Black Hundred parties. Black Hundred or on the way to a new type of party Black Hundreds in the State Duma

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Black Hundreds Black Hundreds is a collective name for representatives of extreme right-wing organizations in Russia in 1905–1917, who acted under the slogans of monarchism, great-power chauvinism and anti-Semitism. The Black Hundred movement did not represent a single whole and consisted of various associations, such as the “Russian Monarchist Party”, “Black Hundreds”, “Union of the Russian People”, “Union of the Archangel Michael”, etc.

Leader of the organization One of the founders and main ideologists of the Black Hundred movement was the Russian politician V. A. Gringmut. Gringmut was the leader of that line in the Black Hundreds that most consistently advocated an unlimited monarchy and denied any concessions to parliamentarism.

V. A. Gringmut In June 1906, his article “The Guide of the Black Hundred Monarchist” was published, which in a systematic and accessible form for the common man gave answers to the socio-political questions of our time. This document provides the following list of “internal enemies of Russia”: constitutional democrats, socialists, revolutionaries, anarchists and Jews. These and other radical views of Gringmuth caused him to be brought to trial in 1906 on charges of “inciting hostility of one part of the population against another.”

Composition The social basis of these organizations consisted of heterogeneous elements: landowners, representatives of the clergy, large and petty urban bourgeoisie, merchants, peasants, workers, burghers, artisans, police officials who advocated the preservation of the inviolability of the autocracy. The period of special activity of the Black Hundreds fell on 1905 - 1914.

The Worker and Peasant Question The Black Hundreds advocated shortening the working day, improving working conditions and insurance for workers, as well as preserving landownership. All-Russian Emperor Nicholas II meets with the Black Hundreds.

Basic ideas The ideology of the Black Hundreds is set out in Gringmut’s article “The Guide of a Black Hundred Monarchist.” The main ideas in it: the preservation of a single indivisible Russia, autocracy, nationalism and anti-Semitism.

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On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and notes

Political parties in the political system of society

Presentation of a lesson in 11th grade social studies. Lesson objectives: Educational: To form in students an idea of what a party is. Show the signs and role of political parties...

Black Hundred terror at the beginning of the 20th century. represents a very unique page in Russian history. This uniqueness lies in the declared goals of terrorist acts. If the terrorist revolutionaries hoped to undermine and overthrow the autocracy with targeted attacks, the Black Hundreds tried to defend it with the help of terror. In both cases, the methods of terror were almost identical. The ideological justification for terror was not much different, which allows us to speak about the vicious logic of terrorists - regardless of their political views.

Any revolutionary terrorist, regardless of nationality, country of residence and even era, would answer that terror is generated by an unjust social system and that by shooting from a Browning or planting an infernal machine, he and his like-minded people are only exercising their legal right to respond with violence to violence with sides of the anti-people feudal (capitalist, imperialist) regime. In turn, revolutionary terror provokes a response from the guards, and this is expressed not only in tightening legislation and strengthening repressive measures, but also in the desire to repay the terrorist villains in the same coin.

In Russia, the first experience of protective terror dates back to the period of the People's Will underground. To get an idea of the psychological background of this phenomenon, it is enough to turn to the well-known memoirs of S.Yu. Witte. A young and successful railway executive, whose views could not be called retrograde, on March 1, 1881, learned in the theater about the assassination of the Tsar. In anger and rage, he rushes home and writes a letter in which “feeling prevailed over reason” and which ended up on the desk of the new emperor. Witte proposed to fight the “anarchists” with their own weapons - “Consequently, it is necessary to create a community of absolutely decent people who, whenever an attempt is made on the part of the anarchists or preparations are made for an attempt on the sovereign, would respond in kind towards the anarchists most, i.e. they would have been killed just as treacherously and treacherously.” “I wrote,” Witte recalled, “that this is the only means of fighting them, and I thought that this would discourage many from constantly hunting our sovereigns.”

As is known, the activities of the soon-created “Sacred Squad” were not of serious importance. However, the short history of this organization indicates that protective terror arises when the official government demonstrates its inability to cope with the anti-government movement using the means and methods at its disposal. During the period of crisis for the autocracy, volunteer helpers from the “Holy Squad” appeared. And in exactly the same way, a quarter of a century later, the Black Hundred unions came to the aid of the autocracy.

In the fall of 1905, when internal turmoil was already raging in Russia, the Black Hundreds entered the arena of political struggle with a noticeable lag behind the democratic and radical parties. On the one hand, the emergence of the Black Hundred was a typical reaction of the conservative part of society to revolutionary events and was undertaken, if not on the initiative, then with the approval and support of the ruling circles. The Black Hundreds were supporters of an unlimited autocratic monarchy, a class system, and a united and indivisible Russia. On the other hand, the programs and practical activities of these far-right organizations showed trends that were more likely characteristic of the subsequent era. The Black Hundreds tried to influence mass consciousness, widely used social demagoguery, and relied on militant nationalism and anti-Semitism. All this allowed some researchers to raise the question of the closeness of the Black Hundreds and fascist ideology and even (however, without sufficient grounds) to call the Black Hundreds the predecessors of the Italian fascists and German National Socialists.

