Alexander Kerensky - biography, information, personal life. Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky

Kerensky Alexander Fedorovich (1881-1970) - Russian politician who played a fatal role in the events of 1917. Guided by personal ambition, Kerensky's course prepared the seizure of power Bolsheviks.

As a child, Kerensky lived in Simbirsk. His father was the director of the gymnasium there, the same gymnasium where the young Vladimir Lenin studied. The Ulyanov and Kerensky families were connected by personal friendship. Later, the Kerenskys moved to Turkestan, where Alexander studied at the Tashkent gymnasium. After graduating from the law faculty of St. Petersburg University, the young Kerensky began a career as a left-wing lawyer in political trials and became close to the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. He took part in revolutions of 1905-1907, and after it was elected a deputy IV State Duma, where he was a member of the "Trudoviks" faction and quickly became famous for his hysterically radical revolutionary speeches. In search of popularity, Kerensky took part in the investigation execution of workers at the Lena gold mines(1912) and even made a trip to Lena. In 1912, Alexander Fedorovich joined Masonic lodge "The Great East of the peoples of Russia", and in 1915-1917. even led it.

Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky. Portrait by I. Brodsky, 1917

Kerensky warmly supported February revolution, became a member of the created at the beginning of its events Provisional Committee of the State Duma. The persuasions of Kerensky and Rodzianko most of all persuaded the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, in whose favor Nicholas II abdicated, also renounce the throne. Thus, to the surprise of many revolutionary leaders who thought only of achieving a "responsible ministry" and this tsar, Russia suddenly slipped into monarchical obscurity.

When a handful of socialist leaders who were not authorized by anyone formed Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, the Socialist-Revolutionary Kerensky became a comrade (deputy) of its chairman. Council members evaded joining first composition of the Provisional Government, hoping to lead it "from the outside" - as an autocratic monarch leads the nobles, whom he himself appoints. The only exception was Kerensky, who, out of a manic thirst for glory and power, accepted the post of Minister of Justice in the "bourgeois" cabinet as a "representative of democracy." Participation in the next three compositions of the Provisional Government, the Council, even with all its desire, could not avoid. The left, socialist wing became the leading one in the VP. Accordingly, the importance of Alexander Kerensky grew. From May 1917, he became already a military and naval minister, and after the July crisis he became minister-chairman. During the July events, the attempt of the illegal seizure of power by the Bolsheviks was not only thwarted. Lenin's party was caught in close association with Russia's military adversary, Germany. After that, it was easy to finally finish off the Bolsheviks, thereby preventing the collapse of the country. But it was he who led the new the third composition of the Provisional Government Kerensky opposed this in every possible way, forbidding even the publication in the press of documents on the financing of the Leninists by the Germans.

In July-August 1918, the new Supreme Commander of the Russian Army, General L. G. Kornilov, took vigorous measures to impose discipline at the front. They have had great success. After a shameful failure June offensive troops began to gradually acquire combat readiness. It was necessary to supplement front-line measures with decisive restoration of order in the rear. Kornilov proposed a program aimed at this. It was supported not only by the right, but even by many prominent left figures close to the Provisional Government (for example, Savinkov). Kerensky, however, resisted it in every possible way out of the interests of personal ambition: he was afraid that the very popular Kornilov would be nominated by the public instead of him for the role of the first person in the country. Under persistent pressure from the environment, Kerensky nevertheless agreed to the measures proposed by Kornilov, but literally a day before their final approval by the Provisional Government, taking advantage of the misunderstanding created by the mentally ill Vladimir Lvov, not only rejected the entire program of the commander-in-chief, but also falsely accused him of "mutiny".

General Kornilov, 1916

To fight Kornilov, Kerensky allied himself with the Bolsheviks. He allowed the communist Red Guard to re-arm, released from prison close associates of Lenin, arrested during the July attempt to seize power. The slandered Kornilov was removed from the post of commander in chief and arrested, the remnants of patriotic officer organizations were crushed. Dominance at the front passed to the unbridled Bolshevik "committees" of soldiers, who in a matter of weeks turned the army into an uncontrollable herd, incapable of fighting the enemy.

The triumph over Kornilov extended Kerensky's power for only two months. The Bolsheviks, who relied on the Petrograd garrison of 200,000 deputies who did not want to go to the front, now became stronger than the head of the Provisional Government. Information that Kerensky, literally on the eve of the "Kornilov rebellion," himself promised to approve the program of the commander-in-chief, quickly became public and was used in Lenin's propaganda. The Bolsheviks, quite openly, were preparing the overthrow of Kerensky. Having himself contributed to the defeat of reasonable state forces, he was now unable to prevent this. Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky and fourth, most "leftist" Provisional Government shamefully fell during the October Revolution of 1917. Kerensky's attempt to lead a thousand Cossacks Ataman Krasnov for 200 thousand soldiers of Petrograd, who received a promise from the Bolsheviks not to be sent to the front, was obviously doomed to failure. Part of the Krasnov Cossacks previously supported Kornilov. Now they did not shake hands with the former minister-chairman. Alexander Fedorovich had to ingloriously flee from Krasnov's units. His subsequent attempt to join white army was scornfully rejected. In 1918, the lowly ambitious Kerensky was forced to emigrate. He lived in England, France and died in the USA, living to almost 90 years of age.

“I boldly assert that no one has brought so much harm to Russia as A.F. Kerensky,” M. Rodzianko wrote in 1922.

The main thing that most Russians know about Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, this is that during the storming of the Winter Palace, the head of the Provisional Government fled from Petrograd in a woman's dress.

Alexander Kerensky himself resented such slander throughout his long life. Even half a century later, having met with a Soviet journalist Heinrich Borovik, he asked him to tell "smart people" in Moscow that he did not change clothes as a maid or a nurse in October 1917.

Alexander Kerensky was born in the city of Simbirsk on May 4, 1881, in the family of the director of the Simbirsk male gymnasium Fyodor Mikhailovich Kerensky.

Sasha was the long-awaited son, born after three daughters, because the parents tried to surround the boy with maximum care and attention.

An amazing interweaving of destinies - the head of Fyodor Kerensky was the director of the Simbirsk schools Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov. And the principled Fyodor Mikhailovich put the only "four" in the certificate of his son, a gold medalist Vladimir Ulyanov.

The Ulyanovs and Kerenskys were on friendly terms, although Vladimir Ulyanov and Alexander Kerensky did not have common interests in their youth - after all, the future leader of the world proletariat was 11 years older.

Successful lawyer

In 1889, Fyodor Kerensky was transferred to work in Tashkent, where his eldest son went to school. Alexander was a capable student, a brilliant dancer, and excelled in amateur performances. After graduating from the Tashkent gymnasium, Alexander Kerensky entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University.

Alexander Kerensky. Photo: Public Domain

With all his talents and high oratory skills, Alexander Kerensky was distinguished by stubbornness, intractability, and inability to compromise. Perhaps it was here that mistakes in upbringing, caused by the parents' excessive love for Sasha and indulging him in everything, affected.

Nevertheless, Alexander Kerensky successfully graduated from the university and began his legal career.

Unlike the lawyer Ulyanov, whose practice was limited to one unsuccessful case, the lawyer Kerensky succeeded in his field. He often participated in political processes, successfully defending the interests of the revolutionaries, whom he openly sympathized with.

