Nicknamed Drum. Why Mikhail Rodzianko was cursed by everyone

In the last ten days of January 1924 in the Soviet Union and in Russian emigration circles, all attention was focused on the death of Vladimir Lenin . In the first state, workers and peasants were plunged into grief, while in exile they happily rubbed their hands and wondered how soon the power of the Bolsheviks would fall.

Against this background, the funeral of a man who for a whole decade was one of the most recognizable figures in the State Duma, and in February 1917 became the central figure of the Russian Revolution, took place almost unnoticed in Belgrade.

Article on the topic The secret “Lenin case”. Documents about the leader's death are still classified

Younger son

The life of Mikhail Rodzianko occurred in an era of great change. He was born into a noble family on February 21, 1859, two years before the abolition of serfdom in Russia.

Mikhail's father, Vladimir Rodzianko, rose to the position of assistant chief of staff of the Gendarme Corps and retired with the rank of general. Mikhail's mother was the Empress's maid of honor and passed away shortly after his birth.

Rodzianko Sr. took care of the careers of his children. Mikhail's older brothers, like their father, rose to the ranks of generals.

Mikhail Rodzianko did not have such a successful military career, but he also did not complain about his fate. After graduating from the Corps of Pages, he served in the Cavalry Regiment and retired with the rank of lieutenant.

