In April 1917, the main characters appear on the stage. Were Lenin and the Bolsheviks agents of Germany or other forces? How did they get to Russia?
Whom did the sealed carriage carry?
“We, the elderly, may not live to see the decisive battles of this coming revolution. But I can express the hope that young people will have the happiness not only to fight, but also to win”- these words Vladimir Lenin uttered on January 22, 1917 in Zurich. At that moment it seemed to him that the revolutionary movement was almost crushed.
This is one of those rare cases when the instinct has betrayed the leader of the world revolution. Literally a couple of months later, events in Russia were racing. And, what is most offensive, without it.
Swiss grill
Nadezhda Krupskaya described the state in which Lenin was then very accurately described: “I remembered the zoo guard and his words that sooner or later all animals get used to the cage. And only a white wolf from the Russian North - never. Day and night, he beats against the iron bars of the grating. Emigration was such a grid for Lenin.
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There is the First World War. Switzerland is surrounded on all sides by belligerent states. Lenin's comrade Grigory Zinoviev writes in his diary: “At first we somehow did not give ourselves an account of this. But after a few hours it became clear that we were sitting behind seven locks. They rushed in one direction, in the other, sent a series of telegrams - it is clear: not to escape."
Lenin does not intend to miss a single, even the most fantastic, chance. He furiously searches for options, starting with those that seem most realistic. The most appropriate focus is on the rented documents of a citizen of a neutral state. Lenin writes to his colleague Yakov Ganetsky in Stockholm: “Find two Swedes who are similar to me and Grigory (Zinoviev). We don't know Swedish, so they must be deaf and dumb. I am sending our photos …"
The plan is not bad, but there is a catch. What if they ask you to write something during the search? To pretend, above all else, blindness is too much. The next option is an escape with disguise and makeup. Lenin writes to another colleague, Vyacheslav Karpinsky: “Take in your name the papers for travel to France and England, and I will follow them to Russia. I can put on a wig and appear at the consulate in a wig. For this time you must hide extremely seriously in the mountains."
The plan is rejected - the circle of emigrants is narrow, and everything is under the hood of the police.
Lenin was ready to risk not only freedom, but also his head, as evidenced by a very desperate step. They are looking for an aviator who could fly through the German and Austrian front to the territory of Russia. Nadezhda Krupskaya writes: “You can fly in an airplane, it doesn’t matter that they can shoot…” Only the price of the issue stops here.
The option of an officially issued travel through Germany was recognized as the most lousy: "Vladimir Ilyich was aware of what howl the bourgeoisie and its singers would raise, how they would try to use the Bolsheviks' passage through Germany to mislead the masses." This howl does not subside until now.
The quality of the "seal"
The phrase "sealed carriage" guarantees a flurry of emotions. Many people imagine a safe on wheels, where bloodthirsty sadists were planted. In general, the operation of the German special services aimed at undermining Russia. Probably they also fed them on the way, and in every possible way pleased them, and poured money richly. Because for the sake of what else to seal the car, if not for the safety of money?
It is extremely rare to remember that they transport not only the treasury, but also unpleasant goods. The whole point of the sealing was that in no case should any of the Bolsheviks walk around Germany without a visa. For this, the accompanying German officers are not an honorary escort, but rather a convoy.
As for "fed on the way" - this is also a problem. Three cases were recorded when the revolutionaries got something in Germany. The first time - at the very border. This is how Elena Usievich recalled it: “Pork chops with potato salad were served. But we knew how the German people were starving, and we shoved the plates back. " The second time was in Frankfurt, when, as Karl Radek recalled, “German soldiers rushed to us when they heard that Russian revolutionaries who stood for peace were passing by. Each of them was holding a jug of beer in both hands …”The soldier was immediately thrown out. In Berlin, according to the testimony of one of the officers, military doctor Wilhelm Bührig, “the Russians were given milk for their children. They refused dinner, asking only for boiling water for tea."
Comfort and so on is a big question. A carriage with only one toilet, which had to be divided between smokers and non-smokers. Lack of sleeping places - all the men, including Lenin, slept in turns.
Boomerang to Germany
No one had any particular hopes that the Bolsheviks would be able to somehow influence the course of events in Russia. Lenin looked like an outright marginal and a clown. Here is a portrait of the “terrible revolutionaries” through the eyes of the Germans themselves: “Golodrans in tattered suits, all of whose belongings could be tied into a headscarf. A bunch of fanatics striving to make the world happy and deprived of any sense of reality."
