General Director and a Guchkov. Who was Mr. Guchkov

Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov(October 14, Moscow - February 14, Paris) - Russian statesman and political figure, leader of the Soyuz on October 17 and the Liberal Republican Party of Russia. Chairman of the III State Duma (1910-1911), member of the State Council, Chairman of the Central Military Industrial Committee (1915-1917). Military and Naval Minister of the Provisional Government (1917).

Family

• Great-grandfather - Fedor Alekseevich, from the peasants of the Maloyaroslavetsky district of the Kaluga province, a courtyard man. Came in the late 1780s. to Moscow, where he became an Old Believer, at the end of his life he was exiled to Petrozavodsk for refusing to convert to the common faith, where he died.
• Grandfather - Efim Fedorovich, the successor of Fedor Alekseevich after his exile. Unlike his father, under the threat of repression by the authorities and the confiscation of the enterprise, together with his brother Ivan and children, in 1853 he switched to common faith - a direction in the Old Believers that preserved the old rites, but recognizes the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Russian Church and is in Eucharistic unity with the Orthodox, but the family - and A. I. Guchkov continued this tradition - he provided financial assistance to those Old Believers and Old Believer communities who did not pass into the common faith. At the enterprise he founded a school for orphans. He was elected as the Moscow mayor.
• Father - Ivan Efimovich (1833-1904), co-owner of the Guchkov Efim sons trading house, one of the founders and director of the Moscow Accounting Bank, was the head of the guild of the Moscow merchant council, then a member of the Moscow branch of the Council of Trade and Manufactories, an honorary magistrate of Moscow, served in the Moscow office of the State Bank, was elected to the foreman of the Moscow Exchange Committee.
• Mother - Korali Petrovna, nee Vakye, French, kidnapped by I. E. Guchkov in France from her first husband and taken to Russia, converted to Orthodoxy. At first she gave birth to two twins: Nikolai and Fedor.
• Brother - Nikolai Ivanovich (1860-1935) - Moscow city mayor (1905-1912), actual state councilor.
• Brother - Fedor Ivanovich (1860-1913) - one of the founders of the "Union of October 17", the actual head of the newspaper "Voice of Moscow".
• Brother - Konstantin Ivanovich (1866-1934).
• Niece - Guchkova Natalya Konstantinovna, married to the philosopher Gustav Shpet
• Niece - Guchkova Olga Konstantinovna, married to I. D. Frenkin, a relative of a friend of I. V. Stalin, Academician Mikulin
• Wife - Maria Ilyinichna, nee Ziloti (1871-1938), cousin of the composer S. V. Rakhmaninov, sister of A. I. Ziloti and a prominent military commander, deputy chief of the Main Naval Staff Sergei Ilyich Ziloti, who introduced A. I. Guchkov to senior generals and admirals, younger sister Varvara Ilyinichna Siloti - the wife of A. I. Guchkov's brother Konstantin Ivanovich, who conducted all the commercial affairs of the Guchkov brothers, especially during their risky travels.
• Son - Leo (1905-1916).
• Daughter - Vera Alexandrovna (Vera Trail; 1906-1987). In her first marriage, she was married to P. P. Suvchinsky, a figure in the "Eurasian" movement. She was also close to another famous Eurasian D.P. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, used the English pseudonym "Vera Mirsky". In the second marriage - for the Scottish communist Robert Trail. Collaborated with the Soviet special services.

Education and military service

Municipal figure, businessman and official

Since 1886 - for the first time he was a member of the city duma, was elected a justice of the peace in Moscow. In 1892-1893, he participated in helping the starving in the Lukoyanovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province. In January 1894, Guchkov was awarded the Order of Anna, third degree, "for special labors" in the fight against the "consequences of crop failure". Later, in 1896, "for labor and diligence" he was awarded the Order of Stanislav, second degree. These awards gave him the opportunity, along with commercial and social activities, to move up the career ladder, to receive personal, and then hereditary nobility.

But according to even Count S. Yu. Witte, who was critical of him, Guchkov - a lover of strong sensations and a brave man.

Duelist

Repeatedly fought in duels, earned a reputation as a bully.

• In 1899, he challenged an engineer who worked on the construction of the CER to a duel. After the latter refused to accept the challenge, he hit him in the face.
• In 1908, he challenged the leader of the Cadet Party, P. N. Milyukov, to a duel, who declared in the Duma that Guchkov “spoke a lie” on one of the issues discussed. Milyukov accepted the challenge; five-day negotiations of the seconds ended with the reconciliation of the parties.
• In 1909, Guchkov had a duel with a member of the State Duma, Count A. A. Uvarov, who, according to one newspaper publication, called Guchkov a "politician" in a conversation with Stolypin. In response, Guchkov wrote him an insulting letter, provoking a challenge to a duel and refusing to reconcile. The duel ended with a non-dangerous injury to Uvarov, who fired into the air.
• In 1912, he fought a duel with gendarmerie Lieutenant Colonel S. N. Myasoedov, who defended the honor of the elderly Minister of War Sukhomlinov, under whom he was. Guchkov accused Sukhomlinov of creating armed forces ah Russia's system of political surveillance of officers in order to undermine the country's defense in the interests of its enemies. Myasoedov fired first and missed; Guchkov immediately after that fired into the air. After the duel, Myasoedov was forced to leave the army. In 1915, he was found guilty of treason and executed (according to most modern historians, including K. F. Shatsillo (“The Case of Lieutenant Colonel Myasoedov”), the case was fabricated and an innocent person was executed).

Politician

In 1905, after returning to Russia, he actively participated in zemstvo and city congresses, adhered to liberal-conservative views. He advocated the convocation of a Zemsky Sobor so that the emperor spoke at it with a program of reforms. He was nominated by the Moscow Zemstvo Congress in May 1905 to the delegation for negotiations with Nicholas II. When the king asked him to stay for a conversation, instead of several minutes, the conversation lasted several hours. In November 1905, receiving his brother, the Moscow mayor N. I. Guchkov, the sovereign said: “Although your brother, regardless of etiquette, told me about the constitution for several hours in a row, I really liked him.” In the autumn of 1905, he resolutely opposed the idea of ​​estate representation, for the election of the State Duma by universal equal secret voting of citizens, albeit by indirect elections. But how did the constitutional monarchist support the Manifesto of October 17, 1905:

We constitutionalists do not see in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in our country any diminution of tsarist power; on the contrary, in the renewed state forms, we see the introduction of this power to a new brilliance, the disclosure of a glorious future for it.

In a low, soft voice, he began his speech. But as his theses developed, the entire hall turned into hearing and attention. He challenged the principle of integral universality. If, when electing people's representatives, it is impossible to limit the voter to a property qualification, then, in his opinion, the territorial qualification in a certain minimum size necessary. Further, limiting the right to be elected to the condition of literacy is necessary. He disputed the principle of direct elections, finding that, given the vastness of the territories of our State, two-stage elections would more correctly reflect in parliament the interests of various groups of the population, given the heterogeneity of the nationalities inhabiting Russia.

In October 1905, C. Yu. Witte offered him the post of Minister of Trade and Industry, but Guchkov, like other public figures, refused to enter the government, the Ministry of the Interior in which was headed by a staunch, to put it mildly, conservative P. N. Durnovo.

In the autumn of 1905, he became one of the founders of the liberal-conservative party "Union of October 17", which A. I. Guchkov headed as chairman of the Central Committee on October 29, 1906. He was defeated in the elections to the State Duma of the I and II convocations. In May 1907 he was elected a member of the State Council from industry and trade, in October he renounced membership in the Council, and was elected a deputy of the 3rd State Duma.

He was a supporter of the government of P. A. Stolypin, whom he considered a strong state leader, able to carry out reforms and ensure order. In addition, the brother of P. A. Stolypin was a prominent figure in the Octobrist party - a supporter of A. I. Guchkov. A. I. Guchkov advocated a resolute fight against terrorism, including with the help of courts-martial. With reservations, but supported the dissolution of the II State Duma and the change in the electoral law on June 3, 1907.

We must recognize the dissolution of the State Duma as an act of national necessity. But we cannot greet him and rejoice, as our neighbors on the right do, because we consider it a great misfortune for the country that the government and the monarch were forced to resort to the act of June 3, which is a coup. On the other hand, it is sad that this act is a necessity" (Party "Union of October 17": Protocols of the III Congress, conferences and meetings of the Central Committee of 1907-1915: In 2 vols. M., 2000. Vol. 2. S. 11 ).

In the same year, he refused to enter the Stolypin government, but continued to support him.

In the III State Duma

In 1907-1912 he was a member of the III State Duma from Moscow. According to the new electoral law, the Octobrist party led by him achieved impressive success in the elections to the 3rd State Duma (154 out of 442 deputy mandates). On the eve of the election, its recognized leader declared:

We know that the only correct path is the central path, the path of equilibrium along which we Octobrists are advancing.

He was the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Octobrists, actively contributed to the approval by the Duma of the Stolypin agrarian reform. According to the Octobrist N. V. Savich:

With a great mind, talent, and pronounced abilities as a parliamentary fighter, Guchkov was very proud, even conceited, moreover, he was distinguished by a stubborn character that did not tolerate opposition to his plans.

He was the chairman of the commission on state defense - in this capacity he established contacts with many representatives of the generals, including A. A. Polivanov, V. I. Gurko. He paid considerable attention to the modernization of the Russian army, in 1908 he sharply criticized the activities of representatives of the Romanov dynasty in the army, urging them to resign. This circumstance worsened Guchkov's relations with the court. There is evidence that Guchkov also divulged the circumstances of a private conversation with the tsar, after which Nicholas II completely refused to trust him.

Together with V. K. Anrep, he obtained from Stolypin permission for female students admitted to universities to complete their studies (the ministry believed that women were enrolled in higher educational institutions illegally and were subject to exclusion).

In 1910-1911 he was chairman of the State Duma with a break of 4 months, due to the fact that in June 1910 he resigned to serve a 4-month sentence in prison for a duel with Duma deputy A. A. Uvarov, which took place on November 17, 1909. Although the sovereign replaced 4-month imprisonment in prison with a two-week arrest, A.I. Guchkov was re-elected head of the chamber only on October 29, 1910. On March 15, 1911, he refused this title, not wanting to support the position of the Stolypin government in connection with the adoption of a bill on the introduction of zemstvo institutions in the western provinces (then Stolypin violated the "spirit" of the Basic Laws by initiating a temporary dissolution (March 12-15, 1911) Dumas in order to carry out the decision he needs by decree of the emperor) (see the Law on the Zemstvo in the western provinces).

After the assassination of the head of government P. A. Stolypin in Kyiv, September 5, 1911, Guchkov spoke in the Duma with the rationale for the request of his faction about the assassination attempt on the prime minister and drew attention to the situation in the country:

Our Russia has been sick for a long time, sick with a serious illness. The generation to which I belong was born under the shot of Karakozov, in the 70-80s. a bloody and dirty wave of terror swept through our fatherland... Terror once slowed down and has been slowing down since then the progressive course of reforms, terror gave arms to reaction, terror shrouded the dawn of Russian freedom with its bloody mist.

From 1912 to February 1917

In 1912, as chairman of the Duma Defense Commission, he had a conflict with Minister of War V. A. Sukhomlinov in connection with the introduction of political surveillance of officers in the army. In view of Sukhomlinov's advanced age, he was challenged to a duel by the gendarme officer Myasoedov, who was under Sukhomlinov, whom he accused of mediating between Sukhomlinov and Germany. There is information that Guchkov, considering Sukhomlinov a German agent and Rasputin's protégé, was personally involved in the distribution of four or five letters (possibly fake) that fell into his hands through Iliodor - one from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the rest from the Grand Duchesses, to G. E. Rasputin. Correspondence was multiplied on a hectograph and distributed in the form of copies as agitational material against the tsar. The tsar, having figured it out, instructed the Minister of War Sukhomlinov, who was in conflict with Guchkov (who met with Guchkov on matters of the Duma Defense Commission), to tell Guchkov that he was a scoundrel.

The reasons why A. I. Guchkov was in irreconcilable hostility to Nicholas II were not only political, but also personal. According to available information, the tsar at first had a rather positive attitude towards Guchkov, appreciating his mind and abilities. However, Guchkov allowed himself to publicize the details of one private conversation with Nicholas II. Octobrist N. V. Savich testified: “Guchkov told about his conversation with the tsar to many people, members of the faction at the presidium of the State Duma. The worst thing was that not only the facts that were discussed were made public, but also some of the opinions expressed by the Sovereign. The sovereign took the fact that his intimate conversation was published in the press as an insult, as a betrayal. He abruptly and drastically changed his attitude towards Guchkov, began to be clearly hostile. The extremely ambitious Guchkov harbored a grudge against the tsar, which by 1916 grew into hatred. There is an opinion that the overthrow of Emperor Nicholas II from the throne by 1916 became almost an end in itself for Guchkov, and allegedly, in his desire to overthrow the tsar, he was ready to unite with any forces. The sovereign called Guchkov "Yuan Shikai", after the high-ranking courtier of the Qing dynasty, who became the Chinese revolutionary dictator, and considered him his personal enemy. But Guchkov himself explained his behavior by the fact that, as chairman of the State Duma Defense Commission, he handled the affairs not only of the armed forces themselves, but also of the Cossack regions, and was struck by the abuse of power there and the hatred of almost all Cossacks who had previously formed the backbone of the autocracy - not only Cossacks-Old Believers - to the regime of Nicholas II. Then he understood why the Cossacks supported the Cadets and Progressives in the elections, but not the Octobrists and other monarchists. In particular, it was the old Cossacks who, according to the words of the Cossacks who served in the Convoy of His Imperial Majesty, complained to him about Rasputin, whose introduction of the royal couple to “folk Orthodoxy” offended the religious feelings of the Cossacks, although the advice given by Rasputin to the Tsar was in line with the ideas of the Guchkova: Russia needs peace and does not need any straits. As Guchkov explained, after meeting with representatives of the Kuban Cossack army, he firmly understood: in order to prevent a revolution by the forces of the armed people led by the Cossacks and preserve the monarchy, it was necessary to dissociate themselves from the unpopular among the Cossacks and the people of Nicholas II.

