Only a few months have passed since the return of the monument to F. E. Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square. There were a great many opponents and supporters of such a decision by the authorities. In order to understand the reasons for such a violent public reaction, let's try to understand the role of Iron Felix's personality in the history of the USSR.
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky: biography
The famous statesman of the Soviet era began his life in the family of a small estate nobleman - Eduard Iosifovich Dzerzhinsky, who serves as a teacher at the local gymnasium. The name of the Soviet commissar - Felix - is translated from Latin as "happy." And it was given to the child because his mother, having fallen a few days before the birth through negligence into an open cellar, not only did not break herself, but was also able to protect her child from injury.
The Dzerzhinsky family did not live well. After the head of the family died of tuberculosis in 1882, the mother had to raise nine children alone, the eldest of whom at that time was twelve years old, andthe youngest is only a year and a half.
Despite all these difficulties, Felix Edmundovich had the opportunity to study at the Lithuanian gymnasium, where in 1895 he met with representatives of the social democratic movement and joined the party. As for academic diligence, contemporaries assessed the knowledge of the young man as mediocre. So, from the documents it follows that Dzerzhinsky stayed twice in the first grade and could not finish his studies, having received only a certificate of completion of the eighth grade. By the way, he had unsatisfactory marks in Russian and Greek.
However, failures in studies did not interfere with successful underground activities. Since 1896, Dzerzhinsky has been actively conducting propaganda among artisans and factory workers, for which he was repeatedly tried and sentenced to exile and hard labor. Even while imprisoned, Dzerzhinsky is preparing for the October Revolution, organizing the first detachments of the Red Guard in Moscow, and taking part in party meetings. After the revolution, he occupied important positions in the Soviet government, became the head of the detachments of the people's commissariats (People's Commissariat - the central authority in the union republics) and founded the Cheka (All-Russian Emergency Commission to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage).
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky died of a heart attack caused by a nervous breakdown, during a speech at a meeting of the Central Committee, July 20, 1926.
Government activity
Holding public office in the newly formed military government,Dzerzhinsky developed all the same ebullient activity that was characteristic of a revolutionary during the years of underground activity. The figure of Iron Felix in the history of the formation and organization of the Soviet Union is still ambiguous. And to this day it causes a lot of controversy.
Being appointed to the post of head of the Cheka, Felix Edmundovich has established himself as a tough and cruel leader, ruthlessly destroying any attempts of disobedience. It was during his reign in the Cheka that the policy of terror entered into constant practice. It is no coincidence that the most terrible rumors and secrets will be associated with the activities of the Cheka much later in the West.
Dzerzhinsky believed that any measures were acceptable in the fight against counter-revolution, including mass terror. It is he who is credited with the famous saying that the repressive policy of the Cheka is extremely important and necessary, even if "its sword accidentally falls on the heads of the innocent." He actively spoke out against the restrictions on the authority of the department, openly advocated the use of the most severe measures against the rioters.
At the same time, the name of the great "chekist" is associated with more creative activities. So, after the October Revolution, about five million homeless children found themselves on the streets, and it was under the leadership of Dzerzhinsky that boarding schools for temporary detention, orphanages and orphanages began to be built, where the children received all the necessary assistance and had the opportunity to study. Among the first graduates of such institutions are eight former homeless children who became academicians of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and one of them -Nikolai Petrovich Dubin - went down in history as a world famous geneticist.
Another side of Dzerzhinsky's political activity is his active participation in the country's sports life. Realizing that the employees of the law enforcement agency cannot do without a good sports uniform, he creates the Dynamo DSO, which today is one of the most massive sports societies in Russia.
Felix Edmundovich took part in the economic development of the state. In the Supreme Council of National Economy, he was engaged in the development of small-scale private trade, tried to create favorable conditions for the development of peasant markets, and looked for ways to reduce production costs.
Also, the revolutionary actively supported the country's industrialization policy. Under his leadership, a single metallurgical complex appears, which has become one of the most advanced in the world. At the same time, Dzerzhinsky criticized the government and saw the main mistake of the party in focusing on the military metal industry. Due to disagreement with such economic policy, he repeatedly asked for his resignation.
