A message about the person who worked Nikolai Skripnik. Skrypnik Nikolai Alekseevich. An excerpt characterizing Skripnik, Nikolai Alekseevich

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Plan
Introduction
1 Biography
1.1 Pre-revolutionary period
1.2 At the early revolutionary stage
1.3 Chairman of the People's Secretariat
1.4 Creation of KP(b)U
1.5 Back in government
1.6 Contribution to socio-cultural development
1.7 Campaign against Skripnyk
1.8 Memory

2 Sources

Introduction Nikolai Alekseevich Skripnik (Skrypnyk) (Ukrainian Mykola Oleksiyovich Skripnik, January 13 (25), 1872 (18720125) - July 7, 1933) - Soviet politician, member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, one of the supporters of the policy of Ukrainization in the 20s - 30s. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (06/29/1929). 1. Biography 1.1. Pre-revolutionary period Born on January 25, 1872 in the village of Yasinovatoye, Bakhmut district, Yekaterinoslav province (now Yasinovataya, Donetsk region), in the family of a railway employee. He received his primary education at the Barvenkovskaya two-year rural school, and then at the Izyum real school in the Kharkov province and the real school in Kursk. He did a lot of political self-education and studied Marxist literature. Since 1897, he considered himself a conscientious member of the Social Democratic Party. In 1900 he entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, where he became completely immersed in the revolutionary movement. An active participant in the Marxist circle, a member of the St. Petersburg Social Democratic group "Workers' Banner". He received his “baptism of fire” in March 1901 during a demonstration of protest against the political persecution of students at Kyiv University. Then he was arrested for the first time and deported to the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk). Then new punishments and imprisonment followed one after another. In total, he was arrested 15 times and exiled 7 times. In total, he was sentenced to a term of 34 years and once sentenced to death, escaped 6 times. Glasson, Petersburger, Valeryan, G. Ermolaev, Shchur, Shchensky - this is not a complete list of pseudonyms used by N. Skripnik while conducting revolutionary work in the cities of St. Petersburg, Ekaterinoslav, Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), Saratov, Odessa, Riga and many others. He was a participant in legal all-Russian congresses: cooperative enterprises (1908), factory doctors and industry representatives (1909). He took an active part in many party publications, starting with Iskra. In 1913, he edited the Bolshevik legal journal “Problems of Insurance”; in 1914, he was a member of the editorial board of the newspaper “Pravda”. 1.2. At the early revolutionary stage Returning after the February Revolution of 1917 from Morshansk, Tambov province, the place of his next exile, to Petrograd, he was elected secretary of the Central Council of Factory Committees. During the October armed uprising, he was a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Since December 1917, the life and work of N. Skripnik has been connected with Ukraine, where he arrived by order of V. Lenin. He hesitated for some time. Uncertainty was caused by poor knowledge of Ukrainian conditions, confusion, and contradictory processes in Ukraine, where the confrontation between the Council of People's Commissars of Russia and the UCR was increasingly intensifying. In his autobiography, N. Skripnik described his arrival and the initial period of work in Ukraine: “The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets called me to Ukraine and elected People's Secretary of Labor, and then Trade and Industry. Held the First All-Ukrainian Conference of Peasant Deputies in January 1918 in Kharkov. After Kiev was taken by German troops, a conference of Soviet representatives in Poltava elected me chairman of the Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine and People's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, this was also approved by the Second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in Yekaterinoslav in March 1918. At the last meeting of the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine in Taganrog in In April 1918, I was elected to the rebel People's Secretariat, and at the same party meeting I was also elected a member and secretary of the Organizational Bureau for the convening of the First Congress of the Communist Party (b)V, which elected me as a candidate of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b)V, and from December 1918. I joined the Central Committee. Also in 1918, the Central Committee sent me to work at the Cheka, where I was a member of the board and head of the department for combating counter-revolution. In January (1919) he again joined the workers' and peasants' government of the Ukrainian SSR as a people's commissar of state control." While in the position of people's secretary, N. Skripnik approached any issue from the national interests. In particular, he, almost single-handedly, fought against the separation of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog region from Ukraine and the creation of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic on its basis. When, due to failures in the fight against the Austro-German troops, a crisis arose in the Soviet government of Ukraine, N. Skripnyk was appointed head of the People's Secretariat on March 4, 1918. 1.3. Chairman of the People's Secretariat As a Bolshevik, N. Skripnik supported V. Lenin’s position at the negotiations in Brest-Litovsk (now Brest, Belarus). At the same time, as the head of the Ukrainian Soviet government, he tried to organize resistance to the invasion of the Austro-German occupiers. The Second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets had to make a fundamental decision in a difficult situation, the convening of which became the most important task of the Soviet activists. N. Skripnik delivered the main reports at the congress (March 17-19, 1918) - on the current and political situation. The Bolsheviks did not have an advantage at the congress: at first they constituted the second largest faction - 401 delegates against 414 left Socialist Revolutionaries. However, relying on left-wing elements from other parties (left-wing Ukrainian Social Democrats, maximalists), they achieved the implementation of their decisions. The majority of the delegates of the All-Ukrainian Congress, after a long struggle, supported the course of the VII Congress of the RCP (b) towards a peaceful respite and agreed with the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Considering the conditions of the latter, which severed the connection between Ukraine and Russia, the congress declared Ukraine an independent Soviet republic and stated that the relations of the republics remain the same. For information about the decision of the congress, as well as to reach an agreement on the form of relations between the RSFSR and Soviet Ukraine, at the end of March it was decided send an extraordinary plenipotentiary embassy of the Central Executive Committee of the Councils of Ukraine and the People's Secretariat to Moscow. The special mandate read: “In the name of the Ukrainian Workers' and Peasants' Republic. The Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine - the Central Executive Committee of the All-Ukrainian Council of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies and the People's Secretariat of the Ukrainian People's Republic authorizes the Extraordinary Plenipotentiary Embassy to declare the independence of the Ukrainian Soviet Federative Republic before the Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Republic and to negotiate with the Council of People's Commissars regarding the conclusion of an agreement between both Soviet Federations - Russian and Ukrainian." The Extraordinary Plenipotentiary Embassy was headed by the head of the People's Secretariat and People's Secretary of Foreign Affairs N. Skripnik. In Moscow, N. Skripnik immediately prepared an article “The New State of the Revolution in Ukraine,” in which he attempted to provide complete and accurate information about events in the republic, which were often incorrectly covered by the Russian press. The article talked about the balance of power, the mood of the masses, the attitude towards the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, relations with the left Socialist Revolutionaries, and the prospects for the revolutionary struggle. The section “Purpose of coming to Moscow” was specially highlighted, which said: “We were sent by the Central Executive Committee of the Ukrainian Soviets and the People's Secretariat to officially declare before the Council of People's Commissars and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee about the declaration of the independence of Ukraine by the Second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. We came as an embassy from an independent state to declare that our attitude towards the Russian Federation will be entirely friendly. We understand well that at the moment the Soviet power of Russia cannot come to our aid, but we rely on our own forces, which are increasing with every day...” After N. Skripnik’s speech at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR on April 1 and the announcement of the declaration of the plenipotentiary embassy of Soviet Ukraine at a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars on April 3, the Russian government adopted a resolution in which it expressed its “sympathy for the heroic struggle of the working people and exploited masses of Ukraine.”N. Skrypnik considered the severance of federal ties between the Soviet UPR and the RSFSR to be purely formal, and the unification of both republics as inviolable. However, at the same time a complication arose in the relations between the leadership of the Soviet entities. In response to the demand of the People's Commissar for National Affairs of the RSFSR I. Stalin for the Ukrainians to stop “playing government and republic” and to leave Taganrog to the Ukrainian Soviet center, N. Skripnik promptly prepared a special statement, which contained a protest against the statements of one of the key figures of the RCP ( b) and the RSFSR. The unpleasant episode may have left its mark on the further personal relations of I. Stalin with N. Skrypnyk, which at times acquired a rather critical overtones. The People's Secretariat of Ukraine and its head had to work in extreme wartime conditions, the uncontrollable process of territorial losses of Soviet Ukraine as its occupation by foreign troops (in less than three months the government changed five places of residence - Kharkov - Kyiv - Poltava - Yekaterinoslav - Taganrog). The status of Ukraine as a national state entity was not strengthened and was constantly changing under the influence of political and diplomatic factors, in particular the conditions of the Brest-Litovsk Peace. Creation of KP(b)U By the spring of 1918, the process of uniting Bolshevik organizations on an all-Ukrainian scale and the formation of a party center had acquired great relevance. N. Skripnik took on one of the decisive roles in this matter. He did not take the platform of supporters of “left” views, who advocated forcing an uprising against the occupiers and the creation of a separate Communist Party of Ukraine for this purpose, nor the position of supporters of right-wing views, who proceeded from the fact that without help from Russia, the uprising is hopeless, internal the forces for him are not enough, and the Communist Party of Ukraine must necessarily be an integral part of the RCP (b). At the Taganrog party meeting (April 19-20, 1918), N. Skripnik proposed a resolution that rejected both the right-wing “Menshevik-conciliatory” proposals and “ Socialist Revolutionary pure insurrectionism” of supporters of “left” views. The meeting participants agreed with him by a majority of votes and considered it necessary to organize a partisan-insurgent struggle in the rear of the German-Austrian troops, set a course for preparing an uprising against the occupiers and their accomplices, and emphasized “the dependence of the success of this uprising on the preservation and strengthening of Soviet power in the Russian Federation and on further development of the world socialist revolution.” N. Skripnik contrasted E. Quiring’s draft resolution: “Create an autonomous party with its own Central Committee and its own congresses, but subordinate to the general Central Committee and congresses of the Russian Communist Party” with his own project: “Create an independent communist party, which has its own Central Committee and its own party congresses and is connected with the Russian Communist Party through the international commission (III International).” The meeting participants again supported N. Skripnik by a majority vote. Among those who voted for the resolution he proposed were like-minded “left communists” of G. Pyatakov and G. Lapchinsky, supporters of the formation of a separate communist party in Ukraine. Their calculation was simple - the CP(b)U, organizationally separated from the RCP(b), would become a weapon for disrupting the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. To prepare the congress of Bolshevik organizations in Ukraine, an organizational bureau was appointed, which included A. Bubnov, Y. Gamarnik, V. Zatonsky, S. Kosior, I. Kreisberg and others. The organizing bureau was headed (became its secretary) N. Skripnik. At his suggestion, it was decided to name the future republican party organization the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. The meeting did not accept the proposal of the Poltava group of Bolsheviks and “left” Ukrainian Social Democrats to name the party “Ukrainian Communist Party”, since this would contradict its international character, and also rejected the name of the party “RCP(b) in Ukraine” proposed by E. Quiring. However, at the First Congress of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine (July 5-12, 1918, Moscow), N. Skripnik was unable to strengthen his position. The draft resolutions he proposed, in particular the fundamentally important one on the current situation, were blocked. As at the Taganrog meeting, he proposed to the congress the wording of a document on the formation of a separate, organizationally independent Communist Party of Ukraine. However, during the discussion it became clear that its author does not have a reasoned, clearly constructed logical scheme. After discussing the draft resolutions, N. Skripnik withdrew his version. E. Quiring’s proposal to form the CP(b)U as a regional organization of the RCP(b) was accepted. Apparently, N. Skripnyk did not perceive the withdrawal of his own resolution to vote and approve another resolution as his own defeat. Advantage, as always, was given to the idea of revolutionary expediency, the most effective form of life of the party body. N. Skrypnyk always considered the Communist Party of Ukraine to be his brainchild. True, fate worked out in such a way that he never had to lead the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) V, although, it would seem, he had no less reasons for this than others, and corresponding plans arose from time to time. There is a fairly widespread opinion that this is due to the erroneous position of M. Skripnik on the issue of the formation of the party at the First Congress of the CP(b)V, which, allegedly, neither V. Lenin, nor the Central Committee of the RCP(b), nor the party asset of Ukraine. However, such considerations cannot be considered convincing and logical. The first secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b)V were elected G. Pyatakov, E. Quiring, S. Kosior, who, on many fundamental issues of that difficult time, often adhered to, as officially assessed in the relevant documents, “erroneous views.” Obviously, others played a major role motives. N. Skripnik, as a rule, did not join any of the trends that were then formed and often manifested themselves from polar positions. He never sought factionalism, to unite some group of people around himself, he always wanted to be above such behavior, hoping that he was fundamentally defending the general party interest. And while the struggle was raging between representatives of the “left” and the right, he, naturally, could not really lay claim to the first role in the party, for which there was often desperate competition. 1.5. Back in government In January 1919, N. Skripnyk was again in the government of Ukraine - he became the People's Commissar of Control and the Supreme Socialist Inspectorate, and helped establish the functioning of the Soviet apparatus of the republic. With the advance of the White Guard army of A. Denikin, he was at the fronts: head of the political department of the Gomel fortified region, head of the special department of the South-Eastern (Caucasian) Front. Having returned after the defeat of Denikinism to the post of people's commissar of the workers' and peasants' inspection (May 1920), N. In July, Skripnik simultaneously became the head of the plenipotentiary representative of the People's Commissariat of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate of the RSFSR in Ukraine. On July 13, 1921, he was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. In addition, he headed the All-Ukrainian Commission on the History of the October Revolution and the Communist Party (B)U (Istpart), the Main Archive Directorate under the People's Commissariat for Education (Glavarchive), the Central Council for the Protection of Children, the Ukrainian Commission for the Registration and Distribution of Evacuated Institutions and Persons (Evakkom), led the work of a number of other state and public organizations, was a member of many responsible institutes and commissions. He became a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, actively participated in meetings of the Council of People's Commissars. In January 1922, in the absence of the head of government Kh. Rakovsky (he was on a business trip), for a short time was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and VUTsVK - even the acting head of the government of Ukraine (while retaining the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs). However, literally a few days later, D. Manuilsky became deputy chairman of the RNA, and N. Skripnik was left with only the People's Commissar's prerogatives. In April 1922, he was transferred to the post of People's Commissar of Justice of Ukraine. In July-August 1922 N. Skripnik again worked as Deputy Chairman of the RNK, and from January-February 1923 he took the post of Prosecutor General of the Republic, remaining People's Commissar of Justice. 1.6. Contribution to socio-cultural development N. Skrypnyk’s role was important in the preparation of the most important state documents - the constitutions of the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR - he was a member of the union and republican commissions 18 for the preparation of relevant projects, actively participated in discussions regarding the principles of relationships in a federal state, the rights and responsibilities of its individual subjects . N. Skrypnyk directed the process of creating basic documents for the functioning of the then Ukrainian society - civil, criminal, land, family codes, etc. True, at the same time, according to the then traditions, important deviations from scientific foundations were often allowed, their replacement with the logic and practice of “revolutionary expediency” ".In the 20s. N. Skripnyk has been working a lot and fruitfully on developing the theory of the national question, searching for ways to optimally solve the Ukrainian problem in the process of building socialism. His authority in this area was irrefutable not only in Ukraine, but also in the USSR in general. G. Skripnik was a participant in all large-scale public discussions and forums at which topical issues of the development of a multinational state, national revival and development in the union republics were discussed. Skrypnyk oversaw the issues of spelling reform of the Ukrainian language (the so-called “Kharkov spelling”, adopted in 1920-1930, is also called “Skripnikovsky”). N. Skrypnyk’s significant contribution to resolving issues of nation-state and cultural construction in Ukraine: with From March 1927 until the beginning of 1933, he headed the People's Commissariat of Education of the Ukrainian SSR. The People's Commissariat then supervised the development of general primary and secondary education, higher education, science, literature, theater, cinema, music, and fine arts. Under the People's Commissariat of Education there were departments: Main Science (all research institutions, including UAS were under jurisdiction); Glavpolitprosvet, which directed the activities of city and rural clubs, reading rooms, libraries, as well as relevant educational institutions; Glavlit, who controlled the publishing process in the republic. The State Publishing House of Ukraine and the Book Chamber were subordinate to him. In parallel with this, N. Skripnyk served as director All-Ukrainian Institute of Marxism-Leninism(VIML), headed the Association of Historians, was secretary of the UAN faction, editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, head of the department of national issues. And he tried to use all his capabilities as much as possible for the comprehensive development of nations, implementing the policy of Ukrainization. Significant successes have been achieved in the training of personnel of various skill levels from representatives of indigenous nationalities, an important expansion of the scope of use of the Ukrainian language, the development of Ukrainian culture, and the creation of favorable opportunities for the activation of national and cultural life outside the Ukrainian SSR. At the same time, much was done to ensure the national and cultural development of all national minorities that lived in Ukraine. Through the efforts of N. Skripnyk and his entourage, the Ukrainian SSR was transformed into a kind of laboratory for solving the national question. However, the democratic, humanistic orientation of this process gradually came into irreconcilable disagreement with the strengthening of the totalitarian system in the USSR. And N. Skripnik himself could not reconcile, organically combine the two principles that were struggling in him - to serve his native people as much as possible and to implement the international course as consistently as possible, which in practice was identified with the transformation of the USSR from a federal state to a unitary one, where the possibilities of the national one were increasingly limited arrangement. Involvement in Ukrainization began to be classified (since 1926) as hostile to socialism. 1.7. Campaign against Skripnyk In February 1933, N. Skripnik was relieved of his post as People's Commissar of Education and appointed to the post of head of the State Planning Committee and deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. In the last year of N. Skripnik's life, an intensive campaign was waged against him. His works tirelessly sought out “perversion of Leninism”, “nationalist errors”, “sabotage in linguistics” and the activities of the People’s Commissar of Images of Ukraine. The spearheads of the last plenums of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) at which N. Skrypnyk was present (February and June), for the most part were directed against him. They demanded that he draw up a document of repentance acknowledging his “mistakes.” Repeatedly this issue was brought up at meetings of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) at which N. Skripnik’s explanations were considered, and all of them were considered unsatisfactory. On July 7, 1933, at the beginning of the next meeting of the Politburo, where the question of N. Skripnik’s document was again raised, he left the meeting room and committed suicide in his own office at Derzhprom. He was buried in Kharkov. The posthumous campaign around N. Skripnik began at the November (1933) joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the CP(b)U, the resolution of which already spoke of the formation of “a new nationalist deviation in the ranks of the party, led by N. A. Skripnik " On March 27, 1934, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) adopted a special resolution “On the confiscation of the works of N. Skripnik.”N. Skripnik left a large literary and scientific-journalistic heritage, distinguished by a significant number of works (over 600) and breadth of topics. The author's attention was drawn to problems from various fields of science and culture - history, the national question, the theory and practice of state and party building, economics, law, literature and art, and other fields of knowledge. Over 160 works by N. Skripnik were included in 1929-31. to a collection of his articles and speeches in 5 volumes (7 books), which turned out to be unfinished (the 3rd volume and the 2nd part of the 4th volume did not see the world). 1.8. Memory Only three decades later, in 1962, according to the resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine “On the 90th anniversary of the birth of N. Skrypnyk”, the question of publishing his works arose. However, the completion of this task stretched out for almost another 30 years: a collection of his selected works was published only in 1991. On March 28, 1990, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, by a special resolution, recognized that the political accusations of N. Skrypnyk in the so-called national deviationism were based on falsified materials and distorted ideas about his views and activities and decided to consider N. Skripnyk rehabilitated in party terms (posthumously). 2. Sources