In 1912, Guchkov made a speech that contained extremely harsh attacks on G. E. Rasputin (after that, Guchkov became the personal enemy of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna):

I want to say, I want to shout that the church is in danger and the state is in danger ... You all know what a difficult drama Russia is going through ... At the center of this drama is a mysterious tragicomic figure, like a native of the other world or a relic of the darkness of centuries, a strange figure in the coverage of the 20th century ... In what ways did this man reach a central position, capturing such influence, before which the external bearers of state and church power bow ... Grigory Rasputin is not alone; isn't there a whole gang behind him...?

From October 19, 1912, surveillance began for Guchkov. The signs of the person under surveillance were described to the filers as follows: 50 years old, above average height, full build, brown hair, full, oblong face, straight, moderate nose, French beard slightly graying, wears white-rimmed pince-nez, dressed in a winter drapery coat with a lambskin collar, black lambskin hat and black trousers, orthodox religion. Filers gave him the nickname "Sanitary" in St. Petersburg and "Balkan" in Moscow. Guchkov's every step was recorded in the surveillance diary, and it was noted that occasionally, when he used a car or his carriage, he managed to elude the fillers. But he managed to go to the First Balkan War, and the fillers could not find his trail for a long time upon their return. At the end of 1912 he was not elected to the IV State Duma. Evolved quickly towards an alliance with the Constitutional Democratic Party on an opposition basis. After the failure in the Duma elections in Moscow, Guchkov also refused to run for the Moscow City Duma.

February Revolution

In the last months of the existence of the monarchy, he was the author and organizer of a palace coup, the purpose of which was, using connections with a number of military leaders (M. V. Alekseev, N. V. Ruzsky, etc.), to force Nicholas II to abdicate the throne (the latter’s abdication in favor of the heir Tsarevich Alexei under the regency of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich). In fact, in the first days of March 1917, his plan was carried out, since the abdication announced by Nicholas II of the throne also of his son Alexei in accordance with the Code of Fundamental State Laws Russian Empire(The 37th, 38th and 43rd articles explained that the sovereign-emperor had the right to abdicate the throne not only for himself, but also for his minor son, and then Alexei Nikolayevich was only 12.5 years old) allowed only Nicholas to continue to educate Alexei Nikolayevich until he came of age, but it did not completely exclude the proclamation of Alexei Nikolayevich as tsar when he reached the age of majority, provided that Mikhail Alexandrovich, after the abdication of Nicholas II, would not become tsar, but regent. Although instead of the staging of a popular uprising planned by the conspirators, a real uprising took place ahead of schedule, the main actors in the abdication of the tsar were Guchkov himself, generals Alekseev and Ruzsky, according to a pre-planned plan. However, since S. I. Ziloti passed away in 1914, A. I. Guchkov subsequently did not believe in the loyalty of the generals he attracted without him and believed that his own conspiracy was enough only to hang A. And Guchkov, and the conspiracy succeeded solely thanks to the February Revolution. Not only the reign of Nicholas II, but also, although this was not part of the plans of the monarchist Guchkov, the monarchical form of government in Russia was completed, since Mikhail Alexandrovich actually abdicated not only from the throne, but also from any form of power for himself and the entire House of the Romanovs . .

War Minister

In March - May 1917 he was Minister of War and Navy in the first composition of the Provisional Government, a supporter of the continuation of the war. On his initiative, a large-scale purge of the command staff took place, during which both incapable generals and military leaders who were demanding of their subordinates were fired. He tried to promote relatively young, energetic generals to command posts [ ] . He initiated the abolition of national, religious, class and political restrictions in the production of officers. He opposed the activities of the soldiers' committees in the army, but was forced to agree to their legitimization. He legalized some provisions of the "Order No. 1" adopted by the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which undermined discipline in the army - on the abolition of the title of officers (instead of it, the form of address "Mr. Colonel (General, etc.)" was introduced, on the renaming of "lower ranks" to "soldiers" and the duty of officers to refer to them as "you", about allowing military personnel to participate in political organizations.

In April 1917, due to the inability to resist anarchy and the disintegration of the army, he decided to resign; officially left the Provisional Government in May, together with P. N. Milyukov. Guchkov's activities as minister disappointed many contemporaries, who saw him as a strong personality and hoped that he would be able to maintain the combat effectiveness of the army.

After his resignation from the post of minister, he again headed the Central Military-Industrial Committee. French Ambassador to Russia Maurice Palaiologos wrote that

Guchkov's resignation signifies nothing less than the bankruptcy of the Provisional Government and Russian liberalism. Soon Kerensky will be the absolute ruler of Russia... in anticipation of Lenin.

Convinced of the impossibility of restoring the monarchy, together with M. V. Rodzianko, in the summer of 1917, he organized the Liberal Republican Party of Russia. Participated in the work of the State Conference. He was an active supporter of the performance of General L. G. Kornilov, after his defeat he was briefly arrested, but released a day later at the direction of A. F. Kerensky. He was a member of the Pre-Parliament. He donated 10 thousand rubles to General M.V. Alekseev for the formation of the Alekseevskaya organization, campaigned to join its ranks.

Activities during the Civil War

Guchkov's activities attracted the close attention of the Foreign Department of the OGPU, which recruited Guchkov's daughter Vera Alexandrovna. Knowing the entire elite of the white emigration, she went for it under the influence of her lover Konstantin Rodzevich, who was associated with the OGPU. Alexander Ivanovich found out about his daughter's pro-Soviet sympathies in 1932, when she joined the French Communist Party.

He maintained business relations with General P. N. Wrangel, with whom he was in friendly correspondence. On the initiative of Guchkov, an Information Bureau was formed at the Russian Economic Bulletin in Paris to collect information about the economic situation in the USSR. He was in correspondence with many foreign political figures.

In 1922-1923. acted as one of the initiators of a military coup in Bulgaria with the aim of overthrowing the pro-Soviet government of Alexander Stamboliysky. In the coup, according to English newspapers, units of the Russian army played a key role. After that, the extreme right stopped attacking Guchkov. But P. N. Wrangel himself categorically denied the participation of the Russian army in the coup.

GUCHKOV ALEXANDER IVANOVICH (1862 - 1936)

Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov was born on October 14, 1862 in Moscow, into a merchant family that has long been known in business circles in Russia. Even his great-grandfather, F.A.

Guchkov, belonged to the "merchant class". His father, Ivan Efimovich Guchkov, in the 60s. 19th century was a guild warden of the Moscow merchant council, then a member of the Moscow branch of the Council of Trade and Manufactories, an honorary magistrate of Moscow, served in the Moscow office of the State Bank, was elected to the foreman of the Moscow Exchange Committee.

His sons are the twins Nikolai and Fedor, Alexander and Konstantin

They became the successors of his work.

Alexander graduated from the 2nd Moscow Gymnasium on Razgulay - one of the largest and most prestigious secondary educational institutions at the end of the 19th century, where many famous public figures of Russia, artists, writers, and scientists studied. A penchant for the humanities predetermined his further education. In the first half of the 80s. he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, then studied at the Berlin and Heidelberg Universities in Germany.

Even at Moscow University, he was engaged in a circle of young historians, lawyers and economists. Here, well-known scientists subsequently presented their first essays: P.N. Milyukov, A.A. Kizevetter, S.F. Fortunatov, A.A. Manuilov, V.F. Deryuzhinsky. However, it was not enough for Guchkov's active nature to engage in science alone. In 1888 he was elected an honorary justice of the peace in Moscow. In the early 90s. worked in the state of the Nizhny Novgorod governor, in the Moscow city administration. From 1893 to 1897 was a member of the city government of Moscow. With his active participation, the construction of a water supply system in Mytishchi was completed and the first stage of sewerage was carried out. In 1894, for distinction in service, he received his first award - the Order of St. Anne, III class.

In 1895 - 1896. Guchkov visited the Ottoman Empire, crossed Tibet. In the next three years, he served as a junior officer of the Cossack hundreds on the protection of the CER in Manchuria, on horseback traveled through China, Mongolia, and Central Asia. Volunteer participated in the Anglo-Boer War on the side of the Boers, where he was wounded and taken prisoner by the British. In 1903 he visited Macedonia during the anti-Turkish uprising.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Guchkov was at the front as a representative of the Moscow City Duma and the Committee led. book. Elizaveta Fedorovna, as well as Assistant to the Chief Plenipotentiary of the Russian Red Cross Society under the Manchurian Army. In the spring of 1905, he was captured by the Japanese, as he did not leave the wounded soldiers and stayed with them in the hospital.

In the revolutionary year of 1905 Guchkov came to the fore as one of the leading figures in the liberal movement. He took part in zemstvo-city congresses. He became one of the leaders of the right, "Shilovsky" minority. Participated in the creation of the Union of October 17, becoming its leader. Since 1906, he was the chairman of the Central Committee of this party, participated in the work of all its congresses and conferences, and became one of the ideologists of Octobrism. A supporter of a constitutional monarchy with a strong central executive power, as well as a "single and indivisible" empire, he nevertheless recognized the right of individual peoples to cultural autonomy. Guchkov considered it necessary to avoid abrupt, radical political changes, which, in his opinion, threatened the country's historical evolution and could destroy Russian statehood.

In 1907, Guchkov was elected to the Third State Duma, where he headed the Octobrist faction and the Duma's defense commission. March 1910 to March 1911 was chairman of the State Duma. Initially, he supported the ongoing P.A. Stolypin's reforms. Being a direct and uncompromising person, he often came into conflict with Duma deputies, sometimes reaching clashes. So, he challenged P.N. Milyukov, fought with Count Uvarov. In several speeches devoted to the activities of the Military Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior and the Synod, he extremely sharply criticized the Grand Dukes and Rasputin, which angered the court camarilla, and in particular the emperor and empress themselves. His denunciations of Rasputin aroused in Alexandra Feodorovna simply pathological hatred. Nicholas II, according to V.N. Kokovtsov, sincerely rejoiced at the failure of Guchkov in the elections to the Duma in the autumn of 1912.

When did the first World War, Guchkov, as an authorized representative of the Russian Red Cross Society, actively engaged in organizing hospitals and providing them with medicines, equipment and personnel, often went to the front. He was one of the founders and chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee, a member of the Special Conference on the Defense of the State.

His popularity and influence during the war years increased dramatically. In September 1915, he was elected a member of the State Council from the commercial and industrial curia. The war finally convinced Guchkov of the need for a change of power. He also spoke about this on October 25, 1915, at a meeting of the Presidium of the Progressive Bloc, which brought together many members of the State Duma and the State Council in opposition to power. “The regime of favorites, magicians, jesters,” he called the ruling circles of Russia in 1915. Soon he came to the idea of ​​the expediency of a dynastic coup and the creation of a ministry of liberal politicians responsible to the Duma. However, at the same time, he did not raise the issue of ending the war and did not propose cardinal socio-economic reforms.

However, even the implementation of the existing projects did not have enough time, and mainly forces. Attempts by Guchkov and his supporters to involve any of the senior officers in plans to remove Nicholas II from state affairs were unsuccessful: most of the generals, even those who sympathized with the idea of ​​a coup, flatly refused to participate in the conspiracy. Later, Guchkov himself noted that "Russian society, represented by its leading circles, was not sufficiently aware of the need for this coup" and provided an opportunity for "blind elemental forces ... to carry out this painful operation" - the overthrow of the autocracy.

Guchkov himself played a prominent role in the culminating act of the monarchist drama in late February - early March 1917. When the tsarist power in the capital fell, he insisted on saving the monarchy "quickly and decisively": without entering into any agreements on this score with Petrograd Soviet, to go to Nicholas II in Pskov and "bring a renunciation in favor of the heir." March 2, together with V.V. Shulgin, he came to Pskov; accepting them, Nicholas II declared that “he decided to abdicate the throne. in favor of brother Michael. On March 3, the two of them brought a manifesto of renunciation to Petrograd. The former empress, having become simply a “Romanova citizen,” was especially indignant at the fact that Guchkov, among others, accepted the abdication, seeing this as an act of “terrible humiliation.” (For the same reason, he will be completely assassinated in exile).

In the first composition of the Provisional Government (since March 2), Guchkov received the portfolio of the Minister of War and the Navy. Observing the intensification of chaos in the country, he considered it possible and necessary to carry out tough measures to suppress the authorities parallel to the Provisional Government - the Soviets. But such tactics were not supported by the cabinet of ministers (with the exception of P. N. Milyukov), and on May 2, after the "April" crisis in the government, Guchkov resigned.

