Stolypin Pyotr Arkadyevich is an outstanding reformer, a statesman of the Russian Empire, who at various times was the governor of several cities, then became the Minister of the Interior, and at the end of his life served as Prime Minister. The agrarian reform of Pyotr Stolypin and the law on courts-martial were for their time, if not a breakthrough, then, in any case, a saving raft. Many decisions in the biography of Pyotr Stolypin are considered to be the most important for the end of the revolution of 1905-1907.

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The personality of Pyotr Stolypin is characterized by his fearlessness, because more than a dozen attempts were made on the life of this man, but he did not deviate from his ideas. Many of Stolypin's phrases have become winged, for example, "We need a great Russia" and "Do not intimidate!". When Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin was born, his noble family had existed for more than 300 years. A rather close relative of the statesman was the great Russian poet.

Stolypin with his brother Alexander as a child | Memory site

Stolypin Petr Arkadievich himself, whose biography began in 1862, was born not in Russia, but in the German city of Dresden, which was then the capital of Saxony. Relatives of his mother, Natalya Gorchakova, lived there, and the mother of the future reformer also visited them. Peter had brothers Mikhail and Alexander, as well as a sister, with whom he was very friendly.

Stolypin: at the gymnasium and at the university

The boys grew up in the Moscow province, and then in the estate in the Kovno province. In the gymnasium, teachers singled out Peter's prudence and his strong-willed character. After receiving a matriculation certificate, Pyotr Stolypin briefly rested on his parents' estate, and then left for the capital, where he became a student of the natural department of the St. Petersburg Imperial University. By the way, one of his teachers was a famous scientist. After receiving an agronomist's diploma, Pyotr Stolypin's service in Russia began.

Activities of Pyotr Stolypin

As a brilliant university graduate, Petr Arkadyevich gets a job as a collegiate secretary and makes an outstanding career. In three years, Stolypin rose to the rank of titular adviser, which was an unprecedented achievement in such a short period of time. Soon he was transferred to the Ministry of the Interior and appointed chairman of the Kovno Court of Conciliators. Perhaps a modern person needs to be briefly explained: Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin was actually appointed to a general's position, being in the rank of captain, and even at the age of 26 years.

Chairman of the Kovno Court | Library LitRes

In his 13-year service in Kovno, as well as during his governorship in Grodno and Saratov, Stolypin paid much attention to agriculture, studied advanced methods in agronomy and new varieties of grain crops. In Grodno, he managed to liquidate the rebel societies in two days, opened vocational schools and special women's gymnasiums. His success was noticed and transferred to Saratov, a more prosperous province. It was there that the Russian-Japanese war found Peter Arkadyevich, followed by the 1905 riot. The governor personally went out to calm the crowds of rebellious countrymen. Thanks to the energetic actions of Stolypin, life in the Saratov province gradually calmed down.

Governor of Grodno | Russian newspaper

Twice he expressed his gratitude to him, and for the third time he appointed him Minister of the Interior. Today you might think that this is a great honor. In fact, two predecessors in this post were brutally murdered, and Pyotr Arkadyevich was not eager to become the third, especially since four attempts had already been made on him, but there was no choice. The complexity of the work lay in the fact that the main part of the State Duma was revolutionary and openly opposed. Such a confrontation between the executive and legislative branches created enormous difficulties. As a result, the First State Duma was dissolved, and Stolypin began to combine his position with the post of prime minister.

Saratov governor | Chronos. The World History

Here the activity of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin was again energetic. He showed himself not only as a brilliant orator, many of whose phrases became winged, but also as a reformer and a fearless fighter against the revolution. Stolypin passed a number of bills that went down in history as the Stolypin agrarian reform. He remained in the post of prime minister until his death, which occurred as a result of another assassination attempt.

Reforms of Pyotr Stolypin

As Prime Minister Pyotr Arkadevich Stolypin, the reforms began to be implemented immediately. They concerned bills, foreign policy, local government, and the national question. But the agrarian reform of Stolypin acquired the leading importance. The prime minister's main idea was to motivate peasants to become private owners. If the former form of the community fettered the initiative of many hard-working people, now Pyotr Arkadyevich hoped to rely on the prosperous peasantry.

Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin | Russian newspaper

To carry out such plans, it was possible to make very profitable bank loans for private peasants, as well as to transfer large uncultivated state territories in Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia and the North Caucasus into private hands. The second important reform was the zemstvo, that is, the introduction of local governments, which reduced the influence of wealthy landowners on politics. This reform of Pyotr Stolypin was very difficult to implement, especially in the western regions, where residents are accustomed to relying on the gentry. The idea was also opposed in the Legislative Council.

Portrait "Stolypin", artist Vladimir Mochalov | Wikipedia

As a result, the prime minister even had to give an ultimatum to the emperor. Nicholas II was ready to deal very harshly with Stolypin, but Empress Maria Feodorovna intervened, persuading her reigning son to accept the conditions of the reformer. Thanks to the third, industrial reform, the rules for hiring workers, the length of the working day, insurance against illness and accidents were introduced, and so on. Another equally important reform of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin concerned the national question.

Portrait of Pyotr Stolypin | Russian planet

He was a supporter of the unification of the peoples of the country and proposed the creation of a special ministry of nationalities, which could find a compromise to meet the interests of each nation without humiliating their culture, traditions, history, languages, religion. The Prime Minister believed that in this way it was possible to eradicate interethnic and religious strife and make Russia equally attractive to a person of any nationality.

The results of Stolypin's reforms

Evaluation of Stolypin's activities both during his life and later by professional historians was ambiguous. Pyotr Arkadyevich had and still has both ardent supporters, who believe that he was the only one who could prevent the subsequent October Revolution and save Russia from many years of wars, and no less ardent opponents, who are sure that the prime minister used extremely cruel and harsh methods and does not deserve praise . The results of Stolypin's reforms were carefully studied for decades, and it was they that formed the basis of Perestroika. Stolypin's phrases about "Great Russia" are often used by modern political parties.

Reformer of the Russian Empire | Chronos. The World History

Many are interested in relations and Stolypin. It is worth noting that they treated each other sharply negatively. Pyotr Arkadievich even prepared a special report for the emperor on the negative impact of Rasputin's activities on the Russian Empire, to which he received the famous answer: "Better a dozen Rasputins than one hysterical empress." Nevertheless, it was at the request of Stolypin that Rasputin left not only St. Petersburg, but also Russia, going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and returned back only after the death of the famous reformer.

Personal life

Pyotr Stolypin married at the age of 22, while still a student, which was nonsense for that time. Some contemporaries of Stolypin say that he was chasing a very solid dowry, while others argue that the young man defended the honor of the family. The fact is that the wife of Pyotr Arkadievich Stolypin was the bride of his older brother Mikhail, who died from wounds received in a duel with Prince Shakhovsky. And on his deathbed, allegedly, the brother asked Peter to take his betrothed as a wife.

Pyotr Stolypin and his wife, Olga Neidgardt | Russian newspaper

Whether this story is a legend or not, Stolypin did indeed marry Olga Neidgardt, who was the maid of honor of Empress Maria Feodorovna, and was also the great-great-granddaughter of the great commander Alexander Suvorov. This marriage turned out to be very happy: according to contemporaries, the couple lived in perfect harmony. The couple had five daughters and one son. The only son of Pyotr Stolypin, whose name was Arkady, would later immigrate and become a famous publicist writer in France.

Death

As mentioned above, Pyotr Stolypin was assassinated ten times to no avail. Four times they wanted to kill him when Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin was the governor of Saratov, but those were rather not organized acts, but outbursts of aggression. But when he headed the government, the revolutionaries began to plan his assassination more carefully. During the stay of the Prime Minister on Aptekarsky Island, an explosion was carried out, in which Stolypin himself was not injured, but dozens of innocent people were killed.

Painting "Murder of Stolypin" by Diana Nesypova | Russian folk line

It was after this event that the government issued a decree on "quick-determining" courts, popularly called "Stolypin's tie." This meant a quick death penalty for terrorists. Several subsequent conspiracies were uncovered in time and also did no harm to the reformer. However, nothing could save Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin from the 11th, committed in the autumn of 1911.

Death of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin | To remember

He, along with the imperial family, was in Kyiv on the occasion of the opening of the monument. There, a secret informant, Dmitry Bogrov, received a message that terrorists had arrived in the capital of Ukraine to kill him. But in fact, the attempt was conceived by Bogrov himself, and not on the emperor, but on Stolypin. And since this man was trusted, he was given a pass to the theater box, where there were high-ranking persons. Bogrov shot twice at Pyotr Arkadyevich, who died four days later from his wounds and was buried in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

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STOLYPIN Petr Arkadievich

and Minister of the Interior of Russia in 1906-1911

Stolypin fought the first Russian revolution and its consequences so zealously that he earned among the people the terrible nicknames of the executioner and hangman, and the noose on the gallows was dubbed "Stolypin's tie." Here are the statistics of executions carried out during his premiership (according to Professor M. N. Gernet): 1900 - 574 people, 1907 - 1139 people, 1908 - 1340 people, 1909 - 717 people, 1910 city ​​- 129 people, 1911 - 73 people.

In his life, Stolypin himself often walked next to death. To begin with, he, having married the bride of his brother, who was killed in a duel, then shot with his brother's killer. When Stolypin was governor of Saratov, a man with a revolver attacked him. Stolypin coolly opened his coat and said: "Shoot!" The attacker, confused, released his weapon. Another time, the governor was not afraid to go to the station, where an ignorant crowd wanted to tear the zemstvo doctors to pieces in order to protect them. Stones were thrown from the crowd, and one of them seriously injured Stolypin's arm.

Stolypin's phrase about the terrorist actions of the revolutionaries is widely known: "Do not intimidate!" Former Foreign Minister L. P. Izvolsky recalled: “It is curious to note that, meeting danger with amazing courage and even flaunting it at times, he always had a presentiment that he would die a violent death. He told me about this several times with amazing calmness.”

When Stolypin became chairman of the Council of Ministers, in August 1900, revolutionary terrorists blew up his dacha. The explosion killed 27 people, injured the prime minister's son and daughter. Stolypin himself was knocked to the floor by the force of the explosion, but was not injured. A week after the explosion, the government issued a decree on courts-martial. In the eight months this decree was in force, 1,100 people were executed in Russia. However, these executions did not help either Russia or Stolypin.

September 1, 1911 at the Kiev Opera House, in the presence of Tsar Nicholas II and his daughters, Stolypin was shot twice from a revolver by Dmitry Bogrov ( double agent, who worked simultaneously for the Social Revolutionaries and the police). During the assassination attempt, Stolypin stood leaning against the ramp, he had no guards.

The wounded prime minister turned to the box in which the tsar was, and crossed it with a trembling hand. Then, with unhurried movements, he laid his cap and gloves on the orchestra barrier, unbuttoned his coat and collapsed into an armchair. His white tunic quickly began to fill with blood.

When Stolypin was taken to one of the theater rooms and hastily bandaged, it turned out that he was saved from instant death by the cross of St. Vladimir, which was hit by the first bullet. She crushed the cross and went away from the heart.

But still, this bullet pierced the chest, pleura, abdominal obstruction and liver. Another wound was not so dangerous - a bullet pierced the left hand.

Doctors ordered to place the wounded prime minister in Dr. Makovsky's clinic. Stolypin's agony lasted four days. In the end, he began to have a terrible hiccups. Then he fell into oblivion, from which he never came out. On September 5, doctors pronounced him dead.

3rd Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire
	Nicholas II
Predecessor:	Ivan Logginovich Goremykin
Successor:	Vladimir Nikolaevich Kokovtsov
24th Minister of the Interior of the Russian Empire
Predecessor:	Petr Nikolaevich Durnovo
Successor:	Alexander Alexandrovich Makarov
24th Saratov Governor
Predecessor:	Alexander Platonovich Engelhardt
Successor:	Sergei Sergeevich Tatishchev
27th Grodno Governor
Predecessor:	Nikolai Petrovich Urusov
Successor:	Mikhail Mikhailovich Osorgin
Religion:	Orthodoxy
Birth:
Buried:	Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Kyiv
	Arkady Dmitrievich Stolypin
	Natalia Mikhailovna Gorchakova
	Olga Borisovna Neidgardt
	Son: Arkady Daughters: Maria, Natalya, Elena, Olga and Alexandra
Education:	Imperial Saint Petersburg University
Academic degree:	Candidate of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, Department of Natural Sciences, dissertation on economic statistics

Origin and early years

Service in Kovno

Grodno Governor

Saratov Governor

Minister of Internal Affairs

Prime Minister

Law on courts-martial

Finnish question

Jewish question

agrarian reform

Foreign policy

Assassination attempts on Stolypin

Explosion on Aptekarsky Island

Assassination attempt in Kyiv and death

Russian

Foreign

Performance evaluation

Idioms

Stolypin and Rasputin

Stolypin and L. N. Tolstoy

Stolypin and Witte

In literature

In numismatics

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin(April 2, 1862, Dresden, Saxony - September 5, 1911, Kyiv) - statesman of the Russian Empire. AT different years served as district marshal of the nobility in Kovno, governor of Grodno and Saratov, minister of the interior, and prime minister.

