The gray cardinal of the Bolsheviks Bonch-Bruevich: Ideological stronghold and "PR manager" of the socialist revolution

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

The gray cardinal and the person who directly created the mechanism of action of Soviet power and ensured its successful functioning in the turning point in 1917-1920, Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich is practically unknown to his contemporaries. However, without him, the Bolshevik party was not created, the Great Socialist Revolution did not happen, and Lenin's career as a leader would have been much less successful if he had time to have a hand in the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War. So why did an educated and authoritative leader get lost in the historical twists and turns and did not take a worthy place in it?

It was he who overthrew monuments to the tsars and put revolutionary symbols in their place, decided to whom and on what topic to write in Soviet literature, destroyed churches and worked with priests, it was he who developed a system of scientific atheism. The owner of a famous surname, from his youth he was distinguished by a fresh and progressive outlook and aptitude for science and literature, which, in the end, led him to revolutionary activity.

Meeting with Lenin and changes in life

Bonch-Bruyevich is called a professional revolutionary and this is no accident. He was born in 1873 in Moscow. The events taking place in the country always worried him and he did not stand aside. He has been involved in revolutionary activities since the 80s, is a participant in the revolution of 1905-1907. Often he was punished for his revolutionary activities, so he was expelled from the institute for organizing speeches of a revolutionary nature, was under police supervision, and so he graduated from the school. However, he managed to avoid any more serious punishments, often scientific activity, intelligence and the ability to predict several steps ahead helped in this.

Having received such an education, he returned to Moscow and joined the "Moscow Workers' Union", feeling a literary talent in himself, he actively participates in organizing the distribution of illegal literature and leaflets, works in a publishing house. As the circle around him begins to narrow again in Moscow, he migrates to Switzerland, where he is organizing the delivery of revolutionary literature to Russia.

Even before his official acquaintance with Lenin, he was actively involved in revolutionary activities, but their acquaintance became a significant event for the history of the entire country. After all, their revolutionary tandem was very productive, and the support of the educated and active Bonch-Bruyevich turned out to be very useful for Lenin. He met in January 1894, then Lenin advised Bonch-Bruyevich to engage not only in underground revolutionary activities, but also in legal ones, explaining this by high efficiency. So it will be possible to cover up revolutionary products, appearing before the police as a respectable citizen. Lenin was already experienced in such matters and knew perfectly well what he was talking about.

Bruevich listened to the advice of a new friend and began to engage in book editing. It was a series of books for the people - a broad publishing house for the workers and peasants. This is what he was doing legally. At night, he printed forbidden literature, which was successfully delivered to organizations and enterprises in different cities of Russia.

At the same time, Lenin asked a comrade to create a duplicating workshop in order to increase the number of leaflets and forbidden literature, for a wider coverage. This venture was also successful. The multipliers of that time - mimeographers - had many shortcomings, although they allowed making copies of drawings or manuscripts using a stencil and paint. It was still impossible to print flyers quickly and a lot. A real printing house was needed in order to meet the growing needs of revolutionary leaders.

Lenin put this question to his comrade and again found a response, the underground printing house, despite all the obstacles and difficulties, was created and successfully worked for the benefit of the socialist revolution, regularly and regularly supplying printed materials. Later, this underground printing house was transported to St. Petersburg, but it was impossible to hide it from prying eyes, it would be made public and destroyed. Bonch-Bruyevich leaves for Switzerland again and goes to the bottom. However, this was only the beginning of Bruyevich's publishing career; he had much greater tasks ahead of him.

In Zurich, he has the opportunity to get an excellent education at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, at the same time he wrote articles for foreign publications and for the Russian "Iskra" and continued to supervise the transfer of prohibited literature to Russia. At that time, he was studying sectarianism and religious movements in Russia, the revolutionaries planned to use this information for their own purposes, attracting representatives of such movements to their side. Bonch-Bruevich was also in charge of this issue.

During Lenin's next visit, in order to negotiate with Plekhanov about publishing periodicals, a meeting was organized with Bonch-Bruyevich. They identified the priority areas of Iskra and Zarya, and Lenin also insisted that Bruevich become Iskra's leading journalist. In addition, the newspaper, after it was banned in Germany (at the request of the Russian government), the editorial office was transported to Geneva, then Bruevich became the main employee and the main pen of the socialist revolution. He became known under the pseudonym Severyanin. Particularly biting articles and loud slogans were great success for the publicist, who used his literary gift for revolutionary purposes.

The split of the party and further revolutionary activities

During the second congress of the RSDLP, when there was a split between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, Bonch-Bruevich joined the Bolsheviks and again showed himself to be a reliable comrade of Lenin, on whom you can rely. Now in Geneva, he was completely in charge of the publishing house, in addition, he was also engaged in the manufacture of forged documents for the revolutionaries, including new passports. Now all the revolutionary literature that was brought into the country was organized, written, printed and sent by the hands of this man.

In fact, he was the ideological leader of everything that happens in the country. Today he would be called a press secretary and PR manager, but Bonch-Bruyevich actually knew his job. He was not only a talented author with the necessary ideological component, but also a very prolific journalist and publicist. He wrote throughout his life and left behind a wealth of valuable material.

On the eve of the first Russian revolution, the publisher comes to Russia. Having the opportunity to work relatively calmly, he came to St. Petersburg and began to work for the Bolshevik newspaper Novaya Zhizn. In parallel with this, he is preparing an armed strike. All the underground activities of the journalist provided him with vast experience in conspiratorial work, he knew the methods of police work and how to hide from them. Thanks to his specific skills, he managed to organize warehouses with weapons and ammunition, distributed them among the revolutionaries.

