Songs of Tsarist Russia, captured by the Bolsheviks

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Valery Evgenievich, it turns out that the so-called Soviet hits closed the great history, the great culture of Tsarist Russia from us for whole decades.

Yes, they not only closed, they were based on this culture, because masterpieces are never born from scratch, they must always have some kind of soil, and such a fertile soil for the birth of masterpieces was the culture of our great Russian Empire, which was created for centuries, it was created for millennia, it was created on a great Orthodox foundation, by no means out of thin air, not out of emptiness. The very picture of the great Empire turned out to be distorted, in many respects distorted, several streams of disinformation were superimposed here. One stream - the Bolsheviks, they had to portray the Russian Empire as backward, completely downtrodden, etc. Another stream is the propaganda of Western opponents, because the Russian Empire has always been their competitor, at all times, and on the eve of the October Revolution, this was especially noticeable. Russia came out on top in the world in many respects: the industry developed rapidly, the most rapid rise in production since the time of Alexander II, in the era of Alexander III and the Emperor, the Holy Passion-bearer Nikolai Alexandrovich. Russia came to one of the first places in the world in terms of industrial output, industrial giants were built: Obukhovsky, Putilovsky, Russian-Baltic plants, industrial plants, textile centers in the Moscow region, Lodz, etc.

Now we have everything filled up with Chinese consumer goods, but at that time Russia filled up China with its textile products and drove out such competitors as the British from there, even penetrated into India, etc.

Agriculture did not lag behind, while production was very dynamic and developed. Agriculture did not lag behind, because Russia received more profit from the export of butter than from the export of gold abroad. Europe ate mainly Russian products, we now take who knows whose products, and at that time all of Europe was eating Russian grain, Russian meat, etc.

But in terms of the pace of development, Russia generally ranked first in the world, ahead of even the United States of America, which at that time was also developing rapidly. And against this background, a great culture naturally developed, the Russian people itself multiplied. According to Mendeleev's calculations, by the end of the 20th century Russia should have reached 600 million people, the population growth was then enormous, because the material base corresponded to this - people could feed a large family, and the cultural component too.

The fact that the Russians were illiterate is a myth. The same peasant kids went to parish schools, and they were at every church. 30% of children received secondary education, the law on compulsory primary education was being prepared for adoption - this is one of the first steps in the then world, in the then Europe. All this was accompanied by a colossal rise of culture - it is called the Silver Age of Russian culture. The Silver Age was expressed not only in poetry, but also in theater, music, literature. At that time in Europe, in America, Russian novels were published, Russian singers came on tour there. Well, as for the song - the people could not live without a song, it sounded everywhere, and at work, and in the army, and in houses (home ensembles were created), and in factories, in factories (ensembles of factory workers were created), very famous Old Believer ensembles of the Morozovs, others were also created. This culture just became the basis on which Soviet culture was born.

Russia experienced the glorious years of the reign of Tsar Nicholas, the rise of culture, industry, education, but was drawn into a world war, and it seems that victory was already close, close, but it was not

Yes, so that there was no victory, not only the opponents of Russia had a hand in it, but the allies of Russia had a hand and very firmly. Russia’s allies are England, France and, as a potential ally, the United States of America. Russia was dragged into this war, she was really entangled, introduced into an alliance, and she fought well.

Yes, at that time Germany was striving for world domination, and in many ways it preceded all the instructions that would later sound in Nazi Germany, about the superiority of the German race, about the struggle of the Germans against the Slavs, etc. As for Russia, plans were made, if not yet destruction, but alienation - to drive it into the framework of pre-Petrine Rus, to separate the Caucasus, Ukraine, etc. from it. Those. the plans were quite aggressive, but Russia's allies turned out to be unreliable, although Russia fought bravely, won victories, in 1914 she saved France, although again, the history of the First World War seemed slandered by both opponents and allies, and the same revolutionaries.

We were told only about defeats, like, for example, about Samsonov's defeat: she is backing away, what a backward Russia! Although at the same time, when Samsonov's defeats were right there next - the victory of Pavel Karlovich Rennenkampf at Gumbinnen, the breakthrough of the Russians into Galicia. Germany, before reaching Paris, was forced to remove its corps and turn to the eastern front. They defeated Turkey to smithereens, and in this situation, yes, Russia had its weak moments, but somehow rubbing into the confidence of the War Ministry, intrigues were woven behind the Emperor's back, the War Ministry was convinced, maybe not without bribes convinced that there was no need to modernize their industrial base. And during the war, all countries began to improve their industrial bases. Say, there is a good industrial base in England, let's buy weapons there cheaply and profitably. The War Office said, “Why not! It's profitable, we'll pay the money and get it. The shipment was due in March 1915, from the Armstrong and Vickers factories. The British had to supply shells, guns, rifles. The order was accepted, but not fulfilled, the Russians were not considered necessary to inform that the order was not fulfilled, the contract was actually failed. The failure resulted in shell hunger, rifle hunger, and a great retreat. Nevertheless, even with such difficulties, Russia coped with itself without the help of its allies.

