In the steppe near Kherson - tall grasses, In the steppe near Kherson - a mound.
Lies under a mound overgrown with weeds, Sailor Zheleznyak, partisan.
(Music by M. Blanter, lyrics by M. Golodny)
As it has already been written in the material about Leva Zadov, the revolution opens the way up for people who, in an ordinary, calm time, would not have had any chance to go up "there". Or almost none! Even more chances are given by the civil war! At the same time, the "social lift" is accelerated to cosmic speeds. He came from the front, found out who was the main world-eater in the neighborhood, went to him, gathering a crowd, "slapped" in public and offered to gather in the "free army of Batka Burnash." And that's it! You are an army commander because you have an "army". You can enter into alliances, make alliances. And then … well … then, to whom what. Someone lives up to an era of stability and becomes a king, like Bernadotte, someone - an ambassador to Bulgaria, but then, losing faith in his comrades and ideals, ends his life in a psychiatric hospital, someone becomes a marshal, and someone becomes an admiral. But someone will flash across the firmament of history like a comet and bam - he is gone! But on the other hand, the man did not experience disappointments, and his own people did not spank him as a spy … Anatoly Zheleznyakov, also known as the sailor Zheleznyak, entered our history as such a man.
So he was …
The sailor had a simple biography. Born in 1895 in the village of Fedoskino, Moscow province, but was not a peasant. The family was bourgeois. His father made a living by serving on a landlord's estate, but died in 1918. Anatoly had two brothers - Nikolai and Victor, and also an older sister, Alexander. Moreover, both brothers also went to the navy and became sailors. Moreover, the youngest, Victor, in Soviet times, became the commander of a ship in the Baltic.
At first, Anatoly's life seemed to go smoothly. He began to study at the Lefortovo military paramedic school, and he would have been a military doctor in low ranks. But … he was expelled from the school! And not for poor progress, but the most that neither is a political offense! In April 1912, he refused to go to the parade in honor of the Empress's birthday. I went to enter the Rostov Naval School - they didn’t accept it because of my age. He went to the Kronstadt Naval School a year later - and failed in the exams. And he began to earn his daily bread on the knowledge that he received in Lefortovo - he began to work in a pharmacy that was opened at the weaving factory of Arseny Morozov in the city of Bogorodsk, where his family had previously moved.
But, it is clear that the sea beckoned him and wanted to be closer to him. So he moved to Odessa, where he worked in the port, and then hired a fireman in the merchant fleet. In 1915, he began to work at a military plant, and there he began to do what many revolutionaries started with - he became an underground propagandist. But not for long, because in the fall of the same year he was drafted into military service and enrolled in the 2nd Baltic naval crew, in the school of machinists. But he did not give up his revolutionary activity as a propagandist of the ideas of anarchism, and this ended with the fact that in June 1916, fearing arrest, he deserted altogether. But somehow he had to live and, having changed his surname to "Vladimirsky", began to work as a fireman and an assistant minder on merchant ships on the Black Sea.
Then, after February 1917, all the deserters received an amnesty and Zheleznyakov, as if nothing had happened, returned to the fleet and continued his studies. He spoke at rallies as a convinced, ideological anarchist. As a result, in May 1917 he became a delegate to the 1st Congress of the Baltic Fleet. And already in June, defending the mansion of Minister Durnovo expropriated by the anarchists, he was arrested for armed resistance to the authorities who tried to expel the anarchists from him. Received a very decent term from the new government: 14 years of hard labor, but on September 6 he managed to escape from the "Kresty" and returned to politics. At the 2nd Congress of Tsentrobalt, he is already the secretary of the Congress, Zheleznyakov is elected to the Tsentrobalt, and … finally, he becomes a delegate to the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
During the October armed uprising, he commanded a detachment that occupied the Admiralty, became a member of the naval revolutionary committee and participated in battles with General Krasnov's units on the approaches to Petrograd.
In December 1917, Zheleznyakov became deputy commander of the consolidated detachment of sailors, which included 450 people, 2 armored trains, 4 armored vehicles, a searchlight team that had 2 searchlights and its own power plant, and 40 machine guns. The detachment actively participated in battles with the opponents of the new government, moving along the railways and, of course, it was difficult to resist such a force, "chained in armor". In battles, they gained experience in command and control of troops in battle. This is how, little by little, Zheleznyakov grew up militarily. It was no doubt difficult to “work” in the collective of anarchists. There were all kinds of people. For example, sailors Ya. I. Matveev and O. Kreis, the organizers of the assassination of former ministers Shingarev and Kokoshkin, were also members of this detachment.
