Sealed Lenin's carriage. Lenin, a sealed carriage and German gold

There is a fairly well-known story that the Germans brought Lenin and other revolutionaries to Russia in April 1917 in a sealed carriage, with the aim of leading Russia out of the war.

The story turned out to be so amusing that on its basis a persistent myth arose that the whole October revolution was wholly and entirely the result of the work of the German General Staff.

But where in this story is the truth, and where are the myths generated by someone's violent imagination?

Lenin's return to Russia in April 1917 did indeed take place. It is on the train, exactly through Germany - this is true. The train also included a "Lenin carriage", which was accompanied by two officers of the German General Staff.

That the carriage was completely sealed is an exaggeration. Only three of the four doors were sealed; through the fourth, passengers bought newspapers and food during stops. Three doors were sealed for ease of control, so that no one left the carriage and entered it without the knowledge of the accompanying officers - after all, one door is easier to keep track of than four.

If someone thinks that the car was sealed in order to maintain conspiracy, this is unlikely. The return of revolutionary emigrants to Russia was not a big secret. At the station in Zurich, from which they set off, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, a crowd of political opponents of about a hundred people gathered, they shouted accusations against the revolutionaries, in response to which they sang the International in chorus.

From this we can conclude that there was no deep conspiracy, which means that the historical role of the "carriage" and the cunning of the plans of the German General Staff should not be exaggerated.

If the return of emigrants were the result of long-term work of the German General Staff, which relied on the next revolution in Russia and its withdrawal from the war by the forces of Lenin and other "returnees" - probably the Germans would have taken care of secrecy a little better and would not have allowed their "agents" to sing the Internationale in chorus right in front of sending.

It is also important to note that not one train with emigrants went to Russia, but three. Among the returnees were not only Bolsheviks, but also anarchists, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Polish socialists, Latvians, Lithuanians, Jews and even persons who did not declare their party affiliation.

Thus, one can doubt that there was locally any particularly careful planning of the revolution with a stake specifically on Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

The return of a large number of emigrants (as many as three trains), belonging to very different parties, was of interest to the Germans as a banal anti-war agitation.

The interest of the German leadership was indeed and the passage of emigrants through Germany was agreed at the highest level, however, it was viewed precisely as a transfer to Russia of politically active citizens who adhere to anti-war views and their activities would put pressure on society, the army and the government.

But at the same time, the German General Staff was not even the initiator of this trip.

The idea was thrown to the Germans by the Social Democrat Parvus - an extremely curious and ambiguous personality.

Parvus was born in Russia (Berezino), but back in 1885 he went to study in Zurich and there he was already carried away by the ideas of social democracy, began to engage in politics and write articles.

Back in the 90s, Parvus made many contacts with both European and Russian leaders of the social democratic parties, in particular with Rosa Luxemburg. Parvus was actively published in Iskra. In 1903, Parvus supported the Mensheviks, then became close to Trotsky.

At one time, Parvus predicted the Russo-Japanese War long before it began, and also argued that great changes would follow.

For many years, while living in Europe, Parvus tried to actively participate in the Russian revolutionary movement. His activity was most active in 1905, when Parvus and Trotsky published several newspapers, including the "Russian newspaper", the circulation of which at some point reached 500 thousand copies.

Those who knew Parvus noted that he liked to do everything on a grand scale. At the same time, Parvus was very partial to money and sought to get rich, which did not prevent him from defending the ideas of social democracy and denouncing the bourgeoisie.

It can take a very long time to list the various projects, projects and affairs of Parvus, his acquaintances and contacts both in Russia and in Europe.

Parvus lived a stormy social, political and media life, his connections were very extensive, and the fact that it was he who gave the German government the idea to take advantage of the February revolution that happened in Russia and return the emigrants is not at all surprising.

The German leadership saw in this proposal its benefits, described above - anti-war agitation by the forces of politically active "returnees". But nothing more.

Thoroughly worked out revolutionary plans, which Lenin was supposed to implement, did not exist in the German leadership. There was a stormy social and political activity of Parvus, who tried to insert his five kopecks into every case, one way or another connected with social democracy and revolutionary activity.

When Lenin learned that Parvus was the organizer of the trip to Russia, he refused:

"Of course, I cannot use the services of people who have connections to the Bell publisher (that is, Parvus)."

"The Berlin permit is unacceptable to me. Either the Swiss government will get a carriage to Copenhagen, or the Russian will agree to exchange all emigrants for interned Germans."

What exactly was the reason for Lenin's refusal to Parvus is difficult to say. Perhaps there was a personal or ideological conflict. Perhaps Lenin feared that Parvus's participation would compromise the case, because Parvus was a controversial person and the attitude towards him was ambiguous.

In the future, the Bolsheviks will refuse the mediation of Parvus once again - this will be in December 1917.

However, despite Lenin's refusal to Parvus, the idea of ​​organizing the trip had already been accepted and approved by the German leadership. And Lenin also thought about returning.

In order not to use the services of Parvus, Lenin contacts the Swiss Social Democrat Robert Grimm, who asks him to act as an intermediary in negotiations with the Germans.

In the future, the role of mediator will pass to Friedrich Platten, with whom an agreement will be concluded, stipulating the conditions of travel.