The Black Hundred was a conglomerate of loosely connected unions, societies and brotherhoods. The largest of the Black Hundred parties was the Union of the Russian People, founded in November 1905 in St. Petersburg. It is noteworthy that the "Union", which had all the signs of a political party (program, charter, governing bodies, network of local organizations, etc.), categorically denied its party character, posing as a national association, and in the broad sense of the word identified itself with the entire Russian nation. With this interpretation, belonging to the “Union” was not a voluntary choice, but a sacred duty of every loyal subject, while membership in any other political organization was equated to high treason.

The “Union of the Russian People” relied on the national question. Since none of the all-Russian political parties of the liberal-democratic direction associated themselves exclusively with the Russian population, the Black Hundreds quickly filled the empty niche, declaring their monopoly on patriotism, and called for protecting the Russian people from the “alien danger.” The Black Hundred unions, as the extreme right themselves stated, were aimed primarily at “simple, black, working people.” They managed to attract more members to their banner than all political parties in Russia combined. A comprehensive analysis of sources allows us to establish that at the time of the greatest flowering of the Black Hundreds, which occurred in 1907–1908, there were more than 400,000 members in the ranks of monarchical organizations. The downside of mass membership was the looseness and amorphous nature of the Black Hundred organizations. Most members of monarchical unions were registered in them only in name.

The program documents of the Black Hundred unions stated that the monarchists would achieve their goals exclusively by legal means on the basis of Christian love for one's neighbor and mercy. In fact, the Black Hundreds were very far from tolerance and forgiveness. The spirit of retribution was cultivated among the extreme right, and the front pages of their newspapers constantly published lists of people who fell victims of the “godless predatory liberation movement.” According to eyewitnesses, the leaders of the Union of Russian People talked only about murders.

The Black Hundred earned a sad reputation with the pogroms of 1905. In fairness, it should be noted that outbreaks of mass violence occurred even before the formation of the Union of the Russian People, although many of its future members took an active part in the pogroms. In the subsequent period, the fighting squads of the “Union of the Russian People” and other far-right organizations became a weapon of Black Hundred terror. Despite the fact that the statutory documents of the “patriotic” unions did not provide for the creation of armed groups, the fighting squads of the Black Hundreds operated practically legally in Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Vologda, Gomel, Yekaterinoslav, Kyiv, Chisinau, Moscow, Odessa, St. Petersburg, Tiflis, Yaroslavl. In some departments, according to the Black Hundreds themselves, there were no squads, but several dozen “patriots” armed with sticks and Finnish knives - which actually meant the same thing.

Undoubtedly, the far right tried to learn from their enemies and copy the underground terrorist organizations of the revolutionaries. However, this was a caricature of imitation, since the Black Hundred unions, neither in their organization and discipline, nor in the composition of their participants, were similar to the anti-government parties. There were no general principles for creating military squads, and each of the departments of the “Union of the Russian People” acted at its own discretion. In Odessa they tried to follow Cossack customs. The fighting squad, which was sometimes called the “White Guard,” was divided into six “hundreds,” each of which, in turn, had an independent name (for example, “The Evil Hundred,” etc.). The vigilantes were led by the “mandatory ataman”, “esauls”, and “foremen”. They all took patriotic pseudonyms: Ermak, Minin, Platov, etc.

Contrary to popular belief, the social composition of the far-right unions was extremely diverse and, along with peasants, artisans, and factory workers, the intelligentsia and student youth were represented in the monarchical unions. Declassed elements made up a small part of the members of the extreme right unions. However, this picture changes dramatically when looking at the composition of the Black Hundred fighting squads. If in St. Petersburg the regional fighting squads - Nevskaya, Putilovskaya - were partly replenished with workers from local enterprises, then the squad under the Main Council consisted of inhabitants of the city bottom. Criminal elements set the tone in the Odessa White Guard. And although the number of vigilantes was not comparable to the number of members of monarchical unions, in public opinion the image of the Black Hundreds was associated with them.

In accordance with the contingent, the orders within the fighting squads also developed. Reception into the squads was arranged in the spirit of a cheap operetta: the militants signed in blood an obligation to faithfully serve the autocracy. However, in the entire history of the Black Hundred terror, there were no examples of self-sacrifice and selflessness: the vigilantes served for pay and often used threats to achieve its increase. Weak discipline and poor secrecy completed the picture.