In 1912, a successful lawyer headed the Public Commission of the State Duma to investigate the Lena massacre, thus marking the beginning of his political career.

Kerensky, close to the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, was elected to the IV State Duma and joined the Trudovik faction, since the Socialist Revolutionaries boycotted the elections.

Liberal idol

Since 1915, Kerensky has become widely known throughout Russia as the best orator in the State Duma, representing the left camp. His critical speeches addressed to the government are a great success.

In December 1916, Kerensky's speeches in the State Duma became so radical that Empress Alexandra Feodorovna noticed that it was desirable to hang this politician.

But times were no longer the same, and just two months later, Alexander Kerensky became one of the main figures in the February Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy.

Kerensky, with his speeches, "dragged" soldiers to the side of the revolution, personally supervised the arrests of tsarist ministers, and settled the procedure for the abdication of Nicholas II and his brother Mikhail Alexandrovich.

In March 1917, Alexander Kerensky joined the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, immediately becoming one of its leaders, and took the post of Minister of Justice in the first composition of the Provisional Government.

Encouraged by the revolution, the Russian liberal intelligentsia turned Kerensky into their idol. In his new post, he himself freed all revolutionaries from prisons and exiles, reformed the judicial system, and began to remove the most odious representatives of the former government from high judicial posts.

From side to side

The provisional government was not stable, it was torn apart by internal contradictions. In April 1917, in its new composition, Alexander Kerensky became the minister of war and navy, and in July 1917 he reached the top, becoming the minister-chairman.

However, at the top of the imperious Olympus, his position is very unstable. His motto "I want to walk in the middle" is out of place in Russia, where right and left radicals are gaining popularity.

Kerensky's political course as head of government changes dramatically. Initially, considering the Bolsheviks as his main opponents, he decides to rely on conservative-minded officers, appointing General Kornilov to the post of Supreme Commander.

However, when in August 1917 Kornilov moved troops to Petrograd “to restore order” in the capital, Kerensky decided that the generals could put an end not only to the Bolsheviks, but also to the government, for which the military had no sympathy.

As a result, Kerensky declared Kornilov a rebel, calling on all left-wing forces, including the Bolsheviks, to fight him.

As a result, by October 1917, the Provisional Government had practically no real support left.

Defeated idol

In many ways, this is precisely why the storming of the Winter Palace and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in Petrograd turned out to be practically bloodless.

Kerensky really fled from Petrograd not in a woman's dress, but in a man's suit, but in the car of the American envoy. The head of the Provisional Government himself later claimed that the Americans kindly offered him the car, while the diplomats who worked in Petrograd had another version - that Kerensky's guards simply took the car away.

If Kerensky succeeded in escaping from Petrograd, then returning to power proved impossible. The anti-Bolshevik forces resolutely did not want to see Kerensky as their leader, even colleagues in the Socialist-Revolutionary Party found it expedient to go into the shadows.

Having wandered around Russia until June 1918, Alexander Kerensky moved abroad, where at first he tried to negotiate an intervention to overthrow the Bolsheviks.

However, the former head of the Provisional Government, deprived of influence, very soon became mired in squabbles and intrigues of the Russian emigration.

Many emigrants considered Kerensky to be the culprit of the fall of the Russian Empire and all subsequent upheavals, which is why the attitude towards him was more than cool.

In 1939, Kerensky, who lived in France, married the Australian journalist Lydia Tritton, and after the occupation of France by Hitler, he left for the United States.

Beginning in the late 1940s, the widowed Kerensky wrote memoirs and lectured students on Russian history.

Unforgiven "destroyer of the monarchy"

In the late 1960s, Kerensky, in his late 80s, tried to get permission to travel to the Soviet Union, but negotiations ended in vain.

Perhaps fortunately for Kerensky himself - after all, most Soviet citizens were convinced that he had long been dead; seeing him in front of them, they, perhaps, would have asked the same question about women's dress, hated by politics.

At the very end of his life, the story with the dress continued - the ambulance, having taken the elderly Russian emigrant, for a long time could not find a place where to attach a low-income patient, since there were no empty places in the free clinic.

When Kerensky woke up, he found, to his horror, that he had been placed on an empty bed ... in the gynecology department. And although the veteran of Russian politics was soon transferred from there, Kerensky considered this a humiliation no less than the myth of his escape in October 1917.

Kerensky's relatives found funds for treatment in a more decent clinic by selling the politician's archive. However, the seriously ill old man decided that his continued existence did not make sense. He refused to eat, and when the doctors began to inject a nutrient solution through a needle, the patient began to pull it out.

Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky spent his last days at his home in New York, where he died on June 11, 1970.

Kerensky's reputation prevented him even after his death - the Orthodox priests of New York refused to perform the funeral service and bury the "destroyer of the monarchy" at the local cemetery. Alexander Fedorovich was buried in London, where his son lived, in a cemetery that does not belong to any of the religious denominations.

Kerensky Alexander Fedorovich (born April 22 (May 4), 1881 - death June 11, 1970) Russian politician and statesman, minister, leader of the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia, dictator of revolutionary Russia in July - October 1917.

Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky - short biography (article review)

Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky - lawyer, member of the Supreme Council of Freemasons of Russia, elected chairman of the Trudovik faction in the State Duma. Member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Petrosoviet. 1917, March - joins the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government, in the 1st and 2nd coalition governments, the Minister of War and the Navy, while remaining the Minister of Justice. From July 8 to October 25, 1917, Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government, from August 30, simultaneously Supreme Commander. From July 1918 - life in exile. 1970, June 11 - died in exile, in America.

And now more…

Childhood, youthful years. Education

Alexander Kerensky was born in Simbirsk on April 22, 1881 into a noble family. Father is the director of the men's gymnasium, which the Ulyanov brothers graduated from. As a child, Sasha fell ill with bone tuberculosis and for some time the family lived in Tashkent (his father served as the chief inspector of schools in the Turkestan region - according to the "table of ranks" his rank corresponded to the rank of major general and gave the right to hereditary nobility). After graduating from the gymnasium, Alexander enters the historical and philological, and then the law faculty of St. Petersburg University, in 1904 he receives a law degree, becomes an assistant to the barrister of the capital district, he is admitted to the bar of St. Petersburg.

Political formation

At political trials, he approaches the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. During the revolution of 1905, he sympathized with terror and even wanted to join the Fighting Organization of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, but Azef refused to accept him. Kerensky was arrested for "Socialist-Revolutionary activities", officially - for possession of leaflets, and for four months he spent in prison, six months - in exile in Tashkent. After exile, Kerensky in St. Petersburg became known as a brilliant lawyer, defender in political trials. He provides free legal assistance in the People's House, works as a legal adviser among workers, and is a member of the Committee for Assistance to the Victims of Bloody Sunday.

1906, October - Kerensky is glorified throughout Russia, after winning the process in the case of peasants who plundered the estate of the Baltic baron.

1912 - Kerensky was elected a deputy of the IV State Duma on the list of the Labor Party, and since 1915 - he became the chairman of the Duma faction of the Labor Party. He heads the Duma commission to investigate the execution of workers at the Lena gold mines, initiates protests by lawyers against the "Beilis case", for which he is sentenced to 8 months in prison.

At the same time, Alexander Kerensky joined the Great East Masonic lodge, soon became the Secretary General of its Supreme Council, the leader of Freemasonry in Russia and the curator of Masonic lodges in Ukraine.