The following clauses of the contract are of interest:

"4. Passengers will be accepted into the carriage regardless of their views and attitudes towards the issue of war or peace."

From this we can conclude that the Germans did not pin any too high hopes on the "returnees" and were not the authors of the agreement, otherwise this clause would not have appeared. If the Germans themselves planned the operation and made a selection of "agents", they would try to fill the carriage exclusively with "peacekeepers."

"6. If possible, travel should be made without interruption. No one should leave the carriage either by their own free will or by order. There should be no delays along the way without technical necessity."

To fulfill this point, three of the four doors were sealed so that no one left the carriage. Most likely, the initiator of this point was the German side. The goal is to exclude the disembarkation of passengers on the territory of Germany, because there was no passport control when boarding the carriage and this could be used by those wishing to uncontrollably get into German territory.

"9. The speediest possible move from the Swiss border to the Swedish border is technically feasible."

The train with "Lenin's carriage" proceeded from Switzerland not directly to Russia, but to Sweden. The German leadership agreed to let the train pass through the front line, this is reliably known, but Lenin himself preferred to travel to Sweden.

To be more precise, the train proceeded to the Sassnitz station, from where Lenin and the emigrants reached Sweden by steamer, but these are details.

This again gives rise to doubt that the German General Staff was developing some kind of special plan, part of which was Lenin's return to Russia.

For a secret and carefully worked out plan, there is too much publicity and different conditions on the part of Lenin himself:

1. The dispatch of a train in Switzerland is becoming widely known, political opponents of Lenin come to its departure, and the emigrants themselves, right at the station, are singing the Internationale in a mocking chorus. It is clear that after this every pig will know about Lenin's return to Russia.

2. Lenin refuses the mediation of Parvus (who gave the Germans the idea to return emigrants to Russia) and acts officially through Fritz Platten, secretary of the Swiss Socialist Party and the German Foreign Ministry.

3. The emigrants did not cross directly to Russia, but to Sweden, while the German leadership was losing the ability to control whether they would reach Russia and in what composition.

4. Lenin insisted on admitting everyone to the carriage, regardless of political views and attitude to the war - again, it would be strange for a special operation if it had been developed by the German General Staff.

5. Not only Lenin and his comrades returned to Russia, but also a large number of emigrants from various parties, as well as those who did not declare their party affiliation. As many as three trains. For a special operation - too diverse contingent.

From this we can conclude that no definite plans regarding Lenin were developed in the German General Staff.

There was a return of political emigrants initiated by Parvus, which the Germans considered useful in terms of anti-war agitation, but nothing more.

Obviously, the Germans reasoned simply and pragmatically - there will definitely not be any worse from the return of political emigrants to Russia, but it could be better. If the "returnees" help to get Russia out of the war as soon as possible - the Germans are good, if they don't help - the Germans did not lose anything, so the plan was a win-win for them.

That is why the Germans agreed to let through their territory all emigrants of different party affiliation and different views. The Germans did not begin to figure out which of the emigrants would be more useful in the withdrawal of Russia from the war - they simply let everyone in, without exception.

And the sealing of the car (or rather three of the four doors) was dictated only by the fact that when boarding the car there was no passport control and the Germans did not want anyone to take advantage of this for uncontrolled penetration into the territory of Germany.

Sealing the car did not pursue the goals of conspiracy. As shown above, the return of Lenin was not a secret; both supporters and opponents gathered to see him off in Zurich. The lack of special conspiracy is evidenced by the choral performance of the International right at the station.

Lenin's appearance in Stockholm was also no secret. Parvus tried to meet with Lenin there, but Vladimir Ilyich refused this meeting.

From Stockholm, Lenin and his comrades left for the Swedish-Finnish border and crossed it through customs in the city of Haparanda, which served as a place of active smuggling trade.

Subsequent events also show that Lenin did not take part in any special operation of the German General Staff.

The first attempt to overthrow the interim government was made in July and it was not at all like some complicated operation. Armed demonstrations took place under the windows of the Provisional Government, which were suppressed by arrests. The Bolsheviks were far from the only organizers of the July demonstrations, and according to some sources they had no direct relation to them at all.

When the arrests began, Lenin and Zinoviev fled to Razliv, in the now famous hut. However, Lenin's whereabouts were not a big secret and it was not difficult to arrest him if desired. In early August, Lenin moved to Finland, where he remained until October. Thus, Lenin's participation in the preparations for the October Revolution was very limited.

The greatest role in the preparation for the October revolution among the Bolsheviks was played not by Lenin, but by Trotsky - it was with his submission that on October 18, at a meeting of representatives of the regiments of the Petrograd garrison, the decision was made to disobey the Provisional Government. In fact, this was the beginning of the October armed uprising in Petrograd.

Trotsky participated in the work of the Petrograd Soviet since August, when he was released from Kresty on bail. Lenin was in Finland at that time.

At the same time, Trotsky was not among those who returned to Russia in the "Leninist carriage" - he returned on May 4 from America.

Interestingly, on the way from America to Russia, Trotsky was detained by the British due to the lack of Russian documents, but was soon released - "At the written request of the Provisional Government, Trotsky was released as an honored fighter against tsarism."

The Provisional Government itself, which at that time was led by Prince Lvov, facilitated the return of Trotsky to Russia, who later played a significantly greater role in the immediate preparation for the October coup and the overthrow of the Provisional Government than Lenin, who returned from Switzerland in a "sealed carriage" and most of time on the eve of October spent in Razliv and Finland.

