Libmonster ID: UZ-1514

One of the most significant events of the 1905 - 1907 revolution in Russia, the first people's revolution of the imperialist era, was the creation of the Soviets. V. I. Lenin regarded their emergence as "something great, new and unprecedented in the history of the world revolution."1 It was the greatest achievement of the proletariat, which manifested its revolutionary creativity and its leading role in the revolution. The Soviets " were created, - says the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the 70th anniversary of the revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia", - in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Rostov, Saratov, Baku, Kiev, Yekaterinoslav, Sevastopol, Kostroma, Chita, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Smolensk, and many others cities and towns to lead the strike struggle and armed insurrection " 2 . Among them, an important place is occupied by the citywide Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council of Workers ' Deputies, whose history and activities have long attracted the attention of researchers.

*

The most important source for the history of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet is the documents that came directly from it. Unfortunately, not all of them have been preserved. Most of the Council's protocols were taken abroad and have not yet been found. Only the minutes of the organizational meeting of May 15, 1905, the demands of the workers to the manufacturers, some decisions of the Council, the original letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs signed by 151 deputies, statements to the governor, lists of deputies (in various versions) and some other documents have been fully preserved. The remaining leaflets of the Moscow Committee and the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya organization of the RSDLP for January - August 1905 fill up the gap in the Council's documents to a certain extent. They not only tell about the events in the textile region, but also convincingly reveal their political nature.

The events in Ivanovo-Voznesensk were widely covered in the illegal Bolshevik press, in the newspaper Proletarii, where seven correspondences were published about the course of the strike, the election of deputies to the Soviet, the party conference of the Northern Committee groups in July 1905, the Talka massacre, and the termination of the strike .3 A letter from the representative of the Northern Committee, A. K. Gastev (signed "Popovich"), sent to Lenin, has been preserved. It gives an assessment to the Council: "all of Ivanovo has already recognized almost a deputy assembly of the Verkhovna Rada as the [unified] government and s[ocial] - d[imo-

1 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 238.

2 "Kommunist", 1975, N 2, p. 5.

3 "Proletarian", 1905, N 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17.

page 38

the organization has unprecedented authority. " 4 From the correspondence of N. K. Krupskaya, it is known that several more letters were received from Gastev. Lenin at that time wrote twice about the events in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. In his article "The Struggle of the Proletariat and the Servility of the Bourgeoisie" (June 1905), he mentions the "massacre in Ivanovo-Voznesensk" among the "main political events of the past week" .5 In his article " Bloody Days in Moscow "(September 1905), he notes the high political maturity of the Ivanovo - Voznesensk workers and the influence of the general strike of textile workers on the development of the revolutionary movement in the central industrial district. 6 At the Fourth Party Congress in 1906, in a conversation with Mikhail Frunze, Lenin showed great interest in the events in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. K. E. Voroshilov writes about this in his memoirs, Frunze told about it 7 .

Many memoirs of the participants of the events have been preserved (some of them have not yet been published). The most valuable of them are Frunze's memoirs. The creation and operation of the Soviet, he points out, was "important for two reasons: first, because of the natural necessity, vitality, and conformity to the needs and interests of the working people represented by the Soviet form of organization, and second, because of the role that the Ivanovo - Voznesensky proletariat played in the creation and development of the Soviet form of organization." Frunze also established direct continuity between the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet and the Soviets that emerged in Russia in the autumn of 1905. The experience of the Ivanovites, he wrote, "was used in the creation of the Petersburg, and then Moscow, and other Soviets." 8
Memoirs of deputies and active participants in the events give a vivid picture of the strike and the activities of the Soviet 9 . Thus, F. N. Samoilov, a member of the revolutionary movement in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, writes about the composition of deputies (although in different publications he indicates a different number of them), describes individual deputies, describes in detail the activities of the Council, its commissions, the workers ' militia, meetings on the Talka, and the leadership of the party organization. Participants in the events considered the Soviet to be the embryo of people's power, the first in Russia at the time of its emergence. Thus, A.V. Mandelstam, who was sent to Ivanovo-Voznesensk by the Moscow Committee of the RSDLP, later wrote:"It seems to me that the very idea of Soviet power originated in 1905 there, in gray Ivanovo-Voznesensk, and, if it did not originate for the first time, it was nowhere more fully and vividly realized than there." 10
The Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike was widely covered in bourgeois and progressive newspapers such as Severny Krai. Almost all major newspapers then sent representatives to Ivanovo-Voznesensk, who in their correspondence paid much attention to the description of the city during the strike, mass meetings on the Talka,

4 "The Revolutionary Movement in Russia in the spring and summer of 1905, April-September". Documents and materials. Part I. M. 1957, pp. 467-468.

5 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 10, p. 310.

6 See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 11, p. 314.

7 K. E. Voroshilov. Stories about Life, Moscow, 1968, pp. 259-261; S. A. Sirotinsky. The Path of Arseny, Moscow, 1956, pp. 51, 54-56.

8 M. V. Frunze. On the history of social-democracy in the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya Province. Collected Works, Vol. I. M.-L. 1929, pp. 507-510. First published in the Ivanovo - Voznesensk Provincial Yearbook for 1919.

9 V. Smirnov (Malkov). At the dawn of the labor movement in Ivanovo-Voznesensk (1875-1905). Vladimir. 1921; F. Samoilov. Memoirs of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk labor movement of 1903-1905, Part I. M. 1922. In the footsteps of the past. Ed. 3-E. M. 1954; S. Balashov. Working-class movement in Ivanovo-Voznesensk (1898-1905). "Proletarian Revolution", 1925, No. 9; N. Zhidelev. 1905 in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. "Old Bolshevik", 1932, N 2; K. Gandurin. Episodes of the underground. Ivanovo. 1941; P. P. Postyshev. From the past, Moscow, 1957, pp. 13-17; " Thunderstorm Years. Memoirs of old Communists". Ivanovo, 1967, and others.

10 A. V. Mandelstam. Fyodor Afanasyev - "Father". "XXV years of the RCP (b)". Memoirs of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk underground workers, 1923, p. 90.

page 39

a massacre on June 3, etc. Naturally, the activities of the Soviet and the party organization, which were strictly secret, could not receive coverage in them.

Since the 1930s, the publication of documents about the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike and the Soviet began. A number of compilations have been published, varying in scope and character11 . The most valuable of them is published under the editorship of Academician A.M. Pankratova. It contains about 100 documents on the history of the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike and almost all the surviving documents on the activities of the Soviet, including a letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs with signatures of deputies, resolutions of the Council, a letter from Gastev to Lenin 12 . A new collection of documents and memoirs was published to mark the 70th anniversary of the revolution of 1905 - 190713 . Some documents from the collections of the party archive of the Ivanovo Regional Committee of the CPSU and the Vladimir Regional State Archive were published in it for the first time, including memoirs of deputies N. A. Ananyin, I. G. Belov, P. S. Volkov, M. F. Ikryanistova, F. D. Knightarev.

Finally, there is a range of sources - documents originating from representatives of the tsarist government: correspondence between police officers, the governor, gendarmes, their reports and reports of informants. All these documents, as well as the correspondence of the factory owners, are imbued with hatred for the workers ' movement. At the same time, they testify to their confusion and fear of the unfolding revolution, of the steadfastness and organization of tens of thousands of workers, often supplementing information from other sources with factual material.

Considerable literature has already been written on the history of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet in 1905. Works about him appeared in the pre-revolutionary period. The first to be published in the legal press were articles about the strike by N. I. Vorobyov14, a contemporary and eyewitness of the events. They focus on the prerequisites of the strike, its course, and meetings at the Talka. Although the author cites some documents of the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies, little is said about its activities.