You are talking about external difficulties, but there were also internal - internal enemies. The sovereign wrote: "All around there is treason and cowardice and deceit." And in 1917 Russia was deprived of the God-given power. The illegal ones came, the impostors came

But here you can say this: Russia was on such a rise. This takeoff provided a precarious state, and Russia was indeed seriously ill. Infected with Westernism, she was inspired by thoughts of unbelief, atheism, republicanism, and she was inspired by models. By the way, later very many officers and intellectuals were punished, punished by their own will. They wanted to live like in the West, and ended up in the West, in the role of refugees, in the role of guest workers, precisely punished by their own desires. But in 1917, everyone said: "Yes, now we will overthrow the monarchy!" When the conspiracy began to unfold and be realized, it was supported by many. Everyone was convinced that now without the Tsar we would be better, but first the conspirators, the right-wing conspirators, led by Lvov, took advantage of this, then the more radical conspirators with Kerensky were released, then the more radical conspirators led by Lenin and Trotsky.

Today we are talking about songs, and all of this was performed to the accompaniment of the song “We will destroy the whole world of violence to the core, and then …” And what followed “then”?

Then nothing happened, because then the destruction began to the ground. At first, it was supposed to create something new, which seems to be not even Russia.

It's so easy. Lenin, their leader, said: "A cook can run the state."

Yes, that is, it seemed easy. Turn it over, that is, redirect the same control apparatus, redirect it, but then, when they got down to business, it turned out that everything was not so simple. Because Othe same state, which the cook was supposed to rule, there were certainly no cooks, they would not have been allowed, but there was someone to govern. But when they grabbed the levers of power, these levers did not work, they themselves ruined these levers. When they started to create an ugly new culture. They forced all of Moscow then with wooden monuments to Stenka Razin, sculptures by Konenkov, when, forgive me, he went into Satanism; demolished old monuments; names, cities changed, the state changed. The Russian people were meant as an armful of brushwood, which must only be burned to kindle a world revolution - this is their fate. The continuity between the former Russia was categorically rejected, until the 17th year there was no previous history.

At the same time, the new government lived on the Tsar's reserves - both material and cultural. However, the Russian people were not evaluated as the bearer of this culture. We are talking more about culture today. Let's move on to song, music. Poets such as Demyan Bedny have already appeared, which the Russian people perceived as something so backward, incomprehensible

It was precisely such songwriters who appeared who specially composed propaganda books, they represented the Russian people, the Russian peasant so primitive, so stupid that what they wrote did not take root among the Russian peasants at all - it was dead, stillborn. But they immediately grabbed, that is, the same supplies, it turned out to be impossible without supplies - the same greatcoats, the same bogatyr hats that the Sovereign Emperor had prepared - to change the clothes of the Russian army in 1917. Especially Vasnetsov made sketches of the form, as if to bring closer to the old Russian style: hats, like those of heroes - pointed; overcoats with "conversations" are red, like riflemen's caftans, all of this has been converted into a Red Army uniform, this has already become "budenovka", and so on.

Culture began to change in the same way. They began to adapt that such a popular thing could be taken, and very quickly during the years of the civil war, and even after, it became generally accepted and generally recognized. And it was not called plagiarism. "Bourgeois culture must also be used," Lenin said, then he thought, first it must be destroyed, and then he thought and said what must be used.

And in the song "We will boldly go into battle for the power of the Soviets and, as one, we will die in the struggle for this …"

If we dig into the history, we will see that this is a Cossack song that was born during the First World War. This song contains the words "Heard, grandfathers, the war has begun, drop your business - equip yourself for the campaign." As you can see, the song, here it is logical, but it turned out - quite a small alteration, although the alterations were in places completely illogical, that is, let's say in the old version in the chorus "Boldly we will go into battle for Holy Russia and shed young blood for her" - this is sacrifice, patriotism, heroic impulse. But “We boldly go into battle for the power of the Soviets and, as one, we will die in the struggle for this”, here, forgive me, it’s far from logic, but it’s like a collective suicide … But nothing, this option also went, the music had already acted on consciousness, that is, for the purposes of the Bolsheviks - to march - was good, that is, such a song also turned out to be suitable.

That is, some went for Holy Russia, as one, to shed young blood, while others went to death for the power of the Soviets, to death, to eternal destruction. There is martyrdom, holiness, here is a new ideology - death of the soul, Russian death. To their comrades, the perished revolutionaries, they sang "you fell a victim in a fatal struggle."

"You fell a victim in a fatal battle …" - this song is older. Many of the songs of the revolutionaries originate from songs that already existed. And the first was "You Fell as a Victim in a Fatal Battle" - this is a remake, and a previously existing song in memory of the English General Sir John Moore "Do not beat the drum in front of a vague regiment." At first it sounded like a romance.

