The Crash of Russia

Later, when the tsar approved the Second State Duma, Stolypin argued in the Duma with deputy Purishkevich on the Jewish question.

The monarchist Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich was an anti-Semite and proposed extreme measures against Jewry, and Stolypin condemned Purishkevich for this. Stolypin in his youth lived in lands where there were strong Jewish communities and knew the life of the Jewish people. He believed that it was wrong to persecute the entire Jewish people just because there were many Jews among the revolutionaries.

At the beginning of 1907, the tsar established the Second State Duma. On June 3, 1907, the tsar dissolved the Second State Duma, since it proposed laws (like the First State Duma) against autocracy. The role of the Social Democrats was strong in the Second Duma.

Then the tsar established the Third State Duma, which began working on November 1, 1907. Stolypin also took part in its work. The new electoral system had been approved the day before, and the Duma included 148 Black Hundreds, 148 Octobrists (almost all of them were members of Russian Masonic lodges subordinate to Paris and London), 54 Cadets, 28 Progressives, 26 bourgeois, 19 Social Democrats, and all Masons and Trudoviks.

The Duma considered more than 2,500

Pyotr Stolypin became an unpopular figure both at the top of Russian society (for his firm course as an economic manager) and at the bottom, where he was vilified in every possible way by the revolutionary movement. There were assassination attempts on Stolypin by revolutionaries. In particular, his daughter was injured by a bomb explosion during an assassination attempt on Stolypin. She could hardly walk, as her legs were damaged, but she was able to walk after a long period of treatment. Stolypin's son was also wounded, but he quickly recovered. This happened in August 1906 in St. Petersburg in Stolypin's house on Aptekarsky Island.

Chapter 30. The idea of abdication.

In 1906, the Emperor, believing in his predetermined tragic fate, predicted by many seers, including the astrologer Hamon, seeing that the prediction about the "first war" made by Hamon had already come true, seeing the events of 1905 as the first attempt to overthrow him from the throne, seeing many deaths, wanted to abdicate the throne, introduce the patriarchate and become patriarch.

Grigory Rasputin learned about this from the Tsar in the Alexander Palace. Grigory was in the Palace in the summer of 1906 and saved Tsarevich Alexei. The Tsarevich could have died from loss of blood. He was riding a bicycle and fell off it. Bleeding began, which the surgeon Botkin, who was doing the bandaging, could not stop, but the blood still flowed from under the bandage of the Tsarevich, since the Tsarevich was sick with the "Tsar's disease", and the blood did not clot.

Rasputin read a folk conspiracy over the wound: - "Saint George rides on a horse, and you, blood, do not drip" three times, then he crossed the wound on his hand, previously bandaged by Botkin, from under the bandage the blood still flowed, and after Rasputin made the sign of the cross over the wound, the blood stopped.

The Tsar thanked the elder for a long time, gave him money and sat with him, talking in the Maple Living Room.

His Majesty said: - "We have decided to leave the throne, abdicate the throne and become a patriarch, since we do not want to accept the difficult fate predicted by Hamon, predicted by Abel, predicted by Seraphim."

- "Don't you dare, you were chosen by the Lord to reign, so bear your cross to the end! For each one has his own cross, don't abandon us, don't abandon your throne! Reign humbly and accept the will of God," Rasputin shouted at the Tsar. The Tsar shuddered, for he had not expected such a thing. Never before had Grigory shouted at the Tsar, it was unacceptable, but this was the first time, a special case. The Tsar said: - "I will ask the confessor Feofan," after which the Tsar stood up and went out looking at his feet.

Rasputin fell to his knees and began to pray for the Tsar to remain on the throne and prayed for an hour.

The Tsar, meanwhile, went to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where his spiritual father Feofan of Poltava was at that time. There the Tsar went into the cell where Feofan was praying at that time. Feofan stopped praying, rose from his knees and bowed to the Tsar.

- "Hello, Feofan! We have decided to abdicate the throne, the burden has become heavy. I want to become patriarch and revive the patriarchate, and I will abdicate in favor of my son under the regency of Alexandra Feodorovna and Mikhail Alexandrovich," the tsar began the conversation.

