Dybenko Pavel Efimovich. Pavel Dybenko
In the struggle for the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, for the establishment and strengthening of Soviet power, along with the Red Guards and revolutionary-minded soldiers, a significant role was played by the sailors of the Baltic Fleet, where our fellow countryman Pavel Efimovich Dybenko served.
P.EDybenko was born on February 16 /28/ 1889 in the family of a poor peasant in the village of Lyudkovo, Novozybkovsky district, Chernigov province. From childhood he knew hard work and hardship. The parents were able to give their son only a three-year education.
In 1908, Pavel Dybenko left for Riga, where he worked as a loader in the port and at the same time studied electromechanical courses. Here, in Riga, he read illegal literature for the first time.
In 1911, P.Edybenko was drafted into the navy, where his combat biography began. Due to unreliability, he was enlisted not in the Guards, but in the 1st Baltic crew and sent to Kotlin Island. Soon he was enrolled as a student of the Kronstadt training detachment. In June 1912, P.E. Dybenko joined the ranks of the RSDLP /b/. After completing his studies, Pavel Efimovich served on the training ship “Dvina”, and then was sent to the battleship “Emperor Pavel 1”, which was notorious among sailors due to the cane regime established by the officers. Here P.E. Dybenko contacted the Bolshevik group and went through the first school of underground work.
When, on the eve of 1915, the Bolshevik group of the ship “Emperor Pavel 1” was defeated by the tsarist secret police, Dybenko, by a lucky chance, escaped arrest. He was one of the organizers of the uprising on the ship “Gangut”, after which he was decommissioned from the navy into the land army and sent to the front.
In April 1916, P.E. Dybenko was arrested. After serving his term in a military correctional prison in Helsingfors, he was appointed as a battalion commander in military transport. Here, in Helsingfors, he became one of the main leaders of the Baltic sailors - chairman of the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet / Tsentrobalt /.
On September 25, 1917, under the chairmanship of P.E. Dybenko, the Second Congress of Sailors of the Baltic Fleet took place. The congress participants adopted a resolution inviting the Petrograd Soviet to take the initiative to convene the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Together with a group of Bolsheviks, P.E. Dybenko was elected as a deputy to the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
The Second Congress of Sailors of the Baltic Fleet united and organized the sailor masses. Tsentrobalt assumed full power in the Baltic Fleet.
Tsentrobalt played a huge role in the October armed uprising. By order of P.E. Dybenko, the cruiser “Aurora” was left in Petrograd, despite the order of the Provisional Government about the ship going to sea.
After taking power in Petrograd and creating the Council of People's Commissars, P.E. Dybenko took part in the defeat of the counter-revolutionary rebellion of Kerensky - Krasnov.
On November 22, 1917, the First All-Russian Congress of Military Sailors took place in Petrograd, at which the first People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs (Voenmor) P.E. Dybenko made a report “On the reorganization of the management of the naval department.”
On January 28 and February 11, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted Decrees on the formation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Fleet. P.E. Dybenko also signed these documents of extreme importance. In accordance with the Decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet, the maritime ministry was renamed the People's Commissariat for Maritime Affairs /NKMD/, which was headed by P.E. Dybenko.
In connection with the advance of German troops into the territory of the young Soviet republic, P.E. Dybenko led a combined detachment of sailors, which on February 28, 1918 was sent to Narva. Lieutenant General D.P. Parsky intervened in the affairs of the head of the defense of Narva, P.E. Dybenko, as a result of which the Red Army troops were defeated and were forced to leave Narva. In May 1918, P.E. Dybenko was brought to trial. He was acquitted in court, but was still expelled from the party.
In the summer of 1918, on instructions from the Central Committee of the RCP/b/, Dybenko was sent to Ukraine to organize underground work in Sevastopol, but already in August he was arrested by the German occupation authorities and thrown into a Simferopol prison.
At the end of September he was exchanged for a group of Kaiser officers captured by the Red Army.
After his release from captivity, P.E. Dybenko was appointed commissar of the 1st brigade of the 2nd Ukrainian Soviet Division, and in February 1919 - commander of the 1st Trans-Dnieper Soviet Rifle Division, which participated in the liberation of Crimea in April 1919.