The history of the Soviets in Russia began to be created only after the Great October Socialist Revolution, in the 1920s. On whose initiative the Soviets were created, who led them, how to evaluate their activities, what new contributions the Soviets made to the history of the workers 'movement, and how they differed from other workers' organizations - all these questions were still insufficiently studied and caused controversy. And among them is the history of the Assembly of Authorized Deputies - this is the name of the organization created by the working class of Ivanovo-Voznesensk during the spring-summer strikes of 1905 .15 There were no disagreements on the issue of the party leadership of this body, so obviously were the Bolsheviks predominant here. Discussions were held on two questions: what was the Meeting of Authorized Deputies - a strike committee or the germ of a new government?-

11 "The Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet of Workers 'Deputies 1905 in documents", Moscow-L. 1935; P. M. Instantirsky. The general strike of Workers and the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies in Ivanovo-Voznesensk in 1905. Chronological review and documents. Ivanovo. 1940; " On the way to victory. The revolutionary past of the Ivanovo region in the coverage of the Bolshevik press in 1901-1906". Ivanovo. 1940; "The general strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers in 1905". Collection of documents and materials. Ivanovo. 1955.

12 "The Revolutionary Movement in Russia in the spring and summer of 1905, April-September", Part I, pp. 403-491.

13 " The first in Russia. Ivanovo-Voznesensky Citywide Council of Workers 'Deputies in documents and Memoirs", Moscow, 1975 (hereinafter - "The First in Russia").

14 N. I. Vorobyov. From the life of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers (Etudes based on materials about the strike of May 12-July 22, 1905). Journal "Education", 1906, No. 3, ed. II; his own. Strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers May 12-July 22, 1905 " Notes of Moscow State University. Department of Imp. Rus. tehn. o-va", Vol. 30, 1907, No. 1 (Jan.).

15 In the 1920s, the fact that this organization was not called the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies by the workers themselves did not bother historians. The fact is that the very name of the new organs of revolutionary power, the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies, was given by the Petersburg workers later , in October 1905 (see Krasnaya Letopis, 1930, No. 5(30), pp. 47-48).

page 40

the same revolutionary power that the Soviets of Workers 'Deputies later possessed, and in this connection whether the assembly was the first citywide Council of Workers' Deputies since its inception. In 1922, D. F. Sverchkov, a deputy of the 1905 St. Petersburg Soviet, published his memoirs "At the Dawn of the Revolution", calling the St. Petersburg Soviet the first Soviet of 1905. N. Babakhan ("Soviets of 1905", 1923), based on Samoilov's memoirs published by that time, objected that the first Soviet of 1905 The city was Ivanovo-Voznesensky. Thus began a controversy that dragged on for years. Babakhan's own book contained a number of serious errors. Thus, the author sought the organizational origins of the Soviets in 1905 in the elections to the commission of N. V. Shidlovsky and even in the Zubatov organizations. In general, the author proceeded from the Menshevik concept of the 1905 revolution. That is also why the question of what the Meeting of Authorized Deputies in Ivanovo-Voznesensk was about turned out to be confusing.

In 1925, the 20th anniversary of the first revolution in Russia was celebrated. By this time, the Soviet state system had proved its advantages both in the fire of the civil war and in the restoration of the national economy. Naturally, under these conditions, there was an increased interest in the origins of the Soviet form of statehood, in the Soviets of 1905. This problem has become of great political importance. At a meeting of the Society of Marxist Historians dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the revolution of 1905-1907, the question was raised: "What were the Soviets of Workers' Deputies in 1905?". The report and the subsequent discussion touched upon a wide range of issues: the emergence of Soviets, the participation of the Bolsheviks in their creation and leadership, the attitude of the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries to the Soviets, the assessment of their role in the revolution, and so on. Unfortunately, the participants in the discussion made little use of Lenin's statements about the Soviets, and Lenin's article "Our Tasks and the Soviet of Workers 'Deputies", written by him in November 1905, was not known at all at that time. P. O. Gorin, in his report and in a special work devoted to this question , 16 objected to the Menshevik concept of the Soviet Union.. A. Rozhkov and Babakhan, who reduced the role of the Soviets of 1905 to the level of strike committees, showed the fundamental difference between the former and the latter. The first Advice he considered Petersburg. All the Soviets that emerged in the spring and summer of 1905, including Ivanovo - Voznesensky, he regarded as strike committees, and interpreted the general strike of textile workers as purely economic. As a researcher, M. I. Vasiliev-Yuzhin approached the question, who believed that all the Soviets of Deputies of 1905 appeared first as organs of strike struggle, and then became organs of people's power. From these positions, he also considered the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya organization.

M. N. Pokrovsky did not express his opinion during the discussion, but when delivering his jubilee speech "The role of the working class in the 1905 Revolution", he undoubtedly meant Gorin and said: "It is absurd to put some impenetrable bulkhead between the economic and political strikes. There is no impenetrable bulkhead here, dialectically one thing passes into another. Lenin always emphasized this about 1905. ...The Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike is very characteristic in this respect. It was not for nothing that the first Soviet of Workers 'Deputies - I apologize to those who disagree - emerged from it, the first real Soviet of Workers' Deputies." 17 Pokrovsky expressed the same idea in "Russian History in the most concise essay": "The Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike undoubtedly belonged to the political category." Workers demanded that "perego-

16 P. O. Gorin. Essays on the history of Soviets of Workers ' Deputies, Moscow, 1925; ed. 2nd 1930.

17 M. N. Pokrovsky. Selected Works, vol. 3, Moscow, 1967, p. 592.

page 41

thieves were conducted with all (manufacturers. - Author), from class to class " 18 . The same assessment was given in the work of N. I. Podvoysky, a representative of the Northern Committee, an active participant in the events of 1905. "On the Talka River," he wrote, "a workers' organization unprecedented in the world was created - the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies... Such an organization could only be created by the revolutionary proletarian vanguard, which has been connected with the depths of the life of the working masses for many years and has absorbed all the rich experience of the mass working-class movement. " 19 However, these correct initial positions of Marxist historians were not supported by a serious analysis of sources at that time. By that time, the memoirs of the participants in the 1905 revolutionary movement had not yet been introduced into scientific circulation.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council, the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Istpart published the collection "1905 in the Ivanovo-Voznesensky district" edited by O. A. Varentsova, M. K. Dianova, I. P. Kosarev and others. (Ivanovo-Voznesensk. 1925). This collection, despite a number of inaccuracies in the presentation of events, has the advantage that its compilers were participants in the revolution. The book includes memoirs, letters, biographies of revolutionary veterans and deputies of the Assembly of Commissioners (or the Council of Workers ' Deputies, as this organization was then called), photos, and a list of deputies. The collection has not lost its significance to this day.

In the early 1930s, the study of Soviet history rose to a higher level. In 1930-1931, the magazines "Historian - Marxist", "Bolshevik", "Proletarian Revolution", "Old Bolshevik", and the newspaper "Pravda" discussed the nature and driving forces of the revolution of 1905-1907, and the role of the Soviets of Workers ' Deputies.20 The discussion helped historians to reconstruct a more complete picture of the Soviets ' activities, to understand and evaluate their role in the revolution. During the discussion, the question of evaluating the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council was raised again. For example, I. Nevsky, based on the works of Lenin, believed that the evaluation of this organ can be given by answering three questions: what classes created it, how it was created, and for what purpose? He wrote that the Soviet (Nevsky insisted on this name) it was created by the" revolutionary Ivanovo-Voznesensky workers " not according to the existing legal norms, but in a revolutionary way, on its own. "Every worker and female employee at that moment was the creator of their organization." Describing the Soviet as a rudimentary body of power, the author referred to its structure, the letter of deputies to the Minister of Internal Affairs with demands for political freedoms, the creation of a militia and the protection of the city, which goes far beyond the activities of strike committees, "The Council of Deputies," wrote Nevsky , " this term will now be picked up by workers in other cities, and it will more and more popular. Our central district once again had to play a major role in the history of the Russian labor movement. Just like in 1885. The Morozov strike was the turning point of the working-class movement, and the Ivanovo - Voznesenskaya strike was the moment when organizations unprecedented in the world were created - Soviets of Workers 'Deputies, these creations of the" original people's revolutionary creativity of the masses " (Lenin). And it is not by chance that the Soviet arose precisely in the midst of the working masses of the primordial center of the labor movement in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. " 21
In the same years, a special work devoted to the history of the Ivanovo - Voznesensky Council, authored by its deputy, was published

18 Ibid., p. 400.

19 N. I. Podvoisky. The First Soviet of Workers ' Deputies (Ivanovo-Voznesensky 1905). Moscow, 1925, pp. 5-6.

20 For discussion materials, see in the following journals: Proletarian Revolution, 1930, N11; Historian-Marxist, 1930, vol. 20; 1931, vol. 21; 1932, vol. 1-2; Bolshevik, 1931, NN 7-9; Old Bolshevik, 1932 N 2; Pravda, 7. IV. 1931.

