Milyukov as a politician and his "Memoirs". P

Introduction

1. Political activity of P.N. Milyukov

2. "Memories"

Conclusion

List of sources used

Introduction

The history of Russia is full of contradictory events and historical situations. Particularly interesting in this regard is the period of history from 1905 to 1917. A huge number of memoirs of contemporaries, historical monographs of Russian and foreign historians are consecrated to this period. It is very difficult to judge this time after almost a hundred years, since views on history have been redrawn several times during this time. The historians of the Soviet Union offered their own view, the emigrants offered their own, but it remains difficult to find out the authenticity and reality of the events taking place at that time today. Until now, the history of Russian revolutions has not been written, although there are now quite enough materials for this.

The book "Memoirs" by Pavel Nikolaevich Milyukov is one of those historical documents that allows us to form our own understanding of the events of 1905-1917.

The purpose of this work is to consider the memoirs of one of the outstanding political figures and scientists of Russia in the early twentieth century

Before getting acquainted with the work of Milyukov, it is necessary to dwell on his biography, since the memoirs themselves are biographical, it will be interesting to compare the views of historians on the life of the author with his own views given in his memoirs.

milyukov revolutionary historian political russia

1. Political activity of P.N. Milyukov

Pavel Nikolaevich Milyukov was born on January 15 (27), 1859 in Moscow, in the family of a poor architect, a native of the nobility, Nikolai Pavlovich Milyukov, and his wife Maria Arkadyevna, who came from a noble Sultanov family. He was the eldest of two children born in the marriage. His mother was involved in his early education.

He received his education at the 1st Moscow Gymnasium, located on Sivtsev Vrazhek. Even then, the sphere of his interests lay in the humanitarian field: he was attracted by ancient authors, classical music, he began to write poetry.

At the end of the gymnasium, in the summer of 1877, together with P.D. Dolgorukov P.N. Milyukov participated as a volunteer in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1978. as treasurer of the military economy, and then authorized by the Moscow sanitary detachment in Transcaucasia.

In 1877 he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University. In 1879, after the death of his father, the Milyukov family was on the verge of ruin. To ensure a decent existence for his mother (the younger brother Alexei did not live with his family at that time), he was forced to give private lessons.

The first interest of P.N. Milyukov to political activity. He began to take part in student gatherings. In 1881, for participating in one of them, he ended up in a cell in the Butyrskaya prison for several hours and was expelled from the university, to which he could return only a year later.

Although when entering the university, P.N. Milyukov chose the Faculty of History and Philology; interest in history came only thanks to the influence of outstanding professors P.G. Vinogradov and V.O. Klyuchevsky, who appeared in his life as "real luminaries of learning and talent." Lectures and seminars by V.O. Klyuchevsky instilled in him Milyukov a love for the history of his native country, which he decided to study after graduating from university in 1882. For this purpose, he remained at the department to work on his master's thesis. In 1892, the dissertation was presented for defense, and in 1896 it was published under the title "The State Economy of Russia in the First Quarter of the 18th Century and the Reforms of Peter the Great."

At the end of the 80s. there have been changes in the personal life of P.N. Milyukov: he married Anna Sergeevna Smirnova, daughter of the rector of the Trinity-Sergius Academy S.K. Smirnov, whom he met in the house of V.O. Klyuchevsky. Like her husband, who had been fond of playing the violin all his life, Anna Sergeevna loved music: according to the reviews of others, she was a talented pianist. They had three children: in 1889 - son Nikolai, in 1895 - son Sergei, the youngest child in the family was the only daughter Natalya. P.N. Milyukov taught at Moscow University for two years, but in 1895 he was fired. Taking part in reading educational lectures in the provinces, in one of them he pointed out the need to develop Russian citizenship, which is why he was exiled to Ryazan.

The link was given by P.N. Milyukov the opportunity to study archeology in depth, as well as to start writing his main historical work - Essays on the History of Russian Culture. In it, he showed the great role of the state in the formation of Russian society, arguing that Russia, despite its peculiarities, followed the European path of development, and also presented his arguments regarding the adaptability of the Russian "national type" to borrowed public institutions.

In the spring of 1897, having received an invitation from Sofia, P.N. Miliukov left for Bulgaria. Two years spent in Bulgaria and Macedonia, he was engaged in teaching activities. During this time, he managed to study the history and culture of the southern Slavs to such an extent that subsequently he was rightly considered the largest specialist in Russia on the Balkan issue.

Returning to Russia in 1900, P.N. Milyukov, at one of the public meetings, expressed opinions in opposition to the government, which is why he spent about six months in prison. Having been released in the summer of 1901, having earned a reputation as an oppositionist, he received an offer to edit the liberal publication Osvobozhdenie, which he refused. But when the magazine began to appear, he began to contribute to it. For "Liberation" he wrote the first program article - "From the Russian Constitutionalists" (1902). Cooperation in the journal continued until 1905.

In 1903 P.N. Milyukov traveled to the United States of America to lecture, and returned to his homeland in 1905 after hearing about the revolution in Russia. From April 1905 he was in Moscow. Gradually accustomed to the new political environment, he realized the need for social change. Implementation of changes P.N. Milyukov considered it possible only under the condition of a "peace agreement between liberals and revolutionaries", which he sought to implement in the "Union of Unions", where he served as chairman in May - August 1905. His political views attracted public attention and united a significant number of supporters around him: after all by 1905 he had gained a reputation as an "inveterate revolutionary". Like-minded people created the Party of People's Freedom (Constitutional-Democratic), in the drafting of the program of which he took an active part.

P.N. Milyukov went down in history as the permanent leader of the party, becoming in March 1907 the chairman of its Central Committee. He developed the Cadets' tactical line at all stages of the Party's existence, and was one of the best Party publicists and orators. In his views within the party, he always occupied centrist positions.

All the years of the functioning of the State Duma P.N. Milyukov remained the ideological inspirer and head of the Cadet faction, despite the fact that he did not enter the I and II Dumas because of the property qualification.

In 1906, the official printed organ of the Constitutional Democratic Party, the newspaper Rech, began to be published, one of the editors of which was P.N. Milyukov. On its pages, he published his numerous publicistic notes, and also wrote the editorials of almost all issues, in which he covered various issues of Russia's domestic and foreign policy.

