Peter is a city on the Neva, which changed its name three times. Founded in 1703 by Peter I, it became St. Petersburg. The Russian emperor named it in honor of the Apostle Peter. There is another version: Peter I lived for some time in the Dutch Sint-Petersburg. He named his city after him.

Base

Peter - which was once a small fortress. In the 18th century, the construction of each locality: it was necessary to create reliable fortifications from enemies. According to legend, the first stone was laid by Peter I himself in May 1703, on Hare Island, located not far from Gulf of Finland. Petersburg is a city built on human bones. By at least many historians say so.

Civilian workers were brought in to build the new city. They worked mainly on draining the swamps. Many foreign engineers arrived in Russia to supervise the construction of structures. However, most of the work was carried out by masons from all over Russia. Peter I from time to time issued various decrees that contributed to accelerated process construction of the city. So, he forbade the use of stone in the construction of any structures throughout the country. Modern man it's hard to imagine how hard the work of the workers was XVIII century. Required equipment then, of course, it was not, and Peter I sought to build new town as fast as possible.

First inhabitants

Peter is a city that in the first half of the 18th century was inhabited mainly by soldiers and sailors. They were needed to protect the territory. Peasants and artisans from other regions were brought here forcibly. became the capital in 1712. Then settled here Imperial Courtyard. The city on the Neva was the capital for two centuries. Until the revolution of 1918. Then in St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg) events that were quite important for the whole history took place.

Attractions

We will tell about the Soviet period in the history of the city later. First, let's talk about what happened in tsarist times. Peter is a city that is often called cultural capital th. And it is no coincidence. Here great amount historical monuments, unique attractions. Peter is a city that combines miraculously Russian and Western culture. The first palaces, which later became the property of culture, began to appear already in the first half of the 18th century. Then the famous palaces were built. These buildings were designed by I. Matarnovi, D. Trezin.

The history of the Hermitage begins in 1764. The name of the attraction is french roots. "Hermitage" in translation from the language of Walter means "hermit's hut". It has existed for over 250 years. For my long history The Hermitage has become one of the most famous. Tourists from different parts of the world visit it every year.

In 1825 on Senate Square in St. Petersburg, an event occurred that influenced the course national history. Here the Decembrist uprising took place, which served as an impetus for the abolition of serfdom. There are many more significant dates in the history of Saint Petersburg. It is impossible to tell about all cultural and historical monuments within the framework of one article - a lot of documentary works are devoted to this topic. Let's briefly talk about the impact that the February Revolution had on the status of the city.

Petrograd

Peter lost the status of the capital after the revolution. However, it was renamed earlier. The First World War had strong influence to the fate of the city. By 1914, anti-German sentiments were so strong that Nicholas I decided to rename the city. So capital Russian Empire became Petrograd. In 1917, there were problems with the supply, there were queues in grocery stores. In February, Nicholas II abdicated the throne. The formation of the Provisional Government began. Already in November 1917, power passed to the Bolsheviks. The Russian Soviet Republic was created.

Leningrad

Peter lost the status of the capital in March 1918. After Lenin's death, it was renamed Leningrad. After the revolution, the population of the city decreased significantly. In 1920, just over seven hundred thousand people lived here. And most of population from workers' settlements moved closer to the center. In the 1920s, housing construction began in Leningrad.

In the first decade of existence Soviet region Krestovsky and Yelagin islands were equipped. In 1930, the construction of the Kirov Stadium began. And soon there were new administrative divisions. In 1937 they developed general plan Leningrad, which provided for its development in southbound. Pulkovo airport was opened in 1932.

St. Petersburg during WWII

More than a quarter of a century ago, the city was returned former name. However, what he had Soviet times, will never be forgotten. The most tragic pages in the history of St. Petersburg fell on the period when it was called Leningrad.