21 V. I. Nevsky. Soviets and the Armed Uprising in 1905, Moscow, 1932, pp. 17,22.

page 42

Samoilov 22 . This book went through two editions (at the same time, the collection of documents mentioned above was published under his editorship). Samoilov first published a letter (statement) Meetings of authorized deputies to the Minister of the Interior with political demands of the workers, a decree on the creation of a workers ' militia in the city, which was especially important for describing the Council, demands of strikers and other documents. The main idea of the author is expressed with the utmost clarity: the first Soviet of Workers ' Deputies in 1905 was Ivanovo - Voznesensky.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the first Russian Revolution, a number of articles were published about the Soviets that emerged in the spring and summer of 190523 . The author of the introductory article, S. Ronin, analyzed the conditions for the emergence of the Soviets on the basis of Lenin's works and materials of the Second Congress of the Comintern. He paid much attention to the Bolshevik leadership of the Soviets. Where it was carried out with the greatest completeness, as in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, the author wrote, the activities of the Council outgrew the framework of a strike organization and the Council became a rudimentary organ of people's power. Where the leadership of the Soviet was in the hands of the Mensheviks (the Moscow Council of Printers), they did everything possible to restrain the revolutionary energy of the workers, and it did not go beyond the strike struggle. In a detailed article in. Averyev considered the prerequisites for the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike and the creation of the Council, as well as the main aspects of its activities. "The Ivanovo proletarians managed, under the leadership of the Bolsheviks, to create a new organ of mass political struggle - the Soviet of Workers' Deputies - the prototype of future Soviets-organs of power " - the author concluded. The same assessment was contained in the article by E. Yaroslavsky 24 and in the greeting of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CP(b) of Ukraine P. P. Postysheva 25 . By May 1935, when the 30th anniversary of the Soviet was solemnly celebrated in Ivanovo, the question of it as a strike committee was no longer raised. There was already an extensive literature on the general strike of textile workers and the work of the Soviet .26
In the 1940s and 1950s, the study of the problem of the Soviets of 1905 was based on the collection and publication of new sources and archival documents. For a correct understanding of the Soviets, the publication in 1940 of Lenin's article "Our Tasks and the Soviet of Workers 'Deputies"was of great importance27 . The works of P. I. Galkina and E. I. Chernova were devoted to the history of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet during these years .28 This topic was also discussed in general studies on the Soviets of 190529 . In the book by P. M. Instanarsky, the events of 1905 are analyzed in a special chapter 30 . Special attention should be paid to the works of V. A. Galkin31, which collected and summarized a large factual material.

22 F. N. Samoilov. The First Soviet of Workers ' Deputies, Moscow, 1931; 2nd ed., ispr. and add. Moscow, 1935.

23 p. of the District. The first Soviets of Workers ' Deputies of 1905. "The Soviet State", 1935, N 6; V. Averyev. Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet of Workers ' Deputies in 1905. In the same place.

24 Pravda, 25. V. 1935.

25 "Rabochy krai", 24. V. 1935.

26 See the appendix to article B. Averyev ("The Soviet State", 1935, No. 6, pp. 166-177).

27 See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 13, p. 320.

28 P. I. Galkina. General Strike of Ivanovo-Voznesensk textile workers in the summer of 1905, Voprosy Istorii, 1955, No. 6; E. I. Chernova. Ivanovo-Voznesensky proletariat-founder of one of the first Soviets of Workers ' Deputies. Moscow, 1955.

29 L. E. Ankudinova. Soviets of Workers 'Deputies on the ground in the Revolution of 1905-1907. "Scientific Notes" of Leningrad State University, 1956, N 205. Series of Historical Sciences, vol. 24; B. Orlov. Activity of the Soviets of Workers ' Deputies in 1905 in the economic sphere. Voprosy Ekonomiki, 1955, No. 10.

30 P.M. Instantirsky. History of the city of Ivanovo. Ch. I. Ivanovo. 1958. Chapter XI.

31 V. A. Galkin. General strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers in the summer of 1905. Ivanovo. 1940; his own. Ivanovo-Voznesensk Bolsheviks during the First Russian Revolution

page 43

material, considerable attention is paid to the activities of the Soviet and its leadership by the Bolsheviks. The author makes extensive use of the party press of those years (leaflets, the Proletarian newspaper), and the history of the Soviet is described in an indissoluble connection with the history of the Bolshevik organization. However, the author's definition of the role of the Council is not sufficiently clear. Having correctly pointed out the differences between the Soviets of spring and summer 1905 and the Soviets that emerged during the period of the highest rise of the revolution, he failed to reveal the specifics of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet as the first citywide one created by all the workers of the city, which distinguishes it from previous organizations of this kind. Pokrovsky's criticism is also unconvincing. Galkin writes that Pokrovsky "was not far removed from those historians who emasculated and ignored the political content of the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike." 32
A significant contribution to the development of the problem was the publication of reports, as well as speeches of Council deputies at the visiting session of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Ivanovo (June 8-9, 1955), held in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Ivanovo - Voznesensky Council.

In the 1960s, in connection with the preparations for the 50th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, the work of Soviet historians on various problems of the revolutionary movement in Russia was greatly revived. New studies were created with the involvement of a wider range of sources and at a higher theoretical level. Considerable attention was paid to the role of the Soviets in the first Russian Revolution. N. N. Demochkin's book 33, based on the materials of the central and local archives, provides data on the Soviets established in 1905, the time of their origin, class and party composition, activities, and names of leaders. The author considers Ivanovo-Voznesensky to be the first citywide Council. In 1965, party veteran A. A. Osinkin34 in his detailed article, describing the history of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet and describing its activities, proposed to abandon the phrase "Council of Commissioners", referring to the fact that in the memoirs of participants in the events, this body was always called the Council of Workers ' Deputies. Of course, references only to memories in scientific work are not enough. However, historians have the right, based on the totality of the collected facts, to give their own definition of the phenomenon under study. That is why in the multi-volume History of the CPSU, in accordance with the results of the study of the issue, it was stated that in May 1975 in Ivanovo-Voznesensk "a' Meeting of authorized Deputies 'was regularly convened, which actually became the first citywide Council of Workers' Deputies in Russia. " 35
In the 1960s and 1970s, collective essays on the history of the Ivanovo Organization of the CPSU36 and the book "The First Soviet of Workers 'Deputies"were published37 . They differ favorably from the works of the 1930s and 1950s by using a wide range of sources, including documents from central and local archives. The history of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet is given here much more fully. Collection "The First Soviet of Workers 'Deputies"

revolutions. Ivanovo. 1952; his wife E. The Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council of Commissioners (1905) was one of the first Soviets of Workers ' Deputies in Russia. "Reports and Reports of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences", 1955, issue 8; his. Soviets of Workers ' Deputies in 1905 and their historical significance. Vestnik MSU, 1956, No. 1.

32 V. A. Galkin. Ivanovo-Voznesensk Bolsheviks in the First Russian Revolution, pp. 115, 118.

33 N. N. Demochkin, Soviets of 1905-organs of revolutionary power, Moscow, 1963; see also N. N. Demochkin. Party and Soviets in 1905. Voprosy istorii CPSU, 1965, NN 1, 2.