The vigilantes were armed mainly with light small arms and bladed weapons. The Black Hundreds also stored explosives, but their attempts to use bombs always ended in failure. Weapons were transported from Finland, but the main source of weapons were army and police arsenals. There are documents indicating the transfer, with the permission of the authorities, of outdated weapons to the Black Hundred squads “for self-defense.” The ease with which the “allies” acquired weapons was sometimes taken advantage of by their opponents. Thus, the Socialist Revolutionaries in Odessa signed up as members of the “Union of the Russian People” and received “with the assistance of real allies, weapons at a reduced price, which they distributed among their like-minded people.”

The fact that the Black Hundreds have access to state arsenals lifts the curtain on the specific relationship between the Black Hundred fighting squads and the political police. The authorities considered armed groups of “patriots” their support and in some cases used them to maintain order on the streets and in striking enterprises. This closeness was especially evident in Odessa. With the approval of the military authorities and the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade, the Odessa department of the Union of Russian People took over the unloading of the ships. “In the port,” observers testified, “there are about 200 Black Hundreds of trained combat squads armed with revolvers. No strikes, no protests are possible. The militants are guarding the strikebreakers.”

Even more often, security departments and gendarmerie departments resorted to the help of the Black Hundreds. The contacts of the extreme right with representatives of the political investigation were well known. Among the Black Hundreds there were secret security officers, while the extreme right had voluntary informants in the police agencies. Thus, the St. Petersburg “Society for Active Struggle against the Revolution” had its own agent network, and in August 1906 its leaders warned the guards of P.A. Stolypin about the upcoming assassination attempt on the Prime Minister.

At the same time, it would be a simplification to consider the fighting squads of the far right to be branches of political investigation. The Black Hundreds pursued their own goals, which often led to conflicts with the police. Thus, in April 1906, the Caucasus reported to the police department that the Black Hundreds in Tiflis “themselves began to carry out various investigative actions, searching and detaining at their own discretion, beyond any control of the police and gendarmerie officials.” The Odessa civil authorities also tried to curb the tyranny of the Black Hundreds.

The Black Hundred squads suffered serious losses in fierce clashes with militant groups of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats. In January 1906, the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP instructed the combat center of the Nevsky district to liquidate the Black Hundred squad based in the Tver tavern. As a result of the explosion carried out by the Bolsheviks, two people were killed and eleven were injured. In the spring of 1906, clashes continued at St. Petersburg enterprises, as a result of which the Black Hundreds were forced out of most factories, except Putilovsky. The following year, 1907, 24 monarchists died in clashes with revolutionaries.

It is paradoxical that despite all the fierceness of the struggle against the Socialist Revolutionary and Bolshevik militants, the Black Hundreds chose representatives of completely different political movements as objects of individual terror. Member of the Main Council of the Union of Russian People P.F. Bulatzel once declared at a council meeting that revolutionary protests would continue until “the right will not respond to murders with murders, such as, for example, Gruzenberg, Vinaver, Miliukov, Stolypin and Shcheglovitov, finding that Stolypin and Shcheglovitov are the main culprits and enablers " And although Bulatzel expressed extremely extremist views, the Black Hundreds actually included the leaders of the Kadet Party on their lists of potential victims.

It is known that the leader of the cadets, P.N., was attacked by the Black Hundreds. Miliukov. But the most sensational terrorist acts of the Black Hundreds were the murders of two members of the Central Committee of the Cadet Party - M.Ya. Herzenstein and G.B. Yollosa. Both victims personified a hated enemy for the Black Hundreds: they were liberals, former deputies of the rebellious State Duma and Jews. Professor Herzenstein especially aroused the ire of the far right with his speeches on the agrarian question. On July 18, 1906, he was killed in the resort town of Terijoki. The murder was committed by a fighting squad attached to the Main Council of the Union of the Russian People.

The assassination attempt on ex-Prime Minister Witte caused no less resonance. It is curious that Witte, who at one time advocated terrorist methods of fighting revolutionaries, himself became the target of a hunt by right-wing terrorists. According to the peculiar logic of the Black Hundreds, it was Witte who was one of the secret leaders of the Russian revolution. During the assassination attempt on the ex-premier, the Black Hundreds completely changed their tactics. It was decided to carry out a terrorist act by someone else's hands. The organization of the assassination attempt was carried out by Black Hundred member A.E. Kazantsev, who managed to mislead two young people - V.D. Fedorov and A.S. Stepanov, who believed that they were fulfilling the task of the Socialist-Revolutionaries-maximalists. On January 29, 1907, they planted powerful bombs in Witte's house, but there was no explosion.

On March 14, 1907, Fedorov, on the orders of Kazantsev, killed Yollos, also believing that he was acting on the orders of the revolutionaries. However, in May 1907, during the preparation of the second attempt on Witte, Fedorov, who suspected deception, killed Kazantsev. Moreover, Fedorov's revelations became known throughout Russia.

