The Presidential Library marking the anniversary of the outstanding reformer Pyotr Stolypin

April 14, 2022 marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (1862–1911), an outstanding reformer in the field of economic and socio-political development of Russia. In national history there are not many statesmen comparable to him in terms of the scale of talent, concentrated in the same hands of power, in terms of the strength of sincere faith in the future of their country.

The collection Pyotr Stolypin (1862–1911) available on the Presidential Library’s portal features digital copies of various documents: correspondence, texts of speeches, bills, references and other materials related to the activities of the State Duma and much more, as well as essays, studies and video lectures. In addition to official documents, the collection also includes personal documents, for example, Photographs of Stolypin and members of his family, Stolypin’s notebook for recording personal expenses, Stolypin’s album (menu, programs of concerts and performances), letters to his wife.

On April 26, 1906 Nicholas II appointed the 44-year-old Stolypin the head of the Ministry of the Interior, and on July 8, the head of the government. A prime minister of a new formation appeared on the political scene, strong-willed and resolute, but at the same time with a healthy conservatism, recognizing only the evolutionary path of development.

By this time, Stolypin had years of successful administrative service behind him. He was the governor of Grodno, and then - Saratov, perhaps the main center of peasant and workers' unrest. Stolypin personally traveled around the province with Cossack patrols, admonishing the rebels. Mindful of the experience of communicating with the peasants, Stolypin, having become the head of the cabinet of ministers, immediately set about improving the legislation in this area. The Decree On the Supplement of Certain Regulations of the Current Law Concerning Peasant Land Ownership and Land Use of November 9, 1906 was aimed at a gradual move away from communal land ownership, the creation of a strong class of property-owning peasants, equalizing their rights with the rest of the population of the empire.

In his speech to the State Duma on May 10, 1907 (A pamphlet with Stolypin's speeches in the State Duma in 1907), Stolypin lashed out at the supporters of the land grab. He considered unacceptable the proposed “mechanical” solution of the peasant issue by dividing the land, believed that it was akin to “Trishka’s caftan”, when the floors were cut off to sew the sleeves. At the end of this famous speech, Stolypin (turning to the Social Democrats and Socialist-Revolutionaries sitting in the Duma) uttered a phrase that has become winged: “They need great upheavals, we need great Russia!”

The reform of 1906 was conceived as a counterbalance to the peasant unrest, and indeed, after the adoption of the laws, the unrest began to decline.

At the same time, the resettlement of peasants was actively carried out in order to develop land in the Urals, the Far East, and Kazakhstan. The efforts of Stolypin and the government yielded impressive results - even though the specially created Resettlement Department did not cope well with the transportation of people and their settlement, from 1906 to 1916 more than 3 million peasants began a new life on new lands. 

The prime minister, trying to save the fatherland from the impending revolutionary wave, was a supporter of the tightening of some of the laws, in particular, he insisted on the need for courts-martial. To those who objected to this, the prime minister said: “There are, gentlemen, fatal moments in the life of the state when ... it is necessary to choose between the integrity of theories and the integrity of the fatherland” (A pamphlet with Stolypin's speeches in the State Duma in 1907),

The activities of Pyotr Stolypin, who embodied his reforms with an iron hand, did not find approval among a certain part of politicians. In a speech on March 6, 1907 the Prime Minister firmly stated his position on the issue of revolutionary "attacks" on the government.

For example, Letter from an anonymous author to Pyotr Stolypin with a warning not to fly on airplanes sent in September 1910 says that his life was under threat. In total, in six years, ten attempts were made to assassinate the prime minister. 

The shot fired in Kyiv by Dmitry Bogrov turned out to be fatal. In 1911, Nicholas II, together with the government, arrived in the city on the occasion of the opening of a monument to Alexander II there. On September 14, the opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" was given at the Kiev Opera. During the intermission, the killer wounded the head of government with two shots at close range from a Browning gun. This and previous incidents are described in detail by the materials of the electronic collection of the Presidential Library collected in the section Attempts and Murder.  

On September 18, 1911, Pyotr Stolypin died. “Everyone understood that something very important, cruel, irreparable had happened, that a certain historical perspective had become clouded, and the life of the country was enveloped in a languid uncertainty...” - the above-mentioned A pamphlet with the biography of Pyotr Stolypin says.

The same publication cites an article by Lev Tikhomirov published in the July issue of the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper for 1911, where the following words are dedicated to Pyotr Stolypin: “It is no coincidence that he came to the first place in his time. Then only he could be in the first place. The situation was too unattractive and scary. The point, of course, is not the danger of death. Many gave their lives no less selflessly. But terrible was the very difficulty of the matter, which took away the hope of success. In this regard, Pyotr Arkadyevich had internal supports, which, it seems to me, were not found in others to such an extent. Once, at one of the difficult moments in the political life of Russia, he said this: “I believe in Russia. If I didn't have this faith, I wouldn't be able to do anything".