On June 1907, the government dissolved the Second Duma, and a new electoral law was issued. As a result of the elections to the III Duma, P.N. Milyukov finally joined it. Despite the new working conditions, the tactics of the Cadet faction was to become more actively involved in state activities through participation in the work of the Duma.

In the III Duma, P.N. Milyukov became the chief expert on foreign policy issues, which he also dealt with in the Fourth Duma, and also spoke on various issues on behalf of the faction. It is interesting that in one of his speeches he used in relation to A.I. Guchkov, in his own words, "a rather strong expression", "although quite parliamentary", for which he was challenged by the leader of the Octobrists to a duel (which, however, never took place).

In the first period of the work of the Fourth Duma, which lasted from the day it was opened on November 15, 1912 until the outbreak of the First World War, the Cadets faction headed by P.N. Milyukov drew attention to issues of general political significance, as well as to "criticism of the behavior of the government in the internal life of Russia, carried out in the form of requests."

At the end of 1915, P.N. Milyukov experienced a deep personal tragedy: during the retreat from Brest, his second son Sergei, who had gone to war as a volunteer in 1914, was killed.

After the February Revolution, P.N. Milyukov took part in the formation of the Provisional Government, which he joined as Minister of Foreign Affairs. After the abdication of Nicholas II, he tried to achieve the preservation of the monarchy in Russia until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.

At the ministerial post, the decline of the political career of P.N. Milyukov: the war was unpopular among the people, and on April 18, 1917, he sent a note to the allies in which he outlined his foreign policy doctrine: war to a victorious end. This was the main drawback of P.N. Milyukov is a politician who cost him his career: being convinced of the correctness of his views and firmly convinced of the need to implement the program guidelines of his party, he imperturbably walked towards his goals, not paying attention to external influences, to the real situation in the country, to the mindset of the population. The manifestation of discontent and demonstrations in the capital after the note by P.N. Milyukov called for the resignation of the minister on May 2, 1917.

In the spring - autumn of 1917, P.N. Milyukov participated in the political life of Russia as chairman of the Central Committee of the Constitutional Democratic Party, a member of the permanent bureau of the State Conference and the Pre-Parliament. In August 1917, at the State Meeting in Moscow, according to V.A. Obolensky, P.N. Miliukov "unambiguously made it clear that in the phase into which the revolution had entered, the Provisional Government was doomed and that only a military dictatorship could save Russia from anarchy." Thus, he supported the proposals of General L.G. Kornilov. At the same time, he actively appealed to the Russian public about the need to fight Bolshevism.

Bolshevik coup P.N. Miliukov did not accept and began to use all his influence to fight the Soviet regime. He advocated armed struggle, for which he sought to create a united front. After October 1917, he left for Moscow to organize resistance to the Bolsheviks. In November 1917, he participated in a meeting of representatives of the Entente on the fight against Bolshevism. Having gone to Novocherkassk, he joined the volunteer military organization of General M.V. Alekseev. In January 1918, he was a member of the "Don Civil Council", created under the Volunteer Army of General L.G. Kornilov, for whom he wrote a declaration. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly from the city of Petrograd.

In May 1918, in Kyiv, on behalf of the conference of the Cadet Party P.N. Milyukov began negotiations with the German command about the need to finance the anti-Bolshevik movement. The convinced supporter of the Entente decided to take this step only because he saw in Germany the only real force at that time capable of resisting the Bolsheviks. Since the negotiations were not supported by the majority of the Cadets, he resigned from his duties as chairman of the Central Committee of the party (he later recognized the negotiations as erroneous).

In the winter - spring of 1918, he participated in the organization of the "National Center" operating underground in Moscow, and was a friend of its chairman. At the same time, P.N. Milyukov resumed his activity as a historian: in 1919, The History of the Second Russian Revolution was published in Kyiv, republished in 1921 in Sofia. In this work, the author offered a deep analysis of the causes and significance of the 1917 revolution.

In November 1918, P.N. Milyukov traveled to Western Europe in order to obtain support from the allies for the anti-Bolshevik forces. For some time he lived in England, where he edited the weekly "The New Russia", published in English by the Russian emigrant Liberation Committee. He spoke in print and journalism on behalf of the White movement. In 1920 he published in London the book Bolshevism: An International Danger. However, the defeat of the White armies at the front and the conservative policy of the White leaders, which failed to provide the White movement with broad popular support, changed his views on how to rid Russia of Bolshevism. After the evacuation of the troops of General P.N. Wrangel from the Crimea in November 1920, he admitted that "Russia cannot be liberated against the will of the people."

In the same years, P.N. Milyukov received from Soviet Russia the tragic news of the death of his daughter Natalya from dysentery.

In 1920 P.N. Milyukov moved to Paris, where he headed the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists in Paris and the council of professors at the Franco-Russian Institute. In exile P.N. Milyukov wrote and published a lot: his works “Russia at a Turning Point”, “Emigration at a Crossroads” were published, “Memoirs” were started, and remained unfinished.

In the period from April 27, 1921 to June 11, 1940, P.N. Milyukov edited the Latest News newspaper published in Paris. It devoted much space to news from Soviet Russia. Since 1921, P.N. Miliukov found signs of revival and democratization in Russia, which, in his opinion, went against the policy of the Soviet government. In 1935, A.S. died. Milyukov. In the same year, P.N. Milyukov married N.V. Lavrova.

In the conditions of World War II, P.N. Milyukov was unconditionally on the side of the USSR, considering Germany as an aggressor. He sincerely rejoiced at the Stalingrad victory, evaluating it as a turning point in favor of the USSR. March 31, 1943, at the age of 84, P.N. Milyukov died in Aix-les-Bains, not having lived to see the victory, but until the last minutes of his life, remaining a true patriot of his native country. He was buried in a temporary plot in the cemetery in Aix-les-Bains. Soon after the end of the war, the only surviving child of P.N. Milyukova, his eldest son Nikolai, moved his father's coffin to Paris, to the family crypt at the Batillon cemetery, where A.S. Milyukov.

2. "Memories"

Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov began writing his “Memoirs” at the beginning of World War II. In his book, the author talks about a long life. But since he happened to be a participant in the most important events for the history of Russia, such as a surge in the liberation movement at the turn of the century, the revolutions of 1905-1917, the formation of Russian parliamentarism, the fall of the autocracy and the creation of a provisional government, Milyukov’s memoirs acquire the significance of a document of the era, reflected in the mind of one of her heroes.