However, he did not leave public activity: he was a participant in the State Conference in Moscow (August 1917), a member of the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic (Pre-Parliament). He ideologically, organizationally and financially supported General L.G. Kornilov in his preparation for decisive measures to establish "order" in the country. After the liquidation of the Kornilov "mutiny" in August 1917, Guchkov was arrested among the main organizers and leaders, but he was released a few days later.

He left first for Moscow, and then, in the autumn of 1917, for Kislovodsk. In the south of Russia, finding himself among the accumulation of many "former" who, after the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, were building various plans for the future, Guchkov was eager, first of all, to "get even" with the new rulers of Russia.

He was one of the first, in December 1917, to give 10,000 rubles. General M.V. Alekseev, when he began to form the Volunteer Army.

Several times Soviet authorities tried to arrest Guchkov. In the spring of 1918, he went underground, hiding illegally near Essentuki, and then moved to Yekaterinodar.

As an authorized representative of the delegation of the Russian Red Cross Society to the Volunteer Army, he actively established its logistics. In Yekaterinodar, he became close to General A.I. Denikin, tried to figure it out himself and explain to Denikin the reasons for the unpopularity of the Volunteer Army among the people, psychological problems among the officers. In January 1919, at the request of Denikin, he left for Paris at the head of a special mission entrusted with negotiating with the governments of countries Western Europe on the provision of material assistance to the All-Russian Union of Socialist Rights.

This departure, in fact, became an emigration for Guchkov. On his way to France, he visited Turkey and Italy. In May, together with his former assistant in the Military Ministry, Lieutenant General D.V. Filatiev, he made a presentation at a joint meeting of representatives of Russian emigrant organizations and the Entente. At the talks in Paris with French President R. Poincaré, he tried to prove the need for expanding financial and military assistance to the white armies.

During the summer, he held talks with British leaders. In one of the letters to Denikin, Guchkov noted that "by a lucky chance" W. Churchill was at the head of the War Ministry

A man who fully understands the world danger of Bolshevism and considers England "the only savior of Russia."

“A man of great will and strong adventurism, infinitely ambitious, who made the Russian question a springboard for a bold leap for power, but an unprincipled man, with a large share of adventurism,” he described Churchill in this way. On the whole, however, he became convinced that intervention in Russia did not enjoy the support of the English people.

In his correspondence with Churchill, Guchkov demanded an early mortal blow against Bolshevism and the capture of Moscow and Petrograd. He proposed to recruit volunteers in Bulgaria to fight against Soviet power and to create an army from Russian prisoners of war who were abroad. Partly the result of his perseverance was the provision in August 1919 by the British government of financial assistance to the government of the Russian North-Western region, created under Yudenich in Reval (Tallinn).

Guchkov shared Churchill's opinion about the possibility of using the troops of Finland, Estonia and Latvia together with the White armies. He played an important role in organizing the transportation of weapons and ammunition for whites from England to the territory of the Baltic countries.

In August 1920, Guchkov came to the Crimea for a short time to see General P.N. Wrangel. A complete understanding was established between them. Wrangel considered Guchkov one of the most "serious" Russian politicians in exile. When the Russian army

Wrangel was evacuated from the Crimea to Turkey, Guchkov made a lot of efforts to preserve it.

In February 1921, in a letter to Wrangel, Guchkov said that he and others former members The Council of State and the deputies of the State Duma decided to create a Russian parliamentary committee in Paris in order to defend the "Russian cause" before the governments of Western European countries. Such committees appeared in Berlin, Constantinople, London. According to Guchkov, they included people "who were separated by many things in the past, who will go their separate ways in the future, but who at the moment are bound by an ardent love for the Motherland."

In 1921 - 1923 Guchkov was the chairman of the Russian parliamentary committee. He tried not to miss a single opportunity to fight the Soviet regime. However, he was quite strict about the choice of allies and fellow travelers in this struggle. So, he warned Wrangel against any contacts with Yesaul G.M. Semenov, whose detachments were known for their atrocities against the civilian population on Far East and stole part of the country's gold reserves sent by A.V. Kolchak to Vladivostok. In January 1922, Wrangel suggested to Guchkov that he mobilize émigré forces, mainly commercial, industrial and banking circles, to disrupt the economic negotiations planned in Genoa with Soviet Russia. But this venture failed due to serious disagreements that existed among the Russian emigration.

In April 1922 an attempt was made to unite the various emigrant commercial and industrial groups. A meeting of their representatives was held in Paris. Guchkov, knowing the situation, did not appear. The Ryabushinsky brothers, speaking at this meeting, emphasized that the army, the commercial and industrial class and the intelligentsia would be the basis of the future Russia. This puzzled Guchkov. He asked Wrangel in a letter: where did the workers and peasants go? S.N. Tretyakov, on the sidelines of the meeting, declared that Russia would not be able to get stronger without American capital, and Wrangel was not a suitable candidate for America to be the all-Russian leader. Ryabushinsky, declaring his disposition towards the army, at the same time directly asked not to demand money. Guchkov clearly saw that Russian emigre entrepreneurs were afraid to take on any moral and material obligations, to compromise themselves with their connection with Wrangel. Therefore, he advised Wrangel not to establish strong ties, but also not to break with anyone.

At the end of 1922, Guchkov acted as the actual initiator of a coup d'état in Bulgaria, considering this the only way to save the units of the Russian army located there (Wrangel's army, numerically superior to the armed forces of Bulgaria itself, posed a serious danger to the reformist government of A. Stamboliysky, formed mainly from members Bulgarian Agricultural People's Union). Russian officers took

participation in the preparation of the coup, and on June 9, 1923, the government of Stamboliysky was overthrown.

From the end of 1922, however, Guchkov began to insist on shifting the center of gravity of the struggle against Bolshevism to Russia. He suggested "penetrating" into Russia by all means: "individually, in groups, in the form of enterprises, trade, industrial, publishing, etc.", which, in his opinion, should have helped to get "local figures". At the same time, he emphasized the importance of carrying out terror, which could disorganize Soviet power.

In May 1923, in Lausanne, white terrorists killed a Soviet diplomat, a Bolshevik V.V. Vorovsky. The Swiss court acquitted the killers. Behind the scenes, both before and after "all this staging," Guchkov was very active. With the help of intermediaries, he collected some sums of money, gave instructions to a group of emigrants on drawing up an "indictment" of the Soviet government, which was to be presented at the trial by the Swiss lawyer T. Ober (according to Guchkov, "a prominent creator of Swiss fascism").

When in the summer of 1924, on the initiative of T. Aubert, the League of Struggle Against the Third International was created, in the leadership of which Russian emigrants participated, Guchkov called for assistance to Aubert's "white international".

Assessing the situation in Russia that had developed with the transition to the New Economic Policy and in connection with the aggravation of the struggle within the top of the RCP (b) after the death of Lenin, he considered it possible to establish a military dictatorship there. In his opinion, this could be a regime of military and civilian "specialists", possibly "right-wing communists", to which he attributed Trotsky, considering him "a man of real politics." According to Guchkov, Trotsky had every chance to eliminate Stalin, relying on the Red Army, but lost this fight due to slowness and hesitation.

The anti-Bolshevik struggle was one of the main activities of Guchkov in exile. In correspondence with P. Sorokin, he asked to find persons or organizations in America that could help in this matter. In 1927, the anti-Soviet campaign intensified in the West. This was facilitated by the British government, which made accusations against the USSR in February. In April, in a letter to P.B. Struve, Guchkov set the task with the utmost specificity: "Physically destroy the handful ruling from the Kremlin." And he determined the method: "collective political murder." He considered it quite justified from the point of view of morality and for reasons of patriotism and expediency. He advised establishing contacts with the "fighters" within Russia, even if not like-minded people, but simply fellow travelers, helping with everything that the emigration has: means, connections, authority. At the same time, he bitterly acknowledged the helplessness, weakness of the emigrants, their lack of burning and readiness for sacrifice.

In exile, Guchkov withdrew from political organizations. Moreover, he very persistently guarded his political independence. This, according to Milyukov, caused more than

mistrust. But Guchkov himself admitted that he was "simply not enough."

He condemned the governments of European states for recognizing the Soviet government and being ready for economic cooperation with the USSR. To counteract this, at the initiative of Guchkov, an Information Bureau was formed under the Russian Economic Bulletin in Paris. It was supposed to collect information about the economic situation in the USSR and supply this information to interested individuals and organizations. Together with A.I. Guchkov included: N.I. Guchkov, N.D. Avksentiev, N.A. Basili, A.P. Bogaevsky, V.M. Zenzinov, A.V. Kartashev, A.I. Konovalov, S.N. Tretyakov, S.E. Trubetskoy, N.S. Timashev and others.

In 1931, at the initiative of scientists from Stanford University, a book by G.Ya. Sokolnikov "Financial Policy of Soviet Russia", covering the new economic policy and the success of monetary reform in the USSR. It caused a great resonance in the West. And Guchkov, seeking to "correct the evil that the book has done," asked Russian emigrants in the United States to find the strength and means to publish an alternative book, where he advised to include materials from the 1st Soviet five-year plan, in which he saw "the whole meaning of Russian communism" .

Guchkov, living first in Germany and then in France, participated in many all-Russian congresses, often traveled to countries where compatriots lived, worked in the Main Directorate of the foreign Russian Red Cross Society. In the early 30s. he headed the work of coordinating assistance to the starving in the USSR.

The action to help the starving was one of the largest among the Russian emigration. On March 6, 1934, at the initiative of Guchkov, the Main Directorate of the Russian Red Cross Society turned to Russian emigrants to help the population of the USSR. By this time, the Main Committee for Assistance to the Starving in Soviet Russia was working in Yugoslavia, the Union of German Citizens - emigrants from Russia and the Ukrainian Committee for Assistance to the Starving were created in Germany, and the Committee for Assistance to the Starving in the Soviet Union was established in Austria. In May 1934, an organizational meeting was held in Paris, with the aim of creating a special body for coordinating assistance to the starving. It was attended by representatives of about 20 emigrant organizations - professional, women's, youth, artists, etc. At the same time, a number of organizations of Russian emigrants declined to participate in the meeting under various pretexts. All this testified to serious contradictions within the emigration in relation to the USSR. The meeting decided to coordinate the activities of all participating organizations, based on the principles of humanism and mercy.

Guchkov constantly and with keen attention studied all the information about the situation in the USSR, monitored the situation among the Russian emigration, analyzed the attitude of leading Western politicians towards Soviet power, especially T. Roosevelt. He led

active correspondence, published numerous articles, made various notes and references on these issues.

The Russian emigration, including Guchkov, followed with alarm the developments in Germany after Hitler came to power. Guchkov saw the threat of a new war. As in the spring of 1917, he was convinced that another world cataclysm was approaching. True, he hoped for the common sense of the German industrialists and financiers, that they would be able to "remove" Hitler themselves. Many emigrants believed that Guchkov was exaggerating the danger. Guchkov, on the other hand, said that they were only lulling themselves with dreams and hopes for the preservation of peace. “The point is not whether there will be a war or not, this dilemma is no more! he declared. - In fact, the war has already taken political map the world its fatal place. There is also no doubt that in the new inevitable conflict, the main and main opponents will be the Soviet Union and Germany. But he avoided the question of which side the Russian emigration should be on in this war.

By the beginning of the 30s. Guchkov became one of the most serious Russian scholars in the West. He sent his information and his conclusions to the governments and parliaments of Western European countries, he corresponded with well-known politicians: G. Dumerg, K. Kramarzh and others.

The intelligence services of the USSR, which managed to penetrate the military and political centers of emigration, were keenly interested in the activities of Guchkov and his entourage. Soviet intelligence agents were able to recruit his daughter Vera. Apparently, she agreed to cooperate with them not for material reasons, but for ideological ones: her husband, an Englishman R. Traill, was a communist, fought in Spain against the Nazis and died there in 1937. Deep patriotism could also play its role, characteristic of all the Guchkovs: many émigrés saw how the USSR's position on the world stage was strengthening, how their homeland was once again becoming one of the world's leading powers. In the late 1930s, at the height of the repressions, she visited the USSR. According to reports, N.I., People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, saved her from arrest. Yezhov, forcing her to leave. (The victory of the USSR in World War II convinced her of the correctness of her choice, and she wrote a book full of praises to the USSR and Stalin. She remembered Yezhov with special gratitude. Only in the 60s she gradually became disillusioned with the communist ideology. She died V. A. Guchkova in 1986, was buried at the Cambridge cemetery in the UK).

In the winter of 1935, Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov's health deteriorated greatly, but he had no time for treatment. He agreed to take medicine, but refused to go to the hospital, because it meant for him to break the usual image of science. Only in October 1935 did he agree to undergo a course of examination. Doctors at the Boucicault Hospital diagnosed him with bowel cancer. He did not experience severe pain and therefore did not stop vigorous activity. He was even transferred to a private hospital Mirabeau,

where there was more freedom. He dictated letters, spoke on the telephone (there was a telephone on the table by the bed), and communicated with visitors. The diagnosis was hidden from him, and Guchkov was convinced of a speedy recovery. He even set a condition for doctors: “I need to be able to work. This is my condition. I don't need an existence without a job."