In addition, the Bolshevik is preparing for the third congress of the RSDLP and travels around the cities, daily forming reports from them to Vladimir Ilyich. Later, he again leaves for Geneva at the call of Lenin to organize another printing house. Which gets the name "Demos". By this time, he was already one of the leaders of the party.

One of the leaders of the February revolution

The underground work continued until the February Revolution, which became a turning point for Bonch-Bruyevich for his revolutionary career. By this time, he was one of the few party leaders who were at large, it is not surprising that it was he who had to participate in many key events and be their organizer. Then he shows himself to be a person devoted to the cause of the party, after he manages to occupy the printing house of one of the newspapers, he publishes a leaflet that becomes legendary. In it, he addresses all citizens of Russia and explains the position of the Bolsheviks.

His revolutionary career took off, he became a member of the Executive Committee of the Workers' Council, published articles one after another, and they all go around like hot cakes. His article "What They Want" was full of criticism of those supporters of the provisional government who spoke out against returnees from migration, including Lenin. The newspaper Izvestia is actively published, but this is not enough for the Bolsheviks, moreover, Bonch-Bruevich is removed from the post of editor-in-chief of the publication.

Then Lenin proposes to seize the working printing houses together with the revolutionaries and publish Bolshevik literature in such a barbaric way. Given such circumstances, one cannot but admire Bruevich's literary gift, who could write fiery texts practically on his knees, and to publish them, take over printing houses. In addition, he managed to regularly deliver reports at meetings, congresses and led an active revolutionary propaganda among young people and soldiers.

In the same period, he published Lenin's book "Imperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism" - another tool for achieving the goal - the overthrow of the provisional government and the coming to power of the Bolsheviks.

October Revolution

On the very first day of the October revolution, Bonch-Bruevich comes to the Izvestia building and establishes his own power there. He does not allow publications of the Provisional Government and the headquarters. But he publishes his own appeals. It remains only to sympathize with the readers of that period, who were bombarded with slogans and appeals, and the opposite direction, but from the pages of the same publication, depending on who is at the head of the publishing business.

During this period, Lenin lived with Bonch-Bruevich, and it was during this period that he had the idea of creating a new organ and the appointment of Bonch-Bruevich to the post. We are talking about the Council of People's Commissars. In response, Bruevich insists that Lenin needs personal protection. First, officers are appointed at the door of Vladimir Ilyich, who do not allow everyone to visit him indiscriminately, and then a special list of those who are "close to the body" of the leader appears. Subsequently, their own security system was created, in the creation of which the faithful ally of the leader also participated.

But this was far from the only question that Bruevich took upon himself. He had communication questions, he provided a telephone line, several devices on his desk, before that he had signals on the desk that announced the need to go to the telephone room. Bruevich and his wife also dealt with medical issues related to Lenin's health.

It was Bruevich who came up with the idea of nationalizing banks, he personally led this process in Petrograd and Moscow. After that, the Bolsheviks received sufficient funds at their disposal and were able to more effectively solve some issues.

Scientific activity and reasons for the end of a career

Few people manage to lead both a scientific career and a political one so successfully, moreover, in a period of changes, taking into account the constantly changing reality. But Bonch-Bruevich succeeded, he achieved success not only in revolutionary activity, but also as a publicist, ethnographer and writer. However, to some extent, it was his scientific activity that destroyed his impeccable political career.

The series for children "My first books" was published by Bonch-Bruyevich so that children from an early age knew who grandfather Lenin was and why he was supposed to be loved and respected. The stories "Our Ilyich", "Lenin and the Children" are from this series.

However, as an ethnographer, he was attracted by the religious movements of Russia and it was to this topic that he devoted a lot of time and effort. For pre-revolutionary Russia, sects were one of the forms of the democratic movement, a kind of protest form of the peasantry against the existing foundations and dogmas. Bruevich even traveled to Canada with sectarians who were leaving Russia. He managed to become one of the founders of this direction and was a clear authority on this issue. The Bolsheviks used this knowledge of his for their own benefit, trying to attract sectarians to their side, and often they succeeded.

Lenin was actively interested in this topic, always read the manuscripts that Bruevich collected and found them very philosophical and deep, believing that it was in them that folk philosophy was hidden. Such a narrow specialization of the Bolshevik as a scientist often rescued him in the face of the threat of arrest, comrades always found a way to shield him, exposing scientists not from this world, but passing propaganda as sectarianism. It was believed that the author of scientific works, and even on such a topic, simply cannot be a revolutionary.

Be that as it may, but it was Bruevich who became the founder of the religious and social dogmas that appeared in the new Russia, it was he who explained the emergence of sects as the social and political aspirations of the people.

It would seem that a scientist would always find something to do, even after he left the political arena, after his closest friend and comrade-in-arms, Lenin, died. In fact, he completely devoted himself to scientific work, wrote books about the history of the revolutionary movement in Russia, fortunately he knew this topic from the inside, he also developed the theme of the project in Russia, about religion, atheism, ethnography and literature. However, he could not completely withdraw from social activities, after he leaves the post of director of the state farm, creates a literary museum - the first of its kind in Moscow. Works as its director. Later, the Museum of Religion and Atheism appears, which he also heads.

He died in 1982, leaving behind an immense literary legacy. In addition to scientific works on the topic of sects, revolutionary brochures and books, he managed to write down a huge number of memories of revolutionary events in which he happened to be. For historical accuracy, these records play a huge role. The first years of Soviet power, the difficulties that the Bolsheviks had to face - all this is of great value for the history of the revolution, moreover, given the fact that the author of the lines was not a trivial participant in the events, but almost the main ideologist.

An educated intellectual who left a huge legacy, intelligent, and therefore not known to a wide circle of descendants - these are the people who stood at the origins of the socialist revolution. Having come to it based on their own deep convictions, built on a meaningful view of the world, the history of their country and aspirations for the future.