that the author did not hesitate to mention in the same context the notorious tsar’s favourite, ‘We decided to tell the Tsar the whole truth right up to Gr.[igorii] Rasp.[utin] by a special deputation under Shcheglovitov’. Ibid.
87 Kir’ianov, Pravyie partii, 494–5.
88 K. N. Paskhalov to N. N. Rodzevich, 8 September 1915, GARF, 102, op. 265, d. 1014, l. 707.
89 K. N. Paskhalov to N. A. Maklakov, 31 October 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1036, l. 1857оb.
90 K. N. Paskhalov to A. A Shirinskii-Shikhmatov, 15 December 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1040, l. 2238.
91 K. N. Paskhalov to N. A. Maklakov, 19 December 1915, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d.1040, l. 2280–2280 ob.
92 This can be concluded from Paskhalov’s letters in January 1916. See K. N. Paskhalov to N. N. Rodzevich, 5 January 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1048, l. 27; K. N. Paskhalov to A. A Shirinskii-Shikhmatov, 12 January 12 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1048, l. 88.
93 Ibidem.
94 K. N. Paskhalov to I. I. Dudnichenko, 22 January 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1049, l. 159.
95 K. N. Paskhalov to A. I. Dubrovin, 12 February 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d.1051, l. 391.
96 D. A. Khomiakov to K. N. Paskhalov, 20 January 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1049, l. 135.
97 A. I. Dubrovin to I. I. Dudnichenko, 29 January 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1050, l. 227.
98 A. K. Varzhenevskii to S. D. Sheremetev, February 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1052, l. 401.
99 N. N. Tikhanovich-Savitskii to A. I. Sobolevskii, 18 May 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d.1055, l. 141.
100 ‘Maybe they will respond’ (‘Avos’ tam otzovutsia’), he wrote. Dudnichenko to L. I. Samarskii-Lipitskii, 10 October 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d.1058, l. 874.
101 G. A. Shechkov to V. A. Obraztsov, 5 November 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d.1059, l. 934.
102 The advocates of the turn to the Right were especially pleased by the promotions of two well-known members of the State Council’s Right – I. G. Shcheglovitov (who became the Chair of the State Council) and N. D. Golitsyn (who became the Chair of the Council of Ministers) and by the appointment of N. K. Kul’chitskii, the Minister of Education. Since 1903, the latter was a member of the Council of the of the Russian Assembly’s Khar'kov branch, and in 1906 joined the local Council of the Union of the Russian People.
103 N. N. Rodzevich to A. P. Rodzevich, 29 December 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1067, l. 1813.
104 N. N. Rodzevich to I. G. Shcheglovitov, 5 January 1917, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1068, l. 40.
105 A. I. Dubrovin to the Chair of the Odessa branch of the All-Russian Dubrovinist Union of the Russian People, 13 December 1916, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1066, l. 1654.
106 N. N. Rodzevich to P. M. Latugina, 14 January 1917, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1068, l. 100.
107 N. N. Tikhanovich-Savitskii to N. A. Maklakov, 31 January 1917, GARF, f. 102, op. 265, d. 1070, ll. 10-10оb.
108 See, Kir’ianov, Pravye partii, 553–8.
109 Ibid., 592.
110 S. Glinka, “Nashi zakonniki”, Zemshchina, 29 January 1917, 2.
111 See for details Stogov, Pravomonarkhicheskie salony Peterburga – Petrograda, 189–271; Loukianov, “Support for the Regime and Right Wing Reform Plans”.
112 “Otvetstvennoe ministerstvo ili diktatura?”, Moskovskie vedomosti, 23 July 1915, 1.
113 “Edinstvennyi vykhod”, Moskovskie vedomosti, 2 September 1915, 1.
114 S. Glinka, “Priblizhaemsia k tseli”, Zemshchina, 2 July 1916, 2.
115 “Otvetstvennost’ vlasti”, Moskovskie vedomosti, 15 October 1916, 1.
116 Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 26 October 1916, in Tikhomirov, Dnevnik L. A. Tikhomirova, 298.
117 Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia V (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 201.
118 “Doverie k vlasti”, Moskovskie vedomosti, 27 November 1916, 2.
119 See Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia V (Petrograd, 1917), stb. 1381.
120 Diary of L. A. Tikhomirov, entry for 21 July 1915, Tikhomirov, Dnevnik L. A. Tikhomirova, 87.
121 S. Glinka, “Printsipy i taktika”, Zemshchina, 2 February 1917, 2.
122 Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia V (Petrograd, 1916), stb. 291.
123 V. Shul’gin, “Perelom”, Kievlianin, 22 November 1916, 1.
124 See Gosudarstvennaia Duma: Stenograficheskie otchety, sozyv chetvertyi, sessiia V (Petrograd, 1917), stb. 1381.
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Notes on contributors
Mikhail N. Loukianov
Mikhail N. Loukianov is a historian of Russian Conservatism and Professor in the Department of Humanities of the Perm Branch of the Higher School of Economics. His works includes Rossiiskii konservatizm i reforma, 1907–1914 (Stuttgart, 2006) and ‘The First World War and the Polarization of the Russian Right, July 1914 – February 1917’, Slavic Review 75, no. 4 (Winter 2016). [email: [email protected]]