And the revolution itself was not so much the result of the activities of the Bolsheviks as the result of the incapacity of the Provisional Government, the Kornilov revolt and the growth of the political influence of the Petrograd Soviet, in which the Bolsheviks won a majority only on the eve of the October Revolution.

The greatest role in the accomplishment of the October revolution was played not even by Trotsky, and even more so not by Lenin, but by Kerensky, Kornilov, even earlier Prince Lvov, and before him - Nicholas II, Prince Golitsyn, generals Ruzsky and Alekseev, as well as the chairman of the Duma Rodzianko and deputy Bublikov. It was they who made the October revolution almost inevitable, programmed it with their actions and mistakes, and some with their inaction, connivance and incompetence.

Trotsky, whose return was facilitated by the Provisional Government itself under the leadership of Prince Lvov, only contributed to the revolution at the final stage. And Lenin took up direct leadership after the coup.

Germany in all these events played the role of a transit country - a country that freely allowed three trains with emigrants (and not just one Lenin carriage) from Switzerland to Sweden and Russia.

Without a doubt, it was an interested transit, but just a transit.

And German money was never found in the treasury of the Bolsheviks in any noticeable quantities. And they never will. And the revolution happened not because the Bolsheviks had so much money, but because someone ruled the country very badly for many years.

In short, there was a sealed carriage, but the reason for the revolution was not in it.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin received the first news of the victory of the February Revolution in Russia on March 15, 1917, while in Zurich. From that moment on, he began to look for ways to return to his homeland as quickly as possible. Lenin knew very well that neither he nor other prominent Bolsheviks could go through England just like that. The British authorities were quite well aware of their revolutionary activities; when passing through England, they could be detained and even arrested. Nevertheless, Lenin was pondering the conditions of travel through England, which should have been agreed with the British government through negotiations. These conditions provided for the granting of the Swiss socialist Fritz Platten the right to transport any number of emigrants through England, regardless of their attitude to the war, the provision of a wagon enjoying the right of extraterritoriality on the territory of England, as well as the possibility of the fastest dispatch of emigrants from England by steamer to the port of any neutral country. But the British authorities did not agree to this, which forced the Russian emigrants in Switzerland to resort, as the last opportunity to return to Russia, to travel through Germany.

The idea of ​​obtaining permission to travel through Germany in exchange for the Germans and Austrians interned in Russia arose in emigre circles shortly after receiving news of the amnesty in Russia. The emigrants knew that during the war between Russia and Germany through neutral countries, there had been several exchanges of military detainees and prisoners of war, and believed that the amnesty announced by the Provisional Government would open up this convenient way of returning to their homeland. At a meeting of representatives of Russian and Polish socialist organizations of the Zimmerwald trend in Bern on March 19, this plan was put forward by the leader of the Mensheviks, Martov. One of the leaders of the Swiss Social Democracy, Robert Grimm, was instructed to probe the Swiss government to agree to mediate negotiations on this issue with representatives of the German authorities in Bern. When it finally became clear to Lenin that the road through England was closed, he turned to Martov's plan. But negotiations proceeded slowly, and Vladimir Ilyich decided to involve Fritz Platten in this case.

“Once, at 11 o'clock in the morning, I received a telephone call to the party secretariat and asked to be at half past one for a conversation with comrade Lenin in the premises of the Eintracht workers' club. I found a small group of comrades there at dinner. Lenin, Radek, Münzenberg and I went to the boardroom for a confidential conversation, and there Comrade Lenin turned to me with a question whether I would agree to be their confidant in organizing the trip and accompany them on their journey through Germany. After a short reflection, I answered in the affirmative, "wrote Platten in a book about Lenin's emigration.

The explanation with Grimm was short and decisive. Grimm stated that he considered Platten's interference undesirable. This statement further strengthened the previous distrust in Lenin. However, Grimm did nothing against this step, and Minister Romberg received Platten for negotiations on the case of the relocation of Russian émigrés living in Switzerland. On the instructions of Lenin and Zinoviev, Platten presented to Minister Romberg the following conditions on which the emigrants agree to move:

1. I, Fritz Platten, supervise, under my full personal responsibility, the carriage through Germany with political emigrants and legal persons wishing to go to Russia.
2. The carriage in which the emigrants are traveling shall enjoy the right of extraterritoriality.
3. No passport or identity checks should take place when entering or leaving Germany.
4. Persons are allowed to travel completely regardless of their political direction and views on war and peace.
5. Platten purchases the necessary train tickets for those leaving at the normal rate.
6. The journey should take place as non-stop as possible on direct trains. There should be no order to leave the carriage, nor exit from it on its own initiative. There should be no breaks when driving without technical need.
7. A travel permit is given on the basis of the exchange of those leaving for German and Austrian prisoners of war and internees in Russia. The mediator and the travelers undertake to agitate in Russia, especially among the workers, with the aim of making this exchange a reality.
8. The shortest possible travel time from the Swiss border to the Swedish border, as well as the technical details must be agreed immediately.