Capture of the city on the Neva to the German command would achieve important strategic goals. Namely:

• master economic base THE USSR.
• Capture the Baltic Navy.
• Consolidate dominance in the Baltic Sea.

The official beginning of the blockade of Leningrad is September 8, 1941. It was on that day that the land connection with the city was interrupted. The inhabitants of Leningrad could not leave it. Rail connection was also interrupted. In addition to the indigenous people, about three hundred thousand refugees from the Baltic and neighboring regions lived in the city. This greatly complicated the situation.

In October 1941, famine began in Leningrad. First, he expressed himself in cases of loss of consciousness on the street, then in the mass exhaustion of the townspeople. Food supplies could only be delivered to the city by air. Movement through Ladoga lake carried out only when severe frosts set in. The blockade of Leningrad was completely broken in 1944. Many emaciated residents who were taken out of the city could not be saved.

Return of historical name

Petersburg ceased to be called Leningrad in official documents in 1991. Then a referendum was held, and it turned out that more than half of the inhabitants believe that their hometown return the historical name. In the nineties and early 2000s, many historical monuments were installed and restored in St. Petersburg. Including the Savior on Blood. In May 1991, the first church service for almost the entire Soviet period was held in the Kazan Cathedral.

Today, more than five million people live in the cultural capital. It is the second largest city in the country and the fourth largest in Europe.

The official date of the founding of St. Petersburg is May 27, 1703 (May 16 according to the old calendar). Initially, until 1914, it was called St. Petersburg, then as Petrograd, and until September 6, 1991, it was called Leningrad.

The history of the founding of the city on the Neva

The history of the beautiful city on the Neva of St. Petersburg dates back to 1703, when Peter I founded a fortress called St. Peter-Burkh on the land of Ingria, conquered from the Swedes. The fortress was planned personally by Peter. The name of this fortress was given to the Northern capital. The fortress was named Peter in honor of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. After the construction of the fortress, a wooden house was built for Peter, with walls painted with oil paint, imitating brick.

AT short time the city began to grow at the present Petrograd side. Already in November 1703, the first temple in the city called Trinity was built here. It was named in memory of the date of the foundation of the fortress, it was laid on the feast of the Holy Trinity. Trinity Square, on which the cathedral stood, became the first city pier where ships approached and unloaded. It was on the square that the first Gostiny Dvor and the St. Petersburg tavern appeared. In addition, buildings could be seen here. military units, service buildings and craft settlements. The new city island and the Hare, where the fortress stood, were connected by a drawbridge. Soon buildings began to appear on the other side of the river, and on Vasilyevsky Island.

It was planned to be made central part cities. Initially, the city was called in the Dutch way "St. Peter Burch", since Holland, namely Amsterdam, was something special for Peter I and one might say the best. But already in 1720 the city began to be called St. Petersburg. In 1712, the royal court, and after that official institutions, began to slowly move from Moscow to St. Petersburg. From that time until 1918, St. Petersburg was the capital, and during the reign of Peter II, the capital was again transferred to Moscow. For almost 200 years St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire. It is not for nothing that St. Petersburg is still called the Northern capital.

Significance of the founding of St. Petersburg

As mentioned above, the foundation of St. Petersburg is associated with the foundation of the Peter and Paul Fortress, which had special purpose. The first building in the city was supposed to block the fairways along two branches of the delta of the Neva and Bolshaya Nevka rivers. Then, in 1704, the fortress of Kronstadt was built on the island of Kotlin, which was supposed to serve as a defense of the sea borders of Russia. These two fortresses are great value both in the history of the city and in the history of Russia. Founding the city on the Neva, Peter I pursued important strategic goals. First of all, it provided waterway from Russia to Western Europe, and, of course, the foundation of the city cannot be imagined without a commercial port located on the spit of Vasilyevsky Island, opposite the Peter and Paul Fortress.