And in the last months of A.I. Guchkov continued to reflect on the question: was a revolution and civil war inevitable in Russia? He believed that there was little chance of avoiding them because of the "weak monarch" and the undermined moral foundations of the ruling class. He wrote memoirs, but they remained unfinished...

Guchkov died in Paris on February 14, 1936, in the words of Milyukov, "lonely, silent, among strangers, and not completely unraveled." The funeral liturgy took place in the church of Alexander Nevsky. It was attended by almost all prominent representatives of emigration. Both "left" and "right" politicians, military men, writers and artists came to honor his memory: N.D. Avksentiev, M.A. Aldanov, V.L. Burtsev, M.V. Vishnyak, Prince A.D. Golitsyn, Prince V.V. Vyazemsky, R.B. Gul, A.I. Denikin, P.N. Milyukov, B.I. Nikolaevsky, N.V. Plevitskaya and many others. Guchkov's body was cremated, and the urn with the ashes was installed in the columbarium at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Compositions:

Guchkov A.I. Collection of speeches in the Third State Duma (1907 - 1912). SPb., 1912.

A.I. Guchkov says. M., 1993.

Memories:

Rodzianko M.V. The collapse of the empire. 2nd ed. L., 1929.

Kerensky A.F. A.I. Guchkov//Modern notes. 1936. No.

Shulgin V.V. Days//Shulgin V.V. days. 192 0. M., 1989.

Literature:

Senin A.S. Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov. M., 1996.

Documentation:

State archive of the Russian Federation.

F. 555 - Guchkov Alexander Ivanovich (documents for 1836-1917);

F. R-58 68 - Guchkov Alexander Ivanovich (documents for 1917

(1862-1936), political and statesman. One of the founders and leader of the Octobrist Party. Deputy and since 1910 chairman of the 3rd. In 1915-1917. Chairman of the Central Military Industrial Committee. In 1917, Minister of War and Marine. One of the organizers of the speech of General L.G. Kornilov. Since 1919 in exile.

A major Russian capitalist, founder and leader of the Octobrist Party. Born into a family of Moscow merchants. On November 10, 1905, together with other leaders of the minority of the Zemstvo-city congresses (Count P. A. Heyden and D. N. Shipov), he published an appeal to organize the Union of October 17 (the Octobrist Party). G. welcomed the defeat of the December armed uprisings of 1905, approved the introduction of courts-martial. In December 1906 he founded the newspaper "Voice of Moscow". In May 1907, he was elected a representative from trade and industry to the State Council, in November 1907 - to the 3rd, from March 1910 to March 1911 - its chairman During the First World War (in 1915- 1917) Chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee and member of the Special Conference on Defense, participated in the Progressive Bloc. After the February Revolution of 1917, in the first composition - the Minister of War and the Navy. In August 1917 - one of the organizers of the Kornilov region. After the victory of the October Revolution of 1917, he fought against Soviet power. In 1918 he emigrated to Berlin.

Literature:

1. Lenin V.I., Poln. coll. cit., 5th ed. (see Reference volume, part 2, p. 431);
2. The fall of the tsarist regime, vol. 6, M. - .T. , 1926.

(1862, Moscow - 1936, Paris), entrepreneur, public and political figure. Active State Councilor (1912), hereditary honorary citizen. Brother N.I. Guchkov and F.I. Guchkov. He graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University (1886), continued his education at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg (Germany). In 1888 he was elected an honorary justice of the peace in Moscow. In 1892-1893. in the staff of the Nizhny Novgorod governor. Then in the Moscow City Administration, in 1893-1897. member of the City Council. In 1897-1907. vowel of the City Duma. In 1895, together with his brother Fyodor, he made an unofficial trip through the territory of the Ottoman Empire, in 1896 he crossed Tibet. In 1897-1899. served as a junior officer in the protection of the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria. In 1900, together with Fedor, he volunteered on the side of the Boers in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. In 1903, he traveled to Macedonia during the anti-Turkish Ilinden uprising. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. as a representative of the Moscow City Duma and the Russian Red Cross Society and the Committee of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, he was in the theater of operations. Engaged in entrepreneurship. In 1902-1908. Director of the Moscow Accounting Bank, then a member of the boards of the Petrograd Accounting and Loan Bank of the Rossiya Insurance Company, A.S. Suvorin - "New time". In 1905, he participated in zemstvo-city congresses, in the creation of the "Union of October 17" (since 1906 he headed it). He was a supporter of a constitutional monarchy with a strong central executive power. He defended the principle of "a single and indivisible empire", but recognized the right of individual peoples to cultural autonomy. In December 1906 he founded the newspaper "Voice of Moscow". He supported the Stolypin reforms in the early years. He considered the introduction of courts-martial in 1906 as a form of self-defense of state power and protection of the civilian population during national, social and other conflicts. In May 1907, he was elected a member of the State Council from industry and trade, in October he renounced this title, was elected deputy of the 3rd, and headed the Octobrist faction. He was chairman of the Duma Defense Commission, in March 1910 - April 1911 chairman. He resigned in protest against the passage of the Zemstvo law in the western provinces, bypassing the Duma. In 1913, he was the initiator of the transition of the Union of October 17 into opposition to the government. At the beginning of the First World War, at the front, as a special commissioner of the Russian Red Cross Society, he organized hospitals. He was one of the organizers and chairman of the Central Military Industrial Committee, a member of the Special Conference on Defense. In 1915 he was re-elected to the State Council for the Commercial and Industrial Curia. With public accusations of the Rasputin clique, he aroused the discontent of the emperor and the court. At the end of 1916 - beginning of 1917. hatched plans for a dynastic coup (the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of the heir under the regency of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich) and the creation of a ministry responsible to the Duma from liberal politicians. As a representative (together with V.V. Shulgin) on March 2, 1917 in Pskov, he accepted the abdication of Nicholas II from power. After the February Revolution, the military and naval minister in the first composition of the Provisional Government (March 2-April 30), then a participant in the preparation of the speech L.G. Kornilov. During the Civil War, he provided active assistance to the white movement. After the end of the war - in exile in Paris.

Literature:

1. Buryshkin P.A., Moscow merchant, M., 1991;
2. A.I. Guchkov tells..., M., 1993;
3. Senin A.S., A.I. Guchkov, Questions of History, 1993, No. 7.

A.N. Bokhanov.

(October 14, 1862 - February 14, 1936). From a Moscow merchant family. He was educated at the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University (1886). Served briefly in Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow city institutions. Member of the Moscow City Council, then a member of the City Duma. He traveled a lot, served as a junior officer in the Cossack hundred in the protection of the CER (1897-1899), volunteered for the armed forces of the Boers in 1900 and was captured by the British, in 1903 he was in Macedonia during the uprising against the Turks. Since 1903, he has been married to Maria Ilyinichna Siloti, who belonged to one of the most famous families of the Moscow intelligentsia, the sister of the famous pianist and conductor A.I. Siloti. During the Russo-Japanese War, he was the chief commissioner of the Red Cross in the army. In 1902-1908. Director of the Moscow Accounting Bank, later engaged in entrepreneurial activity (by 1917 he had a fortune of about 600-700 thousand rubles). Acting State Councilor. One of the founders and since 1906 the chairman of the Central Committee of the party "Union of October 17". In 1907 he was elected to the State Council; then - in III, in connection with which he resigned as a member of the upper house. In the Duma, he headed the Octobrist faction - the backbone of the reformist course of P.A. Stolypin, as well as the State Defense Commission, which, despite the limited competence of the Duma in relation to the military and naval departments, he managed to turn into one of the most influential parliamentary commissions. From March 8, 1910 to March 14, 1911, the chairman (in June 1910 he resigned to serve his sentence for a duel with Duma deputy Count A.A. Uvarov, which took place on November 17, 1909; re-elected head of the chamber on October 29 1910). He left the chairman's chair in protest against the break in the meetings of the Duma, offensive to the dignity of the people's representation, carried out by Nicholas II at the insistence of Stolypin in order to pass, in addition to legislative institutions, the law on Zemstvos in the western provinces. I lost the elections to the IV Duma in Moscow. After the outbreak of World War II, he worked in the institutions of the Red Cross. Organizer of military-industrial committees and from July 1915 chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee. Since the summer of 1915, one of the leaders of the Progressive Bloc; was considered along with M.V. Rodzianko and Prince. G.E. Lvov as a possible opposition candidate for the post of prime minister. On September 16, 1915, he was elected by the commercial and industrial curia to the State Council, as a representative of which he became a member of the Special Meeting to discuss and unite measures for the defense of the state; at the meeting he headed the Commission for the revision of the norms of the sanitary and medical supply of the army. In 1916 - early 1917, a supporter of a radical way to resolve the country's internal problems, one of the organizers of the conspiracy, the purpose of which was to carry out a palace coup. February 28, 1917 Guchkov was elected a member of the Military Commission, then becomes the chairman of this commission. During the days of the revolution, he was commissar of the Provisional Committee for the War Ministry. March 2, together with V.V. Shulgin accepted in Pskov the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne. From March 2 to May 2, 1917, the Minister of War and the Navy in the first composition. One of the organizers of the so-called "Kornilov rebellion". After the October Revolution, a member of the white movement. Since 1919 in exile. Died in Paris. After his death in August-September 1936 the newspaper Latest News (Paris) published records of his oral stories-memoirs. The full version of the transcripts of these stories was published more than half a century later: Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov tells ..: Memoirs of the Chairman of the State Duma and the Minister of War of the Provisional Government. M., 1993.

Used materials of the bibliographic dictionary in the book: Ya.V. Glinka, Eleven years in the State Duma. 1906-1917. Diary and memoirs. M., 2001.

(1862-1936), Russian statesman. Born on October 14 (26), 1862 in Moscow in an old merchant family. Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University; continued education abroad; listened to lectures on history and philosophy at Berlin, Vienna and Heidelberg universities. Initially, he planned to devote his life to a scientific career, but then abandoned this intention. In 1885-1886. served in the Life Guards. In 1886 he was elected an honorary justice of the peace in Moscow. In 1892-1893. organized assistance to the starving in the Lukoyanovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province; awarded the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree. In 1893 he became a member of the Moscow City Council. In 1896-1897. was a comrade (deputy) of the Moscow mayor. In 1897, Mr.. elected vowel (deputy) of the Moscow City Duma.

He was risk averse. In 1895, at the height of the anti-Armenian hysteria in Turkey, he visited the territories of the Ottoman Empire inhabited by Armenians. In December 1897, he went to Manchuria and entered the service of the Cossack hundred guarding the Chinese-Eastern railway; in February 1899 he was transferred to the reserve for a duel and returned to Moscow. In the same year he left for South Africa, where he volunteered in the Anglo-Boer War on the side of the Boers; He was wounded in the leg and taken prisoner by the British. In 1900, he was in China during the Boxer Rebellion that broke out there against foreign domination. In 1903 he went to Macedonia to support local rebels in their struggle against Turkish oppression. After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, as a representative of the Moscow City Duma and assistant to the chief representative of the Red Cross Society in March 1904, he left for the front; with extraordinary energy he was engaged in the organization of the sanitary service; at the end of 1904 he became the chief commissioner of the Red Cross Society. After the defeat of the Russian army near Mukden in February 1905, in a situation of general panic and chaos, he refused to leave the non-evacuated wounded and handed over the hospital to the Japanese in accordance with international rules; a month later he was released by the Japanese command and returned to Moscow, where he was given a triumphant welcome.

During the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. took a moderate-liberal position, advocating a constitutional monarchy and the preservation of the territorial unity of the Russian Empire; led a debate with PN Milyukov on the issue of Poland's autonomy. Welcomed the Manifesto October 17, 1905; became one of the founders of the "Union of October 17" (the Octobrist party); participated in the development of its program documents. In 1906 he headed the "Union". He condemned the anti-government actions of the revolutionaries, spoke in favor of applying harsh measures to them, demanding the introduction of courts-martial.

He was defeated in the elections to the 1st and 2nd. In May 1907, with the support of P.A. Stolypin, he was elected to the State Council. In the summer of 1907, he received an offer from him to take the post of Minister of Trade and Industry, but put forward conditions unacceptable to the government. In October 1907, he became a deputy of the 3rd, heading the Octobrist faction and the state defense commission in it. Actively supported the policy of P.A. Stolypin. In November 1908, he openly demanded to cut the budget of the Grand Dukes, causing sharp dissatisfaction with Nicholas II. In March 1910 he was elected chairman of the Duma, but in March 1911 he resigned in protest against the government passing the Duma law on Zemstvos in the western provinces. In January 1912, he was one of the first to publicly condemn the sinister role of G.E. Rasputin at court; by this time he was finally convinced of the political doom of the Romanov dynasty. In the autumn of 1912, he failed in the elections to the 4th. In November 1913, at a meeting of the Octobrists in St. Petersburg, he announced the impossibility of reforming the regime and the proximity of a revolutionary explosion.