Even his European associates have no illusions. Friedrich Platten, the one who organized the passage in the "sealed carriage", assessed the chances of the Bolsheviks as follows: “As fighters, you seem to me something like gladiators of Ancient Rome, who entered the arena to meet death. I bow before the strength of your faith in victory."
Only the deputy chief of the German General Staff, Erich von Ludendorff, had some plans for the “subversive activities” of the Bolsheviks: “I often dreamed of this revolution, which should ease the hardships of our war. When my dream came true, a great burden fell off me. " Impressive. But only if you do not know the continuation: "However, I could not imagine that she would become the grave of our power."
And the casket just opened. The Russian success of the Bolsheviks set in motion similar processes throughout Europe. Germany was the first to fall. On November 9, 1918, the German socialists staged their revolution. The Kaiser fled, and two days later Germany surrendered. If the Germans wanted to crush Russia by launching the "Lenin virus in a sealed carriage" there, then as a result they achieved exactly the same thing for themselves.
Document
“I confirm
That I was informed of the conditions worked out by Platten and the German embassy.
That I obey the orders set by the head of the trip, Platten.
That I have been informed about the message of "Petit Parisien", according to which the Russian Provisional Government threatens to bring in those Russian subjects who will pass through Germany on charges of treason.
That all the political responsibility for my trip I take exclusively on myself.
That Platten guaranteed me a trip only to Stockholm.
Bern - Zurich
April 9, 1917
Lenin, Frau Lenin (N. Krupskaya - Ed.), Georgy Safarov, Valentina Safarova-Martoshkina, Grigory Usievich, Elena Kon (E. Usievich. - Ed.), Inessa Armand, Nikolai Boytsov, F. Grebelskaya, A. Konstantinovich, E. Miringof, M. Miringof, A. Skovno, G. Zinoviev (Radomylsky), Z. Radomylskaya (with her son), D. Slyusarev, B. Elchaninov, G. Brilyant (Sokolnikov G. Ya.), M. Kharitonov, D. Rosenblum, A. Abramovich, S. Sheineson, M. Tskhakaia, M. Goberman, A. Linde, M. Aisenbund, Pogovskaya B. (with son), Prinevsky (Karl Radek), D. Suliashvili, S. Ravich, Rubakov (Anders), Egorov (Erich)"
There are different points of view in the historical literature regarding the list of persons who put their signatures under this “subscription of participants in the passage through Germany”. In the end, it was agreed that the document was genuine. As for the number of passengers, after carefully analyzing, they agreed on 33.
The "Trojan Horse" of the West?
Foreign powers used Lenin to destroy Russia, writer Nikolai Starikov is convinced:
- Germany gave the go-ahead for the passage of "Lenin and Co." through its territory only the second time. If he were a “German spy,” there would be no hitch. The idea of a trip to Russia would be extremely risky if the revolutionaries had no guarantees that the Provisional Government would not arrest them. And it did not even think of arresting - on the contrary, it paid Lenin and his comrades for tickets from Stockholm and met at the Finland Station with a guard of honor! It did not seize Lenin even after the Bolshevik leader called for a socialist revolution!
Who could guarantee Ilyich a safe road and a warm welcome at home? Only the Entente, which controlled the Provisional Government. It was the Entente countries that apparently agreed with Berlin on this trip in a sealed carriage. The goal of Great Britain and France was simple: to cause a revolution in Russia and, like sparks from a burning ember, set fire to Germany. Organization of unrest in a competing state is the cheapest and easiest way to eliminate it. The Entente was behind the February coup. But in order to bring the revolutionary process to the end, to the complete collapse of Russia, fresh Leninist yeast had to be thrown into this cauldron. And so it happened. Both the Russian Empire and Kaiser's Germany were destroyed as a result of the war and the "import" of the revolution.
True, the Entente did not triumph for long. As a result, Lenin outwitted those who brought him to Petrograd. He not only destroyed old Russia - he began to build a new one, even stronger and more dangerous for the West. Lenin used those who used him. And he did this not to replenish his Swiss account (as, for example, corrupt Ukrainian politicians do today), but in order to start a great social experiment. That is why Lenin was neither a German nor an English spy. A spy operates in one country on assignment and in the interests of another. Lenin, on the other hand, acted in his own interests and in the interests of his country - the way he understood them.
Lenin lived in this house in Zurich from February 21, 1916 to April 2, 1917. The inscription on the board reads: "Leader of the Russian Revolution."
What is the king doing?
