O Lenin- mountains of books, testimonies, memories. His older brother Alexander is in the historical shadow. From a young age, we learned that Volodya, having learned about the end of his brother's life, said: "We will go the other way." Many books reproduced a reproduction of the artist's painting Petra Belousova, which depicts a young man with a fiery gaze and his tearful mother. This canvas is also called the words of Lenin.

About the elder Ulyanov - mentioned Mayakovsky in the poem "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin":

« …And then

said

Ilyich seventeen years old -

this word

stronger than oaths

a soldier with a raised hand:

- Brother,

we are here

ready to change you

we will win

but we will go the other way! .. "

For the first time, Lenin's reaction to the death of Alexander was reported by Maria Ulyanova at the mourning meeting of the Moscow Soviet on February 7, 1924. According to her, Vladimir Ilyich uttered the following phrase: “No, we will not go that way. This is not the way to go."

Many historians believe that it was the fate of Alexander that influenced the choice of Vladimir's life path. But who influenced the views of Lenin's elder brother? After all, he was brought up in a noble family, where it is unlikely that they constantly talked about the dominance of autocracy. And even more so that the monarch who ruled the empire deserves terrible punishment for his unrighteous deeds ...

However, the fermentation of the minds of the Ulyanov children took place. In the Simbirsk house, books of various content were read. Including - Pushkin,Lermontov,Ryleeva,Herzen,Chernyshevsky,Dobrolyubova. The head of the family, Ilya Nikolaevich, even, they say, sang a song to the words of the forbidden Petrashevsky poet Pleshcheeva: « With love for the truth, holy / In you, I know, your heart beats / And, I believe, it will immediately respond / To my incorruptible voice. / We are brothers in spirit. / We both believe in deliverance, / And we will feed to the grave / Enmity to the scourges of our native country.

Anna Ulyanova she recalled that the eight-year-old Sasha recited Ryleev's poem "Ivan Susanin". And at the age of eleven, he recited by heart "Reflections at the front door" and "The Song of Eremushka" Nekrasov. The boy said that these poems were given to him by his father.

Here are other touches to his short biography.

Once Ulyanov was asked: "What are the worst vices?", And he answered: "Lies and cowardice." From the heroes of "War and Peace" Lev Tolstoy Alexander singled out Dolokhov. But not for military prowess, but for a tender attitude towards the mother. In one gymnasium essay, Alexander wrote: “For useful activity, a person needs: 1) honesty, 2) love of work, 3) strength of character, 4) intelligence, 5) knowledge.”

How did the Ulyanov brothers treat each other? Vladimir respected the elder, but there was no special closeness between them. Sister Anna recalled that one day, after talking with Alexander, she asked: “How do you like our Volodya?” Alexander replied that his brother is a very capable person, but "we do not get along with him." Anna decided to find out the reason, but did not hear a clear answer ...

The matriculation certificate of the Simbirsk classical gymnasium, issued in 1883, said: “... Given to Alexander Ulyanov, firstly, based on observations for the entire time of his education at the Simbirsk Gymnasium, his behavior was generally excellent, serviceability in attendance and preparation of lessons, as well as in the performance of written work, excellent, zealous diligence and curiosity in all subjects, especially in Latin and mathematics ... The Pedagogical Council decided to award him, Ulyanov, with a gold medal ... "

Alexander entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University and quickly became the best student.

“Last summer, when he came home, he was preparing for a dissertation on annelid worms and was working with a microscope all the time,” she recalled. Nadezhda Krupskaya. - To use the maximum light, he got up at dawn and immediately set to work. “No, he won’t come out of a revolutionary brother,” I thought at the time,” said Vladimir Ilyich. “A revolutionary cannot devote so much time to the study of annelids.” He soon saw how wrong he was.

A shift in Alexander's mind occurred after the dispersal of a student demonstration in 1886. He, along with some fellow students, joined the People's Will party. Participated in illegal meetings, demonstrations, conducted propaganda in the workers' circle. But the matter could not be limited to theory, for the nature of the Narodnaya Volya was thirsty for blood.

The metamorphosis with the student happened inexplicably. Matvey Peskovsky, a distant relative of Alexander, wrote in a statement sent to the police department: “Knowing Ulyanov’s past, it’s hard not to suspect the normality of his mental abilities - so sharp is the inconsistency in what Ulyanov was and what he turned out to be in the March 1 case. A person can be secretive, pretend, but to be completely not himself - this is too incomprehensible.

Ulyanov drew up the program of the "Terrorist Faction", which was characterized by extreme radicalism and contained daring demands on the ruling regime. Although it was clear that negotiations with the authorities could not be expected, as well as concessions from it. This will happen almost twenty years later, in October 1905, when the son of the king - soft and pliable Nicholas II will issue a manifesto on the granting of various freedoms. His father was cool, and at the mention of free-thinking, he turned deep purple with rage ...

The Narodnaya Volya decided to kill Alexander III. The organizer of the attack was not Ulyanov, but his associate Petr Shevyrev. But he suddenly “changed his mind” and left for the Crimea, allegedly to be treated for tuberculosis. However, young people did not deviate from their plan. Ulyanov sold the gold medal he received at the gymnasium and bought dynamite with the proceeds. They took out mercury, nitric acid and began to make bombs ...

For several days, starting on February 26, 1887, young people began to be on duty near St. Isaac's Cathedral. They were waiting for the emperor's motorcade in order to take his life in a martyr's way.

But how such things are done, they did not know, they did not observe conspiracies. Stood - Ulyanov,Vasily Generalov,Pakhomiy Andreyushkin,Vasily Osipanov near the frozen Neva, hung with bombs, and waited, talking, trampling in the cold, occasionally going to a tavern to warm up with tea. They so pricked the eyes of the police that those failed terrorists were detained. It happened on the first of March 1887 - exactly, on the sixth anniversary of the murder of the former king, Alexander II, the unfortunate father of Alexander III ...

Anna Ulyanova, who studied at the Bestuzhev Higher Women's Courses in St. Petersburg, was also involved in the case. She was arrested, tried and sentenced to five years in exile. A trifle compared to the misfortune that happened to his brother.

A relative of the Ulyanovs wrote to Simbirsk about the arrest of Alexander and Anna. But, fearing for the health of Maria Alexandrovna, she sent a letter not to her, but to a good friend of the Ulyanova family - a teacher Vera Kashkadamova. She met with Volodya and conveyed the message. From him the sad news came to his mother ...

The accusation of attempting to assassinate the king was grave, inevitable. But there was still hope that the lives of the rebels could be saved - they are young, the wind is walking in their heads. But the situation was aggravated by the aforementioned program of the "Terrorist Faction", which fell into the hands of the gendarmes. They read it and were horrified - the papers contained a direct call for the destruction of the autocratic foundations!

