The Russian Revolution полностью

Such sanguine expectations were soon shattered. The appointment of Protopopov was not a capitulation by the monarchy but a clever political maneuver. The Court had called on the Duma to convene on November 1 because the constitution required it to approve the budget. It was expected that the opposition would use this opportunity to renew the assault on the government. Protopopov seemed to the Court the ideal man to handle the legislature. His membership in the October Party and the Progressive Bloc gave him credibility in the eyes of the opposition; at the same time, the Court knew Protopopov for what he really was—a devoted monarchist. The strong endorsement which Rasputin gave Protopopov served as a guarantee of his loyalty. He was an exceedingly vain man, overwhelmed by the honor which the Imperial couple had bestowed on him, and unlikely to make common cause with the opposition. Alexandra understood well why and how Protopopov would serve the dynasty’s interests: “Please, take Protopopov as Minister of the Interior,” she urged Nicholas on September 9, “as he is one of the Duma it will make a great effect amongst them & shut their mouths.”⁵⁰ In the words of Pares, she wanted to use “a Duma man to curb the Duma.”⁵¹ Here was an ideal minister—endorsed by Rasputin and yet acceptable to Rodzianko and Guchkov. He had also made an excellent impression on King George V and the French the preceding summer while heading a diplomatic mission in the West. Nicholas gave Protopopov carte blanche to run the country: “Do what is necessary, save the situation,” he asked.⁵² Backed by the Tsar, who appreciated his polite manner and charm, and Alexandra, who is said to have wanted to run Russia as if it were “their farm,”⁵³ exuding boundless optimism in an atmosphere of widespread gloom, Protopopov became a virtual dictator.

He proved a disastrous choice. The only qualification Protopopov had for high office was a “talent for adapting himself to people of different political views,” a relative rarity in Russia.⁵⁴ It gained him many supporters. But his driving force was vanity. Flattered by his appointment, he enjoyed to the limit its perquisites: access to the Court, the opportunity to treat condescendingly his onetime Duma colleagues, the power to conceive ambitious reform projects. It was the psychic gratifications of power that he held dear. Later, when things turned sour, to a friend who urged him to resign, he said indignantly: “How can you ask me to resign? All my life it was my dream to be a Deputy Governor, and here I am a Minister!”⁵⁵

He had no administrative talents: he had even managed to drive his textile business to the brink of bankruptcy.⁵⁶ He spent little time at his desk, and ignored the remarkably prescient analyses of the country’s internal situation prepared by the Department of Police. His achievement as the most important civil servant of the Empire at a critical juncture in its history was all image-building and public relations: his testimony given after the Revolution revealed a thoroughly confused man.⁵⁷ His erratic behavior spawned suspicions that he was mentally ill from the effects of venereal disease.

On assuming office, Protopopov drew up a liberal reform program, centered on the abolition of the Pale of Settlement and the other Jewish disabilities⁵⁸—a long overdue move, but hardly at the heart of Russia’s concerns, the more so that the mass expulsions of Jews from the front zone had the effect of lifting the Pale.* This proposal, meant to meet one of the demands of the Progressive Bloc, was inspired by Rasputin, who favored equality for Jews. Protopopov also toyed with the idea of a responsible ministry—responsible, however, for illegal as well as “inexpedient” (netselesoobraznye) actions, not to the Duma but to the Senate, a wholly appointed judiciary body.⁵⁹ He neither thought out nor pursued any of these plans. A few weeks after taking over the ministry, he met with the opposition in the hope of agreeing on a joint course of action, but this endeavor, too, had no result.

Disillusionment with the new Minister of the Interior set in very quickly: hope gave way to hatred. His obsequiousness to Nicholas and Alexandra revolted Duma politicians. So did his tactless actions, such as releasing General Sukhomlinov from prison and placing him under house arrest (done at the request of Rasputin) and appearing in the Duma in a gendarme’s uniform.⁶⁰ On the eve of the convocation of the Duma, he was widely perceived as a renegade. Instead of serving as a bridge between administration and parliament, he caused a virtual break between the two, because no respectable political figure would so much as talk to him.