AT Russian history At the beginning of the 20th century, he is known primarily as a reformer and statesman who played a significant role in the suppression of the revolution of 1905-1907. In April 1906, Emperor Nicholas II offered Stolypin the post of Minister of the Interior of Russia. Shortly thereafter, the government was dissolved along with the State Duma of the 1st convocation, and Stolypin was appointed as the new prime minister.

In his new position, which he held until his death, Stolypin passed a number of bills that went down in history as the Stolypin agrarian reform, the main content of which was the introduction of private peasant land ownership. The law on courts-martial adopted by the government increased the penalties for serious crimes. Subsequently, Stolypin was sharply criticized for the rigidity of the measures taken. Among other activities of Stolypin as prime minister, the introduction of zemstvos in the western provinces, the restriction of the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Finland, the change in electoral legislation and the dissolution of the Second Duma, which put an end to the revolution of 1905-1907, are of particular importance.

During speeches to the deputies of the State Duma, Stolypin's oratorical abilities were manifested. His phrases “Do not intimidate!”, “First calm, then reforms” and “They need great upheavals, we need a great Russia” became winged.

Of the personal traits of his contemporaries, his fearlessness was especially distinguished. 11 attempts were planned and made on Stolypin. During the latter, committed in Kyiv by Dmitry Bogrov, Stolypin was mortally wounded, from which he died a few days later.

Biography

Origin and early years

Pyotr Arkadievich came from a noble family that already existed in the 16th century. The ancestor of the Stolypins was Grigory Stolypin. His son Athanasius and grandson Sylvester were Murom city nobles. Sylvester Afanasyevich participated in the war with the Commonwealth in the second half of the 17th century. For merits he was awarded an estate in the Murom district.

His grandson Emelyan Semyonovich had two sons - Dmitry and Alexei. Alexei, the great-grandfather of the future prime minister, had six sons and five daughters from his marriage to Maria Afanasyevna Meshcherinova. One of the sons, Alexander, was Suvorov's adjutant, the other - Arkady - became a senator, two, Nikolai and Dmitry, rose to the rank of generals. One of the five sisters of grandfather Pyotr Stolypin married Mikhail Vasilyevich Arsenyev. Their daughter Maria became the mother of the great Russian poet, playwright and prose writer. Y. Lermontov. Thus, Pyotr Arkadyevich was Lermontov's second cousin. At the same time, in the Stolypin family, the attitude towards their famous relative was restrained. So, the daughter of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, Maria, writes in her memoirs:

The father of the future reformer, Artillery General Arkady Dmitrievich Stolypin, distinguished himself during Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878, after which he was appointed governor of Eastern Rumelia and the Sanjak of Adrianople. From his marriage with Natalia Mikhailovna Gorchakova, whose family goes back to Rurik, the son Peter was born in 1862.

Pyotr Stolypin was born on April 2 (14), 1862 in Dresden, the capital of Saxony, where his mother went to visit relatives. A month and a half later - on May 24 - he was baptized in Dresden Orthodox Church.

He spent his childhood first in the estate of Serednikovo in the Moscow province (until 1869), then in the estate of Kolnoberge in the Kovno province. The family also traveled to Switzerland.

When the time came to assign children to the gymnasium, Arkady Dmitrievich bought a house in nearby Vilna. The two-storey house with a large garden was located on Stefanovskaya street (now Svento Stepapono street). In 1874, 12-year-old Peter was enrolled in the second grade of the Vilna gymnasium, where he studied until the sixth grade.

In September 1879, the 9th Army Corps under the command of his father was returned from Bulgaria to the city of Oryol. Peter and his brother Alexander were transferred to the Oryol Men's Gymnasium. Peter was enrolled in the seventh grade. According to B. Fedorov, he "stands out among the gymnasium students with his prudence and character."

On June 3, 1881, 19-year-old Peter graduated from the Oryol gymnasium and received a matriculation certificate. He left for St. Petersburg, where on August 31 he entered the natural department (specialty - agronomy) of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg Imperial University. During the training of Stolypin, one of the teachers of the university was the famous Russian scientist D. I. Mendeleev. He took his exam in chemistry and put "excellent".

22-year-old Peter married in 1884 as a student, which was not very typical for that time. The bride had a solid dowry: the family estate of the Neidgardt family - 4845 acres in the Chistopol district of the Kazan province (P. A. Stolypin himself in 1907 had family estates of 835 acres in the Kovno and 950 in the Penza provinces, as well as an acquired estate of 320 acres in Nizhny Novgorod province).

Stolypin's marriage was connected with tragic circumstances. In a duel with Prince Shakhovsky, his elder brother Mikhail died. There is a legend that subsequently Stolypin himself also shot with his brother's killer. During a duel, he was wounded in his right arm, which after that did not function well, which was often noted by contemporaries. Mikhail was engaged to the maid of honor of Empress Maria Feodorovna Olga Borisovna Neidgardt, who was the great-great-granddaughter of the great Russian commander Alexander Suvorov.

There is a legend that on his deathbed, the brother put Peter's hand on the hand of his bride. After some time, Stolypin asked her father Olga Borisovna for her hand, pointing out his shortcoming - "youth". The future father-in-law (actual privy councilor, rank II class), smiling, replied that "youth is that shortcoming that is corrected every day." The marriage turned out to be very happy. The Stolypins had five daughters and one son. There is no evidence of any scandals or betrayals in their family.

According to various sources, the young Stolypin began his civil service at the Ministry of State Property. However, according to the "Formal List of the Service of the Saratov Governor" on October 27, 1884, while still a student, he was enlisted in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the same document, on October 7, 1885, Stolypin was "approved by the Council of the Imperial St. Petersburg University as a candidate of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics", which immediately gave him a higher official rank, corresponded to degree and graduation from university.

In the last year of study, he prepared a final work on economic and statistical topics - "Tobacco (tobacco crops in South Russia)".

The next entry in the Formulary list confirms that on February 5, 1886, Stolypin "according to the petition was transferred to the service among the officials assigned to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Industry" of the Ministry of State Property.

Documents relating to the initial period of the service of P. A. Stolypin have not been preserved in the state archives.

At the same time, according to the entries in the above-mentioned Formulary List, the young official made a brilliant career. On the day of graduation from the University, October 7, 1885, he was granted the rank of collegiate secretary (which corresponded to the X class of the table of ranks. Usually university graduates were assigned to the service with the rank of XIV and very rarely XII class); January 26, 1887 he becomes assistant clerk of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Industry.

Less than a year later (January 1, 1888), Stolypin - with a departure from career correspondences and rules - was "granted to the rank of chamber junker of the Court of His Imperial Majesty."

October 7, 1888, exactly three years after receiving the first career rank, P. A. Stolypin was promoted to titular advisers (IX class).

Five months later, Stolypin had another career take-off: he went to serve in the Ministry of the Interior and on March 18, 1889, he was appointed Marshal of the Nobility of the Kovno district and chairman of the Kovno Court of Peace Mediators (to the position of the V class of civil service, 4 ranks higher than the rank he had just been assigned titular adviser). For a modern understanding: it is as if a 26-year-old army captain was appointed to a position higher than a colonel.

Service in Kovno

Stolypin served in Kovno for about 13 years - from 1889 to 1902. This time of his life, according to the testimony of his daughter Mary, was the calmest.

Upon arrival in Kovno, the young district marshal of the nobility plunged headlong into the affairs of the region. The subject of his special concern was the Agricultural Society, which, in fact, took control and guardianship of the entire local economic life. The main tasks of the society were to educate the peasants and increase the productivity of their farms. The main attention was paid to the introduction of advanced farming methods and new varieties of grain crops. While serving as marshal of the nobility, Stolypin became closely acquainted with local needs and gained administrative experience.

Diligence in the service was marked by new ranks and awards. In 1890 he was appointed an honorary justice of the peace, in 1891 he was promoted to collegiate assessor, in 1893 he was awarded the first Order of St. Anna, in 1895 he was promoted to court councilors, in 1896 he received the court rank of chamberlain, in 1899 he was promoted to collegiate, and in 1901 to state councilors.

In addition to the affairs of the county, Stolypin took care of his estate in Colnoberge, where he studied agriculture and the problems of the peasantry.

During his life in Kovno, Stolypin had four daughters - Natalya, Elena, Olga and Alexandra.

Grodno Governor

In mid-May 1902, P. A. Stolypin took his family with the closest household members “to the waters” to the small German town of Bad Elster. In her memoirs, the eldest daughter Maria describes this time as one of the happiest in the life of the Stolypin family. She also noted that the mud baths prescribed by German doctors for her father's sick right hand began to give - to the delight of the whole family - positive results.

Ten days later, the family idyll ended unexpectedly. From the Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. Three days later, the reason for the call became known - on May 30, 1902, P. A. Stolypin was unexpectedly appointed governor of Grodno. The initiative in this case came from Plehve, who headed for the replacement of governorships by local landowners.

On June 21, Stolypin arrived in Grodno and assumed the duties of governor. There were some peculiarities in the administration of the province: the governor was controlled by the Vilna governor-general; the provincial center of Grodno was smaller than the two county towns of Bialystok and Brest-Litovsk; The national composition of the province was heterogeneous (Jews predominated in large cities; the nobility was mainly represented by Poles, and the peasantry by Belarusians).

On the initiative of Stolypin, a Jewish two-class public school, a vocational school, and a special type of women's parish school were opened in Grodno, in which, in addition to general subjects, drawing, drawing and needlework were taught.

On the second day of work, he closed the Polish Club, where "insurgent moods" dominated.

Having settled into the position of governor, Stolypin began to carry out reforms that included the resettlement of peasants on farms, the elimination of striped crops, the introduction of artificial fertilizers, improved agricultural implements, multi-field crop rotations, land reclamation, the development of cooperation, and the agricultural education of peasants.

The innovations carried out provoked criticism from large landowners. At one of the meetings, Prince Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky stated that “we need human labor power, we need physical labor and the ability to do it, and not education. Education should be available to the wealthy classes, but not to the masses ... ”Stolypin gave a sharp rebuke:

Saratov Governor

Service in Grodno completely satisfied Stolypin. However, soon the Minister of the Interior Plehve again made an offer to Stolypin to take the post of governor of the Saratov province. Stolypin did not want to move to Saratov. Plehve stated: “Your personal and family circumstances do not interest me, and they cannot be taken into account. I consider you suitable for such a difficult province and expect from you any business considerations, but not weighing family interests..

Saratov was not unfamiliar to Stolypin: the Stolypins' ancestral lands were located in the province. Pyotr Arkadyevich's great-uncle, Afanasy Stolypin, was a Saratov leader of the nobility, and his daughter Marya was married to Prince V. A. Shcherbatov, Saratov governor in the 1860s. On the Alai River there is the village of Stolypino, in which there is an “experimental farm” of A. D. Stolypin with a developed cultural economy.

The appointment of Stolypin as the governor of Saratov was a promotion and testified to the recognition of his merits in various positions in Kovno and Grodno. By the time of his appointment as governor, the Saratov province was considered prosperous and wealthy. 150 thousand inhabitants lived in Saratov, there was a developed industry - there were 150 plants and factories, 11 banks, 16 thousand houses, almost 3 thousand shops and shops in the city. In addition, the Saratov province included big cities Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) and Kamyshin, several lines of the Ryazan-Ural railway.

Stolypin took the beginning of the Russo-Japanese war critically. According to his daughter's memoirs, in the family circle, he said:

After the defeat in the war with Japan, the Russian Empire was overwhelmed by revolutionary events. When restoring order, Stolypin showed rare courage and fearlessness, which is noted by witnesses of that time. He, unarmed and without any guard, entered the center of the raging crowds. This had such an effect on the people that the passions subsided by themselves.

Stolypin's contemporary V. B. Lopukhin describes one of the episodes of the revolutionary events of that time as follows:

After the "massacre in Malinovka", during which 42 people died, Adjutant General V. V. Sakharov was sent to Saratov. Sakharov stayed at Stolypin's house. The Socialist-Revolutionary Bitsenko, who came under the guise of a visitor, shot him.

The episode that took place in the Balashov district, when Zemstvo doctors were in danger from the Black Hundreds besieging them, became especially famous. The governor himself came to the rescue of the besieged and led them out under the escort of the Cossacks. At the same time, the crowd threw stones at the Zemstvo, one of which hit Stolypin.

Thanks to the energetic actions of Stolypin, life in the Saratov province gradually calmed down. The actions of the young governor were noticed by Nicholas II, who twice expressed his personal gratitude to him for his diligence.

In the second half of April 1906, Stolypin was summoned to Tsarskoye Selo by telegram signed by the emperor. Having met him, Nicholas II said that he closely followed the actions in Saratov and, considering them exceptionally outstanding, he appointed him Minister of the Interior.