It is known that memoirs always represent a historical source of a specific kind: they inevitably bear the imprint of subjectivity in the author's perception of certain facts or phenomena and in their selection for his story. With Miliukov's "Memoirs" the situation is even more complicated, since when writing them he was deprived of the opportunity to use documents, literature, any materials that clarify and supplement the evidence of his exceptional memory.

For the first time, “Memoirs” were published in 1955 by the Chekhov Publishing House in New York under the editorship of Professors M.M. Karpovich and B.I. Elkin, belonging to the close circle of Pavel Nikolayevich. In the preface from the editors, it was indicated that, as is clear from the detailed table of contents compiled by the author, he set himself the goal of bringing the memories to the Bolshevik coup, but death prevented this plan from being carried out. In its finished form, the presentation is brought only to the chapter on the July uprising of 1917 and its consequences.

The editors also reported that when preparing the book for publication, they filled in the gaps left by the author in the manuscript due to the lack of reference materials, corrected errors in dates and names, and omitted some harsh judgments of a “purely personal nature”.

Milyukov also wrote about his political activities in his other memoirs, published during his lifetime. But there the reader will not find many essential details introduced into the memoirs, elements of political confession that are not present in them. and the rise of an outstanding Russian scientist and politician.

The attitude of his contemporaries towards Milyukov throughout his life remained complex and contradictory, assessments of his personality were often polar opposites. He always had many enemies, and at the same time not a few friends. Sometimes friends became enemies, but sometimes it was true and vice versa. In the memoir literature it is difficult to find impartial, not colored by personal attitude judgments about this extraordinary person.

The ability to maneuver flexibly between political extremes, the desire to find mutually acceptable solutions coexisted in Milyukov with extraordinary personal courage, which he repeatedly showed at decisive moments in his life. As Prince V.A., who knew Pavel Nikolaevich closely, testified. Obolensky, he completely lacked a fear reflex.

There were legends about Milyukov's efficiency. During the day he managed to do a huge number of things, all his life, every day he wrote serious analytical articles, worked on books. Compiled in 1930, the bibliographic list of his scientific works amounted to 38 typewritten sheets.

In "Memoirs" the author's life is described in detail until the summer of 1917, how the situation developed further, we can learn from other memoirs: Milyukov P.N. History of the second Russian revolution., issue 2. - Sofia 1921.

“The memoirs are divided by the author into 9 parts, and, as is typical for a historian, they have a clear periodization. In the first part, “From Childhood to Youth” (1859 - 1873), the author talks about the first years of his life, from the narrative we can learn not only about his life, but also about the life and way of life of the people of that time. The second part of the book tells about the last gymnasium years of Pavel Nikolaevich 1873 - 1877, about his first musical, literary and other hobbies, as in other parts of the book, the impressions conveyed by the author in detail about what he saw, felt and meaningful, amaze and surprise. In the third part, the author shares his impressions of his life during his university years. Here, for example, we can see detailed psychological portraits of such prominent historians of that time as Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky. “From Student to Teacher and Scientist” covers 1882-1894, as in other parts, the author writes not only about his work, but also about his personal life, his incredible energy was enough not only for work, but he also had strength to visit the theater , concerts, collecting a personal library, which throughout his life he started from scratch three or four times.

Since 1895, P.N. Milyukov traveled a lot. First, he talks about exile in Ryazan, then about a trip to Bulgaria and Macedonia, about the first period of life in St. Petersburg, about trips to America and England. All these wanderings are devoted to the fifth part of the book, covering the years 1895-1905 of the author's life.

The last parts of the book - from the sixth to the ninth, tell about the political life of Milyukov during the years of the Russian revolutions, from here we can learn about the course of the first and second revolutions in Russia, about the creation of the Cadets Party and its activities. This part of the Memoirs is of great interest to scholarly historians and lovers of Russian history of this period. As mentioned above, the author did not have time to bring his memories to the planned moment of his life, that is, October - November 1917, but what Milyukov told was very helpful to historians in studying this period of Russian history.

Conclusion

Like all memoir literature, this book is full of subjective opinions and views of the author, but at the same time, it fully conveys the views of educated people of that time, both Milyukov himself and his associates.

In his memoirs, the author talks about a large period of his life, for 58 years many events take place in his life, for example, it is interesting that the author’s views on the same phenomena change over the course of his life and they are described in detail in this book. This indicator helps to quite fully represent the interests, views, character of the author.

The fact that the author was deprived of access to various kinds of documentary sources somewhat reduces the value of this book from the point of view of historians, since, as we know, undocumented facts constantly cause disputes among historians. However, this does not diminish the value of the book for intellectual readers.

The book of Milyukov's Memoirs was published several times over the course of fifty years, it earned popularity outside of Russia, and after the collapse of the USSR, they were able to get acquainted with it in Russia. In Russia over the past 15 years, it has also been published several times.

Like any memoir literature, it is very difficult to read “in one fell swoop”, since a huge number of events and opinions of one person, which very often contradict each other, are difficult to perceive. But this book of memoirs is very clearly divided into periods, which indicates not only that the author was a strict and very organized person, but also allows you to read it selectively, for example, to get acquainted only with the political aspects of the life of P.N. Milyukov.

List of sources used

1. Works by P.N. Milyukov

Milyukov P.N. History of the second Russian revolution. Issue 1 - 3. Paris, 1921 - 1924.

Milyukov P.N. History of the second Russian revolution., issue 2. - Sofia 1921.

Milyukov P. Emigration at the Crossroads. Paris, 1926.

Milyukov P.N. Russia at the turning point: the Bolshevik period of the Russian revolution. Vol. 1 - 2. Paris, 1927.

Milyukov P.N. Essays on the history of Russian culture. Paris, 1937.

Milyukov P.N. "Memories. - New York.: Chekhov Publishing House., 1955.

Milyukov P.N. Memoirs (1859 - 1917). In 2 vol. M., 1990.

Milyukov Pavel Nikolaevich. "Memories" - M .: Vagrius., 2001.,

Milyukov P.N. Living Pushkin. M., 1997.

Bibliography of publications about P.N. Milyukov.