34 A. A. Osinkin. Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet of Workers 'Deputies in 1905" Questions of the history of the CPSU", 1965, N 4.

35 "History of the CPSU", Vol. 2, Moscow, 1966, p. 83.

36 "Essays on the history of the Ivanovo organization of the CPSU", Part I (1892-1917). Ivanovo, 1963.

37 "The First Soviet of Workers' Deputies. Ivanovo-Voznesensk. May-July 1905". Yaroslavl. 1965; 2nd ed., reprint. and add. M. 1971.

page 44

It consisted of a short introductory article, biographies of party organization leaders and Soviet deputies, and a detailed list of them. The compilers of the collection - veterans of the revolution and researchers of the party and state archives-managed to find and publish 77 biographies of deputies (in the second edition of the collection). Most of them are published for the first time.

The large number of works on the general strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers in 1905 and on the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies created by them does not mean that the subject is exhausted. And there are still a number of aspects of the problem that require further study, including: the activities of the Soviet and the work of the Bolshevik organization among the peasantry; the impact of the strike on the surrounding area; the history of workers 'organizations that emerged during the revolution in Kineshma, Shuya, and in the workers' settlements of the textile region. These questions require careful study and new searches. It is also necessary to study how the experience of the Ivanovo residents influenced the creation and operation of the Soviets that emerged in the country in the autumn of 1905, and to see if there are any differences between them and the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet.

The history of the struggle of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk proletariat in the summer of 1905 received a very weak and sometimes distorted reflection in modern bourgeois literature. Sovietologists who study the history of the first Russian Revolution tend to belittle the role of the working class in the revolutionary movement, to belittle the significance of the Soviets as organs of the revolutionary struggle and the beginnings of a new state power. Contrary to the facts, bourgeois historians try to strip out the revolutionary, political content of the Soviets ' activities, to limit them only to directing strikes and serving the purely professional interests of the workers. According to S. Schwartz, 38 The entire strike movement up to October 1905, including the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike, was of an economic nature. He also denies the very existence of the Soviet in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. L. Shapiro 39, G. Vernadsky 40 , p. Schwartz and others are trying to "tear" the Soviets of 1905 away from the Bolsheviks and "prove" their supposedly negative attitude towards mass organizations. Somewhat more attention is paid to the Soviets of 1905 by the West German historian O. Anweiler, who in his book "The Movement of Soviets in Russia. 1905-1921" devoted several pages to the history of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet, calling it "the first in the Russian Revolution". Covering the summer events of 1905 in the textile region, he mainly relies on the work of Gorin mentioned above, repeating some of his mistakes. On the one hand, Anweiler does not deny the exceptional unity of the workers and the great authority of the Council. "Having emerged as a strike committee, it quickly became the first open representation of the interests of the proletariat of an entire city." On the other hand, he asserts that the workers ' demands "concerned almost exclusively economic and internal factory issues" and that the Soviet "was completely far from the idea of a revolutionary seizure of power and limited itself to implementing practical economic demands and proclaiming certain general political program points", which, according to Anweiler, indicates "the lack of political consciousness of the workers"41. Speaking of the role of "social-Democrats" and "agitators-socialists," Anweiler thus obscured the question of the leading role of the Bolsheviks in the creation and operation of the Soviet.

38 S. Schwarz. The Russian Revolution of 1905. Chicago and L. 1967.

39 L. Schapiro. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union. L. 1970.

40 G. Vernadsky. A History of Russia. New Haven. 1954.

41 O. Anweiler. Die Ratebewegung in Russland. 1905 - 1921. Leiden. 1958, 49, 51 - 52.

page 45

*

The question of power - the fundamental question of every social revolution-also occupied an important place in the revolution of 1905 and 1907. The victory of the revolution, Lenin noted at the time, will largely depend on whether the working class, as the hegemon of the revolution, will be able to create a new political power corresponding to the political interests of the people. Under these circumstances, the emergence of the Soviets took on a special significance. Seeing in them a force capable of solving this problem, the Bolsheviks regarded them as organs of the revolutionary - democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry, which should destroy the autocracy and establish the power of the people. The birth of the Soviets in those conditions was the practical implementation of the Bolshevik call for the creation of a provisional revolutionary government.

The Soviets of 1905 went through several stages in their development. The first attempt to create Soviets was made in March, April, and May 1905 by the workers of the Urals. Here, in Alapaevsk, a Meeting of workers 'deputies was established, which was later transformed into a Meeting of Workers 'and Peasants' Deputies. A Council of Workers 'Representatives was formed in Nadezhdinsk, which later became the Council of Workers' Deputies. A Council of elected deputies was formed in Motovilikha. Being a transitional form from strike committees to Soviets, these organizations emerged on a production basis and operated mainly within the framework of industrial enterprises.

A new page in the history of the Soviets in 1905 was opened by the workers of Ivanovo-Voznesensk, who for the first time created their own citywide body - the Council of Workers ' Deputies. Relying on the broad masses of workers, expressing the united will of many thousands of factory collectives, the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet went far beyond the strike committee, became the bearer of revolutionary power in the city, and served as a prototype for other Soviets created later in many cities of the country. The fact that the first citywide Soviet of Workers ' Deputies emerged in Ivanovo-Voznesensk was not accidental. There were certain conditions for this.

First, by the beginning of the 20th century, Ivanovo-Voznesensk was already a fairly large industrial, proletarian center with a high level of concentration of industrial production and the working class. The city's nine largest factories, each of which employed between 1,000 and 4,700 workers and accounted for 16% of the total number of enterprises operating in the city, employed 17,950 workers, or about 60% of the city's workers. 42 These enterprises provided about 70% of the city's total industrial output. The concentration of the bulk of the workers in large enterprises gave them and their struggle a certain organization, cohesion and activity.

Secondly, contemporaries note that the center of the textile region was at that time a city of sharp social contrasts. "By the very structure of its proletarian life," Podvoysky's memoirs say, " it differs from all other cities in Russia. Class strife is more striking here than anywhere else: luxury and then literally appalling poverty; on the main street, capitalist palaces, asphalt, lighting, fast - moving trotters, rich shops, and turn the corner - shacks, miserable shops, dirt, rare kerosene lanterns, poorly dressed, emaciated people... In the center is wealth, surrounded by a ring of working-class districts " 43 . The absence of any significant stratum between the factory owners and the mass of workers made class antagonism a major factor in the development of industrial relations.

42 "1905 in the Ivanovo-Voznesensky district". Ivanovo-Voznesensk. 1925, pp. 4-5.

43 N. I. Podvoisky. Op. ed., p. 3.

page 46

the city is particularly sharp, visible, and naked. The textile workers faced their class enemies, the factory owners and the autocratic government.

Third, by the beginning of the revolution, the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers had already had more than 30 years of experience in the strike struggle, and for the last decade it had been conducted under the leadership of the Social Democrats. The Ivanovo-Voznesensk textile workers formed the main striking force of the workers of the Vladimir Province, which, in turn, was distinguished among other provinces of the Central Industrial Region by the highest percentage of workers ' participation in the strike movement. According to the factory inspection data, in the provinces of this region, an average of 63% of workers participated in strikes in 1905, and in the Vladimir province - 73%.

Fourthly, on the eve of the revolution, a strong militant party organization was formed in the Ivanovo-Voznesensky industrial district, characterized exclusively by proletarian composition and firmly standing on Leninist, Bolshevik positions. As a group member of the Northern Committee of the RSDLP, the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya Party organization numbered about 400 workers in the spring of 1905. "Of all the groups of the Northern Committee," Varentsova wrote, " the strongest organization was Ivanovo - Voznesenskaya. It was ahead in the number of organized workers, in its proletarian composition, in its close connection with the broad working masses, and in the strength of its influence on them. Here the revolutionary bacillus has penetrated deeply into the factories. " 45
The Soviet of Workers ' Deputies in 1905 "arose out of the general strike, about the strike, for the purposes of the strike." 46 These words of Lenin's concerning the St. Petersburg Soviet are quite applicable to the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet. Initially, his main task was also to lead the general strike of textile workers, which began on May 12 (25), 47 lasted 72 days and took on the character of a powerful political action. It was attended by about 70 thousand workers of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky industrial district. At the beginning of the strike, the factory owners tried to split the united front of the workers, to divide them into factory collectives. To this attempt the workers opposed themselves as a whole and decided to elect deputies from among themselves who would express and defend the interests of the entire mass of workers. The deputies elected from the workers ' party formed the Soviet. He refused to divide the workers into factories and suggested that the factory owners discuss issues with the entire Council.