Having survived the revolution and four assassination attempts, Stolypin tried to resign. It is noteworthy that two of his predecessors in this post - Sipyagin and Plehve - were killed by the revolutionaries. The first Prime Minister of the Russian Empire, Witte, repeatedly pointed out the fear and unwillingness of many officials to occupy responsible positions, fearing assassination attempts, in his memoirs.

Minister of Internal Affairs

The Minister of Internal Affairs was the first among other ministers of the Russian Empire in his role and scale of activity. He was in charge of:

• administration of postal and telegraph affairs
• state police
• jail, exile
• provincial and county administrations
• cooperation with zemstvos
• food business (providing the population with food in case of crop failure)
• fire Department
• insurance
• the medicine
• veterinary medicine
• local courts, etc.

After taking the post of prime minister, Stolypin combined both posts, remaining minister of the interior until the end of his life.

The beginning of his work in a new post coincided with the beginning of the work of the First State Duma, which was mainly represented by the leftists, who from the very beginning of their work took a course towards confrontation with the authorities. The Soviet historian Aron Avrekh noted that Stolypin turned out to be a good speaker, and some of his phrases became winged. In total, as Minister of the Interior, Stolypin spoke to the deputies of the First State Duma three times. At the same time, all three times his speeches were accompanied by noise, shouts and cries from the seats “Enough”, “Down”, “Resignation”.

Stolypin initially made it clear that "it is necessary to fairly and firmly protect order in Russia." Responding to reproaches about the imperfection of laws and, accordingly, the impossibility of their correct application, he uttered a phrase that became widely known

The revolutionary nature of the Duma is evidenced by its refusal to accept the amendment of the deputy M. A. Stakhovich to the demand for a general political amnesty, which simultaneously condemned political extremes, including terror against the authorities. To his arguments that out of 90 people executed in recent months, there were 288 killed and 388 wounded representatives of the authorities, mostly ordinary policemen, they shouted from the benches of the left: “Not enough!” ...

Such a confrontation between the executive and legislative branches created difficulties for overcoming the post-war crisis and revolution. The possibility of creating a government with the participation of the opposition party of the Cadets, who had a majority in the Duma, was discussed. Stolypin, whose popularity and influence with the Tsar was growing, met with the leader of the Kadets, Milyukov. To the expressed doubts that the Cadets would not be able to maintain order and resist the revolution, Milyukov replied:

The last decision of the Duma, which finally persuaded the tsar to dissolve it, was an appeal to the population with explanations on the agrarian issue and the statement that it "from expropriation privately owned lands will not retreat. Along with the Duma, Goremykin's government was dissolved. Stolypin became the new prime minister.

Prime Minister

On July 8 (21), 1906, the First State Duma was dissolved by the emperor. Stolypin replaced I. L. Goremykin as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, while retaining the post of Minister of the Interior.

Immediately after his appointment, Stolypin began negotiations on inviting popular parliamentary and public figures who belonged to the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Union of October 17th. Ministerial posts were originally offered to D.N. Shipov, Prince. G. E. Lvov, gr. P. A. Geiden, N. N. Lvov, A. I. Guchkov; in the course of further negotiations, the candidacies of A.F. Koni and Prince. E. N. Trubetskoy. Public figures, confident that the future Second Duma would be able to force the government to create a cabinet responsible to the Duma, had little interest in acting as crown ministers in a mixed public-bureaucratic cabinet; the possibility of entering the government, they furnished such conditions that obviously could not be accepted by Stolypin. By the end of July, the negotiations had completely failed. Since this was already the third unsuccessful attempt to attract public figures to the government (the first attempt was made by Count S. Yu. Witte in October 1905, immediately after the publication of the October Manifesto, the second - by Stolypin himself in June 1906, before the dissolution of the First Duma), As a result, Stolypin became completely disillusioned with the idea of ​​a public cabinet and subsequently headed a purely bureaucratic government.

Upon taking office as prime minister, Stolypin insisted on the resignation of the chief administrator of land management and agriculture, A. S. Stishinsky, and the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Prince. A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, while maintaining the rest of the composition of the previous cabinet of I. L. Goremykin.

As prime minister, Stolypin acted with great energy. He was remembered as a brilliant speaker, many phrases from whose speeches became winged, a man who coped with the revolution, a reformer, a fearless man who was assassinated several times. Stolypin remained prime minister until his death following an assassination attempt in September 1911.

Dissolution of the Second Duma. New electoral system. III Duma

Stolypin's relations with the Second State Duma were very tense. The legislative body of power included more than a hundred representatives of parties that directly advocated the overthrow of the existing system - the RSDLP (subsequently divided into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks) and the Socialist-Revolutionaries, whose representatives repeatedly staged assassinations and assassinations of top officials of the Russian Empire. Polish deputies advocated the separation of Poland from the Russian Empire into a separate state. The two most numerous factions of the Cadets and the Trudoviks advocated the forced expropriation of land from the landlords with subsequent transfer to the peasants.

Members of the parties who advocated change state structure, once in the State Duma, continued to engage in revolutionary activities, which soon became known to the police, headed by Stolypin. On May 7, 1907, he published in the Duma a “Government report on a conspiracy” discovered in the capital and aimed at committing terrorist acts against the emperor, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich and against himself:

In February of this year, the department for the protection of public order and security in St. Petersburg received information that a criminal community had formed in the capital, which set a number of terrorist acts as the immediate goal of its activities. […] At present, the preliminary investigation has established that a significant number of the detainees are convicted of having joined the community formed within the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, which has set as its goal the encroachment on the sacred person of the Sovereign Emperor and the commission of terrorist acts aimed against Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers [...] In the apartment, indeed, were members of the State Duma.

The government issued an ultimatum to the Duma, demanding that the parliamentary immunity of the alleged participants in the conspiracy be lifted, giving the Duma the shortest time to respond. After the Duma did not immediately agree to the terms of the government and proceeded to the procedure for discussing the requirements, the tsar, without waiting for a final answer, dissolved the Duma on June 3. The June 3 Act formally violated the "October 17 Manifesto" and the Basic Laws of 1906, in connection with which the opponents of the government called the "June 3 Revolution".

Since information about the participation of deputies in the preparation of the so-called "soldier's mandate" - a revolutionary appeal addressed on behalf of the soldiers to the Social Democratic faction of the Duma - was obtained from the informant of the Police Department Shornikova, who herself took part in writing this document, the essence of the events remains unclear. Historians Soviet period, following the left of the Duma, were convinced that the whole story from beginning to end was a police provocation undertaken on the initiative of Stolypin. At the same time, the activists of the revolutionary parties did not need provocations to carry out anti-government activities, so the option in which the police agent simply performed the functions of an informant is also completely probable. In any case, already after the death of Stolypin, the government did its best to hide the traces of the participation of a police informant in the incident.

The next step was to change the electoral system. As Witte wrote,

The new electoral system, which was used in elections to the State Dumas of the III and IV convocations, increased the representation in the Duma of landowners and wealthy citizens, as well as the Russian population in relation to national minorities, which led to the formation of a pro-government majority in the III and IV Dumas. The majority in the newly elected Third Duma were the "Octobrists", who received 154 mandates. The “Octobrists” in the center ensured that Stolypin passed bills by entering into a coalition on various issues with either right or left members of parliament. At the same time, close personal ties with Stolypin (according to many contemporaries - his direct patronage) were distinguished by the less numerous All-Russian National Union (VNS) party, which was the leader in the Duma national faction, which occupied an intermediate position between the Octobrists and the right faction.

According to a contemporary, the Third Duma was "the creation of Stolypin." Stolypin's relationship with the Third Duma was a complex mutual compromise. Although notoriously pro-government parties (Octobrists and Nationalists) were in the majority, these parties were not puppet parties; cooperation with them required certain concessions from the government. In general, Stolypin was forced to exchange the general support of the government's course by parliament for giving friendly parties the opportunity to prove themselves: to delay the discussion of important bills for many years, to make numerous but insignificant changes, etc. The most negative result was the smoldering conflict between the Duma and the State Council - the majority of the Duma deliberately edited the most important laws in such a way that the more conservative State Council then rejected them. The general political situation in the Duma turned out to be such that the government was afraid to introduce to the Duma all laws related to civil and religious equality (especially with the legal status of Jews), since a heated discussion of such topics could force the government to dissolve the Duma. Stolypin was unable to reach an understanding with the Duma on the fundamentally important issue of reforming local government; the entire package of government bills on this topic was stuck in parliament forever. At the same time, government budget projects have always been supported by the Duma.

Stolypin is criticized for filling the Duma with "legislative chewing gum" in addition to matters of national importance, which deprived the representatives of the legislative assembly of initiative. In justification, the names of some of the issues that were discussed at the meetings are given:

• “On the procedure for calculating 2% of pension deductions for employees in male and female schools at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter and Paul in Moscow in the period of seniority to retire before the issuance of the law on February 2, 1904, their service in the above-mentioned schools if it is impossible to accurately determine the amount of maintenance received for the deductible time "
• “On the establishment of 20 scholarships for pupils-Tatars at the Erivan Teachers' Seminary, with a vacation from the treasury of 2600 rubles. per year, about an additional appropriation of 140 rubles. per year for the remuneration of a singing teacher at the aforementioned seminary and the transformation of a one-class elementary school at this seminary into a two-class structure and an additional appropriation for its maintenance of 930 rubles. in year"
• "On the exemption from military service of the Kalevitsy clergy of the Boshin khurul of the Don region"

One of the important steps of Stolypin, aimed at improving the quality of legislative work, was the convening of the Council for Local Economy, created back in 1904 on the initiative of the Minister of the Interior Plehve. During four sessions (1908-1910) in the Council, rumored to be called the “Fore-Dumie”, representatives of the public, zemstvos and cities, together with government officials, discussed a wide range of bills that the government was preparing to submit to the Duma. Stolypin himself presided over the most important discussions.

Law on courts-martial

The law on courts-martial was issued under the conditions of revolutionary terror in the Russian Empire. During 1901-1907, tens of thousands of terrorist acts were carried out, as a result of which more than 9 thousand people died. Among them were both the highest officials of the state and ordinary policemen. Often the victims were random people.

During the revolutionary events of 1905-1907, Stolypin personally encountered acts of revolutionary terror. They shot at him, threw a bomb, pointed a revolver at his chest. At the time described, the revolutionaries sentenced to death by poisoning the only son of Stolypin, who was only two years old.

Among those who died from revolutionary terror were friends and closest acquaintances of Stolypin (the latter should include, first of all, V. Plehve and V. Sakharov). In both cases, the killers managed to avoid the death penalty due to judicial delays, lawyer tricks and the humanity of society.

An explosion on Aptekarsky Island on August 12, 1906 claimed the lives of several dozen people who accidentally ended up in Stolypin's mansion. Two of Stolypin's children, Natalya and Arkady, also suffered. At the time of the explosion, they, along with the nanny, were on the balcony and were thrown by the blast wave onto the pavement. Natalia's leg bones were crushed and she could not walk for several years, Arkady's injuries were not severe, the children's nanny died.

On August 19, 1906, as a “measure for the exclusive protection of state order”, the “Law on Courts-Martial” was adopted, which in the provinces transferred to martial law or a state of emergency protection, temporarily introduced special courts of officers who were in charge only of cases where the crime was was obvious (murder, robbery, robbery, attacks on military, police and officials). The trial took place within a day after the commission of the crime. The trial could last no more than two days, the sentence was carried out in 24 hours. The introduction of courts-martial was due to the fact that military courts (permanently operating), at that time dealing with cases of revolutionary terror and serious crimes in provinces declared under a state of exception, showed, in the opinion of the government, excessive leniency and delayed the consideration of cases. Whereas in the military courts cases were tried in front of the accused, who could use the services of defense counsel and represent their witnesses, in the courts-martial the accused were deprived of all rights.

In his speech of March 13, 1907, before the deputies of the Second Duma, the Prime Minister justified the need for the operation of this law in the following way:

The suppression of the revolution was accompanied by the executions of some of its participants on charges of rebellion, terrorism and arson of landowners' estates. In the eight months of its existence (the law on courts-martial was not submitted by the government for approval to the III Duma and automatically became invalid on April 20, 1907; later, the consideration of cases of grave crimes was transferred to the military district courts, in which the procedural norms of production were observed ) courts-martial passed 1102 death sentences, but 683 people were executed. In total, in the years 1906-1910, 5735 death sentences were passed by military field and military district courts for the so-called "political crimes", of which 3741 were carried out. 66,000 were sentenced to hard labor. Most executions were carried out by hanging.