- "Don't do this, Your Majesty. You are destined to rule to the end, the people love you, it is God's will for your rule and God will not abandon you. And thoughts of abdication are weakness, and weakness is unacceptable and contradicts the laws of governing the empire," Feofan said.

- "Well, if you think so, and Gregory said so, then I will not abdicate," the tsar answered.

“Thank God,” Theophan answered and crossed himself, blessing the Tsar. “Let’s go have some tea,” the confessor continued, and they left the cell and went to the dining room to have some tea.

Chapter 31. 1908.

John of Kronstadt was seriously ill and practically did not leave Kronstadt since 1906. Meanwhile, the Stavropol St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral was being built in Kronstadt, for the construction of which John donated a large sum of money and published an appeal in the newspaper calling for joining the fundraising. In September 1902, the construction of the cathedral began, which was preceded by a prayer service performed by Archpriest John of Kronstadt in the presence of Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov. At the base of the cathedral, the builders concreted John of Kronstadt's pickaxe, which he brought to a prayer service in 1902 on the day construction began.

Holy Father John of Kronstadt had the gift of prophetic visions about the fate of Russia, and shortly before his death in 1908, Holy Father John had a vision of the times to come.:

"I looked and saw: the royal palace, and all around there were animals of different breeds and different sizes, reptiles, dragons, hissing, roaring and climbing into the palace. And they were already climbing onto the throne of Nicholas II, the anointed of God... suddenly the throne shook, and the crown fell and rolled. The animals roared, fought, and crushed the Anointed One. They tore it up and trampled on it like demons in hell, and everything disappeared." This prophecy of John of Kronstadt was reported to Nicholas II, which added to the sorrow in his heart, as he remembered the rest of the prophecies, starting with Abel's letter.

In October 1908, at the Alexander Palace in the Maple Drawing Room, His Imperial Majesty's State Secretary, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Minister of the Interior Stolypin Pyotr Arkadyevich made a report to Nicholas II. In October 1908, Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This caused an international crisis that threatened to escalate into a major European war during the first weeks of 1909. In his report, Stolypin categorically opposed direct confrontation with Germany and Austria-Hungary, saying that "to start a war is to unleash the forces of revolution." Emperor Nicholas II listened to the report, and said in response to the minister: "We will agree to fulfill the demands of the Germans, and we will not attack Germany because of Bosnia and Herzegovina, since this can unleash the forces of revolution. Although I already wanted to declare war on the Kaiser, but you changed my mind." Stolypin then asked a new question with great hesitation in his voice: "Is Your Majesty familiar with the name of Grigory Rasputin?" The tsar became noticeably wary, but then calmly replied: "Yes. The Empress told me that she had met him several times at Vyrubova's. According to her, he is a very interesting person; a wanderer who has traveled a lot to holy places, knows the Holy Scriptures well, and is generally a man of holy life.

"Has Your Majesty seen him?" asked Stolypin.

The king replied dryly:

– "No."

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Stolypin replied, "but I've been informed otherwise."

"Who reported this other thing?" the king asked.

–General Gerasimov,– Stolypin replied.

Stolypin was lying a little bit here. He knew nothing about the tsar's meetings with Rasputin, and therefore, in order to understand whether these meetings had taken place at all, he came up with the idea of referring to General Gerasimov, who had not actually reported anything about this to Stolypin. And catching some hesitation and uncertainty in the tsar's voice, he realized that the tsar had undoubtedly met Rasputin personally.

The minister's trick really worked. After some hesitation, the tsar looked down and said with an apologetic smile:

"Well, if that's what General Gerasimov reported, then I won't dispute it. Indeed, the empress persuaded me to meet Rasputin, and I saw him twice (Nikolai was lying, he saw Rasputin much more often. But why are you interested in this? After all, this is my personal matter, which has nothing to do with politics. Can't my wife and I have our own personal acquaintances? Can't we meet with everyone who interests us?" Stolypin, touched by the tsar's helplessness, presented to him his thoughts that the ruler of Russia could not even do what he wanted in his personal life. He towers over the whole country, and all the people look at him. Nothing unclean should come into contact with his person. And meetings with Rasputin are precisely contact with such an impure person, and Stolypin frankly informed the tsar of all the data collected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs about Rasputin (a report arrived from Siberia, from which it was clear that Rasputin was for an immoral lifestyle, for involving girls and women in debauchery, for theft and for all sorts of others He served various sentences for crimes more than once and eventually had to flee his native village. And in St. Petersburg, Grigory Rasputin led a depraved lifestyle. Rasputin was secretly monitored by police agents installed by Stolypin, and agents repeatedly recorded that Rasputin took street women from Nevsky Prospekt and spent nights with them in suspicious dens. Some of these women were also interviewed. They gave their "guest" very unflattering reviews, painting him as a dirty and rude libertine).

