The fighter against the revolution, who sent out punitive expeditions, was not a supporter of autocracy
Pyotr Nikolaevich Durnovo is among the discredited and forgotten state and political figures of imperial Russia during the Soviet period. He was remembered in connection with the centenary of the beginning of the First World War, about the unfavorable consequences of which for Russia, he warned Nicholas II in his famous analytical note. However, Durnovo is of interest not only as a prophet.
From the very childhood he showed brilliant results in his studies. Kinship with the famous naval commander Admiral Lazarev determined the future fate. Having passed the entrance exams to the Naval Cadet Corps with excellent marks, Durnovo was immediately admitted to the second grade. A neighbor on the desk, the future artist Vereshchagin, was remembered for his outstanding abilities.
In 1860, midshipman Durnovo, who received naval practice and brilliant performance, graduated with honors from the corps and was sent to the 19th naval crew. For 10 years of service, he takes part in long trips to the shores of China and Japan, both Americas. In honor of the young officer, an island in the Sea of Japan is named, which, oddly enough, has retained this name. Speaking much later in the State Council, Pyotr Nikolayevich, whitened with gray hair, recalled: "The best years of my life were spent on the deck of a warship on long voyages in almost all the seas of the world …"
"The order under him was exemplary"
But in his youth, it began to seem to a promising and ambitious naval officer that he could not make a career at sea. In 1870, Lieutenant Durnovo, having passed the exams at the Military Law Academy, moved to a more promising and highly paid position of assistant prosecutor of the Kronstadt garrison. In the field of jurisprudence, he served the rank of collegiate adviser (equal to the naval captain of the 1st rank) and reached the chair of assistant prosecutor of the Kiev court of justice. In those same years, he became closely acquainted with the needs of the common people.
Ten years later, Durnovo again makes a sharp turn in his career, transferring from the judicial department to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A versatile, broad and independent personality was literally and figuratively close among the judges. The Ministry of Internal Affairs had a lot to turn around. The path from the manager of the judicial (investigation) department to the director of the Police Department Durnovo took three years.
Under him the greatest successes were achieved in the fight against sedition. The revolutionaries were arrested, plotting a terrorist attack against the sovereign. Several underground printing houses were identified and destroyed. Operational and undercover work has been intensified. At the same time, the police did without bloodletting, the law and honor were observed. There is testimony of a mother whose son published illegal literature and fell into the hands of the police: “The order in this institution during the period of his management by P. N. Durnovo as director was exemplary … Pyotr Nikolaevich was the same enemy of unnecessary cruelty, cunning and double-mindedness as he was was the enemy of political adventurers."
Loved but Abused
The performance of the successful and energetic Director of the Police Department was noticed and appreciated at the top. In 1888 he was promoted to privy councilor (a rank corresponding to a general's), two years later he was awarded the monarch's gratitude. Durnovo's authority in the police and ministry was indisputable and even extended to many governors, who were in awe of him. A scandalous story, in the center of which he unexpectedly found himself, interfered with a brilliant career. The culprit is a passion for women. The reason for the loud fall of the seemingly impeccable director of the police department was a lady who was simultaneously having an affair with a Brazilian diplomat. Upon learning of this, Durnovo, abusing his official position, instructed his people to open the personal correspondence of the Brazilian, which became known to the emperor. The reaction was predictable: Alexander III, who could not tolerate moral filth, ordered to fire the presumptuous chief of police in 24 hours. However, he soon found a place in the Senate, where his experience and sharp mind were useful.
Seven years later, the scandal was forgotten and Durnovo's organizational skills were again in demand in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was invited by the new minister, who knew him well, D. S. Sipyagin, to the post of his comrade (deputy). Returned to the police department, Durnovo plunged headlong into his favorite work: he was not afraid of the abundance of responsibilities, and he had enough energy to lead several directions at once. He oversaw the work of the Department of General Affairs, was the head of the Central Statistical Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in fact, he headed the Main Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs, and in the absence of the minister he performed his duties. After killing his boss by terrorists, he returned to the chair of the head of the Police Department and quickly found the criminals.