1703. History of occurrence official name of the city founded by Peter I at the mouth of the Neva River is rather confusing and, probably, for this reason it still harbors one of the most beautiful delusions of Petersburgers, who are sure that their city is named after its founder. However, this is nothing more than a beautiful legend, testifying only to the love and respect of the people of St. Petersburg for him. Indeed, Peter I was born on May 30, 1672. However, due to a number of circumstances, including family properties, the baby was baptized only a month later, on June 29, on the day of commemoration of the holy Apostle Peter, which is why he was named Peter. Therefore, already from his youth, Peter was seized by the idea of ​​naming some Russian fortress after his heavenly patron. Raised in tradition Orthodox Christianity, Peter well understood the meaning and meaning of his name. The New Testament Peter was the first of the apostles to proclaim Jesus the messiah.

But that's not all. Peter was the brother of the Apostle Andrew, who preached Christianity north of the Scythian lands, on the territory of the future Russia. This is the same Andrew the First-Called, who will soon turn out to be the hero of one of the early St. Petersburg legends about the emergence of a city on the Neva, a hero who supposedly anticipated the emergence of a new capital in Russia. It turns out that while preaching Christianity, he not only erected a cross in the region of the future Novgorod, as the legend says, but went further north and reached the mouth of the Neva River. And when he went by the mouth, it is told in one of the apocrypha early XVIII century, appeared in the sky Northern Lights, which, according to the beliefs of the ancient inhabitants of the Neva region, means nothing more than the emergence of a capital city in this place in the future. Such a legend appeared in St. Petersburg in the first years of its existence.

Let's not forget the flag naval forces Russia, which is a rectangular white cloth with a diagonal blue cross - the so-called cross of St. Andrew the First-Called, having the shape of the letter "X". The flag was established by Peter I in 1699. However, there is a legend in St. Petersburg that this flag was invented by Peter in the St. Petersburg period of Russian history. As if one day, painfully thinking about appearance and the shape of the first Russian naval flag, Peter accidentally looked out the window of his house on the Petersburg side, and froze in surprise. The clear shadow of the window frame was imprinted on the light paved slabs of the yard. It seems that this is exactly what the emperor thought for hours. Immediately he grabbed a sheet of paper and sketched out a sketch. But it is also true that it was on such an oblique cross, according to the gospel tradition, that the Apostle Andrew was crucified. And Peter could not have been unaware of this. And he could not ignore this circumstance. Another legend indirectly reminds of this. As if the design and shape of the flag were suggested to Peter by his faithful companion Jacob Bruce, a Scot by birth. But Andrew the First-Called is considered the patron saint of Scotland.

So the role of the two Evangelical brothers from Ancient Galilee, Andrei and Peter, which was assigned by history in the life of Peter I, was great. Not only that, the name of one of them, the Apostle Peter, in translation meant “rock”, “stone”. And if the name determined the fate, then this should be used.

According to Peter, the fortress he conceived was to become not only " stone rock”, Protecting Russia from enemies, but the “key” that opens her access to the sea, which fully corresponded to the meaning of the Apostle Peter in Christian mythology, where he was also known as the keykeeper, the keeper of the keys to paradise. Six years before the founding of St. Petersburg, in 1697, if successful Azov campaign Peter was going to erect such a fortress on the Don.

However, it seems that Peter was not satisfied with the results of the Azov campaign. It was not possible to reach Europe through the Black Sea. Only a few years later, thanks to the first successes in the war with Sweden, which he started for access to another sea, the Baltic, on May 16, 1703, a fortress was founded on Hare Island, named after St. Peter the Apostle. St. Petersburg, which literally translated from German means the city of St. Peter. True, it was about the fortress. There was no city yet.

The fortress was supposed to become a guard outpost at the mouth of the Neva. Its tasks included defense against possible attacks by the Swedes from the north and south, as well as from the side of the bay, where they could enter and, as it soon turned out, included Swedish ships. Hare Island provided great opportunities for this. In terms of plan, it looked like the deck of a ship, which could only be bristled on all sides with fortress cannons.