Elections to the Soviet began on the second day of the strike, immediately after a rally of thousands that took place in the central square of the city on May 13, 1905. The elections lasted for three days with the active participation of the broad working masses and were held in a purely democratic way. Divided into factory groups, workers gathered directly on the streets and boulevards of the city, and sometimes outside the city. With great interest, they put forward the most authoritative people among themselves, who they believed in and could rely on. Along with men, women were also elected as full representatives, which was unusual for that time. The candidates proposed by the Bolsheviks met with unanimous support. The vote was open. These elections showed that the Soviets were indeed " created exclusively by the revolutionary strata of the population, they were created in an entirely revolutionary way, outside of any laws and norms, as a product of an original people's state."

44 V. E. Varzar. Statistics of workers ' strikes in factories and plants for 1905. St. Petersburg, 1908, p. 103.

45 O. A. Varentsova. Northern Workers ' Union. Ivanovo. 1948, p. 119.

46 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 12, p. 62.

47 Hereafter, all dates are given in the old style.

page 47

creativity as a manifestation of the people's self-activity " 48 . When determining the norm of representation, according to the memoirs of A. S. Samokhvalov, " two principles were used as a basis: shop and by the number of workers. In those factories where there were many workshops, representatives were chosen from the workshop, and in those factories where there were few workshops, they were chosen from the number of workers. This must explain why the number of deputies from different factories is quite different. " 49
The place of work of the Council was chosen as the building of the meshchanskaya council on Negorelaya Street (now the museum is located in this building), where the first meeting of the newly elected Council of Workers ' Deputies opened on May 15 at 18 hours. Recalling these days, the Chairman of the Council A. E. Nozdrin wrote:: "We were not scrupulous. Having chosen the boulevard for elections and the town council for meetings, we went to our first meeting with our heads held high, accompanied by all sorts of instructions to be steadfast and loyal to the cause created by those who chose us that day and placed themselves at our disposal. In step with us, with cheerful faces, boldly, as if on a familiar case, the selected women deputies, representatives of the majority of the textile labor force, also went to the meeting. From this point on, the strike takes on a more organized course, and a new concept of "eputat" appears in its circulation in the simplified language of the masses, equivalent to the concept of "our steward" 50. The workers elected to the Soviet were called deputies from the very beginning, and the organization they created was at first called the deputies ' Assembly, the Assembly of Authorized Deputies. The new organization created by the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers was actually a citywide Council of Workers ' Deputies in terms of its class composition, organizational structure, and, most importantly, in terms of its social essence and nature of activity.

151 deputies were elected to the Council, including 25 women .51 The Council was very young in terms of age. The most numerous group was the group of deputies aged 21 to 25 years 52 . The overwhelming majority of deputies had an education in the amount of two or three grades of primary school. Among them, there were none with secondary education 53 . Attention is drawn to the exceptional uniformity of the social and party composition of the Council. It consisted only of workers, representatives of about 30 professions, mainly textile. 70 deputies were members of the Bolshevik Party. Together with their sympathizers, they formed the overwhelming majority in the Council. Among the deputies were many prominent figures of the local party organization-the Bolsheviks S. I. Balashov, E. A. Dunaev, N. A. Zhidelev, K. I. Kiryakina, M. I. Lakin, F. N. Samoilov, M. P. Sarmentova, I. N. Utkin and others. As professional revolutionaries who were in an illegal position,

48 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 12, p. 317.

49 "The first in Russia", p. 212. For more information about women's participation in the Council, see M. M. Bizyaeva. Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers in 1905-1907. Voprosy Istorii, 1976, No. 7.

50 "1905 in the Ivanovo-Voznesensky district", p. 95.

51 In the literature, there are conflicting data on the numerical composition of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council, which is the result of different (for different years) the level of knowledge of this issue. The minutes of the Council meetings (except for the first one) and the original list of deputies of the Council, as already noted, have not been preserved. Therefore, it took a lot of hard work of researchers, based on the documents and memories of the participants, to clarify the composition of the Council and draw up a list of deputies. It is published in the collections: "The First Soviet of Workers' Deputies. Ivanovo-Voznesensk. May-July 1905" (2nd ed.) and "The First in Russia".

52 Unfortunately, it was not possible to establish the exact biographical data of all deputies. The age distribution of those whose years of life are known is as follows: 20 years and younger-18.3%; 21-25 years-36.7%; 26-30 years-22.5%; 31-35 years-8.2%; 36-40 years-8.2%; 40-45 years-6.1%. Thus, 77.5% were deputies under the age of 30.

53 "1905 in the Ivanovo-Voznesensky district", p. 106,

page 48

The leaders of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Bolsheviks F. A. Afanasyev and M. V. Frunze could not be elected to the Council. However, despite the fact that they were not formally deputies, they took an active part in the work of the Soviet, together with other Bolsheviks led its work, directed all its activities. As Soviet deputy Samoilov testified, " in its social composition, the Soviet was exclusively a worker, and in party terms it was overwhelmingly composed of Bolsheviks and sympathizing non-party workers from the machine. There were no Mensheviks at all. The Social Revolutionaries were an insignificant group. " 54 The composition of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet shows how ridiculous and unsubstantiated are the claims of some modern Sovietologists that the Mensheviks were supposedly the initiators of the creation of the Soviets in 1905, and that the Bolsheviks had a negative attitude towards the Soviets and even feared them. There was no difference of opinion among the Ivanovo - Voznesensk Bolsheviks about their attitude to the Soviet, as was the case in a number of other cities. They both participated in the work of the Council and directed its activities.

In the very first days of the Council's work, its management staff was formed and its organizational structure was formed. A non-partisan engraver, the working poet Nozdrin, was elected permanent Chairman of the Council at the first meeting. His deputy was a member of the RSDLP N. D. Alekseev (Tsarsky). N. P. Grachev, a Bolshevik worker, I. D. Dobrovolsky, an electrician, and I. V. Sukhovsky, an engraver, were elected secretaries of the Council, and N. M. Naidenov, a Bolshevik worker, was elected treasurer. All of them formed the Presidium of the Council, which, in essence, was its executive committee. Commissions were set up to guide individual areas of the Council's work. The strike commission, headed by Dunaev, Balashov, Zhidelev and other Bolsheviks, negotiated with the factory owners and representatives of the authorities. Finance, headed by the Bolsheviks Naidenov and Samoilov, was in charge of the Council's funds. Food, headed by Nozdrin and Grachev, organized the supply of food to the strikers. Later, an investigative commission was set up under the Soviet to investigate the circumstances of the shooting of workers on June 3. Acting under the general direction of the Council, the Commissions implemented its decisions. Under the leadership of Balashov and other Bolsheviks, an agitation and propaganda group was created and very actively operated by the Soviet. To ensure revolutionary order in the city and protect the factories, the Soviet created a workers ' militia. All the work of the Soviet, the Bolshevik organization, and workers ' meetings and meetings were conducted under the protection of the fighting squad, established in 1904 and headed by Utkin. Soviet bulletins were printed in an illegal Bolshevik printing house.