12. Alexandrov, Sergei Alexandrovich (1960-). The leader of the Russian cadets P.N. Milyukov in exile / Afterword. M.G. Vandalkovskaya; [Assoc. researchers grew up. islands of the 20th century]. - M. : AIRO-XX, 1996. - 151 p. : silt

13. Vakar N.P. N. Milyukov in exile // New Journal 1943 No. 6, p. 375.

14. Vandalkovskaya, Margarita Georgievna. P.N. Milyukov A.A. Kizevetter: history and politics / Ros. acad. Sciences. In-t grew up. stories. - M.: Nauka, 1992. - 285, p.

15. Vernadsky G.V. P.N. Milyukov and the place of development of the Russian people // New Journal., 1964. No. 74., p. 255.

Gessen I.V. Years of Exile: A Life Report. Paris, 1979.

Dumova N.G. The Kadet counter-revolution and its defeat - M., 1982.

18. Dumova, Natalya Georgievna. Churchill and Milyukov against Soviet Russia / USSR Academy of Sciences. - M.: Nauka, 1989. - 202,

19. Karpovich M.M. P.N. Milyukov as a historian // New magazine. 1943. No. 6. Sir. 366.

Kizevetter A.A. At the turn of two centuries - Prague., 1929.

21. Makushin, Alexander Vasilievich. P.N. Milyukov: the path in historical science and the transition to political activity (late 1870s - early 1900s): Abstract of the thesis. dis. for the competition scientist step. Ph.D. : Spec. 07.00.02 / [Voronezh. state university]. - Voronezh, 1998. - 24 p.

P.N. Milyukov: historian, politician, diplomat: Proceedings of the International. scientific conf., Moscow, May 26-27, 1999 / [Ed.: V.V. Shelokhaev (responsible editor) and others]. - M. : Rosspen, 2000. - 558, p.

23. Obolensky V.A. My life. My contemporaries. Paris, 1988.

24. Platonov, Sergei Fedorovich (1860-1933). Letters of Russian historians: (S.F. Platonov, P.N. Milyukov) / [Compiled by: Doctor of Historical Sciences. V.P. Korzun and others]; Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, Om. state un-t. - Omsk: Polygraphist, 2003. - 304, p.

Rutkevich, Natalia Alekseevna. Philosophy of the history of Russian liberalism: P.B. Struve and P.N. Milyukov: (Comparative analysis): Abstract of the thesis. dis. for the competition scientist step. PhD in Philosophy : Spec. 09.00.11 / Rutkevich N.A.; Ros. acad. Sciences, Institute of Philosophy. - M., 2002. - 26 p.

26. Savich N.V. Memories. SPb., 1993.

Sedykh A. Far, close - New York., 1970.

28. Tribunsky, Pavel Alexandrovich. P.N. Milyukov as a historian of Russian historical thought: Abstract of the thesis. dis. To the competition scientist step. Ph.D. : Spec. 07.00.09 / [Ros. state humanit. university]. - M., 2001. - 22, p.

29. Tyrkova-Williams A.V. On the way to freedom. London, 1990.

Shulgin V.V. 1917 - 1919//Persons: Biographical almanac. M.; SPb., 1994. Part 5. P.121 - 328.

Tutoring

Need help learning a topic?

Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Submit an application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

In these October days, in the house No. 10, well known to me, on the Admiralteyskaya Embankment, the ministers-congress-democrats gathered every day, at six o'clock. (Konovalov Minister of Trade and Industry, Kishkin Minister of State Charity, Kartashev Minister of Religions of the Provisional Government, adjoining Tretyakov), together with the members of the Central Committee delegated to these meetings - Milyukov leader of the cadet party, Shingarev Member of the IV State Duma, doctor, Minister of Finance (since May 1917), Vinaver, Adzhemov and me. The purpose of these conferences was, firstly, to keep the ministers in constant contact with the Central Committee, and, on the other hand, to have constant and correct information about everything that was happening in the government. In these meetings of ours, Konovalov always had an extremely depressed look and it seemed that he had lost all hope. “Ah, dear V.D., it’s bad, very bad!” - I remember this phrase of his very well, he repeatedly said it to me (he treated me with special trust and goodwill). In particular, he was oppressed by Kerensky, the prime minister.

By that time he had finally become disillusioned with Kerensky and had lost all confidence in him. He was mainly driven to despair by the inconstancy of Kerensky, the complete impossibility of relying on his words, his accessibility to any influence and pressure from outside, sometimes the most accidental. “It happens all the time, almost every day,” he said. - You will agree on everything, you will insist on this or that measure, you will finally achieve agreement. “So, so, Alexander Fedorovich, now it’s firmly, it’s finally decided, there won’t be a change?” You receive a categorical assurance. You leave his office - and in a few hours you find out about a completely different decision that has already been implemented, or, at best, that an urgent measure that should have been taken right now, right today, is again postponed, new doubts have arisen or resurrected. old ones - it would seem that they have already been eliminated. And so from day to day. A real fairy tale about a white bull. He and all of us were especially worried about the military situation in St. Petersburg and the role of Colonel Polkovnikov Commander-in-Chief of the Petrograd Military District whom he did not feel an iota of confidence in. Apparently, Kerensky was in a period of low spirits these days, it was absolutely impossible to move him to any energetic measures, but time passed, the Bolsheviks worked to their fullest, less and less embarrassed. The situation became more and more formidable every day. Rumors about the forthcoming performance of the Bolsheviks in the coming days went around the city, exciting and alarming everyone. In these days, a - completely academic - arrest order was issued