However, for all its anarchist aspirations, the detachment was distinguished by its devotion to the Bolshevik government and was constantly used by it. For example, during the dispersal of demonstrations in support of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, and it was his sailors who were sent to the guard of the Tauride Palace, where the Constituent Assembly was taking place. Moreover, it was Zheleznyakov who was then appointed the head of this guard, and he went down in history, saying to the assembled deputies: "The guard is tired …". However, he then said not only this, but also the following: “Citizen sailor (AG Zheleznyakov). I received instructions to inform you that everyone present to leave the meeting room, because the guard is tired. (Voices: we don't need a guard)
Chairman (V. M. Chernov). What instruction? From whom?
Citizen sailor. I am the head of the guard at the Tauride Palace and have instructions from Commissioner Dybenka.
Chairman. All the members of the Constituent Assembly are also very tired, but no amount of fatigue can interrupt the promulgation of the land law that Russia is waiting for. (A terrible noise. Shouts: enough! Enough!). The Constituent Assembly can disperse only if force is used … (Noise. Voices: Down with Chernov).
Citizen sailor. (Inaudible) … I ask you to leave the meeting room immediately. (Quote is in modern spelling). (Constituent Assembly: Verbatim Report. - Pg.: House of the Press, 1918. - P. 98.; Protasov, L. G. All-Russian Constituent Assembly: History of birth and death. - M.: ROSSPEN, 1997. - S. 320)
But what else he said, and these words of his perfectly show the degree of his revolutionary spirit: "We are ready to shoot not just a few, but hundreds and thousands, if a million is needed, then a million." (From the speech of A. Zheleznyakov at the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets). With such a resolute person, naturally, you can free any room!
And the same detachment then carried out the protection of the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets, at which Zheleznyakov, on behalf of the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison, as well as revolutionary detachments of the army and navy, greeted his delegates.
Then there were battles with Romanian troops and an important operation to deliver 5 million rubles to the field treasury of the troops of the Romanian Front and the Black Sea Fleet. Participation in combat operations of the ships of the Danube Flotilla and leadership of the Odessa defense detachment. In a word, he worked tirelessly for the revolution and did what he was ordered to do, and how else could this convinced revolutionary act, even if he was an anarchist.
Then, in March 1918, Zheleznyakov was appointed commander of the Birzul fortified area. This was a responsible assignment, since the number of his troops was very large. He personally received orders from the commander of the Southern Front V. A. Antonov-Ovseenko, and leading a detachment of sailors and soldiers of 1500 people, fought with the Austro-German troops, after which he retreated to the rear together with the units retreating back.
Returning to Petrograd, for some time Zheleznyakov was a member of the Political Department of the Naval General Staff, but then in June he again departed for the front in the Tsaritsyn area, in the division commanded by V. I. Kikvidze. There, as the commander of the First Elansky Infantry Regiment, he again met with Krasnov's Cossacks and participated in fierce battles for Tsaritsyn.
But then he had a conflict with N. I. Podvoisky because of his attitude to military specialists - former officers of the tsarist army who went over to the side of the Reds. Moreover, the conflict is serious, so that Podvoisky even gave an order to arrest him, the regiment commander! Thanks to the intercession of Kikvidze, he managed to avoid arrest, but from the front he had to return to Moscow.
It is interesting that, although Zheleznyakov did not like military experts, he married at that very time the daughter of a colonel of the tsarist army, who, however, became a teacher in the Red Army and "broke with her class" - Elena Vinda.
In the fall of 1918, Zheleznyakov was again at clandestine work in Odessa. He works as a mechanic at a shipyard, engages in underground campaigning among the workers and collaborates with the militants of Grigory Kotovsky. When parts of the Red Army approached Odessa, he took part in the workers' uprising, which facilitated its capture. And then … he was engaged in an equally important matter - he resettled workers from barracks and dugouts to the apartments of dispersed Odessa bourgeois, establishing social justice.
Finally, in May 1919, he was appointed commander of the Khudyakov armored train that had just been repaired under his leadership. On it, he suppressed the uprising of ataman Grigoriev, and in July he fought with Denikin near Zaporozhye and Yekaterinoslav. Just at this time it was necessary to neutralize the cavalry of General Shkuro and an armored train under the command of Zheleznyakov was thrown against him. On July 25, 1919, his armored train was ambushed at the Verkhovtsevo station. In this battle, the armored train managed to escape, but Zheleznyakov was fatally wounded in the chest and died on July 26 at the Pyatikhatka station.
Already on August 3, the coffin with his body was taken to Moscow and in an armored car they drove from Novinsky Boulevard, where the farewell of revolutionary soldiers and sailors was organized, and to the Vagankovsky cemetery, where they were buried with military honors.
Well, then they wrote a song about him, and he became a legend …