The very structure of the Soviet, which was quite complex, showed that it was not just a strike committee, but an organ of revolutionary power in the city. This is confirmed by all its activities. Leading the strike, the Soviet negotiated with the factory owners and representatives of the authorities throughout its entire duration. The factory owners insisted that the workers ' demands be discussed in the factories. But the Soviet decided at its first meeting that negotiations with the manufacturers and the authorities should be conducted only on behalf of all deputies. As the representative of the entire mass of the working class, the Soviet sought the fulfillment of 26 demands that had been worked out by the Bolsheviks on the eve of the strike and, having become a program for the strikers ' struggle, were presented to the factory owners in the first days of the strike .55 The situation was complicated by the fact that during the strike many factory owners, fearing popular anger and not wanting to talk

54 F. N. Samoilov. The first Soviet of Workers ' Deputies in 1905. Proletarian Revolution, 1925, No. 4, p. 128.

55 "The General Strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers in 1905", pp. 107-108.

page 49

Together with the "rebels" and their families, they went to Moscow, set up a kind of headquarters in the Slavyansky Bazar restaurant, and from there they corresponded with Ivanovo-Voznesensk. In order to put pressure on the factory owners and local authorities, to force them to comply with the workers ' demands, the Soviet repeatedly organized demonstrations and rallies in the streets and squares of the city, despite the ban. The demonstration in front of the city council on June 23 was particularly threatening and crowded. The authorities were frightened and promised to force the manufacturers to enter into negotiations with the Council. However, events soon convinced the workers that the tsarist authorities, who played the role of mediator in the conflict between the workers and the factory owners, in fact fully supported the latter. However much the capitalists evaded it, they were still forced to enter into negotiations with the Soviet, and thus, in effect, to recognize it as the organ of legal representation of the workers. In the course of these negotiations, the Soviet obtained partial satisfaction of the workers ' demands from the manufacturers.

Since meeting a number of workers ' demands, especially political ones, was not within the competence of the manufacturers and local authorities, the Soviet entered into negotiations with government bodies. On May 28, he sent a statement to the Minister of Internal Affairs, which was signed by all deputies. This statement set out both economic (8 - hour working day, pensions for workers, etc.) and political (freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, destruction of factory police and prisons attached to factories) requirements. It is significant that in this statement, deputies act not only as petitioners. They express their willingness to defend what they have won. "Considering freedom of assembly as the first condition for successfully defending our interests, we declare that we will continue to enjoy this freedom, and we hope that neither the police nor the troops will prevent us from exercising this legitimate and necessary right." At the same time, in a statement, the Council unequivocally expressed its distrust of the tsarist authorities.: "We declare that the commission on the workers' question, composed of officials and manufacturers, cannot resolve these questions in the interests of the working class, and that only the people's representatives, convened on the basis of universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage, will be able to meet our needs."56
Realizing that for the successful continuation of the struggle, it was necessary to provide material assistance to the workers, the Council did a lot in this direction. The Financial Commission organized a collection of voluntary donations to support the strikers. Deputies received special certificates with which they were authorized to collect donations 57 . One of the sources of replenishment of the cash register was the sale of photographs of meetings of workers and deputies of the City Council . Bolshevik organizations in other cities provided active assistance to the strikers, using both legal and illegal opportunities for this purpose. The Moscow Committee of the RSDLP issued a proclamation calling for material assistance to the Ivanovo-Voznesensk textile workers .59 In total, the Moscow Party Committee issued six proclamations during the summer, telling about the struggle of the Ivanovo residents and calling for help. Similar leaflets were also printed in other cities. Funds to the fund of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council came from Vladimir, Kostroma,

56 TsGAOR USSR, f. DP 00, 1905, 4, ch. 30, l. 129.

57 "The General Strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers in 1906", p. 158.

58 It is interesting to note that the editorial board of Lenin's Proletarian newspaper showed interest in these photographs. Krupskaya in one of her letters asked to send them. It has not yet been possible to determine whether this request was fulfilled ("The Party in the Revolution of 1905, E. M. 1934, p. 312).

59 "Leaflets of Bolshevik organizations in the first Russian Revolution of 1905-1907". Part I. January-July 1905, Moscow, 1956, pp. 315-316.

page 50

Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kharkiv, Irkutsk and other cities. According to the testimony of the chairman of the financial commission Naidenov, a total of 18,800 rubles 60 were collected . A significant part of these funds was used to purchase food for the workers. The food commission, which bought food for workers through the consumer cooperative "Unity - force", was involved in this case. Under special orders issued by the commission, workers received food in the cooperative's shops. In addition, in the name of the Council, the food commission obliged private merchants to release food products to workers on credit. At the same time, the Council forbade merchants to raise food prices. Small amounts were given out in cash to those working families with children (to buy milk).

Leading the strike, organizing material assistance to the strikers, the Council in the course of events significantly expanded its functions. Becoming a center that mobilizes workers to fight, becoming an organ of revolutionary power in the city, it took over some of the functions of city administration and successfully performed them. This revolutionary and organizational function gradually became dominant in the activities of the Soviet. On May 16, he decided to close all wine shops in the city. Despite the fact that the latter were state-owned, the demand of the Council was fulfilled. By making this decision, the Council wanted, firstly, to save a working penny and, secondly, to ensure order in the city. Indeed, the Soviet was able to create a state of order in the city that had not existed before the strike, and which it seemed unthinkable to create in a densely populated city with about 200 pubs. According to Samoilov, during the work of the Council in the city "there were no drunks, no fights, no scandals, no gambling, which the Council also banned" 61 .

The workers ' militia, established on May 20, 1905, played a major role in maintaining revolutionary order. When deciding on this, the Council noted that the police are necessary "to maintain order on the streets of the city during a strike, which can be disturbed by the black hundred and hooligans who have nothing in common with us, the workers, who have nothing in common with us, in order to act according to our agreement and get to work no earlier than they agree to it." all workers of Ivanovo-Voznesensk " 62 . Despite the opposition of the local authorities, the workers ' militia was created, and on May 22, the Council issued a special resolution to send its detachments to monitor order in the city and protect the factories .63 Detachments of workers ' militia began to patrol the city regularly. With their help, the Council expelled the police from working-class neighborhoods. One of the tasks of the police was to fight against strikebreakers. However, as noted by Samoilov, who was directly involved in the work of the police, strikebreaking was not noticed in the city 64 . Along with the workers ' militia, a 60-man combat team operated in the city. Its leaders were Utkin, Frunze, Morozov and other Bolsheviks. The militants guarded workers ' meetings and demonstrations, the Council, and the party organization. The governor himself acknowledged that the case had been handled well. In a report to the Minister of the Interior dated June 14, he wrote:: "It is impossible to arrest the ringleaders because of the proper organization of the strike guard." 65 The existence of the workers ' militia and the fighting squad indicated that the Soviet had made an attempt to rely on the armed forces in its activities.

60 "Reports and Reports" of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1955, issue 8, p. 69.

61 F. N. Samoilov. In the footsteps of the past, Moscow, 1948, pp. 73-74.

62 "The first in Russia", p. 35.

63 Ibid., p. 36.

64 F. N. Samoilov. In the footsteps of the past. 1948, pp. 83-84.

65 TsGAOR USSR, f. DP OO, 1905, d. 4, ch. 30, l. 165.

page 51

Despite the fact that the very fact of the existence and activity of the Council in Ivanovo - Voznesensk was an open violation of the existing order, and the manufacturers and the authorities were forced to take into account this fact, with the decisions of the Council. From the very beginning, he ruled that no enterprise could resume operations without his knowledge. Indeed, despite persistent attempts by the factory owners to persuade some workers to engage in strikebreaking, the authorities were unable to reopen any factory during the strike. It is a well-known fact that the governor who came to Ivanovo-Voznesensk in connection with the beginning of the strike, who needed to print official papers in the printing house, was forced to apply to the Council with a request to allow the striking workers to fulfill this order. This was yet another forced admission of the real power of the Council. The factory owners tried to resort to a lockout, but not a single worker came to pay. Taking measures against the lockout, the Council demanded that the factory owners not dismiss any workers while the strike was still going on. By the decree of the Soviet, manufacturers were forbidden to evict workers from factory apartments and send their passports to their homeland. The Council demanded payment of money for the duration of the strike and partially achieved this.