For his participation in the liberation of Crimea, P.E. Dybenko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle. Subsequently, the Trans-Dnieper division was transformed into the Crimean Red Army, whose commander was P.E. Dybenko. In May 1919, Pavel Efimovich was appointed People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic. Then he goes to study at the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army. But because of the onset of the Volunteer Army's offensive, he did not have to study. He was sent to the southern front, where he commanded the 37th Infantry Division of the 8th Army near Tsaritsyn. For the battles near Tsaritsyn, P.E. Dybenko was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner of Battle.
In February-November 1920, P.E. Dybenko commanded the 1st Caucasian Cavalry and 2nd Cavalry Divisions of the Southern Front. He also took part in the defeat of Baron Wrangel’s troops in Crimea.
In March 1921, P.E. Dybenko participated in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion, for which he was awarded the third Order of the Red Banner of Battle.
In May 1921 - April 1924, Pavel Efimovich Dybenko was the head of the Western Black Sea sector, commander of the Perekop division, 1st and 5th rifle corps. In 1922 he graduated from the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army. At the same time, he was reinstated in the RCP / b / with credit for party experience for 1912-1922. In 1925, P.E. Dybenko was appointed head of the Artillery Directorate of the Red Army, and a little later - chief of supply of the Red Army.
In 1928-1938, P.E. Dybenko commanded the troops of the Central Asian, Volga, and Leningrad military districts. For the defeat of Basmachi gangs in Central Asia, Dybenko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Turkmen and Tajik SSR.
P.E. Dybenko was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st convocation, was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, and was elected as a delegate to the XV, XVI and XVII Congresses of the CPSU /b/. He authored the books “From the Bowels of the Tsarist Fleet to the Great October Revolution”, “Revolutionary Baltic People”, “Rebels”, “Military Doctrine and the Evolution of the Army”.
Pavel Efimovich Dybenko visited Novozybkov several times in 1918-1921 and in 1934.
In 1938, P.E. Dybenko was arrested and executed. Only almost twenty years later his name was returned to history.
Our fellow countryman P.E. Dybenko traveled a remarkable path from an ordinary sailor to a talented military leader of the Red Army. People say that “heroes have two lives. One is short, breaks off at the grave, and the other passes through centuries, does not fade over the centuries.”
Streets are named after P.E. Dybenko not only in Novozybkov, but also in St. Petersburg, Simferopol, and Sevastopol.
Paying tribute and gratitude to their glorious fellow countryman, the workers of the city of Novozybkov erected two monuments to him.
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Pavel Efimovich Dybenko(February 16 (28) - July 29) - Russian revolutionary, Soviet political and military figure, 1st People's Commissar for Naval Affairs of the RSFSR, Army commander of the 2nd rank ().
early years
He received his primary education at a public school, then in 1899 he was admitted to special classes at the Novozybkovsky three-year city school, the full course of which he completed in 1903. I was not able to continue my studies due to my family’s social status and financial situation.
In 1906, 17-year-old Pavel Dybenko entered the treasury service in Novoaleksandrovsk, where his relatives lived, but was dismissed from there “for unreliability” - in 1907 he took part in the work of the Bolshevik circle, for this reason falling under the secret supervision of the police.
In April 1919, Ukrainian Soviet troops under the command of Pavel Dybenko captured the Perekop Isthmus, then the entire Crimea (with the exception of Kerch). Since May 1919, P. Dybenko has been the commander of the 9,000-strong Crimean Soviet Army, formed from units of the 1st Trans-Dnieper Division and local detachments, and at the same time the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs and the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the proclaimed Crimean Soviet Republic. In May-June 1919 he commanded Soviet troops in Crimea, retreating under the onslaught of the White Guards, from June to September 1919 - in Northern Tavria; takes part in the suppression of “Grigorievshchina” and “Makhnovshchina”.
In September 1919 he was recalled to Moscow, in October he was enrolled as a student at the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army, but a month later he was appointed head of the 37th Infantry Division. At the end of December 1919, commanding formations, he distinguished himself during the liberation of Tsaritsyn. Participant in the defeat of General Denikin's army in the North Caucasus in the spring of 1920. From March 3 to May 11, 1920 - commander of the 1st Caucasian Cavalry Division.
In the summer of 1920 he commanded formations in Northern Tavria fighting the Russian army of General Wrangel and the Makhnovists. From June 28 to July 17, 1920 - commander of the 2nd Stavropol Cavalry Division named after M.F. Blinov.