The scale of repression has become unprecedented in Russian history - after all, over the previous 80 years - from 1825 to 1905 - the state passed 625 death sentences for political crimes, of which 191 were carried out. Subsequently, Stolypin was sharply condemned for such harsh measures. The death penalty was rejected by many, and its use was directly associated with the policy pursued by Stolypin. The terms "rapid justice" and "Stolypin's reaction" came into use. In particular, one of the prominent cadets F. I. Rodichev, during a speech in a temper, admitted the insulting expression "Stolypin's tie", as an analogy with Purishkevich's expression "Muravyov's collar" (M. N. Muravyov-Vilensky, who suppressed the Polish uprising of 1863, received from the opposition-minded part of Russian society, the nickname "Ants the hanger"). The Prime Minister, who was at that moment at the meeting, demanded "satisfaction" from Rodichev, that is, challenged him to a duel. Suppressed by the criticism of the deputies, Rodichev publicly apologized, which were accepted. Despite this, the expression "Stolypin's tie" has become catchy. By these words was meant the noose of the gallows.

Leo Tolstoy in the article "I can not be silent!" opposed the courts-martial and, accordingly, the policy of the government:

The most terrible thing about this is that all these inhuman violence and murders, in addition to the direct evil that they inflict on the victims of violence and their families, cause even greater, greatest evil to the whole people, spreading the corruption of all estates of the Russian people. This corruption is spreading especially rapidly among the simple, working people, because all these crimes, which exceed hundreds of times everything that has been done and is being done by simple thieves and robbers and all revolutionaries together, are committed under the guise of something necessary, good, necessary, not only justified, but supported by different, inseparable in the concepts of the people with justice and even holiness institutions: the senate, the synod, the duma, the church, the king.

He was supported by many famous people of that time, in particular, Leonid Andreev, Alexander Blok, Ilya Repin. The journal Vestnik Evropy published a sympathetic response "Leo Tolstoy and his 'I can't be silent'."

As a result, as a result of the measures taken, the revolutionary terror was suppressed, ceased to be of a massive nature, manifesting itself only in single sporadic acts of violence. The state order in the country was preserved.

Finnish question

During Stolypin's premiership, the Grand Duchy of Finland was a special region of the Russian Empire.

Until 1906, its special status was confirmed by the presence of "constitutions" - Swedish laws of the reign of Gustav III ("Form of Government" of August 21, 1772 and "Act of Connection and Security" of February 21 and April 3, 1789), which were valid in Finland until joining the Russian Empire. The Grand Duchy of Finland had its own legislative body - the four-estate Diet, broad autonomy from the central government.

On July 7 (20), 1906, the day before the dissolution of the First State Duma and the appointment of Stolypin as prime minister, Nicholas II approved the new Sejm charter (in fact, the constitution) adopted by the Sejm, which provided for the abolition of the obsolete Sejm and the introduction of a unicameral parliament in the Grand Duchy (also traditionally called the Sejm - now Eduskunt), elected on the basis of universal equal suffrage by all citizens over 24 years old.

Pyotr Stolypin during his premiership made 4 speeches regarding the Grand Duchy. In them, he pointed out the unacceptability of certain features of power in Finland. In particular, he emphasized that the inconsistency and lack of control of many Finnish institutions of supreme power leads to unacceptable results for a single country:

In 1908, he ensured that Finnish cases affecting Russian interests were considered in the Council of Ministers.

On June 17, 1910, Nicholas II approved the law “On the Procedure for Issuing Laws and Decrees of National Importance Concerning Finland”, developed by the government of Stolypin, which significantly curtailed Finnish autonomy and strengthened the role of the central government in Finland.

According to the Finnish historian Timo Vihavainen, Stolypin's last words were "The main thing ... For Finland ..." - apparently, he meant the need to destroy the nests of revolutionaries in Finland.

Jewish question

The Jewish question in the Russian Empire during Stolypin's time was a problem of national importance. There were a number of restrictions for the Jews. In particular, outside the so-called Pale of Settlement, they were prohibited from permanent residence. Such inequality in relation to part of the population of the empire on religious grounds led to the fact that many young people who were infringed in their rights went to revolutionary parties.

On the other hand, anti-Semitic sentiments dominated among the conservative-minded population and a large part of the authorities. During the revolutionary events of 1905-1907. they manifested themselves, in particular, in mass Jewish pogroms and the emergence of such so-called. "Black Hundred" organizations, such as the "Union of the Russian People" (SRN), the Russian People's Union named after Michael the Archangel and others. The Black Hundreds were distinguished by extreme anti-Semitism and advocated even greater infringement of the rights of Jews. At the same time, they enjoyed great influence in society, and among their members at various times were prominent political figures and representatives of the clergy. The Stolypin government, in general, was in confrontation with the "Union of the Russian People" (SRN), which did not support and sharply criticized the policies pursued by Stolypin. At the same time, there is evidence of the allocation of money to the NRC and its prominent figures from the ten million fund of the Ministry of the Interior, intended for the recruitment of informants and other activities that are not subject to disclosure. Indicative of Stolypin's policy towards the Black Hundreds are a letter to the Odessa mayor and a prominent representative of the RNC, I.N.

While serving in Kovno and Grodno, Stolypin got acquainted with the life of the Jewish population. According to the memoirs of the eldest daughter Mary:

During his service as governor of Grodno, on the initiative of Stolypin, a Jewish two-class public school was opened.

When Stolypin occupied the highest posts in the Russian Empire, he raised the Jewish question at one of the meetings of the Council of Ministers. Pyotr Arkadievich asked “to speak frankly about the need to raise the question of abolishing by law some almost unnecessary restrictions on Jews, which especially irritate the Jewish population of Russia and, without bringing any real benefit to the Russian population, […] only feed revolutionary mood of the Jewish masses. According to the memoirs of the Minister of Finance and Stolypin's successor as Prime Minister, Kokovtsov, none of the members of the council raised any fundamental objections. Only Schwanebach noted that "one must be very careful in choosing the moment to initiate the Jewish question, since history teaches that attempts to resolve this issue only led to the excitement of vain expectations, since they usually ended in secondary circulars." According to the memoirs of V.Y. Gurko, after his (V.Y. Gurko) sharp speech against the bill, a debate began, denoting two opposing points of view. "At first, Stolypin seemed to defend the project, but then he apparently became embarrassed and said that he was postponing the decision of the issue to another meeting." At the next meeting, at the suggestion of Stolypin, the Council was to vote to determine the general opinion on the bill, which was to be presented to the emperor as a unanimous opinion of the government. In this case, the Council of Ministers assumed full responsibility for resolving the issue, without shifting it to the head of state.

The result, however, was completely unexpected. The majority of the Council approved the draft, and the most curious thing is that among the minority was Stolypin, who himself submitted the draft for discussion by the ministers, and the sovereign, despite the unanimous opinion of the Council, did not approve it, acting in this way, as if contrary to the entire composition of the government and accepting therefore, take full responsibility for its non-fulfillment. There were different versions about the rejection of this project in St. Petersburg. It was said that the main role here was played by the same Yuzefovich, who was one of the authors of the manifesto on strengthening the autocracy; it was said that Stolypin himself advised the tsar not to approve him. There were other versions; which one is correct, I don't know.

Nicholas II was sent a journal of the Council of Ministers, in which an opinion was expressed and a bill was presented on the abolition of the Pale of Settlement for Jews.

On December 10, 1906, in a letter, Nicholas II rejected this bill with the rationale "The inner voice keeps telling me more and more insistently that I do not take this decision upon myself." In response, Stolypin, who did not agree with the decision of the emperor, wrote to him that rumors about this bill had already hit the press, and Nikolai's decision would cause rumors in society:

In the same letter, he stated:

In this regard, the prime minister advised Nikolai to send the bill to the Duma for further discussion. The tsar, following Stolypin's advice, referred the issue to the State Duma for consideration.

The fate of the Stolypin bill testifies not in favor of popular representation: neither the Second, nor the Third, nor the Fourth Dumas "found time" to discuss it. For the opposition parties, it turned out to be “more useful” to “silence” him, and the “right” did not initially support such indulgences.

From the second half of 1907 until the end of Stolypin's premiership, there were no Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire. Stolypin also used his influence with Nicholas II to prevent state propaganda of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake published at the beginning of the 20th century that allegedly proved the existence of a Jewish conspiracy and gained wide popularity among Russian right-wing circles.

At the same time, during the government of Stolypin, a decree was issued that determined the percentage norms of Jewish students in higher and secondary educational institutions. He did not reduce, but even slightly increased them compared to the same decree of 1889. At the same time, during the revolutionary events of 1905-1907. the previous decree did not act de facto, and therefore the new one, as it were, restored the existing injustice - admission to higher and secondary educational institutions was based not on knowledge, but on nationality.

Under the government of Stolypin, there was a transition from religious discrimination against Jews to racial discrimination. Traditionally, Russian law restricted the rights of Jews only; upon transition to other confessions, the restrictions were lifted. Gradually, around 1910, legislation began to restrict the rights of those born in the Jewish faith, regardless of their confessional affiliation, in some cases going as far as restricting the rights of children and grandchildren of males and females born in the Jewish faith.

The discovery on March 20, 1911 in Kyiv of the murdered boy Andrei Yushchinsky became the starting point of the "Beilis case" and caused a significant rise in anti-Semitic sentiments in the country. The Kiev security department received an order from Stolypin "to collect detailed information on the case of the murder of the boy Yushchinsky and report in detail on the reasons for this murder and those responsible for it." Stolypin did not believe in ritual murder and therefore wanted the real criminals to be found. This order was the last act of Stolypin's "Jewish policy".

The facts show that Stolypin was not an anti-Semite, although in many publications this label is attached to him, without providing hard evidence. There are no statements of his that indicate that he has anti-Semitic views.

agrarian reform

The economic situation of the Russian peasantry after peasant reform 1861 remained difficult. The agricultural population of the 50 provinces of European Russia, which in the 1860s amounted to about 50 million people, increased to 86 million by 1900, as a result of which the land allotments of the peasants, which in the 60s averaged 4.8 acres per capita of the male population, decreased. by the end of the century to an average size of 2.8 acres. At the same time, the productivity of peasants in the Russian Empire was extremely low.

The reason for the low productivity of peasant labor was the system of agriculture. First of all, these were outdated three-field and striped, in which a third of the arable land “walked” under fallow, and the peasant cultivated narrow strips of land that were at a distance from each other. In addition, the land did not belong to the peasant on the basis of property rights. It was managed by the community (“world”), which distributed it according to “souls”, according to “eaters”, according to “workers” or in some other way (out of 138 million acres of allotment land, about 115 million were communal). Only in the western regions were peasant lands in the possession of their masters. At the same time, the yield in these provinces was higher, there were no cases of famine during crop failures. This situation was well known to Stolypin, who spent more than 10 years in the western provinces.

The beginning of the reform was the decree of November 9, 1906 "On supplementing some of the provisions of the current law relating to peasant land ownership and land use." The decree proclaimed a wide range of measures to destroy the collective land tenure of rural society and create a class of peasants - full owners of the land. The decree stated that “every householder who owns land on a communal basis may at any time demand that the portion of the land owed to him be consolidated into his personal property”.

The reform unfolded in several directions:

• Improving the quality of peasants' property rights to land, which consisted primarily in replacing the collective and limited land ownership of rural communities with full-fledged private property of individual peasant householders. Activities in this direction were of an administrative and legal nature;
• The eradication of obsolete class civil law restrictions that prevented effective economic activity peasants;
• Improving the efficiency of peasant agriculture; government measures were to encourage the allocation of plots “to one place” (cuts, farms) to peasant owners, which required the state to carry out a large amount of complex and expensive land management work to develop striped communal lands;
• Encouraging the purchase of privately owned (primarily landlord) lands by peasants through the Peasant Land Bank. Concessional lending was introduced. Stolypin believed that in this way the entire state assumes obligations to improve the life of the peasants, and does not shift them onto the shoulders of a small class of landowners;
• Encouraging the buildup of working capital of peasant farms through lending in all forms (bank lending secured by land, loans to members of cooperatives and partnerships);
• Expansion of direct subsidizing of the activities of the so-called "agronomic assistance" (agronomic consulting, educational activities, maintenance of experimental and exemplary farms, trade in modern equipment and fertilizers);
• Support for cooperatives and peasant associations.

The results of the reform should include the following facts. Applications for fixing land in private ownership were filed by members of more than 6 million households out of the existing 13.5 million. sole property of about 1.5 million (10.6% of the total). Such significant changes in peasant life became possible not least thanks to the Peasant Land Bank, which issued loans in the amount of 1 billion 40 million rubles. Of the 3 million peasants who moved to the land allocated to them by the government in private ownership in Siberia, 18% returned back and, accordingly, 82% remained in new places. The landed estates have lost their former economic significance. Peasants in 1916 sowed (on their own and rented land) 89.3% of the land and owned 94% of farm animals.

The assessment of Stolypin's reforms is complicated by the fact that the reforms were not fully implemented due to the tragic death of Stolypin, World War I, February and October Revolution and then civil war. Stolypin himself assumed that all the reforms he conceived would be implemented in a comprehensive manner (and not only in terms of agrarian reform) and would give the maximum effect in the long term (according to Stolypin, it took "twenty years of internal and external peace").