During the First World War, Kerensky appeared as a "defencist" - a supporter of the war against the German bloc in order to defend the "revolutionary fatherland".

1916, summer - Kerensky is preparing the overthrow of the monarchy. From the Duma rostrum, he declared: "The whole world history says that the revolution was the method and the only means of saving the state." The Empress demands that the Tsar hang Kerensky.

Revolution - February 1917

On February 14 (27), 1917, during the February Revolution, Kerensky was elected to the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and deputy chairman of the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet. In the first days of March 1917, Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky, as a representative of the "socialists" (he had just joined the Socialist-Revolutionary Party), took the post of Minister of Justice of the Provisional Government. He is considered a skillful politician - a symbol of the unity of the revolutionary parties (the Cadets, Octobrists, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Soviet structures). He signs a decree on the release of all prisoners for political and religious reasons, an order to abolish the death penalty.

The youngest minister

At 33, Kerensky becomes the youngest and most popular minister in Russia. 1917, May 5 - after another crisis in the Provisional Government, Kerensky takes the post of military and naval minister, while retaining the portfolio of the minister of justice. He seeks to restore the combat readiness of the army at the front, to carry out an offensive in the southwestern direction, to rally the nation under the slogan "Everything for the defense of the revolution!". He travels to front-line units and speaks to soldiers for days, using his oratorical gift, inspires the army to "defend the revolutionary fatherland." At the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Kerensky was elected a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets.

When in July 1917 armed uprisings of the Bolsheviks and anarchists took place in Petrograd, Kerensky was able to suppress them by sending the most dangerous instigators to prison. The Bolsheviks were going underground, and it seemed that they would not soon be able to restore their authority among the masses. But the mistake of Alexander Fedorovich was the unwillingness to immediately arrest Lenin.

Kerensky and Kornilov in Tsarskoye Selo - the arrest of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (March 1917)

Head of the Provisional Government

1917, July 8 - Kerensky - the head of the Provisional Government and at the same time the Minister of War and Marine. The moderate revolutionaries (the Cadets and the right SRs) hoped that he could become a revolutionary dictator and be able to curb anarchy in the state. He lacks courage...

The promises that were given to the people were never fulfilled, Alexander Fedorovich postponed important state decisions until the opening of the Constituent Assembly in November 1917. However, the ongoing war and the economic crisis put the country on the brink of starvation. Kerensky postpones until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly the solution of the problems of peace, the redistribution of land and property, workers' control, national autonomy ... while Lenin had already promised the proletarians "everything immediately." When it was necessary to take drastic measures, he sought compromises and "did not take off his white gloves." Kerensky turned out to be a weak politician and a worthless dictator.

Kerensky's flight from Gatchina in 1917. (Artist G. Shegal)

Rebellion of General Kornilov

July 19, 1917 - Kerensky appoints the general as Supreme Commander. At that time, part of the moderate revolutionary elite and officer corps was toying with a plan to send troops to Petrograd, reintroduce the death penalty in the army, and establish a revolutionary dictatorship to prevent a Bolshevik coup. However, Kornilov, who was entrusted with the role of "savior of the revolution", seeks to establish sole power and does not take Kerensky into account.

If by mid-August 1917 Kerensky and Kornilov were thinking of establishing a two-fold dictatorship in the state, at the end of the month circles close to Kornilov began to talk about the need to arrest Kerensky. Upon learning this, the Head of Government removed Kornilov from his post, but the general did not obey the order and raised a rebellion, sending troops loyal to him to Petrograd. But the general's soldiers refused to fight the "people", the rebellion was suppressed, and its organizers, Kornilov and were arrested.

The suppression of the rebellion cost Alexander Kerensky dearly. During the rebellion in search of allies, the head of the Provisional Government actually legalizes the Bolshevik Party and its "assault squads" - the working Red Guard. As a result, in September-October 1917, the Bolsheviks seize leadership in the Soviets, arm themselves and begin to prepare for an uprising.

Kerensky is being rejected by officers, part of the bourgeoisie and moderate revolutionaries.

1917, September - Kerensky Alexander Fedorovich also becomes the Supreme Commander, creates new authorities - the Directory and the Pre-Parliament, proclaims Russia a republic. At that time, he believes that he is still able to suppress all attempts at an armed uprising by the Bolsheviks, but at the same time he does not dare to take personal responsibility and unleash terror against the "leftists".

Kerensky - 1938

October 1917

1917, October 24 - Kerensky demands from the Pre-Parliament of the Republic the full support of the government's punitive actions against the Bolsheviks who rebelled in the capital. However, the Pre-Parliament also evades responsibility. In fact, the Bolsheviks were no longer opposed by the state punitive mechanism.

1917, October 25 - during the capture of the capital by the rebels, Alexander Fedorovich by some miracle manages to leave St. Petersburg to the headquarters of the Northern Front. He asks for help against the Bolsheviks. However, Kerensky could not find serious support among the troops. At the time of the Bolshevik uprising, the Provisional Government found itself without its leader, without the support of the population and without reliable troops, which helped the Bolsheviks very easily seize power in the capital.

Kerensky was able to raise only the Cossacks of General Krasnov. With several thousand Cossacks, Kerensky makes a desperate attempt to break through to St. Petersburg with the intention of turning the tide of the revolution. But Kerensky-Krasnov's campaign against Peter fails. A few days after the start of the offensive on St. Petersburg, Krasnov's Cossacks changed their oath, they wanted to arrest Kerensky and hand him over to the Bolsheviks. Kerensky, changes into a sailor's uniform (and not into a nurse's dress, as Soviet propagandists wrote about it), and flees from imminent reprisals through the underground passage of the palace in Gatchina. For a month he was hiding in the villages of the Novgorod province, and in December 1917 he was trying to negotiate on the Don with Ataman Kaledin.

Kerensky is elected a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, but the leadership of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party dissuades him from speaking at the opening of the Constituent Assembly, so as not to be in danger of being arrested. In February-April 1917, Kerensky lives in Finland, still hoping to return to big politics.

Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky in America. 1969

Emigration

1918, May - he illegally sneaks into Soviet Moscow and establishes contact with the underground Union for the Revival of Russia. 1918, July - Kerensky forever leaves his homeland, through Murmansk leaves for England. In 1918–1919 he, on behalf of the Union for the Revival of Russia, negotiated with representatives of the Entente on the possibility of a joint struggle against the Bolsheviks. In Paris, Kerensky is the leader of the Non-Party Democratic Association. In 1921–1922 he takes part in a meeting of members of the Constituent Assembly of the emigration forces (he is elected a member of the executive committee), in the work of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party Congress. But by that time Kerensky had already lost all his political capital and his popularity, and Western leaders do not see in him a person who is able to curb the Bolsheviks and unite the nation.

