Assassination attempts on Vladimir Lenin

It is known about several attempts on Vladimir Lenin's life. The most famous of them was committed on August 30, 1918 by the Socialist Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan, as a result Lenin was seriously wounded.

Assassination attempts in January 1918

On January 1, 1918, the first unsuccessful attempt on Lenin's life took place in Petrograd, in which Friedrich Platten was slightly hit by a bullet. According to one of the versions of the All–Russian Extraordinary Commission, Dmitry Shakhovskoy was the organizer of the assassination attempt on January 1, 1918.[1] A few years later, who was in exile, Prince Dmitry Shakhovskoy announced that he was the organizer of the assassination attempt and allocated five hundred thousand rubles for this purpose.[2] Researcher Richard Pipes also pointed out that one of the former ministers of the Provisional Government, constitutional democrat Nikolai Nekrasov, who immediately after the assassination attempt, changing his last name to Golgofsky, left for Ufa, and then to Kazan, was involved in this attempt. In March 1921, he was arrested, sent to Moscow, and in May, after a meeting with Vladimir Lenin, was released.

In mid–January, the second attempt on Lenin's life was thwarted in Petrograd: the soldier Spiridonov came to see Mikhail Bonch–Bruevich, declaring that he was participating in the conspiracy of the "Union of Saint George's Cavaliers" and was ordered to eliminate Lenin. On the night of January 22, the All–Russian Extraordinary Commission arrested the conspirators at 14 Zakharyevskaya Street, in the apartment of "citizen Salova", but then they are all sent to the front at their personal request.[3][4] At least two of the conspirators, Zinkevich and Nekrasov, subsequently joined the "white" armies.[3]

Incident when the Council of People's Commissars moved from Petrograd to Moscow in connection with the transfer of the capital (March 1918)

On March 11, 1918, the Bolsheviks moved the capital from Petrograd to Moscow, fearing the expected German offensive. The move of government bodies took place in difficult conditions: as of March 11, the sabotage of the railway workers was still not completely broken. To divert eyes, the move was announced on March 11, however, in fact, the move began one day earlier, on March 10 at 21:45, and was guarded by Latvian Riflemen under the command of Berezin.

On its way, the train with Lenin met with a train with armed deserters coming from the front. At the station Malaya Vishera there was a clash of deserters numbering up to 400 sailors and 200 soldiers with numerically superior Latvian Riflemen. The Latvians disarmed the deserters and blocked the "anarchist train".[5] Historian Richard Pipes, in his work "Bolsheviks in the Struggle for Power", described this incident as follows: "The company was traveling on a special train, guarded by Latvian Riflemen. Early in the morning they came across a train filled with deserters, and since the intentions of the latter were unclear, Bonch–Bruevich ordered the train to stop and disarm everyone. Then the train moved on and arrived in Moscow late in the evening".

Assassination attempt on August 30, 1918
See also: Fanny Kaplan
Memorial stone at the site of the 1918 attempt on Lenin's life

On August 30, 1918, at the Michelson Plant in Moscow, an attempt was made on Lenin, according to the official version – by the half–blind[6] Socialist Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan. As a result of the assassination attempt, Lenin was seriously wounded (the question of the organizers and participants in the assassination attempt, as well as the involvement of Fanny Kaplan, remains unclear to this day).[7][8]

On the morning of August 30, 1918, the Chairman of the Petrograd Extraordinary Commission, Moisey Uritsky, was killed in Petrograd. Despite the news of this murder, no additional security measures were taken in Moscow. The speeches of the members of the Council of People's Commissars at the factory rallies, scheduled for 18:00, were not canceled. Lenin was supposed to speak at a rally in front of the workers of the Michelson Plant. He left for the plant without security. There was no security at the plant itself.[6] Lenin's speech at the rally ended with the words: "We will die or win!". When Lenin left the plant and was already getting into the car, a woman approached him with a complaint that bread was being confiscated at the railway stations. At this point, Kaplan fired three shots. Lenin's driver, Stepan Gil, rushed after the unknown, but after a while she stopped herself, was arrested and taken to Lubyanka.

Lenin was unconscious immediately after the assassination attempt; doctors discovered that he had a dangerous wound in the neck under the jaw, and blood got into his lung. The second bullet hit him in the arm, and the third hit the woman who was talking to Lenin at the moment the shots began.

The extraordinary commissioners established that the unknown is a former anarchist Fanny Kaplan, who before the revolution was involved in the assassination attempt on the Kiev Governor–General; in exile, she joined the Socialist Revolutionaries. By her own admission, Kaplan sympathized with the regime of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly and the leader of the Socialist Revolutionaries Chernov, and she decided to kill Lenin as revenge for the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly.

I shot Lenin because I consider him a traitor. Due to the fact that he lives for a long time, the onset of socialism is postponed for decades.

Information made public by the Soviet government in 1922 during the trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries

The details of the assassination attempt, or rather what the authorities decided to report on this matter, became known to the public when, in early 1922, the Bolshevik government decided to hold the first open political trial – over the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. At the trial, the "repentant" "Socialist Revolutionary militants" Grigory Semyonov and Lydia Konopleva testified.[9]

In accordance with Semyonov's testimony, the Militant Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party resumed its activities in early 1918 and in July liquidated Volodarsky. The next main target was Trotsky as the military leader of Bolshevism. However, Trotsky was constantly moving between the capital and the front, therefore, as Semyonov put it, "for technical reasons" it was decided to first eliminate Lenin.