A few months earlier, thanks to an independent investigation conducted by cadet-oriented lawyers, the circumstances of Herzenstein’s murder became known. The Kivinepp district court began considering the case of Herzenstein’s murder, and Witte demanded that the authorities conduct an investigation into the chairman of the Main Council of the Union of Russian People, A.I. Dubrovina. The authorities did everything possible to stop the scandalous revelations. The Ministry of Justice refused to extradite members of the Main Council of the “Union of the Russian People” to the Finnish judiciary, and two convicted by the court - A. Polovnev and N.M. Yuskevich-Krasovsky - in December 1909 they were pardoned by the Tsar. Witte couldn’t get his business going either. The question of the involvement of the leadership of the Union of Russian People in the assassination attempt on Witte remained open. The involvement of secret agents of the political police in this attempt is much more clearly visible, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Stolypin personally categorically denied the participation of secret police officers. The double exposure of the far right's terrorist activities has derailed their plans to eliminate the leaders of the liberal parties. And although the leadership of the Union of Russian People, with the help of the authorities, managed to avoid prosecution, the scandalous revelations affected the reputation of the far right in the most negative way. Terrorist acts turned out to be a very ineffective method of struggle for the Black Hundreds.

Scanning and processing: Sergey Agishev.

Read also on this topic:

1. Witte S.Yu. Memories. T. 1. Tallinn, 1994. P. 133.

2. GARF. F. 102. DP 00. 1908. D. 9. Part 72. L. 35.

3. Ibid. F. 102. DP 00. 1905. D. 1255. Part 27. L. 8.

4. Ibid. F. 1467. Op. 1. D. 599. L. 6.

Black Hundreds were members of Russian patriotic organizations of 1905-17, who adhered to the positions of monarchism, anti-Semitism, and These organizations used terror against the rebels. The Black Hundred parties participated in the dispersal of rallies, demonstrations, and meetings. Organizations supported the government and carried out pogroms against Jews.

It is quite difficult to understand this movement at first glance. The Black Hundred parties included representatives of organizations that did not always act together. However, if we focus on the most important thing, we can see that the Black Hundreds had common ideas and directions of development. Let us briefly introduce the main Black Hundred parties in Russia and their leaders.

Major organizations and leaders

The "Russian Assembly", created in can be considered the first monarchical organization in our country. We will not take into account its predecessor, the “Russian Squad” (this underground organization did not last long). However, the main force of the Black Hundred movement was the “Union of the Russian People,” which emerged in 1905.

It was headed by Dubrovin. In 1908, Purishkevich disagreed with him and left the RNC. He created his own organization, the Union of Archangel Michael. A second split occurred in the RNC in 1912. This time the confrontation arose between Markov and Dubrovin. Dubrovin has now left the Union. He formed the ultra-right Dubrovinsky “Union of the Russian People”. Thus, 3 monarchist leaders came to the fore: Markov (RNC), Purishkevich (SMA) and Dubrovin (VDSRN).

The main Black Hundred parties are those listed above. You can also note the "Russian Monarchical Union". However, the representatives of this party were the Orthodox clergy and nobles, so this association was small and not of significant interest. Moreover, after some time the party split. Part of the organization went to Purishkevich.

Origin of the word "Black Hundreds"

The word "Black Hundreds" comes from the Old Russian word meaning the townsman tax population, divided into military-administrative units (hundreds). Representatives of the movement we are interested in were members of Russian monarchist, right-wing Christian and anti-Semitic organizations. "Black Hundred" is a term that has become widely used to refer to far-right anti-Semites and politicians. Representatives of this movement put forward individual, absolute power as a counterweight to democracy. They believed that Russia has 3 enemies that need to be fought. This is a dissident, an intellectual and a foreigner.

Black Hundreds and teetotalism

Partially, the Black Hundred party was formed to combat drunkenness. These organizations never denied teetotalism. At the same time, it was believed that drinking beer in moderation was an alternative to vodka poisoning. Some of the Black Hundred cells were even formed in the form of temperance societies, reading societies for the people, tea houses and even beer houses.

Black Hundreds and the Peasantry

The Black Hundreds are a party whose program of action has not been properly developed, with the exception of a call to beat Jews, intellectuals, liberals and revolutionaries. Therefore, the peasantry, which had virtually no contact with these categories, remained almost unaffected by these organizations.

Pogroms of intellectuals and Jews

Not all pogroms, contrary to popular opinion, were prepared by the Black Hundred parties. In 1905-07, these organizations were still quite small. However, the Black Hundreds were very active in areas where the population was mixed (in Belarus, Ukraine and 15 provinces of the so-called “Pale of Jewish Settlement”). More than half of all representatives of the Union of Russian People, as well as other similar organizations, were located in these regions. The wave of pogroms began to subside more quickly as the activities of the Black Hundreds developed. Many prominent figures in these parties have pointed this out.

Funding organizations, publishing newspapers

At different times, these organizations published the newspapers “Pochaevsky Listok”, “Russian Banner”, “Groza”, “Bell”, “Veche”. The Black Hundred parties of the early 20th century promoted their ideas in such large newspapers as Kievlyanin, Moskovskie Vedomosti, Svet, and Citizen.