UKRAINIAN STATE IN THE XX CENTURY

Government portal of Ukraine (in Ukrainian) (18720125 )
Yasinovataya, Bakhmut district, Ekaterinoslav province,

Nikolai Alekseevich Skripnik (Skrypnyk)(ukr. Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk, January 13 (25) ( 18720125 ) - July 7) - Soviet politician, member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, one of the supporters of the Ukrainization policy in - years.

Biography

The posthumous campaign around N. Skripnik began at the November (1933) joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the CP(b)U, the resolution of which already spoke of the formation of “a new nationalist deviation in the ranks of the party, led by N. A. Skripnik.” On March 27, 1934, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) adopted a special resolution “On the confiscation of the works of N. Skripnik.”

N. Skripnik left a large literary and scientific-journalistic legacy, which amazes not only with the gigantic number of works he wrote (over 600), but also with the breadth of topics. The author's attention was drawn to problems from various fields of science and culture - history, the national question, the theory and practice of state and party building, economics, law, literature and art, and other fields of knowledge. Over 160 works by N. Skripnik were included in 1929-31. to a collection of his articles and speeches in 5 volumes (7 books), which turned out to be unfinished (the 3rd volume and the 2nd part of the 4th volume did not see the world).

Only three decades later, in 1962, according to the resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine “On the 90th anniversary of the birth of N. Skrypnyk”, the question of publishing his works arose. However, the completion of this task dragged on for almost another 30 years: the collection of his selected works was destined to see the light only in 1991.