And a month and a half later, on June 29, 1703, again on the day of St. Peter, a cathedral was laid in the center of the fortress in the name of the holy apostles of Christ Peter and Paul. It is unlikely that anyone knows for certain what Peter was thinking then: about the main Orthodox church the future capital or about an ordinary military church on the territory of an army garrison stationed on the island. But it was from then on that the fortress began to be called Peter and Paul, and its old name - St. Petersburg - was almost automatically transferred to the city, which by that time had already arisen under the protection of the fortress on the neighboring Beryozov Island.

Very soon fame came to St. Petersburg, and then glory. The new capital of the Russian Empire gained more and more authority in Europe and in the world. She was considered. Literally all foreign diplomats and travelers wrote enthusiastically about her. Already in the 18th century, the first flattering epithets appeared, many of which entered urban folklore, forming a powerful synonymous series of unofficial, household names for the city. Petersburg was compared with the ancient famous cities of the world and called " New Rome”, “Northern Sahara”, “Northern Rome”, “Fourth Rome”, “Northern Venice”, “Northern Palmyra”, “Paradise”, “New Babylon”, “Snowy Babylon”, “Second Paris”, “Russian Athens” , "Queen of the Baltic". In the Greek way, it was called "Petropolis" and "Petropolis".

Long before the official renaming, it was called "Petrograd" in folklore. AT folk songs one could often hear the majestic “Petersburg itself”, “Peter”, “St. For him were amazing words, consonant with its majestic royal appearance: "Northern Paradise", "Northern Pearl", "Nevsky Paradise", "Neva Capital".

Even when, paying tribute to the Mother See, the names of the “Junior Capital”, “Second Capital” or “Northern Capital”, and even the “Chukhonskaya Whore” were recognized for St. Petersburg, there was nothing derogatory, dropping the dignity of the most beautiful city in the world . Moreover, most often both Moscow and St. Petersburg were united by the collective name "Both Capitals".

Meanwhile, even in the 19th century, not everyone was satisfied with the historical name of the city. Petersburg, in the eyes of many, was an absolutely Western-style military city. It is no coincidence that it was ironically called the "Regimental Office" and the "Department of Bureaucrats". There were voices in favor of renaming it after the type of such names of ancient Russian cities as Vladimir or Novgorod. The most popular options were "Alexandro-Nevsk", "Nevsk", "Peter", "Peter-gorod", "New Moscow".

1914. The outbreak of the First World War caused a storm of jingoism and chauvinism in Russia. In the capital, this was accompanied by the destruction of German shops and militant mass demonstrations near the German embassy on St. Isaac's Square. The crowd, fueled by pogrom slogans, threw huge stone sculptures of horses from the eaves of the embassy. Until now, there is a legend in St. Petersburg that radio transmitters were skillfully hidden in the womb of these stone animals, which were used by german spies who settled in the Astoria Hotel, which belonged to them.

Under these conditions, the replacement of the German toponym St. Petersburg with Russian Petrograd was met with enviable understanding. Liked the new name. It naturally entered the urban folklore. Remember the song that the Shkidites sang:

Ay! Ay! Petrograd -

Splendid city.

Petro - Petro - Petrograd -

Wonderful city!

Due to the peculiarities of the most difficult military and revolutionary times, folklore did not seriously react to the renaming. A few years later, about the Petersburg decade that preceded turning points Russian history, they started talking about "The Last Petersburg". Zinaida Gippius recalls that in 1917-1918, in the circles of the St. Petersburg intelligentsia, Petrograd was called "Chertograd", " dead city or Nikolograd. The NEP that followed the Civil War left a vague and not very intelligible "Petro-Nepo-grad" in folklore. Then the powerful ideological press began one after another to squeeze out all the epithets, except for those that for a long time forced out all the other synonyms of St. Petersburg: “Red Peter”, “Red Petrograd”, “City of three revolutions”, “Cradle of the revolution”, “ram of the revolution” , "Northern Commune".