An unconditional agreement followed two days later. Announcing Berlin's decision, Romberg informed Platten that Janson, a representative of the General Commission of the German Trade Unions, would board the train in Stuttgart. From further negotiations it turned out that the following conditions for the move had been set: 1) the maximum number of people leaving should not exceed 60 people, 2) two second-class passenger carriages would stand at the ready in Gotmadingen. The day of departure was set by the German authorities for April 9th.

The group of those wishing to travel through Germany by April 1 consisted of only 10 people. Bolshevik groups in Switzerland, at Lenin's request, informed emigrants of all political trends that those wishing to go in the first party could join the group. In a few days, the initially small group of departures grew to 32 people.

By 11 o'clock in the morning on April 9, all the necessary preparations were completed and the Zurich railway station was warned of the departure of the emigrants. All those leaving were gathered at the Tseringerhof restaurant for a common modest dinner.

At half past three, a group of emigrants headed from the restaurant to the Zurich train station, loaded with pillows, blankets and other belongings. An impressive crowd of patriotic émigrés gathered at the station, shouting accusations of national treason and predictions that they would all be hanged in Russia as Jewish provocateurs. In response to this, when the train departed, its passengers sang the Internationale in chorus. According to the timetable, the train left at 3.10. At Teingen, a Swiss customs inspection took place, and passports were not checked.

The leader of the socialist revolution and the founder of the Soviet state Vladimir Ilyich Lenin after the collapse of the USSR, it was hard. The all-round reverence for the Soviet era was replaced by no less violent vilification and accusation of the politician for all mortal sins. Moreover, Lenin was reviled and accused by the same historians who had previously earned degrees on his praise.

Among the numerous accusations against the Bolshevik leader, one of the most common is the statement that Lenin acted on orders from German intelligence and on German money.

“Lenin was brought to Russia by the Germans in a sealed carriage so that he would destroy the country” - these are the words about the debunked leader sounded both in the 1990s and to this day.

At the same time, the accused very often have extremely vague ideas about what the "sealed carriage" was. The most prepared cite words Winston Churchill, who declared that the Germans brought Lenin to Russia in an isolated carriage as a "plague bacillus".

So what actually happened and is the "sealed carriage" proof of Lenin's work for German intelligence?

Unwanted "returnee"

After the victory of the February Revolution in Russia, the new authorities granted all political emigrants who were abroad the right to return to their homeland. This also applied to the leaders of the Bolshevik Party, including Lenin.

However, the return was hampered by a huge problem called the First World War. It was extremely difficult for Russian emigrants to get to Russia through Europe dug by trenches.

The provisional government allocated funds for the return of the opposition to Russia, but the Bolsheviks and representatives of a number of other parties could not count on such assistance.

The reason for this was the discrepancy in the issue of attitudes towards the war. The Provisional Government put forward the slogan "War to a Victorious End" and was interested in those who share it returning to Russia.

The negative attitude of Lenin and the Bolsheviks to the war was well known - this position has not been a secret since 1914. In this regard, the Provisional Government, without embarking on the path of prohibitions, was not going to help the Bolshevik leaders in returning to their homeland.

"Blacklist of pacifists"

This situation was closely watched by representatives of other countries that participated in the First World War, who sought to defend their interests. It was important for England and France to keep Russia as an ally, Germany was interested in Russia's withdrawal from the war.

Accordingly, the European powers treated Russian politicians according to their views on the war.

Those who supported the slogan "War to the bitter end" returned home through England, from where they went to Russia to Arkhangelsk, Murmansk or through Scandinavia by sea. Due to the danger of attack by German submarines, passenger steamers were guarded by British navy warships, and all traffic was controlled by the British Admiralty, Foreign Office and the police.

It was this route that was initially considered by the leaders of the Bolsheviks, who were in Switzerland, led by Lenin.

But very soon it became clear that this path had been ordered for them - the British special services harshly cut off those Russian emigrants who did not support the continuation of the war.

Moreover, the special services of the Entente had a "black list of the most dangerous pacifists", who were caught on the way to Russia.

It is for this reason that one of the founders and the main theoretician of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party was arrested in Great Britain on the way to Russia. Victor Chernov... In Russia, this caused a storm of indignation, and after the intervention of the Provisional Government, the SR was released and sent home. The Bolsheviks could not count on such an outcome.

German variant

And they were faced with the eternal Russian question "What is to be done?"

The idea of ​​returning to Russia through Germany was first expressed at a meeting of emigrants in Bern, not by Lenin, but by his former comrade-in-arms, and at that time an implacable enemy, the Menshevik Julius Martov... Lenin was initially skeptical of Martov's idea: a trip through the territory of an enemy country did not seem to be the best option.

However, time passed, appeals for help to the Provisional Government remained unanswered, the path through Great Britain promised arrest. The German General Staff expressed a desire to help the stuck "pacifists". There is nothing surprising in this - after all, in those very days, the British fleet covered the return to Russia of supporters of "war to the bitter end." European countries tried diligently to use the situation in Russia to their advantage ...

Another infrequently voiced fact today is that Russian emigrants who were in Switzerland turned directly to the Provisional Government for authorization to travel through German territory. But the Provisional Government was silent for the reasons that were named above.

In this situation, Lenin turned to the secretary of the Swiss Social Democratic Party Fritz Platten with a request to enter into negotiations with the German Ambassador to Switzerland Romberg about the passage of Russian emigrants through the territory of this country.