Congress in Moscow

It must be said that the constructive ideas of the Black Hundreds (both topics discussed in the press and programs of organizations) assumed the creation of a conservative society. There has been considerable debate about the need for parliamentarism and representative institutions in general. The Black Hundreds are a party whose program was outlined only in general terms. Therefore, as well as for a number of other reasons, these organizations turned out to be unviable.

Black Hundred parties: program

The theory of "official nationality" was at the core of the program of these organizations. She was nominated by S.S. Uvarov, Minister of Education, back in the 1st half of the 19th century. This theory was based on the formula “Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality.” Autocracy and Orthodoxy were presented as originally Russian principles. The last element of the formula, “nationality,” was understood as the people’s commitment to the first two. Black Hundred parties and organizations adhered to unlimited autocracy in matters of the internal structure of the country. They even considered the State Duma, which appeared during the revolution of 1905-07, to be an advisory body under the tsar. They perceived reforms in the country as a futile and impossible undertaking. At the same time, the programs of these organizations (for example, the RNC) declared freedom of the press, speech, religion, unions, meetings, personal integrity, etc.

As for the agricultural program, it was uncompromising. The Black Hundreds did not want to make concessions. They were not satisfied with the option of partial confiscation of landowners' lands. They proposed selling state-owned empty lands to peasants, as well as developing credit and rental systems.

Murder of cadets

The Black Hundred parties of the early 20th century during the revolution (1905-07) mostly supported the policies pursued by the government. They killed two members of the Central Committee of the Cadet Party - G.B. Iollos and M.Ya. Herzenstein. Both of them were their political opponents: they were liberals, Jews and former State Duma deputies. Professor Herzenstein, who spoke out on the agrarian issue, aroused particular anger among the Black Hundreds. He was killed on July 18, 1906 in Terijoki. Members of the Union of Russian People were convicted in this case. These are A. Polovnev, N. Yuskevich-Kraskovsky, E. Larichkin and S. Alexandrov. The first three were sentenced for complicity and given 6 years each, and Aleksandrov received 6 months for not reporting the impending crime. Alexander Kazantsev, the perpetrator of this murder, had himself been killed by that time, so he did not stand trial.

Black Hundreds are losing influence

Frightened by the episodic violence and radical rhetoric of the Black Hundreds, the great powers who were in power saw ethnic nationalism as almost the main threat to the state. They were able to convince Nicholas II, who sympathized with the “allies,” as well as court circles of the need to turn away from this movement. This further weakened the Black Hundreds in the political arena on the eve of the events of 1917. The First World War also contributed to the weakening of this movement. Many activists and ordinary members of Black Hundred organizations volunteered for it. The movement that interests us did not play a significant role in the revolution of 1917. The Black Hundreds are a party whose remnants were mercilessly destroyed after the victory of the Bolsheviks, who saw nationalism as a threat to the Soviet system.

The ban on organizations and the fate of their members

Black Hundred organizations were banned after the February Revolution. They remained only partially underground. Many prominent leaders during the Civil War joined the white movement. Once in exile, they criticized the activities of Russian emigrants. Some prominent representatives of this movement eventually joined nationalist organizations.

Black Hundred parties of the early 20th century: program, leaders, representatives.

Black Hundreds were members of Russian patriotic organizations of 1905-17, who adhered to the positions of monarchism, anti-Semitism and great-power chauvinism. These organizations used terror against the rioters. Black Hundred parties in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century participated in the dispersal of rallies, demonstrations, and meetings. Organizations supported the government and carried out pogroms against Jews. It is quite difficult to understand this movement at first glance. The Black Hundred parties included representatives of organizations that did not always act together. However, if we focus on the most important thing, we can see that the Black Hundreds had common ideas and directions of development. Let us briefly introduce the main Black Hundred parties in Russia and their leaders.

Main organizations and leaders The Russian Assembly, created in 1900, can be considered the first monarchical organization in our country. We will not take into account its predecessor, the “Russian Squad” (this underground organization did not last long). However, the main force of the Black Hundred movement was the “Union of the Russian People,” which emerged in 1905.

Origin of the word "Black Hundreds"

The word "Black Hundreds" comes from the Old Russian word "Black Hundred", meaning the towns' tax population, divided into military-administrative units (hundreds). Representatives of the movement we are interested in were members of Russian monarchist, right-wing Christian and anti-Semitic organizations. "Black Hundred" is a term that has become widely used to refer to far-right anti-Semites and politicians. Representatives of this movement put forward the principle of individual, absolute power as a counterweight to democratic principles. They believed that Russia has 3 enemies that need to be fought. This is a dissident, an intellectual and a foreigner.