The Council's persistent and energetic struggle for the interests of the workers made it extremely authoritative. It became the only organization whose orders were carried out by workers. The official authorities in the city, with troops and police at their disposal, were practically powerless. The masses have ceased to obey them. No wonder some manufacturers said that there was a dual power in the city. The manufacturer D. G. Burylin wrote in a letter to his relative in those days: "What happened during these three days cannot be described. An unprecedented picture of events... I don't have a coachman, I make my own tea, the last watchman has been removed from the factory, and I guard the factory myself. The authorities were taken aback... There is a sense of dual power in the city."66 Another manufacturer regarded the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Soviet as a" state within a state. " 67 The Vladimir governor came to Ivanovo-Voznesensk several times to restore "order" here. However, in a letter to the Comrade Minister of the Interior dated June 16, he was also forced to admit his impotence and the inability of the authorities to stop the strike and the Council's activities. "If gatherings are allowed to continue," he wrote, " they can almost certainly take on an illegal character; on the other hand, if the gatherings are dispersed, arson and looting will just as surely resume, the city and its environs will be in danger, and the working-class movement will take on the character of open rebellion, there will be a mass of innocent victims and unremunerated material losses losses... Military units are extremely unsympathetic to their role as law enforcement officers... The staff of the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya police, although somewhat encouraged by me, fell off their feet. I myself... must exert all my strength to achieve the monotonous course of things, which, with all my efforts, I achieve with great difficulty... I'm developing signs of palpitations and a nervous breakdown. " 68 The governor pinned all his hopes on "the depletion of the material resources of some of the workers who were not provided with field work." 69
One of the most active members of the Northern Committee of the RSDLP, Gastev, who was in Ivanovo-Voznesensk at the time of these events, reports in a letter to V. I. Lenin quoted above that almost the entire city recognized the Soviet as a "provisional government". Another direct participant in the events, Podvoisky, writes in his memoirs: "Council of Days-

66 Cit. by: F. N. Samoilov. In the footsteps of the past. 1948, p. 69. 67 "1905 in the Ivanovo-Voznesensky district", p. 32.

68 TsGAOR USSR, f. DP 00, 1905, d. 4, ch. 30, ll. 180-181.

69 Ibid., l. 165.

page 52

It acted as an authority representing the interests of the working masses. The police felt completely confused. The bourgeoisie and its directors left Ivanov; the City Duma did not meet (during the months of May and June). The Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet was extremely popular not only in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, but also in the entire district. " 70 Here, in the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet, working delegations from other cities and industrial settlements of the textile region often arrived to establish communication. Sometimes it was possible to see peasant walkers from the surrounding villages and villages in the Council. Considering the Soviet as an organ of people's power, the peasants turned here with their requests and needs, sought protection of their rights here. "From everywhere, from the most remote places and villages," Frunze recalled, " dozens of delegations flocked to Ivanovo - Voznesensk for advice, instructions and instructions. They came with a wide variety of requests, ranging from requests for speakers to requests for financial assistance. Written requests were even more numerous. Illiterate in form, they were imbued with an unusually deep faith in the strength and significance of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet of Workers ' Deputies, and in the boundless power of the Social-Democrats who led it."71
One of the most important aspects of the activity of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet was its agitation and propaganda work, which was given great importance and which, like all the work of the Council, took place under the leadership and with the active participation of the Bolsheviks. For this purpose, crowded meetings were used outside the city, on the bank of the Talka River, where the Council of Workers ' Deputies moved its work from May 18. Meetings were held here every day. In the morning, the Council's party group usually met and outlined a plan of action for the coming day. Then deputies gathered. The Council discussed current affairs and made decisions. And by midday, the clearing on the bank of the Talka River was filled with thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands, of workers who came to listen to the deputies and learn the news. "The city froze for a day," recalls Balashov, " and the Talka came to life. There, life was in full swing, the newspapers Severny Krai, Vechernyaya Pochta, and bulletins of the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies were read, economic and political issues were discussed, general and deputy meetings were photographed by their photographer, speeches were made, revolutionary songs were sung, and delegations were sent and received."72 Speaking to the audience (usually in factory groups), deputies told about the work of the Council, its decisions, and the progress of negotiations with manufacturers. Political speeches of Bolshevik agitators were also heard here. Their calls for a struggle against the autocracy were at first met with some wariness and apprehension on the part of some of the workers. But their consciousness grew during the strike, their political maturity was strengthened, and Bolshevik slogans gradually gained popularity and met with unanimous support.

In the conditions of an autocratic and despotic regime, contrary to all tsarist laws, the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet introduced freedom of speech and freedom of assembly by secret order. The fact that free speech was spoken at the Talka and revolutionary speeches were delivered was a great achievement of the Soviet, the Bolshevik organization. Often these crowded meetings ended with lectures on various socio-political and historical - revolutionary topics. Local Bolsheviks (Frunze, Balashov, Bubnov, and others) and newcomers (Podvoysky from Yaroslavl, Samokhvalov from Vladimir, Mandelstam, and Volsky from Moscow) served as lecturers. These lectures raised political awareness-

70 " The First Russian...". Collection of memoirs of active participants in the revolution of 1905-1907, Moscow, 1975, p. 60.

71 Ibid., p. 66.

72 "The First in Russia", pp. 173-174.

page 53

They helped them to correctly understand what was happening, to understand the goals and objectives of the struggle. It was a kind of socialist university, which was one of the most important achievements of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers in 1905. It was this aspect of the Soviet's activities that Lenin highly appreciated when, during the Fourth (Unification) Party Congress in Stockholm, he questioned Frunze in detail about the activities of the workers ' University on Talka. 73 Lenin took the experience of the Ivanovo people very seriously, asking them what they studied at this university, whether there were any disputes, whether women and young people participated in them. Answering Lenin's questions, Frunze noted that the Soviet was becoming a kind of party school, where cadres of agitators and revolutionary workers were trained. Only a few of the Soviets that emerged in 1905 paid so much attention to agitation and propaganda work.

The activities of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet were developed at a time when the revolutionary movement in the country had not yet raised the question of an armed uprising. Nevertheless, the leaders of the Soviet, the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Bolsheviks, not only took into account the possibility of a decisive armed struggle with the autocracy, but also, guided by the decisions of the Third Congress of the RSDLP, prepared for it. This is evidenced by the creation of a combat squad and detachments of workers ' militia in the city, attempts by workers to stock up on weapons. At one of the meetings of the Soviet, the question of an armed insurrection was raised and discussed in a businesslike manner .74 However, the matter did not reach the uprising then, the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council did not become the organ of the uprising, although it was preparing for this role. This is due to two reasons: firstly, the textile workers had few weapons; secondly, the revolutionary events in Ivanovo-Voznesensk took place at a time when the conditions for an armed uprising were not yet ripe, when the proletariat fought mainly with the weapons of strikes, "refraining from direct clashes with the armed forces of tsardom, preparing its forces for war." to a great, decisive battle " 75 . It is significant, however, that in the course of the strike the consciousness of the workers came even closer to the idea of an armed insurrection. The proclamation of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Committee of the Bolsheviks, which analyzed the lessons of the strike, stated: "The strike has also shown us that we must strive for political freedom with weapons in our hands. It taught us that only when we are all organized and armed can we gain our rights by force, so we shouted: "Long live the armed insurrection!" 76, It is also impossible not to recall that in December 1905, the Ivanovo and Shuiskie workers under Frunze's leadership took an active part in the Moscow armed insurrection, fighting on the barricades of Presnya.

The Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet of Workers ' Deputies continued its work for more than two months. At its last meeting on July 19, it decided to end the strike in an organized manner. Having achieved partial satisfaction of their demands, the workers returned to the factories on July 23. However, even after the Council ceased its activities, many deputies did not stop their work, and the workers considered them their representatives, their defenders. "This continued until autumn," writes Samokhvalov in his memoirs, "and there was no more popular name than the deputy, to whom the workers in every factory turned for clarification of all doubts and misunderstandings." 77 In some factories there were even cases (after the strike) of re-elections

73 K. E. Voroshilov. Op. ed., pp. 258-261.

74 I. Kosarev. From my memories. "On the Leninsky way", 1925, N 3, p. 90.

75 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 10, p. 310.