Dzerzhinsky in art
The image of the indestructible Iron Felix was often used by writers and filmmakers. Images of the statesman were decorated with postage stamps. His activities were sung in the poems of Soviet authors and the chants of the pioneers of the USSR, and his fate was told in many bibliographic rums. In addition, there are autobiographies written by Dzerzhinsky in different years, as well as a number of works devoted to the state security of the country. An ambiguous portrait of the revolutionary is also found in the literary works-memoirs of his contemporaries.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the name of the "great and terrible" also did not remain forgotten. During the years of perestroika, the story of one person from a story about an infallible hero, an associate of the revolution, moved into the category of stories about a ruthless criminal and terrorist.
In the modern world, disputes about the significance of the figure of Dzerzhinsky in the history of the USSR also do not subside, and his image continues to inspire modern poets and writers. So mentions of Felix Edmundovich are found in the works of such musical groups as "Lyapis Trubetskoy" and "Aquarium".
Localities named after Dzerzhinsky
After his death, the name of F. E. Dzerzhinsky was given to many cities and villages in different republics of the Soviet Union. Higher educational institutions, squares, squares and parks, military units, factories and ships were named after him. The Iron Felix name was given to streets and schools. The famous security officer was revered as the main associate of the revolution and a true friend and ally of Lenin.
In modern Russia, there are more than a dozen rural settlements bearing the name of Dzerzhinsky, in addition, in the Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow regions there are cities of the same name: Dzerzhinsk and Dzerzhinsky.
On the territory of the two post-Soviet republics - Belarus and Ukraine - there are also about forty different villages and towns, as well as several large cities named after the famous revolutionary. After the collapseThe Soviet Union made a number of attempts to rename or return the original names of settlements, but the matter did not progress beyond open discussions and several votes.
Geographical objects
In addition to cities and towns, a number of geographical objects bear the name of Dzerzhinsky. So, Dzerzhinsky Mountain is considered the highest point on the territory of modern Belarus. And in the Pamirs (a mountain system located in Central Asia at the junction of Tajikistan, China, Afghanistan and India), the peak of the Zaalai Range is called Dzerzhinsky Peak.
Monuments on the territory of the Russian Federation
Monuments and busts dedicated to the memory of the great figure of the revolution exist in many cities on the territory of the Russian Federation and in some CIS countries. So, one of the most famous is the monument to Dzerzhinsky in Volgograd, which was installed immediately after the death of Felix Edmundovich. Naturally, in the city named after this statesman, there is a monument on Dzerzhinsky Square. Even a certain pun turns out: in Dzerzhinsk there is a monument to Dzerzhinsky on Dzerzhinsky. Samara also has its own personal head of the Cheka, he is installed on the forecourt of the city. Of course, there is a monument to this politician in Moscow, and not in a single copy. One of them was installed on the territory of the LOETZ plant, the other - on Lubyanka Square, we will talk about it in more detail below. Other monuments and obelisks are located in Izhevsk, Ufa, Donetsk, Barnaul, Astrakhan and Penza.
Specialattention should be paid to the monument, located in the city of Dzerzhinsky. The fact is that there once existed one of the communes created specifically for young homeless children. It was the natives of this educational institution, who later managed to "break out into the people", and erected at their own expense the first, then still plaster, monument to the famous revolutionary. He permanently stood on the main square of the city directly opposite the red commune, which was once the building of the local monastery. However, gypsum is not a very durable material, and therefore in the fall of 2004 the monument finally collapsed. Then the city administration decided to restore the monument, but now from bronze.
It is interesting that, unlike the monuments to the same Lenin, the monument to Dzerzhinsky in each city is different. Not only does the clothes, the position of the hands and head of Iron Felix change, but even the age of the revolutionary is different. Such an unusual feature for the Soviet school of sculpture can be caused by attempts to display different character traits and periods of Dzerzhinsky's life. Indeed, for the residents of Volgograd, Iron Felix is precisely the famous Chekist and immortal head of the NKVD, and in little Dzerzhinsky he is remembered and revered as the main benefactor who ensured a happy and carefree childhood for several hundred Soviet Communards.
Busts and monuments in the CIS countries
In the post-Soviet space, there are few monuments to this statesman. Most of the sculptures and busts were dismantled in the early yearsperestroika. The haste with which these measures were taken makes us believe that the demolition of the monument to Dzerzhinsky is a kind of obligatory ritual, vital for the transition to the era of "wild" capitalism.