On March 28, 1990, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, by a special resolution, recognized that the political accusations of N. Skrypnyk in the so-called national deviationism were based on falsified materials and distorted ideas about his views and activities and decided to consider N. Skripnyk rehabilitated in party terms (posthumously).

Born on January 25, 1872 in the village of Yasinovatoye, Bakhmut district, Yekaterinoslav province (now Yasinovataya, Donetsk region), in the family of a railway employee. He received his primary education at the Barvenkovskaya two-year rural school, and then at the Izyum real school in the Kharkov province and the real school in Kursk. He did a lot of political self-education and studied Marxist literature. Since 1897, he considered himself a conscious member of the Social Democratic Party.

In 1900 he entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, where he became completely immersed in the revolutionary movement. An active participant in the Marxist circle, a member of the St. Petersburg Social Democratic group "Workers' Banner". He received his “baptism of fire” in March 1901 during a demonstration of protest against the political persecution of students at Kyiv University. Then he was arrested for the first time and deported to the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk). Then new punishments and imprisonment followed one after another. In total, he was arrested 15 times and exiled 7 times. In total, he was sentenced to 34 years and sentenced to death once, and escaped 6 times.

Glasson, Petersburger, Valeryan, G. Ermolaev, Shchur, Shchensky - this is not a complete list of pseudonyms used by N. Skripnik, conducting revolutionary work in the cities of St. Petersburg, Yekaterinoslav, Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), Saratov, Odessa, Riga and many others . He was a participant in legal all-Russian congresses: cooperative enterprises (1908), factory doctors and industry representatives (1909). He took an active part in many party publications, starting with Iskra. In 1913, he edited the Bolshevik legal magazine “Problems of Insurance”; in 1914, he was a member of the editorial board of the newspaper “Pravda”.

Returning after the February Revolution of 1917 from Morshansk, Tambov province, the place of his next exile, to Petrograd, he was elected secretary of the Central Council of Factory Committees. During the October armed uprising - a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee at the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.

Since December 1917, the life and work of N. Skripnik has been connected with Ukraine, where he arrived by order of V. Lenin. He hesitated for some time. Uncertainty was caused by poor knowledge of Ukrainian conditions, confusion, and contradictory processes in Ukraine, where the confrontation between the Council of People's Commissars of Russia and the UCR was increasingly intensified.

In his autobiography, N. Skripnyk described his arrival and the initial period of work in Ukraine: “The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets called me to Ukraine and elected me People’s Secretary of Labor, and then Trade and Industry. Held the First All-Ukrainian Conference of Peasant Deputies in January 1918 in Kharkov. After Kiev was taken by German troops, a conference of Soviet representatives in Poltava elected me chairman of the Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine and People's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, this was also approved by the Second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in Yekaterinoslav in March 1918. At the last meeting of the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine in Taganrog in In April 1918, I was elected to the rebel People's Secretariat, and at the same party meeting I was also elected a member and secretary of the Organizational Bureau for the convening of the First Congress of the Communist Party (b)V, which elected me as a candidate of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b)V, and from December 1918. I joined the Central Committee. Also in 1918, the Central Committee sent me to work at the Cheka, where I was a member of the board and head of the department for combating counter-revolution. In January (1919) he again joined the workers’ and peasants’ government of the Ukrainian SSR as People’s Commissar of State Control.”

While in the position of People's Secretary, N. Skripnik approached any issue from the perspective of national interests. In particular, he, almost single-handedly, fought against the separation of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog region from Ukraine and the creation of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic on its basis. When, due to failures in the fight against the Austro-German troops, a crisis arose in the Soviet government of Ukraine, N. Skripnyk was appointed head of the People's Secretariat on March 4, 1918.

As a Bolshevik, N. Skripnik supported V. Lenin’s position at the negotiations in Brest-Litovsk (now Brest, Belarus). At the same time, as the head of the Ukrainian Soviet government, he tried to organize resistance to the invasion of the Austro-German occupiers. The Second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets had to make a fundamental decision in a difficult situation, the convening of which became the most important task of the Soviet activists. N. Skripnik delivered the main reports at the congress (March 17-19, 1918) on the current and political situation.

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The Bolsheviks did not have an advantage at the congress: at first they constituted the second largest faction - 401 delegates against 414 left SRs. However, relying on left-wing elements from other parties (left-wing Ukrainian Social Democrats, maximalists), they achieved the implementation of their decisions. The majority of the delegates of the All-Ukrainian Congress, after a long struggle, supported the course of the VII Congress of the RCP (b) towards a peaceful respite and agreed with the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Taking into account the conditions of the latter, which severed the connection between Ukraine and Russia, the congress declared Ukraine an independent Soviet republic and stated that the relations between the republics would remain the same.

For information about the decision of the congress, as well as to reach an agreement on the form of relations between the RSFSR and Soviet Ukraine, at the end of March it was decided to send an extraordinary plenipotentiary embassy of the Central Executive Committee of the Councils of Ukraine and the People's Secretariat to Moscow. The special mandate read: “In the name of the Ukrainian Workers' and Peasants' Republic. The Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine - the Central Executive Committee of the All-Ukrainian Council of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies and the People's Secretariat of the Ukrainian People's Republic authorizes the Extraordinary Plenipotentiary Embassy to declare the independence of the Ukrainian Soviet Federative Republic before the Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Republic and to negotiate with the Council of People's Commissars regarding the conclusion of an agreement between both Soviet Federations - Russian and Ukrainian."

The Extraordinary Plenipotentiary Embassy was headed by the head of the People's Secretariat and People's Secretary of Foreign Affairs N. Skripnik. In Moscow, N. Skripnik immediately prepared an article “The New State of the Revolution in Ukraine,” in which he attempted to provide complete and accurate information about events in the republic, which were often incorrectly covered by the Russian press. The article talked about the balance of power, the mood of the masses, the attitude towards the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, relations with the left Socialist Revolutionaries, and the prospects for the revolutionary struggle. The section “Purpose of coming to Moscow” was specially highlighted, which said: “We were sent by the Central Executive Committee of the Ukrainian Soviets and the People's Secretariat to officially declare before the Council of People's Commissars and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee about the declaration of the independence of Ukraine by the Second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. We came as an embassy from an independent state to declare that our attitude towards the Russian Federation will be entirely friendly.

We understand well that at the moment the Soviet power of Russia cannot come to our aid, but we rely on our own strength, which is growing every day...”

After N. Skripnik’s speech at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR on April 1 and the announcement of the declaration of the plenipotentiary embassy of Soviet Ukraine at a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars on April 3, the Russian government adopted a resolution in which it expressed its “sympathy for the heroic struggle of the working and exploited masses of Ukraine.”

N. Skripnik considered the severance of federal ties between the Soviet UPR and the RSFSR to be purely formal, and the unification of both republics as inviolable. However, at the same time a complication arose in the relations between the leadership of the Soviet entities. In response to the demand of the People's Commissar for National Affairs of the RSFSR I. Stalin for the Ukrainians to stop “playing government and republic” and to leave Taganrog to the Ukrainian Soviet center, N. Skripnik promptly prepared a special statement, which contained a protest against the statements of one of the key figures of the RCP ( b) and the RSFSR. The unpleasant episode may have left its mark on I. Stalin’s further personal relations with N. Skripnik, which at times acquired a rather critical tone.

The People's Secretariat of Ukraine and its head had to work in extreme wartime conditions, the uncontrollable process of territorial losses of Soviet Ukraine as it was occupied by foreign troops (in less than three months the government changed five locations - Kharkov - Kiev - Poltava - Yekaterinoslav - Taganrog). The status of Ukraine as a national state entity was not strengthened and was constantly changing under the influence of political and diplomatic factors, in particular the conditions of the Brest-Litovsk Peace.

By the spring of 1918, the process of uniting Bolshevik organizations on an all-Ukrainian scale and the formation of a party center had acquired great relevance. N. Skripnik took on one of the decisive roles in this matter. He did not take the platform of supporters of “left” views, who advocated forcing an uprising against the occupiers and the creation of a separate Communist Party of Ukraine for this purpose, nor the position of supporters of right-wing views, who proceeded from the fact that without help from Russia, the uprising is hopeless, internal the forces are not enough for him, and the Communist Party of Ukraine must necessarily be an integral part of the RCP (b).

At the Taganrog party meeting (April 19-20, 1918), N. Skripnik proposed a resolution that rejected both the right-wing “Menshevik-compromise” proposals and the “SR pure insurrectionism” of supporters of “left” views. The meeting participants agreed with him by a majority of votes and considered it necessary to organize a partisan-insurgent struggle in the rear of the German-Austrian troops, set a course for preparing an uprising against the occupiers and their accomplices, and emphasized “the dependence of the success of this uprising on the preservation and strengthening of Soviet power in the Russian Federation and on further development of the world socialist revolution."

To E. Quiring’s draft resolution: “To create an autonomous party with its own Central Committee and its congresses, but subordinate to the general Central Committee and congresses of the Russian Communist Party,” N. Skripnik contrasted his project: “To create an independent communist party, which has its own Central Committee and its own party congresses and connected with the Russian Communist Party through the international commission (III International).”

The meeting participants again supported N. Skripnik by a majority of votes. Among those who voted for the resolution he proposed were like-minded “left communists” of G. Pyatakov and G. Lapchinsky, supporters of the formation of a separate communist party in Ukraine. Their calculation was simple - the CP(b)U, organizationally separated from the RCP(b), would become a weapon for disrupting the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. To prepare the congress of Bolshevik organizations in Ukraine, an organizational bureau was appointed, which included A. Bubnov, Y. Gamarnik, V. Zatonsky, S. Kosior, I. Kreisberg and others. The organizing bureau was headed (became its secretary) N. Skripnik. At his suggestion, it was decided to name the future republican party organization the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. The meeting did not accept the proposal of the Poltava group of Bolsheviks and “left” Ukrainian Social Democrats to name the party “Ukrainian Communist Party”, since this would contradict its international character, and also rejected the name of the party “RCP(b) in Ukraine” proposed by E. Quiring.

However, at the First Congress of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine (July 5-12, 1918, Moscow), N. Skripnik was unable to strengthen his position. The draft resolutions he proposed, in particular the fundamentally important one on the current situation, were blocked. As at the Taganrog meeting, he proposed to the congress the wording of a document on the formation of a separate, organizationally independent Communist Party of Ukraine. However, during the discussion it became clear that its author does not have a reasoned, clearly constructed logical scheme. After discussing the draft resolutions, G. Skripnik withdrew his version. E. Quiring’s proposal to form the CP(b)U as a regional organization of the RCP(b) was accepted.