1922–1940 - Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky lives in Berlin and Paris, he is a member of the Russian Public Committee, editor of the newspaper "Dni" and the magazine "New Russia", opposes fascism and Stalinism. 1940, summer - he leaves for America, is a member of the American group of Russian SR emigrants. During World War II, Kerensky campaigned for help to the Soviet Union, collaborating with Western democrats. 1949 - he, one of the organizers of the League of Struggle for People's Freedom, in 1951 joined the Council for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Alexander Fedorovich worked in the archives of Stanford University and the Hoover Institution for War, Revolution and Peace. 1965 - his memoirs "Russia at a historical turn" are published. Many of the emigrants accuse the leader of the February Revolution of contributing to the collapse of the monarchy and the collapse of "great Russia" in that he "surrendered" Russia to the Bolsheviks. Lenin called him "the hero of the leftist phrase," Trotsky called him "the temporary worker of the historical moment." Before his death, Alexander Fedorovich said: “I ruined Russia! But, God knows, I wanted her freedom!” In recent years, he lived in poverty, lost his sight, found himself in complete isolation. The former Head of the Provisional Government in New York died on June 11, 1970.

The following is said about this historical Russian event in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia: “The February bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1917 is the second Russian bourgeois revolution that overthrew tsarism ... The hegemon and the main driving force of the revolution was the working class led by the Bolshevik Party, who led the movement of the masses of peasants, soldiers for peace , for bread, for freedom. The revolutionary situation that had been developing since 1916 turned into a revolution in 1917.

For decades, Soviet historiography regarded the February Revolution as merely a preparatory stage for the October Revolution. Meanwhile, historians throughout the rest of the world had a different point of view on the February events: they called February 1917 and the entire period of time remaining until October "the era of unrealized opportunities for Russian democracy." It has now become a generally accepted fact that the October Revolution of 1917 could not have happened if it were not for a whole series of fatal mistakes made by the head of the Russian Provisional Government, Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky (Fig. 1).

Politician cartoon

Soviet people usually perceived this person as nothing more than a caricature from a bygone time, as a kind of Russian dictator. In 1917, at the whim of mother history, a revolutionary wave, unexpectedly for everyone, threw him to the very peak of power and glory, so that in a few months he would also be promptly thrown into the historical dustbin.

Suffice it to recall the film “Lenin in October”, where in the scene of the meeting of the Provisional Government in the Winter Palace, the hunched figure of the Prime Minister appeared from somewhere from the back door, who, with his whole appearance, seemed to emphasize the agony of the obsolete bourgeois regime. Despite the tragedy of the situation in which the government was at that time, Kerensky in the film makes some schizophrenic speeches that do not fit in with the current moment, and at the end demands that the ministers immediately liquidate the Bolshevik Party, while Lenin is shot. After this film, the viewer was firmly rooted in the opinion: yes, it’s not enough to overthrow such a head of government - it’s not enough to drown in the Neva (Fig. 2).

And here is how he portrays Kerensky in his poem “Good!” the famous Soviet poet V.V. Mayakovsky.

“The palace was built by Rastrelli for the kings.

Kings were born, lived, grew old.

The palace did not think about the fidgeting shoot,

I didn’t guess that in the bed entrusted to the queens,

Some sworn attorney will spread out ...

Forgetting both classes and parties,

Goes on duty speech.

His eyes are Bonaparte

And the colors of the protective jacket ...

If you get sad from unemployment,

Himself, confidently and quickly,

Appoints - then the military, then justice,

Or some other minister ... "

And the scene of Kerensky's flight from the Winter Palace just before its storming by the Bolsheviks was nowhere depicted otherwise than as a caricature. Mayakovsky also has lines about this.

“In a crazy car, knocking down tires,

Quiet like a packed pipe

For Gatchina, huddled, the former fled, -

In the horn, in the ram! Rebellious slaves! .. "

Yes, Kerensky, indeed, a few years before the described events of 1917, served as a barrister (in modern terms, a lawyer), and at the same time he participated in high-profile political trials of the 10s of the 20th century. But here it is worth remembering that Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) at the dawn of his career also worked in the same position in the Samara court, but no one ever reproached him for this circumstance. Yes, Kerensky really often appeared in public, putting on "the colors of a protective service jacket." But he was not at all his main clothing - the head of the Provisional Government also liked the usual European suit with a tie. And if we talk about the jacket, then another "leader of all peoples" - I.V. Indeed, Stalin cannot be imagined in anything else, if not in these clothes, as they would say now, in the style of "military".

As for the fact, famously played up by Mayakovsky, that Kerensky allegedly "appointed himself" to various ministerial posts, this is a real historical lie. He was nominated for the post of Minister of Justice by the Petrograd Soviet (SR-Menshevik in composition) even during the formation of the Provisional Government on March 1 (14), 1917, and he was offered the post of Minister of War on April 30, when the Octobrist leader A.I. Guchkov. Kerensky became the head of the Provisional Government (Minister-Chairman) only on July 8 (21), after the defeat of the July Bolshevik revolt. Thus, Alexander Fedorovich simply physically could not appoint "himself" the Minister of War and the Minister of Justice - then he did not have the appropriate authority.

But these are just minor inaccuracies, from which, however, Soviet propaganda blinded the very image of "an insignificant pygmy who tried to take the imperial chair", which we have known for more than seven decades. And only in the perestroika years, thanks to the efforts of historians, did we begin to recreate a true portrait of this rather contradictory, in many respects not without sin, but quite real, living politician, who in the first half of 1917 was a real idol of the Russian democratic public.

And for the Samara public, previously unknown and recently declassified archival materials about the stay of A.F. Kerensky in Samara. It turns out that even before the events of February 1917, the future head of the Provisional Government often visited our city.

In the same gymnasium with Lenin

This is a historical paradox, but the fact remains: A.F. Kerensky was born in the same city as his future political opponent V.I. Ulyanov - in Simbirsk. Another amazing coincidence is that they have very close dates of birth: Ulyanov was born on April 10 (22 according to the new style) April, and Kerensky - on April 22 (according to the new style - May 4). However, between these dates there is a time period of 11 years. As we know, V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin) was born in 1870, and A.F. Kerensky - in 1881. The big difference in age did not allow the two future Russian politicians not only to sit in the classroom at the same desk (this mistake, by the way, is made by some historians), but even to study at least for a while in the same gymnasium. It is believed that in childhood they did not even know each other, although, as Kerensky writes in his memoirs, sometimes he could meet Volodya Ulyanov either when walking on the street, or within the walls of the gymnasium, where little Sasha came to his father - director of an educational institution (Fig. 3, 4).

Yes, this is another historical paradox: Volodya Ulyanov’s matriculation certificate was signed by none other than the father of the future head of the Provisional Government, Fyodor Mikhailovich Kerensky, who at that time worked as the director of the Simbirsk male gymnasium (Fig. 5).

Little Sasha came to his office more than once, and precisely in those years when the future leader of the world proletariat was studying here. In his memoirs, Kerensky recalls one of the holy holidays, constantly celebrated in the gymnasium, at which he happened to be present. In this regard, Alexander Fedorovich wrote that at the celebration he saw a long row of dignified high school students holding flowers in their hands, and expressed confidence that Volodya Ulyanov was probably among them. Kerensky attended all such holy events from a very young age, and until the end of his days he remained a deeply religious person - in contrast, as he writes in his memoirs, from Vladimir Ulyanov, who, according to the latter, threw away his underwear at the age of 14. trash cross.

Here are a few more lines from Kerensky's memoirs: “Ironically, three people whose lives were closely intertwined in the critical years of Russian history, the hated last tsarist Minister of Internal Affairs A.D. Protopopov, Vladimir Lenin and I were natives of Simbirsk.” Well, sometimes history does amazing things ...