The Narodnaya Volya were going to wage an uncompromising struggle with the authorities not only in St. Petersburg and Moscow, but also in other cities of the empire. They extolled terror, believing that “it raises the revolutionary spirit of the people; gives continuous proof of the possibility of struggle, undermining the charm of government power; he acts in a highly propagandistic way on the masses ... "

However, the Narodnaya Volya allowed the rejection of terror, if the government - that's dreaming! - will make concessions, allowing freedom of conscience, speech, press, gatherings, associations and movements, will allow the convocation of representatives of the people, "chosen freely by direct and universal voting, to review all public and state forms of life." From the ruler in the person of Alexander the Third, it was required to declare a full amnesty "for all state crimes of the past, since these were not crimes, but the fulfillment of civic duty."

Alexander the Third, having familiarized himself with the program of the "Terrorist Faction", became furious. And he wrote in the margins: "This note is not even a madman, but a pure idiot." But it is unlikely that the monarch thought so. He simply drove away heavy thoughts from himself - not everyone will follow these obsessed ...

The investigation into the case of the Ulyanov group was short-lived. Alexander not only confessed everything, but also directly pointed out his main role: “... I, one of the first, had the idea to form a terrorist group, and I took an active part in its organization, in the sense of delivering money, finding people, apartments and other As for my moral and intellectual participation in this matter, it was complete, that is, everything that my abilities and the strength of my knowledge and convictions brought me.

After that, he had no hope. As well as his comrades.

Heartbroken, Maria Alexandrovna hurried to the capital, where she was received by the emperor. He promised to spare Alexander if he petitioned for pardon...

Soviet historians claimed that Alexander Ulyanov, having shown unusual fortitude and courage, refused to write a humiliated paper. But he nevertheless submitted a petition to the king:

“Your Imperial Majesty!

I am fully aware that the nature and properties of the act I have committed and my attitude towards it do not give me either the right or the moral basis to apply to Your Majesty with a request for indulgence in the form of alleviating my lot. But I have a mother whose health has deteriorated greatly in recent days, and the execution of my death sentence will put her life in the most serious danger. In the name of my mother and young brothers and sisters, who, having no father, find their only support in her, I decide to ask Your Majesty to replace my death penalty with some other punishment ... "

Did this letter reach the Emperor? God knows. But perhaps he gave - to understand - with words, hints that he would not object to the most severe verdict ...

A closed court, similar to a military tribunal, lasted only five days and sentenced Ulyanov, Generalov, Andreyushkin, Osipanov to death by hanging. The same fate befell Shevyrev, who was arrested in the Crimea. The rest of the conspirators were imprisoned.

On the eve of the execution, Maria Alexandrovna saw her son for the last time. Half an hour after the meeting, she left the Shlisselburg fortress, in which Alexander was imprisoned, silently, without tears. Over the next few days, she all turned gray ...

“All acquaintances recoiled from the Ulyanov family, even the old teacher, who used to come to play chess in the evenings all the time, stopped visiting,” Krupskaya recalled from the words of her husband. - Then there was still no railway from Simbirsk, Vladimir Ilyich's mother had to ride horses to Syzran in order to get to St. Petersburg, where her son was sitting. Vladimir Ilyich was sent to look for a fellow traveler - no one wanted to go with the mother of the arrested person. This general cowardice made, according to Vladimir Ilyich, a very strong impression on him then.

In the summer of the same fateful 1887, Vladimir Ulyanov entered the law faculty of Kazan University. The day before, he graduated from the Simbirsk gymnasium and received from its director Fyodor Kerensky- the father of the future head of the Provisional Government - an excellent description ...

And a year had not passed since the death of Alexander, as the blood boiled in the veins of his brother. In December of the same 1887, Vladimir Ulyanov became a participant in student performances. For this, he was arrested for the first time, expelled from the university and expelled from Kazan. This was the beginning of his political activity.

Exactly thirty years after the execution of Alexander Ulyanov, in April 1917, another Ulyanov - Vladimir - will arrive in Petrograd, already abandoned by Nicholas II, the son of Alexander III.

Perhaps Lenin sadly recalled his brother, who was killed by a representative of the dynasty Romanovs. However, this is doubtful - at that time Ilyich was not in the mood for sentimentality. He was preparing for the last and decisive battle for power ...

Alexander and Vladimir Ulyanov. Reproduction of "Brothers" painting by Oleg Vishnyakov. © / S. Kogan / RIA Novosti

We rarely attach importance to the names of the streets we walk on every day, which we pass by. We are even less interested in their history. Such frivolity and carelessness, lack of interest in history is characteristic of modern society.

There is one street in St. Petersburg - "st. Alexandra Ulyanova. Quite tiny. What can not be said about the history of its origin, the history of the life and death of the person after whom it is named. It is located in the Krasnogvardeisky district. Its length is only 350 meters. Like all streets, even the tiniest and shortest ones, this one has its own story, a special story.

Officially, the street has existed since 1828. Initially, Dudin Street was called, after the names of several Dudin families who owned land on this street. Since 1828, the street was called Trournova, after the owner of the Trournov workshop, and on October 31, 1922, the street was named "Ulyanov Street" in memory of Alexander Ilyich Ulyanov - revolutionary, founder of the "Terrorist faction" of the party "Narodnaya Volya", elder brother of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin).

Inspectorate of public schools of the Simbirsk province with director I. N. Ulyanov. 1881

The life story of this man is more than interesting. Alexander, like Volodya, were the sons of a "actual state councilor" - a major government official Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, who was in the service of Emperor Alexander III. (*Here it is in the photo, centered). After his death, the children automatically received the prestigious status of hereditary nobility, which meant a comfortable existence. And when their father unexpectedly died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 55, the right to hereditary nobility was officially secured for them - by decree of Emperor Alexander III. curious that on November 25, 1917, Volodya Ulyanov, the son of a real state councilor, would personally abolish this rank "by a decree on the destruction of estates and civil ranks."

It is interesting what motivated the eldest son Alexander Ulyanov when, a year after the death of his father, he attempts to assassinate Emperor Alexander III. There were no material needs in his life. Smart, talented, with a gold medal on graduation from the gymnasium, passionate about natural sciences, with great scientific abilities, promising, one step away from a scientific degree ... What happened to a person in just a year, which made him join a terrorist cell and actually become its leader ?

"Unknown Ulyanov" - how Lenin's older brother became a terrorist.

Ulyanov family. From left to right: standing - Olga, Alexander, Anna; sitting - Maria Alexandrovna with her youngest daughter Maria, Dmitry, Ilya Nikolaevich, Vladimir. Simbirsk. 1879 Provided by M. Zolotarev

Version one. Revenge.