Apparently, N. Skripnyk did not perceive the withdrawal of his own resolution to vote and approve another resolution as his own defeat. Advantage, as always, was given to the idea of revolutionary expediency, of the most effective form of life of the party body.

N. Skripnyk always considered the Communist Party of Ukraine to be his brainchild. True, fate worked out in such a way that he never had to lead the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) V, although, it would seem, he had no less reasons for this than others, and corresponding plans arose from time to time. There is a fairly widespread opinion that this is due to the erroneous position of M. Skripnik on the issue of the formation of the party at the First Congress of the CP(b)V, which, allegedly, neither V. Lenin, nor the Central Committee of the RCP(b), nor the party asset of Ukraine.

However, such considerations cannot be considered convincing and logical. The first secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b)V were elected G. Pyatakov, E. Quiring, S. Kosior, who often adhered to “erroneous views” on many fundamental issues of that difficult time, as was officially assessed in the relevant documents.

Obviously, other motives played a major role. G. Skripnik, as a rule, did not join any of the trends that were then formed and often manifested themselves from polar positions. He never sought factionalism, to unite some group of people around himself, he always wanted to be above such behavior, hoping that he was fundamentally defending the general party interest. And while the struggle was raging between representatives of the “left” and the right, he, naturally, could not really lay claim to the first role in the party, for which there was often desperate competition.

In January 1919, N. Skripnyk was again in the government of Ukraine - he became the People's Commissar of Control and the Supreme Socialist Inspectorate, and helped establish the functioning of the Soviet apparatus of the republic. With the advance of A. Denikin’s White Guard army, he was at the fronts: head of the political department of the Gomel fortified region, head of the special department of the South-Eastern (Caucasian) Front.

Having returned after the defeat of Denikinism to the post of People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate (May 1920), N. Skripnik in July simultaneously became the head of the plenipotentiary representative of the People's Commissariat of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate of the RSFSR in Ukraine. He made energetic efforts aimed at increasing the efficiency of government bodies. N. Skripnik’s contribution to Soviet construction was so significant that already in July 1921 he was appointed to one of the key government positions - People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs, where the leadership of the lion’s share of the processes of all state construction was then concentrated: from conducting election campaigns at various levels, convening all-Ukrainian, provincial and other congresses of councils until the development of documents regulating the activities of various government agencies and local authorities. Of course, the department also performed traditional functions regarding the protection of public order, moreover, even in the difficult post-war times. In addition, the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs headed the All-Ukrainian Commission on the History of the October Revolution and the Communist Party (B)U (Istpart), the Main Archive Directorate under the People's Commissariat for Education (Glavarchive), the Central Council for the Protection of Children, the Ukrainian Commission for the Accounting and Distribution of Evacuated Institutions and Persons (Evakkom) , supervised the work of a number of other state and public organizations, and was a member of many responsible institutions and commissions.

In January 1922, in the absence of the head of government Kh. Rakovsky (he was on a business trip), he was briefly appointed deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and VUTsVK - even the acting head of the government of Ukraine (while retaining the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs). However, literally a few days later, D. Manuilsky became deputy chairman of the RNA, and N. Skripnik was left with only the People's Commissar's prerogatives. In April 1922, he was transferred to the post of People's Commissar of Justice of Ukraine. In July-August 1922 N. Skripnik again worked as Deputy Chairman of the RNK, and in January 1923 he took the post of Prosecutor General of the Republic, being the People's Commissar of Justice all this time.

N. Skrypnyk’s role was important in the preparation of the most important state documents - the constitutions of the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR - he was a member of the union and republican commissions 18 for the preparation of relevant projects, actively participated in discussions regarding the principles of relationships in a federal state, the rights and responsibilities of its individual subjects . N. Skrypnyk directed the process of creating basic documents for the functioning of the then Ukrainian society - civil, criminal, land, family codes, etc. True, at the same time, according to the then traditions, important deviations from scientific foundations were often allowed, their replacement with the logic and practice of “revolutionary expediency” "

In the 20s N. Skripnyk has been working a lot and fruitfully on developing the theory of the national question, searching for ways to optimally solve the Ukrainian problem in the process of building socialism. His authority in this area was irrefutable not only in Ukraine, but also in the USSR in general. G. Skripnik was a participant in all large-scale public discussions and forums at which topical issues of the development of a multinational state, national revival and development in the union republics were discussed. Skripnyk oversaw the issues of spelling reform of the Ukrainian language (the so-called “Kharkov spelling”, adopted in 1920-1930, is also called “Skripnikovsky”).

N. Skrypnyk’s significant contribution to the solution of issues of national-state and cultural construction in Ukraine: from March 1927 to the beginning of 1933, he headed the People’s Commissariat for Education of the Ukrainian SSR. The People's Commissariat then supervised the development of general primary and secondary education, higher education, science, literature, theater, cinema, music, and fine arts. Under the People's Commissariat of Education there were departments: Main Science (all research institutions, including UAS were under jurisdiction); Glavpolitprosvet, which directed the activities of city and rural clubs, reading rooms, libraries, as well as relevant educational institutions; Glavlit, who controlled the publishing process in the republic. The State Publishing House of Ukraine and the Book Chamber were also subordinate to him.

In parallel with this, N. Skrypnyk served as director of the All-Ukrainian Institute of Marxism-Leninism (VIML), headed the Association of Historians, was secretary of the UAN faction, editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, and head of the department of national issues. And he tried to use all his capabilities as much as possible for the comprehensive development of nations, implementing the policy of Ukrainization. Significant successes have been achieved in the training of personnel of various skill levels from representatives of indigenous nationalities, an important expansion of the scope of use of the Ukrainian language, the development of Ukrainian culture, and the creation of favorable opportunities for the activation of national and cultural life outside the Ukrainian SSR. At the same time, much was done to ensure the national and cultural development of all national minorities that lived in Ukraine. Through the efforts of M. Skrypnyk and his entourage, the Ukrainian SSR was transformed into a kind of laboratory for solving the national question. However, the democratic, humanistic orientation of this process gradually came into irreconcilable disagreement with the strengthening of the totalitarian system in the USSR. And N. Skripnik himself could not reconcile, organically combine the two principles that were struggling in him - to serve his native people as much as possible and to implement the international course as consistently as possible, which in practice was identified with the transformation of the USSR from a federal state to a unitary one, where the possibilities of the national one were increasingly limited arrangement. Involvement in Ukrainization began to be classified (since 1926) as hostile to socialism.

In February 1933, N. Skripnik was relieved of his post as People's Commissar of Education and appointed to the post of head of the State Planning Committee and deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR.

The last year, 1933, in N. Skripnik’s life almost entirely became a shameful campaign against him. His works tirelessly sought out “perversion of Leninism,” “nationalist mistakes,” “sabotage in linguistics,” and the activities of the People’s Commissar of Ukraine.

The spearheads of the last plenums of the Central Committee of the CP(b)U, at which N. Skripnik was present (February and June), were mostly directed against him. They demanded that he draw up a document of repentance acknowledging his “mistakes.” This issue was repeatedly brought up at meetings of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) at which N. Skripnik’s explanations were considered, and all of them were considered unsatisfactory.

On July 7, 1933, at the beginning of the next Politburo meeting, where the question of N. Skripnik’s document was again raised, he left the meeting room and committed suicide in his own office at Derzhprom. He was buried in Kharkov.

The posthumous campaign around N. Skripnik began at the November (1933) joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the CP(b)U, the resolution of which already spoke of the formation of “a new nationalist deviation in the ranks of the party, headed by N. A. Skripnik.” On March 27, 1934, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) adopted a special resolution “On the confiscation of the works of N. Skripnik.”

Only three decades later, in 1962, according to the resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine “On the 90th anniversary of the birth of N. Skrypnyk”, the question of publishing his works arose. However, the completion of this task dragged on for almost another 30 years: a collection of his selected works was published only in 1991.

Events

after 7 July 1933 burial: 1st city cemetery of Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, USSR

Notes

Nikolai Alekseevich Skripnik (Skrypnik, Ukrainian Mykola Oleksiyovych Skripnik; January 25, 1872, Yasinovataya village, Ekaterinoslav province - July 7, 1933, Kharkov) - participant in the revolution. movements in Russia, social democrat; Ukrainian Soviet politician and statesman, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR (1921), People's Commissar of Justice and Prosecutor General of the Ukrainian SSR (1922-1927), People's Commissar of Education of Ukraine (1927-1933), and from February 23, 1933 until his suicide in July of the same year - Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR and Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Ukrainian SSR. An active promoter of the policy of Ukrainization of the Ukrainian SSR in the 20-30s, most notably in the position of People's Commissar of Education of the Ukrainian SSR. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (06/29/1929, history)

Candidate member of the Party Central Committee (VI Congress, 12-14 Congresses), member of the Party Central Committee (15-16 Congresses). Member of the ECCI (6th congress).

Born on 25 June 1872 in the town of Yasinuvata, Katerinoslav province - died on 7 June 1933. Sovereign figure of the Ukrainian Socialist Republic, one of the founders of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. Having graduated from the Izyum Real School and St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. Having been the head of the People's Secretariat; served as People's Commissar of Internal Affairs; The People's Commissar of Justice and the Prosecutor General, having acted as the People's Commissar, enlightened. Actively supporting the Ukrainianization of secondary and high schools, giving broad support to Ukrainian newspapers, magazines and books, organizing large-scale assistance in the Ukrainianization of education in Ukraine There is evidence of a compact network of Ukrainians outside the borders of Ukraine (Kuban, Kazakhstan). Having confirmed the new Ukrainian spelling, the standards of which were as close as possible to the specifics of the Ukrainian language. Born in 1933 intercessor of the head of the Radnarkom of the URSR and head of the Derzhplan of the URSR. In the past, we saw the famine in the villages and the beginning of a “shotgun rebirth.” U Chernі 1933 r. After posting the speech, the Skripnikovs will come out with incensed self-criticism of their nationalist amends. Buv calls from the created group of nationals - ukhilniks. Shot myself.

Some Kharkov residents said that N.A. Skrypnik is most likely buried in the 1st city cemetery of Kharkov, now practically demolished and turned into a park: it was there that prominent figures of Soviet Ukraine were buried when Kharkov was the capital of the Ukrainian SSR.