Nine Leninist Conditions

Germany was willingly ready to let the Russians pass, but the emigrants, paradoxically, set their conditions on the German side:

"Conditions of travel of Russian emigrants through Germany

1. I, Fritz Platten, accompany, at my full responsibility and at my own risk, the carriage with political emigrants and refugees returning through Germany to Russia.

2. Relations with the German authorities and officials are conducted exclusively and solely by Platten. Without his permission, no one has the right to enter the carriage.

3. The right of extraterritoriality is recognized for the carriage. No control of passports or passengers should be performed when entering or leaving Germany.

4. Passengers will be accepted into the carriage regardless of their views and attitudes towards the issue of war or peace.

5. Platten is responsible for supplying passengers with railway tickets at normal tariff prices.

6. If possible, travel should be completed without interruption. No one should leave the carriage either of their own free will or by order. There should be no delays along the way without technical necessity.

7. Permission to travel is given on the basis of exchange for German or Austrian prisoners of war or internees in Russia.

8. The mediator and the passengers undertake the obligation, personally and privately, to compel the working class to comply with clause 7.

9. The fastest possible move from the Swiss border to the Swedish border, as far as it is technically feasible. "

These conditions were accepted by the German side, after which the decision on the trip was approved.

Travel from Zurich to Petrograd

The very fact of the trip was not particularly secret. On the day of departure, April 9, at the Zurich train station, there were both 32 departing people and those seeing them off, among whom were those who did not approve of such a trip. It even came to an exchange of impartial remarks.

At 15:10 local time, 32 emigrants left Zurich to the German border station Gottmadingen. There they got into a sealed carriage, accompanied by two officers of the German General Staff.

The car was not really completely isolated from the outside world. “Our three carriage doors were sealed, the fourth, the back carriage door opened freely, since I and the officers were given the right to leave the carriage. The compartment closest to this free door was left to the two officers accompanying us. A chalk line on the floor of the corridor separated - without a neutral zone - the territory occupied by the Germans, on the one hand, from the Russian territory, on the other ... The High Command ordered its delegates to prevent any contact with the German population. Strict rules were in effect in the carriage itself. The travelers strictly adhered to the agreement, ”wrote Fritz Platten in his memoirs.

As agreed, the carriage with the emigrants proceeded as quickly as possible to the Sassnitz station, where they boarded the Queen Victoria steamer and crossed over to Sweden. Through the territory of Sweden and then Finland, Lenin and his associates reached Russia, arriving at the Finland Station in Petrograd on April 16, 1917.

Lenin with a group of Russian political emigrants in Stockholm on the day of his journey from Switzerland to Russia. (March 31 / April 13, 1917). Photo by V. Malmstrem. Faded: www.globallookpress.com

Who is not with us is a spy

An interesting point - the "sealed carriage" as "proof" of Lenin's work for German intelligence will be cited later, starting in July 1917, when the conflict between the Bolsheviks and the Provisional Government reaches a boiling point and a case on charges of espionage will be opened against the Bolshevik leader.

The accusation, by the way, is absolutely typical for that period, used to compromise political opponents. Russian revolutionary Nikolay Sukhanov, who joined the Mensheviks and later became a victim of Stalinist repressions, wrote: “Apart from the Bolsheviks, all notable internationalists were directly or indirectly accused of serving the Germans or of dealing with the German authorities. I personally became the favorite target of Rech and was called by it only with the epithet: "dear to the German heart" or "so highly valued by the Germans." Almost every day I began to receive letters from the capital, the provinces and the army; in some there were admonitions or mockery, in others - questions: "Tell me, how much did you take?"

But in April 1917, I repeat, the Provisional Government did not put forward any accusations against Lenin, and the arrived Bolsheviks presented the reasons and circumstances of their trip through Germany to the Petrograd Soviet, and this explanation was considered quite satisfactory.

But the main thing, about which little is said now, is that Lenin's notorious "sealed carriage" was by no means the only one. A little later, in the same "sealed wagons" through the territory of Germany, Russian emigrants traveled twice more, and they were by no means Bolsheviks, but Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, anarcho-communists and representatives of other political forces that rejected the slogan "War to a victorious end."

In total, about 300 Russian politicians and members of their families passed through Germany.

Does this mean that they were all German agents? If so, then it turns out that those who traveled through Great Britain also selflessly served the interests of the British crown.

Victory for the Bolsheviks

And if you look even deeper, then you can agree to the fact that the German General Staff in 1917 was teeming with Bolshevik agents - after all, in the end, Lenin's "sealed carriage" contributed not only to the victory of the Bolsheviks in Russia, but also to the collapse of the German Empire as a result of the revolution , the leading force of which were the German ideological comrades-in-arms of Ilyich.

In fact, of course, everything is somewhat simpler. In the spring of 1917, various political forces built their own combinations, hoping to win by using others.

Ultimately, the winners were the Bolsheviks led by Lenin, who outplayed absolutely everyone.

First revolution and attempt at return

Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin was a very famous opposition figure, as one of the founders of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), which split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in 1905.

The split of the Russian radical opposition itself took place far from Russia: most of the party members were threatened with jail time. Lenin was among those who were not expected by the authorities.