During the training, Semyonov discovered that Kaplan, whom he described as an "unshakable revolutionary terrorist", was conducting the same training independently of him. Kaplan joined Semyonov's group; she herself, during interrogations at the Extraordinary Commission, claimed that she acted independently, without representing any party.

The first assassination attempt was made by the Socialist Revolutionaries on August 16 at a meeting of the Moscow Party Committee, but the performer lost his nerves at the last moment. The second, successful, attempt was made on August 30th. For her, Semyonov appointed Novikov as the worker on duty, and Kaplan as the executor.

At the same time, the Socialist Revolutionaries tried to carry out an attempt on Trotsky's life by going to blow up the train on which he was leaving for the front. However, at the last moment, Trotsky managed to knock them off the trail by leaving on another train.

Poisoned bullet version

For a long time there was an opinion that Lenin was wounded by a poisoned bullet.[10] In particular, the historian Richard Pipes cites such a statement in his work "Bolsheviks in the Struggle for Power", referring to the testimony of Semyonov. Semyonov himself claimed that the three bullets had a cruciform incision into which curare poison was injected. In addition, according to the medical report, the doctors actually found a cruciform incision on the bullet removed from Lenin's neck. However, even assuming that the poison was actually inflicted, its properties were destroyed by the heat generated in the pistol barrel upon firing.[6]

In the future, a controversy grew around this version, in which Lenin's political opponents tried to deny both the poisoned bullets and the existence of the attempt itself.[11][12]

Results of the assassination attempt

As a result of the assassination attempts on Vladimir Lenin and Moisey Uritsky, the supreme body of Soviet power – the All–Russian Central Executive Committee, chaired by Yakov Sverdlov, announced the beginning of the Red Terror. The Council of People's Commissars – the Soviet government – on September 5, 1918, confirmed this decision by a special resolution.

Although Lenin's wound seemed fatal, he recovered very quickly. On September 25, 1918, he left for Gorki and returned to Moscow on October 14, immediately resuming his political activities. Lenin's first public appearance after the assassination attempt took place on October 22, 1918.

Robbery of Lenin (January 1919)

On January 6, 1919, Kuznetsov's Gang accidentally robbed a car with Lenin,[13][14] who was driving to Nadezhda Krupskaya (according to the version in numerous stories – to a Christmas tree) at the Forestry School in Sokolniki. As described by Angelica Balabanova,

One of them took out a pistol and said: "Wallet or life!". Lenin showed his identity card and said: "I am Ulyanov–Lenin". The attackers did not even look at the document and only repeated: "Wallet or life!". Lenin had no money. He took off his coat, got out of the car and, without giving the robbers a bottle of milk, which was intended for his wife, went further on foot.

Attempted terrorist attack in September 1919

According to researcher Viktor Savchenko, an underground anarchist group led by Maria Nikiforova ("Marusya") in the summer of 1919 began to develop plans to assassinate Lenin and Trotsky. After a series of "expropriations", the anarchists, under the slogan of starting a "dynamite war with the Council of People's Commissars and the Extraordinary Commission", blew up the building of the Moscow Party Committee on September 25, 1919, in which Lenin was expected to speak.[15] However, Lenin was late for the opening of the plenum of the party committee, and did not suffer in any way. At the same time, during the terrorist act, the Chairman of the Party Committee Vladimir Zagorsky and 11 other people were killed, Bukharin, Yaroslavsky and a number of other prominent Bolshevik leaders, a total of 55 people, were wounded.

On the October Holidays of 1919, the anarchists planned to blow up the Kremlin, but the entire organization was opened by the All–Russian Extraordinary Commission and almost all were arrested, seven people were shot. Nikiforova herself ("Marusya") by this time had already been hanged by the White Guards in Sevastopol; presumably she was going to blow up General Denikin's headquarters.

References
  1. David Golinkov. The Collapse Of the Anti–Soviet Underground In the Soviet Union, 3rd Edition, 1st Book, Moscow, 1980, Page 184. Quote From: "Dmitry Ivanovich Shakhovskoy". www.hrono.ru.
  2. Arguments and Facts No. 11 (47) of June 3, 2004. "At Gunpoint – Forever Alive".
  3. Boris Sopelnyak. "In the Slot Of the Sight – the Head Of the Government".
  4. Nikolay Zenkovich. "Assassination And Staging: From Lenin To Yeltsin".
  5. Alexander Nikolsky. "Literal".
  6. Yuri Felshtinsky (1999). "The Secret Of Lenin's Death" (Monthly Magazine) (1) (History Questions ed.): 34–64. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Attempts In the Kremlin: From Lenin To Yeltsin. Secrets. Versions. Background. Nikolay Zenkovich. Right. Power
  8. "An Unpredictable Past. Reconstruction Algorithms".
  9. Art Of War. Yuri Gavryuchenkov. Grigory Semyonov
  10. "10 Attempts On Lenin's Life".
  11. A Look Behind the Secret Curtain Of the Past (On the Assassination Attempt On Vladimir Lenin). Pavel Makarov – Lenin: Known And Unknown – Sketches For A Portrait – Realities Of the Soviet Era – History Of Russia
  12. Writer Polina Dashkova: "Whether Nikolai Rejected – Another Question"
  13. "The Koshelkov Gang That Robbed Lenin".
  14. "Wonderful Christmas Eve. The Robbery Of Lenin On the Way To the Children's Tree".
  15. Military Literature – Biographies – Viktor Savchenko. Civil War Adventurers
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