Alexander
Guchkov was born in Moscow, Russia on 14th October, 1862. He
was a major industrialist and in 1907 was elected to the Duma.
Guchkov advocated political reform and became leader of the Octobrist
Party. Later he became a leading figure in the Constitutional
Democratic Party (Cadets).
Guchkov
was also a strong critic of the relationship between Alexandra
and Gregory Rasputin.
In the Duma
Guchkov claimed that Rasputin was an "ignoble deciver" and
a "dangerous adviser". He also doubted whether Nicholas
II
would ever accept a constitutional monarchy. Some
progressives were suspicious of Guchkov because of his close friendship
with Peter
Stolypin and other senior government ministers.
During
the First World War Guchkov became chairman
of the Duma Committee on Military and Naval Affairs. After Nicholas
II
abdicated, George Lvov appointed Guchkov
as Minister of War in the Provisional
Government.
Guchkov
made vain attempts to stop Bolsheviks
propaganda being distributed in the Russian
Army.
After street demonstrations against him he resigned and was replaced
by Alexander Kerensky.
Guchkov
fled the country after the October Revolution.
Alexander
Guchkov
lived in Paris where he died on 14th February, 1936.
(1)
Bernard Pares, a British academic, met
several of the leading political figures in Russia during the summer
of 1914.
Guchkov, grandson of a serf, son of a merchant and magistrate
of Moscow, was a restless spirit always coming into prominence on
this or that issue of the moment. Guchkov's chief quality was a daring
gallantry; he was at ease with himself and enjoyed stepping forward
under fire with a perfect calm whenever there was anything which he
wished to challenge; his defect was his restlessness; without actually
asking for it, he was instinctively always in the limelight, always
trying to do too much.
He
had the easy organizing ability of a first-rate English politician;
he was quietly proud of his democratic origin, and all his actions
were inspired by an ardent love for Russia and the Russian people,
in whose native conservatism, common sense and loyalty he fully shared.
(2)
Alexander Kerensky, Russia and History's
Turning Point (1965)
I returned to Petrograd during the third week in September.
A new Minister of the Interior had just been appointed, and the choice
had fallen on Alexander Protopopov, former vice-president of the Duma.
In the course of a few months this man, who was in fact the last Minister
of the Interior of the Russian Empire, managed to incur the wrath
and hatred of the whole nation.
Soon afterwards
the whole story came out. Evidently, Protopopov was suffering from
an incurable venereal disease, for which he had been under the care
of Dr. Badmayev for many years. It was in Badmayev's house that he
met Rasputin, who had had no difficulty in subjugating a man with
a disturbed mind, although Protopopov did do his best to conceal his
friendship with Rasputin. Rasputin introduced him to the Tsarina,
whom he charmed. It was she who subsequently suggested him for the
post of Minister of the Interior.
(3)
George Buchanan, report to the
Foreign Office (7th May, 1917)
The Government,
as Prince Lvov remarked, was "an authority without power",
while the Workmen's Council (Soviet) was "a power without authority".
Under such conditions it was impossible for Guchkov, as Minister of
War, and for Kornilov, as military governor of Petrograd, to accept
responsibility for the maintenance of discipline in the army. They
both consequently resigned, while the former declared that if things
were to continue as they were the army would cease to exist as a fighting
force in three weeks' time. Guchkov's resignation precipitated matters,
and Lvov, Kerensky and Tershchenko came to the conclusion that, as
the Soviet was too powerful a factor to be either suppressed or disregarded,
the only way of putting an end to the anomaly of a dual Government
was to form a Coalition.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