Inessa Armand, beloved of Vladimir Ilyich, passed on to her acquaintances a secret told to her by someone from the Ulyanovs. The version was not confirmed by any documents, it was perceived only as a literary work, and not as an actual story. As follows from the story, Maria Alexandrovna, Lenin's mother, was taken to court in her youth, but did not stay there for long, having compromised herself with an affair with one of the Grand Dukes, for which she was sent to her father in Kokushkino and quickly passed off as Ulyanov, providing him regular promotion.

After the death of his father, in 1886, the eldest son Alexander, sorting through the papers of the deceased, stumbled upon a document relating to the stay at the imperial court of the maiden Maria Blank (his mother), either an award of a material nature for a newborn, or a letter revealing a secret. Alexander shared his discovery with his sister Anna, and both swore revenge. The version has been developed.

According to other sources, Lenin's mother turned out to be the maid of honor of the Empress, the wife of Alexander the Third.

The writer Larisa Vasilyeva cited in her book “Kremlin Wives” the legend she had heard about Lenin’s mother. “In the spring of 1991, in one company, I heard a legend: as if Lenin’s mother, Maria Blank, had been almost a maid of honor at the royal court for some time before her marriage, had an affair with one of the grand dukes, almost with the future Alexander II or III, became pregnant and was sent to her parents, where she was urgently married to a modest teacher, Ilya Ulyanov, promising him a promotion, which he regularly received throughout his life. Maria gave birth to her first child, the son of Alexander, then many more children, already from her husband, and years later, Alexander Ulyanov learned the secret of his mother and vowed to take revenge on the king for her desecrated honor. As a student, he contacted the terrorists and was ready to encroach on the life of the king, his true father. The legend has been questioned."

In the 90s of the last century, one of the St. Petersburg newspapers (“New Petersburg”) published an interview with journalist Alexander Pavlovich Kutenev about the illegitimate children of Tsar Alexander III:

NP: Alexander Pavlovich, can you tell us more about the illegitimate children of Alexander III?

APK: Alexander III, indeed, had many illegitimate children, since he was a man of unrestrained and passionate. Among the children were historical celebrities. In particular, Alexander Ulyanov, the elder brother of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The fact is that Maria Alexandrovna, Lenin's mother, was a maid of honor at the court of Alexander II. When Alexander III was just a Grand Duke, he had an affair with Maria Alexandrovna, from him she gave birth to a son, Alexander, as a girl. History knows many similar examples: in Russia, bastards were treated humanely - they were given a princely title, attributed to the guards regiment. It is known that Lomonosov was the son of Peter I, Prince Bobrinsky was the son of Potemkin and Catherine II, Razumovsky was the illegitimate son of Elizabeth. All of them, as you know, have made excellent careers and have never felt like outcasts. The same fate was prepared for Alexander, Lenin's brother.

But Maria Alexandrovna ruined everything: after Alexander, she gave birth to another child - a girl, and this girl had nothing to do with Alexander III. Keeping a maid of honor with two children at court was indecent. To hush up the scandal, they decided to hand over the case to the Okhrana. The Okhrana found an unfortunate man in St. Petersburg - homosexual Ilya Ulyanov. As a person with a non-traditional sexual orientation, he was on the hook of the secret police. He was given a title of nobility, a bread place in the province, as a dowry to Maria Alexandrovna, and the newlyweds went to Simbirsk.

And all this background would have been hushed up if not for the passionate disposition of Maria Alexandrovna. She did not differ in strict behavior even in Simbirsk, and although she could not have a sexual life with Ilya Nikolaevich, she gave birth to four more children, it is not known from what fathers.

You can imagine what it was like for the children of the Ulyanovs in the gymnasium. In a small town, everything immediately becomes famous, and the boys teased their peers Ulyanovs: they remembered both mommy, and the tsar, and Ilya Nikolaevich. Ultimately, all this had a negative effect on Alexander: he grew up very embittered with a desire to spank daddy at all costs. With these plans, he left for St. Petersburg to study. The rest was organized by the secret police. She helped Alexander Ulyanov to enter the Narodnaya Volya revolutionary organization and take part in the assassination attempt on the tsar.

As soon as Maria Alexandrovna found out that her son had been arrested for attempting to assassinate the tsar, she immediately went to St. Petersburg and appeared before Alexander III. An amazing thing: not a single source is amazed that an unknown poor Simbirsk noblewoman, without any delay, gets an appointment with the king! And Alexander III accepted his old passion immediately, and together they visited Sasha in the fortress. The tsar forgave the "regicide", promising to give him a princely title, enroll in the guard. But Sashenka turned out to be with character, he said everything he thinks about both of his parents. And he promised them that as soon as he was free, he would publicize their entire shameless story and be sure to throw a bomb at daddy! Therefore, Alexander Ulyanov was never released, but sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he died a natural death in 1901. Historians do not agree on the methods of execution, but there was no execution.

NP: Where did you get such amazing information from?

AK: This is also a special and interesting story. Marietta Shahinyan stands at its origins. In the 70s, this writer wrote a book about Lenin and got access to the archives. Apparently, the keepers of the archives themselves did not know what was hidden in the papers behind seven seals. When Marietta Shaginyan got acquainted with the papers, she was shocked and wrote a memorandum to Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev personally. Brezhnev introduced this information to his circle. Suslov lay under pressure for three days and demanded that Shaginyan be shot for slander. But Brezhnev acted differently: he called Shaginyan to his place and, in exchange for silence, offered her a prize for a book about Lenin, an apartment, etc. etc.

NP: And Shaginyan really received some kind of award for a book about Lenin?

AK: Yes, she received the Lenin Prize for the book Four Lessons from Lenin. And the note was classified, and it lay in the archives of the Central Committee of the Party. When I read this note in the archive, I wanted to see the archival materials themselves. And I asked for copies. Everything was just like that...

*Editor's note: This version works well as a script for a Hollywood movie, but it has nothing to do with the story. We will not dwell on its disclosure in detail. The author of the book successfully proved that Maria Alexandrovna Blank, Lenin's mother, was never a lady-in-waiting. This falsification was published for the sake of the rating. The press in the 90s very often did this ... At the end of the article we will give a link to the source, which has all the details the merits of this revelation.

Version two. Mistress of a terrorist.

The above-mentioned writer Larisa Vasilyeva, not quite sure of the version given to her that the son of Maria Blank - Alexander - was illegitimate from Tsarevich Alexander III, gave another version of the birth of Mary's son, in her opinion more reliable. She writes:

Dmitry Karakozov. Photo: kommersant.ru

"Alexander Ulyanov was born in 1866 from a famous terrorist Dmitry Karakozov, a former student of Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov at the Penza gymnasium. Dmitry Karakozov was born in 1840 (he is 5 years younger than Maria Blank-Ulyanova) Karakozov in 1866 to Emperor Alexander II.