An excerpt characterizing Rodzianko, Mikhail Vladimirovich

Russian troops passed through Moscow from two o'clock in the morning until two o'clock in the afternoon, carrying with them the last residents and wounded who were leaving. The biggest crush during the movement of troops occurred on the Kamenny, Moskvoretsky and Yauzsky bridges. While, bifurcated around the Kremlin, the troops crowded onto the Moskvoretsky and Kamenny bridges, a huge number of soldiers, taking advantage of the stop and crowded conditions, returned from the bridges and stealthily and silently snuck past St. Basil's and under the Borovitsky Gate back up the hill to Red Square, on which, by some instinct, they felt that they could easily take someone else’s property. The same crowd of people, as if for cheap goods, filled Gostiny Dvor in all its passages and passages. But there were no tenderly sugary, alluring voices of the hotel guests, there were no peddlers and a motley female crowd of buyers - there were only the uniforms and greatcoats of soldiers without guns, silently leaving with burdens and entering the ranks without burdens. Merchants and peasants (there were few of them), as if lost, walked among the soldiers, unlocked and locked their shops, and themselves and the fellows carried their goods somewhere. Drummers stood on the square near Gostiny Dvor and beat the collection. But the sound of the drum forced the robber soldiers not, as before, to run to the call, but, on the contrary, forced them to run further away from the drum. Between the soldiers, along the benches and aisles, people in gray caftans and with shaved heads could be seen. Two officers, one in a scarf over his uniform, on a thin dark gray horse, the other in an overcoat, on foot, stood at the corner of Ilyinka and talked about something. The third officer galloped up to them. “The general ordered everyone to be expelled now at any cost.” What the hell, it doesn't look like anything! Half the people fled. “Where are you going?.. Where are you going?” he shouted at three infantry soldiers who, without guns, having picked up the skirts of their greatcoats, slipped past him into the ranks. - Stop, rascals! - Yes, please collect them! - answered another officer. – You can’t collect them; we have to go quickly so that the last ones don’t leave, that’s all! - How to go? they stood there, huddled on the bridge and didn’t move. Or put a chain so that the last ones don’t run away? - Yes, go there! Get them out! – the senior officer shouted. The officer in the scarf got off his horse, called the drummer and went with him under the arches. Several soldiers began to run in a crowd. The merchant, with red pimples on his cheeks near his nose, with a calmly unshakable expression of calculation on his well-fed face, hastily and dapperly, waving his arms, approached the officer. “Your honor,” he said, “do me a favor and protect me.” It’s not a small matter for us, it’s our pleasure! Please, I’ll take out the cloth now, at least two pieces for a noble man, with our pleasure! Because we feel, well, this is just robbery! You're welcome! They should have put a guard there, or at least let them lock him up... Several merchants crowded around the officer. - Eh! it's a waste of time to lie! - said one of them, thin, with a stern face. “When you take off your head, you don’t cry over your hair.” Take whatever you like! “And he waved his hand with an energetic gesture and turned sideways to the officer. “It’s good for you, Ivan Sidorich, to speak,” the first merchant spoke angrily. - You are welcome, your honor. - What should I say! – the thin man shouted. “I have a hundred thousand goods in three shops here.” Can you save it when the army is gone? Eh, people, God’s power cannot be broken by hands! “Please, your honor,” said the first merchant, bowing. The officer stood in bewilderment, and indecision was visible on his face. - What do I care! - he suddenly shouted and walked with quick steps forward along the row. In one open shop, blows and curses were heard, and while the officer was approaching it, a man in a gray overcoat and with a shaved head jumped out of the door. This man, bending over, rushed past the merchants and the officer. The officer attacked the soldiers who were in the shop. But at that time, terrible screams of a huge crowd were heard on the Moskvoretsky Bridge, and the officer ran out onto the square. - What's happened? What's happened? - he asked, but his comrade was already galloping towards the screams, past St. Basil the Blessed. The officer mounted and rode after him. When he arrived at the bridge, he saw two cannons removed from their limbers, infantry walking across the bridge, several fallen carts, several frightened faces and the laughing faces of soldiers. Near the cannons stood one cart drawn by a pair. Behind the cart, four greyhounds in collars huddled behind the wheels. There was a mountain of things on the cart, and at the very top, next to the children's chair, a woman was sitting upside down, screaming shrilly and desperately. The comrades told the officer that the scream of the crowd and the squeals of the woman occurred because General Ermolov, who drove into this crowd, having learned that the soldiers were scattering among the shops and crowds of residents were blocking the bridge, ordered the guns to be removed from the limbers and an example was made that he would shoot at the bridge . The crowd, knocking down the carts, crushing each other, screaming desperately, crowding in, cleared the bridge, and the troops moved forward. Meanwhile, the city itself was empty. There was almost no one on the streets. The gates and shops were all locked; here and there near the taverns lonely screams or drunken singing were heard. No one drove along the streets, and pedestrian footsteps were rarely heard. On Povarskaya it was completely quiet and deserted. In the huge courtyard of the Rostovs' house there were scraps of hay and droppings from a transport train, and not a single person was visible. In the Rostov house, which was left with all its good things, two people were in the large living room. These were the janitor Ignat and the Cossack Mishka, Vasilich’s grandson, who remained in Moscow with his grandfather. Mishka opened the clavichord and played it with one finger. The janitor, arms akimbo and smiling joyfully, stood in front of a large mirror. - That’s clever! A? Uncle Ignat! - the boy said, suddenly starting to clap the keys with both hands. - Look! - Ignat answered, marveling at how his face smiled more and more in the mirror. - Shameless! Really, shameless! – the voice of Mavra Kuzminishna, who quietly entered, spoke from behind them. - Eka, thick-horned, he bares his teeth. Take you on this! Everything there is not tidy, Vasilich is knocked off his feet. Give it time! Ignat, adjusting his belt, stopped smiling and submissively lowered his eyes, walked out of the room. “Auntie, I’ll go easy,” said the boy. - I'll give you a light one. Little shooter! – Mavra Kuzminishna shouted, raising her hand at him. - Go and set up a samovar for grandfather. Mavra Kuzminishna, brushing off the dust, closed the clavichord and, sighing heavily, left the living room and locked the front door. Coming out into