This story made a great impression on the tsar. He asked Stolypin several times whether the details he provided had been accurately verified. Finally, convinced that Stolypin was painting him the image of a depraved man and recommending that he be removed from court, as an association with Rasputin could discredit the royal family in the eyes of the people, the tsar replied: "We cannot remove Grigory Rasputin from the court, a lot depends on him, and we do not want to discuss what exactly with anyone, so I will ask you to drop all charges against Rasputin, and never return to this topic again, especially since it may upset Alexandra Feodorovna," the tsar said.

Police agents, who were controlled by the head of the St. Petersburg Security department, Colonel A.V. Gerasimov, on Stolypin's orders, continued to constantly monitor Rasputin. At the end of 1908, Rasputin left for his homeland in the village of Pokrovskoye, Tyumen district, Tobolsk province, Tobolsk province for several months. An old-timer from the village of Pokrovskoye, Anna Fedorovna Ivanova, recalled how Grigory Efimovich gave money to the poor for a wedding. One peasant asked Grigory Rasputin for 50 rubles, he gave him 100, but asked what he would do with the extra money. According to Anna Fedorovna, Elder Grigory built a house for Mikhail Grigoryevich Podchivalov (a peasant with many children) with his own money. He bought a horse or a cow for others, gave the children money for school and medicine. Rasputin constantly donated from 100 to 500 rubles for public needs, the construction of public buildings, and the renovation of the volost government, which was located next to his house. With the money of Elder Gregory, a school was built in the village of Pokrovsky, and he was elected its honorary trustee. There are many other cases of completely selfless help to fellow villagers from Elder Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin-Novy (Novy) (as he began to be called since 1906, he asked to be called that, since Tsarevich Alexei first saw Rasputin in the palace, called him a New person later, in a conversation with his parents, and formally permission to use the new surname was given by Emperor Nicholas II), which was recorded in the metric book in the village of Pokrovskoye.

And the selflessness of Elder Gregory is simply amazing. In 1909, Grigory Yefimovich achieved the return of the "rich fish lake Bolshoe" to his fellow villagers. Previously, this lake was owned by the peasant community of the village of Pokrovskoye. However, after the land management was carried out, it went to the treasury. The Pokrovsky peasants, led by the former pilot Timofey Kuzmich Zubov, went to the provincial center, to Tobolsk to the governor, but achieved nothing. Then the elder Gregory, taking advantage of the opportunity of the passage of the Governor of Tobolsk through Pokrovskoye, himself went to the house where he was resting. He soon returned with a petition signed by the governor to transfer the lake to the village of Pokrovskoye. Grigory Yefimovich conveyed this petition to the peasants with the words: "Here's a paper for you to own the lake. It has been returned to the ownership of the village." One of the residents of the village of Pokrovsky, according to her grandmother, Izosimova Anna Garmanovna, told how Rasputin helped their family. Izosimova raised three daughters and a son alone, and her husband served in the tsarist army. There were not enough funds to send the children to learn to read and write, because the school needed clothes and shoes befitting an educational institution. Elder Gregory, having learned about this, wrote a note to the merchant's shop, asking to give out leather for sewing shoes for all children and gave the necessary amount of money for this. But a modest peasant woman, when asked by a shopkeeper how much leather she needed, asked to measure only for one "cherki" (peasant shoes), although Grigory Yefimovich paid for leather for several pairs of shoes for all children. Soon, having met a woman, Grigory Efimovich found out from her how it was, went to the store and forced the shopkeeper to give out the missing amount of leather. Anna Garmanovna's grandmother referred to Grigory Rasputin-Novy as a "kind man", saying that he treated people with respect, that he addressed people by their first name and patronymic. And in conclusion, Anna Garmanovna says that "all the old people, the same age as my grandmother, remember Grigory Yefimovich with gratitude." Every time Grigory came to Pokrovka, it was a holiday for the children. It was the same this time. He treated the children to lollipops and gingerbread. He didn't give us money in our hands – he wrote a note to the shopkeeper asking him to let someone have a dress or boots, and then he paid for everything with him. He started a conversation with the children: "How are you? Do you have everything, do you have boots, shirts, a dress?" I found out that two guys didn't have shoes and one didn't have a shirt, so I wrote a note to the shopkeeper. With this note, the kids fly to the shopkeeper, and he picks up the right thing. And then Rasputin paid for everything. Grigory Yefimovich donated a lot for the needs of the Church of the Intercession. He deposited 5,000 rubles. for the construction of a new chapel of the Church of the Intercession. The money was donated by the Tsar and the Tsarina, but gratitude from the rector, Father Peter Ostroumov, and the churchwarden, Vasily Svistunov, was expressed to Grigory Yefimovich for "a particularly zealous attitude to the Sloboda church." Then this case was reflected in the Tyumen newspaper Tobol. After spending several months in his homeland, Rasputin returned to St. Petersburg in early 1909 with his two daughters, Matryona and Varvara.