Petersburg newspaper "Northern Post" dated May 11, 1866, telling in detail about the personality of the person who attempted on the life of Alexander III, reported that Dmitry Karakozov graduated from the course at the Penza gymnasium (the Ulyanovs then lived in Penza, and Ilya Nikolaevich taught at the gymnasium), entered to Kazan University, then moved to Moscow.

“Karakozov’s romance with Maria Alexandrovna was not a secret for everyone who knew the Ulyanov family at that time,” says Natalia Nikolaevna Matveeva, a resident of St. Petersburg. She drew this information from the stories of her grandfather, the revolutionary Vasily Ivanovich Pavlinov, who knew the Ulyanovs well.

Alexander Ulyanov planned to kill Tsar Alexander III on the day of the assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov on Alexander II - April 4. In memory of my father. The attempt failed.

Alexander Ulyanov became a student at St. Petersburg University. He studied annelid worms and was not going to change them for a revolution. His father died in January 1886. Alexander did not go to the funeral - according to the recollections of his sister Anna, his mother did not want to injure him (?) and did not advise him to come, but Anna Ilyinichna herself came to her father's funeral. (Why could she be hurt?)

The summer of the same year, Alexander Ulyanov spent with his mother in the Alakaevka estate (the mother's estate is Kokushkino, the Alakaevka farm was bought only in 1889 - from the author). That summer, after the death of Ilya Nikolaevich, abrupt and for many completely inexplicable changes took place with Alexander. Anna Ulyanova writes in her memoirs,

“that from a calm young man her brother suddenly turned into a real neurotic, running from corner to corner. Returning from vacation to St. Petersburg, he, an exemplary student, who had previously been interested only in science, abandoned his studies and began to prepare an assassination attempt on the tsar.

The children of the Ulyanovs, as the writer Larisa Vasilyeva suggests, could find out the secret of their birth immediately after the death of Ilya Nikolayevich. “Most likely,” she writes, “from her mother. There is also an assumption that Sasha came across some documents at home, sorting through papers on his father's desk. Showed them to my sister Anna. From them, the children understood what was what. The young prosecutor Knyazev, who was present at the last meeting of Maria Alexandrovna with her son Alexander, wrote down the words of Alexander:

“Imagine, mom, two people are facing each other in a duel. One has already shot his opponent, the other has not yet, and the one who has already fired appeals to the enemy with a request not to use the weapon. No, I can't do that."

Alexander Ulyanov

These words, in the context of new knowledge about the Ulyanov family, take on a new meaning: Alexander undoubtedly considers his act not an attempt, but a duel in which he has nothing to apologize to the enemy for. Both the son and the mother, apparently, both understand the subtext of the whole situation: the son avenges his father, the son of the slain avenges the son of the murderer.

L. Vasilyeva even found outwardly a great resemblance between Karakozov and Alexander Ulyanov from photographs. But the documents do not confirm this.

Literary processing of some facts is done by the writer in an attractive and sensational way, which is why this version has gained such popularity. They talked about her on the sidelines, some accepted her unconditionally. Nevertheless, this is literature, and there are no complaints about the writer. But this version has nothing to do with history.

In the version of Larisa Vasilyeva there are many "controversial issues". One of them is very curious: Alexander, the son of Maria, was born in 1866, which means that, according to Vasilyeva, Maria and Dmitry Karakozov should have met in 1865, when the Ulyanovs lived in Nizhny Novgorod, and at the same time Dmitry, who was younger than Maria for 5 years, just a student under police surveillance, somehow had to attract Maria, the wife of a court counselor, granted the Order of St. Anne of the third degree, the mother of a one-year-old daughter and also a Jewish father, brought up in the strict rules of the laws of Halakha, which are sacred.

Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov (1831–1886) and Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova (1835–1916)

Attempts by L, Vasilyeva to substantiate her version by reasoning that Maria named her fourth son Dmitry, in honor of her beloved Dmitry, the absence of Alexander at the funeral of Ilya Nikolaevich, an unexpected change in Alexander's character and his purposeful preparation to take revenge after the death of his father, cannot be accepted by historians. . All these cases could have manifested or occurred for many other reasons. And the ambiguity of their origin for history is of decisive importance. But literature can accept such reasoning.

The reasons that influenced Alexander, who decided to take part in a terrorist organization, should be sought elsewhere.

From Frog Ripper to Terrorist

While still at the gymnasium, Alexander, showing an increased interest in natural science, received the nickname “the frog ripper” in the family. But his real passion was chemistry. At the age of 16, he independently equipped a chemical laboratory in the kitchen at the wing, where he often stayed overnight. In 1883, after graduating from the classical gymnasium with a gold medal, Alexander, together with his sister Anna, went to St. Petersburg, where he entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Imperial St. Petersburg University. Three years earlier, Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, the future Prime Minister of Russia, was admitted to this faculty. Anna wrote in her memoirs:

“My brother arrived in St. Petersburg already with a serious scientific background, with a highly developed ability for independent work, and he really passionately attacked science.”

Among the students of those years there were three separate groups according to their property status. The first were called "white-lining", they included the children of dignitaries, generals, and high society who studied here. They wore jackets with white silk lining in the latest fashion. This student body was distinguished by extreme right-wing, monarchist convictions. Each of them knew that he was waiting for a brilliant career in the highest government institutions, the rank of general in his younger years, and in his mature years - the senatorship.

The "White linings" were opposed by the "radicals" - irreconcilable opponents of the system. They put on Little Russian shirts, boots, put on a modest plaid and always wore blue glasses. Narodnik revolutionaries, terrorists, Marxists came out of them.

The third group was represented by "culturists", who were located between the above two, were disposed most of all towards science. From this cohort came many people who glorified Russian science.

By the end of his second year, Alexander, in determining his specialization, settled on invertebrate zoology. They sent several abstracts for the competition to the university council. The jury of the competition decided on February 3, 1886: "The essay of the student of the VI semester Alexander Ulyanov on the topic:" On the organs of segmental and sexual freshwater Annulata "to award a gold medal." No one doubted that a talented student would be left at the university for scientific and teaching activities.

But in January 1886 news came to St. Petersburg about the sudden death of his father. Alexander had exams, he could not go to the funeral. Anna managed to go to Simbirsk.