Unfortunately, there is no exact information about the burial place of N.A. Skripnik in free sources. I have a personal assumption that he was buried in the 13th city cemetery, because... on it a year before (in 1932) they buried an outstanding scientist, the rector of Kharkov University, and in 1914 - 1917 the Kharkov City Head, Academician. D.I. Bagalia. But these are again my assumptions.

Here we should stop and at least briefly say about the sources of information of Panteleimon Vasilevsky. In 1950, he, convicted as a member of the OUN, was thrown into the same cell with the old political prisoner Alexei Kiselyov, who was convicted back in 1937 from the post of manager of the affairs of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1939, in Pechorlag, he met Vsevolod Balitsky, in Dozekov’s past Chairman of the GPU, People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs of Soviet Ukraine. They worked side by side for several months. Then Balitsky told Kiselev the truth about Skrypnik’s death, knowing that his interlocutor was friends with the deceased. And Balitsky’s story was told by Kiselev to the young Vasilevsky, whose youthful memory firmly preserved this story, with the exception of perhaps one detail.

At first it was decided to organize a transport disaster. Skrypnik loved to ride in a sled in winter, wrapped in a beaver fur coat. So they came up with the idea of hooking the sled to a car so as to crush the passenger. But then this plan was abandoned. Too primitive. Just murder was not enough; a legend was needed, a new socialist mythology about a repentant sinner. Balitsky and Redens, the authorized representative of the OGPU in Ukraine, were assigned to develop a new version of the operation. Balitsky personally led the secret operation.

So, Kharkov, July 7, 1933... At the next meeting of the Politburo, Skrypnik was sharply criticized for “nationalist mistakes,” after which he, brought to a boil, was called to his place of work. All the phones at the People's Commissariat of Education allegedly went out of order. Under this pretext, the staff was released from work earlier. Skrypnik gave the order to repair the phones. The “fitters” were already ready. The administrator, also, of course, an employee of the GPU, let two fitters into the People's Commissar's office. One of them was the famous murderer Karpov, who was serving his sentence in Kholodnogorsk prison. For the murder of Skrypnik he was promised freedom. The second was a famous Kharkov circus artist who could imitate voices (Vasilevsky, unfortunately, does not remember his last name). Karpov instantly killed the People's Commissar with two shots to the back of the head from a foreign-made small-caliber pistol. The artist called Skrypnik’s wife on the phone and, in the voice of the deceased, read the text prepared by the GPU, the content of which boiled down to repentance for nationalism. “I decided to leave this life, I see this as the only way out,” said the pseudo-Skrypnik. Or something like that. A blank shot sounded near the phone, which the wife heard on the phone. That same evening, as Balitsky told Kiselyov, both executors of Operation Splinter were killed in one of the cells of the Kharkov GPU.

Later, the official version of suicide was spread, which still exists today in historical literature. Allegedly, the People's Commissar shot at the heart, but did not hit properly. Employees came running to hear the shot (in fact, they were not at work). They allegedly saw a bloody shirt and called an ambulance. Skrypnik was still alive in the hospital and waved his hand to his wife who arrived there. Doctors fought for his life, but it was too late. He died in the hospital.

Late in the evening, Skrypnik’s corpse was taken to the GPU headquarters, and then to the morgue. They arranged a funeral befitting his position. An obituary appeared in the press on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Council of People's Commissars, in which it was sadly reported that Skrypnyk, entangled in his connections with Ukrainian nationalists, committed suicide. There were hypocritical speeches over the coffin.

In the summer of 1991, a film crew from Ukrkinokhronika came to Drohobych, where Vasilevsky now lives, to record his story, but the film was never released due to lack of funds. The truth about Skrypnik’s death, according to Vasilevsky, was stated by journalist Anatoly Vlasyuk in the August 1993 issues of the Drohobych newspaper “Tustan”, but it does not reach Kharkov. So it turns out that the true history of Operation Splinter still remains unknown to Kharkov residents. But the truth makes its way. Sooner or later, lips open, special storage facilities and archives are opened. And even such a perfect suppression mechanism as the Soviet state machine was unable to cope with human memory, conscience, and people’s desire for truth. “Know the truth and it will save you,” says the Holy Scripture. May this truth save someone."

) - participant in the revolution. movements in Russia, social democrat; Ukrainian Soviet politician and statesman, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR (1921), People's Commissar of Justice and Prosecutor General of the Ukrainian SSR (1922-1927), People's Commissar of Education of Ukraine (1927-1933), and from February 23, 1933 until his suicide in July of the same year - Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR and Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Ukrainian SSR. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (06/29/1929, history).

Candidate member of the Party Central Committee (VI Congress, 12-14 Congresses), member of the Party Central Committee (15-16 Congresses). Member of the ECCI (6th congress).

Biography

In his autobiography, N. Skripnik described his arrival and initial period of work in Ukraine:

The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets summoned me to Ukraine and elected me People's Secretary of Labor, and then Trade and Industry. He held the First All-Ukrainian Conference of Peasant Deputies in January 1918 in Kharkov. After Kiev was taken by German troops, a conference of Soviet representatives in Poltava elected me chairman of the Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine and People's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, this was also approved by the II All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in Yekaterinoslav in March 1918. At the last meeting of the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine in Taganrog in April In 1918, I was elected to the rebel People's Secretariat, at the same party meeting I was also elected a member and secretary of the Organizational Bureau for the convening of the First Congress of the Communist Party (b)V, which elected me as a candidate of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b)V, and from December 1918 I joined Central Committee. Also in 1918, the Central Committee sent me to work at the Cheka, where I was a member of the board and head of the department for combating counter-revolution. In January 1919, he again joined the Workers' and Peasants' Government of the Ukrainian SSR as People's Commissar of State Control.

Chairman of the People's Secretariat

“In the name of the Ukrainian Workers' and Peasants' Republic. The Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine - the Central Executive Committee of the All-Ukrainian Council of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies and the People's Secretariat of the Ukrainian People's Republic authorizes the Extraordinary Plenipotentiary Embassy to declare the independence of the Ukrainian Soviet Federative Republic before the Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Republic and to negotiate with the Council of People's Commissars regarding the conclusion of an agreement between both Soviet Federations - Russian and Ukrainian."

The Extraordinary Plenipotentiary Embassy was headed by the head of the People's Secretariat and People's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Skripnyk.

In Moscow, Skripnik immediately prepared an article “The New State of the Revolution in Ukraine,” in which he attempted to provide complete and accurate information about events in the republic, which were often incorrectly covered by the Russian press. The article talked about the balance of power, the mood of the masses, the attitude towards the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, relations with the left Socialist Revolutionaries, and the prospects for the revolutionary struggle. The section “Purpose of coming to Moscow” was specially highlighted, which stated:

“We were sent by the Central Executive Committee of the Ukrainian Soviets and the People's Secretariat to officially declare before the Council of People's Commissars and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee about the declaration of the independence of Ukraine by the Second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. We came as an embassy from an independent state to declare that our attitude towards the Russian Federation will be entirely friendly.
We understand well that at the moment the Soviet power of Russia cannot come to our aid, but we rely on our own strength, which is growing every day...”

After Skripnik’s speech at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR on April 1 and the announcement of the declaration of the plenipotentiary embassy of Soviet Ukraine at a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars on April 3, the Russian government adopted a resolution in which it expressed its “sympathy for the heroic struggle of the working and exploited masses of Ukraine.”

Skrypnik considered the severance of federal ties between the Soviet UPR and the RSFSR to be purely formal, and the unification of both republics as inviolable. However, at the same time a complication arose in the relations between the leadership of the Soviet entities. In response to the demand of the People's Commissar for National Affairs of the RSFSR I. Stalin for the Ukrainians to stop “playing government and republic” and to leave Taganrog to the Ukrainian Soviet center, Skripnik promptly prepared a special statement, which contained a protest against the statements of one of the key figures of the RCP (b) and the RSFSR. The unpleasant episode may have left its mark on Stalin’s further personal relations with Skripnik, which at times acquired a rather critical tone.

Creation of KP(b)U

However, at the First Congress of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine (July 5-12, 1918, Moscow), N. Skripnik was unable to strengthen his position. The draft resolutions he proposed, in particular the fundamentally important one on the current situation, were blocked. As at the Taganrog meeting, he proposed to the congress the wording of a document on the formation of a separate, organizationally independent Communist Party of Ukraine. However, during the discussion it became clear that its author does not have a reasoned, clearly constructed logical scheme. After discussing the draft resolutions, N. Skripnik withdrew his version. E. Quiring’s proposal to form the CP(b)U as a regional organization of the RCP(b) was accepted. Apparently, N. Skripnyk did not perceive the withdrawal of his own resolution to vote and approve another resolution as his own defeat. Advantage, as always, was given to the idea of revolutionary expediency, of the most effective form of life of the party body.

On July 8, 1918, in a report at the First Congress of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, N. Skripnik declared that the main task of the working class was “to prevent the landowners and capitalists, counter-revolutionaries from creating an apparatus and force that could take power into their own hands.”

However, such considerations cannot be considered convincing and logical. The first secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b)V were elected G. Pyatakov, E. Quiring, S. Kosior, who on many fundamental issues of that difficult time often held, as officially assessed in the relevant documents, “erroneous views.”

Obviously, other motives played a major role. N. Skripnik, as a rule, did not join any of the trends that were then formed and often manifested themselves from polar positions. He never sought factionalism, to unite some group of people around himself, he always wanted to be above such behavior, hoping that he was fundamentally defending the general party interest. And while there was a struggle between representatives of the “left” and the right, he, naturally, could not really lay claim to the first role in the party, for which there was often desperate competition.

Work in the Cheka

From July 1918 to December 1918, Skrypnik was the head of the Cheka department for combating counter-revolution. At meetings of the presidium of the department's board, they repeatedly issued decisions on capital punishment for counter-revolutionaries. In December 1918 and January 1919, Skrypnik was the head of the secret operational department of the Cheka.

Back in government

Since January 1919, the People's Commissar of State Control and the Supreme Socialist Inspectorate has been helping to establish the functioning of the Soviet apparatus of the republic. With the advance of A. Denikin’s White Guard army, he was at the fronts: head of the political department of the Gomel fortified region, head of the special department of the South-Eastern (Caucasian) Front (or South-Western?) [ ] .