1924. The city was called Petrograd for a little less than ten years. Founder died in January 1924 Soviet state Lenin. His death stirred up the Bolshevik enthusiasm of the working masses. It is believed that it was at their request that Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. Although it is clear that, most likely, the renaming process was well orchestrated, and the premature death of the leader of the revolution was simply used for ideological and political purposes.

Against the backdrop of general rejoicing over the assignment of the name of Lenin to the city, as unanimously emphasized Soviet propaganda, the reaction of urban folklore to this renaming looked like a clear dissonance. Chaliapin, in his memoirs “The Mask and the Soul,” retells an anecdote popular at that time: “When Petrograd was renamed Leningrad, that is, when the creation of Peter the Great was christened after Lenin, Demyan Bedny demanded that the works of the great Russian poet Pushkin be renamed into the works of Demyan Bedny.” The anecdote had several versions, one of which stated that “the next after the decree on renaming Petrograd to Leningrad, a decree will be issued according to which the complete works of Pushkin will be renamed into complete collection Lenin's writings.

The absurdity of what was happening was so obvious that attempts appeared in folklore to bring it to an extreme. Shortly after Lenin's death, another anecdote claims, a popular essay on astronomy was published in Gosizdat. After reviewing the book, Krupskaya, who was in charge of censorship on social and political issues at the Main Political Education Department, wrote a letter to the publishing house: “Comrades, I present to you an unacceptable political bungling. I propose that this book be withdrawn immediately and issued in a corrected form. And in accordance with the decision of the Council of People's Commissars, change the name "Jupiter" to "Yu-Lenin".

At the same time, folklore began to show an elementary concern for distant descendants who would wonder in honor of which Lena the city was named Leningrad.

Anyway, the city was renamed. Literally six months later, the second flood in the history of the city in terms of the height of the water rise occurred in Leningrad. The Neva exceeded the level of the ordinary by 369 cm. Leningrad was literally flooded. Some perceived the flood as God's punishment for mocking the name of the city, while others considered the flood to be God's baptism. “The city was drowned by Petrograd, and swam by Leningrad,” said the shocked Leningraders.

The given inertia proved to be insurmountable. The process, using a modern common stamp, has begun. Note wits used every suitable opportunity to enrich folklore with the next name of the next contender for glory and immortality. Under Brezhnev, Leningrad was called "Leningrad", under Andropov - "PitekAndropovsk", under Gidaspov - "Gidaspovburg", under Sobchak - "Sobchakstan" and "Sobchakburg". The operation of the name of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin began. Petersburg becomes "Putinburg". New jokes are born. President of the United States of America George W. Bush is asked about his impressions of the meeting with Vladimir Putin. “I really liked Russia,” Bush replies, “especially when Putin took me to his ranch. He has a very good ranch: drawbridges, canals, white nights. True, it is far from Moscow.

Among such completely specific toponyms, rather vague formulations such as “Leningrad” or “PetroLen” appeared, that is, neither Leningrad nor Petersburg. Neither this nor that. Something in between. The city of Peter and Lenin at the same time. Akin to "Leningrad Petersburg" or even "St. Caucasus". Folklore has acquired a gloomy shade of hopelessness. The city began to turn into "Retrograd" or "Doomed City". They started talking about Leningrad - "the city of palaces and the culture that joined them."

But under all the rulers, whether in Moscow, in Leningrad, in the Leningrad period of St. Petersburg history, the people of St. Petersburg sharply felt and clearly distinguished the difference between the names that denoted one or another period. “What will remain of Leningrad if you drop atomic bomb? - "Petersburg will remain."

My mother was born in Petrograd,

I was lucky: I appeared in Leningrad.

My granddaughter was born in Petersburg.

And yet we are countrymen! That's the thing!