With the outbreak of the First World War, he went to the front as a special commissioner of the Red Cross Society; organized hospitals and provided them with everything necessary. In July 1915 he became chairman of the Central Military Industrial Committee. In September, he was elected to the State Council from the commercial and industrial curia. He took an active part in the activities of the Duma Progressive Bloc, which united nationalists, Octobrists, Cadets, Progressives and Centrists. Together with N.V. Nekrasov and M.I. Tereshchenko, he developed plans for a palace coup and the creation of a “responsible ministry”.

During the days of the February Revolution, on behalf of March 2 (15), 1917, together with V.V. Shulgin, he went to Pskov to Nicholas II to negotiate his abdication in favor of his son Alexei; the emperor, however, proclaimed his brother Michael as successor. Upon his return to Petrograd on March 3 (16), together with P.N. Milyukov, he tried to persuade Grand Duke Mikhail to accept the throne, but failed.

In the first composition, he took the post of military and naval minister. Cleaned up the high command. He carried out a number of measures to democratize the army (the abolition of titles, allowing military personnel to be members of political associations, the abolition of national, religious and estate restrictions on the production of officers, the introduction of an eight-hour working day at military factories). At the same time, he tried to prevent the creation of elected soldiers' committees in military units that controlled the decisions of commanders, thereby undermining the principle of one-man command, but was soon forced to sanction their existence. Being a supporter of the war to a victorious end, he made significant efforts to maintain discipline in the army and mobilize the military industry. In March, he appointed a "strong personality" - General L.G. Kornilov, commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District, who began to form special units to fight the revolution (detachments of "people's freedom"). In April, he suggested that the government resort to tough measures and liquidate the Soviets, but was supported only by Foreign Minister P.N. Milyukov. Realizing the impossibility of preventing the collapse of the armed forces, on April 30 (May 13) he resigned and returned to the post of chairman of the Central Military Industrial Committee.

In May 1917, he headed the Society for the Economic Revival of Russia, created to support moderate candidates in the elections to the Constituent Assembly and to combat the influence of socialists at the front. In the summer, together with M. V. Rodzianko, he founded the Liberal Republican Party, which he intended to turn into a "party of order." He actively supported L.G. Kornilov, who became the supreme commander in chief, in his plans to establish a military dictatorship. On August 14 (27), he spoke at the State Conference in Moscow condemning the economic chaos in the country and the impotence of state power.

During the Kornilov rebellion he was at the headquarters of the 12th Army; after the defeat of the rebellion on August 31 (September 13), 1917, he was arrested, but a few days later he was released by order of A.F. Kerensky. After living for some time in Petrograd, at the end of September he left for Moscow, and then for Kislovodsk.

The October Revolution met with hostility. In December 1917, he was one of the first to provide significant financial assistance to the Volunteer Army that was being formed on the Don; campaigned among the officers, urging them to join the ranks of volunteers. He was constantly under the threat of arrest by the Bolshevik authorities; in the spring of 1918 he went underground, and in June he fled from Kislovodsk. Hiding in Essentuki; in August, he made his way to Yekaterinodar, occupied by the Whites.

In the spring of 1919, on behalf of A.I. Denikin, he went to Europe as a diplomatic representative of the White movement. During his mission (1919-1920) he negotiated with the governments of France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, achieving significant assistance in arms, ammunition and food. After the defeat of A.I. Denikin and P.N. Wrangel, he remained in the West. Lived in Paris; since 1921 he was a member of the leadership of the Foreign Red Cross. He did not belong to any emigrant group, but he participated in many all-Russian political events. Considered by the monarchist wing of emigration as one of the main culprits for the fall of the Romanovs; in 1921 in Berlin he was even beaten by the extremist Taborissky. By the end of the 20s. retired from public political activity. Shortly before his death, he began to write memoirs, which remained unfinished. He died in Paris on February 14, 1936 and was buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery.

Literature:

Political history of Russia in parties and persons. M., 1993;

Baryshnikov M.N. A.I. Guchkov in emigration: understanding the path traveled // Foreign Russia. 1917-1939 St. Petersburg, 2002;

Kuznetsov D.A. Reform of the Russian army (March-April 1917). AI Guchkov // Russian civilization: history and modernity. Issue. 11, 2001;

Mozhaeva L.A. Guchkov Alexander Ivanovich (1862-1936) // New historical bulletin. 2002, no. 2;

Senin A.S. Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov. M., 1996.

Ivan Krivushin

(October 14, 1862, Moscow - February 14, 1936, Paris). Born into a merchant family. He graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, listened to lectures at Berlin, Vienna and Heidelberg Universities. In 1885-1886. served in the Life Guards. Since 1888, he was repeatedly elected an honorary magistrate in Moscow. Since 1893, a member of the Moscow City Council. In 1897, in the security guard of the CER; fired for the duel. In 1899 he volunteered in the Anglo-Boer War (on the side of the Boers). In 1900, he was in China during the popular, so-called boxing, uprising against the British, French, and Japanese. In 1903 he fought in Macedonia with the Turks. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Chief Plenipotentiary of the Russian Red Cross Society and the Committee of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who assisted the wounded. Member of congresses of zemstvo and city leaders. He was engaged in entrepreneurship (by 1917, the value of Guchkov's property was at least 600 thousand rubles). One of the founders of the Union of October 17 party, from 1906 he headed it. In 1907, in May, he was elected to the State Council, in October he refused this title, and was elected to the 3rd convocation. From March 1910 to March 1911 Chairman of the State Duma; had frequent conflicts with deputies (he challenged P.N. Milyukov to a duel, fought with Count A.A. Uvarov). Resigned in protest against holding P.A. Stolypin of the law on zemstvos in the western provinces, bypassing the Duma. In the 3rd, he headed the commission for state defense, the Octobrist faction. A supporter of a constitutional monarchy with a strong central executive power, "a single and indivisible empire", but recognized the right of individual peoples to cultural autonomy. He supported the reforms of P.A. Stolypin. He opposed abrupt changes in the political system, fraught, in his opinion, with the suppression of historical evolution, the collapse of Russian statehood. Since 1912 he was a real state councilor. From the beginning of the First World War, the authorized representative of the Russian Red Cross Society at the front organized hospitals. In July 1915 he headed the Central Military Industrial Committee (TsVPK). In September 1915 he was elected to the State Council. Later, Guchkov said that in the autumn of 1916 “the idea was born of a palace coup, as a result of which the sovereign would be forced to sign an abdication with the transfer of the throne to the rightful heir. Within these limits, the plan took shape very quickly. To this group of two initiators [N.V. Nekrasov and Guchkov - Author] in the coming days, joined by agreement with Nekrasov M. I. Tereshchenko, and thus formed the group that took upon itself the implementation of this plan ... joined our circle ... Prince Vyazemsky ”(D.L. - Author) (“A.I. Guchkov tells ... ""Questions of History", 1991, No. 7/8, pp. 205 - 206).

During the days of the February Revolution of 1917, he worked closely with. On the evening of March 2, together with V.V. Shulgin received a renunciation manifesto from Nicholas II. From March 2 to April 30, Military and Naval Minister of the Provisional Government. I tried, as far as possible, to maintain the established order of work of these departments. He refused the minister's salary (15,000 rubles) and funds issued for representation (12,000 rubles). In his orders, he replaced the concept of "lower rank" with "soldier", abolished titles in the armed forces; demanded to say “You” when addressing soldiers and sailors, allowed military personnel to participate in unions and societies “formed for a political purpose” (“Orders for the Military Department”, P., 1917, p. 104). He condemned Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet, which, in particular, placed the political actions of military personnel under the control of the Soviet and allowed the creation of elective committees of soldiers in units. The Council sought to obtain the signature of the Minister of War under Order No. 2 on certain matters of military service. Guchkov refused to sign it, but agreed to it after negotiations with the delegation executive committee Petrograd Soviet.

Later, while in exile, he wrote: “I still find it difficult to say whether I did the right thing. Of course, I could have completely broken with the Soviet of the RSD [Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. - Author], but, firstly, it is doubtful that he would have found support in such a step among his colleagues in the Provisional Government, and, secondly, in this first period of the revolution, when the St. Petersburg garrison did not obey, a break with the Soviet could have consequence of anarchy and civil war" (" Latest news”, 1936, September 23).

He advocated the abolition of national, religious, class and political restrictions in the production of officers, introduced an 8-hour working day at the artillery enterprises subordinate to the military department, allowed the workers of these enterprises to elect factory committees on the basis of universal, equal, direct and secret suffrage. In a private conversation, he expressed his views as follows: “A revolution is a serious disaster for the state. It disrupts life from its usual rails, the masses take to the streets. Now we must again drive the crowd into place, but this is not an easy task ”(Verkhovsky A.I. On a difficult pass, M., 1959, p. 228). On March 6, to revise military legislation and discuss reforms, he formed a commission that developed a regulation on military committees, and Guchkov approved it: elective committees with limited rights were introduced in companies, regiments and armies, mainly soldiers in composition. For this, Guchkov was criticized by the military command. Subsequently, justifying himself, he wrote: “The question before the Headquarters and the Military Ministry was not whether to introduce this revolutionary innovation into the army, but whether we were able to disband them” (“Latest News”, 1936, September 20).

Guchkov carried out a change of a significant part of the senior command staff of the army. In March-April, 8 commanders-in-chief of the armies of the fronts and army commanders, 35 commanders of corps (out of 68), 75 chiefs of divisions (out of 240) were replaced (Kavtaradze A.G. The June offensive of the Russian army in 1917, "Military History Journal" , 1967, No. 5, p. 113). He was a supporter of the continuation of the war "to a victorious end", which he called for in numerous appeals to the army. On March 8, at a meeting of all central commercial and industrial organizations, he declared: “We must instill in the public consciousness the conviction that our position is strong, and that no one, no conspirators of the world can knock us off it” (“Revolution of 1917”, volume 1, p. 77). Unlike P.N. Milyukov, did not openly support territorial claims against opponents. He was a supporter of "give battle to the Council." To this end, he recommended appointing General L.G. Kornilov. With its conduct in April, special units of the "People's Freedom" from the most "reliable" troops "to ensure the existing state system" began to form in parts of the district. On April 20, at a joint meeting of the executive committees of the State Duma and the Petrograd Soviet, the RSM declared that "the fatherland is in danger", that main reason this in the "stream of pacifist ideas" preached by socialist circles, that this preaching should be stopped and discipline should be restored with the help of the executive committee of the Soviet (see: "Revolution 1917", vol. 2, p. 51).

During the days of the April crisis, Guchkov's entourage hatched plans for a military conspiracy to eliminate dual power and establish a dictatorship. On the night of April 30, Guchkov wrote a letter to the head of government, Prince G.E. Lvov, in which he announced his resignation due to the conditions "in which the government is placed in the country." Being a supporter of "strong power", he emphasized that he could no longer "share the responsibility for the grave sin that is happening in relation to the Motherland" (" revolutionary movement in Russia in April 1917. The April Crisis”, M., 1958, p. 835 - 836). Since May, Guchkov again led the TsVPK. On May 4, at a private meeting of members of the State Duma, he said: “It is impossible to govern the state on the basis of an ongoing rally, and even less possible to command the army on the basis of rallies and collegiate meetings. But we not only overthrew the bearers of power, we overthrew and abolished the very idea of ​​power, destroyed the necessary foundations on which all power is built” (“The Bourgeoisie and the Landowners in 1917. Transcripts of Private Meetings of Members of the State Duma”, M.-L. , 1932, pp. 4, 5). “Our illness lies in the strange division between power and responsibility that we have established. Above - the fullness of power, but without a shadow of responsibility, and on the visible bearers of power - the fullness of responsibility, but without a shadow of power. If below they obey according to the formula that has been established with us, “insofar as”, then the collapse of government power is inevitable ... only a strong government can save the country from that anarchy, which in its further development will undoubtedly lead our Motherland to death ”(“ Revolution 1917", volume 2, p. 104).

Trying to oppose the Soviets, in May he headed the Society for the Economic Revival of Russia, which included A.I. Putilov, N.N. Kutler, N.A. Belotsvetov, B.A. Kamenka, A.P. Meshchersky, A.I. Vyshnegradsky. The society was supposed to help bourgeois candidates in the elections to the Constituent Assembly, but in fact its funds were used to support General L.G. Kornilov, when he became the Supreme Commander, to prepare a military coup. On May 20, at a congress of representatives of the Military Industrial Committees, he declared: “... the mechanical transfer of capital from one hand to another, the so-called nationalization and socialization, is an experiment unprecedented in the world, with the help of which any industry can be completely killed” (ibid. , p. 181). On August 14, Guchkov spoke at the State Conference in Moscow. He considered the cause of economic chaos and impotence of power to be the influence on all processes in the country of "Russian revolutionary democracy" with its "socialist ideology". Speaking about the position of the industrialists, Guchkov noted: “It is not so much personal and class interests that divide us, but a different understanding of the structure of human society and the tasks of the state” (“State Conference”, p. 288).

In the summer, together with M.V. Rodzianko founded the Liberal Republican Party, but it failed to develop a sufficiently popular program to bring the country out of the deepest crisis. After the defeat of the Kornilov rebellion (August 31), he was arrested, but on September 1, Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet of the RSD reported that A.F. Kerensky ordered the release of Guchkov.