With the outbreak of the revolutionary unrest in 1905, Durnovo became Minister of Internal Affairs. Despite the almost universal confusion that struck the authorities, he was almost the only acceptable candidate capable of taking effective measures, mobilizing police and gendarmes in the right direction.
The riots had an exciting effect on him, he was not in the least depressed by this, somehow immediately perked up and began to work as best he could - from morning to night. There was a feeling that he knew exactly how to act in such an environment, although there were no instructions and plans in this regard either in the ministry or in the government. Durnovo managed to end the strike of the metropolitan telephone operators, to arrest the self-appointed "deputies of the Petersburg Soviet of workers." The minister dismissed indecisive governors, introduced a special position where necessary, and expanded the powers of the police and local administration. He sent out punitive expeditions, demanded the immediate introduction of military courts and firmly opposed the weakening of the monarch's power, although he himself was not a supporter of absolutism.
Later he said about his views: "Everyone considers me to be an inveterate monarchist, a reactionary defender of autocracy, an incorrigible obscurantist … and they do not assume that I, perhaps, in my views, am the most convinced republican." But in the Russian Empire, Durnovo specified, “management technique and integrity require the presence of a historically established tsarist banner. If he does not become, Russia will disintegrate."
"I take full responsibility!"
In one of his telegrams to the governors, Durnovo wrote: “Take the most resolute measures to combat the revolution, stop at nothing. I take all responsibility upon myself! " The commander of the Semyonovsky regiment G. Mina instructed before being sent to Moscow, where the riots turned into bloody pogroms: “Only decisiveness is needed. Do not allow groups of even three to five people to gather on the street. If they refuse to disperse, shoot immediately! Do not stop before using artillery … destroy barricades, houses, factories occupied by revolutionaries with fire … "These instructions, more like orders, acted on the military man in the right way, it was largely thanks to them that the Semenovites managed with little blood to stop the revolutionary uprising in Moscow in the shortest possible time … 399 people died, including soldiers and police. In the capital of the empire, where the situation was brought under control earlier, the losses were less.
An exhaustive assessment of the minister's activities is in the memoirs of one of the governors: "If at the beginning of 1906 what happened at the beginning of 1917 did not happen, then we owe a lot to the energy, courage and management of Pyotr Nikolaevich Durnovo."
The secret of his determination, in addition to natural strong-willed qualities, lay in the fact that, unlike other dignitaries, he was absolutely not afraid of public opinion and was indifferent to the attacks of the press in his address. In a private conversation, which got into the annals, he admitted: “All those in power … are afraid that they will suddenly deprive them of the appearance of enlightened statesmen, but I … have nothing to lose; So I hit this figure of the revolution right in the face and ordered the others: hit on my head."
When the revolutionary terror was successfully strangled, its creators, who remained at large, sentenced Durnovo to death. His life was attempted, but the minister was always on the alert. But it was not possible to hold on to the post. Nicholas II treated Durnovo with great respect, but was forced to yield to the pressure of the intriguing ones. For the loyal servant of the sovereign, the decision to resign was a big blow, but the tsar sweetened the pill as best he could: Durnovo received 200 thousand rubles of compensation, he retained his ministerial salary, senatorial post and membership in the State Council for life.
Until the end of his days, he remained a supporter of decisive action, did not tolerate chatter, bureaucracy, red tape. In his last speech to the State Council, dedicated to failures at the fronts, he remained true to himself: “We, as always, were very badly prepared for the war … as usual and according to the primordial habit among the huge heaps of papers we were constantly looking for and could not find Russia … The root of evil is in that we are afraid to order … Instead of giving orders, circulars were written, countless laws were issued … Meanwhile … in Russia it is still possible and must order, and the Russian sovereign can command everything that is useful and necessary for his people to his higher understanding, and no one … will not dare to disobey him … Need to throw pens and ink. It is useful to send young officials to the war, young bosses - to teach how to order and obey and forget the fear of various fetishes to which we so often bow …"
Durnovo died in September 1915 from heart paralysis, which until the last minutes was rooting for Russia.