On November 17, 1886, Alexander took part in a procession through St. Petersburg on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the death of the revolutionary writer Dobrolyubov. More than 1,500 people attended the procession. The city authorities took such a gathering of people as dangerous, and the procession was stopped. The mayor brought in troops to disperse the demonstrators. The next day, Alexander distributed a political propaganda leaflet composed by him, in which he expressed his indignation at the existing order ... His revolutionary views and moods were noticed by the People's Will faction, to whose meeting he was invited. They also invited Alexander's sister, Anna, who supported her beloved brother in every possible way. Alexander, having shown leadership qualities, easily drew up a further program of actions and requirements: “to ensure the political and economic independence of the people and its free development”

Such transformations in the country could begin only after the change of regime, the stronghold of which was the imperial family. Fighting the authorities, as the young revolutionaries believed, is possible only by terrorist methods, and first of all, all the actions of the organization should be aimed at eliminating the autocrat.

At the end of the program, Alexander indicated the path and methods of action that should lead to success:

“In the struggle against the revolutionaries, the government uses extreme measures of intimidation, and therefore the intelligentsia was forced to resort to the form of struggle indicated by the government, that is, terror. Terror is thus a clash between the government and the intelligentsia, which is deprived of the possibility of a peaceful cultural influence on public life. Terror must act systematically and, disorganizing the government, will have a huge psychological impact: it will raise the revolutionary spirit of the people ... The faction stands for the decentralization of the terrorist struggle: let the wave of red terror spread widely and throughout the province, where the system of intimidation is even more needed as a protest against administrative oppression. .

After debate, it was recognized that the bomb was the most effective means of massacring the emperor.

From the letter they opened from one of the members of the faction, the police managed to find out about the impending conspiracy. On March 1, the Minister of the Interior, Count D. Tolstoy, reported to the Tsar: “Yesterday, the head of the St. Petersburg secret department received intelligence through intelligence that a circle of intruders intends to carry out a terrorist act in the near future and that for this purpose these persons have at their disposal projectiles brought to St. Petersburg ready to "come" from Kharkov.

On March 1, 1887, three student performers, Osipanov, Andreyushkin and Generalov, were captured with bombs on Nevsky Prospekt. Frank testimonies of those arrested allowed the gendarmes to quickly identify the members of the terrorist organization and their leaders.

From the testimony of a member of the circle, E. I. Yakovenko, during interrogation: “Shevyrev was the initiator, inspirer and collector of the circle. Ulyanov - his iron bond and cement. Without Shevyrev, there would be no organization, without Ulyanov there would be no event on March 1, the organization would have disintegrated, the matter would not have been brought to an end.

In total, 25 people were arrested in the very first days of March, and later 49 more people. 15 people were put on trial, and the rest of the cases were resolved in an administrative manner. The police department immediately compiled a report on the arrest of terrorists and sent it to the tsar signed by Count D.A. Tolstoy.

Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia Alexander III Alexandrovich Romanov

“In order to avoid exaggerated rumors,” Count D.A. Tolstoy asked the sovereign for permission to print a special notice. On the report, the tsar wrote his resolution: “I absolutely approve and in general it is desirable not to attach too much importance to these arrests. In my opinion, it would be better, having learned everything that is possible from them, not to put them on trial, but simply send them to the Shlisselburg fortress without any noise - this is the most severe and unpleasant punishment. Alexander".

But when the tsar was presented with the “Program of the terrorist faction of the Narodnaya Volya party”, written by Alexander Ulyanov, the tsar reacted indignantly: “This is a note not even from a madman, but from a pure idiot.”

The Ulyanov family was shocked to learn about the misfortune that had befallen, but hoped for the emperor's mercy. Maria Alexandrovna hastily left for the capital and on March 27, 1887 filed a petition for pardon in the name of the sovereign, Alexander III.

“The grief and despair of the mother give me the courage to resort to Your Majesty as the only protection and help.

Mercy, sir, please! Mercy and mercy for my children.

The eldest son, Alexander, who graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal, received a gold medal at the university. My daughter, Anna, successfully studied at the St. Petersburg Higher Women's Courses. And so, when there were only two months left before they completed the full course of study, I suddenly lost my eldest son and daughter ...

There are no tears to cry out grief. There are no words to describe the horror of my situation.

I saw my daughter and talked to her. I know my children too well, and from personal meetings with my daughter I was convinced of her complete innocence. And finally, on March 16, the director of the police department announced to me that my daughter had not been compromised, so that at that time it was supposed to be released completely.

But then it was announced to me that for a more complete investigation, my daughter could not be released and handed over to me on bail, which I asked for in view of her extremely poor health and the deadly harmful effect of imprisonment on her physically and morally.

I don't know anything about my son. They announced to me that he was being held in the fortress, they refused to see him and said that I should consider him completely lost to myself. He was always deeply devoted to the interests of the family and often wrote to me. About a year ago, my husband, who was the director of public schools in the Simbirsk province, died. There were six children in my arms, including four minors.

This misfortune, which quite unexpectedly fell on my gray head, could have completely struck me if not for the moral support that I found in my eldest son, who promised me all kinds of help and understood the critical situation of the family without support from him.

He was fascinated by science to such an extent that for the sake of office studies he neglected all sorts of entertainment. He was at the top of his class at the university. The gold medal opened the way for him to the professorial chair, and this academic year he worked hard in the zoological office of the university, preparing his master's thesis in order to quickly enter an independent path and be the support of the family.

Oh, sovereign! I beg you - spare my children! There is no strength to endure this grief, and there is no grief in the world as fierce and cruel as my grief! Have pity on my unfortunate old age! Give me back my children!

If my son’s mind and feelings have accidentally become clouded, if criminal plans have crept into his soul, sovereign, I will correct him: I will resurrect in his soul those best human feelings and impulses that he lived so recently!

I firmly believe in the power of maternal love and his filial devotion, and I don’t doubt for a minute that I am able to make an honest member of the Russian family out of my minor son.

Mercy, sir, mercy!

Maria Ulyanova.

Maria Ulyanova, 1931 Photo: ITAR-TASS

On March 30, the sovereign imposed the following resolution on the petition: “It seems to me desirable to give her a meeting with her son, so that she is convinced of what kind of person her dearest son is, and show her the testimony of her son so that she can see what convictions he is.”

On the same day, the Minister of the Interior, Count D.A. Tolstoy sent an order to the director of the Durnovo police department: “We must try to take advantage of the visit allowed by the sovereign Ulyanova with her son, so that she persuades him to give a frank testimony, especially about who, besides the students, arranged this whole thing. It seems to me that this could have succeeded if we had acted more inquisitively on the mother.

Anna, in her memoirs, based on a thirty-year-old mother's story, presented her meeting with Alexander in prison in this way:

“When his mother came to see him for the first time, he cried and hugged her knees, asking her to forgive him for the grief he had caused. He told her that he had a duty not only to his family, and, drawing to her the disenfranchised, oppressed position of her homeland, pointed out that it was the duty of every honest person to fight for her liberation.

"Yes, but these remedies are so terrible"

“What to do if there are no others, mother,” he answered. “We must reconcile, mother.”

