The tragic 1918 - in the Presidential Library electronic collections

"General Denikin, - we quote General P. N. Krasnov on the collection "The Beginning of the Civil War" (1926), an electronic copy of which is posted on the Presidential Library's portal in the extensive collection of the Presidential Library "1918", - if foreigners do not support it, it should crash. Volunteers and officers fought, that is, gentlemen and bourgeois against the peasants and workers, and, of course, the peasants stood behind the people, the forces stood, and the officers-only valor. And the strength was to break the prowess".

Recently the collection has been enriched with sections "Foreign military intervention in Russia" and "Nationalization of industry".

Due to many circumstances, 1918 became one of the key in the history of Russia. The collection "1918" presented on the portal of the Presidential Library is devoted to the main events of this period: from convocation and dispersal of the Constituent Assembly to the seizure of power by A. V. Kolchak in Omsk, the annulment of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty after the beginning of the revolution in Germany and the signing of the Compiègne truce ceased hostilities in the First World War. The material is presented in thematic sections arranged in chronological order. At the heart of their construction lies the principle of "from general to particular", allowing step-by-step and detailed consideration of problems.

"All-Russian Constituent Assembly" - this "collection in the collection" is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the convocation of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, which could become a turning point in Russian historical development. In Russia, the idea of ​​the Constituent Assembly was first included in the program documents of the Decembrists. The revolutionary events of 1917 provided an opportunity to realize a dream unattainable before. In the collection of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, not one dozen works prepared public opinion for the transition from monarchy to parliamentarism is presented: "Why and for what reason will the Constituent Assembly be convened?" S. Abakumova, "Russian Constituent Assembly" K. Barhin, "What the Constituent Assembly is and what will it do?" V. Ikova and others.

In the minds of the Russian society, the notion that the Constituent Assembly is capable of resolving all pressing state problems and urgent conflicts has gradually taken root. However, the variants of the concepts of their own constitutionalism, the national form of parliamentarism, since the time of the French Revolution, were excited by the people and were welcomed in all countries. Russia, however, became an exception to the rules. Instead of consolidation, various parties began to question the idea of ​​creating a Constituent Assembly. The liberal and moderate parties considered the monarchical system of power to be quite adequate to the situation in the country. The anarchists denied the very idea of ​​representation and called for spontaneous self-organization in trade unions and councils in the name of affirming "anarchist communism". Lenin called the meeting a "liberal idea". But the election flywheel was already launched by the Provisional Government, to which there is documentary evidence from the Presidential Library's collections: "The Chancery of the Provisional Government. Decisions and draft resolutions of the Provisional Government on the procedure for elections to the Constituent Assembly. Copies. 1917", "The search for the building and its adaptation to the meeting took up the special committee established on May 24 (June 6), 1917 under the government" and others.

In the elections to the Constituent Assembly, held in November 1917, according to 67 districts, 44,433,309 people took part. About 25% of the votes were cast for the Bolsheviks, about 62% for petty-bourgeois parties of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and others, and about 13% for the Cadets. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee appointed the opening of the Constituent Assembly on January 5 (18), 1918.  The martial law was introduced in Petrograd. The demonstration in support of the meeting was shot.

In such circumstances, at 16:00 on the appointed day delegates gathered in the building of the Tauride Palace. The Bolsheviks and the Left SRs called for a focus on the discussion and approval of the "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People", compiled by Vladimir Lenin. However, the agenda of the meeting, proposed by the right-wing faction, was approved, which included questions about peace, land, and the form of the state system of Russia. In the third hour of the night, the Bolshevik faction, in protest at the refusal of the delegates to approve the Declaration, left the meeting. They were joined by the Left SRs.

At 4:40 am the head of the guard, anarchist A. Zheleznyakov, suggested that the deputies disperse, indicating that the guard was tired. Nevertheless, the chairman V. M. Chernov, despite the absence of a quorum, managed to vote on the main provisions of the law on land, which proclaimed the land a public property. An appeal was made to the Allies about the conclusion of a just and universal peace, as well as a decree on the state system, according to which Russia became the Russian Democratic Federal Republic. The delegates dispersed, deciding to gather on the same day at 5 pm, but by that time they had found the palace doors locked and under heavy guard. On the same day, the decree of the Central Executive Committee was published on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.  

Meanwhile, the time of the first Kuban campaign of the Volunteer Army, which went down in history under the name of "Ice", was approaching - it was imprinted in full detail in the collection of the “First Kuban ("Ice") campaign of the Volunteer Army" (held from February 22, 1918 to May 13, 1918) . The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army opposed White. With organizational and ideological provisions on the army can be found in the publication "Decrees, regulations and orders for the Red Army". Generals L. G. Kornilov and M. V. Alekseev decided to move to the south, in the direction of Yekaterinodar ... The final is known - this tragic page of Russian history is reflected in the memoirs of Anton Ivanovich Denikin “Essays on Russian Troubles. V. 2” and other sources.

"The crack of the broken world" of the powerful Russian Empire found its impressive embodiment in the collection "1918", which is available on the Presidential Library portal.