Black Hundreds and teetotalism

Partially, the Black Hundred parties were formed from the popular movement to combat drunkenness. These organizations never denied teetotalism. At the same time, it was believed that drinking beer in moderation was an alternative to vodka poisoning. Some of the Black Hundred cells were even formed in the form of temperance societies, reading societies for the people, tea houses and even beer houses.

Black Hundreds and the Peasantry

Pogroms of intellectuals and Jews

The Black Hundred parties placed their main emphasis on inciting ethnic and national hatred. The result of this was pogroms that swept across Russia. It must be said that the pogroms began even before the development of the Black Hundreds movement. The intelligentsia did not always avoid the blow that was aimed at the “enemies of Russia.” Its representatives could easily be beaten and even killed in the streets, often on a par with Jews. It didn’t even help that a significant part of the organizers of the Black Hundred movement consisted of conservative intellectuals. Not all pogroms, contrary to popular opinion, were prepared by the Black Hundred parties. In 1905-07, these organizations were still quite small. However, the Black Hundreds were very active in areas where the population was mixed (in Belarus, Ukraine and 15 provinces of the so-called “Pale of Jewish Settlement”). More than half of all representatives of the Union of Russian People, as well as other similar organizations, were located in these regions. The wave of pogroms began to subside more quickly as the activities of the Black Hundreds developed. Many prominent figures in these parties have pointed this out.

Funding organizations, publishing newspapers

Government subsidies were an important source of financing for the Black Hundred unions. Funds were allocated from the funds of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to control the policies of these associations. At the same time, the Black Hundred parties also collected donations from private individuals. At different times, these organizations published the newspapers “Pochaevsky Listok”, “Russian Banner”, “Groza”, “Bell”, “Veche”. The Black Hundred parties of the early 20th century promoted their ideas in such large newspapers as Kievlyanin, Moskovskie Vedomosti, Svet, and Citizen.

Congress in Moscow

The organizations held a congress in Moscow in October 1906. It elected the Main Council and united all the Black Hundreds, creating the “United Russian People”. However, their merger did not actually happen. The organization ceased to exist a year later. It must be said that the constructive ideas of the Black Hundreds (both topics discussed in the press and programs of organizations) assumed the creation of a conservative society. There has been considerable debate about the need for parliamentarism and representative institutions in general. The Black Hundreds are a party whose program was outlined only in general terms. Therefore, as well as for a number of other reasons, these organizations turned out to be unviable.

Black Hundred parties: program

Murder of cadets

Black Hundreds are losing influence

The Black Hundreds are a party that, after the revolution, failed to become a unified political force, despite some successes. Its representatives were unable to find a sufficient number of allies in the multi-structured, multi-ethnic Russian society. But the members of this movement turned against themselves the radical left parties and liberal centrist circles that were influential at that time. Even some of the potential allies in the form of supporters of imperial nationalism also rebelled against them. Frightened by the episodic violence and radical rhetoric of the Black Hundreds, the great powers who were in power saw ethnic nationalism as almost the main threat to the state. They were able to convince Nicholas II, who sympathized with the “allies,” as well as court circles of the need to turn away from this movement. This further weakened the Black Hundreds in the political arena on the eve of the events of 1917. The First World War also contributed to the weakening of this movement. Many activists and ordinary members of Black Hundred organizations volunteered for it. The movement that interests us did not play a significant role in the revolution of 1917. The Black Hundreds are a party whose remnants were mercilessly destroyed after the victory of the Bolsheviks, who saw nationalism as a threat to the Soviet system.

The ban on organizations and the fate of their members

The period of special activity of the Black Hundreds occurred in the years 1905-1914.

In Soviet historiography, the Black Hundreds were considered “retrogrades, speculating on the ignorance and terrible social situation of the people, striving by hook or by crook to hold on to the crumbling dilapidated edifice of tsarism.”

Ideology

The origins of the ideology of the Black Hundreds originate in the Slavophil movement. Many of its provisions were intertwined with the official monarchist doctrine, the platform of the nationalists, and in some cases with the Octobrist program. The Black Hundreds opposed themselves to Marxism and did not recognize the materialist understanding of history [ ] .

In the economic sphere, the Black Hundreds advocated a multi-structure system. Some Black Hundred economists proposed abandoning the commodity backing of the ruble.

Some of the Black Hundred ideas - both programs of organizations and topics discussed in the Black Hundred press - assumed a conservative social structure (there were significant disputes over the admissibility of parliamentarism and generally representative institutions in an autocratic monarchy), and some curbing of the “excesses” of capitalism, as well as strengthening social solidarity, a form of direct democracy.

Story

A significant source of funding for the Black Hundred unions were private donations and collections.

According to a number of scientists, the participation of famous figures in Black Hundred organizations was subsequently significantly exaggerated. Thus, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Sergei Lebedev believes that

Modern rightists... like to increase this already long list at the expense of those figures of Russian culture who were not formally members of the Black Hundred unions, but did not hide their right-wing views. These include, in particular, the great D. I. Mendeleev, artist V. M. Vasnetsov, philosopher V. V. Rozanov...