Maria Alexandrovna begged her son to write a petition for pardon - she still hoped for the mercy of the sovereign. And he wrote it, but in this petition there was not even a line about repentance. The whole point of it was this:

“I think that I did the right thing, that I wanted to kill you, sovereign, but I ask you to leave my life for the sake of my mother, my family.”

The trial in the "case of March 1, 1887" was held behind closed doors. Relatives and relatives of the defendants were not allowed not only into the courtroom, but also to visit them during the trial and after.

Vadim Ganshin as Alexander Ulyanov in the film Executed at Dawn

15 people were brought to trial, including Alexander and Anna Ulyanov. Of the 15 defendants, 12 were students. All defendants were sentenced to death, but a special presence of the Senate petitioned for eight defendants to commute the death penalty to other punishments. Alexander III approved the death sentence for five convicts. Among them was Alexander Ulyanov. The remaining members of the "underground" were imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress, exiled to the north, to Sakhalin. Some of the participants were sent to hard labor. Anna Ulyanova received royal indulgence - she was exiled for 5 years to Eastern Siberia.

The execution by hanging of the terrorists of the "Narodnaya Volya" faction took place on May 8, 1887 in the Shlisselburg fortress. In the sentence, the word "hang" written by hand opposite five names, among them Alexander Ilyich Ulyanov. His mother, nee Maria Blanc, after these events became completely gray-haired.

30 years after this execution, the Romanovs ceased to rule Russia. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Fedorovna, their children, a doctor and servants were killed in the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg. It is still not known for certain whether Vladimir Lenin personally made the decision to execute the royal family.

Shlisselburg fortress, Photo: gorodovoy.spb.ru

To sum up, no drastic changes in Alexander's behavior, as follows from the documents, occurred; he, like many students from the "cultural group", under the influence of the events unfolding in Russia, consciously moved into a group of radicals. In the case of March 1, 1887, 45 people were involved, who were united by the idea of ​​"liberating Russia from the oppression of the autocracy." They understood that if they failed, they would face a death sentence, but they did not give up their goal, and prepared an assassination attempt. This was, in their opinion, their civic duty.

The execution of Alexander decided the fate of his younger brother, Vladimir, and the Ulyanov family as a whole: they simply became outcasts in provincial Simbirsk, they were afraid to communicate with them.

Krupskaya and Lenin, Photo: obozrevatel.com

In her "Memoirs of Lenin" N. Krupskaya mentions this time with sympathy:

“When we got to know each other closely, Vladimir Ilyich once told me how the “society” reacted to the arrest of his elder brother. All acquaintances recoiled from the Ulyanov family, even the old teacher, who used to come constantly to play chess in the evenings, stopped visiting. At that time there was no railway from Simbirsk, Vladimir Ilyich's mother had to ride horses to Syzran in order to get to St. Petersburg, where her son was sitting. Vladimir Ilyich was sent to look for a fellow traveler - no one wanted to go with the mother of the arrested person. This general "cowardice" made, according to Vladimir Ilyich, a very strong impression on him then.

A strong impression, according to the historian Yaroslav Listov, grew into a decisive one:

“It made a decisive impression on Vladimir, let’s say. The fact is that he was only 17 years old, a person is just entering life, and an example is when this tragedy occurs in one's own family, because it is a tragedy twice. The first tragedy is that your family member committed or attempted to commit some kind of atrocity that attracts the attention of the whole society, and, in fact, all family members become handshakes. On the other hand, this is a personal tragedy - the loss of a person with whom he lived, with whom he communicated.

Lenin drew a conclusion from this, and then he uttered his famous phrase: “We will go the other way,” about the creation of a revolutionary party and the overthrow of the system. Not individuals, but a change in the system. That is, Lenin came to the conclusion that individual terror is useless and meaningless.

And we see that it is indeed from this historical period that all the individual terror of the Russian Empire comes to naught. That is, the period when it seemed that let's kill the emperor, and everything will be fine, disappears.

In Soviet times, Lenin's posthumous gift to his executed brother was expressed in the renamed name of a modest street in his honor, which to this day bears his name and surname. And it is unlikely that any of the officials raised the question of the expediency of returning the street to its historical name, which has nothing to do with terrorism, revolution, assassination attempts ...

The article uses materials from the book: "Truth and Falsehood about the Ulyanov family." You can read the book

Regicide Loser

Lenin's elder brother Alexander Ulyanov was born in 1866 in Nizhny Novgorod. He graduated from the Simbirsk gymnasium with a gold medal and entered the physics and mathematics department of St. Petersburg University, where he became the leader of the biological circle, published scientific papers on insects and worms. Not having time to graduate from the university, Alexander becomes the head of the family - in 1886, father Ilya Ulyanov dies.

Partly picking up the views of the parent (Ulyanov Sr. was a liberal-minded person), partly succumbing to student maximalism, Alexander joins the ranks of the people's revolutionary movement. After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in March 1881, this grouping was fragmented, even more secret. But soon Alexander Ulyanov becomes one of its leaders. The new goal is the assassination of Alexander III.

The assassination attempt was planned for March 1, 1887 - the day of the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Alexander II. Ulyanov, as a chemist, was engaged in the manufacture of bombs, and he sold his gold gymnasium medal to buy explosives. To kill the king, three bombs were prepared containing 1.2 kg, 2 kg and 3 kg of homemade dynamite, respectively. But the attempt was poorly prepared, it could not be kept secret. As a result, 15 terrorists were exposed and arrested on March 1. The trial did not last long - everyone gave confessions, five people from the top of the group were sentenced to death. On May 20, they were hanged in the Shlisselburg fortress (now the Leningrad region). Among those executed was Alexander Ulyanov.

Alexander Ulyanov. Photo: © RIA Novosti

Secret son of Alexander III

During the years of Soviet power, of course, the memory of all members of the Lenin family was shrouded in a reverent halo, their names were untouchable. With the fall of the Union, historians and journalists attacked the Ulyanovs with newly found facts, documents and hypotheses. One of the loudest "revelations" about the Lenin family was made in the early 1990s by journalist Alexander Kutenev. He, referring to the stories of the writer Marietta Shaginyan, claimed that Alexander Ulyanov was none other than the illegitimate son of Tsar Alexander III.

According to him, the writer, who was working on her own book about Lenin in the 70s, gained access to classified archives and found shocking details of the origin of the eldest son of Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova (nee Blank). Judging by this hypothesis, Maria Blank was a maid of honor at the court of Alexander II and had an affair with Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich.

First, the girl gave birth to a boy, giving him the name of his father, and then also a girl, but not from the heir to the throne. For this, she was quickly married off to a homosexual Ilya Ulyanov and sent away from the court, to Simbirsk, providing her husband with a profitable job. And the grown-up Alexander, having learned about his origin, hated his father and vowed to get even with him.