Siberian politics. "Stolypin carriages"

Stolypin paid special attention to the eastern part of the Russian Empire. In his speech of March 31, 1908 in the State Duma, devoted to the question of the expediency of building the Amur railway, he said:

In 1910, Stolypin, together with the chief administrator of agriculture and land management, Krivoshein, made an inspection trip to Western Siberia and the Volga region.

Stolypin's policy regarding Siberia was to encourage the resettlement of peasants from the European part of Russia to its uninhabited expanses. This resettlement was part of the agrarian reform. About 3 million people moved to Siberia. Only in the Altai Territory during the ongoing reforms, 3415 settlements, in which over 600 thousand peasants from the European part of Russia settled, making up 22% of the inhabitants of the district. They put into circulation 3.4 million acres of vacant land.

For immigrants in 1910, special railway cars were created. They differed from ordinary ones in that one part of them, the entire width of the wagon, was intended for peasant livestock and implements. Later, at Soviet power, gratings were installed in these cars, the cars themselves began to be used already for the forced expulsion of kulaks and other "counter-revolutionary elements" to Siberia and Central Asia. Over time, they were completely repurposed for the transport of prisoners.

In this regard, this type of wagons has gained notoriety. At the same time, the wagon itself, which had the official name of the vagonzak (car for prisoners), received the name "Stolypin". In The Gulag Archipelago, A. Solzhenitsyn describes the history of the term as follows:

"Wagon-zak" - what a vile abbreviation! […] They want to say that this is a car for prisoners. But nowhere, except for prison papers, this word was not kept. The prisoners learned to call such a carriage "Stolypin" or simply "Stolypin". […] This is the history of the car. He really went on rails for the first time under Stolypin: he was designed in 1908, but - for settlers to the eastern parts of the country, when a strong migration movement developed and there was not enough rolling stock. This type of carriage was lower than the usual passenger one, but much higher than the freight one, it had utility rooms for utensils or poultry (the current "half" compartments, punishment cells) - but, of course, it did not have no bars, neither inside nor on the windows. The gratings were put up by an inventive idea, and I am inclined to believe that it was Bolshevik. And the carriage went to be called - Stolypin's ... The minister, who challenged the deputy to a duel for the "Stolypin tie", could no longer stop this posthumous slander.

Foreign policy

Stolypin made it a rule for himself not to interfere in foreign policy. However, during the Bosnian Crisis of 1909, the prime minister's direct intervention was needed. The crisis threatened to escalate into a war involving the Balkan states, the Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian empires. The prime minister's position was that the country was not ready for war, and military conflict should be avoided by any means. Ultimately, the crisis ended in a moral defeat for Russia. After the events described, Stolypin insisted on the dismissal of Foreign Minister Izvolsky.

Of interest is the attitude of Kaiser Wilhelm II towards Stolypin. On June 4, 1909, Wilhelm II met with Nicholas II in Finnish skerries. During breakfast at imperial yacht The “Standard” of the Russian prime minister was on the right hand of the distinguished guest, and a detailed conversation took place between them. Subsequently, while in exile, Wilhelm II reflected on how right Stolypin was when he warned him about the inadmissibility of a war between Russia and Germany, stressed that the war would eventually lead to the fact that the enemies of the monarchical system would take all measures to achieve a revolution . Immediately after breakfast, the German Kaiser told Adjutant General I. L. Tatishchev that "if he had such a Minister as Stolypin, then Germany would rise to the greatest heights."

The draft law on Zemstvos in the western provinces and the "ministerial crisis" of March 1911

The discussion and adoption of the Zemstvo law in the western provinces caused a "ministerial crisis" and was Stolypin's last victory (which, in fact, can be called Pyrrhic).

The prerequisite for the future conflict was the introduction by the government of a bill that introduced the Zemstvo in the provinces of the South-Western and North-Western regions. The bill significantly reduced the influence of large landowners (represented mainly by Poles) and increased the rights of small ones (represented by Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians). Given that the share of Poles in these provinces ranged from 1 to 3.4%, the bill was democratic.

During this period, Stolypin's activities proceeded against the background of the growing influence of the opposition, where opposing forces rallied against the prime minister - the left, which the reforms deprived of a historical perspective, and the right, who saw in the same reforms an encroachment on their privileges and were zealous of the rapid rise of a native of the provinces. .

The leader of the right, who did not support this bill, P. N. Durnovo wrote to the tsar that

Stolypin asked the tsar to turn to the rightists through the chairman of the State Council with a recommendation to support the bill. One of the members of the Council, V.F. Trepov, having obtained a reception from the emperor, expressed the position of the rightists and asked the question: “How to understand the royal wish as an order, or can one vote according to one’s conscience?” Nicholas II replied that, of course, one must vote "according to conscience." Trepov and Durnovo took this answer as the emperor's agreement with their position, which they immediately informed the other right-wing members of the State Council. As a result, on March 4, 1911, the bill was defeated by 68 votes out of 92.

The next morning, Stolypin went to Tsarskoye Selo, where he submitted his resignation, explaining that he could not work in an atmosphere of distrust on the part of the emperor. Nicholas II said that he did not want to lose Stolypin, and offered to find a worthy way out of the situation. Stolypin delivered an ultimatum to the tsar - to send the intriguers Trepov and Durnovo on a long vacation abroad and to pass the law on the Zemstvo under Article 87. Article 87 of the fundamental laws assumed that the tsar could personally implement certain laws during the period when the State Duma was not working. The article was intended for urgent decision-making during elections and inter-season holidays.

People close to Stolypin tried to dissuade him from such a harsh ultimatum to the tsar himself. To this he replied:

Stolypin's fate hung in the balance, and only the intervention of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, who convinced her son to support the premier's position, decided the case in his favor. In the memoirs of the Minister of Finance V.N. Kokovtsov, her words are cited, testifying to the deep gratitude of the Empress to Stolypin:

The emperor accepted Stolypin's conditions 5 days after the audience with Nicholas II. The Duma was dissolved for 3 days, the law was passed under Article 87, and Trepov and Durnovo were sent on vacation.

The Duma, which had previously voted in favor of this law, took the form of its adoption as a complete disregard for itself. The leader of the "Octobrists" A. I. Guchkov resigned as a sign of disagreement as chairman of the State Duma. Subsequently, during the interrogation of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission of the Provisional Government on August 2, 1917, Stolypin's policy was characterized by Guchkov as "an erroneous policy of compromise, a policy that seeks through mutual concessions accomplish something significant." He also noted that "the man who in public circles is accustomed to be considered an enemy of the public and a reactionary, was presented in the eyes of the then reactionary circles as the most dangerous revolutionary." Relations with the legislature of the Russian Empire at Stolypin were spoiled.

Assassination attempts on Stolypin

In a short period of time from 1905 to 1911, 11 assassination attempts were planned and carried out on Stolypin, the last of which achieved its goal.

During the revolutionary events of 1905, when Stolypin was the governor of Saratov, the assassination attempts were of an unorganized nature as a splash of hatred towards the authorities. After Pyotr Arkadievich first took the post of Minister of the Interior of the Russian Empire, and then the Prime Minister, groups of revolutionaries began to organize attempts on his life more carefully. The bloodiest explosion was on Aptekarsky Island, during which dozens of people died. Stolypin was not injured. Many of the assassination attempts that were being prepared were uncovered in time, and some fell through by a lucky chance. Bogrov's assassination attempt during Stolypin's visit to Kyiv was fatal. A few days later, he died from his wounds.

Assassination attempts in the Saratov province

Saratov province in the summer of 1905 became one of the main centers of the peasant movement and agrarian unrest, which was accompanied by clashes between peasants and landlords. Looting, arson and massacre swept across the province.

The first assassination attempt took place during a detour of the rebellious villages by Stolypin, accompanied by Cossacks. The governor was shot twice by an unknown person, but missed. At first, Stolypin even rushed after the shooter, but was held by the hand by the official for special assignments, Prince Obolensky. Stolypin himself even joked about this: “Today, mischievous people shot at me from behind the bushes ...”

The literature mentions an incident that occurred during one of the usual detours of the province at that hot time, when a man standing in front of Stolypin suddenly took a revolver out of his pocket and pointed it at the governor. Stolypin, looking at him point-blank, opened his coat and calmly said to the crowd: “Shoot!” The revolutionary could not stand it, lowered his hand, and his revolver fell out.

Stolypin's daughter Elena writes about another failed assassination attempt in her memoirs. According to her recollections, a conspiracy was uncovered in advance, where a terrorist who was instructed to kill the governor had to get a job as a carpenter to repair the stairs in the governor's mansion. The plot was uncovered, and the revolutionary was arrested.

In the memoirs of another daughter, Maria, there is a description of another assassination attempt on Stolypin, during which he again showed restraint and calmness:

Under the influence of his composure and strength of passion subsided, the crowd dispersed, and the city immediately took on a peaceful look.

Explosion on Aptekarsky Island

On August 12 (25), 1906, another assassination attempt took place, accompanied by a large number of victims. During the explosion, Stolypin himself was not injured.

On Saturdays, the prime minister had reception days. The terrorists arrived under the guise of petitioners in gendarmerie uniforms, allegedly on urgent business. According to one of Stolypin's daughters, Elena, his adjutant General A. N. Zamyatnin saved him from death: "So, thanks to the faithful Zamyatin, the terrorists failed to carry out their plan, and my father was not killed." Probably, the adjutant was embarrassed by the headgear of the maximalists: those who arrived were wearing old helmets, although shortly before that, the uniform had undergone significant changes. Seeing that they were exposed, the terrorists first tried to break through by force, and then, when their attempt was unsuccessful, they threw a briefcase with a bomb.

The explosion was very powerful. The rooms of the first floor and the entrance were destroyed, the upper rooms collapsed. The bomb claimed the lives of 24 people, among them adjutant A. N. Zamyatnin, Okhrana agents, the nanny of Stolypin's son Arkady, and the terrorists themselves. The prime minister's son and daughter, Arkady and Natalya, also suffered from the explosion.

The daughter's injury was severe. Doctors insisted on urgent amputation of the victim's legs. However, Stolypin asked to wait with the decision. The doctors agreed and eventually saved both legs.

Stolypin remained unharmed and did not even receive a single scratch. Only a bronze inkwell flew over the prime minister's head and spattered him with ink.

12 days after the assassination attempt, on August 24, 1906, a government program was published, according to which "quick decision" courts were introduced in areas under martial law. It was then that the expression "Stolypin's tie" appeared, meaning the death penalty.

Assassination attempts after the explosion on Aptekarsky Island

Already in December of the same 1906, a certain Dobrzhinsky organized a “combat squad”, which, on behalf of the central committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, was supposed to kill P. A. Stolypin. However, the group was discovered and captured before the act took place. In July 1907, a "flying detachment" was also captured, the purpose of which was also to eliminate Stolypin. In November 1907, another group of socialist revolutionaries (maximalists) was neutralized, who were preparing bombs to eliminate top officials, including Stolypin. In December of the same year, Trauberg, the head of the northern combat "flying detachment", was arrested in Helsingfors. The main goal of the detachment was Stolypin. Finally, in December of the same 1907, Feiga Elkina, who had organized a revolutionary group that was preparing an assassination attempt on Stolypin, was arrested.

Assassination attempt in Kyiv and death

At the end of August 1911, Emperor Nicholas II with his family and close associates, including Stolypin, were in Kyiv on the occasion of the opening of the monument to Alexander II. Kiev City Theatre. At that time, the head of the Kyiv security department had information that terrorists had arrived in the city with the aim of attacking a high-ranking official, and possibly the tsar himself. The information was obtained from secret informant Dmitry Bogrov. It turned out, however, that the attempt was conceived by Bogrov himself. On a pass issued by the head of the Kyiv security department, he went to the city opera house, during the second intermission he approached Stolypin and fired twice: the first bullet hit his arm, the second one hit his stomach, hitting his liver. After being wounded, Stolypin crossed the tsar, sank heavily into a chair and said: "Happy to die for the Tsar."

Nicholas II (in a letter to his mother): “Stolypin turned to me and blessed the air with his left hand. It was only then that I noticed that he had blood on his tunic. Olga and Tatyana saw everything that happened ... Tatyana was deeply impressed, she cried a lot, and both did not sleep well.

The following days passed in anxiety, the doctors hoped for a recovery, but on September 4, in the evening, Stolypin's condition deteriorated sharply, and at about 10 pm on September 5, he died. In the first lines of Stolypin's opened will, it was written: "I want to be buried where they will kill me." Stolypin's instructions were carried out: on September 9, Stolypin was buried in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

According to one version, the attempt was organized with the assistance of the security department. A number of facts point to this. In particular, a ticket to the theater was issued to Bogrov by the head of the Kyiv Security Department N. N. Kulyabko with the consent of the responsible officers of the Security Department P. G. Kurlov, A. I. Spiridovich and M. N. Verigin, while Bogrov was not under surveillance .