But what happened next? And then fate wanted to separate the future giants of Russian politics for many years. In 1889, at the very time when it was time for Sasha Kerensky to enter the gymnasium, his father was sent by transfer to Tashkent to a higher position than the director of the gymnasium - the inspector of educational institutions. Fedor Mikhailovich went to this Central Asian city with his whole family. In Tashkent, Sasha graduated from the gymnasium, and then entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University, where he successfully completed his studies in 1904. From that moment Alexander Kerensky began to work as a lawyer.

Until a certain moment, the future Russian politician conducted ordinary routine court cases that did not bring him either fame or big money. However, even then he was eyeing various political movements and parties, and more than once expressed sympathy for various left-wing organizations, including socialists and the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. And in 1912, the finest hour of the rapidly gaining popularity of the lawyer Kerensky came when he undertook to defend the defendants in one of the political trials. Alexander Fedorovich's clients this time turned out to be members of the nationalist Armenian organization of the Dashnaks, accused, as they would say now, of terrorism. Of course, Kerensky was not allowed to fully justify the Dashnaks, but the fact that they received a minimum term of imprisonment was the merit of their lawyer, who showed his oratory.

In the same year, 1912, sad events took place at the Lena gold mines in Siberia, where the troops shot down the protests of workers who had been reduced to poverty by the gold owners. Kerensky personally went to the mines to conduct an independent investigation into the causes of the tragedy. He subsequently used the material collected in Siberia as irrefutable evidence of the cruelty of the tsarist regime, and all this contributed to the growth of his popularity both as a lawyer and as a politician. And in 1913, the book "The Truth about the Lena Events" was published, in which Kerensky was listed as one of the editors.

It is not surprising that in the elections to the Fourth State Duma, which were held all in the same 1912, Kerensky easily defeated all his rivals and was elected to the Duma from the city of Volsk in the Saratov province. In the Russian parliament, Alexander Fedorovich almost immediately joined the Trudovik faction, where he carried out active work, and soon he was elected chairman of this faction. In speeches from the parliamentary rostrum, Kerensky openly proclaimed himself a socialist, and moreover, he took concrete steps to pass bills of a clearly socialist orientation through the Duma (Fig. 6, 7).

In 1913, Kerensky, already a member of the State Duma, was one of the initiators of the adoption of the resolution of St. Petersburg lawyers in the case of the Kyiv religious figure Beilis, who was accused of allegedly committing a human sacrifice. Despite the lack of evidence, the court found Beilis guilty. In protest, a group of lawyers, including Kerensky, sent a letter to the tsar, the contents of which allowed the now Petersburg court to sentence Kerensky and the other authors of the resolution to 8 months in prison "for insulting the crowned heads". All these facts gave grounds for the Police Department to take the future head of the Provisional Government under its tacit supervision. From that time until the February revolution, Kerensky was almost constantly monitored by the guards of the security department. Their reports are now stored in the archives of all Russian cities that Kerensky visited in those years, and thanks in large part to these documents, historians can now reconstruct almost every step of this Russian politician.

It was from this source that an interesting detail became known: it turns out that at the end of 1912 Kerensky became a member of the organization of Russian political Freemasonry, restored after its defeat in 1906 by a group of bourgeois liberals. In total, the Russian Masonic lodge of that time consisted of about 300 people, but since among them were representatives of almost all political parties and deputies of the State Duma, the Masons could quite significantly influence Russian politics in the pre-revolutionary period. As it now turns out, it was to recruit new members to his organization in 1914 that A.F. Kerensky came to Samara.

Kerensky and the Freemasons

Here is what the well-known Samara politician of the pre-revolutionary period, a member of the Cadet Party Alexander Grigoryevich Yolshin writes in his memoirs (Fig. 8):

“At the beginning of June (1914 - Ed.) A.F. arrived in Samara. Kerensky and N.V. Nekrasov. I was in their room - they stayed at the National Hotel at the corner of Saratovskaya and Panskaya (now the corner of Frunze and Leningradskaya streets - V.E.). I was invited there, and I remember - they started talking from afar about some kind of political organization existing in Russia, embracing all progressive parties. I quickly realized that they wanted to recruit me into this organization. Then we agreed that they would come to me the next day in the morning.

The next day they were with me and in the conversation they went even further - it turned out that they were talking about Freemasonry. I was extremely surprised by this, since I believed that this organization, with its rituals of bygone times, had long since ceased to exist. Our conversation ended with my agreeing to join Freemasonry.

The reception was scheduled in Kugushev's apartment - Kazanskaya Street (now Alexei Tolstoy Street - V.E.), No. 30, Subbotin's house.

For me it was beyond doubt that Alikhan Bukeikhanov was also a member of the brotherhood, for at first he played the role of an intermediary between me and Kerensky and Nekrasov. The next day in the morning I came to Kugushev. Alikhan led me into a back room with a balcony overlooking the courtyard and said that “according to the rules of the charter” I could not yet see any of the assembled brothers.

Then he brought me a question sheet - about the attitude towards himself, towards the family, towards society, towards the state and humanity - and suggested waiting for written answers. And he left.

After some time, Bukeikhanov came, and I handed him the sheet I had filled out. He told me that the brethren would consider my answers and he decided if I could be accepted for my convictions.

A quarter of an hour later he returned and said that now the order of reception will go further. He blindfolded me and offered to wait in this position for a while and not remove the bandage without him.

After a while I heard the footsteps of people entering, and then the voice of Kerensky announced to me that I was in front of a delegation of the Supreme Council of the Brotherhood of Freemasons. Several questions were put to me, and then, standing, I repeated the oath after Kerensky.

After that, the bandage was removed from me. All three of them congratulated me (I remember that Kugushev himself was not in Samara), and we kissed like brothers.

It seems that right from there we all went to the ship - the "Caucasus and Mercury" society, on which Kerensky and Nekrasov left for Saratov.

(Quoted from the publication: Fomicheva N.P. A.G. Yolshin (1878-1928). - In the collection "Samara local historian", publishing house of Samara University, 1995, pp. 171-194).

It is necessary to explain who the characters mentioned in the above text were at that time. As already mentioned above, Alexander Grigorievich Yolshin is a sworn attorney of the Samara District Court, a nobleman, after the February Revolution - a member of the executive committee of people's power. Alikhan Nurmukhammedovich Bukeikhanov - leader of the Samara organization of cadets (in the gendarmerie documents he is called a populist socialist), deputy of the First State Duma, agronomist, a descendant of Genghis Khan. Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Kugushev is a nobleman, a vowel of the Samara City Duma, a sympathizer of the RSDLP (he was arrested and exiled for this), and after the February Revolution, he was the commissar of the Samara prison. Nikolai Vissarionovich Nekrasov - until 1916, the General Secretary of the Masonic Lodge "Great East of the Peoples of Russia", a member of the Cadet Party (Fig. 9-11).

At the time of his arrival in Samara, Kerensky was a member of the Supreme Council of the aforementioned Masonic lodge, and only Nekrasov stood above him in rank in it. And two years after the events described by Yolshin, in 1916, an all-Russian congress of the lodge took place, at which the views of various groups collided. The main contradiction was that the Freemasons traditionally considered themselves pacifists, and Russia at that time, as you know, was at war with Germany. The attitude towards the war gave rise to robbery and vacillation in the ranks of Russian Masons.