Leningraders defended

Petersburg during the siege.

It remains to apologize

For such a pun.

Despite the official Soviet ideology, in which the history of Leningrad always and in everything prevailed over the history of St. Petersburg, folklore has never been mistaken in this regard. "What are the three the best cities in the world?" Petersburg, Petrograd and Leningrad.

Born in a swamp

Baptized three times

Don't surrender to the enemy

He remained a hero.

1991. This year entered the newest history of St. Petersburg like a red line. By the will of the majority of Leningraders, expressed on June 12 during a citywide referendum, the city was returned to its historical name Holy Apostle Peter. official recognition happened a little later. On September 6, 1991, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Russia, on the basis of the will of the majority of citizens, decided to return the historical name St. Petersburg.

This was preceded by a serious struggle. Suffice it to recall that literally a few days before the referendum, on June 5, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the then-existing USSR turned to Leningraders with a request to keep the name of Lenin in the city. On one side of the barricades stood the communist-Leninists, who created a committee in order to "protect against any attempts to rename" Leningrad. Ironically, the committee meetings were held in the Museum ... of the Defense of Leningrad.

In Leningrad, one after another, crowded rallies were held, the participants of which, on the one hand, carried decisive and irreconcilable slogans: “I am changing the city of the devil for the city of the saint”, on the other hand, they offered the most incredible compromise, conciliatory variants of the name from “Nevagrad” to “Leningrad Petrogradovich Petersburg". The discussion included mischievous ditties:

By the way, according to eyewitnesses, back in 1978, an inscription appeared on the monument to Lenin near the Finland Station: “Peter built Petrograd, not you, bald bastard.” I also remember the children's riddle: “What will happen if the letter “p” is removed from the word “Leningrad””?

In the end, the experience of millennia, recorded on the tablets of world folklore, won. Any, and the most difficult odyssey ends with Ithaca. Prodigal son returns to parental home, and, as the Bible says, everything returns to normal.

It remains to recall the Avestan calendar, according to which the 96-year period of time is considered a single Year of the Holy Spirit. So, in 1991, when its historical name was returned to St. Petersburg, it was 288 years old, that is, three times 96 years since its foundation. Such astral coincidences, say modern astrologers, must not be forgotten.

An example of the reaction to the return to the city of its name can serve as an advertisement of one of the St. Petersburg construction companies, which offered St. Petersburg residents apartments in new modern houses built according to individual architectural projects: "Move from Leningrad to St. Petersburg." A characteristic detail: in the Soviet period in Leningrad there was practically no individual housing construction. Mass construction was carried out according to impersonal standard projects.

The fate of Petersburg toponymy in urban folklore.
Buy books by N.A. Sindalovsky |

Instruction

Some believe that the city on the Neva received the name "St. Petersburg" in honor of its founder, Peter I. But this is not so. own name Northern capital received in honor of the heavenly patron of the first Russian emperor- Apostle Peter. " St. Petersburg” literally means “City of St. Peter”, and Peter the Great dreamed of founding a city in honor of his heavenly patron long before Petersburg was founded. And the geopolitical significance of the new Russian capital enriched the name of the city also with a metaphorical meaning. After all, the apostle Peter is considered the keeper of the keys to the gates of paradise, and Peter-Pavel's Fortress(it was from her that the construction of St. Petersburg began in 1703) was called upon to protect sea ​​gate Russia.

The name "St. Petersburg" was carried by the Northern Capital for more than two centuries - until 1914, after which it was renamed "in the Russian manner" and became Petrograd. It was a political move by Nicholas II, associated with Russia's entry into the first world war accompanied by strong anti-German sentiment. It is possible that the decision to "Russify" the name of the city was influenced by Paris, where Germanskaya and Berlinskaya streets were promptly renamed Zhores and Liege streets. The city was renamed overnight: on August 18, the emperor ordered to change the name of the city, the documents were issued immediately, and, as the newspapers wrote the next day, the townspeople "went to sleep in St. Petersburg, and woke up in Petrograd."