The “Black Hundred” of 1905-1917 are several large and small monarchist organizations: “Union of the Russian People”, “Union of the Archangel Michael”, “Russian Monarchist Party”, “Union of Russian People”, “Union for the Fight against Sedition”, “Council” United Nobility", "Russian Assembly", "White Double-Headed Eagle", "Society for Active Struggle against the Revolution" and others.

The Black Hundred movement at various times published the newspapers “Russian Banner”, “Zemshchina”, “Pochaevsky Listok”, “Bell”, “Groza”, “Veche”, “Zemshchina”. Black Hundred ideas were also preached in the major newspapers “Moskovskie Vedomosti”, “Kievlyanin”, “Grazhdanin”, “Svet”.

Among the leaders of the Black Hundred movement, Alexander Dubrovin, Vladimir Purishkevich, Nikolai Markov, and Prince M.K. Shakhovskoy stood out.

Role in pogroms

Members of the Black Hundred carried out raids (with unofficial government approval) against various revolutionary groups and pogroms, including against Jews.

Researcher of the “Black Hundred”, historian Maxim Razmolodin, believes that this issue is debatable and requires further study.

Black Hundred organizations began their formation not before, A after the first, most powerful wave of pogroms. Doctor of Historical Sciences, historian of the Black Hundred movement Sergei Stepanov writes that in the subsequent period, the combat squads of the “Union of the Russian People” and other extreme right-wing organizations became a weapon of Black Hundred terror. Maxim Razmolodin argues that as the activities of the Black Hundred organizations unfolded, the wave of pogroms began to subside, which was pointed out by many prominent figures of this movement and recognized by political opponents.

Black Hundred organizations were most active in regions with a mixed population (in the territory of modern Ukraine, Belarus and in 15 provinces of the “Pale of Settlement”), where more than half of all members of the Union of Russian People and other Black Hundred organizations were concentrated. After the organization of the Black Hundred movement, only two major pogroms were recorded. Both of them took place in 1906 on the territory of Poland, where the Russian Black Hundreds had no influence. The leaders of the Black Hundred movement and the charters of organizations declared the law-abiding nature of the movement and condemned the pogroms. In particular, the chairman of the Union of the Russian People, A.I. Dubrovin, in a special statement in 1906, defined pogroms as a crime. Although the fight against “Jewish dominance” was one of the foundations of the movement, its leaders explained that it should not be waged by violence, but by economic and ideological methods, that is, mainly by increasing discrimination against Jews. Razmolodin claims that the Black Hundred newspapers, despite their general anti-Semitic orientation, did not publish a single direct call for a Jewish pogrom.

However, Sergei Stepanov argues that policy documents and actual activities were very different from each other. There are facts indicating the active propaganda of anti-revolutionary violence by the Black Hundreds. John Doyle Clear and Shlomo Lambroso quote the words of M. Dubrovin, spoken before 300 members of the Odessa organization RNC:

The extermination of rebels is a sacred Russian cause. You know who they are and where to look for them... Death to the rebels and the Jews! .

Terror against the "Black Hundred"

Radical socialist parties launched a campaign of terror against the Black Hundreds. The leader of the Social Democrats, V. I. Lenin, wrote in 1905:

Detachments of the revolutionary army must immediately study who, where and how the Black Hundreds are composed, and then not limit themselves to preaching alone (this is useful, but this alone is not enough), but also act with armed force, beating the Black Hundreds, killing them, blowing up their headquarters etc.

On behalf of the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP, an armed attack was carried out on the Tver teahouse, where workers of the Nevsky Shipyard, who were members of the Union of the Russian People, were gathering. First, two bombs were thrown by Bolshevik militants, and then those running out of the tea shop were shot with revolvers. The Bolsheviks killed two and wounded fifteen people.

Revolutionary organizations carried out many terrorist acts against members of right-wing parties, mainly against the chairmen of local departments of the Union of the Russian People. So, according to the police department, only in March 1908, in one Chernigov province in the city of Bakhmach, a bomb was thrown at the house of the chairman of the local union of the RNC, in the city of Nizhyn the house of the chairman of the union was set on fire, and the whole family was killed, in the village of Domyany the chairman of the department was killed, two department chairmen were killed in Nizhyn.