According to another version, the head of the security department, Kulyabko, was misled. At the same time, according to the memoirs of the Kyiv governor Girs, Stolypin's security in the city was poorly organized.

Awards

Russian

Orders

• Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (April 10, 1911)
• Order of the White Eagle (March 29, 1909)
• Order of St. Anne, 1st class (December 6, 1906)
• Order of St. Vladimir 3rd degree (December 6, 1905)
• Order of St. Anne, 2nd class (May 14, 1896)
• Order of St. Anne, 3rd class (August 30, 1893)

Medals and insignia

The highest thanks

• Highest Gratitude (March 11, 1905)
• Heartfelt thanks to His Majesty (January 4, 1906)
• Supreme Rescript (March 29, 1909)
• The Highest Rescript (February 19, 1911)

honorary titles

• Honorable Sir Yekaterinburg (1911)

Foreign

• Order of Iskander-Salis (Bukhara, December 7, 1906)
• Order rising sun with paulownia flowers of the 1st degree (Japan)
• Order of Prince Daniel I 1st class (Montenegro)
• Order of the Seraphim (Sweden, May 12, 1908)
• Order of Saint Olaf, Grand Cross (Norway, June 6, 1908)
• Order of Saints Mauritius and Lazarus, Grand Cross (Italy, 6 June 1908)
• Royal Victorian Order, Grand Cross (UK, 16 June 1908)
• Order of the White Eagle, 1st class (Serbia)
• Order of the Crown (Prussia)

Performance evaluation

The assessment of Stolypin's activity, both by his contemporaries and historians, is ambiguous and has a polar character. In it, some single out only negative points, while others, on the contrary, consider him "brilliant politician”, a man who could save Russia from future wars, defeats and revolutions. At the same time, both of them are based on the assessments of contemporaries, documentary sources, and statistics. Supporters and opponents often use the same figures expressed in different contexts. So, in the article of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia devoted to agrarian reform, it is written that “the development of new lands was beyond the power of the ruined peasantry. Of the 3 million people who moved in 1906-1916, 548 thousand people returned to their former places, that is, 18%. Journalist Gennady Sidorovnin, with reference to the 1911 edition, interprets the same figures differently - “In any area of ​​​​human life in general, there will always be 10% of losers [...] Of course, three hundred thousand reverse, even if for a 15-year period, is already a big and a difficult phenomenon […] But because of these three hundred thousand, one cannot forget, as is sometimes done, about two and a half million settled settlers.

Criticism of Stolypin's activities

The figure of the liberal-conservative movement Dmitry Shipov, summing up the current situation in October 1908, noted that the lack of political freedoms leads to an increase in the gap between the government and the people, leading to the embitterment of the population. At the same time, Stolypin does not want to notice the fallacy of the chosen course, no longer having the opportunity to change it, taking the path of reaction.

Vladimir Lenin, in his article “Stolypin and the Revolution” (October 1911), wrote about him as “a chief hangman, a pogromist who prepared himself for ministerial activity by torturing peasants, arranging pogroms, and the ability to cover up this Asian “practice” with gloss and phrase.” At the same time, he called him "the head of the counter-revolution."

In Soviet historiography, Stolypin's activities were critically evaluated. Thus, the TSB characterized him as a person who "carried out the June 3 coup d'état of 1907, proposed an agrarian reform in order to create a social support for tsarism in the countryside in the person of the kulaks."

In the Stalinist textbook on the history of the CPSU (b), Stolypin's activities were presented in the darkest colors. It was argued that his reforms led to "the landlessness of the peasants, the robbery of the communal land by the fists, the robbery raids of the gendarmes and policemen, the tsarist provocateurs and the Black Hundred thugs on the working class."

The Soviet historian Aron Avrekh noted that Stolypin's economic reforms did not meet the needs of the state at all, since they did not solve the deep contradictions of the regime. The agrarian reform, which was undoubtedly progressive in nature, even if it was completely successful, could not provide a sufficient level of progress for a competitive struggle with the great powers for the preservation of positions and survival. Avrekh considered the main mistake of Stolypin to be the conviction that first it is necessary to ensure economic conditions, after which democratic reforms should be carried out. Meanwhile, the refusal to carry out political reforms led to an increase in discontent and revolutionary sentiments in the country.

In the post-Soviet period, Stolypin's activities are also criticized. Often it is based on Witte's memoirs, Stolypin's controversy with Tolstoy, and the works of Soviet historians.

Positive assessment of Stolypin's activities

Even during his lifetime, P. A. Stolypin found not only fierce critics, but also loyal supporters. The activities of P. A. Stolypin were supported in every possible way: the famous Russian Marxist philosopher P. B. Struve; philosopher, literary critic and publicist VV Rozanov; philosopher and jurist I. A. Ilyin, politicians N. N. Lvov, V. A. Maklakov, A. V. Tyrkova-Williams, V. V. Shulgin, for whom P. A. Stolypin remained a model politician and even an idol until end of life.

In 1911, V. V. Rozanov, who was grieving over the murder of P. A. Stolypin, wrote in the article “Terror against Russian Nationalism”: “All of Russia felt that it had been hit ... staggering, it could not help clutching its heart.” And in another place: “What was valued in Stolypin? I think, not a program, but a person: this “warrior”, who stood up for, in essence, Russia. The philosopher I. A. Ilyin, even after the death of P. A. Stolypin, believed that “Stolypin’s state business has not died, it is alive, and he will have to be reborn in Russia and revive Russia.”

In 1928, a book by F. T. Goryachkin “The First Russian Fascist Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin” was published in Harbin, in which the author, a member of the “Orthodox Russian Fascists” party, told what this political trend was, and stated that Stolypin was “even more brilliant contemporary Benito Mussolini. This Russian colossus, this brilliant statesman. In Harbin, the Russian fascists, headed by K. V. Rodzaevsky, created the “Stolypin Academy”.

Many prominent public and political figures of our time positively assess Stolypin's activities. A.I. Solzhenitsyn in the book "August the Fourteenth" wrote that if Stolypin had not been killed in 1911, he would have prevented the world war and, accordingly, the loss of Tsarist Russia in it, and hence the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, civil war and millions of victims of these tragic events. Solzhenitsyn assessed the policy pursued by Stolypin to pacify the revolution and introduce courts-martial:

Stolypin's phrases about "Great Russia" are often used by modern political parties. In addition, the books of the former Minister of Finance of Russia B. G. Fedorov, publications under the auspices of the Stolypin Cultural Center and a number of other sources evaluate Stolypin as an outstanding reformer, statesman and great Russian patriot.

Memory

Idioms

• Don't be intimidated!- Stolypin said on March 6, 1907 before the deputies of the State Duma of the II convocation. After Stolypin's speech on the program of planned reforms, representatives of the opposition sharply criticized the government's intentions. After listening to them, Stolypin again went to the podium, where he delivered a short but capacious speech, which ended with the words:

• I don't sell my children's blood- the phrase is given in “Memoirs of my father P. A. Stolypin” by daughter Maria (married Bock). After the explosion on Aptekarsky Island, as a result of which two of his children, son Arkady and daughter Natalya, were seriously injured, Nicholas II offered Stolypin significant financial assistance, to which he received the answer:

• They need great upheavals, we need Great Russia- the phrase completed Stolypin's speech of May 10, 1907 before the deputies of the State Duma of the II convocation. In it, Pyotr Arkadyevich spoke about the ongoing reforms, the life of the peasants, the right to own land; repeatedly stressed the inadmissibility of nationalization or expropriation of land from the landlords in favor of the peasantry. At the end, a phrase was uttered, which soon became winged:

• Give the state 20 years of internal and external peace and you will not recognize today's Russia- in an interview with one of the newspapers, Stolypin described the ongoing reforms, main goal which, in his words, was the creation of a class of small landowners, which was to lead to the prosperity of the country.

Stolypin's relationship with famous contemporaries

Stolypin and Rasputin

The topic "Stolypin - Rasputin" is not too extensive: the Prime Minister did not like "our friend" and avoided him in every possible way.

In the "Memoirs" of Stolypin's daughter Maria Bock, information is provided that shows the source of Rasputin's influence on the royal family, and also characterizes last emperor Russian Empire Nicholas II weak-willed and weak man. M. P. Bock writes that when she started a conversation with her father about Rasputin, who in those years had not yet reached the climax of his influence, Pyotr Arkadyevich frowned and said with sadness in his voice that nothing could be done. Stolypin repeatedly started a conversation with Nicholas II about the inadmissibility of being in the immediate circle of the emperor of a semi-literate peasant with a very dubious reputation. To this Nikolai replied verbatim: “I agree with you, Pyotr Arkadievich, but let ten Rasputins be better than one hysterical empress.”

At the beginning of 1911, the persistent prime minister submitted to the monarch an extensive report on Rasputin, compiled on the basis of the Synod's investigative materials. After that, Nicholas II invited the head of government to meet with the "old man" in order to dispel the negative impression made on the basis of the collected documents. At the meeting, Rasputin tried to hypnotize his interlocutor

Stolypin ordered Rasputin to leave Petersburg, threatening otherwise to bring the latter to justice "to the fullest extent of the law on sectarians." During a forced departure from the capital, Rasputin went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He reappeared in St. Petersburg only after the death of Stolypin.

Stolypin and L. N. Tolstoy

The Stolypin family and Lev Nikolayevich had friendly relations. At one time, Tolstoy was on “you” with the father of the future head of government, but after his death, he not only did not come to the funeral, but also did not express any sympathy, saying that “a dead body is nothing for him, and that he does not consider it worthy to mess around with him"

Subsequently, Leo Tolstoy became one of the critics of Stolypin's actions as prime minister. It got to the point that in one of the draft letters he called him "the most miserable person." Tolstoy criticized the prime minister’s actions, pointing out two main, in his opinion, mistakes: “... first, you began to fight violence with violence and continue to do it […], second, […] to calm the population by destroying the community, to form small landed property.

Stolypin and Witte

Sergei Yulievich Witte - the first chairman of the government of the Russian Empire, one of the initiators of the adoption of the manifesto on October 17, according to which the State Duma was established, the man who signed the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, which completed Russo-Japanese War, - was one of the most ardent critics of Stolypin. Information from Witte's "Memoirs" is often used by critics of Stolypin's policies.

Almost the entire second volume of Witte's memoirs, dedicated to the reign of Nicholas II, contains criticism of Stolypin. In some cases, Witte's attitude towards Stolypin manifests itself in extremely sharp turns. In particular, Witte writes that the prime minister was "killed", and also that "the second happy event for Stolypin there was a misfortune for himself, namely an explosion on Aptekarsky Island, an explosion in which his son and daughter were injured.

Stolypin's daughter Maria, in her memoirs, cited the following episode in the relationship between her father and Witte, which largely explains the hatred of the first Russian prime minister for Stolypin:

Count Witte came to my father and, terribly agitated, began to talk about the fact that he had heard rumors that deeply outraged him, namely, that in Odessa they wanted to rename the street after him. He began to ask my father to immediately give an order to the Odessa mayor Pelican to stop such an indecent act. The Pope replied that this was a matter for city government, and that it was absolutely contrary to his views to interfere in such matters. To my father's surprise, Witte became more and more insistent simply to beg to fulfill his request, and when dad repeated a second time that it was against his principle, Witte suddenly knelt down, repeating his request again and again. When my father did not change his answer here, Witte got up, quickly, without saying goodbye, went to the door and, not reaching the last one, turned around and, looking angrily at my father, said that he would never forgive him for this.

Stolypin in literature, theater and cinema

In literature

The figure of Stolypin is one of the central ones in the knot "August the Fourteenth" of A. I. Solzhenitsyn's epic "The Red Wheel". In fact, it was Solzhenitsyn who introduced into the Russian intellectual discussion of the 1980s-1990s many little known facts biography of Stolypin.

AT historical novels dedicated to the reign of Nicholas II, as well as Rasputin, there is Stolypin.

• In the novel "Unclean Power" (in the magazine version "U last line”) V. S. Pikul describes the environment and family of Nicholas II, Rasputin, the main events of the reign of the last Russian emperor. Stolypin is portrayed "as a reactionary" and at the same time "a whole and strong nature - not like other bureaucrats." The work has been criticized for a large number of historical errors. Stolypin's son Arkady, who lived in exile, points to this: “There are many places in the book that are not only incorrect, but also base and slanderous, for which, in a rule-of-law state, the author would answer not to critics, but to the court.” Historical errors regarding Stolypin in this novel:

In the book, the prime minister is presented as a heavy smoker and lover of Armagnac. In fact, he was known for his aversion to tobacco and alcohol.

Inadequate possession of the right hand, according to the novel, was the result of a bullet hitting it during one of the many assassination attempts. In fact, Stolypin's hand was sick from his youth.

According to the work, after the explosion on Aptekarsky Island, Stolypin's daughter Natalya had her legs amputated, although in reality they were saved.

The chronology of Stolypin's speeches and actions has been broken.