The name "Petrograd" existed on the maps for less than 10 years. In January 1924, on the fourth day after the death of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Petrograd Soviet deputies decided that the city should be renamed Leningrad. The decision noted that it was adopted “at the request of the grieving workers,” but the author of the idea was Grigory Evseevich Zinoviev, who at that time held the post of chairman of the city council. At that time, the capital of Russia had already been moved to Moscow, and the importance of Petrograd had declined. Assigning the name of the leader of the world proletariat to the city significantly increased the "ideological significance" of the city of three revolutions, making it in fact the "party capital" of the communists of all countries.

At the end of the 80s of the last century, the democratic transformations in the USSR began another wave of renaming: cities with " revolutionary names received their historical names. Then the question arose about the renaming of Leningrad. The author of the idea was the Leningrad City Council Vitaly Skoybeda. On June 12, 1991, on the first anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR, a referendum was held in the city, in which almost two-thirds of the voters took part - and 54.9% of them voted for returning the name "St. Petersburg" to the city.

With the beginning of the war with Germany, Petersburg began to be called by the Russian word - Petrograd. The industry of the city, although slowly, was rebuilt on a military footing. Private enterprises were loaded with military orders.

In 1915-1917 Petrograd factories produced more than half of the total number of guns, mortars and carriages, up to 50% of the shells manufactured in Russia. As a result of military orders, the factories of Petrograd significantly expanded their production. So, for example, the Izhora plant in 1913 produced products for 16.6 million rubles, and in 1915 for 27.8 million rubles. The production of the Obukhov plant in the 1st half of 1914 was estimated at 4.5 million rubles, and in the 2nd half of 1914 - 25.5 million rubles. 30 Riga and 25 Lithuanian enterprises evacuated from the Baltic were placed in Petrograd.

The profits of the war industrialists were enormous. The lion's share of them fell on large and largest enterprises. The newspapers wrote about the turnover of the "Triangle": "The numbers of the "Triangle" are positively suppressing. This is some kind of fountain of millions. "During the war years, the bourgeoisie in all major cities created military-industrial committees, as well as Zemsky and City unions - organizations involved in the mobilization and regulation of industry. The Central Military Industrial Committee was located in Petrograd.

During the war the composition of the Petrograd proletariat changed. Already during the first mobilizations in 1914, about 40% of the industrial workers of the city were called up. In the future, the tsarist authorities deliberately sent leaders of the strike movement to the army. In their place came immigrants from the village, as well as small proprietors who hid from the front in defense factories. The petty-bourgeois population of the city increased significantly due to the influx of refugees from the occupied German troops districts. All these small property elements supported the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. However, there were still many cadre workers in Petrograd who had gone through the school of the first revolution of 1905-1907. and a new revolutionary upsurge. They, as before, followed the Bolsheviks. Despite police persecution, the destruction of legal workers' organizations, the militarization of a number of enterprises, and the bourgeoisie's economic offensive against the workers, the revolutionary struggle of the Petrograd proletariat did not cease.

The Petrograd organization of the Bolsheviks, in spite of all the persecutions and frequent failures, which were reported many times by the tsarist secret police, retained its leadership in the labor movement. Its number reached at times 2 thousand people.

At the start of the war big role the Duma faction of the Bolsheviks (A.E. Badaev, M.K. Muranov, G.I. Petrovsky, F.N. Samoilov, N.R. Shagov) played a role in organizing party work. holding close connection with V. I. Lenin, Petrograd organization launched socialist propaganda among the workers and all working population cities, calling for proletarian internationalism and proletarian revolution. Not limited to verbal agitation, the Bolsheviks of Petrograd issued dozens of leaflets in mass circulation, and in 1915-1916. published 4 issues of the illegal newspaper "Proletarian voice".