Milyukov Pavel Nikolaevich (1859, Moscow - 1943 , Exle-Bains, France) - was born in the family of an architect and teacher. While studying at the 1st Moscow Gymnasium, he showed outstanding linguistic abilities and became fluent in five languages. In 1877 he entered the historical and philological faculty of the Moscow University. In 1881 he was arrested for participating in the student movement and expelled, but the next year he completed his studies and was left at the university at the department of Russian history under the leadership of V.O. Klyuchevsky, while teaching at the gymnasium and at the Higher Women's Courses. In 1892 he received a master's degree for his dissertation "The State Economy of Russia in the First Quarter of the 18th Century and the Reform of Peter the Great", which was awarded the S.M. Solovyov. In subsequent years, his Essays on the History of Russian Culture, The Main Currents of Russian Historical Thought, The Decomposition of Slavophilism, and others were published. historical process by the development of production or "spiritual principle". He sought to view a single history as a series of interrelated but different histories: political, military, cultural, etc., making his contribution to Russian historiography. In 1895, Milyukov was dismissed from the university for "bad influence on the youth" and exiled administratively to Ryazan, and two years later - to Bulgaria, where he was given the department of history at Sofia University. In 1903 - 1905 he traveled in England, in the Balkans, in the USA, lectured, met with Russian emigrants. In 1905, having learned about the revolution, he came to Russia, having "a reputation as a novice politician" and one of the few "observers of the political life and foreign policy of a democratic state. And at home, events took place that required the use of these observations, and demanded it from me, ”wrote Milyukov (“Memoirs”, M., 1991, p. 176). At home, Milyukov found serious disagreements among social forces, in relation to which he took the position of "preserving personal independence." Soon Milyukov became widely known as the chairman of the united professional organizations - the Union of Unions. He was one of the organizers and leaders of the Constitutional Democratic (Cadet) Party, chairman of its Central Committee, and editor of the Rech newspaper. Milyukov believed that "united and indivisible Russia", having received a constitution after the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, would be able to provide citizens with political rights and a reformist, liberal path of development, an 8-hour working day, freedom of trade unions, and the solution of the agrarian issue by distributing the monastic, state land and the redemption of part of the landed estates. A powerful, rule-of-law state with a parliamentary monarchy - that's what the party planned if it entered the broad political arena. After February, Milyukov defined the starting points of the Cadets' policy in this way: the party "was neither a party of 'capitalists', nor a party of 'landlords', as the hostile propaganda tried to characterize it. It was a "supraclass" party, not excluding even those supraclass elements that existed in socialism. It denied only the exclusively class character of the socialist doctrine and what was anti-state and utopian in socialism of that time. In this respect, too, her views were unwittingly shared by all that moderate section of socialism which, together with her, made the "bourgeois" revolution. This internal contradiction continued to exist throughout the existence of the Provisional Government. Only the Bolsheviks were free and internally consistent from it” (“Memoirs”, p. 471). After the dissolution of the First State Duma, Milyukov was among the signatories of the Vyborg Appeal, which called on the population to civil disobedience. Being elected to the III and IV State Duma, Milyukov became the official leader of the party. In 1915, Milyukov, seeing the government's inability to successfully conduct military operations, initiated the creation of the Progressive Bloc, which demanded the inclusion of its representatives in the government to ensure victory and liberal reforms. In 1916, he delivered the famous speech "Stupidity or Treason?" in the Duma, which was directed against the monarch's entourage and provoked the fury of the Black Hundreds. Feb. 1917, Milyukov entered the Provisional Government as Minister of Foreign Affairs; was a supporter of the preservation of the monarchy after the abdication of Nicholas II. Milyukov advocated the continuation of the war "to a victorious end." In April 1917, after a government crisis, he was forced to resign. He actively opposed the Bolsheviks, supported the rebellion of L.G. Kornilov. After the October Revolution, he left for the Don, where he became a member of the Don Civil Council. Unsuccessful actions against the Soviet government forced Milyukov in 1918 to seek assistance in Kyiv from the German army. The disagreement of the Cadet Central Committee with the position of Milyukov led the latter to resign from his duties as chairman. Milyukov in the fall of 1918 recognized his pro-German position as erroneous and welcomed the intervention of the Entente states. In 1920 he settled in France. Understanding the irreversibility of the events that had taken place in Russia, Milyukov believed that the peasantry would become the force that would blow up the Bolshevik regime from within. Defending the idea of ​​sovereignty, Milyukov was ready to support any regime that contributed to the realization of this idea. During the Soviet-Finnish war, he took the side of the USSR, saying: "I feel sorry for the Finns, but I am for the Vyborg province." On the eve of World War II, Miliukov argued that "in the event of war, emigration must be unconditionally on the side of their homeland." Hating fascism, Milyukov was tormented by the fate of France and worried about Russia. In 1943 he wrote that behind the destructive side of the Russian revolution one cannot but see its creative achievements in strengthening the statehood, economy, army, government, and even found that a sense of independence and dignity had awakened among the people. Milyukov is the author of "Memoirs", works on the history of the Russian revolution.

As reported, under the heading "Historical Calendar", we are starting to implement a new project dedicated to the approaching 100th anniversary of the 1917 revolution. , dedicated to the perpetrators of the collapse of the autocratic monarchy in Russia - professional revolutionaries, opposing aristocrats, liberal politicians; generals, officers and soldiers who have forgotten their duty, as well as other active figures of the so-called. "liberation movement", voluntarily or involuntarily contributed to the triumph of the revolution - first the February, and then the October. The rubric opens with a brief essay dedicated to the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party PN Milyukov.

Pavel Nikolaevich Milyukov was born on January 15, 1859 into a Russian noble family. After graduating from the 1st Moscow Gymnasium, Milyukov entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, where he became a student of such prominent Russian historians as V.O. Klyuchevsky and P.G. Vinogradov. Already in his student years, he took part in anti-government gatherings, for which he was expelled from the university, which, however, did not prevent him from recovering a year later and completing his education. In 1892, he successfully defended his dissertation "The State Economy of Russia in the First Quarter of the 18th Century and the Reforms of Peter the Great", for which he received a master's degree in Russian history. The main historical works of the future politician were Essays on the History of Russian Culture and the work Main Currents of Russian Historical Thought. In 1886-1895, Milyukov worked as a Privatdozent at Moscow University, at the same time teaching at the gymnasium and at the Higher Women's Courses. However, showing great promise as a historian (Milyukov's field of interest was very wide: history, historiography, historical geography, archeology, linguistics, philosophy), he soon plunged headlong into politics, turning over time into one of the most famous leaders of Russian liberalism .

Dismissed from the university in 1895 for "extreme political unreliability", expressed in public condemnation of the autocracy, Milyukov was sent into exile in Ryazan for two years. Since in Russia any teaching activity was forbidden to him, Milyukov, at the invitation of the Bulgarian side, taught in Sofia for a year, but at the request of the Russian envoy in 1898, the Bulgarian authorities were forced to remove him from teaching, due to the fact that Milyukov could "to have a harmful influence on the education of the Bulgarian youth".