Ilyich remembered very well how the stunned Lunacharskys flew into his house on the morning of January 1905, announcing the revolution that had begun in Russia. After that, Lenin waited a whole year for permission to enter his homeland - but time was running out, and 1905 was decided without him. No books, no speeches, no congresses could turn the revolution in the direction Lenin needed - even the tsar remained in place. In December 1907, the future leader of the revolution left Russia again for almost ten years.

"There, to the revolting Petrograd"

Best of all, Lenin's state after receiving news of the February Revolution was described by his wife Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya:

“There is no outlet for colossal energy ... There is no need for a clear awareness of what is happening. And for some reason I remembered the white northern wolf, which Ilyich and I saw in the London Zoological Garden and stood for a long time in front of his cage. “All animals get used to the cage over time: bears, tigers, lions,” the watchman explained to us. - Only the white wolf from the Russian North never gets used to the cage - and day and night it beats against the iron bars of the grating. Lenin literally cannot sit still: he feverishly paces around the room, writes letters, meets with like-minded people, but most importantly, he thinks; thinks about what kind of magic airplane can bring him to his revolutionary homeland. In his fever, he no longer cares much about the safety and feasibility of plans: just to start moving there, to the revolting Petrograd. "

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The legal path lay through France, Great Britain and Scandinavia, but here's the problem - back in 1915-1916, the Entente countries drew up black lists of persons who were not allowed to cross the borders of the treaty countries. Among the disagreeable were active propagandists of peace, including Lenin.

Returning to their homeland under their own name was excluded. In despair, Vladimir Ilyich begins to come up with very fantastic plans that cause laughter from his worried comrades. One plan was to borrow documents from two deaf-mute Swedes like him and Zinoviev and travel under their names. Krupskaya joked: “It won't work, you can let it slip in a dream ... You fall asleep, you see Mensheviks in a dream and you start swearing: bastards, bastards! So all the conspiracy will disappear. " But there was little funny in this situation.

"Immediately go, even through hell!"

Paradoxically, the October Revolution was to some extent saved by the unexpected decision of the Provisional Government, which in March 1917 amnestied all those convicted of political and religious affairs. Now Lenin could return to Russia and even remain at large, but still did not know how to get to his homeland. Then another savior of the revolution appeared on the scene - Yuliy Martov.

He offered all the numerous political emigrants a risky and unexpected option - to go through Germany, giving her in return some of the prisoners of war held in Russia. There was nothing unusual in the proposal itself: some Russian citizens, for example, the scientist Maxim Kovalevsky, returned to Russia from Germany at war with her. But whether the Provisional Government would want to exchange and receive such a revolutionary gift was a big question. Fortunately for the revolutionaries, Germany, interested in the return of the Bolsheviks to Russia, who would contribute to its exit from the war, allowed them to travel "on credit" - without the consent of the Provisional Government for exchange.

We also agreed that the carriage should be sealed, that is, any contact of travelers with the outside world was excluded.

Lenin did not care how to get to Petrograd. "Drive! Drive immediately, even through hell! " - he said. The venture was risky: despite the amnesty, there was no guarantee that they would not go straight to jail. In addition, the people had every reason to believe that Lenin and his associates had sold out to the Germans. Although about the latter, Lenin stated:

“You want to assure me that the workers will not understand my arguments about the need to use any road they like to get to Russia and take part in the revolution. You want to assure me that some slanderers will succeed in confusing the workers and assuring them that we, old tried and tested revolutionaries, are acting to please German imperialism. Yes it is for the chickens to laugh. "

"We're going to jail"

Farewell to Switzerland took place on April 9. It is unlikely that it will be possible to call him calm: at the station there was almost a scuffle with opponents of Lenin's idea, someone tried at the last moment to dissuade the revolutionaries from taking a risky step, someone expressed a modest hope to see him again soon on Swiss soil. But the plan was not thwarted: at 15:10 the political emigrants left Zurich.

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The atmosphere in the sealed carriage was almost fraternal. We slept in turns, because not everyone had enough seats, they sang songs in chorus, told jokes. One of the emigrants recalled Lenin this way:

“I have never had to see a person so natural and simple in every word, in every movement.<...>No one felt overwhelmed by his personality, they did not even feel embarrassed in front of him.<...>Drawing in the presence of Ilyich was impossible. He didn't just cut off the person or ridicule him, but just somehow immediately stopped seeing you, hearing you, you definitely dropped out of his field of vision, as soon as he stopped talking about what really interested you, and started posing. And precisely because in his presence the person himself became better and more natural, it was so free and joyful with him. "

And the Germans also tried to impress: they fed cutlets with peas, bought newspapers, drove the curious away from the car during stops. Only once a member of the leadership of the German trade unions tried to get a conversation with Comrade Lenin, which caused an explosion of fun in the carriage and the promise of reprisals in case of repeated attempts. An excited and joyful mood reigned, and the future leader of the revolution kept repeating: "We are going to jail."

"Lenin is a German spy"

But the Provisional Government was not sure that Lenin was going to prison. Some ministers argued that Lenin should not be allowed into the country. Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, one of the leaders of the Cadets and the father of the famous writer, recalled that “they answered quite unanimously that there were no formal grounds for preventing Lenin's entry, that, on the contrary, Lenin had the right to return, since he had been amnestied. to which he resorts to travel is not formally criminal. To this was added<...>that the very fact of turning to the services of Germany would undermine Lenin's authority to such an extent that one should not be afraid of him. "

Exactly the same arguments - "Lenin himself will undermine his authority" - the Provisional Government expressed to the Entente, which demanded to prevent the return of Ulyanov to his homeland.