On the eve of the October Revolution, he moved to the North Caucasus. One of the first industrialists gave M.V. Alekseev and A.I. Denikin money (10,000 rubles) for the formation of the Volunteer Army. In the spring of 1919, at the request of Denikin, he left for Western Europe to negotiate with the leaders of the Entente countries on supporting the White armies. After the end of the Civil War in exile, he did not join any of the political organizations, and jealously guarded his political independence.

Compositions:

A.I. Guchkov tells, "Questions of History", 1991, No. 7 - 10.

Literature:

1. Kerensky A.F., A.I. Guchkov, Sovremennye Zapiski, 1936, No. 60;
2. Bokhanov A.N., Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov. In the book: Historical silhouettes, M., 1991.

Who is Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov? Connoisseurs of history will say that this is a major politician, one of the chairmen of the pre-revolutionary State Duma, the leader of the Octobrists; someone will remember that it was he, together with Shulgin, who accepted the abdication manifesto from Emperor Nicholas II ... The figure is significant, but boring. A character from a history book. And only by looking beyond textbooks and scientific monographs, you can find out that he was a completely unusual, temperamental, bright person, an adventurer in the style of Jules Verne's novels and one of the most desperate and reckless people of his time.

Based on my essay "Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov" from the series "Portraits of Political Leaders", prepared for the publication "The State Duma of the Russian Empire. 1906-1917. Portraits of Political Leaders" (M.: Pashkov Dom, 2006).

So, what information can be obtained in dictionaries and reference books? Guchkov Alexander Ivanovich (1862 - 1936), industrialist, leader and ideologist of the Octobrist party ("Union of October 17th"), from 1910 to 1911 - Chairman of the III State Duma,
military and naval minister of the Provisional Government. Since 1919 in exile.
But what is behind these lines?
The Guchkov family came from serfs. The great-grandfather of Alexander Ivanovich, Fedor Alekseevich Guchkov, working at a weaving factory, managed to redeem himself and his family from serfdom back in the 18th century, went into business and soon had his own factory near Moscow, in Semenovsky. His silk shawls, produced in the "Turkish and French manner", were sold like hot cakes in Moscow shops. The French in 1812 plundered and burned Guchkov's factory, but he managed to quickly restore everything. Soon he built another factory in Preobrazhensky and opened his shops in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. Sometimes he himself traded in them, and it happened that he worked at the factory machine in the old fashioned way. True, Fedor Alekseevich was a convinced Old Believer who had great authority in his environment, and he was well known in the city (he was a trustee of the Old Believer cemetery and shelter), and this played a terrible role in his fate.

Fedor Alekseevich Guchkov

Under Nicholas I, the Old Believers were persecuted, and during the next wave of persecution, he, without abandoning the old faith, was exiled to Petrozavodsk. Fyodor Guchkov was already advanced in years and soon died in exile. His children and grandchildren were forced to convert to the same faith - the church was Old Believer in form, but subordinate to the Orthodox hierarchs. The Guchkov business flourished, and the family moved into the forefront of the Moscow merchant class. The grandfather of Alexander Ivanovich, Efim Fedorovich, became famous for building the largest textile factory in Moscow, but even more so for his charity work. Already at the age of 25, he became a trustee of cholera hospitals, visited patients daily in the wards and generously spent his own money to improve their situation and buy additional medicines. At his factory, he opened a hospital for workers and an orphanage with a school for homeless and orphaned children. In 1857, he was elected mayor, helped many petitioners and invested in various charitable projects.

Efim Fedorovich Guchkov
The father of Alexander Ivanovich was Ivan Efimovich Guchkov, the successor of the family business, a merchant of the first guild, a hereditary honorary citizen of Moscow, co-owner of the Efim Guchkov Sons trading company. He belonged to the number of enlightened merchants with liberal views. His wife was Russified Frenchwoman Coralie Vaquier. Alexander, by seniority, was the third son in their family ... All the children of the Guchkovs were distinguished by their bright characters and great activity in public affairs. However, the most famous of the whole family was Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov, whose name appears in all the works affecting historical events in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov

In 1896, the Guchkovs closed the factory, but continued their trading business, and by 1911, trading operations at the Guchkovs' firm had also ceased - the owners of large capitals, they could afford to live in other interests. However, Alexander Ivanovich held a high position on the board of the Rossiya insurance company, one of the largest financial organizations of that time.
« Of all the representatives of this family, the most famous were, of course, Alexander and Nikolai Ivanovichi., - wrote a connoisseur of the Moscow merchant environment, a contemporary of A.I. Guchkov Pavel Buryshkin. - By his participation in the Russo-Japanese War, and especially by his trip to the Boers who fought against the British, he [Alexander Ivanovich] became, as it were, a legend. I will note one thing here: despite the fact that he came from a genuine Moscow merchant class, he was not considered at all his own person, but a “politician”. He had genuine commercial and industrial qualifications, for example, he was the director of the board of the Rossiya insurance company, but he did not represent the Moscow merchants…»
Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov really broke away from his native merchant environment. He received an excellent education, graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, then attended several courses of lectures on history and philosophy at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg.
However, despite serious preparation, Guchkov's scientific career did not take place - more than scientific studies, he was attracted by travel and social activities.
After graduating from university, he was drafted as a private in the First Life Guards Yekaterinoslav Regiment. Having passed the exam, in October 1885 he became a junior non-commissioned officer, then he was transferred to the reserve, and a year later he was promoted to ensign of the army infantry reserve. The military career of the future expert of the State Duma on army affairs began rather late, and he never rose above the rank of warrant officer. But forever fell in love with everything connected with the army and military affairs.

Having retired, Guchkov was about to return to Moscow and became a member of the City Duma, but ... soon the craving for adventure won, and he went to dangerous journey on the lands of the Ottoman Empire, engulfed in the fire of the Turkish-Armenian conflict. Needless to say, on the way he actively intervened in what was happening, protecting the Armenians.
During the famine of the early 1890s, in 1892-1893, he worked on the staff of the Nizhny Novgorod governor, was in charge of the food and charity business in the Lukoyanovsky district, and proved himself to be an intelligent organizer in the field of charity. In January 1894, Guchkov was awarded the Order of Anna of the third degree “for special labors” in the fight against the “consequences of crop failure” (later, in 1896, “for labor and diligence” he was awarded the Order of Stanislav of the second degree).
Both awards were considered very honorable and opened up brilliant prospects for the recipient in the field of bureaucratic service. But Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov was not attracted to such a career. Craving for adventure leads him to the Far East...
In 1897, he was already a junior officer in the Cossack hundred, responsible for the protection of the CER, and was on patrol in the steppes of Manchuria.
Two years later, expelled from service for a duel (and according to another version - for trying to restore order in " housing issue» when distributing official housing for gentlemen-officers; however, both of these facts do not exclude each other - a duel could well have followed the apartment scandal), Alexander Guchkov volunteers for the armed forces of the Boers in South Africa and goes to fight in the Transvaal.

Episode of the Boer War

All of Russia warmly sympathized with the Boers and sang songs about the vicissitudes of their liberation struggle, but only a few daredevils ventured to the other side of the world to take part in this struggle personally. In 1900, the wounded Guchkov was captured by the British in the war zone. This wound caused a lameness that tormented Guchkov until the end of his days.
However, the captive, educated and fluent in languages, commands respect from opponents and seems to the British a real gentleman. The English officer, feeling a friendly disposition towards Alexander Guchkov, releases the prisoner of war on parole. Guchkov, who promised to leave South Africa, keeps his word. But he hasn't fought yet. Soon the restless Russian volunteer finds himself already in China, where the so-called "boxing" uprising against the British, French and Japanese is in full swing, and is actively involved in it...
But in Moscow, a bride was waiting for him! Alas, the return to Moscow was short-lived - in 1903, literally on the eve of his own wedding, Alexander Guchkov left for Macedonia to help the Slav brothers in the anti-Turkish uprising. The uprising broke out in the summer, on Ilyin's day (Ilin den in the South Slavic languages), which is why it was called Ilinden. Not all Macedonians and Bulgarians took part in it, but Guchkov could not stand aside.

A group of Macedonian rebels, 1903

The aggravation of the situation in the Balkans forced Guchkov to immediately abandon all business in Moscow and go there in August 1903. No persuasion of relatives, including the bride, did not change his intentions. Guchkov had a characteristic trait of character, which friends called inflexibility of will, and ill-wishers - stubbornness. Having made a decision, he tried with all his might to fulfill it, often, as it seemed from the outside, contrary to the logic and sound arguments of those around him. But if something seemed important to Guchkov, no one could dissuade him.

The bride of Alexander Guchkov Maria Siloti with her friend Vera Komissarzhevskaya

Subsequently, the wedding with his beloved woman nevertheless took place. Guchkov married Maria Ilinichna Ziloti (sometimes the surname is spelled as Zilotti), a representative of one of the most famous musical and artistic families in Moscow, the sister of the famous pianist and conductor A.I. Siloti.
But the marriage did little to change the character of Alexander Guchkov - with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, he, as the chief representative of the Red Cross Society, was sent to the army in the Far East. There was a lot of work - it was necessary to deploy field infirmaries, organize hospitals, organize the work of sanitary trains ... In many ways, this work was carried out on donations from private individuals and members of the imperial family. Guchkov also invested his own huge funds in helping the wounded.

The ambulance train of the Red Cross equipped at the expense of the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, sister of Nicholas II, is sent to the front of the Russo-Japanese War (Ksenia Alexandrovna in the center, in a coat and hat)

In May 1904, his wife came to Guchkov and began working at the Red Cross hospital in Harbin. But they rarely saw each other, Alexander Ivanovich constantly disappeared in positions from where it was necessary to take out the wounded, he was not up to quiet family joys. In the autumn of 1904, Maria Guchkova, who was expecting a child, returned to Moscow.
Devoting himself entirely to organizing assistance to the wounded, A.I. Guchkov constantly moved from place to place both in the rear and at the front line, solving many current issues of the work of sanitary detachments, locating hospitals and field infirmaries, providing them with the necessary equipment, medicines, and food.

A detachment of sisters of mercy departing for the front (in the center is John of Kronstadt, who came to bless and see off the girls)

In the spring of 1905, Guchkov was captured by the Japanese, as he considered it impossible for himself to retreat together with army units near Mukden, leaving the wounded in the hospital. Contemporaries assessed his decision only as a "feat of self-sacrifice." It was with these words that they spoke about the actions of A.I. Guchkov at a meeting of the Moscow City Duma on March 8, 1905. Even Witte, who did not like Guchkov, spoke of him: "a lover of strong sensations and a brave man."
In general, his heroic behavior made a strong impression not only on his compatriots, but also on the Japanese command. After being interned for one month, he was allowed to return to his own.
However, noble adventures in the style of Jules Verne's novels did not prevent Alexander Guchkov from establishing himself both as a major politician and as a businessman. In 1902-1908, with a break for military campaigns, uprisings and being in captivity, he served as director of the Moscow Accounting Bank, was awarded the title of a real state councilor, and was repeatedly elected a justice of the peace and a member of zemstvo organizations.
Returning from Japan in the midst of the revolutionary events of 1905, Guchkov turned out to be one of the most popular people in Moscow society and immediately took a leading position.
« His appearance in the meeting room of the City Duma on Resurrection Square on May 17 was triumphant. As the Duma journal testifies, “the vowels rose from their seats and with prolonged applause expressed their warm greetings to A.I. Guchkov. According to a contemporary, “by his participation in the Russo-Japanese War, and especially by his trip to the Boers who fought against the British, he, as it were, entered into a legend.", - wrote Alexander Bokhanov.

1905 Barricades on Sadovo-Kudrinskaya Street

In May 1905 A.I. Guchkov took part in the work of the zemstvo congress, held in Moscow. Contemporaries considered the controversy of the speeches to be extremely sharp and even oppositional in relation to the ruling regime. But still it was a very moderate opposition, not longing for global changes in the state structure of Russia.
The congress decided to send a deputation to the emperor in order to raise the question of the need to convene people's representatives and "establish a renewed social system" before Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich. The participants of the congress believed that the emperor could be persuaded to go for some democratization public relations and this must be resolved peacefully. Guchkov was delegated to negotiate with the tsar.

Zemsky Congress of 1905. Guchkov is in the second row, fourth from the left, twirling his mustache thoughtfully.

« Even Guchkov's bitterest, implacable enemy, Witte, admitted that "the Zemstvo congresses nominated Guchkov."
V.A. Maklakov, in his memoirs, published in Sovremennye Zapiski, recently cited the words of a “left European,” Professor M.M. Kovalevsky, said in the autumn of 1905: “I saw only one statesman at the congress: this is Guchkov", - recalled I.I. Tkhorzhevsky, chamberlain of the court and public figure.
A.I. Guchkov took a place among the liberal figures on the right flank, and on the issue of Poland's autonomy, which was hotly discussed in those days (it was a very painful issue both for the government and for society as a whole), entered into a rather sharp polemic with his long-standing acquaintance and university classmate P.N. Milyukov.
Guchkov was a supporter of the concept of a "single and indivisible empire", believing that any administrative and political isolation would inevitably lead to the collapse of the state. Milyukov later recalled:
«… A.I.Guchkov spoke sharply against Polish autonomy. I answered him no less sharply and ardently. This dispute caused a sensation in Moscow; it later served as the first line of the watershed between the Cadets and the Octobrists. Guchkov referred to the "organism" of his "soil" convictions, to which he contrasted my "bookishness"».
After the zemstvo congress in May 1905, Nicholas II invited A.I. Guchkov to himself for a conversation. Alexander Ivanovich's conversation with the tsar lasted several hours. The very fact of such an audience testified that the tsar was sympathetic to the position of A.I. Guchkov, declared by him publicly. Guchkov, returning from the battlefields, could tell a lot about the situation at the front and about the mood in society. He urged the sovereign to agree to the convocation of people's representatives.