Returning to Russia, Milyukov continued his political opposition activities, for which he had to serve several months in prison in 1901. By this time, he was one of the authors of the radical-liberal journal Osvobozhdenie published abroad and earned a reputation as one of the brightest ideologists of Russian liberalism. On the eve of the 1905 revolution, Milyukov repeatedly visited the United States, where he gave lectures on the political situation in Russia, took part in the Paris Conference of Russian opposition and revolutionary parties. The news of the revolution that had begun in Russia forced Milyukov to return to his homeland and actively join the "liberation movement".

In October 1905, Milyukov became one of the founders and authors of the program of the Constitutional Democratic Party (later given a second name - the Party of People's Freedom), and from March 1907 he permanently headed the Central Committee of the Cadet Party; was one of the editors of the party newspaper "Rech" and the author of most of its leading articles. Prominent cadet activist A.V. Tyrkova recalled: “There were many outstanding people in the party. Miliukov rose above them, became a leader primarily because he strongly wanted to be a leader. He had a concentrated ambition, rare for a Russian public figure..

Since the Kadet Party positioned itself as a supporter of the constitutional monarchy for most of its history, Soviet historians often classified its leaders as monarchists, which, in our opinion, is absolutely wrong. Initially, the party program did not give a clear answer to the question of the future state system of Russia. Miliukov frankly admitted that when this section of the program was approved, the question of the state system was deliberately "obscured" so as not to alienate either the liberal-minded constitutional monarchists or the republicans from the party. Only at the 2nd Party Congress, in order to achieve legalization, did the leaders of the Cadets declare that "Russia must be a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy." But this did not mean at all that the Cadets considered constitutional monarchy to be the goal of their aspirations. The monarchy, limited by the constitution and parliament, was for them a kind of “minimum program”, and the “monarchism” of the Cadets, as a rule, did not go further than the recognition that it makes sense to preserve the monarchical form (albeit purely external) since monarchism is deeply rooted in popular masses "prejudice". When the revolution of 1905 had already been suppressed and, as a result of Stolypin's policy, the country had embarked on the path of peaceful and constructive work, Miliukov would emphasize precisely that his party was "the opposition of His Majesty, and not His Majesty," but the purpose of this statement, as he himself later admits was as follows: "respond to all accusations that we are latent republicans and revolutionaries". Under the changed political conditions, the Cadets simply decided to move from "assaulting power" to "correctly besieging" it.

Another mistake that publicists, political scientists and even historians often make when assessing the Cadets is the assertion that the Constitutional Democratic Party was a party of classical liberalism of the European type. However, it is not. Despite their adherence to European political values ​​(suffice it to recall Milyukov's nickname - "Russian European" and his conviction that Russia is developing in line with universal European laws, but with some delay), the Cadets were a left-liberal democratic party, they did not shy away (when they were advantageous) of left-wing rhetoric and in their demands went much further than the programmatic postulates of European liberal parties. Suffice it to recall that during the revolution of 1905 the Cadets refused to condemn the left terror: Miliukov, after some hesitation, rejected P.A. Stolypin to write an article condemning the murders and violence emanating from the revolutionary camp in exchange for the legalization of the party, since the Kadet leadership decided that "better sacrifice by the party, weeks of its moral death". In this regard, Milyukov's confession, made by him at the height of the first Russian revolution, is very revealing: “We are for the revolution, insofar as it serves the goals of political liberation and social reform; but we are against those who declare the revolution continuous". Thus, the cadets and their leader have never been principled opponents political revolution(but not social!), becoming its critics only for tactical reasons. The evolution of power was preferable for Milyukov, but if it was uncompromising, revolution as a means became possible and justified.

After the dissolution of the First State Duma (1906), Milyukov became one of the authors of the deputy's "Vyborg Appeal", which contained a call for civil disobedience. But since Miliukov was not yet a member of the Duma, he did not sign this document, which allowed him to avoid punishment and continue his political activities. He managed to become a deputy only in 1907, and for 10 years (1907‒1917) Milyukov headed the Cadets faction in the III and IV State Dumas, being one of the most famous opposition speakers. For the liberal public, he became a generally recognized leader, for the Russian right-wing monarchists, an enemy of historical Russia. The leader of the Russian People's Union named after Michael the Archangel, V.M. Purishkevich, dedicated the following epigram to the leader of the Cadet Party:

He is the high priest in Russia,

Half Jew, half scoundrel

Half historian, half critic

Wrong leader, bad politician,

Ready in breaking to see the target.

The Crosses miss him for a long time,

And see tea for yourself

His birch and spruce!

During the First World War, Milyukov came out as a supporter of "war to a victorious end" (for which he received the nickname "Milyukov-Dardanelles" from his critics on the left) and for a temporary truce with the authorities on a patriotic basis. However, since the spring of 1915, during the heavy defeats of the Russian army and its retreat, Milyukov again joined the fight against the government, soon becoming the informal leader of the united parliamentary opposition - the Progressive Bloc. “I was called the 'author of the bloc', the 'leader of the bloc', and they expected me to direct the policy of the bloc. ... It was the climax of my political career"- recalled Milyukov. At the same time, the cadet leader, as noted by the director of the Police Department A.T. Vasiliev, worked closely with the British diplomatic mission: “Milyukov, who was especially patronized by the English ambassador Buchanan, often spent evenings at the English embassy. If the British Foreign Office ever allows the publication of documents from its archives, this will shed light on Miliukov's "patriotism" in a new and not particularly favorable way..

Milyukov's Duma speech, delivered on November 1, 1916, became, in the opinion of many of his contemporaries, "the storm signal for the revolution." On this day, according to the general opinion, Milyukov "surpassed himself" in terms of oratory, and his speech turned into a real siege of power. The speech of the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party contained attacks on the government, on Prime Minister B.V. Stürmer, with direct accusations of treason and preparation of a separate peace with Germany. “We have lost faith that this power can lead us to victory”, - declared Milyukov, emphasizing that “our government has neither the knowledge nor the talents necessary for the present moment” that she “sank below the level at which it stood in the normal time of our Russian life” and "The gulf between us and her widened and became impassable". Then, relying on the materials of German and Austrian newspapers, Milyukov began to report information discrediting the Russian government, agreeing that representatives of the court party were traitors, "which is grouped around the young Queen"(i.e. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna).