The official media actively promoted the idea that "Lenin is a German spy." In feuilletons and anecdotes, they stubbornly depicted how he fraternized with the Kaiser, cartoonists compared the train carrying Vladimir Ilyich to a Trojan horse. It would seem that Lenin was discredited on all fronts. Even if he is not imprisoned, the socialist revolution will not work.

"Long live the world socialist revolution!"

The night of April 16-17, 1917 was the moment of truth. The closer the train approached the Finland Station, the more sharply Lenin and his inner circle asked themselves the question: "Are they arrested or not?" Torches were burning on the platform. The streets were full of people. But these people clearly did not intend to judge Lenin - in their hands they held greeting posters. Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich recalls:

“The orchestra played a greeting, and all the troops were on guard.<...>There was such a powerful, such a tremendous, such heartfelt "hurray!" That I had never heard.<...>Vladimir Ilyich, having greeted us, who had not seen him for almost ten years in a friendly and joyful manner, set off with his hasty gait, and when this "hurray!"

- What is it?

- It is the revolutionary troops and workers who greet you ...

The officer, with all the restraint and solemnity of large parades, reported to Vladimir Ilyich, and he looked at him in bewilderment, obviously not at all assuming that this would be the case. "

Looking around the sea of ​​heads spread around, Lenin said: "Yes, this is a revolution!" And the leader of the revolution with a bouquet of white and scarlet carnations walked under the triumphal arches made for him to his first popular tribune in ten years. It was an armored car. The rumble of the Marseillaise, performed by a military orchestra, ceased, and Lenin began his speech:

“Sailors, comrades, welcoming you, I still don’t know if you believe all the promises of the Provisional Government, but I firmly know that when they speak sweet speeches to you, when they promise you a lot, you are deceived, just as the entire Russian people are deceived. The people need peace, the people need bread, the people need land. And you are given war, hunger, lack of bread, the landowner is left on the ground ... Long live the world social revolution! "

According to other memoirs, he said:

“I thank you for giving me the opportunity to return to Russia. You did a great job - you threw the king, but the job is not over, you still need to forge the iron while it is hot. Long live the socialist revolution! "

The people dragged on the Marseillaise again, but Lenin, wincing, stopped them. He did not like the anthem of the bourgeois revolution, which called for the fight against the enemy, so the leader asked him to sing "Internationale". The Bolsheviks standing nearby did not know the song, for which they were ashamed by Lenin.

According to Bonch-Bruyevich, “the searchlights slashed the sky with their mysterious, fast-moving sheaves of light, now rising into the heavenly heights, now dropping point-blank into the crowd. This restless, gliding everywhere, fluttering light, playing and shimmering<...>even more worried everyone, giving the whole picture of this historical meeting some kind of mysterious, magical<...>view".

There was something mystical and religious about it. The figure of Lenin on an armored car has become one of the symbols of Russia in the 20th century. It will be copied until the end of the century.

Lenin was uncloudedly happy that April night. The real struggle was just beginning, but he seemed to know that he was destined to win. Tomorrow he will read his famous "April Theses" in front of his fellow party members, which at first will cause a lot of controversy with their radicalism, but the pressure of the "violent leader" will very soon break the resistance of the Bolshevik Party, and on April 22, 1917, at the April party conference, as a gift on his 47th day birth, Lenin will receive recognition of theses. Here, on the political horizon, the figure of Stalin will appear, who will be one of the first to speak out for the party's new program, thereby, probably, endearing Lenin to himself.

Who, how and why in 1917 transported Lenin to Russia through belligerent Europe

When the revolution broke out in Russia, Lenin had already lived for 9 years in Switzerland, in cozy Zurich. The collapse of the monarchy took him by surprise - just a month before February, at a meeting with Swiss politicians of the left, he said that he was unlikely to live to see the revolution, and that "young people will already see it." He learned about what had happened in Petrograd from the newspapers and immediately got ready to go to Russia.

But how to do that? After all, Europe is engulfed in the flames of war. However, this was not difficult to do - the Germans had a serious interest in the return of the revolutionaries to Russia. The chief of staff of the Eastern Front, General Max Hoffmann, later recalled: “The corruption introduced into the Russian army by the revolution, we naturally sought to strengthen by means of propaganda. In the rear, someone who maintained relations with the Russians living in exile in Switzerland came up with the idea to use some of these Russians in order to destroy the spirit of the Russian army even more quickly and poison it with poison. " According to M. Hoffman, through the deputy M. Erzberger, this "someone" made a corresponding proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the result was the famous "sealed carriage" that brought Lenin and other emigrants through Germany to Russia.

Later, the name of the initiator became known: it was the famous international adventurer Alexander Parvus (Israel Lazarevich Gelfand), who acted through the German ambassador to Copenhagen Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau.