Having returned after the defeat of the “Denikinism” to the post of People’s Commissar of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate (May 1920), N. Skripnik in July simultaneously became the head of the plenipotentiary representative of the People’s Commissariat of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate of the RSFSR in Ukraine. 07/13/1921 appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. In addition, he headed the All-Ukrainian Commission on the History of the October Revolution and the Communist Party (B)U (Istpart), the Main Archive Directorate under the People's Commissariat for Education (Glavarchive), the Central Council for the Protection of Children, the Ukrainian Commission for the Registration and Distribution of Evacuated Institutions and Persons (Evakkom), led the work of a number of other state and public organizations, was a member of many responsible institutions and commissions.

He became a member of the Presidium of the VUTsVK and actively participated in meetings of the Council of People's Commissars.

In January 1922, in the absence of the head of government Kh. Rakovsky (he was on a business trip), he was briefly appointed deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and VUTsVK - even the acting head of the government of Ukraine (while retaining the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs). However, literally a few days later, D. Manuilsky became deputy chairman of the RNA, and N. Skripnik was left with only the People's Commissar's prerogatives. In April 1922, he was transferred to the post of People's Commissar of Justice of Ukraine. In July-August 1922 N. Skripnik again worked as Deputy Chairman of the RNK, and from January-February 1923 he took the post of Prosecutor General of the Republic, remaining People's Commissar of Justice.

In 1927-1933 - People's Commissar of Education of the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1932 - early 1933, Skrypnik actually opposed increased rates of grain procurement, which Kaganovich specifically emphasized in his letter to Stalin in the summer of 1932

Contribution to socio-cultural development

Skrypnyk’s role was important in the preparation of the most important state documents - the constitutions of the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR - he was a member of the union and republican commissions 18 for the preparation of relevant projects, and actively participated in discussions regarding the principles of relationships in a federal state, the rights and responsibilities of its individual subjects. Skrypnyk directed the process of creating basic documents for the functioning of the then Ukrainian society - civil, criminal, land, family codes, etc. However, at the same time, according to the then traditions, important deviations from scientific foundations were often allowed, their replacement with the logic and practice of “revolutionary expediency.”

In the 20s N. Skripnyk has been working a lot and fruitfully on developing the theory of the national question, searching for ways to optimally solve the Ukrainian problem in the process of building socialism. His authority in this area was irrefutable not only in Ukraine, but also in the USSR in general. Skripnik was a participant in all large-scale public discussions and forums where topical issues of the development of a multinational state, national revival and development in the union republics were discussed. Skripnyk oversaw the issues of spelling reform of the Ukrainian language (the so-called “Kharkov spelling”, adopted in 1920-1930, is also called “Skripnikovsky”).

Skrypnyk’s significant contribution to resolving issues of national, state and cultural construction in Ukraine: from March 1927 to the beginning of 1933, he headed the People’s Commissariat for Education of the Ukrainian SSR. The People's Commissariat then supervised the development of general primary and secondary education, higher education, science, literature, theater, cinema, music, and fine arts. Under the People's Commissariat of Education there were departments: Main Science (all research institutions, including UAS were under jurisdiction); Glavpolitprosvet, which directed the activities of city and rural clubs, reading rooms, libraries, as well as relevant educational institutions; Glavlit, who controlled the publishing process in the republic. The State Publishing House of Ukraine and the Book Chamber were also subordinate to him.

In parallel with this, N. Skripnik served as director All-Ukrainian Institute of Marxism-Leninism(VIML), headed the Association of Historians, was the secretary of the UAN faction, the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, was a member of the editorial board of the magazine Bilshovik of Ukraine, and headed the department of national issues. And he tried to use all his capabilities as much as possible for the comprehensive development of nations, implementing the policy of Ukrainization. Significant successes have been achieved in the training of personnel of various skill levels from representatives of indigenous nationalities, an important expansion of the scope of use of the Ukrainian language, the development of Ukrainian culture, and the creation of favorable opportunities for the activation of national and cultural life outside the Ukrainian SSR. At the same time, much was done to ensure the national and cultural development of all national minorities that lived in Ukraine. Through the efforts of N. Skripnyk and his entourage, the Ukrainian SSR was transformed into a kind of laboratory for solving the national question. However, the democratic, humanistic orientation of this process gradually came into irreconcilable disagreement with the strengthening of the totalitarian system in the USSR. And N. Skripnik himself could not reconcile, organically combine the two principles that were struggling in him - to serve his native people as much as possible and to implement the international course as consistently as possible, which in practice was identified with the transformation of the USSR from a federal state to a unitary one, where the possibilities of the national one were increasingly limited arrangement. Involvement in Ukrainization began to be classified (since 1926) as hostile to socialism.

Campaign against Skripnyk

Vladimir Vinnichenko responded to the suicide of N. Skripnik from emigration: “Skripnik took his own life... In order with his death to give a slogan to other comrades who want to be honest, sincere, consistent communists, to prove to them that his policy was not mistaken, was not in the interests of his ambitions, or benefits, or some other personal national intentions. For what argument could be more convincing than death?..."

In February 1933, he was relieved of his post as People's Commissar of Education and appointed head of the State Planning Committee and deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR.

In the last year of Skrypnyk’s life, an intense campaign was waged against him. His works tirelessly sought out “perversion of Leninism,” “nationalist mistakes,” “sabotage in linguistics,” and the activities of the People’s Commissar of Ukraine.

The spearheads of the last plenums of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) at which Skripnik was present (February and June) were mostly directed against him. They demanded that he draw up a document of repentance acknowledging his “mistakes.” This issue was repeatedly brought up at meetings of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) at which N. Skripnik’s explanations were considered, and all of them were considered unsatisfactory.

The posthumous campaign around N. Skripnik began at the November (1933) joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the CP(b)U, the resolution of which already spoke of the formation of “a new nationalist deviation in the ranks of the party, headed by N. A. Skripnik.” On March 27, 1934, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) adopted a special resolution “On the confiscation of the works of N. Skripnik.”

Skripnik left a large literary and scientific-journalistic heritage, distinguished by a significant number of works (over 600) and breadth of topics. The author's attention was drawn to problems from various fields of science and culture - history, the national question, the theory and practice of state and party building, economics, law, literature and art, and other fields of knowledge. Over 160 works by N. Skripnik were included in 1929-31. to a collection of his articles and speeches in 5 volumes (7 books), which turned out to be unfinished (the 3rd volume and the 2nd part of the 4th volume did not see the world).

Memory

Only three decades later, in 1962, according to the resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine “On the 90th anniversary of the birth of N. Skrypnyk,” the question of publishing his works arose. However, the completion of this task dragged on for almost another 30 years: a collection of his selected works was published only in 1991.

In 1968 in Kharkov on the street. Pushkinskaya erected a monument to N. A. Skripnik (sculptor M. F. Ovsyankin, architect V. G. Gnezdilov).

March 28, 1990. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, by a special resolution, recognized that the political accusations of N. Skrypnyk in the so-called national deviationism were based on falsified materials and distorted ideas about his views and activities and decided to consider N. Skripnyk rehabilitated in party terms (posthumously).

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Notes

Literature

Valery Soldatenko, “Unbreakable. The life and death of Mikoly Skrypnyk” (Kiev: Poshukovo-vidavnych agency “Book of Memory of Ukraine”, 2002) - 325 pages.

Links

Government portal of Ukraine (ukr.)
(in Ukrainian)
(in Ukrainian)
in the database “History of Belarusian science in persons” of the Central Scientific Library named after. Ya.Kolas NAS of Belarus
in the repository of the Central Scientific Library named after. Yakub Kolas NAS of Belarus

An excerpt characterizing Skripnik, Nikolai Alekseevich

While he was approaching, a shot rang out from this gun, deafening him and his retinue, and in the smoke that suddenly surrounded the gun, the artillerymen were visible, picking up the gun and, hastily straining, rolling it to its original place. The broad-shouldered, huge soldier 1st with a banner, legs spread wide, jumped towards the wheel. The 2nd, with a shaking hand, put the charge into the barrel. A small, stooped man, Officer Tushin, tripped over his trunk and ran forward, not noticing the general and looking out from under his small hand.
“Add two more lines, it will be just like that,” he shouted in a thin voice, to which he tried to give a youthful appearance that did not suit his figure. - Second! - he squeaked. - Smash it, Medvedev!
Bagration called out to the officer, and Tushin, with a timid and awkward movement, not at all in the way the military salutes, but in the way the priests bless, placing three fingers on the visor, approached the general. Although Tushin’s guns were intended to bombard the ravine, he fired with fire guns at the village of Shengraben, visible ahead, in front of which large masses of the French were advancing.
No one ordered Tushin where or with what to shoot, and he, after consulting with his sergeant major Zakharchenko, for whom he had great respect, decided that it would be good to set the village on fire. "Fine!" Bagration said to the officer’s report and began to look around the entire battlefield opening before him, as if thinking something. On the right side the French came closest. Below the height at which the Kiev regiment stood, in the ravine of the river, the soul-grabbing rolling chatter of guns was heard, and much to the right, behind the dragoons, a retinue officer pointed out to the prince the French column encircling our flank. To the left, the horizon was limited to a nearby forest. Prince Bagration ordered two battalions from the center to go to the right for reinforcements. The retinue officer dared to notice to the prince that after these battalions left, the guns would be left without cover. Prince Bagration turned to the retinue officer and looked at him silently with dull eyes. It seemed to Prince Andrei that the retinue officer’s remark was fair and that there was really nothing to say. But at that time an adjutant from the regimental commander, who was in the ravine, rode up with the news that huge masses of French were coming down, that the regiment was upset and was retreating to the Kyiv grenadiers. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign of agreement and approval. He walked to the right and sent an adjutant to the dragoons with orders to attack the French. But the adjutant sent there arrived half an hour later with the news that the dragoon regimental commander had already retreated beyond the ravine, for strong fire was directed against him, and he was losing people in vain and therefore hurried the riflemen into the forest.
- Fine! – said Bagration.
While he was driving away from the battery, shots were also heard in the forest to the left, and since it was too far to the left flank to arrive on time himself, Prince Bagration sent Zherkov there to tell the senior general, the same one who represented the regiment to Kutuzov in Braunau to retreat as quickly as possible beyond the ravine, because the right flank will probably not be able to hold the enemy for long. About Tushin and the battalion covering him were forgotten. Prince Andrei carefully listened to the conversations of Prince Bagration with the commanders and to the orders given to them and was surprised to notice that no orders were given, and that Prince Bagration only tried to pretend that everything that was done by necessity, chance and the will of private commanders, that all this was done, although not on his orders, but in accordance with his intentions. Thanks to the tact shown by Prince Bagration, Prince Andrei noticed that, despite this randomness of events and their independence from the will of their superior, his presence did an enormous amount. The commanders, who approached Prince Bagration with upset faces, became calm, the soldiers and officers cheerfully greeted him and became more animated in his presence and, apparently, flaunted their courage in front of him.