Kerensky was able to convince the overwhelming majority of the delegates of the Masonic Congress that in the current situation, they, as representatives of the top of Russian society, needed to ensure a quick victory for the anti-German coalition and strengthen relations with the allies in every possible way. In support of his point of view, with the eloquence inherent in a qualified lawyer, he cited a lot of convincing arguments. After Kerensky's speeches, even many of the convinced pacifists, not to mention the wavering ones, eventually supported his position, and Kerensky himself was elected by an overwhelming majority instead of Nekrasov as the general secretary of the Great East of the Peoples of Russia Masonic lodge. Disagreement with the new leadership and its course was expressed only by ten of the 50 regional organizations of the lodge, which immediately disbanded in protest.

And Kerensky, after his election to a new secret position throughout 1916, rapidly increased his influence on the sidelines of Russian politics. Indeed, as already mentioned, the aforementioned Masonic lodge included many famous people of that time - party leaders, industrialists, members of the State Duma. It was that significant and imperceptible to the eye of an outsider layman influence on the Russian elite, which gave Kerensky primacy in the Masonic organization, and determined the inexplicably rapid rise of his political career, which the whole world observed in 1917.

Under the "cap" of the secret police

But let us return again to 1916, when for the general public Kerensky was "merely" a member of the Fourth State Duma and chairman of the Trudovik faction. As mentioned above, by that time, for several years, fillers of the IVth branch of the Police Department (colloquially, the security department) followed him almost continuously, scrupulously recording every step of this political figure, known to the authorities for his free-thinking speeches and petitions. Wherever Kerensky left Petrograd, an urgent secret telegram immediately flew after him to the corresponding regional gendarmerie department: such and such went in your direction, upon arrival at the place, ensure your own surveillance.

In Soviet times, a significant part of the materials of the Samara Provincial Gendarmerie Administration (SGZhU), located in the Central State Archive of the Samara Region (TSGASO), was classified as "Secret", and therefore was not available to researchers. Such documents also included materials of surveillance of political figures, the mention of which in the Soviet historical literature, to put it mildly, was not welcomed. Of course, Kerensky was included in the list of such persons. Only in the 90s did the declassification of such documents begin, including the funds of the Samara provincial gendarmerie department, from which we now have the opportunity to draw a lot of invaluable information about those bygone times.

According to these materials, Kerensky visited Samara several times in pre-revolutionary times. Even more times he passed through our city on the train "Petrograd-Tashkent", without even leaving the Samara platform. And he traveled to Tashkent regularly, because, as we already know, his father and mother lived there, and Alexander Fedorovich, a religious man who revered his parents, considered it necessary to visit his father's house at the first opportunity.

Here is the telegram that arrived on August 16, 1916 at the Samara provincial gendarmerie department:

"Nachzhand Samara state-owned Moscow secret

On the fifteenth, by train five, Rostov left through Tula, under the supervision of Bychkov Osminin, Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky, known to you, accept the observation of the fillers, return Colonel Martynov.

The Samara gendarmes reacted immediately and the next day Kerensky was handed over in a chain under the supervision of the Orenburg department:

"Orenburg nachzhand treasury Samara secret

Today, member of the Duma Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky left by train 8 under the supervision of Kuryntsev Shekhvatov;

However, the Orenburg gendarmes had a problem, and this telegram arrived in Samara by the evening of the next day:

"Samara nachzhand of Orenburg state secret

The telegram was received after the passage of the eighth train where Colonel Kashintsev was observed unknown.

Of course, the Samara detectives did not abandon what they were observing, but fulfilled their duty to the end, and escorted Kerensky all the way to Tashkent. By the time they arrived, a telegram had already arrived in Tashkent from Samara, and the local snitches, right at the station, received Kerensky from their Samara colleagues like a relay baton.

Alexander Fedorovich stayed in this Central Asian city for two weeks and left for Petrograd on September 2, 1916. Immediately, a telegram flew from Tashkent to Samara:

"Samara nachzhand Tashkent secret

Ambulance seven car 150 today left Petrograd Kerensky with a ticket, accompanied by Kulakovsky Zaitsev, take the observation of the fillers, return Colonel Volkov.

Kerensky arrived in our city on September 5, and the head of the Samara provincial gendarme department, Colonel Mikhail Ignatievich Poznansky, subsequently reported this to the police department (Fig. 12).

“... I inform Your Excellency that a member of the State Duma, Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky, on this date with train No. 7, accompanied by filers, arrived from Tashkent to Samara, visited the well-known police department ... populist doctor Ivan Georgievich Markov, and entered the control of the city government. Visiting the control, undoubtedly, refers to the city controller, cadet Vasily Vasilyevich Kiryakov.

With the same train No. 7, Kerensky, under the supervision of Ovchinnikov and Efremov, the lieutenants entrusted to me, left for Petrograd.

I informed the head of the Moscow security department by telegram about Kerensky's departure and his acceptance into observation.

And here is the report of the Samara filers, on the basis of which Colonel Poznansky wrote the above report to the police department. In this report, information about Kerensky is much more detailed (the style and spelling of the original are preserved).

At 7:49 am. With train No. 7 Tashkent, under the supervision of Tashkent fillers, arrived "Dumsky" - Kerensky Alexander Fedorovich; upon the arrival of the train, he got out of the car, entered the station to the 1st class buffet, where he stayed for 35 minutes, got out and went to the head of the station, where he spoke on the phone; after 10 m. he got out, took a cab, and drove to house number 71 on Dvoryanskaya street. to the apartment of "Vecherniy" - Ivan Yegorovich Markov, where he stayed until 10:50 in the morning; He went out with "Vecherny" - Markov, and an unknown gentleman (should be Vasily Vasilyevich Kiryakov) and immediately parted; "Dumsky" - Kerensky went in a cab to the station, and at 11 hours 24 minutes. left in the morning with train No. 7 under the supervision of the fillers Ovchinnikov and Efremov ...

Vinokurov, Chechetkin, Dubrovin.

(TsGASO, F-468, op. 1, do. 2530, case file 9)

In the document cited above, Kerensky appears under the pseudonym "Dumsky", "Vecherny" is Markov, and the unknown gentleman mentioned in the letter of Colonel Poznansky is Kiryakov. After the events described, Markov and Kiryakov were followed for several more days, and Kerensky was brought by the Samara spyers to Moscow, about which they made the following report:

“In the city of Penza I went out for dinner, in the city of Tula I went out to drink tea. On September 6, at 10:30 p.m., he arrived in Moscow and was handed over to filers Bychkov and Bulaichikov.

Ovchinnikov, Efremov.

The last time Kerensky came to Samara was on September 23, 1916, on the steamer Goncharov from Saratov. According to the reports of the Samara spyers, we can now find out who Alexander Fedorovich met and what he did in Samara in those September days of 1916.

In the trace materials, Kerensky himself again appears under the nickname "Dumsky", under two nicknames, first "Kalmyk", and then "Asman" - A.N. Bukeikhanov, "Evening" - populist doctor I.G. Markov, and "Ataman" is the leader of the Samara Mensheviks I.I. Ramishvili (Fig. 13).

Here is the text of the report, which refers to the arrival of Kerensky in Samara (the spelling and style of the original have been preserved).