According to U. Brockdorf-Rantzau, Parvus's idea found support in the Foreign Ministry from Baron Helmut von Malzahn and from the Reichstag deputy M. Erzberger, the head of military propaganda. They persuaded Chancellor T. Bethmann-Hollweg, who suggested the Stavka (that is, Wilhelm II, P. Hindenburg and E. Ludendorff) to carry out a "brilliant maneuver". This information was confirmed with the publication of documents from the German Foreign Ministry. In a memorandum drawn up on the basis of conversations with Parvus, Brockdorff-Rantzau wrote: “I believe that, from our point of view, it is preferable to support the extremists, since this will most quickly lead to certain results. In all likelihood, in three months we can count on the fact that disintegration will reach the stage when we will be able to crush Russia by military force. "

As a result, the chancellor authorized the German ambassador in Bern von Romberg to contact the Russian emigrants and offer them travel to Russia through Germany. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the Treasury for 3 million marks for propaganda in Russia, which were allocated.

On March 31, Lenin, on behalf of the party, telegraphed the Swiss Social Democrat Robert Grimm, who initially acted as a mediator in negotiations between the Bolsheviks and the Germans (then Friedrich Platten began to play this role) the decision to "unconditionally accept" the proposal to travel through Germany and "immediately organize this trip" ... The next day, Vladimir Ilyich demands from his "cashier" Yakub Ganetsky (Yakov Furstenbeerg) money for the trip: "Allocate two thousand, preferably three thousand crowns for our trip."

The conditions of travel were signed on April 4. On Monday, April 9, 1917, the travelers gathered at the Zeringer Hof Hotel in Zurich with bags and suitcases, blankets and groceries. Lenin hit the road with Krupskaya, his wife and comrade-in-arms. But with them was also Inessa Armand, whom Ilyich revered. However, the secret of the departure has already been revealed.

A group of Russian émigrés gathered at a train station in Zurich, who accompanied Lenin and the company with angry shouts: “Traitors! German agents! "

In response, when the train departed, its passengers sang the Internationale in chorus, and then other songs of the revolutionary repertoire.

In fact, Lenin, of course, was not any German agent. He simply cynically took advantage of the Germans' interest in transporting revolutionaries to Russia. In this, their goals at that time coincided: to weaken Russia and crush the tsarist empire. With the only difference that Lenin was then going to arrange a revolution in Germany itself.

The emigrants left Zurich in the direction of the German border and the town of Gottmadingen, where a carriage and two German escort officers were waiting for them. One of them, Lieutenant von Buhring, was an Eastsee German and spoke Russian. The conditions of travel through the territory of Germany were as follows. First, complete extraterritoriality - neither at the entrance to the Second Reich, nor at the exit should there be any document checks, no stamps in passports, it is forbidden to leave the extraterritorial carriage. Also, the German authorities promised not to take anyone out of the car by force (a guarantee against possible arrest).

Of its four doors, three were indeed sealed, one, near the conductor's vestibule, was left open - through it, under the control of German officers and Friedrich Platten (he was an intermediary between emigrants and Germans), fresh newspapers and food from hawkers were bought at the stations. Thus, the legend about complete isolation of passengers and deaf "sealing" is exaggerated. In the corridor of the carriage, Lenin drew a line in chalk - the symbolic border of extraterritoriality that separated the "German" compartment from all the others.

From Sassnitz, the emigrants took the Queen Victoria ship to Trelleborg, from where they arrived in Stockholm, where they were met by journalists. There Lenin bought himself a decent coat and a cap, which later became famous, which was mistaken for the cap of a Russian worker.

From Stockholm there was a thousand-kilometer stretch northward by an ordinary passenger train - to the Haparanda station on the border between Sweden and the Grand Duchy of Finland, which is still part of Russia. They crossed the border on a sleigh, where a train to Petrograd was waiting at the Russian station Tornio ...

Lenin tried to refrain from any compromising contacts; in Stockholm, he categorically refused to even meet with Parvus. However, Radek spent almost the whole day with Parvus, negotiating with him with Lenin's approval. “It was a decisive and top secret meeting,” they write in their book “Credit for the Revolution. Parvus Plan "Zeman and Scharlau. There are suggestions that it was there that the financing of the Bolsheviks was negotiated. At the same time, Lenin tried to create the impression of a lack of funds: he asked for help, took money from the Russian consul, etc .; upon his return he even presented receipts. However, according to the impression of the Swedish Social Democrats, when asking for help, Lenin was clearly “overplaying”, since the Swedes knew for sure that the Bolsheviks had money. Parvus, after Lenin's departure, went to Berlin and had a long audience there with State Secretary Zimmermann.

Arriving in Russia, Lenin immediately came out with the famous "April Theses", demanding the transfer of power into the hands of the Soviets.

The day after the publication of the Theses in Pravda, one of the leaders of the German intelligence service in Stockholm telegraphed to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin: “Lenin’s arrival in Russia is successful. It works exactly the way we would like it to. "

Subsequently, General Ludendorff wrote in his memoirs: “By sending Lenin to Russia, our government assumed a special responsibility. From a military point of view, this venture was justified, Russia had to be brought down. " Which was successfully done.

Especially for the "Century"

The article was published within the framework of the socially significant project “Russia and the Revolution. 1917 - 2017 "with the use of state support funds allocated as a grant in accordance with the order of the President of the Russian Federation dated 08.12.2016 No. 96 / 68-3 and on the basis of a competition held by the All-Russian public organization" Russian Union of Rectors ".