Prince Bagration, having reached the highest point of our right flank, began to descend downwards, where rolling fire was heard and nothing was visible from the gunpowder smoke. The closer they descended to the ravine, the less they could see, but the more sensitive the proximity of the real battlefield became. They began to meet wounded people. One with a bloody head, without a hat, was dragged by two soldiers by the arms. He wheezed and spat. The bullet apparently hit the mouth or throat. Another, whom they met, walked cheerfully alone, without a gun, groaning loudly and waving his hand in fresh pain, from which blood flowed, like from a glass, onto his overcoat. His face seemed more frightened than suffering. He was wounded a minute ago. Having crossed the road, they began to descend steeply and on the descent they saw several people lying down; They were met by a crowd of soldiers, including some who were not wounded. The soldiers walked up the hill, breathing heavily, and, despite the appearance of the general, they talked loudly and waved their hands. Ahead, in the smoke, rows of gray greatcoats were already visible, and the officer, seeing Bagration, ran screaming after the soldiers walking in a crowd, demanding that they return. Bagration drove up to the rows, along which shots were quickly clicking here and there, drowning out the conversation and shouts of command. The entire air was filled with gunpowder smoke. The soldiers' faces were all smoked with gunpowder and animated. Some hammered them with ramrods, others sprinkled them on the shelves, took charges out of their bags, and still others shot. But who they shot at was not visible due to the gunpowder smoke, which was not carried away by the wind. Quite often pleasant sounds of buzzing and whistling were heard. "What it is? - thought Prince Andrei, driving up to this crowd of soldiers. – It can’t be an attack because they don’t move; there can be no carre: they don’t cost that way.”
A thin, weak-looking old man, a regimental commander, with a pleasant smile, with eyelids that more than half covered his senile eyes, giving him a meek appearance, rode up to Prince Bagration and received him like the host of a dear guest. He reported to Prince Bagration that there was a French cavalry attack against his regiment, but that although this attack was repulsed, the regiment lost more than half of its people. The regimental commander said that the attack was repulsed, coining this military name for what was happening in his regiment; but he himself really did not know what was happening in those half an hour in the troops entrusted to him, and could not say with certainty whether the attack was repulsed or his regiment was defeated by the attack. At the beginning of the action, he only knew that cannonballs and grenades began to fly throughout his regiment and hit people, that then someone shouted: “cavalry,” and our people began to shoot. And until now they were shooting not at the cavalry, which had disappeared, but at the foot French, who appeared in the ravine and fired at ours. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign that all this was exactly as he wished and expected. Turning to the adjutant, he ordered him to bring two battalions of the 6th Jaeger, which they had just passed, from the mountain. Prince Andrei was struck at that moment by the change that had occurred in the face of Prince Bagration. His face expressed that concentrated and happy determination that happens to a man who is ready to throw himself into the water on a hot day and is taking his final run. There were no sleep-deprived dull eyes, no feignedly thoughtful look: round, hard, hawk-like eyes looked forward enthusiastically and somewhat contemptuously, obviously not stopping at anything, although the same slowness and regularity remained in his movements.
The regimental commander turned to Prince Bagration, asking him to move back, since it was too dangerous here. “Have mercy, your Excellency, for God’s sake!” he said, looking for confirmation at the retinue officer, who was turning away from him. “Here, if you please see!” He let them notice the bullets that were constantly screeching, singing and whistling around them. He spoke in the same tone of request and reproach with which a carpenter says to a gentleman who has taken up an ax: “Our business is familiar, but you will callus your hands.” He spoke as if these bullets could not kill him, and his half-closed eyes gave his words an even more convincing expression. The staff officer joined the admonitions of the regimental commander; but Prince Bagration did not answer them and only ordered to stop shooting and line up in such a way as to make room for the two approaching battalions. While he was speaking, as if with an invisible hand he was stretched from right to left, from the rising wind, a canopy of smoke that hid the ravine, and the opposite mountain with the French moving along it opened before them. All eyes were involuntarily fixed on this French column, moving towards us and meandering along the ledges of the area. The shaggy hats of the soldiers were already visible; it was already possible to distinguish officers from privates; one could see how their banner fluttered against the staff.
“They are going nicely,” said someone in Bagration’s retinue.
The head of the column had already descended into the ravine. The collision was supposed to happen on this side of the descent...
The remnants of our regiment, which was in action, hastily formed and retreated to the right; from behind them, dispersing the stragglers, two battalions of the 6th Jaeger approached in order. They had not yet reached Bagration, but a heavy, ponderous step could already be heard, beating in step with the entire mass of people. From the left flank, walking closest to Bagration was the company commander, a round-faced, stately man with a stupid, happy expression on his face, the same one who ran out of the booth. He, apparently, was not thinking about anything at that moment, except that he would pass by his superiors like a charmer.
With a sporty complacency, he walked lightly on his muscular legs, as if he were swimming, stretching out without the slightest effort and distinguished by this lightness from the heavy step of the soldiers who followed his step. He carried a thin, narrow sword taken out at his foot (a bent sword that did not look like a weapon) and, looking first at his superiors, then back, without losing his step, he turned flexibly with his whole strong figure. It seemed that all the forces of his soul were aimed at getting past the authorities in the best possible way, and, feeling that he was doing this job well, he was happy. “Left... left... left...”, he seemed to say internally after every step, and according to this rhythm, with variously stern faces, a wall of soldier figures, weighed down with backpacks and guns, moved, as if each of these hundreds of soldiers was mentally saying, every step of the way: “ left... left... left...". The fat major, puffing and staggering, walked around the bush along the road; the lagging soldier, out of breath, with a frightened face for his malfunction, was catching up with the company at a trot; the cannonball, pressing the air, flew over the head of Prince Bagration and his retinue and to the beat: “left - left!” hit the column. “Close!” came the swaggering voice of the company commander. The soldiers circled around something in the place where the cannonball fell; an old cavalier, a flank non-commissioned officer, falling behind near the dead, caught up with his line, jumped, changed his foot, fell into step and looked back angrily. “Left... left... left...” seemed to be heard from behind the threatening silence and the monotonous sound of feet simultaneously hitting the ground.
- Well done, guys! - said Prince Bagration.
“For the sake of... wow wow wow wow!...” was heard through the ranks. The gloomy soldier walking on the left, shouting, looked back at Bagration with such an expression as if he was saying: “we know it ourselves”; the other, without looking back and as if afraid to have fun, with his mouth open, shouted and walked by.
They were ordered to stop and take off their backpacks.
Bagration rode around the ranks passing by and dismounted from his horse. He gave the Cossack the reins, took off and gave his cloak, straightened his legs and adjusted the cap on his head. The head of the French column, with officers in front, appeared from under the mountain.
"With God blessing!" Bagration said in a firm, audible voice, turned for a moment to the front and, slightly waving his arms, with the awkward step of a cavalryman, as if working, he walked forward along the uneven field. Prince Andrei felt that some irresistible force was pulling him forward, and he experienced great happiness. [Here occurred the attack about which Thiers says: “Les russes se conduisirent vaillamment, et chose rare a la guerre, on vit deux masses d"infanterie Mariecher resolument l"une contre l"autre sans qu"aucune des deux ceda avant d "etre abordee"; and Napoleon on the island of St. Helena said: "Quelques bataillons russes montrerent de l"intrepidite." [The Russians behaved valiantly, and a rare thing in war, two masses of infantry marched decisively against each other, and neither of the two yielded until the clash." Napoleon's words: [Several Russian battalions showed fearlessness.]
The French were already getting close; Already Prince Andrei, walking next to Bagration, clearly distinguished the baldrics, red epaulettes, even the faces of the French. (He clearly saw one old French officer, who, with twisted legs in boots, was hardly walking up the hill.) Prince Bagration did not give a new order and still walked silently in front of the ranks. Suddenly, one shot cracked between the French, another, a third... and smoke spread through all the disorganized enemy ranks and gunfire crackled. Several of our men fell, including the round-faced officer, who was walking so cheerfully and diligently. But at the same instant the first shot rang out, Bagration looked back and shouted: “Hurray!”
“Hurray aa aa!” a drawn-out scream echoed along our line and, overtaking Prince Bagration and each other, our people ran down the mountain in a discordant, but cheerful and animated crowd after the upset French.