From September 1920 to May 1921 - junior student at the Military Academy of the Red Army.
In March 1921, under the overall command of M. N. Tukhachevsky, Dybenko, at the head of the Consolidated Division, was one of the leaders of the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising. After the liquidation of the uprising - commandant of the Kronstadt Fortress. The deputy head of the special department, Yudin, reported on Dybenko’s activities during the storming of the fortress:
“The 561st Regiment, having retreated a mile and a half to Kronstadt, refused to go on the offensive further. The reason is unknown. Comrade Dybenko ordered the second chain to be deployed and fire at those returning. Regiment 561 is taking repressive measures against its Red Army soldiers in order to further force them to go on the offensive.”
In April 1921 he participated in the suppression of a peasant uprising in the Tambov province.
Post-war career
- May-June 1921 - chief of troops of the Western Black Sea sector (Tiraspol-Odessa-Nikolaev-Kherson region);
- June-October 1921 - head of the 51st Infantry Division;
- October 1921 - June 1922 - senior student at the Military Academy of the Red Army;
- 1922 - graduated from the Military Academy (General Staff Academy) of the Red Army as an external student;
- 1922 - reinstated in the RCP (b) with the credit for party experience since 1912.
- 05.1922 - 10.1922 - commander of the 6th Rifle Corps;
- 10.1922 - 05.1924 - commander of the 5th Rifle Corps;
- May 1924-1925 - commander of the 10th Rifle Corps;
- May 1925 - November 1926 - head of the Artillery Supply Directorate of the Red Army;
- November 1926 - October 1928 - chief of supplies of the Red Army;
- October 1928 - December 1933 - commander of the troops of the Central Asian Military District;
- December 1933 - May 1937 - commander of the Volga Military District;
- in 1937 - commander of the troops of the Siberian Military District (did not take office);
- June 5, 1937 - September 10, 1937 - commander of the Leningrad Military District;
Arrest and death
Family
Awards
see also
- List of three-time holders of the Order of the Red Banner until 1930
Essays
- Dybenko P. In the depths of the royal fleet. - M.-Pg., 1919
- Dybenko P. Military doctrine and the evolution of the army. (Research experience). - Odessa, 1922. - 63 p.
- Dybenko P. Rebels: (from memories of the revolution). - M.: “Krasnaya Nov”, Glavpolitprosvet, 1923. - 111 p. - 20,000 copies. - Region Rodchenko.
- Dybenko P. From the bowels of the royal fleet to the great October Revolution. From memories of the revolution. 1917-7.XI-1927. - M., Military Bulletin, 1928. 237 p. - 7000 copies.
- Dybenko P. October in the Baltic. - Tashkent, 1934.
Memory
- The name of Pavel Efimovich Dybenko is immortalized in the names of the streets of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Sevastopol, Simferopol, Samara and Kharkov, as well as in his small homeland in Novozybkov, where there is a monument in his honor.
- A memorial stele with a high relief of P. E. Dybenko, the first People's Commissar of Military Affairs of the Russian Soviet Republic, was installed in Simferopol in 1968 where the headquarters of the Crimean Red Army was located in 1919 (corner of Kirov Avenue and Sovnarkomovsky Lane, Dybenko Square). Sculptor - N. P. Petrova.
- A memorial plaque dedicated to Pavel Efimovich was installed on the square in front of the Great Gatchina Palace.
- The image of Dybenko, as a famous participant in the Revolution and Civil War, was actively used in Soviet cinema. He was played by: Ivan Dmitriev (Aurora Salvo (film), 1965), Vladimir Dyukov (December 20, 1981), Sergei Garmash (Moonzund (film), 1987), Sergei Burunov (Tukhachevsky: Marshal's Conspiracy, 2010), Sergei Gavrilyuk (Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno, 2007); as well as Slobodan Kustic in the Yugoslav film “Mistress Kollontai”, 1996.
- In 1989, USSR postage stamps dedicated to Dybenko were issued.
Gatchina Palace - Memorial tablet (big).jpg
Memorial plaque in Gatchina
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Notes
Sources
- V. Antonov-Ovseenko. Notes on the Civil War. - M.:, - L.: 1933.
- Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. : Soviet encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
Literature
- Grigoryan A. M., Milbakh V. S., Chernavsky A. N. Political repressions of the command staff, 1937-1938. Leningrad Military District. - St. Petersburg. : St. Petersburg University Publishing House, 2013. - 423 p. - ISBN 978-5-288-05282-8.
- Zhigalov I. M. Dybenko.- M.: Young Guard, 1983.
- Zhigalov I. M. The story of a Baltic sailor. - M.: Politizdat, 1973.
- Kirshner L. A. Thunder strike bell. - L.: Lenizdat, 1985.
- Lazarev S. E. Sociocultural composition of the Soviet military elite 1931-1938. and its assessments in the Russian press abroad. - Voronezh: Voronezh CSTI - branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "REA" of the Ministry of Energy of Russia, 2012. - 312 p. - 100 copies. - ISBN 978-5-4218-0102-3.
- J. Levy. Pavel Dybenko and the myth of February 23, 1918 (, ,), Pole of the World, 2012.
- Suvorov V. Cleansing. - M., AST, 2002.
- Yakupov N. M. The tragedy of the commanders. - M.: Mysl, 1992. - P. 66-97. - 349 p. - 20,000 copies. - ISBN 5-244-00525-1.
- Mlechin L. M. The commanders are revolutionaries. - St. Petersburg, 2015, ed. LLC Trade and Publishing House "Amphora".
Journalism
- Dormidontov V. S.
- Savchenko V. A.. - M., 2000. - ISBN 966-03-0845-0, 5-17-002710-9
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An excerpt characterizing Dybenko, Pavel Efimovich
But at about five o’clock in the morning a very pleasant young midwife came to my mother and, much to my mother’s surprise, cheerfully said:- Well, let’s get ready, now we’ll give birth!
When the frightened mother asked - what about the doctor? The woman, calmly looking into her eyes, affectionately replied that, in her opinion, it was high time for her mother to give birth to live (!) children... And she began to gently and carefully massage her mother’s belly, as if little by little preparing her for a “soon and happy” childbirth ... And so, with the light hand of this wonderful unknown midwife, at about six o’clock in the morning, my mother easily and quickly gave birth to her first living child, who, fortunately, turned out to be me.
- Well, look at this doll, mom! – the midwife cheerfully exclaimed, bringing mother the already washed and clean, small, screaming bundle. And my mother, seeing her little daughter alive and healthy for the first time... fainted with joy...
When exactly at six o'clock in the morning Dr. Ingelevichius entered the room, a wonderful picture appeared before his eyes - a very happy couple was lying on the bed - it was my mother and I, her living newborn daughter... But instead of being happy for such an unexpected happy In the end, for some reason the doctor went into a real rage and, without saying a word, jumped out of the room...
We never found out what really happened with all the “tragically unusual” births of my poor, suffering mother. But one thing was clear for sure - someone really didn’t want at least one mother’s child to be born into this world alive. But apparently the one who so carefully and reliably protected me throughout my entire life, this time decided to prevent the death of the Seryogins’ child, somehow knowing that he would probably be the last in this family...
This is how, “with obstacles,” my amazing and unusual life once began, the appearance of which, even before my birth, fate, already quite complex and unpredictable, had in store for me....
Or maybe it was someone who already knew then that someone would need my life for something, and someone tried very hard so that I would still be born on this earth, despite all the “difficulties” created obstacles"...
The famous revolutionary Pavel Efimovich Dybenko was born on February 28, 1889 in the small Chernigov village of Lyudkovo. His parents were ordinary peasants in central Russia. The social and financial situation of the family left an imprint on the boy's life path. He received his primary education at a rural school. This was followed by three years at the city school. Further education was simply unaffordable for a peasant son.
Pavel Efimovich Dybenko began working at the age of 17. In Novoaleksandrovsk, Lithuania, he entered the service of the local treasury. However, the young man did not stay there for long. He was fired because of his revolutionary interests. In 1907, the young man made a fateful decision and joined the Bolshevik circle (formally in the party since 1912). The day before ended, however, underground organizations continued their activity.
Navy service
Since 1908, Pavel Efimovich Dybenko lived in Riga. In 1911 he began serving in the Baltic Fleet. The need to pay off his military duty did not appeal to Dybenko - he tried to hide, but the draft dodger was arrested and forcibly sent to a recruiting station. So the young Bolshevik became a sailor. His place of service turned out to be where the city of Kronstadt was located.