Weakening and end of the Black Hundred movement

Despite massive support among the urban bourgeoisie and the sympathy of the Russian Orthodox clergy and influential aristocrats, the Russian radical right movement remained underdeveloped from its very appearance on the Russian public scene for the following reasons:

The Black Hundred movement failed to convince Russian society of its ability to offer a positive program according to the then demands for political ideology; the explanation of all the problems and ills of society by the subversive activities of the Jews seemed overly one-sided even to those who did not sympathize with the Jews;
The Black Hundred movement failed to offer an effective alternative to the liberal and revolutionary, radical left ideas that had won wide circles of the intelligentsia in Russia;
Continuous splits and internal strife in the Black Hundred movement, accompanied by numerous scandals and mutual accusations (including serious criminal offenses) undermined public confidence in the movement as a whole; for example, the most famous figure in the right-wing movement, Fr. John Vostorgov was accused by right-wing political competitors of poisoning the right-wing political figure P. A. Krushevan, killing his own wife out of a desire to become a bishop, and stealing sums from monarchical organizations;
A strong public opinion has formed that the Black Hundred movement is secretly financed from secret sums of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and all conflicts in the movement are caused by the struggle for individuals’ access to these sums;
The latter's participation in the murders of Duma deputies M. Ya. Herzenstein and G. B. Yollos had an unfavorable impact on public opinion about the Black Hundreds; as well as accusations brought by former Prime Minister Count S. Yu. Witte of attempting to kill him by blowing up a house;
The activities of the deputies of the right faction in the Third State Duma, primarily V.M. Purishkevich and N.E. Markov 2nd, were provocative, shocking in nature and were accompanied by numerous scandals that did not contribute to the formation of respect for these political figures; A. N. Khvostov’s activities as Minister of Internal Affairs ended in a loud scandal associated with his alleged attempt to organize the murder of G. E. Rasputin and subsequent quick resignation.

Despite certain political successes, after the Russian Revolution of 1905, the Black Hundred movement was unable to become a monolithic political force and find allies in the multi-ethnic, multi-structured Russian society. But the Black Hundreds managed to turn against themselves not only influential radical left and liberal centrist circles, but also some of their potential allies among supporters of the ideas of Russian imperial nationalism.

Some competition with the Black Hundred movement came from the All-Russian National Union and the associated nationalist faction in the Third Duma. In 1909, the moderate-right faction merged with the national faction. The new Russian national faction (in common parlance “nationalists”), unlike the right, managed to position itself in such a way that their votes, together with the Octobrists, formed a pro-government majority in the Duma, while the government had no need for the votes of the right. The right-wing deputies compensated for the insignificance of their faction’s votes during voting with aggressive, provocative behavior, which further turned faction members into political outcasts.

Modern Black Hundreds

A revival of the Black Hundred movement was observed at the end and after perestroika. So, in 1992, a member of the “Memory” society A. R. Shtilmark began publishing the newspaper “Black Hundred”, at the same time his group “Black Hundred” separated from the “Memory” society. Since 2003, “Orthodox Alarm” has been the main publication of the Black Hundred movement, led by Shtilmark. The Black Hundreds include the “Union of the Russian People”, recreated in 2005, the newspaper “Orthodox Rus'”, organizations led by Mikhail Nazarov, founded among fans of the Alice group “Red-Black Hundred”, as well as many small organizations. A significant part of modern Russian nationalism, if it does not directly derive itself from the Black Hundreds of the early 20th century, does not at least deny the ideological influence of this movement.

Notes

Jews were considered exploiters of the Russian people
Union of the Russian People
Stepanov S. Black Hundred.
Black Hundreds- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
, With. 120.
S. A. Stepanov. "The Black Hundred. What have they done for the greatness of Russia? // M.: Yauza-press, 2013
Bizyukin S.S. Economic views of the right-wing monarchist (Black Hundred) movement in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century // View from the third millennium: Collection of abstracts. Ryaz. state ped. University named after S. A. Yesenina - Ryazan, 2003.
Information about the organization on the Chronos website
The ideology of right-wing radicalism at the beginning of the 20th century (undefined) (unavailable link). Retrieved February 1, 2008. Archived February 6, 2008.
Kulikov S.V. Emperor Nicholas II during the First World War. SPb. 2000. P. 285
Siberian trade newspaper. No. 83. April 12, 1907. Tyumen
Black Hundreds
Black Hundreds
Razmolodin M. L. Some thoughts about the so-called "Jewish pogroms" (undefined) (unavailable link). Chronos website. Retrieved April 11, 2012. Archived December 23, 2011.
Black Hundred Terror 1905-1907
Lambrozo S., Klier J.D. Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History. - Cambridge University Press, 1992. - P. 224. - ISBN 978-0-521-40532-4.
Compare: The Times, October 9, 1906; In their monograph, J. D. Klier and Shlomo Lambroso refer to the next day's issue of the Times, October 10, which published the end of the article “Russia.” Dubrovin's name is a correspondent for the London " Times" mentioned again in the article " Russian Black Hundred" dated March 8, 1911.
Lenin. Tasks of the units of the revolutionary army
The first military organization of the Bolsheviks. 1905-1907 - M., 1934. - P. 221.
Circular of the Police Department dated March 8, 1908 // Political police and political terrorism in Russia (second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries): Collection of documents. - M.: AIRO-XXI, 2001. - ISBN 5-88735-079-2