In the novel, Stolypin leaves a couple of times for his wife's dacha that did not really exist in Vyritsa.

• In the book by E. Radzinsky "Rasputin: Life and Death", in the part that is devoted to Stolypin's attitude towards this former peasant of the Tobolsk province, the author gives a favorable description of both Peter Arkadievich himself and his activities:

In the theatre

The only embodiment of the image of P.A. Stolypin for the theater is Olga Mikhailova’s play “The Story of One Crime, or Three Deaths”, written in 2012 by order of the Penza Regional Drama Theatre. Today there are two productions of this play:

• in the Penza Regional Drama Theater called "The Story of a Crime" (premier on May 6, 2012, director Ansar Khalilullin, Sergey Drozhzhilov as P.A. Stolypin);
• in the Moscow Theatre.doc under the title “Tolstoy - Stolypin. Private Correspondence (premiered March 1, 2013, director Vladimir Mirzoev, Arman Khachatryan as P.A. Stolypin).

To the cinema

• "Stolypin ... Unlearned Lessons" (2006), the role of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin was played by the Saratov actor Oleg Klishin.
• “The Eve of the First World War. Stolypin "(2007) - documentary, directed by N. Smirnov.
• In the twelve-episode television feature film by Sergei Gazarov and Andrey Malyukov, The Empire Under Attack, one of the plots is an assassination attempt on Stolypin, committed on Aptekarsky Island.
• In the Russian television series Sins of the Fathers, one of the plot episodes is the murder of Stolypin in Kyiv.

In numismatics

On March 1, 2012, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation issued a silver coin dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of P. A. Stolypin, in the series of commemorative coins "Outstanding Personalities of Russia".

Silver coin of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of P.A. Stolypin

“They need great upheavals, we need Great Russia” (P.A. Stolypin).

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin - outstanding statesman of the Russian Empire.

He held the posts of district leader of the nobility in Kovno, governor of the Grodno and Saratov provinces, minister of the interior, and prime minister.

As prime minister, he passed a number of bills that went down in history as Stolypin agrarian reform. The main content of the reform was the introduction of private peasant land ownership.

On the initiative of Stolypin were introduced courts-martial tougher penalties for serious crimes.

With him was introduced Zemstvo law in the Western provinces, which limited the Poles, on his initiative the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Finland was also limited, the electoral legislation was changed and the Second Duma was dissolved, which put an end to the revolution of 1905-1907.

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin

Biography of P.A. Stolypin

Childhood and youth

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin was born on April 2, 1862 in Dresden, where his mother was visiting, where he was baptized in the Orthodox Church. He spent his childhood first in the Serednikovo estate in the Moscow province, and then in the Kolnoberge estate in the Kovno province. Stolypin was a second cousin of M.Yu. Lermontov.

Family coat of arms of the Stolypins

Stolypin studied at the Vilna, and then together with his brother at the Oryol gymnasium, after which he entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the St. Petersburg Imperial University. During the training of Stolypin, one of the teachers of the university was the famous Russian scientist D. I. Mendeleev.

After graduating from the university, a young official in the service of the Department of Agriculture made a brilliant career, but soon moved to serve in the Ministry of the Interior. In 1889, he was appointed marshal of the nobility in the Kovno district and chairman of the Kovno court of conciliators.

To Kovno

Now it is the city of Kaunas. Stolypin served in Kovno for about 13 years - from 1889 to 1902. This time was the most peaceful in his life. Here he was engaged in the Agricultural Society, under whose tutelage was the entire local economic life: the education of the peasants and the increase in the productivity of their farms, the introduction of advanced farming methods and new varieties of grain crops. He became intimately familiar with local needs and gained administrative experience.

For diligence in the service, he was marked by new ranks and awards: he was appointed an honorary justice of the peace, a titular adviser, and then promoted to collegiate assessors, awarded the first Order of St. Anna, in 1895 he was promoted to court councilors, in 1896 he received the court rank of chamberlain, promoted to collegiate, and in 1901 to state councilors.

During his life in Kovno, Stolypin had four daughters - Natalya, Elena, Olga and Alexandra.

In mid-May 1902, when Stolypin and his family were on vacation in Germany, he was urgently summoned to St. Petersburg. The reason was his appointment as Grodno governor.

In Grodno

P.A. Stolypin - Governor of Grodno

In June 1902, Stolypin assumed the duties of the governor of Grodno. It was a small city, the national composition of which (like the provinces) was heterogeneous (Jews predominated in large cities; the aristocracy was represented mainly by Poles, and the peasantry by Belarusians). On the initiative of Stolypin, a Jewish two-class public school, a vocational school, and a special type of women's parish school were opened in Grodno, in which, in addition to general subjects, drawing, drawing and needlework were taught.

On the second day of work, he closed the Polish Club, where "insurgent moods" dominated.

Having settled into the position of governor, Stolypin began to implement reforms that included:

• resettlement of peasants on farms (a separate peasant estate with a separate farm)
• the elimination of striped land (the location of land plots of one farm in strips interspersed with other people's plots. Striped land arose in Russia with regular redistribution of communal land)
• introduction of artificial fertilizers, improved agricultural implements, multi-field crop rotations, land reclamation
• development of cooperation (joint participation in labor processes)
• agricultural education of the peasants.

These innovations were criticized by large landowners. But Stolypin insisted on the need for knowledge for the people.

In Saratov

But soon the Minister of the Interior Plehve offered him a governor's post in Saratov. Despite Stolypin's reluctance to move to Saratov, Plehve insisted. At that time, the Saratov province was considered prosperous and rich. 150 thousand inhabitants lived in Saratov, there were 150 plants and factories, 11 banks, 16 thousand houses, almost 3 thousand shops and shops in the city. The Saratov province included the large cities of Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) and Kamyshin.

After the defeat in the war with Japan, the Russian Empire was swept by a wave of revolution. Stolypin showed rare courage and fearlessness - he was unarmed and without any protection entered the center of the raging crowds. This had such an effect on the people that the passions subsided by themselves. Nicholas II twice expressed his personal gratitude to him for his diligence, and in April 1906 summoned Stolypin to Tsarskoye Selo and said that he closely followed his actions in Saratov and, considering them exceptionally outstanding, appointed him Minister of the Interior. Stolypin tried to refuse the appointment (by that time he had already survived four assassination attempts), but the emperor insisted.

Minister of Internal Affairs

He remained in this post until the end of his life (when appointed prime minister, he combined two posts).

Under the jurisdiction of the Minister of the Interior were:

• administration of postal and telegraph affairs
• state police
• jail, exile
• provincial and county administrations
• cooperation with zemstvos
• food business (providing the population with food in case of crop failure)
• fire Department
• insurance
• the medicine
• veterinary medicine
• local courts, etc.

The beginning of his work in a new post coincided with the beginning of the work of the First State Duma, which was mainly represented by the leftists, who from the very beginning of their work took a course towards confrontation with the authorities. There was a strong opposition between the executive and the legislature. After the dissolution of the First State Duma, Stolypin became the new prime minister (read more about the history of the State Duma on our website:). He also replaced I. L. Goremykin as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. As prime minister, Stolypin acted with great energy. He was also a brilliant orator who knew how to convince and convince.

Stolypin's relations with the Second State Duma were tense. The Duma included more than a hundred representatives of parties that directly advocated the overthrow of the existing system - the RSDLP (later divided into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks) and the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who repeatedly staged assassinations and assassinations of top officials of the Russian Empire. Polish deputies advocated the separation of Poland from the Russian Empire into a separate state. The two most numerous factions of the Cadets and the Trudoviks advocated the forced expropriation of land from the landlords with subsequent transfer to the peasants. Stolypin was the head of the police, so in 1907 he published in the Duma the “Government Report on a Conspiracy” discovered in the capital and aimed at committing terrorist acts against the emperor, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich and against himself. The government issued an ultimatum to the Duma, demanding that the parliamentary immunity of the alleged participants in the conspiracy be lifted, giving the Duma the shortest time to respond. The Duma did not immediately agree to the terms of the government and proceeded to the procedure for discussing the requirements, and then the tsar, without waiting for a final answer, dissolved the Duma on June 3. The act of June 3 formally violated the "Manifesto of October 17", in connection with which it was called the "June 3 coup".

The new electoral system, which was used in elections to the State Dumas of the III and IV convocations, increased the representation in the Duma of landowners and wealthy citizens, as well as the Russian population in relation to national minorities, which led to the formation of a pro-government majority in the III and IV Dumas. The “Octobrists” in the center ensured that Stolypin passed bills by entering into a coalition on various issues with either right or left members of parliament. At the same time, the less numerous All-Russian National Union party was distinguished by close personal ties with Stolypin.

The Third Duma was "the creation of Stolypin." Stolypin's relationship with the Third Duma was a complex mutual compromise. The general political situation in the Duma turned out to be such that the government was afraid to introduce to the Duma all laws related to civil and religious equality (especially with the legal status of Jews), since a heated discussion of such topics could force the government to dissolve the Duma. Stolypin was unable to reach an understanding with the Duma on the fundamentally important issue of reforming local government; the entire package of government bills on this topic was stuck in parliament forever. At the same time, government budget projects have always been supported by the Duma.

Law on courts-martial

The creation of this law was dictated by the conditions of revolutionary terror in the Russian Empire. Over the past few years, there have been many (tens of thousands) terrorist attacks with a total death toll of 9,000 people. Among them were both the highest officials of the state and ordinary policemen. Often the victims were random people. Several terrorist attacks were prevented personally against Stolypin and his family members, the revolutionaries sentenced to death by poisoning even Stolypin's only son, who was only 2 years old. He was killed by terrorists V. Plehve ...

Stolypin's dacha on Aptekarsky Island after the explosion

During the assassination attempt on Stolypin on August 12, 1906, two of Stolypin's children, Natalya (14 years old) and Arkady (3 years old), were also injured. At the time of the explosion, they, along with the nanny, were on the balcony and were thrown by the blast wave onto the pavement. Natalya's leg bones were crushed, she could not walk for several years, Arkady's injuries were not serious, but the children's nanny died. This attempt on Aptekarsky Island was carried out by the St. Petersburg organization of the Union of Socialist-Revolutionary Maximalists, which was formed in early 1906. The organizer was Mikhail Sokolov. August 12, Saturday, was Stolypin's reception day at the government dacha on Aptekarsky Island in St. Petersburg. Reception began at 14:00. At about half past three, a carriage drove up to the dacha, from which two people in gendarmerie uniforms got out with briefcases in their hands. In the first waiting room, the terrorists threw their briefcases to the next door and rushed away. There was an explosion of great force, more than 100 people were injured: 27 people died on the spot, 33 were seriously injured, many later died.

The prime minister himself and the visitors in his office received bruises (the door was torn off its hinges).

August 19 were introduced courts-martial to expedite the handling of terrorist cases. The trial took place within a day after the commission of the crime. The trial could last no more than two days, the sentence was carried out in 24 hours. The introduction of courts-martial was due to the fact that the military courts showed, in the opinion of the government, excessive leniency and dragged out the consideration of cases. Whereas in the military courts cases were tried in front of the accused, who could use the services of defense counsel and represent their witnesses, in the courts-martial the accused were deprived of all rights.

In his speech of March 13, 1907, before the deputies of the Second Duma, Stolypin justified the need for this law to work as follows: The state can, the state is obliged, when it is in danger, to adopt the most stringent, most exclusive laws in order to protect itself from disintegration.

Artist O. Leonov "Stolypin"

During the six years of the law (from 1906 to 1911), from 683 to 6 thousand people were executed by the verdicts of courts-martial, and 66 thousand were sentenced to hard labor. Most executions were carried out by hanging.

Subsequently, Stolypin was sharply condemned for such harsh measures. The death penalty was rejected by many, and its use was directly associated with the policy pursued by Stolypin . The terms "rapid justice" and "Stolypin's reaction" came into use. Cadet F. I. Rodichev, during his speech in a fit of temper, made an insulting expression "Stolypin's tie", referring to executions. The prime minister challenged him to a duel. Rodichev publicly apologized, which was accepted. Despite this, the expression "Stolypin's tie" has become catchy. By these words was meant the noose of the gallows.

Many prominent people of that time spoke out against the courts-martial: Leo Tolstoy, Leonid Andreev, Alexander Blok, Ilya Repin. The law on courts-martial was not submitted by the government for approval to the Third Duma and automatically expired on April 20, 1907. But as a result of the measures taken, the revolutionary terror was suppressed. The state order in the country was preserved.

I. Repin "Portrait of Stolypin"

Russification of Finland

During Stolypin's premiership, the Grand Duchy of Finland was a special region of the Russian Empire. He pointed out the unacceptability of certain features of power in Finland (many revolutionaries and terrorists were hiding from justice there). In 1908, he ensured that Finnish cases affecting Russian interests were considered in the Council of Ministers.