Despite a series of pogroms, in some cities there are still references to the existence of Felix Edmundovich. Such "reminders" can be found in the squares and parks of Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Transnistrian Republic, and Kyrgyzstan.
Note that in these countries the monument to Dzerzhinsky does not represent any special cultural value. But no one wants to get rid of them. After all, it is still part of our history.
Demolition of the monument to Dzerzhinsky in Moscow
And now about the most important monument. The monument to Dzerzhinsky in Moscow was erected on a historical and almost mystical place - Lubyanka Square. It was located directly opposite the very building where in different years the central offices of such power structures as the KGB, the MGB, the NKVD, the NKGB and the OGPU of the USSR were located. Today, the FSB of Russia is located at the same place. The sculpture was created by order of the party and Stalin's personal order, and the project of the future monument was developed by the then-famous sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich.
Sculpture stood in its rightful place until the putsch of 1991, when an angry and disappointed crowd literally swept away the "satrap and tyrant" from his rightful pedestal. In an atmosphere of constant tension and unmotivated aggression, the demolition of the Dzerzhinsky monument seemed the least of the problems facingbefore the new government. She's had enough trouble without it.
Therefore, when the monument to Dzerzhinsky was demolished from Lubyanka Square, the monument itself was simply removed and moved to the park area. After all the unrest associated with the transition from one state system to another subsided, it turned out that most of the population of the city of Moscow did not feel all that former hatred towards the monument, which was so widely broadcast on television screens and “flowed” from the pages Russian and Western newspapers. Everyone suddenly forgot about the monument and the very role of the individual in history…
Further fate of the monument
As mentioned earlier, after all the coups, the monument to Dzerzhinsky on the Lubyanka was dismantled and moved to a less significant place, namely the Moscow Park of Arts. Here he would have to stand until the end of time, but in 2013 the public again “stirred up” and came up with a new proposal. Now the demolition of the monument to Dzerzhinsky in Moscow seemed almost the most barbaric and senseless act of all the time of perestroika.
The Russians insisted that, whatever the famous Soviet leader, one should not forget about his role in the history of the country. According to the results of sociological surveys, it turned out that about half of the capital's residents are in favor of restoring the monument to Dzerzhinsky in Moscow. Only about twenty-nine percent of respondents were frankly against such an initiative, and the majority was worried not so much about the merit of the re-erection of the monument, but aboutthe cost of this operation.
However, the return of the monument to Dzerzhinsky nevertheless took place in 2014, after the monument had undergone repeated dismantling and careful reconstruction. The return of the monument to its rightful place was timed to coincide with the 137th anniversary of the birth of Felix Edmundovich. Thus, historical justice has triumphed, Lubyanka Square has also received its former appearance. The monument to Dzerzhinsky returned to its rightful place.
Expert opinion: votes for and against
At the time when the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion conducted a survey of the population about whether they want the Dzerzhinsky monument to be restored, among other things, the opinion of Russians about the very personality of the revolutionary was analyzed.
It turned out that most of the respondents (about seventy-nine percent) are familiar with the history and activities of Iron Felix, while forty-seven percent of respondents spoke favorably about him and his actions. At the same time, every third Russian expressed the idea that, despite disagreements about the methods used, the activities of the famous Chekist deserve respect. Another twenty-six percent of the respondents said that there should be a monument on Dzerzhinsky Square, although they do not feel any strong emotions towards this person. Summing up all the above, we can note that, in general, modern society is set up in relation to this historical figure is neutral-positive.
However, after the monumentDzerzhinsky at the Lubyanka was returned to his place, and expert opinions of opponents of such a drastic change appeared.
So, for example, independent journalist Konstantin Eggert expressed a negative opinion. He believes that the monument to Dzerzhinsky does not deserve such honors. Other representatives of the modern intelligentsia adhere to a similar opinion. According to them, this monument, as well as the Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square, are relics of a bygone era, which completely senselessly and absolutely undeservedly continue to live in modern Russia. Moreover, for many it was an unpleasant discovery that the monuments to the victims of the NKVD repressions and their main tormentor were erected (or reinstalled) at intervals of several months. This "duality" is considered by many to border on duplicity. And nothing good can bring to society.
On the other hand, a number of experts who positively assessed the return of the monument to its original place note that this was necessary, first of all, so that society would not forget about its history and heritage. Silencing the real facts, they believe, will only lead to repeating past mistakes.