Upon closer examination, this hypothesis crumbles to smithereens. Firstly, there is no information about the maid of honor Maria Blank in the corresponding lists of the imperial court, which have been kept in Russia continuously since 1712. Yes, and Blank could hardly have become her: she had no origin, no special talents or education. In addition, Maria Blank was 10 years older than Alexander III - at the time of the birth of her son she was 31 years old, and the heir to the throne was only 21. In addition, the authors of the hypothesis did not check that the wedding of Blank and Ulyanov took place three years before the birth of the first child, about which there is an entry in the church book. And finally: the first-born in the Ulyanov family was not Alexander, but just the girl Anna.

Vladimir Ulyanov. Photo: © RIA Novosti / Wilhelm Wesenberg

Brother for brother

At the time of the execution of his elder brother Alexander, Vladimir Ulyanov was 17 years old. Nothing foreshadowed a revolutionary spirit in the young man - earlier he even attended the Simbirsk religious society of St. Sergius of Radonezh and, unlike most young people of his age, did not show any interest in public life. According to contemporaries, he was an "extremely diligent, neat and pedantic" boy, had excellent marks in behavior and studies.

But the death of his older brother changed everything - just as it happened a couple of years ago with Alexander himself. And Vladimir, remaining the eldest man in the family, seemed to have received an impetus to the revolutionary idea. Three months after entering Kazan University, he was expelled for participating in student riots. Lenin was included in the list of unreliable persons subject to police supervision. For the same reason, he was forbidden to recover at the university.

By the autumn of 1888, when the Ulyanovs moved to Kazan, Lenin was already a hardened radical, filled with hatred for those who executed his brother, as well as for the tsarist regime.

Ulyanov Alexander Ilyich (1866-1887) - the elder brother of Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich (Lenin), one of the leaders of the terrorist faction Narodnaya Volya. He was hanged on May 8 (all dates are given according to the old style) 1887 in the Shlisselburg fortress, along with 4 more revolutionary terrorists. The reason for the execution was an assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander III. The Narodnaya Volya were detained, arrested and put on trial by law enforcement agencies. A total of 15 people were tried, of which 5 were sentenced to death by hanging.

The information is not very pleasant, but how did a young 20-year-old man get into such trouble and be sentenced to the most severe punishment? Alexander Ulyanov was born in a quite decent and respected family. His father Ilya Nikolaevich (1831-1886) had the civil rank of a real state councilor. He corresponded to the military rank of major general and gave the right to hereditary nobility. A person who had such a rank was called "Your Excellency."

Since 1869, Ilya Nikolayevich served as an inspector of public schools in the Simbirsk province. In 1874 he became the director of public schools in the Simbirsk province. This man was highly educated and advocated equal education for all, regardless of class and nationality. He was born into a family of philistines (city dwellers), but, thanks to work and diligence, he achieved a lot in life.

At the age of 32, he married 28-year-old Maria Alexandrovna Blank (1835-1916). She was born in the family of a physiotherapist and received an excellent home education. She confirmed it by passing exams for the right to teach as a home teacher. In marriage, Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to 8 children - 4 sons and 4 daughters. One boy and one girl died in childhood.

Alexander was the second child. He was born after his older sister Olga (1864-1935). In 1883 he graduated from the Simbirsk classical gymnasium. At that time, its director was Fyodor Mikhailovich Kerensky, the father of the future chairman of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky. He was characterized as an intelligent person and an extremely capable teacher.

While studying at the gymnasium, Alexander became interested in chemistry. He even made a small home laboratory, where he set up chemical experiments. He graduated from an educational institution with a gold medal and in the same 1883 he entered St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics.

He did extremely well in high school. In 1886 he did scientific work on the zoology of invertebrates. I collected all the material myself and received a gold medal for this work. I was engaged in a biological circle, which was created by the students themselves. He became a member of the economic circle and took an active part in the scientific and literary society, which was led by Orest Fedorovich Miller, a well-known professor of the history of Russian literature throughout the country.

That is, we see a very smart and inquisitive young man, drawn to fundamental knowledge. A brilliant future awaited him with an interesting job and bright prospects, but, as they say, the devil beguiled.

The end of the 19th century is a time of fermentation of minds. During this period, a revolutionary movement was already fully formed in the Russian Empire, which adopted the works of Marx, Engels, Plekhanov. In 1879, the revolutionary populist organization Narodnaya Volya arose. One of the main methods of combating the existing regime, she put terror. The members of the organization believed that if the king was killed, it would stir up the society and lead to cardinal political changes.

In 1884, after a series of terrorist attacks and the assassination of Emperor Alexander II, the party was completely exhausted, as it lost most of its members as a result of arrests. And in December 1886, on the ruins of a terrorist organization, a new People's Will group arose. It was created by Alexander Ulyanov and Pyotr Shevyryov. Her main goal was the assassination of Emperor Alexander III.

Emperor Alexander III meets with the people. It was on him that Alexander Ulyanov and his associates were preparing an assassination attempt.

The members of the terrorist group were mostly university students. But there were no old participants in Narodnaya Volya. That is, the faction arose on the initiative of Ulyanov and Shevyryov without any outside interference. The program was written by Ulyanov, the members of the organization accepted it and began to prepare for an assassination attempt on the emperor.

To fill the bombs with explosives, money was needed. Alexander Ulyanov sold his gold medal, and with the proceeds, the terrorists bought explosives. Having made bombs, they planned an attempt at the end of February. But the members of the terrorist faction had no clear plan. In addition, they behaved extremely carelessly and even told their acquaintances, who were not members of the faction, about the impending assassination attempt.

A few days before the action, Pyotr Shevyryov got scared. He told his comrades that his tuberculosis had become aggravated, and hastily left for the Crimea. After that, Ulyanov took over the entire leadership. He planned to carry out the assassination right on Nevsky Prospekt, along which the emperor regularly traveled.

And on February 26, 1887, a group of young people, hung with bombs, appeared near the Admiralty. They began to walk back and forth, waiting for the appearance of the sovereign. But he did not appear on that ill-fated day. He did not appear on 27 and 28 February. However, all these misunderstood festivities aroused close interest among the police. It must be said here that some members of the faction were registered as unreliable. The authorities knew them by sight, and their regular appearance near the Admiralty led to certain conclusions.

And when on March 1 the same young people again appeared on Nevsky Prospekt, they were immediately detained. They brought me to the department, searched and found bombs. After that, the entire group of 15 people was arrested. Alexander Ulyanov and other members of the faction were put in the Peter and Paul Fortress and an endless series of interrogations began. One of those arrested named Shevyrev, and he was arrested in Yalta on March 7.