Chapter 32. Jacob Shiffa's struggle with the Russian Empire.

Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito) awarded the American banker Jacob Schiff (Jacob Henry) the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1905 and later the Order of the Rising Sun in 1907 for using his authority and influence in the American banking and financial sector to block Russia's access to foreign loans in the United States, participating in the financing of the Japanese government during the Russo-Japanese War, and proposing foreign policy initiatives that could have worsened American-Russian relations. In the United States, he worked as a manager at Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and before that, in his native Germany, he received an excellent religious and secular education, having been born into a rabbinical family. Jacob's father worked as a broker at the Rothschild bank in Frankfurt am Main. Jacob Schiff achieved control of the Bavarian Illuminati's lion's share of the country's financial capital in the North American states. Jakob Schiff, a Freemason of the Bavarian Illuminati, waged a personal war against Russia that lasted from the 1890s until 1917... which intensified over the years and developed into an all-consuming passion, the roots of which lay far deeper... The banker persistently compared the plight of Jews in Russia to the biblical story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt, and he undoubtedly saw himself as a new Moses... and it was precisely to his crusade against Russia that Schiff owed his rise to heights previously unseen by a Jewish leader." The plight of Russian Jews had already attracted Schiff's attention during the pogroms of 1881. By the early 20th century, Schiff had added something entirely new to the arsenal of tools developed by the American Jewish community in the struggle for Jewish rights abroad as early as the mid-19th century, such as shaping public opinion and pressuring the American government: attempts to isolate Russia diplomatically, particularly through international financial pressure. In 1890, during a visit by a Russian warship to New York Harbor, Schiff organized a boycott campaign by the city's Jewish community. In the early 1890s, Schiff briefly helped finance the publication of the monthly magazine Free Russia, the organ of the Society of American Friends of Russian Freedom, which, among other things, secretly distributed "moderate allowances" to members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. During this time, Schiff became close with the writer, journalist, and traveler George Kennan, who publicly spoke out in America against the harsh conditions of political prisoners in Siberian exile, which were damaging the monarchy's reputation. During the Russo-Japanese War, he published a series of articles from the theater of operations and, as he later admitted, engaged in anti-monarchist propaganda among Russian prisoners of war in Japan. From 1904 to 1910, he published a number of works on the socio-economic problems of the Russian Empire. Undoubtedly, the connection between Schiff and Kennan placed a more general goal on the agenda than simply improving the situation of Russian Jews—the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty. Schiff was primarily concerned with Jewish capital in the Russian Empire, including his interest in the redistribution of the Azerbaijani oil market. But why not combine this task with the broader strategic goal of democratizing Russia?

In early February 1904, Schiff invited Jewish public figures to his home and announced: "In the next 72 hours, war will begin between Japan and Russia. I have been asked to provide loans to the Japanese government. I want to hear your opinion on how such actions might affect the situation of our co-religionists in Russia." Apparently, a positive decision was made at the meeting, and Schiff was pleased that damage had been inflicted on the Russian regime. With the outbreak of war, the American syndicate controlled by Schiff, consisting of his banking house, Kuhn, Loeb & Co., the National and Commercial Bank, not only issued two Anglo-American loans for the Japanese government totaling approximately $110 million (half of this amount was placed by the Schiff syndicate), thereby playing a significant role in financing Japan and ensuring its victory in the war, but also actively and successfully prevented the placement of Russian loans on the American market, thereby deterring other American banks from lending to the Russian government. At a meeting of American bankers held at the same time, Schiff delivered a dramatic speech urging his colleagues to boycott Russian loans, in which, among other things, he revealed that he had drawn up a will prohibiting his banking house from lending to "anti-Semitic Russia" even after his death. Schiff also financed George Kennan's project to distribute revolutionary literature in Russian prisoner-of-war camps in Japan. The project was well-disguised, and nothing was known about it until March 1917, when Kennan himself publicly revealed it to journalists. According to Kennan, "tons of revolutionary literature" were brought into the camps, from which 50,000 "ardent revolutionaries" returned to Russia. The Russian government, suffering damage from Schiff's actions, attempted to win him over to its side or, at least, neutralize him. Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. Plehve invited Schiff to Russia. Schiff set two conditions: 1) he must receive an official invitation from the minister; 2) Russian visa laws must be amended; Schiff, a Jew, must enter Russia on a general basis, not with a special permit. Schiff viewed the change in visa laws as the first step toward equal rights for Russian Jews. While the letters were being exchanged, a successful assassination attempt was made on Plehve. Schiff called Plehve's murder "God's punishment," but in reality, it was a contract killing paid for by Schiff.

Chapter 33. Strelna.

In September 1910, the Emperor resided in the Constantine Palace alone. Matilda Kshesinskaya spent the entire autumn of 1910 and the winter of 1911 mostly at her dacha in Strelna, rarely appearing in the capital. In 1911, Nicholas II was at the Constantine Palace in Strelna with the Empress. Matilda Kshesinskaya was also there at her dacha. Matilda Kshesinskaya's dacha and the Imperial Constantine Palace in Strelna were adjacent, separated only by a small canal. The dacha in Strelna had previously been given to Matilda Kshesinskaya by Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, who lived nearby at the Mikhailovka family estate and had been an admirer of the ballerina since the age of 22. The Tsar could not meet Matilda openly, although he longed to do so. The Tsar informed her through Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich that on a certain day and hour he would ride horseback with the Empress past her dacha in Strelna. Nicholas asked Matilda to be in the garden at that time. The ballerina chose a bench that was impossible to miss from the road. On the appointed day and hour, Nicholas II and the Empress passed Kshesinskaya's dacha and saw it. Matilda chose a bench that was impossible to miss from the road. On the appointed day and hour, Nicky rode with the Empress past my dacha and, of course, saw me perfectly. They walked leisurely, and I bowed low to them, which was graciously accepted. The ballerina bowed low to them, which was graciously accepted. Alix turned pale as soon as she saw the ballerina, but said nothing. The following week, Matilda Kshesinskaya left for the estate of her friend Sima Astafieva's relatives in the Staritsky district of Tver province. The estate belonged to the Sevenard nobles, and it was then that the paths of two families, the Kshesinskys and the Sevenards, first crossed. Her brother, I.F. Kshesinsky, who had recently left his position as a teacher at the theater school, also lived there with his young wife. They spent the entire summer and fall of 1911 at the Sevenard estate, returning to St. Petersburg only in November with their daughter, Tselina, whose birth certificates list her as October, although the newlyweds were seen with the small child for almost the entire summer. By July 1911, she had returned to the capital, where she appeared at virtually every public event. The apogee of her stormy activity was her triumphant performance in the "Russian Seasons" in London in October-November 1911, when Vaslav Nijinsky himself, partner of Mathilde Kschessinskaya, created a scene of jealousy towards S. P. Diaghilev and tore his suit in anger, since the Londoners received his partner more enthusiastically than him.