Konstantin Zalessky, historian:
- Nicholas II and his family are under arrest in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Initially, the mode of detention was quite free: walking in the park, taking classes with children, working in the garden, reading books. However, after Kerensky's visit to them on April 3 (March 21, according to the old style), at the request of the Petrograd Soviet, the regime tightened. All doors were closed and sealed except for a few rooms. They demanded that Nicholas II communicate with his wife and children only over food.
The week during which Lenin traveled to Russia coincided with Holy Week. The sovereign visited the house church every day. And on Good Friday I spent most of my time there.
The Bright Resurrection of Christ, which in 1917 was celebrated on April 15 (according to the new style), the family met in the church, having attended Matins and Mass. Alexandra Feodorovna will write in her diary that she and her husband and children - Anastasia and Tatyana - received Holy Communion. The other three children - Tsarevich Alexei, Olga and Maria - were sick. It was cold in the palace, because since March the power and heating were cut off for the royal family.
“Tsarskoe Selo. Easter, - wrote Nicholas II in 1917 in his diary. - Before breakfast I christened with all the employees, and Alix gave them porcelain eggs, preserved from the previous stocks … In the afternoon they began to work at the bridge, but soon a large crowd of onlookers gathered behind bars - I had to leave …"
This was the last Easter in Tsarskoe Selo, the next royal family will meet in Yekaterinburg. At that time, there will no longer be a Provisional Government, and the Investigative Commission will finish its work, stating: not a single evidence of the charges brought against the royal family has been found.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in Stockholm. 1917 year. Photo: RIA Novosti
Lenin goes to Russia
April 9, Zurich, Switzerland
The train accommodated 32 people, including children. Lenin walked through the cars and found the "hare". It turned out to be Oskar Blum, a Menshevik suspected of collaborating with the tsarist secret police. Eyewitnesses recalled: "Lenin grabbed this man, who managed to get into the car, by the collar and forcibly threw the impudent back onto the platform."
April 9, Gottmadingen, Germany
At the Teingen station, Swiss customs officials seized "surplus food" - sugar and chocolate for children. The Germans provided a mixed carriage - III and II class. 3 of the 4 doors of the carriage were sealed: "We were afraid that we would enter into relations with German like-minded people." The door remained open for the two escort officers.
April 12, Sassnitz, Germany
Point of transfer from the train to the sea ferry "Queen Victoria". The travelers were offered a rest at the hotel and dinner, but Lenin replied with a categorical refusal so as not to set foot on German soil. Only when the carriage was rolled into the hold did everyone go out on deck: this was already Swedish territory. At this very moment, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II receives the first information about the journey of Russian revolutionaries through his country.
April 12, Trelleborg, Sweden
Lenin's fellow traveler Karl Radek tells how Sweden met the revolutionaries: “In Trelleborg we made an amazing impression. Ganetsky ordered dinner for all of us. Our bastards, which in Switzerland used to consider herring as dinner, when they saw a huge table filled with an endless number of snacks, pounced like locusts and cleaned everything out to the end. Vladimir Ilyich did not eat anything. He was exhausting his soul from Ganetsky, trying to learn everything about the Russian revolution from him."
Ganetsky (far left) and Radek (next to him) with a group of Swedish Social Democrats. Stockholm, May 1917.
April 13, Stockholm, Sweden
In the capital of Sweden, Lenin is besieged by journalists. Here is a fragment of his interview with the Politiken newspaper: “The most important thing is that we arrive in Russia as soon as possible. Dear every day. Nevertheless, he makes time to visit the PUB department store. Here he buys his famous cap - before that the leader of the proletariat wore hats and bowlers.
April 16, Petrograd, Russia
Even before leaving Switzerland, the French newspaper Petit Parisien published a warning from the Minister of the Provisional Government Pavel Milyukov: “Emigrants returning through Germany will be declared traitors and brought to justice”. However, at the Finland Station, Lenin was met by a guard of honor. On the slogans the words: "Hello Lenin!" “They picked him up and carried him. The armored car was far away. And while Ilyich was being carried to him, exclamations of "Hurray!" rolled over the square,”eyewitnesses recalled.
April 15, Torneo, Finland
Lenin enters Russia "on horseback" - several sleigh teams are taking the revolutionaries across the border. But the Motherland prepared an unpleasant surprise for them. Olga Ravich, a participant in the trip, recalls: “At the very border there are British officers. It is done not at all by itself. “Allies, then, are in command,” someone drops. Inspection of things, searching, stripping naked depress everyone. " However, even during such an inspection, no "German gold" was found in the "sealed carriage".
Julia Shigareva, Konstantin Kudryashov, Maria Pozdnyakova, Vitaly Tseplyaev