At 9 o'clock. 45 pm with the steamer "Goncharov" of the society "Airplane" arrived under the supervision of Saratov fillers Dazhaev and (in the original pass) "Dumsky" - Kerensky, having a medium-sized bag and bedding in a case; after leaving the ship, I got into a cab and drove to the National Hotel, the corner of Saratovskaya and Panskaya streets.

At 10 o'clock. 15 minutes. In the evening, “Dumsky” left the hotel and went to Dvoryanskaya Street, where, near the post office, he dropped a letter into the mailbox and bought a newspaper, after which he went to house No. 71 on Dvoryanskaya Street. in sq. "Evening" - Markov Ivan Yegorovich, where he stayed for 2 hours 20 minutes, left and went to the named hotel, where he was left. Cost for a cab: Vinokurov - 60 k., Chechetkin - 60 k.

(TsGASO, F-468, op. 1, do. 2530, case file 9v).

Over the next two days, Kerensky repeatedly met with various people, mainly with activists of political parties, and every such fact was scrupulously recorded by the snitches in their reports.

Here is one of them.

At 11:40 a.m. in apt. "Asman" - Bukeikhanov Alikhan Nurmukhammedov, stayed 20 meters, left and went without observation.

At 12 o'clock. 20 minutes. day in the apartment of "Dumsky" - Kerensky came "Ataman" - Ramishvili Isidor Ivanovich, where he stayed for 40 minutes, left and went without supervision.

At 1 hour 25 min. day "Dumsky" - Kerensky left his apartment and went to the house of Karpov No. 121 on Dvoryanskaya St., to the apartment of Dr. Sholomovich, where he stayed for 1 hour 30 minutes, left and went to house No. 41 on Dvoryanskaya to the apartment of "Vecherny" - Markov Ivan Yegorovich, where he spent 2 hours 40 minutes, went out with "Asman" - Bukeikhanov, and went to the editorial office of the newspaper "Volzhsky Den" on Dvorchskaya Street, where they spent 1 hour 30 minutes, went out with a barrister Yolshin, reached the hotel "National", parted: "Asman" - Bukeikhanov and Yolshin went without observation, and "Dumsky" - Kerensky went to his apartment, they did not see him out anymore.

Kuryntsev, Chechetkin Mamutkini and Sviyazov.

(TsGASO, F-468, op. 1, do. 2530, case file 9ob-10).

This happened in front of a huge crowd. We can learn about the content of Kerensky's speech today from the report of the head of the Samara provincial gendarmerie department, Colonel M.I. Poznansky to Petrograd, to the police department.

“... A member of the State Duma Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky arrived in Samara from Saratov, who on September 26 at the Olympus Circus Theater gave a lecture on the topic: “Results of the fourth session of the State Duma of the IV convocation” ... Kerensky began his lecture by pointing out that the Duma the majority did very little for the country and tried in every possible way to dissociate themselves from the masses of the people, from democracy - the workers and peasantry, which constitute the main core from which both the people and the army that wage war are obtained.

We, - said the lecturer, - representatives of the extreme left, are forced to either be silent witnesses, or play the role of a chorus in Greek tragedies ... If we had many opponents then, now there are fewer of them, and those who considered our predictions utopian, they see with their own eyes both the high cost and the disorganization of the rear that occurred during the period of Goremykin's resignation and the premiership of Stürmer (we are talking about the last prime ministers of the tsarist government - V.E.). And meanwhile, it was possible to eliminate what happened. It is only necessary to turn to democracy and call on public organizations, unions and cooperatives to work, to get down to business more energetically.

(TsGASO, F-468, op. 1, do. 2210, case sheet 30).

Then, according to Colonel Poznansky, Kerensky lashed out at the financial and economic policies of the government, which had reduced the people to poverty, pointed to the “impossible grip of military censorship that is squeezing the press,” after which he called for the establishment of a new, democratic social order in Russia. . It is not surprising that such seditious speeches aroused sharp displeasure among the representatives of the authorities - Kerensky's speech was repeatedly interrupted by Lisovsky, an adviser to the Provincial Administration, who was present here, urging him to use more cautious expressions.

And if we analyze everything that Kerensky said at his speech at the Olympus Theater, then analogies between the situations in Russia in the autumn of 1916 and at the present time will inevitably arise. As then, in Russia today there is a clear unwillingness of the authorities to defuse social tension and improve the life of a simple worker. As in 1916, the State Duma now plays in many ways only the “role of a choir in Greek tragedies”, that is, the role of a simple extra in the theater of power, on which nothing depends. There are regular reshuffles in the government, calls are heard for the democratization of society, for the improvement of the situation of the people, who have reached poverty by the grace of the authorities. Is history really repeating itself, and are we once again on the verge of another revolutionary explosion?

Kerensky left Samara on September 27 by the Tashkent train No. 7, and with him, of course, two Samara lieutenants who accompanied the future head of the Provisional Government to Moscow also departed. And the results of Alexander Fedorovich's stay in Samara were not long in coming. This is what Colonel Poznansky reported to the police department on October 19, almost a month after Kerensky's memorable performance at the Olympus Theatre.

“Introducing the first issue of the Vesti newspaper, I inform Your Excellency that, at the direction of the Kudryavy and Oktyabrist agents, it arose on the initiative of the well-known member of the State Duma Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky and is an organ of the socialist populists, the actual editor of this newspaper is ... the controller of the Samara City Council Vasily Vasilyevich Kiryakov, and the legal one - the Samara tradesman Vasily Abramov Perfilyev ... At the beginning of 1916, Perfilyev was observed in relations with the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, which was liquidated on the night of April 8 of this year ... "

The end of 1916 was approaching. As Kerensky writes in his memoirs, at that time Russia already smelled of a revolutionary thunderstorm. Nicholas II was constantly informed about the sharp aggravation of the situation in the country, but due to his weakness, he was afraid to decide on cardinal reforms and, apparently, hoped for a Russian “maybe”. At the same time, the secret Masonic organization "The Great East of the Peoples of Russia" felt that its hour was approaching, and was preparing to take power. Her time came at the end of February 1917.

The Rise and Fall of Kerensky

What happened next is basically known to everyone. The official Soviet historiography quite truthfully described all the vicissitudes of the Provisional Government in 1917, and this is quite understandable. After all, as already mentioned, the Provisional Government and Kerensky personally made so many fatal mistakes in just a few months that the development of the situation did not lead to an alleviation of the situation of the people, but, on the contrary, further exacerbated social tension in the country. At the same time, Soviet historians presented the mistakes of individual politicians as evidence of the inability of all other parties, except for the Bolsheviks, to solve the problems of the then Russian society during the crisis.

It was possible to overcome the crisis in Russia in 1917 only by resolving the two most important issues - about peace and land. By that time, Russia had been in a state of war for the third year. The army was overwhelmingly reluctant to stay in the trenches for another winter campaign. And despite the fact that the Minister of War, General Verkhovsky, regularly reported to Kerensky that the army was demoralized, poorly provided for and would soon simply run away from the front, the head of government still demanded from him "a war to a victorious end." It is not surprising that in the critical October days the army did not support Kerensky, but the Bolsheviks, who promised to immediately withdraw from the war with Germany after they came to power (Fig. 15-19).