Dybenko served on the crews of several ships, in particular the training ship Dvina and the battleship Emperor Pavel I. The sailor worked as an electrician and was later promoted to non-commissioned officer. In 1913, he took part in a trip abroad, visiting England, France and Norway.
First World War
In 1914, the First World War began. Pavel Efimovich Dybenko ended up in an active squadron and took part in several combat sorties in the Baltic Sea. Several years of service did not dull his revolutionary sentiments. On the contrary, as a naval cadre he turned out to be a very valuable agitator for the Bolshevik Party. At the same time, Dybenko was under the secret surveillance of the secret police. He was in a “risk group” and that is why he was written off from his ship when the Baltic Fleet experienced a revolt of sailors on the battleship Gangut for the first time during the war.
Riga, well known to the revolutionary, turned out to be the place where Pavel Efimovich Dybenko was sent. The military man’s biography could have remained associated exclusively with the fleet, but now he had to find a use for himself on the land front. After three months of service, he received a sentence in Helsingfors prison for defeatist agitation. The conclusion turned out to be short-lived. Soon Dybenko was returned to the fleet as a battalionman. Despite all his previous misadventures, the Bolshevik continued his revolutionary activities.
Between February and October
In 1917, Pavel Dybenko found himself in the thick of things. After the emergence of the Provisional Government, he joined the Helsingfors Council, where he was a deputy from the fleet. As an ardent Bolshevik, he was distinguished by the most radical views. It was Pavel Dybenko who carried out the greatest propaganda activity in the Baltic Fleet during the anti-government protest of his party in July 1917. That summer, most of the Bolsheviks were arrested, and Lenin fled and hid in Razliv.
Pavel Efimovich Dybenko also went to prison. The short biography of this revolutionary is full of episodes of arrests and imprisonments. This time he ended up in Kresty, where Trotsky was staying at the same time. In early September, along with other Bolsheviks, Dybenko was released. The provisional government decided that the fringe party had lost its influence and lost support among the masses. This point of view turned out to be a fatal misconception.
Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly
On the night when Lenin’s supporters seized power in Petrograd, Dybenko supervised the transportation of revolutionary-minded sailors from Kronstadt to the capital. The Bolshevik's services to the new Soviet government were significant. After the October Revolution, he was immediately included in the Council of People's Commissars, where he became People's Commissar for Naval Affairs.
The Baltic Fleet also remembered how much Pavel Efimovich Dybenko did for the coup. The date of birth of the new state practically coincided with the convening of the Constituent Assembly. Dybenko was elected as a deputy as a delegate from the Baltic Fleet. On the day the Constituent Assembly was convened, the Bolshevik led a large group of sailors who actually dispersed this democratically elected body.
Again against the Germans
The Bolsheviks who came to power found themselves in an extremely difficult situation. On the one hand, the white movement was gaining strength, and on the other, until the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the war with the Germans continued. At the beginning of 1918 they continued their offensive in the Baltic states. Sailors were sent to cross the interventionists, led by Pavel Efimovich Dybenko. The revolutionary’s personal life was marked the day before by a joyful event: he married his comrade-in-arms, Alexandra Kollontai, who in the future became famous in the diplomatic field.
However, there was no time left for family matters. Dybenko's detachment encountered the Germans near Narva. The sailors, inferior to the enemy in all respects, abandoned the city. Soon the detachment was disarmed by its own. For an oversight, Dybenko was expelled from the party (reinstated in 1922). In a sense, the revolutionary was lucky - he was not shot, but was sent to work underground in Odessa (his past merits affected him).
On the fronts of the Civil War
In the fall of 1918, Pavel Dybenko ended up in the Ukrainian Soviet Army. He headed the partisan division, which included supporters of Nestor Makhno. The most important success of this formation was its participation in the seizure of Crimea. Dybenko's division was the first to establish control over the key Perekop Isthmus. However, those successes were variable. Soon the Bolshevik supporters had to retreat.
Pavel Efimovich Dybenko also left. Photos of the military leader began to appear in Soviet newspapers again - he returned to Moscow and became one of the first students at the newly opened Academy of the Red Army General Staff. The situation at the front was restless, and Dybenko, who had dropped out of school, was again sent to the front. At the end of 1919, he took part in the liberation of Tsaritsyn, where Stalin and the future marshals Budyonny and Egorov also took part.