the courtyard, Mavra Kuzminishna thought about where she should go now: should she drink tea in Vasilich’s outbuilding or tidy up what had not yet been tidied up in the pantry? Quick steps were heard in the quiet street. The steps stopped at the gate; the latch began to knock under the hand that was trying to unlock it. Mavra Kuzminishna approached the gate. - Who do you need? - Count, Count Ilya Andreich Rostov. - Who are you? - I'm an officer. “I would like to see,” said the Russian pleasant and lordly voice. Mavra Kuzminishna unlocked the gate. And a round-faced officer, about eighteen years old, with a face similar to the Rostovs, entered the courtyard. - We left, father. “We deigned to leave at vespers yesterday,” Mavra Kuzmipishna said affectionately. The young officer, standing at the gate, as if hesitant to enter or not to enter, clicked his tongue. “Oh, what a shame!..” he said. - Yesterday I wish... Oh, how sorry!.. Mavra Kuzminishna, meanwhile, carefully and sympathetically examined the familiar features of the Rostov breed in the face of the young man, and the tattered overcoat, and the worn-out boots that he was wearing. - Why did you need a count? – she asked. - Yeah... what to do! - the officer said with annoyance and grabbed the gate, as if intending to leave. He stopped again, undecided. - Do you see? - he suddenly said. “I am a relative of the count, and he has always been very kind to me.” So, you see (he looked at his cloak and boots with a kind and cheerful smile), and he was worn out, and there was no money; so I wanted to ask the count... Mavra Kuzminishna did not let him finish. - You should wait a minute, father. Just a minute,” she said. And as soon as the officer released his hand from the gate, Mavra Kuzminishna turned and with a quick old woman’s step walked into the backyard to her outbuilding. While Mavra Kuzminishna was running to her place, the officer, with his head down and looking at his torn boots, smiling slightly, walked around the yard. “What a pity that I didn’t find my uncle. What a nice old lady! Where did she run? And how can I find out which streets are the closest to catch up with the regiment, which should now approach Rogozhskaya? - the young officer thought at this time. Mavra Kuzminishna, with a frightened and at the same time determined face, carrying a folded checkered handkerchief in her hands, came out from around the corner. Without walking a few steps, she unfolded the handkerchief, took out a white twenty-five-ruble note from it and hastily gave it to the officer. “If their Lordships were at home, it would be known, they would definitely be related, but maybe... now...” Mavra Kuzminishna became shy and confused. But the officer, without refusing and without haste, took the piece of paper and thanked Mavra Kuzminishna. “As if the count were at home,” Mavra Kuzminishna kept saying apologetically. - Christ is with you, father! God bless you,” said Mavra Kuzminishna, bowing and seeing him off. The officer, as if laughing at himself, smiling and shaking his head, almost at a trot ran through the empty streets to catch up with his regiment to the Yauzsky Bridge. And Mavra Kuzminishna stood for a long time with wet eyes in front of the closed gate, thoughtfully shaking her head and feeling an unexpected surge of maternal tenderness and pity for the officer unknown to her. In the unfinished house on Varvarka, below which there was a drinking house, drunken screams and songs were heard. About ten factory workers were sitting on benches near tables in a small dirty room. All of them, drunk, sweaty, with dull eyes, straining and opening their mouths wide, sang some kind of song. They sang separately, with difficulty, with effort, obviously not because they wanted to sing, but only to prove that they were drunk and partying. One of them, a tall, blond fellow in a clear blue scent, stood above them. His face with a thin, straight nose would be beautiful if it were not for his thin, pursed, constantly moving lips and dull, frowning, motionless eyes. He stood over those who were singing, and, apparently imagining something, solemnly and angularly waved his white hand rolled up to the elbow over their heads, the dirty fingers of which he unnaturally tried to spread out. The sleeve of his tunic was constantly falling down, and the fellow carefully rolled it up again with his left hand, as if there was something especially important in the fact that this white, sinewy, waving arm was certainly bare. In the middle of the song, screams of fighting and blows were heard in the hallway and on the porch. The tall fellow waved his hand. - Sabbath! – he shouted imperiously. - Fight, guys! - And he, without ceasing to roll up his sleeve, went out onto the porch. The factory workers followed him. The factory workers, who were drinking in the tavern that morning under the leadership of a tall fellow, brought skins from the factory to the kisser, and for this they were given wine. The blacksmiths from the neighboring cousins, hearing the noise in the tavern and believing that the tavern was broken, wanted to force their way into it. A fight broke out on the porch. The kisser was fighting with the blacksmith at the door, and while the factory workers were coming out, the blacksmith broke away from the kisser and fell face down on the pavement. Another blacksmith was rushing through the door, leaning on the kisser with his chest. The guy with his sleeve rolled up hit the blacksmith in the face as he was rushing through the door and shouted wildly: “Guys!” They're beating our people! At this time, the first blacksmith rose from the ground and, scratching the blood on his broken face, shouted in a crying voice: “Guard!” Killed!.. Killed a man! Brothers!.. - Oh, fathers, they killed him to death, they killed a man! - the woman squealed as she came out of the neighboring gate. A crowd of people gathered around the bloody blacksmith. “It’s not enough that you robbed people, took off their shirts,” said someone’s voice, turning to the kisser, “why did you kill a person?” Robber! The tall fellow, standing on the porch, looked with dull eyes first at the kisser, then at the blacksmiths, as if wondering who he should fight with now. - Murderer! – he suddenly shouted at the kisser. - Knit it, guys! - Why, I tied up one such and such! - the kisser shouted, waving off the people who attacked him, and, tearing off his hat, he threw it on the ground. As if this action had some mysteriously threatening significance, the factory workers who surrounded the kisser stopped in indecision. “Brother, I know the order very well.” I'll get to the private part. Do you think I won't make it? Nowadays no one is ordered to commit robbery! – the kisser shouted, raising his hat. - And let's go, look! And let's go... look! - the kisser and the tall fellow repeated one after another, and both moved forward along the street together. The bloody blacksmith walked next to them. Factory workers and strangers followed them, talking and shouting. At the corner of Maroseyka, opposite a large house with locked shutters, on which there was a sign of a shoemaker, stood with sad faces about twenty shoemakers, thin, exhausted people in dressing gowns and tattered tunics.