76 "The General Strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers in 1905", p. 213.

77 "The first in Russia", p. 214.

page 54

deputies who were elected in the course of the strike, but they failed, as Nozdrin notes, "to carry out the strike ethics of the Talka in the atmosphere of working factories."78
Summing up the results of the strike, Lenin gave it a high assessment. "The Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike showed unexpectedly high political maturity of the workers. The ferment in the entire central industrial district continued, and after this strike it was already continuously intensifying and expanding. Now this ferment began to pour out, began to turn into an uprising. " 79 In this assessment, Lenin notes the political nature of the events in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. One of the indicators of the political maturity of the Ivanovo - Voznesensk workers was the creation and activity of the Soviet of Workers ' Deputies, which Lenin knew very well .80 It is important to note that in his review of the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike, he refers to it as an event of not only local, but also All-Russian significance, as an event that influenced the course of the revolution in the country. The experience of this strike, and especially the experience of the first citywide Soviet of Workers ' Deputies in Russia, provided, as Frunze pointed out, a wealth of political and organizational material, which was later used in the creation of Soviets in other cities. "The form of proletarian power," wrote N. I. Podvoysky, "laid down by the Ivanovo-Voznesenskites on the Talka River in the form of a local Soviet of Workers' deputies, was recreated in the autumn of the same year by the St. Petersburg and Moscow proletariat in the form of similar Soviets."81 In 1905, 55 Soviets were formed and operated in Russia, among which 82 city Soviets of workers ' deputies prevailed . Such councils as the Moscow and Kostroma councils drew on the experience of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Council. This Council was a good school for the workers. It is no coincidence that some of his deputies later grew into major party and state figures. Soviet deputies Zhidelev and Samoilov were elected by the workers to the second and Fourth State Dumas. In the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet, created after the February Revolution of 1917, there were 18 former deputies of the 1905 Soviet .83
Thus, the Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers, led by the Bolsheviks, made a significant contribution to the history of the 1905 - 1907 revolution through their revolutionary work and the creation of the country's first citywide Council. During these years, together with the entire working class of Russia, they waged a resolute struggle against the autocracy with the greatest tenacity, showing political maturity, unshakeable steadfastness, and readiness to make sacrifices in the name of the victory of the revolution. The general strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk textile workers in the summer of 1905 testified to the fact that at that moment the strike movement was moving towards an active political struggle against the autocracy. The Soviet of Workers ' Deputies, created in the course of these events, was the organ through which the Bolsheviks led the working masses to fight not only for economic but also for political demands, to fight for radical revolutionary and democratic transformations.

78 "1905 in the Ivanovo-Voznesensky district", p. 140.

79 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 11, p. 314.

80 The fact that Lenin was well informed about the events in Ivanovo - Voznesensk, and in particular about the activities of the Soviet, is evidenced not only by Voroshilov's recollections already mentioned and Frunze's recollections recorded by Sirotinsky. Lenin and the Proletarian newspaper he edited received information about the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike and the Soviet. Many of them were published in the pages of this newspaper. In addition to the aforementioned letter from Gastev, Lenin received a letter in June 1905 from Krasin, who informed him of the need to use the experience of the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya strike. Comparing it with the Potemkin uprising, Krasin expressed regret that in both cases the Central Committee of the Party was unable to provide adequate assistance ("The Party in the 1905 Revolution", pp. 153-154).

81 " The First Russian...", p. 63.

82 N. N. Demochkin, V. I. Lenin and the Formation of the Republic of Soviets, Moscow, 1974.

83 Ivanovo regional State Archive, f. 31, op. 1, d. 4, ll. 35-150.

page 55


© biblio.uz

Permanent link to this publication:

https://biblio.uz/m/articles/view/IVANOVO-VOZNESENSKY-SOVIET-OF-WORKERS-DEPUTIES-OF-1905

Similar publications: LUzbekistan LWorld Y G


Publisher:

Azamat UsmanovContacts and other materials (articles, photo, files etc)

Author's official page at Libmonster: https://biblio.uz/Usmanov

Find other author's materials at: Libmonster (all the World)GoogleYandex

Permanent link for scientific papers (for citations):

A.V. SHIPULINA, YU. A. YAKOBSON, IVANOVO-VOZNESENSKY SOVIET OF WORKERS ' DEPUTIES OF 1905 // Tashkent: Library of Uzbekistan (BIBLIO.UZ). Updated: 21.01.2025. URL: https://biblio.uz/m/articles/view/IVANOVO-VOZNESENSKY-SOVIET-OF-WORKERS-DEPUTIES-OF-1905 (date of access: 18.02.2025).

Found source (search robot):


Publication author(s) - A.V. SHIPULINA, YU. A. YAKOBSON:

A.V. SHIPULINA, YU. A. YAKOBSON → other publications, search: Libmonster UzbekistanLibmonster WorldGoogleYandex

Comments:



Reviews of professional authors
Order by: 
Per page: 
 
  • There are no comments yet
Related topics
Publisher
Azamat Usmanov
Ташкент, Uzbekistan
60 views rating
21.01.2025 (28 days ago)
0 subscribers
Rating
0 votes
Related Articles
Примеряют золушки?сапоги
Yesterday · From Golem Anzhanov
КАК ДЕСАНТНИКИ С "ТИГРИСОМ" БАНЮ ДЕЛИЛИ
3 days ago · From Golem Anzhanov
Боевая учеба: один выстрел - семь в уме?
3 days ago · From Golem Anzhanov
Тема для прапорщиков. Как предупредить наркоманию?
Catalog: Разное 
6 days ago · From Golem Anzhanov
Тема для прапорщиков. Изучение социально-психологических особенностей военнослужащих и практика их
Catalog: История 
7 days ago · From Golem Anzhanov
О культуре и контркультуре
9 days ago · From Golem Anzhanov
THE WORKING CLASS OF UZBEKISTAN IN THE PERIOD OF DEVELOPED SOCIALISM
Catalog: История 
16 days ago · From Azamat Usmanov
APPLICATION OF QUANTITATIVE METHODS AND COMPUTERS IN HISTORICAL RESEARCH
16 days ago · From Azamat Usmanov
THE FAILURE OF THE IMPERIALIST POLICY FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH IN RELATION TO THE U.S.S.R.
18 days ago · From Azamat Usmanov
THE RUSSIAN WORKING CLASS FROM ITS BEGINNINGS TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY
19 days ago · From Azamat Usmanov

New publications:

Popular with readers:

News from other countries:

BIBLIO.UZ - Digital Library of Uzbekistan

Create your author's collection of articles, books, author's works, biographies, photographic documents, files. Save forever your author's legacy in digital form. Click here to register as an author.
Library Partners

IVANOVO-VOZNESENSKY SOVIET OF WORKERS ' DEPUTIES OF 1905
 

Editorial Contacts
Chat for Authors: UZ LIVE: We are in social networks:

About · News · For Advertisers

Digital Library of Uzbekistan ® All rights reserved.
2020-2025, BIBLIO.UZ is a part of Libmonster, international library network (open map)
Keeping the heritage of Uzbekistan


LIBMONSTER NETWORK ONE WORLD - ONE LIBRARY

US-Great Britain Sweden Serbia
Russia Belarus Ukraine Kazakhstan Moldova Tajikistan Estonia Russia-2 Belarus-2

Create and store your author's collection at Libmonster: articles, books, studies. Libmonster will spread your heritage all over the world (through a network of affiliates, partner libraries, search engines, social networks). You will be able to share a link to your profile with colleagues, students, readers and other interested parties, in order to acquaint them with your copyright heritage. Once you register, you have more than 100 tools at your disposal to build your own author collection. It's free: it was, it is, and it always will be.

Download app for Android