In November 1905, at a meeting with N.I. Guchkov, elected mayor of Moscow, the tsar remarked: "Your brother was with us, and although he told us about the constitution, we liked him very much."
Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which promised imminent changes in the public life of Russia, A.I. Guchkov took it with enthusiasm, as did many liberals, intoxicated by the feeling of unprecedented freedom.
The October Declaration of 1905 became for A.I. Guchkov as a political landmark that determined his activities for many years. “I belong to that political party— he declared in the autumn of 1907, for which it is clear that the Manifesto of October 17 contains a voluntary act of the monarch's renunciation of the rights of unlimitedness ... We, constitutionalists, do not see in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in our country any belittling of royal power; on the contrary, in the renewed state forms, we see the introduction of this power to a new brilliance, the disclosure of a glorious future for it.

Manifestation October 17, 1905. The painting by Ilya Repin testifies to the enthusiasm with which the public perceived the manifesto of October 17

Hopes for the reorganization of public life, associated with the “freedoms” proclaimed in the manifesto, quickly led A.I. Guchkov in the front ranks of Russian politicians. The Octobrist Party, of which he became the leader, played a very significant role in the historical changes taking place in the country.
And the wife had grievances against Guchkov - in 1905 they had a son, and the father, disappearing at political congresses and party meetings, devoted less time to the family than he would like.
The assessments of Guchkov's personality left by his contemporaries, the perception of his talents and business qualities sometimes diverge in diametrically opposite directions.

Many considered him an outstanding orator, a person capable of subjugating wide social circles, and even a little afraid of his influence.
« An orator, as well as a politician, A.I. Guchkov was born. And he loved the very craft of politics. Loved too much! Passion for "craft" sometimes obscured even his clear head", - wrote Tkhorzhevsky. But some of those who knew Guchkov closely perceived him as a sophisticated master of behind-the-scenes intrigue, capable of incorrect actions to achieve his goals.
« Guchkov was undoubtedly an outstanding personality; an extremely keen observer, an intelligent and fascinating conversationalist, he was created for political intrigues, and in an atmosphere of conspiracy, covert intelligence and secret negotiations, he felt in his element. He should have served in the secret police, like the British Intelligence Service, and I am sure that as a spy-intelligence officer he would have had no equal. I do not deny his patriotism, on the indispensable condition that in this "Patria" he himself plays a leading role, for feature his character, which prevailed over all others, was his all-consuming, insatiable ambition. He was never satisfied with what he was doing at the moment, he needed to be the center of everything. When he was a special commissioner for one of the armies, he interfered in the affairs of the other. He had connections everywhere, in every military and industrial department, he was aware of everything that was happening. He told so many interesting things that it is no wonder that everywhere, at the front and in the rear, he was a welcome guest; they listened to him, one might say, hanging their ears, but, unfortunately, one thing was not taken into account: the partiality of his judgments and overexposure of the truth» , - claimed Princess Lidia Leonidovna Vasilchikova.
And yet, not all of his contemporaries highly appreciated Guchkov as a party leader, as an orator and as a public figure. Even the ability to subtle intrigue, not everyone recognized him. Political opponents on the left flank of the struggle spoke especially sharply about him.
L.D. Trotsky, who was a very popular publicist among the leftists, in his article "Guchkov and Guchkovshchina" remarked:
« Of the breed of small "great people" Guchkov fell into the case of history, because she had nothing to plug the hole of the most fruitless and mediocre era. Guchkov did not deliver a single significant political speech in his lifetime, did not write a single article, and, of course, did not perform a single action that could be recorded in the book of social development. As a historical gag, he appropriated external significance for himself with reservations to other people's actions, speeches and articles. Guchkov always beats around the bush, is thoughtfully silent, and if he speaks, then in oblique terms, avoids voting where possible or retreats to difficult moment to the Far East».
And he: " Guchkov is Guchkov. This name sounds like an echo of an entire era and like a political sentence.».

Leon Trotsky

In the revolutionary year of 1905 and in 1906, during the Duma elections, the moderate ideas of the Octobrists, headed by Guchkov, were not yet very popular. Society, intoxicated with freedom, was set up more radically. This probably explains the fact that A.I. Guchkov, having strong support from the “right” behind him, failed to get into either the First or the Second Duma, which was elected a few months later.
An old acquaintance, a representative of a well-known merchant family I.I. Shchukin wrote to him on February 20, 1906 from Paris: “Your will, and the most ingenious and well-intentioned attempts to restore the Tatar-Byzantine chambers in European style Modernism seems to me an unrealizable illusion… Russian liberalism, hurt from childhood, driven down and downtrodden, fearfully looks around, timidly, as if stealthily, now ascends to the political arena. So in the old days, quivering petitioners probably entered the waiting room of the formidable authorities. It is not for nothing that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish a party program from a humble petition..
In 1907, Guchkov was elected to the upper house of the Russian parliament - the State Council, and then went through the elections to the Third State Duma. Duma activity seemed to him more important and interesting, and Guchkov resigned as a member of the State Council.
The Octobrist faction in the Third Duma was quite influential, and A.I. Guchkov, as chairman of the party, rightfully took the leading position in it.

To be continued.

Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov was born on October 14, 1862 in Moscow, into a merchant family that has long been known in business circles in Russia. Even his great-grandfather, F.A. Guchkov, belonged to the "merchant class". His father, Ivan Efimovich Guchkov, in the 60s. 19th century was a guild warden of the Moscow merchant council, then a member of the Moscow branch of the Council of Trade and Manufactories, an honorary magistrate of Moscow, served in the Moscow office of the State Bank, was elected to the foreman of the Moscow Exchange Committee. His sons are the twins Nikolai and Fedor, Alexander and Konstantin - became the successors of his work.

Alexander graduated from the 2nd Moscow Gymnasium on Razgulay - one of the largest and most prestigious secondary educational institutions at the end of the 19th century, where many famous public figures of Russia, artists, writers, and scientists studied. A penchant for the humanities predetermined his further education. In the first half of the 80s. he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, then studied at Berlin and Heidelberg Universities in Germany.

Even at Moscow University, he was engaged in a circle of young historians, lawyers and economists. Here, well-known scientists subsequently presented their first essays: P.N. Milyukov, A.A. Kizevetter, S.F. Fortunatov, A.A. Manuilov, V.F. Deryuzhinsky. However, active nature Guchkov it was not enough to study science alone. In 1888 he was elected an honorary justice of the peace in Moscow. In the early 90s. worked in the state of the Nizhny Novgorod governor, in the Moscow city administration. From 1893 to 1897 was a member of the city government of Moscow. With his active participation, the construction of a water supply system in Mytishchi was completed and the first stage of sewerage was carried out. In 1894, for his distinction in service, he received his first award - the Order of St. Anne, III class.

In 1895 - 1896. Guchkov visited the Ottoman Empire, crossed Tibet. In the next three years, he served as a junior officer of the Cossack hundreds on the protection of the CER in Manchuria, on horseback traveled through China, Mongolia, and Central Asia. Volunteer participated in the Anglo-Boer War on the side of the Boers, where he was wounded and taken prisoner by the British. In 1903 he visited Macedonia during the anti-Turkish uprising.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Guchkov was at the front as a representative of the Moscow City Duma and the Committee led. book. Elizaveta Fedorovna, as well as Assistant to the Chief Plenipotentiary of the Russian Red Cross Society under the Manchurian Army. In the spring of 1905, he was captured by the Japanese, as he did not leave the wounded soldiers and stayed with them in the hospital.

In the revolutionary year of 1905 Guchkov emerged as one of the leading figures in the liberal movement. He took part in zemstvo-city congresses. He became one of the leaders of the right, "Shilovsky" minority. Participated in the creation of the Union of October 17, becoming its leader. Since 1906, he was the chairman of the Central Committee of this party, participated in the work of all its congresses and conferences, and became one of the ideologists of Octobrism. A supporter of a constitutional monarchy with a strong central executive power, as well as a "single and indivisible" empire, he nevertheless recognized the right of individual peoples to cultural autonomy. Guchkov considered it necessary to avoid sudden radical political changes, which, in his opinion, threatened the historical evolution of the country and could destroy the Russian statehood.

In 1907 Guchkov He was elected a deputy of the III State Duma, where he headed the Octobrist faction and the Duma Defense Commission. March 1910 to March 1911 was chairman of the State Duma. Initially, he supported the ongoing P.A. Stolypin's reforms. Being a direct and uncompromising person, he often came into conflict with Duma deputies, sometimes reaching clashes. So, he challenged P.N. Milyukov, fought with Count Uvarov. In several speeches devoted to the activities of the Military Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior and the Synod, he extremely sharply criticized the Grand Dukes and Rasputin, which angered the court camarilla, and in particular the emperor and empress themselves. His denunciations of Rasputin caused Alexandra Fedorovna is simply pathological hatred. Nicholas II, according to V.N. Kokovtsova, sincerely rejoiced at the failure Guchkov in the elections to the Duma in the fall of 1912.

When the First World War began, Guchkov As a representative of the Russian Red Cross Society, he actively engaged in organizing hospitals and providing them with medicines, equipment and personnel, often went to the front. He was one of the founders and chairman of the Central Military-Industrial Committee, a member of the Special Conference on the Defense of the State.

His popularity and influence during the war years increased dramatically. In September 1915, he was elected a member of the State Council from the commercial and industrial curia. The war finally convinced Guchkov in need of a change of power. He also spoke about this on October 25, 1915, at a meeting of the Presidium of the Progressive Bloc, which brought together many members of the State Duma and the State Council in opposition to power. "The regime of favorites, sorcerers, jesters," he called the ruling circles of Russia in 1915. Soon he came to the idea of ​​the expediency of a dynastic coup and the creation of a ministry of liberal politicians responsible to the Duma. However, at the same time, he did not raise the issue of ending the war and did not propose cardinal socio-economic reforms.

However, even the implementation of the existing projects did not have enough time, and mainly forces. Attempts Guchkov and his supporters to involve any of the senior officers in the plans to remove Nicholas II from public affairs were unsuccessful: most of the generals, even those who sympathized with the idea of ​​a coup, flatly refused to participate in the conspiracy. Later myself Guchkov noted that "Russian society, represented by its leading circles, was not sufficiently aware of the need for this coup" and provided an opportunity for "blind elemental forces: to carry out this painful operation" - the overthrow of the autocracy.

Myself Guchkov played a prominent role in the culminating act of the monarchist drama in late February - early March 1917. When the tsarist power in the capital fell, he insisted on "quickly and decisively" saving the monarchy: without entering into any agreements on this score with the Petrograd Soviet , go to Nicholas II in Pskov and "bring a renunciation in favor of the heir." March 2, together with V.V. Shulgin, he came to Pskov; accepting them, Nicholas II declared that he "decided to abdicate: in favor of his brother Michael." On March 3, the two of them brought a manifesto of renunciation to Petrograd. The former empress, having become simply a "Romanova citizen", was especially indignant at the fact that she accepted abdication among others and Guchkov, seeing it as an act of "terrible humiliation". (For the same reason, he will be completely assassinated in exile).

In the first composition of the Provisional Government (since March 2) Guchkov received the portfolio of military and naval minister. Observing the intensification of chaos in the country, he considered it possible and necessary to carry out tough measures to suppress the authorities parallel to the Provisional Government - the Soviets. But such tactics were not supported by the Cabinet of Ministers (with the exception of P.N. Milyukov), and on May 2, after the "April" crisis of the government, Guchkov resigned.

However, he did not leave public activity: he was a participant in the State Conference in Moscow (August 1917), a member of the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic (Pre-Parliament). He ideologically, organizationally and financially supported General L.G. Kornilov in his preparation for decisive measures to establish "order" in the country. After the liquidation of the Kornilov "mutiny" in August 1917, Guchkov was arrested among the main organizers and leaders, but a few days later he was released.

He left first for Moscow, and then, in the autumn of 1917, for Kislovodsk. In the south of Russia, finding themselves among the accumulation of many "former" who, after the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, were building various plans for the future, Guchkov longed first of all to "get even" with the new rulers of Russia.

He was one of the first, in December 1917, to give 10,000 rubles. General M.V. Alekseev, when he began to form the Volunteer Army.

Several times Soviet authorities tried to arrest Guchkov. In the spring of 1918, he went underground, hiding illegally near Essentuki, and then moved to Yekaterinodar.

As an authorized representative of the delegation of the Russian Red Cross Society to the Volunteer Army, he actively established its logistics. In Yekaterinodar, he became close to General A.I. Denikin, tried to figure it out himself and explain to Denikin the reasons for the unpopularity of the Volunteer Army among the people, psychological problems among the officers. In January 1919, at the request of Denikin, he left for Paris at the head of a special mission, which was entrusted with negotiating with the governments of Western European countries on the provision of material assistance to the All-Russian Union of Socialist Rights.