Of great importance in this explanatory work was the surviving legal magazine "Questions of Insurance". Along with this, the Bolsheviks retained their influence in the remaining legal organizations - sickness funds and insurance authorities.

During re-elections and by-elections to these organizations in 1915-1916. the Bolsheviks were victorious.

In 1915 they also successfully carried out a campaign to boycott the military-industrial committees. V. I. Lenin repeatedly gave appreciated activities of the Petrograd Bolsheviks during the war.

As a result of the active propaganda of the Bolsheviks, the attempts of the Mensheviks to poison the workers with the poison of chauvinism were unsuccessful. V. I. Lenin emphasized that the infection of chauvinism touched only the darkest sections of the workers, and in general the working class of Russia turned out to be immunized against chauvinism.

Already the first days of the war were marked in Petrograd by anti-war strikes, demonstrations and rallies. On November 12, 1914, workers responded with protest strikes to the arrest of Bolshevik deputies in the Duma.

In 1915 the strike movement assumed a large scope; in total in the province, i.e., mainly in Petrograd itself, there were 125 strikes, in which 130,000 people took part.

The largest was the August strike in protest against massacre royal authorities with the workers of Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Kostroma, as well as the September political strike, held under Bolshevik slogans. In terms of the scope of the strike struggle, the Petrograd province was second only to the Moscow and Vladimir provinces.

In 1916 the revolutionary struggle of the workers grew with even greater force.

In 1916, 352 strikes took place in Petrograd (27% of all strikes in the country) with the participation of more than 300 thousand workers (about 38% total number on strike).

On January 9, 1916, in memory of the events of January 9, 1905, about 100,000 people went on strike in Petrograd.

On the Vyborg side, over 40,000 workers were on strike. Lessner's factory workers with red banners and revolutionary songs went out into the street and marched along Bolshoi Sampsonievsky Prospekt.

About 15,000 workers were on strike in the Moscow region.

Demonstrations of workers were organized at the Nobel, Aivaz, Metallic and other factories. On the evening of January 10, a crowded demonstration of workers with the participation of soldiers under the slogan "Down with the war!" took place on Bolshoi Sampsonpevsky Prospekt.

On February 4, a strike of workers in the electrical shop began. Putilov factory. All the striking workers were fired. In this regard, the strike swept the entire plant.

On February 6, rallies were held at the Lessner, Ayvaz, Metallichesky and other factories in support of the striking Putilov workers. In the same month, the Putilovites went on strike for the second time.

In response to the repressions against the workers of the Putilov plant, mass protest strikes began at the factories of Lessner, Nobel, Erickson, Baranovsky and others.

In March, tens of thousands of Petrograd workers took part in a political strike in solidarity with the workers of the Putilov factory.

Carrying out day-to-day leadership of the strike movement, the Bolsheviks sought to transform the spontaneous economic struggle into an organized one. political struggle aimed at overthrowing tsarism. By number political strikes the working class of Petrograd occupied the first place in the country.

Under influence revolutionary events and propaganda of the Bolsheviks there was a turning point in the soldier's mind.

In October 1916, the soldiers of the 181st Infantry Regiment, which included many mobilized Petrograd workers, fraternized with the strikers.

By the autumn of 1916, the revolutionary struggle sharply escalated. The October strikes of 1916 were especially grandiose, in which 130,000 workers took part.

scope revolutionary struggle was so great that the head of the Petrograd Military District was forced to temporarily close a number of strike factories: Mine, Shell, the Russian Society plant, the L. M. Erickson and Co, Nobel, New Lessner, Petrograd Metallurgical Plant, etc.

Under the leadership of the Central Committee and the Petrograd Committee of the Bolshevik Party, the workers of Petrograd launched a powerful strike struggle at the end of 1916 and in January-February 1917 under the slogans: "Down with the autocracy!", "Down with the war!", "Bread!"