Godfather of the Octobrists

Having settled in his native Yekaterinoslav province, Rodzianko was first elected a justice of the peace, and then became the leader of the nobility of the Novomoskovsk district.

Since 1901, he was the chairman of the Ekaterinoslav provincial zemstvo government, and in 1906 he became a full state councilor. In the civil service, this rank was identical to that of a general in the army, so Mikhail Vladimirovich did not lag behind his brothers.

No one in the Rodzianko family was a supporter of the revolution, but for Mikhail the events of 1905 opened the way to a great political career.

The Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which granted citizens of the Russian Empire political freedoms, led to the creation of legal parties. Rodzianko became one of the founders of the Union of October 17 party, whose members went down in history as “Octobrists.”

The party was considered moderately liberal, but Rodzianko himself represented the right flank in it. The aspiring politician was elected to the III State Duma.

Bulygin Duma: Russian parliament, forever late Read more

Family[ | ]

Since 1884, he was married to Princess Anna Nikolaevna Golitsyna (1859-1929), maid of honor of the court (01/12/1884), daughter of a senator and chief chamberlain of the court. Their children:

• Mikhail (1884-1956), a graduate of Moscow University, was a justice of the peace. In exile in Yugoslavia, since 1946 in France, since 1951 in the USA. Author of the book “The Truth about the Foreign Church”[16]. His son is Bishop Vasily (Rodzianko).
• Nicholas (1888-1941), led the vanguard of the Red Cross during the First World War. Participant of the 1st Kuban campaign as part of the Volunteer Army. In exile in France, he was engaged in the legal defense of Russians[16].
• Georgy (1890-1918), graduate of the Alexander Lyceum (1914), staff captain, company commander of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment. Shot by the Bolsheviks on January 26, 1918 in Kyiv[17][18].

Mister Chairman

In 1911, Rodzianko replaced fellow party member Alexander Guchkov as chairman of the Third State Duma. After the elections to the IV State Duma in 1912, Rodzianko remained chairman, noting: “I have always been and will be a convinced supporter of a representative system on constitutional principles, which was granted to Russia by the great Manifesto of October 17, 1905, strengthening the foundations of which should be the first and urgent concern of the Russian people.” representation."

Contemporaries noted that Rodzianko quickly got used to the position of Chairman of the State Duma and sometimes demanded that policemen salute him, calling himself “the second person in the empire.”

For his loud speeches and heavy figure, Rodzianko received the nickname “Drum” from deputies.

Article on the topic

The last detective of the Empire. Rasputin murder case

Rasputin of discord

In the imperial family, the Duma was, to put it mildly, disliked. In every conflict situation, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna However, Rodzianko, who had good relations with the royal couple, argued that such a step would only aggravate the situation and strengthen the position of the revolutionaries.

But soon Rodzianko’s relations with the Tsar, and especially with the Tsarina, began to deteriorate.

The reason for this was Grigory Rasputin . While the imperial couple doted on the “old man,” Rodzianko was convinced that he was a swindler who was undermining the authority of the monarchy.

Having supported Russia's entry into the war with Germany, the Chairman of the State Duma then began to criticize the methods of governing the country during this difficult period.

Rodzianko believed it was necessary to create a cabinet of people who could carry out reforms to prevent the impending chaos.

The last straw for Nicholas II was Rodzianko’s objections to the emperor’s intention to take command of the warring army. He achieved a personal audience, at which he convinced Nicholas II that this step was wrong and would have dire consequences. The Tsar did not heed Rodzianko’s emotional words, as a result of which the latter, in fact, found himself among the opposition.

Mikhail Rodzianko (left), General Alexei Kaledin and Ataman of the Terek Cossack Army, Major General Mikhail Karaulov during the Moscow State Conference in mid-August 1917. Photo: RIA Novosti

Notes[ | ]