This departure, in fact, became for Guchkov emigration. On his way to France, he visited Turkey and Italy. In May, together with his former assistant in the Military Ministry, Lieutenant General D.V. Filatiev, he made a presentation at a joint meeting of representatives of Russian emigrant organizations and the Entente. At the talks in Paris with French President R. Poincaré, he tried to prove the need for expanding financial and military assistance to the white armies.

During the summer, he held talks with British leaders. In one of the letters to Denikin Guchkov noted that "by a happy coincidence" at the head of the War Department is W. Churchill - a man who fully understands the world danger of Bolshevism and considers England "the only savior of Russia." "A man of great will and strong adventurism, infinitely ambitious, who made the Russian question a springboard for a bold leap for power, but an unscrupulous man, with a great deal of adventurism:" - this is how he characterized Churchill. On the whole, however, he became convinced that intervention in Russia did not enjoy the support of the English people.

Corresponding with Churchill Guchkov demanded an early mortal blow to Bolshevism, the capture of Moscow and Petrograd. He proposed to recruit volunteers in Bulgaria to fight against Soviet power and to create an army from Russian prisoners of war who were abroad. Partly the result of his perseverance was the provision in August 1919 by the British government of financial assistance to the government of the Russian North-Western region, created under Yudenich in Reval (Tallinn).

Guchkov shared Churchill's opinion about the possibility of using the troops of Finland, Estonia and Latvia together with the White armies. He played an important role in organizing the transportation of weapons and ammunition for whites from England to the territory of the Baltic countries.

In August 1920 Guchkov briefly came to the Crimea to General P.N. Wrangel. A complete understanding was established between them. Wrangel considered Guchkov one of the most "serious" Russian politicians in exile. When the Russian army of Wrangel was evacuated from the Crimea to Turkey, Guchkov made a lot of efforts to preserve it.

In February 1921, in a letter to Wrangel Guchkov said that he and other former members of the State Council and deputies of the State Duma decided to create a Russian parliamentary committee in Paris in order to defend the "Russian cause" before the governments of Western European countries. Such committees appeared in Berlin, Constantinople, London. According to Guchkov, they included people "who were separated by a lot in the past, who will go their separate ways in the future, but who at the moment are bound by an ardent love for the Motherland."

In 1921 - 1923 Guchkov was the chairman of the Russian parliamentary committee. He tried not to miss a single opportunity to fight the Soviet regime. However, he was quite strict about the choice of allies and fellow travelers in this struggle. So, he warned Wrangel against any contacts with Yesaul G.M. Semenov, whose detachments were known for their atrocities against the civilian population in the Far East and stole part of the country's gold reserves sent by A.V. Kolchak to Vladivostok. In January 1922, Wrangel proposed Guchkov to mobilize emigre forces, mainly commercial, industrial and banking circles, to disrupt the economic negotiations planned in Genoa with Soviet Russia. But this venture failed due to serious disagreements that existed among the Russian emigration.

In April 1922 an attempt was made to unite the various emigrant commercial and industrial groups. A meeting of their representatives was held in Paris. Guchkov, knowing the situation, did not appear on it. The Ryabushinsky brothers, speaking at this meeting, emphasized that the army, the commercial and industrial class and the intelligentsia would be the basis of the future Russia. It was puzzling Guchkov. He asked Wrangel in a letter: where did the workers and peasants go? S.N. Tretyakov, on the sidelines of the meeting, declared that Russia would not be able to get stronger without American capital, and Wrangel was not a suitable candidate for America to be the all-Russian leader. Ryabushinsky, declaring his disposition towards the army, at the same time directly asked not to demand money. Guchkov I clearly saw that Russian emigre entrepreneurs were afraid to take on any moral and material obligations, to compromise themselves with a connection with Wrangel. Therefore, he advised Wrangel not to establish strong ties, but also not to break with anyone.

At the end of 1922 Guchkov acted as the actual initiator of a coup d'état in Bulgaria, considering this the only way to save the units of the Russian army located there (Wrangel's army, numerically superior to the armed forces of Bulgaria itself, posed a serious danger to the reformist government of A. Stamboliysky, formed mainly from members of the Bulgarian Agricultural People's Union). Russian officers took part in the preparation of the coup, and on June 9, 1923, the government of Stamboliysky was overthrown.

From the end of 1922 Guchkov began to insist on shifting the center of gravity of the struggle against Bolshevism to Russia. He suggested "penetrating" into Russia by all means: "individually, in groups, in the form of enterprises, trade, industrial, publishing, etc.", which, in his opinion, should have helped to get "local figures." At the same time, he emphasized the importance of carrying out terror, which could disorganize Soviet power.

In May 1923, in Lausanne, white terrorists killed a Soviet diplomat, a Bolshevik V.V. Vorovsky. The Swiss court acquitted the killers. Behind the scenes, both before and after "all this staging," he was very active Guchkov. With the help of intermediaries, he collected some sums of money, gave instructions to a group of emigrants to draw up an "indictment" of the Soviet government, which was to be presented at the trial by the Swiss lawyer T. Ober (according to Guchkov, "a prominent creator of Swiss fascism").

When in the summer of 1924, on the initiative of T. Aubert, the League of Struggle against the Third International was created, in the leadership of which Russian emigrants participated, Guchkov called for assistance to the "white international" Aubert.

Assessing the situation in Russia that had developed with the transition to the New Economic Policy and in connection with the aggravation of the struggle within the top of the RCP (b) after the death of Lenin, he considered it possible to establish a military dictatorship there. In his opinion, this could be the regime of military and civilian "specialists", possibly "right-wing communists", to which he attributed Trotsky, considering him "a man of real politics." According to Guchkov, Trotsky had every chance to eliminate Stalin, relying on the Red Army, but lost this fight due to slowness and hesitation.

The anti-Bolshevik struggle was one of the main activities Guchkov in exile. In correspondence with P. Sorokin, he asked to find persons or organizations in America that could help in this matter. In 1927, the anti-Soviet campaign intensified in the West. This was facilitated by the British government, which made accusations against the USSR in February. In April, in a letter to P.B. Struve Guchkov set the task as concretely as possible: "physically destroy the handful ruling from the Kremlin." And he determined the method: "collective political murder." He considered it quite justified from the point of view of morality and for reasons of patriotism and expediency. He advised to establish contacts with "fighters" inside Russia, even if not like-minded people, but simply fellow travelers, to help with everything that the emigration has: means, connections, authority. At the same time, he bitterly acknowledged the helplessness, weakness of the emigrants, their lack of burning and readiness for sacrifice.

In exile Guchkov withdrew from political organizations. Moreover, he very persistently guarded his political independence. This, according to Milyukov, caused more than distrust. But myself Guchkov admitted that it "simply not enough."

He condemned the governments of European states for recognizing the Soviet government and being ready for economic cooperation with the USSR. To counter this initiative Guchkov An Information Bureau was formed at the Russian Economic Bulletin in Paris. It was supposed to collect information about the economic situation in the USSR and supply this information to interested individuals and organizations. Together with A.I. Guchkov included: N.I. Guchkov, N.D. Avksentiev, N.A. Basili, A.P. Bogaevsky, V.M. Zenzinov, A.V. Kartashev, A.I. Konovalov, S.N. Tretyakov, S.E. Trubetskoy, N.S. Timashev and others.

In 1931, at the initiative of scientists from Stanford University, a book by G.Ya. Sokolnikov "Financial Policy of Soviet Russia", covering the new economic policy and the success of monetary reform in the USSR. It caused a great resonance in the West. And Guchkov, seeking to "correct the evil that the book has done," he asked Russian emigrants in the United States to find the strength and means to publish an alternative book, where he advised to include materials from the 1st Soviet five-year plan, in which he saw "the whole meaning of Russian communism."

Guchkov, living first in Germany and then in France, participated in many all-Russian congresses, often traveled to countries where compatriots lived, worked in the Main Directorate of the foreign Russian Red Cross Society. In the early 30s. he headed the work of coordinating assistance to the starving in the USSR.

The action to help the starving was one of the largest among the Russian emigration. March 26, 1934 on the initiative Guchkov The Main Directorate of the Russian Red Cross Society appealed to Russian emigrants to help the population of the USSR. By this time, the Main Committee for Assistance to the Starving in Soviet Russia was working in Yugoslavia, the Union of German Citizens - emigrants from Russia and the Ukrainian Committee for Assistance to the Starving were created in Germany, and the Committee for Assistance to the Starving in the Soviet Union was established in Austria. In May 1934, an organizational meeting was held in Paris, with the aim of creating a special body for coordinating assistance to the starving. It was attended by representatives of about 20 emigrant organizations - professional, women's, youth, artists, etc. At the same time, a number of organizations of Russian emigrants declined to participate in the meeting under various pretexts. All this testified to serious contradictions within the emigration in relation to the USSR. The meeting decided to coordinate the activities of all participating organizations, based on the principles of humanism and mercy.

Guchkov constantly and with keen attention studied all the information about the situation in the USSR, monitored the situation among the Russian emigration, analyzed the attitude of leading Western politicians towards the Soviet government, especially T. Roosevelt. He carried on an active correspondence, published numerous articles, made various notes and references on these issues.

Russian emigration, and Guchkov including, anxiously followed the developments in Germany after Hitler came to power. Guchkov saw the threat of a new war. As in the spring of 1917, he was convinced that another world cataclysm was approaching. True, he hoped for the common sense of the German industrialists and financiers, that they would be able to "remove" Hitler themselves. Many immigrants believed that Guchkov exaggerates the danger. Guchkov he said that they only lull themselves with dreams and hopes for the preservation of peace. “The point is not whether there will be a war or not, this dilemma is no longer there!” he declared. “In fact, the war has already taken its fatal place on the political map of the world. There is also no doubt that in the new inevitable conflict, the main and main opponents will be the Soviet Union and Germany." But he avoided the question of which side the Russian emigration should be on in this war.

By the beginning of the 30s. Guchkov became one of the most serious Russian scholars in the West. He sent his information and his conclusions to the governments and parliaments of Western European countries, he corresponded with well-known politicians: G. Dumerg, K. Kramarzh and others.

The intelligence services of the USSR, which managed to penetrate the military and political centers of emigration, were keenly interested in the activities Guchkov and his environment. Soviet intelligence agents were able to recruit his daughter Vera. Apparently, she agreed to cooperate with them not for material reasons, but for ideological ones: her husband, the Englishman R. Traill, was a communist, fought in Spain against the Nazis and died there in 1937. Deep patriotism could also play its role, common to all Guchkov: many emigrants saw how the positions of the USSR on the world stage were being strengthened, how their homeland was once again entering the ranks of the leading world powers. In the late 1930s, at the height of the repressions, she visited the USSR. According to reports, N.I., People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, saved her from arrest. Yezhov, forcing her to leave. (The victory of the USSR in World War II convinced her of the correctness of her choice, and she wrote a book full of praises to the USSR and Stalin. She remembered Yezhov with special gratitude. Only in the 60s she gradually became disillusioned with the communist ideology. She died V.A. Guchkov in 1986, was buried at Cambridge Cemetery in the UK).

In the winter of 1935, Alexandra Ivanovich Guchkov his health deteriorated greatly, but he was not up to treatment. He agreed to take medicine, but refused to go to the hospital, because it meant for him to break the usual image of science. Only in October 1935 did he agree to undergo a course of examination. Doctors at the Boucicault Hospital diagnosed him with bowel cancer. He did not experience severe pain and therefore did not stop vigorous activity. He was even transferred to the private hospital Mirabeau, where there was a freer regime. He dictated letters, spoke on the telephone (there was a telephone on the table by the bed), and communicated with visitors. The diagnosis was hidden from him, and Guchkov was convinced of a speedy recovery. He even set a condition for doctors: "I need to be able to work. This is my condition. I don't need an existence without work."

And in the last months of A.I. Guchkov continued to reflect on the question: was the revolution and civil war in Russia inevitable? He believed that there was little chance of avoiding them because of the "weak monarch" and the undermined moral foundations of the ruling class. He wrote memoirs, but they remained unfinished:

Guchkov died in Paris on February 14, 1936, according to Milyukov, "lonely, silent, among strangers and not completely unraveled." The funeral liturgy was held in the temple Alexandra Nevsky. It was attended by almost all prominent representatives of emigration. Both "left" and "right" politicians, military men, writers and artists came to honor his memory: N.D. Avksentiev, M.A. Aldanov, V.L. Burtsev, M.V. Vishnyak, Prince A.D. Golitsyn, Prince V.V. Vyazemsky, R.B. Gul, A.I. Denikin, P.N. Milyukov, B.I. Nikolaevsky, N.V. Plevitskaya and many others. Body Guchkov was cremated, and the urn with the ashes was installed in the columbarium at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Compositions:

Guchkov A.I. Collection of speeches in the Third State Duma (1907 - 1912). St. Petersburg, 1912. A.I. Guchkov tells. M., 1993.

Memories:

Rodzianko M.V. The collapse of the empire. 2nd ed. L., 1929.
Kerensky A.F. A.I. Guchkov//Modern notes. 1936.? 60.
Shulgin V.V. Days // Shulgin V.V. days. 1920. M., 1989.