How "Bloody Sunday" came to England, and why Churchill had to fight "the victims of the tsarist satraps"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The year 1911 became a landmark in the life of both the British police and the whole of London. For the first time, law enforcement officers faced aggressive anarchists who preferred firearms to diplomacy. The events that took place in London in 1911 echoed the tragedy that had happened six years earlier. The mechanism was launched on January 9, 1905, when the workers of St. Petersburg went to the Winter Palace.

The paths of "migration" of Latvian anarchists

The dispersal of the procession, which went down in history as "Bloody Sunday", had echoes throughout the Russian Empire. The exact number of victims is unknown, it is believed that about two hundred people. The workers of Latvia perceived "Sunday" most acutely. They staged a massive strike in Riga, thus they demonstrated their solidarity with their St. Petersburg colleagues. After the strike, workers moved to the city center. I must say that the procession was peaceful. People did not set themselves the goal of somehow provoking the military and law enforcement officers. But the local authorities had their own ideas about the "provocation".

The column of workers approached the railway bridge connecting the two banks of the Daugvava River. As they say, nothing foreshadowed trouble. Suddenly, the guards and the military who accompanied the procession began to shoot at people.

Panic began, the workers did not understand why they opened fire on them. The collision claimed the lives of about seven dozen people, and more than two hundred were injured of varying severity.

Naturally, such an event could not pass without a trace. Latvians began to openly demonstrate their discontent. But the worst thing was not this, but the fact that underground terrorist organizations appeared en masse in Riga and other large Latvian cities. At first, they were poorly organized and had a vague idea of a further course of action. But by the autumn of the same year, they had decided on the goal. Terrorists attacked the main prison in Riga. The attack was so unexpected that they managed to free several of their accomplices. The first pancake, contrary to the saying, came out lumpy. Inspired by their success, the criminals in early 1906 raided the secret police department. The guards could not forgive such impudence.

A targeted hunt for terrorists, their accomplices and simply sympathizers began throughout Latvia. As a result of large-scale special operations, many of the militants ended up behind bars. But some still managed to escape. Latvians fled to the countries of Western Europe, got lost in organizations and hatched plans for revenge. But England became the main epicenter of attraction for criminals. This way of "migration" has become the most popular with them.

In 1909, small organized crime groups merged into one powerful and well-organized anarchist group, which received the telling name "Flame". It is interesting that out of twenty-eight militants who embarked on the path of war with the Russian Empire, only five were Latvians. The rest were from different European countries. The militants chose London as a springboard for future attacks.

In the capital of Great Britain, life was difficult for terrorists. They received practically no funding, and, moreover, they were watched by local law enforcement officers. When the situation became critical, the criminals decided to improve their financial situation through robbery. In the same 1909, Jacob Lapidus, together with Paul Hefeld, attacked a car with an accountant in one of the factories located in the Tottenham area. The raid was successful. The bandits confiscated a bag with money intended for the workers from the accountant. Since armed raids in those days in England were extremely rare, no one guarded the money.

Easy money turned the heads of the anarchists. They imagined themselves as wolves in the flock of sheep, so raids became commonplace. The police, of course, tried to catch the criminals, but this was not a priority task. The fact is that the Flame fighters did without bloodshed. London was filled with rumors about the elusive robbers, headed by a certain Peteris the Artist. And the police had no idea who was hiding under that name.

Anarchists. First blood

In December 1910, the anarchists again needed money, and in large quantities. Pyotr Pyatkov (according to one version, he was an Artist), together with a group of armed anarchists, decided to rob a jewelry store.

The original course of action was simple. The criminals had to get into the apartment above the shop (it was located on the first floor of a residential building), wait for the latter to close, and then unnoticed enter it and clean it out to the last precious speck of dust.

But the plan failed. The anarchists managed to get into the apartment and carry out the first part of the plan, but then … Then something happened. According to one version, the criminals argued about something and fought, which attracted the attention of neighbors, who immediately called the police. According to the other, they went too far with alcohol, because they were sure that nothing could interfere with the implementation of the plan.

One way or another, but unexpectedly there was a knock on the door, and then “Open, police!” Was heard. The three sergeants and constables did not expect anything out of the ordinary, so they did not think about their own safety. I had to knock several times. In the end, the door did open. The guards saw in front of them a man who was saying something and waving his hands. And then he disappeared into the apartment. The police decided that he did not speak English and decided to call someone who spoke at least a little in Shakespeare's language. Several minutes passed, and no one showed up. And then the guards crossed the threshold. There was no light in the apartment. After taking a few steps, the sergeants and constables were ambushed. They had nothing to respond to the shots, since their weapons consisted of nothing but truncheons.