Counter-fighter
Dybenko met the new 1920 on the way. His division pursued the retreating Denikin. By spring, the military leader reached the Caucasus. Then Pavel Efimovich returned to Crimea, where the remnants of the whites under the command of Wrangel resisted with their last legs. In September 1920 he returned to the academy he had left shortly before.
A few months later, during the next party congress, the famous Kronstadt sailors' uprising broke out. Dybenko knew this contingent very well. Therefore, it is not surprising that it was his party that was sent to suppress the rebellion of sailors dissatisfied with deprivations and unjustified expectations. Then Dybenko came under the command of Tukhachevsky. In April 1921, both military leaders were together again - this time they suppressed the Antonov peasant uprising in the Tambov province.
Later years
After Dybenko returned to peaceful life, Pavel Efimovich and Kollontai began to occupy all sorts of leadership positions. The husband is in the army, the wife is in the party and diplomatic service. Throughout the 20s and 30s. Dybenko led many military formations in the Red Army.
The fate of the old Bolshevik developed according to established rules. When Stalin began purges in the Red Army, Dybenko initially acted as a reliable executor of terror. He repressed his charges in the Leningrad Military District, where he was commander. The apogee of Dybenko’s service was his participation in the trial of Marshal Tukhachevsky in the summer of 1937. And just a few months after this episode, he himself was removed from all his positions. Several personnel changes followed. As a result, Dybenko got a job at the People's Commissariat of the Timber Industry and began to manage timber harvesting in the Gulag. In February 1938 he was arrested.
Pavel Dybenko, according to the then tradition, was accused of spying for foreign intelligence and even of having connections with Tukhachevsky, whom he himself helped imprison. The famous Civil War military leader was shot on July 29, 1938. He was later rehabilitated in 1956.
“A man is broad, even too broad, I would narrow it down” - this phrase from Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov” is quite comparable with the controversial personality of Pavel Efimovich Dybenko, a man who at the beginning of the twentieth century went from a sailor to a member of the government of the young Soviet country.
The irrepressible temperament and extremely complicated biography of this “fiery revolutionary”, in essence, left Dybenko no chance of surviving the Stalinist purges of the 30s.
Immersed in my element
The finest hour for Pavel Dybenko, who came from a peasant family, came with the February Revolution of 1917. Historians tell different things about the episodes of his previous life, but the fact that the sailor Dybenko “unwinded” precisely after the February events is an indisputable fact. Outwardly, he was physically strong, tall, cynical in character, and overall a very charismatic leader who loved to drink and fight. Having extensive experience in troublemaking (officially as a Bolshevik), in the spring of 1917 he became the leader of Tsentrobalt, a key structure uniting the core of the revolutionary sailors of the Baltic Fleet. At first, the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet swore allegiance to the Provisional Government, then the Bolsheviks and anarchists rebelled, which Kerensky suppressed and Tsentrobalt dispersed.
At the end of the summer of 1917, as a result of the Kornilov rebellion, Dybenko, who was imprisoned, and like-minded people were released, and Tsentrobalt was revived. The sailors, electrified by the revolutionary “movement,” who idolized “brother” Dybenko, were to play one of the decisive roles in the October Revolution, which was already on the threshold.
Was he “moved” by Kollontai?
There is a version that after the October Revolution, Pavel Dybenko was introduced into the party elite of the new, Leninist, government of Russia by the beloved of the revolutionary sailor A. M. Domantovich-Kollontai: Alexandra Mikhailovna knew Lenin well from abroad. Practical circumstances also played a role - largely thanks to the sailors led by Dybenko, the temporary stronghold of the Winter Palace was taken. “Author” fired precisely on the orders of Pavel Efimovich.
Further, the career of P. E. Dybenko grows by leaps and bounds - already in November 1917 he became People's Commissar for Naval Affairs. In order to occupy such a high position, the former sailor had only one quality - the ability to curb the unruly “brothers”. And Lenin was forced to reckon with this circumstance.
And the drunken sailor, realizing her impunity after seizing power, rampaged to her heart's content - they killed deputies of the Constituent Assembly, members of the Provisional Government, naval and army officers... Residents of St. Petersburg shied away in horror from people in sailor uniforms.
