Revealing a theme of the February Revolution of 1917 on the premises of the Presidential Library

The Presidential Library conducted a webinar conference with remote access centers, which introduced an audience to a large array of electronic copies of documents about the events of the February 1917 revolution.

“The reign of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II was tragically over, - a specialist of the User Support Department of the Presidential Library Natalia Askolskaya told listeners of the webinar. - Many historians believe that a dynastic crisis and a fall in prestige of the monarch were the main reasons why the revolution was inevitable.” Slides of the images of the imminent in the capital and regions of the empire revolution, as well as the publications related to that turning point in the life of Russia, as The day of the fall of czarist regime by V. Vilensky-Sibiryakov, The end of autocracy by V. Sokolov and The fall of czarist power by Korolenko were featured at the conference.

“In the books of the time, - Korolenko wrote, - among other things, were explained that for those rights, which Czar promised in the manifesto of 1905, among all peoples, earlier for one, later for another - a great fight was going on, and once received them, none refused these and never gave them back. Such promises shouldn’t be wasted. The one who sows such wind will reap the windstorm. And it appeared to be true: Czar did not keep his promise and did not want to rule in a difficult moment with the elected people’s representatives, that was the State Duma. He dismissed the State Duma on February 26 and lost the throne just a few days after.”

On the basis of the documents, which the instituted by the Provisional Government Extraordinary Commission for investigation of illegal actions of former ministers, as well as of the diaries, secret reports, denunciations, dispatches, transcripts of meetings the poet Alexander Blok has prepared a historical chronicle The last days of imperial power. He analyzed in it the actual state of public institutions: “The government, which has had no idea not only of people, but also about “the Zemsky (of the Land) Russia and the Duma,” was headed by “a disjointed, discredited among each other” Council of Ministers; this institution has ceased to live since the time of P. A. Stolypin, the last major figure of the autocracy; since then it has actually turned into the old Committee of Ministers, which stands outside the policy and engaged in “business” regulation of the empire-wide service, which, according to alive and somehow associated with the country people, has long been a “forced-labor camp of a mind and a brain.”

An atmosphere in the capital in February 1917 is vividly recreated in Nicholas Stepnoy (Afinogenov) edition of “The stages of the Great Russian Revolution”: “…Nevsky looked quite strange – the trams didn’t move, the crowds of people jammed like they were waiting for something, reading hanged at the corners of display windows, over the house walls ads of Khabalov, which said that if workers do not show up at work, they will be shot, and the survivors will be sent to the front. Workers … joined the masses of other workers and staged a rally – “Down with the war” – “Down with Nicholas” – “Bread and Peace!”

This is confirmed by the documents of the Presidential Library, “ The letter to the members of the Provisional Government” about the events of the February Revolution of 1917 began with that: “Dear comrades! The events are a mind-blowing! There is an uprising of the workers and soldiers on March 2 in Petrograd. The old ministers were arrested. Nicholas abdicated in favor of Michael, and Michael - in favor of the Constituent Assembly.” Further the letter briefly listed last February events and identifies new political leaders.

Among the rare materials on the subject of the February Revolution in the Presidential Library stock there are the postcards issued after the beginning of the February revolution. The inscription on one of them says: “With deep joy I would like to notify the relatives and friends that after a long and serious illness on the 2th of February 1917 autocratic despotic regime died - and a caption below: “A citizen of a free Russia.”

“The great revolution in Russian life consummated quickly and unexpectedly - St. Petersburg professor Alexander Gizetti will write later, - but if we look back to the past, we will see that this “sudden” upheaval is only the final chapter in the long history of the liberation movement, that it is conquered not only with the relatively few victims who died in the last revolution, but with the lives of many generations of fighters for freedom.”

66 experts from 34 organizations of the Russian Federation attended the webinar in a videoconferencing mode. Among them are the Altai Regional Universal Scientific Library named after V. Y. Shishkov, Novosibirsk State Regional Scientific Library, Penza Regional Library named after M. Y. Lermontov, Tomsk Regional Academic Library named after A. S. Pushkin and others.

It appears that a vast collection of documents and rare books, dedicated to the February revolution of 1917, part from the listeners of the webinar, held at the institution on 3 Senate Square, may draw an attention of a wide range of users who are interested in Russian history.