The well-known and familiar song to us from childhood "There, in the distance beyond the river, the lights were on …"

Yes, this is a famous example, a touching song, it was born during the Russo-Japanese War, after the Russian cavalry raid on the Liaohe River to the rear of the Japanese army. Partly he was successful, partly he did not fulfill the task, in this raid we suffered significant losses, and such a song about it was born. For the Cossacks, folklore has been developing for centuries, a good song about one battle, one event, it could then live for centuries, be passed on … It's like natural selection: a bad song will die out, but a good one lives on. I liked this song, she lived. Thanks to this song, they remembered that event, the children could know about the raid on Liaohe. And then the world war broke out, the civil war broke out, it was also sung somewhere, they remembered. At one time she was heard by a young Komsomol Chekist Kool, an Estonian by nationality, he served under the Cheka. He fled from his father in the Novgorod province, and his father was a small tenant. To "advance" under the Soviet regime, he renounced his father, declared him a fist, "wiped himself out" under the Cheka, then went to Komsomol work, was fond of literature, published in local newspapers under the pseudonym Kolka the Doctor, and suddenly he heard such a song. He slightly altered it to fit the realities of the Red Army and published it.

Such songs were imposed, imposed on a regular basis, they were listened to, they were considered popular, but it turns out that the author himself was not a very literate person, because in the text he composed there were some absurdities

Quite right, then he was still a very young man, he himself then, judging by the song, did not "smell" gunpowder, did not fight at the front, because even in the song there are the words "a hundred young soldiers from the Budenov troops", and the Budenovites had not hundreds, but squadrons, not young fighters, but the most experienced ones were sent for reconnaissance …

And what kind of intelligence is it that gets involved in the battle …

Quite right - I saw the reconnaissance of the enemy's position and galloped into the attack … The reconnaissance generally performs other functions.

By the way, you said to attack, not to fight. Can hundreds of fighters be called a battle …

There, in general, "a bloody battle ensued." A hundred fighters against a company of Denikenites - this is already called a battle … Although it came off for a folk song. Kool just at this time was drafted into the army, he served somewhere near Moscow. There he "gave out" this song, it went, the Red Army men sang it, sang, because there were not enough songs. And Kool forgot about his authorship, he walked like a folk. Kohl served in the organs, served in the GPU, received several educations, but did not advance far, remained at the level of a technical school teacher. And only in his old age he remembered the authorship, found "Kurskaya Pravda" with this song, and only then did he prove what a great author he is. Although he did not create anything other great and wonderful, because he did not come across other wonderful poems, songs that could be taken and remade.

In general, in Russia, many military units were proud of their marches, proud of their form, the peculiarities of their form. Each unit kept its own traditions: for example, if someone came to serve in the Fanagoria regiment, in the Finnish regiment, he already knew everything, he was told the history of the regiment, etc. And the regiments had their own songs. Well, the Siberian riflemen, and these were quite young brigades, when they entered the First World War, there were no such songs. But they fought heroically and asked the famous journalist, the famous poet Gilyarovsky to write the lyrics of the song. And he wrote, the song really liked and not only the shooters, it was picked up by the Siberian, Trans-Baikal, Amur Cossacks, other Siberian units, it spread along the entire front.

But in Soviet times, it is more familiar in a different form …

This song has a complicated story and has undergone several rewrites. The first one to remake it for himself was the Drozdovsky regiment. When the Civil War began, the Drozdovites broke through the march from Romania, broke through to Denikin on the Don. They described this march in a song, altered it a little for themselves. Then the Makhnovists heard it and picked it up - another version appeared, the Makhnovist one, they also liked it. And then it sounded when the Civil War ended, the Drozdovites were in exile, the Makhnovists also dispersed everyone, in the Far East, like a march of Far Eastern partisans. Although there is nothing surprising here, the version of the march of the Far Eastern partisans, it is just closer not to the Drozdov or White Guard, but to the Makhnovist. That is, it is possible that from the defeated Makhnovists they were recruited into the Red Army, sent to the Far East, the song came there, then the political workers remade, put together the song, and the result was "March of the Far Eastern Partisans."

Many well-known and popular Soviet songs that personified the system and many years of the existence of this system, in fact, these are not original songs and were not born of this time, and this power, and this culture, if you can call it that. In fact, these songs can be called: songs of Tsarist Russia, captured by the Bolsheviks

Yes, of course, but this also explains why Soviet culture also achieved such a rise - because it rested on an older and more solid foundation, which, by the way, cannot be said about modern culture, which is trying to break away from the historical foundation and rely on foreign foundation. That's why it turns out to be so unstable. The Soviet one turned out to be stable, with all the alterations it "clung" to the culture of the Russian Empire.