The first fall
At the beginning of 1918, the Germans, trying to speed up the conclusion of a separate peace, launched a large-scale offensive against the Soviet republic. Dybenko with a sailor detachment of a thousand bayonets was sent to the Narva region. In the decisive battle near Yamburg, the detachment was defeated, the surviving sailors, along with the People's Commissar, fled, surrendering Narva to the Germans. In Gatchina they got drunk, seizing railway tanks with alcohol.
For this, Dybenko was expelled from the party and deprived of his post as People's Commissar. His fighting friend Kollontai, also a People's Commissar (People's Commissar of Public Charity), also lost all her posts. Meanwhile, the capital of the Soviet republic moved to Moscow. It took a long time to decide what to do with Dybenko (Trotsky suggested shooting him). In the end, he was released from captivity, where he spent several days, on bail.
Socialist-Revolutionary leaning
Dybenko lost his importance in Moscow and tried to realize himself in the provinces. Samara, where the Social Revolutionaries were strong, from the spring of 1918, became a new launching pad for the revolutionary sailor and exnarkom - from that moment on, Dybanko was the leader of the local opposition to the Bolsheviks. They, together with Kollontai, oppose Lenin and oppose the conclusion of the Brest Peace Treaty with the Germans. But as soon as a “peace-loving” offer came from Moscow to calm down and return without the danger of being arrested, Dybenko and Kollontai said goodbye to Samara liberalism and “gave it back.”
Non-partisan commander
In Moscow, after a symbolic people's trial that ended in censure, they tried to assign him to underground work in German-occupied Ukraine. But he failed this task, was arrested and barely made it out, being exchanged for captured German officers.
After this failure, Dybenko (his party card was never returned to him at that time) was sent to command units that were to capture Ukraine, he became a “red Ukrainian general.” Under the leadership of Pavel Efimovich, the gang of anarchists Makhno and Grigoriev. Numerous atrocities committed by them occur with the knowledge of the commander. The Civil War is another page in the rich biography of P. E. Dybenko, thickly covered with blood and all sorts of unsightly details. He participated in the brutal suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion, mercilessly dealing with the rebellious “brothers”, and in the liquidation of the Tambov peasant uprising.
Sunset of the "sea devil"
... Dybenko’s career before his arrest and execution, although impressive, was not surprising - many of his contemporaries from among those close to power reached its heights without even having a secondary education. Pavel Efimovich studied at the military academy for only a few months, but this did not hinder his career - by 1937 he was already commander of the Volga Military District. By that time the repressive machine was working at full capacity. Dybenko, feeling that clouds were gathering over him, took an active part in the “exposure” of his former comrade-in-arms, Tukhachevsky, and a number of other military leaders.
But Dybenko was doomed. He was accused not only of collaborating with enemy intelligence, but also of pre-revolutionary snitching for the Tsarist secret police. At the end of July, P.E. Dybenko was shot.
Kollontai, who was sent away by her husband in a timely manner and sent by Stalin as an ambassador abroad, by the way, turned out to be the only Soviet People's Commissar who lived to the age of 79 and died a natural death (Stalin survived her only for a year and died at 74 years old).
Currently, in post-Soviet cities there are more than 100 streets perpetuating the name of Dybenko. In Moscow, St. Petersburg, Donetsk, Sevastopol, Simferopol, Samara... A metro station in St. Petersburg was named in his honor. A monument was erected in his homeland in Novozybkov, a monument to the “Baltic sailors” with his figure in Kronstadt, and a memorial stele in Simferopol.
Always claiming that he was a farm laborer, he was in fact the son of a strong middle peasant (two cows, a horse and five hectares of land). Due to a complete lack of desire for knowledge and chronic poor academic performance, I spent four years in a three-year city school. From his youth he was distinguished by physical strength, pugnacity and unbridled temper.
In 1911, despite diligently evading military service, Dybenko was nevertheless caught, drafted into the army and ended up on the penal ship Dvina, and then on the battleship Emperor Pavel I, where he joined an underground group of Bolsheviks. During the First World War, he did not have the chance to participate in any serious naval battles, but in 1916, when the enemy began to threaten Petrograd, his organizational skills unexpectedly manifested themselves: he not only refused to participate in hostilities, but also persuaded several hundreds of sailors.