1. Date according to: State Duma of the Russian Empire 1906-1917: encyclopedia
   . M.: Russian Political Encyclopedia, 2008, p. 525.
2. ↑ 123
   Documents of the Holy Council of the Orthodox Russian Church of 1917–1918. T. 27. Members and clerks of the Council: biobibliographic dictionary / rep. ed. S. V. Chertkov. - M.: Novospassky Monastery Publishing House, 2021. - 664 p. — ISBN 978-5-87389-097-2..
3. Miliukov P. N. Memoirs: 1959-1917. T. 2. M., 1990. P. 137
4. Melia, Alexey Alexandrovich.
   1.1. Evacuation during the First World War (1914–1917) // Mobilization preparation of the national economy of the USSR. - Moscow: Alpina, 2004. - P. 46. - 352 p. — ISBN 978-5-9614-0026-7.
5. Sidorov, Arkady Lavrovich.
   The economic situation of Russia during the First World War. - Moscow: Science, 1973. - P. 215-217, 222-223, 228-232. — 656 p.
6. Rodzianko M.V. The Collapse of the Empire. M.: Scythians, 1992. P. 120
7. ↑ 123
   Rodzianko M.V. The Collapse of the Empire. M.: Scythians, 1992. P. 119
8. Generals against the Tsar
9. Who and how overthrew Emperor Nicholas II
10. Note by M. V. Rodzianko. February 1917
11. ↑ 1 2 Rodzianko M.V.
    = State Duma and the February 1917 revolution. — Archive of the Russian Revolution published by G.V. Hessen. - Berlin: Slowo-Verlag, 1922. - T. VI. - P. 5-80. — 366 p.
12. Notes of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich
13. Mikhail Vladimirovich was awarded the Insignia of the 1st Kuban (Ice) Campaign with number No. 493.
14. Revolution and civil war in descriptions of the White Guards: February Revolution. / Comp. S. A. Alekseev. — 2nd ed. - Moscow - Leningrad: State Publishing House, 1926. - P. 353.
15. Date of death according to: V. N. Chuvakov. Unforgotten Graves
    . M., 2006, T. 6, book one, p. 227. In a number of reference publications, the date of death is indicated as January 19, 1924.
16. ↑ 12
    Unforgotten graves. Russian abroad: obituaries 1917-1997 in 6 volumes. Volume 6. Book 1. Pos. - Skr. M.: “Pashkov House”, 1999. - P. 227
17. Our century. 1918. March 9 (February 24). No. 44. P. 4.
18. Volkov S.V.
    Officers of the Russian Guard. — M., 2002.— P. 421

Ideologist of renunciation

By the end of 1916, the Chairman of the State Duma was among those who believed that the salvation of the country lies not only in the immediate elimination of Rasputin, but also in the replacement of the monarch, who, due to his personal qualities, cannot govern the state in a difficult period.

At the beginning of February 1917, Rodzianko, at a reception with Nicholas II, told the monarch: without granting the country a “Ministry of Trust,” revolutionary upheavals are possible in the very near future.

The Tsar did not listen, but the Chairman of the State Duma himself had no idea that the predicted upheavals would happen just the next day.

Article on the topic

Between war and shame. What prompted Nicholas II to renounce the throne?

During the days of the February Revolution, Rodzianko becomes a key figure: he informs the monarch about the situation in Petrograd and also maintains contact with the front commanders.

Rodzianko himself later assured that at that moment he was confident that a constitutional monarchy could be preserved in the country. During the uprising in Petrograd, he headed the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, which, in essence, took over the functions of the government.

In this capacity, Rodzianko, with the support of the generals, convinced Nicholas II that there was no other way to save the country except abdication.

The Chairman of the State Duma hoped that his dreams of a full-fledged constitutional monarchy would come true. But Nikolai renounced not only his own name, but also for his son.

Nicholas II's brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich , sought guarantees from Rodzianko that such a decision would be supported by the people. The Chairman of the State Duma could not give such guarantees, and then Mikhail signed the Act of Refusal to Accept the Throne.

Forgive us, Mikhail. The story of Romanov, who is truly pity Read more

Essays[ | ]

• The word of the Chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Vladimirovich Rodzianko and the resolution adopted by the State Duma at the meeting on January 27, 1915. Petrograd: State. typ., 1915.
• Letter to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers I. L. Goremykin. Pg., 1915; About Rasputin: who opened the eyes of the people. K., 1917.
• The State Duma and the February 1917 revolution // Archive of the Russian Revolution published by G. V. Gessen. T. 6. Berlin: Slowo-Verlag, 1922. pp. 5-80.
• From memories. 1914–1917 // Past. 1923. No. 21.
• Behind the scenes of royal power. M., 1926 (M., 1991).
• Collapse of the Empire: (Notes of the Chairman of the Russian State Duma). — Archive of the Russian Revolution published by G.V. Hessen. — Berlin: Slowo-Verlag. - T. XVII. Reprint: - L.: Priboy, 1929. - 271 p.
• Reprint: Kharkov: Interbrook, 1990. ISBN 5-7664-0500-6.
• Reprint: M.: Scythians, 1992. ISBN 5-7206-0066-3.