The attack of the 6th Jaeger ensured the retreat of the right flank. In the center, the action of the forgotten battery of Tushin, who managed to light Shengraben, stopped the movement of the French. The French put out the fire, carried by the wind, and gave time to retreat. The retreat of the center through the ravine was hasty and noisy; however, the troops, retreating, did not mix up their commands. But the left flank, which was simultaneously attacked and bypassed by the superior forces of the French under the command of Lannes and which consisted of the Azov and Podolsk infantry and Pavlograd hussar regiments, was upset. Bagration sent Zherkov to the general of the left flank with orders to immediately retreat.
Zherkov smartly, without removing his hand from his cap, touched his horse and galloped off. But as soon as he drove away from Bagration, his strength failed him. An insurmountable fear came over him, and he could not go where it was dangerous.
Having approached the troops of the left flank, he did not go forward, where there was shooting, but began to look for the general and commanders where they could not be, and therefore did not convey the order.
The command of the left flank belonged by seniority to the regimental commander of the very regiment that was represented at Braunau by Kutuzov and in which Dolokhov served as a soldier. The command of the extreme left flank was assigned to the commander of the Pavlograd regiment, where Rostov served, as a result of which a misunderstanding occurred. Both commanders were very irritated against each other, and while things had been going on on the right flank for a long time and the French had already begun their offensive, both commanders were busy in negotiations that were intended to insult each other. The regiments, both cavalry and infantry, were very little prepared for the upcoming task. The people of the regiments, from soldier to general, did not expect battle and calmly went about peaceful affairs: feeding horses in the cavalry, collecting firewood in the infantry.
“He is, however, older than me in rank,” said the German, a hussar colonel, blushing and turning to the adjutant who had arrived, “then leave him to do as he wants.” I cannot sacrifice my hussars. Trumpeter! Play retreat!
But things were getting to a point in a hurry. The cannonade and shooting, merging, thundered on the right and in the center, and the French hoods of the Lannes riflemen had already passed the mill dam and lined up on this side in two rifle shots. The infantry colonel walked up to the horse with a trembling gait and, climbing onto it and becoming very straight and tall, rode to the Pavlograd commander. The regimental commanders gathered with polite bows and with hidden malice in their hearts.
“Again, Colonel,” said the general, “I cannot, however, leave half the people in the forest.” “I ask you, I ask you,” he repeated, “to take a position and prepare to attack.”
“And I ask you not to interfere, it’s not your business,” the colonel answered, getting excited. - If you were a cavalryman...
- I’m not a cavalryman, colonel, but I’m a Russian general, and if you don’t know this...
“It’s very well known, Your Excellency,” the colonel suddenly cried out, touching the horse, and turning red and purple. “Would you like to put me in chains, and you will see that this position is worthless?” I don't want to destroy my regiment for your pleasure.
- You are forgetting yourself, Colonel. I do not respect my pleasure and will not allow anyone to say this.
The general, accepting the colonel's invitation to the tournament of courage, straightened his chest and frowned, rode with him towards the chain, as if all their disagreement was to be resolved there, in the chain, under the bullets. They arrived in a chain, several bullets flew over them, and they stopped silently. There was nothing to see in the chain, since even from the place where they had previously stood, it was clear that it was impossible for the cavalry to operate in the bushes and ravines, and that the French were going around the left wing. The general and the colonel looked sternly and significantly, like two roosters preparing for battle, at each other, waiting in vain for signs of cowardice. Both passed the exam. Since there was nothing to say, and neither one nor the other wanted to give the other a reason to say that he was the first to escape from the bullets, they would have stood there for a long time, mutually testing their courage, if at that time in the forest, almost behind them, there had not been the crackle of guns and a dull merging cry were heard. The French attacked soldiers who were in the forest with firewood. The hussars could no longer retreat along with the infantry. They were cut off from the retreat to the left by a French chain. Now, no matter how inconvenient the terrain was, it was necessary to attack in order to pave a path for ourselves.
The squadron where Rostov served, having just managed to mount his horses, was stopped facing the enemy. Again, as on the Ensky Bridge, there was no one between the squadron and the enemy, and between them, dividing them, lay the same terrible line of uncertainty and fear, as if the line separating the living from the dead. All people felt this line, and the question of whether or not they would cross the line and how they would cross the line worried them.
A colonel drove up to the front, angrily answered the officers’ questions and, like a man desperately insisting on his own, gave some kind of order. No one said anything definite, but rumors of an attack spread throughout the squadron. The formation command was heard, then the sabers screeched as they were taken out of their scabbards. But still no one moved. The troops on the left flank, both infantry and hussars, felt that the authorities themselves did not know what to do, and the indecisiveness of the leaders was communicated to the troops.
“Hurry, hurry,” thought Rostov, feeling that the time had finally come to experience the pleasure of attack, about which he had heard so much from his comrades of the hussars.
“With God, you fuckers,” Denisov’s voice sounded, “ysyo, magician!”
In the front row the rumps of horses swayed. The rook pulled the reins and set off himself.
On the right, Rostov saw the first ranks of his hussars, and even further ahead he could see a dark stripe, which he could not see, but considered the enemy. Shots were heard, but in the distance.
- Increase the trot! - a command was heard, and Rostov felt his Grachik giving in with his hindquarters, breaking into a gallop.
He guessed his movements in advance, and he became more and more fun. He noticed a lone tree ahead. At first this tree was in front, in the middle of that line that seemed so terrible. But we crossed this line, and not only was there nothing terrible, but it became more and more fun and lively. “Oh, how I will cut him,” thought Rostov, clutching the hilt of the saber in his hand.
- Oh oh oh ah ah!! - voices boomed. “Well, now whoever it is,” thought Rostov, pressing Grachik’s spurs in, and, overtaking the others, released him into the entire quarry. The enemy was already visible ahead. Suddenly, like a wide broom, something hit the squadron. Rostov raised his saber, preparing to cut, but at that time the soldier Nikitenko, galloping ahead, separated from him, and Rostov felt, as in a dream, that he continued to rush forward with unnatural speed and at the same time remained in place. From behind, the familiar hussar Bandarchuk galloped up at him and looked angrily. Bandarchuk's horse gave way, and he galloped past.
"What is this? Am I not moving? “I fell, I was killed...” Rostov asked and answered in an instant. He was already alone in the middle of the field. Instead of moving horses and hussars' backs, he saw motionless earth and stubble around him. Warm blood was underneath him. “No, I’m wounded and the horse is killed.” The rook stood up on his front legs, but fell, crushing the rider's leg. Blood was flowing from the horse's head. The horse was struggling and could not get up. Rostov wanted to get up and fell too: the cart caught on the saddle. Where ours were, where the French were, he didn’t know. There was no one around.
Freeing his leg, he stood up. “Where, on which side was now the line that so sharply separated the two armies?” – he asked himself and could not answer. “Has something bad happened to me? Do such cases happen, and what should be done in such cases? - he asked himself getting up; and at that time he felt that something unnecessary was hanging on his left numb hand. Her brush was like someone else's. He looked at his hand, searching in vain for blood on it. “Well, here are the people,” he thought joyfully, seeing several people running towards him. “They will help me!” Ahead of these people ran one in a strange shako and a blue overcoat, black, tanned, with a hooked nose. Two more and many more were running behind. One of them said something strange, non-Russian. Between the rear similar people, in the same shakos, stood one Russian hussar. They held his hands; his horse was held behind him.
“That's right, our prisoner... Yes. Will they really take me too? What kind of people are these? Rostov kept thinking, not believing his eyes. “Really the French?” He looked at the approaching French, and, despite the fact that in a second he galloped only to overtake these French and cut them down, their proximity now seemed so terrible to him that he could not believe his eyes. "Who are they? Why are they running? Really to me? Are they really running towards me? And for what? Kill me? Me, whom everyone loves so much? “He remembered the love of his mother, family, and friends for him, and the enemy’s intention to kill him seemed impossible. “Or maybe even kill!” He stood for more than ten seconds, not moving and not understanding his position. The leading Frenchman with a hooked nose ran up so close that the expression on his face could already be seen. And the heated, alien physiognomy of this man, who with a bayonet at his advantage, holding his breath, easily ran up to him, frightened Rostov. He grabbed the pistol and, instead of shooting from it, threw it at the Frenchman and ran towards the bushes as fast as he could. He ran not with the feeling of doubt and struggle with which he went to the Ensky Bridge, but with the feeling of a hare running away from dogs. One inseparable feeling of fear for his young, happy life controlled his entire being. Quickly jumping over boundaries, with the same swiftness with which he ran while playing burners, he flew across the field, occasionally turning around his pale, kind, young face, and a cold of horror ran down his back. “No, it’s better not to look,” he thought, but, running up to the bushes, he looked back again. The French fell behind, and even at that moment he looked back, the one in front had just changed his trot to a walk and, turning around, shouted loudly to his rear comrade. Rostov stopped. “Something is wrong,” he thought, “it can’t be that they wanted to kill me.” Meanwhile, his left hand was so heavy, as if a two-pound weight was hung from it. He couldn't run any further. The Frenchman also stopped and took aim. Rostov closed his eyes and bent down. One and another bullet flew, buzzing, past him. He gathered his last strength, took his left hand in his right and ran to the bushes. There were Russian riflemen in the bushes.

Infantry regiments, taken by surprise in the forest, ran out of the forest, and companies, mingling with other companies, left in disorderly crowds. One soldier, in fear, uttered the most terrible and meaningless word in war: “cut off!”, and the word, along with a feeling of fear, was communicated to the entire mass.
- We went around! Cut off! Gone! - shouted the voices of those running.
The regimental commander, at that very moment when he heard shooting and a scream from behind, realized that something terrible had happened to his regiment, and the thought that he, an exemplary officer who had served for many years, was innocent of anything, could be guilty before his superiors in an oversight or lack of discretion, so struck him that at that very moment, forgetting both the recalcitrant cavalryman colonel and his general importance, and most importantly, completely forgetting about the danger and the sense of self-preservation, he, grabbing the pommel of the saddle and spurring his horse, galloped towards the regiment under a hail of bullets showered him, but happily missed him. He wanted one thing: to find out what was the matter, and to help and correct the mistake at all costs, if it was on his part, and not to be blamed for him, who had served for twenty-two years, an unnoticed, exemplary officer.
Having happily galloped between the French, he galloped up to a field behind the forest through which our men were running and, not obeying the command, were going down the mountain. That moment of moral hesitation has come, which decides the fate of the battles: will these upset crowds of soldiers listen to the voice of their commander, or, looking back at him, will run further. Despite the desperate cry of the regimental commander’s previously so menacing voice for the soldier, despite the enraged, crimson face of the regimental commander, unlike himself, and the waving of his sword, the soldiers still ran, talked, shot in the air and did not listen to the commands. The moral hesitation that decided the fate of the battles was obviously resolved in favor of fear.
The general coughed from the scream and gunpowder smoke and stopped in despair. Everything seemed lost, but at that moment the French, who were advancing on ours, suddenly, for no apparent reason, ran back, disappeared from the edge of the forest, and Russian riflemen appeared in the forest. It was Timokhin's company, which alone in the forest remained in order and, having sat down in a ditch near the forest, unexpectedly attacked the French. Timokhin rushed at the French with such a desperate cry and with such insane and drunken determination, with only a skewer, ran at the enemy that the French, without having time to come to their senses, threw down their weapons and ran. Dolokhov, who was running next to Timokhin, killed one Frenchman at point-blank range and was the first to take the surrendering officer by the collar. The runners returned, the battalions gathered, and the French, who had divided the troops of the left flank into two parts, were pushed back for a moment. The reserve units managed to connect, and the fugitives stopped. The regimental commander was standing with Major Ekonomov at the bridge, letting the retreating companies pass by, when a soldier approached him, took him by the stirrup and almost leaned against him. The soldier was wearing a bluish, factory-made cloth overcoat, no knapsack or shako, his head was bandaged, and a French charging bag was put over his shoulder. He held an officer's sword in his hands. The soldier was pale, his blue eyes looked impudently into the face of the regimental commander, and his mouth was smiling. Despite the fact that the regimental commander was busy giving orders to Major Ekonomov, he could not help but pay attention to this soldier.

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