After the February Revolution, the loudmouth, constantly waving a Mauser, with his demagogic calls for freedom and protection of the interests of the people, managed to achieve the complete trust of the “brothers” and ended up at the head of the Tsentrobalt (Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet).
Soon A.M. appears in his life. Kollontai is one of the most influential party ladies (she was 17 years older than her new lover), a member of the Central Committee and a personal friend of Lenin, who largely contributed to Dybenko’s further military and political career. In addition to the fact that Kollontai was an ardent supporter of “free revolutionary love,” she is also notable for the fact that she was cursed by the Orthodox Church for organizing the armed seizure of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
11.21.17 Lenin, by personal order, appoints P. Dybenko People's Commissar for Maritime Affairs. Of course, Ilyich knew that this illiterate sailor could not live up to the admiral’s position, but at that moment he needed not a specialist, but a loyal guardsman with a loyal team of thugs, ready to carry out any of his instructions.
And the wholesale extermination of career naval officers began. Having plundered the imperial wine cellars and drunk to the point of frenzy, the sailors smashed the heads of lieutenants and midshipmen with sledgehammers, and “lowered senior officers under the ice.” In Petrograd and at the bases of the Baltic Fleet alone, several hundred naval officers were tortured and killed. Dybenko, hanging a massive gold chain on his chest, rode on trotters along the parade ground, littered with officer corpses, and called on the lads to “cut the counter.”
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| Monument in Novozybkov |
Deputies of the Constituent Assembly, former ministers of the Provisional Government A. Shingarev and F. Kokoshkin, “brothers” were even found in the hospital and bayoneted right in their beds.
On January 5, 1918, 60 thousand people took to the streets of Petrograd in support of the popularly elected Constituent Assembly. Carrying out the task of the Bolsheviks, at the corner of Nevsky and Liteiny Prospekts, sailors stationed on the roofs under the command of Dybenko met a peaceful demonstration with machine-gun fire.
For the shameful, without a fight, surrender of Narva to the Germans in February 1918, he was removed from the post of People's Commissar and put on trial. L.D. Trotsky and N.V. Krylenko insisted on execution, but the matter was limited to expulsion from the party.
Several times the Bolsheviks sentenced him to death, but each time they released him - they needed him. Who else, while suppressing the Kronstadt uprising in March 1921, could have dealt so mercilessly with his recent “brothers” who elected him to Tsentrobalt? (Tukhachevsky, who witnessed this, recalled: “I have never seen such a bloody massacre.”)
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| Moscow |
He showed the same monstrous ruthlessness when dealing with the rebel peasants of the Tambov region. Dybenko is responsible for countless people who were shot and hacked to death, burned alive in huts poisoned with gases. This is probably why he was allowed to occupy a number of command positions in the Red Army, although his drunken brawls, debauchery and looting were known to everyone (even such a concept as “Dybenkovism” appeared - a kind of cross between tyranny, anarchy and banditry).
Moreover, in 1922 he was reinstated in the party (maintaining his party experience since 1912) and sent to study at the Military Academy (with its three classes of education!), which he, “as a particularly talented person,” graduated as an external student in less than a year. Subsequently, Kollontai admitted that she did all the tasks for him, since he could not write without terrible grammatical errors. Later, in the early 30s, he was sent for an internship to Germany, where German teachers gave him an extremely laconic certification: “From a military point of view - absolute zero.”
An important property of his nature was an absolutely cynical rejection of any moral obligations, and hence a constant readiness to betray. Without hesitation, he betrayed both ideas and people equally easily. He didn’t care who to betray: the Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists or Bolsheviks. Dybenko violated the military oath he swore to the Tsar; betrayed the Provisional Government, to which he furiously swore allegiance; betrayed his sailor brothers, who chose him as head of Centrobalt; betrayed Father Makhno, whose “father was imprisoned” at the wedding; betrayed his wife Kollontai, who saved him from execution several times, humiliatingly begging for mercy from Lenin, Trotsky and Dzerzhinsky.
For his bloody service, the Soviet government awarded Pavel Dybenko three Orders of the Red Banner (the first two for Kronstadt and the Tambov region), made him an army commander, a member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and a deputy of the Supreme Council. She also shot him in 1938 as “waste material,” declaring him a Trotskyist, conspirator and US spy, although he swore that he “did not know the American language.”