The same thing happened with the question of land. The peasants and soldiers, who had been impatiently awaiting the adoption of the law on land in the spring and summer of 1917, were already tired of waiting for it by the autumn. By the beginning of October, all the ministers unanimously demanded from Kerensky the immediate adoption of such a law, but he stubbornly hesitated and waited for the Constituent Assembly, which, in his opinion, was supposed to pass the land legislation. And this was the reason that the peasantry, following the soldiers in October, also turned away from the Provisional Government and supported the Bolsheviks.

And on the eve of October 25, 1917, Kerensky went to the front, near Pskov, in a diplomatic car with an American flag, but not at all in women's clothes, as we sometimes wrote. He went to the front in search of military units loyal to the Provisional Government. Not finding any, Kerensky could not immediately return to Petrograd - by that time the Winter Palace had already been taken by revolutionary sailors and soldiers. Therefore, Kerensky reached Gatchina, where he found a faithful commander in the person of the Cossack general Krasnov. With his army, the head of the overthrown government was about to go to Petrograd in order to drive the Bolsheviks out of Zimny ​​and other key points, but then the Cossacks suddenly changed their minds and refused to support Kerensky. Alexander Fedorovich had to flee from Gatchina in a sailor uniform (that's where he was forced to change clothes!), get to Finland, illegally come to Petrograd again in December 1917 - and again flee from the revolutionary city. Finally, in May 1918, Kerensky managed to leave the country under the guise of a Serbian officer. As the former head of government later wrote bitterly in his memoirs, he thought that he was leaving Russia for a short time, but it turned out - forever (Fig. 20).

Kerensky lived for more than twenty years in Berlin and Paris, and everywhere the attitude of emigrants towards him was, to put it mildly, cool. This is not surprising: for the monarchists, Kerensky was almost a Red, almost a Bolshevik, who participated in the overthrow of the sovereign-emperor, and for the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Cadets, he was a proud stubborn man who seized power, but, due to his limitations, never kept it in power. hands. All this continued until Kerensky left for permanent residence in the United States in 1940. Here he found friends and like-minded people, worked on memoirs for a long time, edited emigre newspapers. Kerensky died of cancer in New York on June 11, 1970 at the age of 89.

An interesting and practically unknown fact to the Soviet public: in 1968, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU seriously discussed the possibility of inviting Kerensky to the USSR. Here are excerpts from a recently declassified party document.

"Top secret. Central Committee of the CPSU.

The USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Comrade Gromyko) reports that employees of the USSR Embassy in England had a conversation with the priest of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchal Church in London, Soviet citizen A.P. Belikov. During the conversation, Belikov A.P. announced his meeting with A.F. Kerensky ... According to Belikov, A.F. Kerensky declared his desire to leave for the Soviet Union, if the Soviet authorities gave him such an opportunity ...

Head of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU V. Stepakov.

Following this message, the following document was prepared for one of the embassy employees in the Central Committee of the CPSU:

"Top secret. Project.

In connection with Comrade A. Gromyko's information about A.F. Kerensky to come to the Soviet Union to instruct:

1. Meet with Kerensky informally.

2. Get confirmation from him about the desire to come to the Soviet Union ...

3. Get his statement: on the recognition of the laws of the socialist revolution, the correctness of the policy of the government of the USSR, the recognition of the successes of the Soviet people achieved over the 50 years of the existence of the Soviet state ... "

(Ulko E. Opportunity did not present itself. - Journal. "Motherland", 1992, No. 5).

It is absolutely clear that the Soviet Party leadership of the USSR wanted to turn the very fact of the visit of the former head of the Provisional Government to our country into a real political show in order to make political capital on the natural desire of a person to visit his historical homeland before his imminent death. It is not known what Kerensky replied to the Soviet representative to his proposals, but the fact remains that he never came to the Soviet Union. As you know, Alexander Fedorovich, even in his declining years, retained sufficient clarity of mind and did not follow the lead of his long-time political opponents. Perhaps he was so tired of making fatal mistakes in this life that at the end of it he decided not to make another one (Fig. 21, 22).

Valery EROFEEV.

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Fedyuk V.P. Kerensky. M., "Young Guard", 2009. 235 p.

May 4, 2011 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky, Russian lawyer, political and public figure, head of the Provisional Government.

Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky was born on May 4 (April 22, old style) 1881 in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) in the family of the director of a male gymnasium and a secondary school for girls. On the paternal side, Kerensky's ancestors came from among the Orthodox clergy.

In 1889-1899. lived with his family in Tashkent. In 1899 he graduated from the Tashkent gymnasium and moved to St. Petersburg. In 1899 he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University, and a year later he transferred to the Faculty of Law. After graduating from the university in 1904, Kerensky joined the St. Petersburg Bar Association, sworn attorneys. During the events of 1905-1907. joined the committee set up by the college to assist the victims of "Bloody Sunday", worked as a legal adviser among the workers, giving them advice on how to avoid prosecution.

He first entered the political arena, signing in 1905 a collective protest against the arrest of representatives of the radical intelligentsia, who tried to prevent the execution on January 9 through negotiations with Count Witte and Prince Svyatopolk-Mirsky.

Collaborated in the pro-Socialist-Revolutionary bulletin "Petrel", which since December 1905 became the organ of the Socialist-Revolutionaries. On December 21, 1905, Alexander Kerensky was arrested on suspicion of belonging to the fighting squads of the Socialist-Revolutionaries. In April 1906 he was released, in October of the same year he participated in the political process in Revel (now Tallinn, Estonia) in the case of peasants who plundered the estate of a local baron.

After a successful trial, he became widely known, joined the St. Petersburg Association of Political Lawyers; he was a defender in many political processes, including in the process of the Bolshevik faction of the 4th State Duma in February 1915. In 1912, Kerensky was elected to the 4th State Duma from the Samara province on the list of Trudoviks, became the leader of their Duma faction. He headed the commission of the State Duma to investigate the circumstances of the Lena execution of gold mine workers.

The initiator of the adoption on October 23, 1913 by the St. Petersburg Bar Association of a resolution of protest "on the fabrication of the Beilis case", for which he was sentenced to 8 months in prison.

Since 1912, Kerensky - one of the leaders of Russian political Freemasonry, was a member of the Duma Masonic lodge, the Supreme Council of Freemasons of Russia, in 1915-1916. - his secretary.

After the February Revolution of 1917, he served as Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government and at the same time was one of the deputy chairmen of the Petrograd Soviet. Having headed the military ministry in May, he prepared the intensification of hostilities on the fronts. After the unsuccessful June offensive, the Bolsheviks attempted a coup on July 3-4 (16-17), and Kerensky sent Cossack units to Petrograd to suppress it. The Bolsheviks involved in the July events, including Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev, ended up behind bars.

On July 8 (21), 1917, after the reorganization of the Provisional Government, Kerensky became prime minister. In September of the same year, counteracting a rebellion led by the supreme commander-in-chief, General Lavr Kornilov, Kerensky ordered that weapons be distributed to the workers of Petrograd and that the Bolsheviks be released from prison. On September 1, Kerensky declared Russia a republic. When on the night of October 25 (November 7), 1917, the Military Revolutionary Committee under the Petrograd Soviet organized an uprising, Kerensky fled Petrograd. After the Bolsheviks came to power and defeated the units of General Krasnov who tried to resist them, Kerensky went to the Don, then emigrated to France.

Having appeared in London in 1918, he joined the leaders of the counter-revolution, but his activities during the existence of the Provisional Government did not allow him to play a prominent role in the white movement.