The criminals fled. The wounded and killed police officers remained in an empty apartment. The attack on the law enforcement officers stunned all of London. The authorities demanded to find and punish criminals to the fullest extent of the law. And the best detectives of Scotland Yard started looking for anarchists.

During a search of the ill-fated apartment, the police found devices for opening locks, as well as several battering devices. Thanks to this, it became clear that the bandits wanted to rob a jewelry store. And criminologists were able to determine that one of the criminals was wounded - they found blood that did not belong to the police. However, how exactly this happened is unknown. According to one version, the anarchist was hooked by his own stray bullet.

Searches of private and apartment buildings located nearby began. Soon, law enforcement officers found a body with bullet wounds. The examination established that the deceased was a criminal Janis Stentsel. True, then it turned out that he was also hiding under various pseudonyms. Then new evidence emerged. It turned out that Stenzel lived in an apartment with Fritzis Svaars. And thanks to Svaars, the police learned about the existence of the "Flame".

Hunting began all over London again, now they were hunting exclusively Latvian anarchists. The police managed to detain several dozen emigrants, but none of the Flame leaders were caught. Svaars himself escaped.

The matter is at an impasse. But suddenly, on January 3, 1911, the "mysterious stranger" betrayed the Latvians, receiving a substantial reward for this. The police learned that the criminals had dug in at number 100, located on Sydney Street. Soon several hundred policemen appeared near the building. They already knew that the criminals' apartment was on the second floor. The same informant said that the Flame leaders had settled in the apartment: Votel, Svaars and the Artist himself.

Winston Churchill solo part

The anarchists refused to lay down their arms and surrender. A couple hundred cops against three anarchists, what could go wrong? But it turned out that the Latvians thoroughly (unlike the law enforcement officers) prepared for the battle.

The police cordoned off the building and evacuated the residents. Sergeant Leeson threw several stones at the window of the apartment where the criminals were sitting. When it opened, he suggested that the Latvians surrender. The terrorists fired several shots. The sergeant and several police officers were injured. A firefight began.

As the situation escalated, Winston Churchill, then Minister of the Interior, came to the house. He wanted to personally supervise the process of eliminating dangerous criminals.

As time went on, the situation did not change. Churchill hoped that the bandits would run out of cartridges, but miscalculated, they turned out to be thrifty. A few hours later, the minister summoned the Scottish Guard, which had artillery pieces in its arsenal.

While the guard arrived at the scene, while preparing for the assault, a lot of time had passed. Churchill was about to give the order to attack, when suddenly smoke poured from the windows of the apartment. In just a few minutes the entire four-story building was on fire. Firefighters soon arrived, but Churchill forbade them to approach the house. The minister waited, he could not understand what the anarchists were up to. Suddenly a man appeared in the window. A moment later, having received several bullets, he disappeared into the back of the apartment.

Only after part of the building collapsed did Churchill let the firefighters come to him. When the fire was extinguished, the police found two charred corpses. They, as you might guess, belonged to Svaars and Votel. The elusive Artist disappeared again. True, the police had doubts about whether he was in the apartment, and whether he even existed at all?

After this event, the law enforcement officers for a short time managed to detain several dozen Latvians who were anarchists. And then the number of those arrested exceeded several hundred people. Churchill wanted to intimidate all the terrorists who settled in England with a "demonstrative execution". But he didn't succeed.

In just six months, almost all Latvians were at large. No, there was enough evidence against them, but they had even more intercessors. English society unexpectedly sided with the anarchists. The activists launched a whole campaign, which began to protect the "victims of the tsar's satraps." In England, it has become fashionable among young people to show compassion for anarchists. Yesterday's bandits and criminals suddenly became popular heroes.

But Churchill and his people did not give up. They continued to search for the Artist, organized round-ups, promised substantial rewards for information and the criminal. In vain. The artist either fled from England, or never existed at all, or some other person was hiding under this name. Perhaps even Svaars. The police were never able to find out about this.

Gradually the hype began to subside. Forgotten Latvians began to leave England. Some returned to their homeland, others joined numerous terrorist organizations. It is known that some anarchists found refuge in the "Irish Republican Brotherhood", which drank a lot of blood from the British police.