Jewish question

In the Russian Empire of the times of Stolypin, the Jewish question was a problem of national importance. There were a number of restrictions for the Jews. In particular, outside the so-called Pale of Settlement, they were prohibited from permanent residence. Such inequality in relation to part of the population of the empire on religious grounds led to the fact that many young people who were infringed in their rights went to revolutionary parties. But the solution of this issue progressed with difficulty. Stolypin believed that Wraiths have legal rights to seek full equality.

Assassination attempts on Stolypin

From 1905 to 1911, 11 attempts were made on Stolypin, the last of which achieved its goal. The assassination attempts in the Saratov province were spontaneous, and then they became more organized. The bloodiest is the assassination attempt on Aptekarsky Island, which we have already talked about. Some attempts were uncovered in the process of their preparation. At the end of August 1911, Emperor Nicholas II with his family and associates, including Stolypin, were in Kyiv on the occasion of the opening of the monument to Alexander II. On September 14, 1911, the emperor and Stolypin attended the play "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" at the Kiev city theater. The head of the Kyiv security department had information that terrorists had arrived in the city with a specific purpose. The information was obtained from secret informant Dmitry Bogrov. It turned out that he was the one who planned the assassination. By pass, he went to the city opera house, during the second intermission he approached Stolypin and fired twice: the first bullet hit his arm, the second one hit his stomach, hitting his liver. After being wounded, Stolypin crossed the tsar, sank heavily into a chair and said: "Happy to die for the Tsar." Four days later, Stolypin's condition deteriorated sharply, and he died the next day. There is an opinion that shortly before his death, Stolypin said: "They will kill me, and the members of the guard will kill me."

In the first lines of Stolypin's opened will, it was written: "I want to be buried where they will kill me." Stolypin's instructions were carried out: Stolypin was buried in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

Conclusion

The assessment of Stolypin's activity is contradictory and ambiguous. Some single out only negative aspects in it, others consider him a "brilliant political figure", a person who could save Russia from future wars, defeats and revolutions. We would like to quote lines from the book by S. Rybas "Stolypin", which very accurately characterize the attitude of people towards historical figures: “... from this figure emanates the eternal tragedy of a Russian educated active person: in extreme situation, when traditional methods government controlled cease to work, he comes to the fore, when the situation stabilizes, he begins to annoy, and he is removed from the political arena. And then nobody is really interested in the person, the symbol remains.”

Years of life: 1862-1911

From the biography.

Stolypin P.A. - statesman, chairman of the Council of Ministers since 1906.

He was a tough, skillful, smart politician. He saw his task in restoring order in the country through a well-thought-out policy of the ruling circles. He was a supporter of tough measures, but at the same time sought to reach a compromise with the opposition.

Stolypin was both a conservative and a reformer at the same time. He was a very good orator, he could convince his opponents of the correctness of his course.

• Prior to his appointment to the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers, he held a number of high positions in Russia: he was the marshal of the nobility, the governor, first in the Grodno and then in the Saratov province.
• On April 26, 1906, he was appointed Minister of the Interior, and on July 8, simultaneously Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

• He set a course for socio-political reforms, planning to carry out a number of reforms: agrarian reform, reform of local self-government, introduce universal elementary education, became the initiator of the law on religious tolerance and the creation of courts-martial. In 1907, he achieved the dissolution of the 2nd State Duma and passed a new electoral law (according to it, the role of right-wing forces was strengthened). However, of the 47 reforms he proposed, only 10 were implemented, and even those were not fully implemented.
• There were several terrorist attacks on him. After one in 1906 - the most terrible, when 27 people died, his son was wounded and his daughter shell-shocked, he strengthened security measures, introduced courts-martial. Under the new decree, the rioters were convicted within 48 hours and the sentence carried out within 24 hours. A new concept appeared - "Stolypin's tie" - a noose that was tightened around the neck of the convicts, as many executions were carried out.
• He wanted to carry out a zemstvo reform, expanding the rights of local self-government, introducing representatives of the prosperous peasantry into the zemstvos, limiting the rights of the leaders of the nobility. He was able to pass the law only in the western Polish zemstvos, and even then this met with discontent in society.
• June 14, 1910 - the beginning of the Stolypin reform.

Stolypin reform

1. Political - to form a new social pillar of the regime in the person of the peasant - the owner.
2. Economic - to increase agricultural production, which was hindered by communal land ownership (because of the constant redistribution of land, it was unprofitable for the peasants to improve it).
3. Social - to solve the problem of lack of land of the peasants in the overpopulated central regions, without affecting the landlords' land ownership.

Directions of reform:

• the destruction of the community "from above", the creation of a layer of owners. Two forms of exit from the community: a farm, that is, the allocation of land in a new place, and a cut, the exit of peasants from the community, when the estate remained in the same place. If earlier the peasant was completely dependent on the community (what land he would receive, what crop he would plant), now he became the full owner of the land.
• reorganization of the Peasant Land Bank. The bank bought up landlords' and specific (that is, belonging to the imperial family) lands, and sold them on favorable terms. To this end, in 1906. redemption payments were abolished under the reform of 1861. This helped to solve the problem of lack of land for the peasants.
• Carrying out agricultural activities: the creation of courses on cattle breeding and dairy production, the introduction of progressive forms of agriculture.
• the policy of resettlement of small and landless peasants to the outskirts - to Siberia, Central Asia, and the Far East. Many benefits were provided: cheap railway tickets, special wagons were issued for relocation to new places along with livestock (“Stolypin wagons”), all arrears were forgiven the peasants, and an interest-free loan was issued. And for another five years, the peasants did not have to pay taxes. The conditions were attractive, which led to the fact that in 10 years more than 3 million people were resettled.

However, the reform was not completed, and with the death of Stolypin gradually faded away.

Negative consequences of the Stolypin reform:

• serious changes in agriculture could not be achieved if the landed estates were preserved
• the reform was late, in a short time a support was not created in the countryside in the person of the peasant owners.
• social contradictions intensified, the appearance of prosperous kulaks in the countryside caused discontent among the rest of the peasants.
• the resettlement policy did not reach the goal either. The peasants were hard to get used to complex climatic conditions, there were frequent collisions with local residents. About 16% of the peasants returned to their homeland, joining the ranks of the unemployed, and those who remained often lived in near poverty.
• there were many dissatisfied with this reform in society: some considered the measures too mild, while others did not want any changes in society at all.

After the death of Stolypin, the reform was curtailed. But it bore fruit, and already in 1912-1913 the output of agricultural products increased significantly. Wealthy peasants gave the country more than 40% of the grain. They were also the main consumers of many industrial products.

Military reform P.A. Stolypin

Purpose: to increase the country's defense capability, restore the military might of Russia, reform the army and navy.

Directions of military reform P.A. Stolypin:

• mass technization and mechanization armed forces, increasing the rate of fire and range of small arms, the appearance of heavy and rapid-fire artillery, armored vehicles, airplanes
• active introduction of new means of communication - telegraph, telephone, radio.
• change in the recruitment of the army: the basis was the principle of universal military duty (clergy, foreigners and some categories of the population were exempted from service), the service life was reduced: in the infantry to 3 years, in other branches of the military, to 4. The reserve of the army was divided into two categories: 1- younger ages to replenish the field units, 2 - the elderly, they replenished the reserve and rear units.
• Along with the usual types of troops, new ones appeared: chemical, aviation, armored vehicles.
• Significantly improved training system officers, and also new schools (electrotechnical, automobile, railway, aeronautical) and a school of ensigns appeared. At the same time, the process of democratization of the officer corps was going on, religious and national restrictions were removed.
• He paid much attention to the development of the fleet, shipbuilding.

Significantly increased the number of troops and increased their military-technical training

Strengthened technical equipment

The centralization of command and control of the army and navy increased, which made it possible to clearly coordinate the actions of all branches of the armed forces.

Many undertakings of Stolypin P.A. have not lost their relevance today.

Interesting statements by P.A. Stolypin

• “You, gentlemen, need great upheavals; we need a great Russia” (carved on the grave of Stolypin. Taken from a speech on May 24, 1907 in the State Duma)
• For persons in power, there is no greater sin than the cowardly evasion of responsibility.
• Our eagle, the heritage of Byzantium, is a two-headed eagle. Of course, one-headed eagles are also strong and powerful, but by cutting off one head of our Russian eagle facing the East, you will not turn it into a one-headed eagle, you will only make it bleed ...
• Give the state 20 years of internal and external peace, and you will not recognize today's Russia.
• Only that government has the right to exist, which has a mature state thought and a firm state will.
• The goals and objectives of the Government cannot change depending on the evil intent of the criminals: you can kill an individual, but you cannot kill the idea that animated the Government. It is impossible to destroy the will aimed at restoring the opportunity to live in the country and work freely.
• In the matter of recreating our sea power, our sea power, there can be only one slogan, one password, and this password is “forward”.
• Russia needs such a fleet, which at any given moment could fight with a fleet that stands at the level of the latest scientific requirements.

This material can be used in preparation for task number 40 on the topic: USE C6 historical portrait.

Historical portrait of Stolypin: activities

1. Domestic policy of Stolypin Petr Arkadyevich

Set a course for socio-political and economic reforms, strengthening the power of the country, its modernization, but while maintaining the monarchy, state integrity and inviolability of private property.

• Further strengthening of the monarchy: the dissolution of the 2nd State Duma, the adoption of a new electoral law, according to which the position of right-wing forces in the 3rd State Duma strengthened.
• Improving Agricultural Efficiency: Agrarian Reform

the formation of a peasant-owner, the allocation of farms and cuts from the community, resettlement policy, benefits when obtaining a loan for land, support for cooperatives and peasant associations, a decree on civil equality of peasants, etc.)

• Restoring order in the country (“first calm, then reforms”): the fight against terrorism, the creation of courts-martial.
• National policy: the rapprochement of nations and peoples, Stolypin sought to adopt a decree on religious tolerance, to resolve the Jewish question, to stop the infringement of rights based on nationality. However, he could not do much without receiving support in higher circles, he even limited the autonomy of Finland
• Carrying out a reform of local self-government: Zemstvos were established in the western provinces.
• Carrying out social transformations: improving the life of workers, establishing the inviolability of the person, the right to participate in strikes was recognized, all class restrictions for peasants were abolished.
• Carrying out military reform in order to increase the country's defense capability, restore the military might of Russia: increase the size of the army by changing the army recruitment system, improve technical equipment, improve the quality of officer training, strengthen the centralization of army and navy management

2. Foreign policy of P.A. Stolypin

Strengthening the international position of Russia:

• Rapprochement with Great Britain, 1907 agreement on the division of spheres of influence in Asia
• 1907 - the final registration of the Entente ("cordial consent"), that is, the military-political alliance between Russia, France and England. He opposed another alliance - the Tripartite, between Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey (later Bulgaria joined, etc.)
• Desire to resolve conflicts in the Balkans: Russia refrained from decisive action during the Balkan crisis in 1908-1909.

The results of P.A. Stolypin:

• Despite the incompleteness of a number of reforms, the country began the process of modernization in all spheres of society: social, economic, political: agrarian and military reform, transformations in other spheres of society significantly strengthened the country, made it powerful in the military and economic situation (according to many indicators, Russia occupied leading positions in the world).
• Stolypin P.A. managed to calm the society for a certain time, however, by fighting terrorism, using cruel measures.
• His activities contributed to the formation of a single nation, as he implemented the principle of civil equality in his activities.
• As a far-sighted politician, he was able to see the prospects for the development of the country. Many of his ideas were implemented after his death: compulsory primary education was introduced in 1912, ideas for the revival of the economy were considered and laid the foundation for Russia's transformations along the path of a market economy. It is no coincidence that in 2006 a monument was erected to him in front of the Government House in recognition of the talent of this man, his mind and insight.
• Many of Stolypin's statements have become aphorisms:

“You, gentlemen, need great upheavals; we need a great Russia”;

"Give the state 20 years of internal and external peace, and you will not recognize today's Russia"

Chronology of the life and work of P.A. Stolypin

1906-1911	Chairman of the Council of Ministers
November 9, 1906	The beginning of agrarian reform, the decree of the Governing Senate "On withdrawal from the peasant community"
August 24, 1906	Government program, the main issue is agrarian
1906	Decree on the resettlement of peasants
January 1, 1907	Cancellation of redemption payments for land
1907	He achieved the dissolution of the 2nd State Duma, passed a new electoral law, according to which the position of the Octobrists and right-wing forces strengthened.
1907	The final formation of the Entente. Russia is included in it.
June 14, 1910	Decree "On withdrawal from the peasant community" was approved by the State Duma and became law
1912	Law on the issuance of loans to peasants for the purchase of land
1908-1909	Peaceful settlement of the Balkan crisis.
September 5, 1911	He died after being mortally wounded on September 1 by the Socialist-Revolutionary D.G. Bogrov.

Monument to P.A. Stolypin. Moscow. Krasnopresnenskaya embankment, near the Government House. Opened for the 150th anniversary of the birth of P.A. Stolypin, in 2012. Sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov.