About the book by A. I. Denikin "Essays on Russian Troubles"
There are stages in the history of countries that you can be proud of, there are stages that you can regret. The events that took place in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century are like St. Bartholomew's Night in France. The Civil War is a critical period in Russian history, when one country perished, one civilization and another arose. This tragedy in our public consciousness is often silent, the reasons and lessons have not been learned. But we, Little Russians, will not advance a single step in our self-orientation if we do not understand the essence of what is happening in the Civil War, whose hot phase ended 90 years ago. We studied the point of view of the Reds in schools, but what is it - white patriotism?
At the very beginning of 2010, Leningrad Publishing House published a historical bestseller of the Russian general, hero of the Russo-Japanese and World War I, one of the leaders of the White movement - Anton Ivanovich Denikin. As a talented writer, he left to his descendants Essays on the Russian Troubles about the dramatic events in the history of Russia, of which he happened to be a participant. His essays are a sincere, moving and bitter story in three volumes, about the era of troubled times and the difficult fate of the Fatherland.
According to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, General Denikin's diary should be read by everyone who is interested in Russian history. In them, in his opinion, the most pressing issues are considered today. The tragic pages of our history, described by a volunteer … In the recent past, reading these books could have ended up in prison. But today there is an opportunity to touch the cruel truth of the hard times of Russia. And who can better and more frankly describe the collapse of a great power and the fratricidal massacre than the participant in those events himself - the legendary front-line general from the common people - A. I. Denikin.
… You can fight defending your homeland or your beliefs. General Denikin in the First World War, defended his homeland, fought in the Civil War, defending his beliefs. During World War II, the Germans turned to him: “We are starting a liberation war with Russia against the Jewish Bolsheviks. You fought the Civil War, so come with us, free Russia, take this opportunity! " The general replied: “In the fratricidal Civil War, I fought defending my ideals. And in no case can I attack my Motherland on your side. " The overwhelming majority of the white volunteer army officers strongly condemned people like General Vlasov. The White Guard, with rare exceptions, considered General Vlasov a traitor, who was entrusted with the army to defend the country from an external enemy, and he went over to his side. Denikin's associates are alien to Russophobia, especially when this Russophobia is organized and supported both inside and outside the Fatherland.
In the photo: June 1919 - The people greet General Denikin after the liberation of Tsaritsyn.
When reading Essays on Russian Troubles, one often encounters not only military, but also ideological confrontation between Denikin and Brusilov, who joined Lenin. Lenin, educated in a classical gymnasium and the best Russian university, fiercely hated the "smell of incense and pancakes", despised "father's coffins" and national history, national religion, the bearer of enlightenment and morality, the Russian intelligentsia, and exiled Russian thinkers abroad. But the "leader from the sealed carriage", without a drop of pride in Russian civilization, adored Kautsky and Liebknecht, the Cheka, the commissars, the Red Army, the ideology of terror and class hatred … General Brusilov went over to the side of the Reds.
Today, the heirs of the commissars lament the death of the leadership of the Red Army in the fire of Stalin's repressions. In "independent" Ukraine mourning the commander of the Kiev district Ion Yakir. But during the Civil War, Iona Yakir exterminated just as many white officers in the Crimea as the Stalinist repressions, who believed the calls of General Brusilov that the Civil War was over. The Bolsheviks did not build their power on patriotism, and what could the "incorrigible patriots" do? And even today we sing: Igor Talkov's Russia.
Leafing through an old notebook / Shot General, I tried in vain to understand / How could you give yourself
At the mercy of vandals.
Essays on the Russian turmoil are of great value by the numerous documents cited in them. Particularly interesting are the sections on the hetmanate, which, at the behest of the German command, replaced the "government" of the Central Rada. Describing the hetmanate, Denikin proves that during this period the Bolsheviks in Ukraine were under the special protection of the German occupation authorities. And here is how he describes Odessa of the "director" period: "In terms of the concentration of speculative elements and plutocracy, in temperament and scope, Odessa surpassed the rear centers of all fronts." Indeed - to whom the war, and to whom the mother is dear. An interesting fact is that the Academy of Sciences, created at Skoropadsky, received the first money when there were volunteers in Kiev, the self-styled members from the "directory" had no time for the "witchiznya science", the main thing for the "Sichev striltsivs" was the replacement of signboards. Anton Denikin is a contemptuous eater and sarcastic in describing the Galicians and Petliurites … But one document signed by the general, before the liberation of Kiev, I want to cite in full, this is the "Appeal of the Commander-in-Chief to the population of Little Russia."
“By the valor and blood of the armies, one after another, the Russian regions are liberated from the yoke of madmen and traitors who have given the deceived people slavery instead of happiness and freedom.
The regiments are approaching ancient Kiev, “the mother of Russian cities” in an irrepressible desire to return the unity they lost to the Russian people - that unity without which the great Russian people, exhausted and fragmented, losing the young generation in fratricidal civil strife, would not be able to defend their independence; that unity, without which a complete and correct economic life is inconceivable, when the North and South, East and West of a vast power in free exchange carry to each other everything that every land, every region is rich in; that unity without which a powerful Russian speech would not have been created, equally woven by the centuries-old efforts of Kiev, Moscow and Petrograd. Wishing to weaken the Russian state before declaring war on it, the Germans long before 1914 sought to destroy the unity of the Russian tribe forged in a hard struggle.
To this end, they supported and fanned a movement in southern Russia that set itself the goal of separating its nine southern provinces from Russia, under the name of the "Ukrainian state". The desire to tear away from Russia the Little Russian branch of the Russian people has not been abandoned to this day. The former protégés of the Germans - Petliura and his associates, who laid the foundation for the dismemberment of Russia, continue to carry out their evil deed of creating an independent "Ukrainian state" and the struggle against United Russia. However, from the treasonous movement directed towards the partition of Russia, it is necessary to completely distinguish the activity inspired by love for the native land, for its peculiarities, for its local antiquity and its local folk language. In view of this, the basis for the arrangement of the regions of the South of Russia and, will be the beginning of self-government and decentralization with indispensable respect for the vital characteristics of local life.
Leaving Russian as the state language throughout Russia, I consider it completely unacceptable and prohibit the persecution of the Little Russian folk language.. Everyone can speak Little Russian in local institutions, zemstvo, public places and in court. In state-owned schools, if there are willing students, lessons of the Little Russian folk language in its classical samples can be instituted. Likewise, do not allow any restrictions on the Little Russian language in print."
… Death in the Civil War unleashed by the Bolsheviks and separatists, death during the war in hunger and disease of twelve million citizens of Russia - this is a terrible national catastrophe. Behind it is a civilizational rollback. For many years, the anger and intransigence of red publicists focused on white patriotism, only cornered the red idea. Walk today along the streets of Russian and Russian cities, many of them bear the names of the regicides. But reading almost forty chapters of Anton Denikin's diaries, I want to believe that national ideals will arise in Russia. In particular, a cruel and firm contempt for the cult of money-grubbing, for crime, for despicable corruption, for apostasy and separatism. Today the Russian people have a desire to endure. Hence such massive support for the sovereign ideas of Putin, and in Little Russia, Slobozhanshchina, Novorossia, voting for Yanukovych. There will be no tsarist empire or the Soviet system, but I am sure of one thing, learning from the Sketches of Russian Troubles, the white and red Russian national life will invariably be absorbed into the statehood of Russia. The revived social ideals are to put heroes in their place, among whom there will be a place for Anton Ivanovich Denikin, who wrote in 1921: “For beyond the borders of the Russian land grave diggers are already knocking with their spade and jackals baring their teeth in anticipation of the death of Russia. They won't wait. From blood, filth, spiritual and physical poverty, the Russian people will rise in strength and reason."