The trial went quickly. It began on April 15, and on April 19 the verdict was read out. According to him, 5 conspirators were sentenced to death by hanging. Another 8 people were sentenced to hard labor. Among the suicide bombers were Alexander Ulyanov (21 years old), Pyotr Shevyryov (23 years old), Pakhomiy Andreyushkin (21 years old), Vasily Generalov (20 years old) and Vasily Osipanov (26 years old).

After the sentence was pronounced, the suicide bombers were placed in the Shlisselburg Fortress, where the execution was to take place. Alexander's mother came to visit. She was allowed to meet with her son after she wrote a petition addressed to the emperor. And the father did not live to see the shame that fell on his family. He died on January 12, 1886 from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Maria Alexandrovna, at meetings with her son, begged him to file a petition for pardon. However, the young man at first categorically refused to do so. Then, however, he succumbed to the persuasion of his mother, agreed and asked the emperor to replace the death penalty with another punishment. But the request was rejected.

Terrorists were executed on May 8, 1887 on the territory of the Shlisselburg Fortress. There were only 3 gallows, so at first they hanged Andreyushkin, Generalov and Osipanov, and after them it was the turn of Ulyanov and Shevyryov. The conspirators were buried in one grave near the fortress wall. So Alexander Ulyanov ended his life. He died stupidly, exchanging his talent and interesting life for some mythical and absolutely unviable idea. But for the sake of objectivity, it must be said that at that time there were many like him.

Shlisselburg, St. Petersburg province,

On April 15-19, 1887, a trial took place at which Ulyanov, Shevyryov, Andreyushkin, Generalov and Osipanov were sentenced to death, and the rest, including Bronisław Pilsudski (older brother of Jozef Pilsudski), who in Vilna prepared explosives for Alexander Ulyanov for attempts on the king - to various terms of hard labor and further exile. Alexander's mother, Maria Alexandrovna, wrote a petition to Alexander III for clemency and received permission to visit her son. Alexander Ulyanov himself was asked to ask the emperor for clemency. According to prosecutor Knyazev, who was present at the last meeting between mother and son, Alexander rejected this proposal at this meeting, saying the following: “Imagine, mother, two are facing each other in a duel. One has already shot at his opponent, the other has not yet, and the one who has already shot turns to the enemy with a request not to use weapons. No, I can't do that." I am fully aware that the nature and properties of the act I have committed and my attitude towards it do not give me either the right or the moral basis to apply to Your Majesty with a request for indulgence in the form of alleviating my lot. But I have a mother whose health has deteriorated greatly in recent days, and the execution of my death sentence will put her life in the most serious danger. In the name of my mother and my younger brothers and sisters, who, having no father, find their only support in her, I decide to ask Your Majesty to replace my death penalty with some other punishment. This indulgence will restore the strength and health of my mother and return her to the family for whom her life is so precious, and save me from the painful consciousness that I will be the cause of the death of my mother and the misfortune of my entire family. Alexander Ulyanov. On May 8 (20), 1887, Alexander Ulyanov and his comrades were hanged in the Shlisselburg fortress. Alexander Ulyanov was buried in a mass grave behind the wall of the Oreshek fortress, on the shore of Lake Ladoga (Leningrad Region). April 22 is the birthday of Vladimir Lenin. Only 30 years separate two most important events in the life of this man: the execution in 1887 of his older brother Alexander Ulyanov, who was convicted in the process of the “second March First”, and October 1917. It is foolish to reduce the Russian revolution to the banal "he avenged his brother." But it is foolish to deny that without Alexander Ulyanov there would be no Vladimir Lenin. Is Alexander guilty from today's point of view? Still would! The group prepared three shells: for 2 kg of homemade dynamite, for almost 3 kg and for 1.2 kg. Two bombs were made by Ulyanov and the “chemist of the organization” Lukashevich, one by Ulyanov himself. Shrapnel was interspersed in explosives - pieces of lead smeared with a "strong solution of strychnine." Well, how much would they put along with the king of the people! Furthermore! Before the assassination attempt, the leader of the organization, Shevyrev, unexpectedly left for Yalta (either he got scared, or consumption really worsened). Ulyanov led the whole business. After the arrest, he did not deny, he stated a tough and logical justification for his position. He took on someone else's fault and thereby brought many out from under the noose (the same Lukashevich). He refused to ask for pardon, and when in the end he asked, then, asking only to condescend to the grief of his mother (but it was too late). That is, he deserved the execution? But despite all that, the attempt did not take place. In fact, they were judged only for intent. Completely proven. subject to punishment. But what kind of punishment? Hang? For what? Not a drop of blood was shed! Today, tsarist justice is often reproached for softness: they say, they would really punish revolutionaries, so ... Well, sometimes softness took place. And sometimes - on the contrary. Six years ago, the tsar, the bulwark and symbol of a great power, was already killed in Russia. Now the judges have decided not to be silly. And yet, knowing today the consequences, one thought involuntarily creeps into my head. When the "second March Day" was seized, Alexander III rashly at first ordered: do not waste time, throw the conspirators into Shlisselburg without trial or investigation - and forget this story. Then they reasoned - how could it be without trial and investigation! Must by law. Only sometimes you think: maybe if they acted according to the first order of the king, then everyone would be better off? Well, Ulyanov would have been alone. In a couple of years he would have been allowed books. Then write. He would have thought that his moral duty had been fulfilled. Before going into politics, he was indeed a brilliant young biologist. There is nothing to do in the cell, I would do science again. In 1905 - amnesty. It would not be a fiery terrorist who would have been released, but a scientist deep in his thoughts (like the famous Narodnaya Volya N. Morozov). Maybe even - sincerely religious (after all, Ulyanov was the only one of all those sentenced to kiss the cross before execution). And the "ashes of Klaas" would not knock on the heart of brother Volodya. And - who knows! - perhaps many things in our history would have gone differently. "Second March Day" The informal name of the underground organization, officially called the "Terrorist faction of the party" People's Will ". They considered themselves the heirs of the "First March" - the People's Will, who killed on March 1, 1881. Tsar Alexander II. Six years later, the "second March Day" were preparing to throw bombs at his son, Alexander III, but the Okhrana managed to get on their trail earlier. On March 1, 1887, the militants were taken on Nevsky Prospekt during the next hunt for the tsar. The leaders of the organization are P. Shevyrev and A. Ulyanov. "Signals" (they were supposed to inform about the entrance of the royal carriage) - S. Volokhov, M. Kancher, P. Gorkun. "Metal workers" (those who were planned to throw bombs) - P. Andreyushkin, V. Generalov, V. Osipanov. In total, 15 people were involved in the case, five (P. Shevyrev, A. Ulyanov, P. Andreyushkin, V. Generalov, V. Osipanov) were hanged.