“Referring his conversations with foreign figures, throwing allusions to some “Germanophile salons” that “migrated from Florence to Montreux”, naming officials who come to Switzerland, allegedly from Stürmer, P.N. Milyukov skillfully created the impression that he knew much more than what he was saying., - noted the historian of the last reign S.S. Oldenburg, according to whom, “Miliukov's speech was listened to with great interest and excitement; it seemed to the listeners that the veil over the secrets of the behind-the-scenes government policy was opening before them.. At the end of his speech, Miliukov hurled several words from the pulpit: "what is it, stupidity or treason?" and to the cries from the hall "Treason!" summarized: “Choose any. The consequences are the same.".

Milyukov's speech, recalled member of the State Council P.P. Mendeleev, made an impression on the whole country. “In my opinion, she gave the last impetus to the revolutionary movement. I myself returned from the Duma that day completely dejected. The tragic proverb, constantly repeated in Miliukov's speech, sounded in my ears: "What is this - stupidity or treason?" After all, this was asked by a famous professor, leader of the Cadet Party and the Progressive Bloc! This means that he had really indisputable data that gave him the right to throw accusations, or at least suspicions, of treason from the rostrum of the State Duma, and, moreover, against whom? Against the Russian Queen! That accusation made my head spin. It became scary for the motherland ".

“There are words that oblige to action, - Korzhenevsky, who was close to the Cadets, noted in turn. - After all, it was necessary to understand the words in their true meaning. After all, from the rostrum of the Parliament, the Empress was declared a traitor to the people, a traitor to Russia, and the Duma?.

Meanwhile, Miliukov's speech was frankly demagogic, and the accusations he threw were absolutely unsubstantiated. Socialist V.L. Burtsev, with full sympathy for Milyukov's speech, gave it the following assessment: "Historical speech, but it is all built on lies". “... Later we found out that it(Speech by Milyukov - A.I.) was based solely on the slanderous articles of enemy German newspapers! What criminal frivolity", - recalled P.P. Mendeleev. Milyukov himself, later giving explanations, admitted that he did not have any evidence in favor of the accusations that he voiced, and in fact he said no less, as it seemed to the listener then, but much more than he actually knew.

But at that time, few people then wanted to establish the truth - it was enough that Milyukov’s speech corresponded to the mood of a revolutionized society, they wanted to believe it and unconditionally believed it, rewrote and reprinted, “supplemented” and “strengthened”. It got to the point, recalled the gendarmerie general A.I. Spiridovich that even “monarchist Purishkevich, with the help of his sanitary train, carried whole bales of this speech along the front”. Eventually “The simplistic rumor among the people and in the army read: a member of the Duma, Milyukov, proved that the tsarina and Sturmer were betraying Russia to Emperor Wilhelm ...”.

Milyukov himself, bathed in the rays of glory, was sure that "November 1 is an era." True, he later assured that he did not at all count on the effect that his speech had, and “rather inclined towards the first alternative,” but “the audience supported the second with their approvals.” However, the witness of this speech A.F. Kerensky, expressed confidence that the question posed by Milyukov was purely rhetorical, and that the answer of the army and the people could be only one - treason ...

On February 27, 1917, when Petrograd was engulfed in revolutionary unrest, Milyukov was elected a member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. On March 2, it was Milyukov who announced the composition of the new revolutionary government - the Provisional Government, responding with pathos to a remark from the crowd: "Who chose you?" - "We were chosen by the Russian revolution!" With regard to the emperor and the further fate of the dynasty, Milyukov expressed the following opinion: “The old despot, who brought Russia to complete ruin, will voluntarily renounce the throne or be deposed. Power will pass to the regent, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. Alexey will be the heir ... ". When it became known that Emperor Nicholas II had transferred power not to his son, but to his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, Milyukov spoke out in favor of preserving the monarchical principle at least outwardly, since the tsar is a symbol of power familiar to the population, but his point of view did not meet with support - the society rapidly radicalized, and the Cadet Party, rejecting its previously declared commitment to the constitutional-monarchist system, proclaimed itself a supporter of a democratic republic.

Having become Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Government, Milyukov managed to hold this post only from March to May 1917. Milyukov's demand that Russia fulfill its obligations to the allies in the Entente and, consequently, to continue the war to a victorious end, aroused the indignation of a significant part of society, which no longer saw any sense in the "war for the interests of the allies". “Down with Milyukov!”, “Resign Milyukov!”, “Down with the war!” - this is how soldiers, sailors, workers and many residents of the capital reacted to the call of the Foreign Ministry to continue hostilities. Yesterday's "national hero" has turned into an odious, hated figure...

Continuing his political activity as a party leader, Milyukov frantically searched for a way out of the situation in which the country found itself as a result of the revolution. The hopes of the liberals to turn Russia into a European democratic country were crumbling before our eyes, and the country was rapidly drifting to the left. Having killed faith in tsarist power, the Russian liberals destroyed the people's faith in power as such, and the society themselves became unnecessary after only 2.5 months in government.

Milyukov supported the speech of General L.G. Kornilov, was a staunch opponent of the Bolsheviks, supported the White movement during the Civil War; negotiated with the Germans, with the help of which he hoped to defeat the Bolsheviks and return to power (although, we recall, in 1916 he himself accused the tsarist government of "high treason" for allegedly negotiating with the Germans), but he was waiting for all the initiatives collapse, he failed to achieve any political success.

Once in exile, Milyukov was forced to admit that the liberals overestimated their possibilities in Russia, that their ideas were not in demand by the masses. Having abandoned the armed struggle against Bolshevism and hopes for intervention, Milyukov developed a “new tactic”, the purpose of which was an alliance of liberals and socialists based on the recognition of the republican and federal order in Russia, the destruction of landownership, and the development of local self-government. From 1921 to 1940, Milyukov edited the Latest News newspaper published in Paris and wrote memoirs. Unlike many of his former party members, Milyukov, remaining a principled opponent of Soviet power, expressed support for Stalin's foreign policy, in particular, taking the side of the USSR during the Winter War with Finland. At a time when most of the Russian emigration interpreted this war as Soviet aggression and took the side of the Finns, Milyukov declared: “I feel sorry for the Finns, but I am for the Vyborg province”. Even before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the former cadet leader expressed the position that in the event of aggression against the USSR, the duty of Russian emigrants to support the Motherland, and during the war, he became a decisive opponent of Germany and shortly before his death sincerely rejoiced at the victory of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad. The poet Don Aminado (A.P. Shpolyansky) recalled how the dying Milyukov, sitting in an armchair, examining a map of Europe, studded with flags that determined the line of the Russian front, told him: “Look, ours are advancing from two sides, and advancing almost non-stop ...”. The eyes of the politician, according to an eyewitness, "shone with some special unusual brilliance," when he repeated with obvious satisfaction: "our front ... our army ... our troops ...", which in the mouth of the old irreconcilable opponent of the Bolsheviks acquired a special meaning ... P.N. Milyukov in France, in Aix-les-Bains, on March 31, 1943, and was buried in the local cemetery. In 1954, his ashes were transferred to Paris, to the Batignolles cemetery.

A talented historian, erudite and a bright politician - P.N. Milyukov happened to play only the role of a destroyer in the history of Russian politics. Like many Russian Western liberals who dreamed of turning Russia into some kind of England, France or the United States, Milyukov did a lot to ensure that the tsarist autocracy he hated collapsed, but he could not translate his liberal-democratic ideals into reality (and could not), showing a complete inability to practical state activities. His ideas turned out to be purely armchair and divorced from Russian needs and realities, of which he himself soon had to be partly convinced: having seized upon the power he expected in February 1917, Milyukov, under pressure from public opinion, was forced to leave it in May of that year .. His short-lived political triumph turned not into glory, but into the disgrace of Russia; the result of his policy was not the "triumph of social progress", but the collapse of the age-old forms of Russian statehood and the country's immersion in turmoil.

Milyukov Pavel Nikolaevich (1859-1943), Russian politician, leader of the Kadet party, historian. Born on January 15 (27), 1859 in Moscow, in the family of an inspector and teacher at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He studied at the 1st Moscow Gymnasium, where he showed great abilities in the field of the humanities, especially in the study of languages; in 1877 he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University. He studied with professors F.F. Fortunatov, V.F. Miller, M.M. Troitsky, V.I. Guerrier, P.G. Vinogradov, V.O. Klyuchevsky. Communication with the latter determined the choice of profession and scientific interests related to the study of the history of the Fatherland.

From his first year at the university, Miliukov joined the student movement, joined its moderate wing, which stood up for university autonomy. In 1881, as an active participant in the movement, he was arrested, then expelled from the university (with the right to be reinstated a year later). The time he missed for classes was spent in Italy, where he studied the art of the Renaissance.

After graduating from the university, he was left at the department of Russian history, headed by V.O. Klyuchevsky, to "prepare for a professorship." In preparation for the master's (candidate's) exam, he taught special courses on historiography, historical geography, and the history of the colonization of Russia. The course on historiography was later framed in the book The Main Currents of Russian Historical Thought (1896). At the same time he taught at the 4th women's gymnasium, at the Agricultural College, at the higher courses for women.

In 1892, Milyukov defended his master's thesis on the book The State Economy of Russia in the First Quarter of the 18th Century and the Reform of Peter the Great, published in the same year. In the preface, the author wrote: historical science "places the study of the material side of the historical process, the study of the history of economic and financial, the history of social, the history of institutions." The dissertation was highly appreciated by the scientific community: the author received the S.M.Soloviev Prize for it. However, the proposal to immediately award a doctoral degree did not pass, V.O. Klyuchevsky protested, and this cooled the relationship between the student and the teacher for many years.

Gradually, Milyukov began to pay more and more attention to educational activities. He was elected chairman of the Commission for the organization of home reading, collaborated in the Moscow Literacy Committee, and repeatedly traveled to the provinces to give lectures. In 1894, for a series of lectures given in Nizhny Novgorod, which contained "hints at the general aspirations of freedom and condemnation of the autocracy", Milyukov was arrested, expelled from Moscow University and exiled to Ryazan.

The years spent in exile were filled with scientific work. In Ryazan, Milyukov began his most significant study - Essays on the History of Russian Culture (at first they were published in a journal, in 1896-1903 they came out as a separate edition in three issues). The first issue outlines "general concepts" about history, its tasks and methods of scientific knowledge, defines the author's theoretical approaches to the analysis of historical material; here - essays on the population, the economic, state and social system. The second and third issues examine the culture of Russia - the role of the church, faith, school, and various ideological currents.

In exile, Milyukov received an invitation from the Sofia Higher School in Bulgaria to head the department of world history. The authorities allowed the trip. The scientist stayed in Bulgaria for two years, lectured, studied Bulgarian and Turkish (in total Milyukov knew 18 foreign languages). The deliberate ignorance of the solemn reception at the Russian embassy in Sofia on the occasion of the name day of Nicholas II caused irritation in St. Petersburg. The Bulgarian government was required to fire Miliukov. The "unemployed" scientist moved to Turkey, where he took part in the expedition of the Constantinople Archaeological Institute, in excavations in Macedonia.

Upon his return to St. Petersburg for participating in a meeting dedicated to the memory of P.L. Lavrov, the scientist was again arrested and spent half a year in prison. He lived in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, as he was forbidden to live in the capital. During this period, Milyukov became close to the liberal zemstvo milieu. He became one of the founders of the journal "Liberation" and the political organization of Russian liberals "Union of Liberation". In 1902-1904 he repeatedly traveled to England, then to the USA, where he lectured at the University of Chicago and Harvard, at the Lowell Institute in Boston. The course read was framed in the book Russia and Its Crisis (1905).

The scientist met the first Russian revolution abroad. In April 1905 he returned to Russia and immediately joined the political struggle. In mid-October, Milyukov headed the constitutional-democratic (Kadet) party created by Russian liberals. The party program proclaimed the need to turn Russia into a constitutional monarchy, popular representation with legislative rights, the abolition of class privileges, and the establishment of democratic freedoms. The national part of the program, defending the idea of ​​the unity of the Russian empire, at the same time included the right to free cultural self-determination, the introduction of an autonomous device with the Sejm was recognized for the Kingdom of Poland, for Finland - the restoration of the former constitution.

Although Milyukov was not elected to the State Duma of the first two convocations, he was the de facto leader of a large faction of Cadets. After being elected to the Duma of the third and fourth convocations, he became the official leader of the faction. In the Duma, he showed himself, on the one hand, as an advocate of political compromises with the authorities, and on the other, as a supporter of the bourgeois-democratic development of Russia. Milyukov's Duma speech "Stupidity or treason?" directed against Grigory Rasputin and other "dark forces" at the throne became widely known.

After the February Revolution, Milyukov joined the Provisional Committee of the members of the State Duma, and then on March 2, 1917, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he joined the Provisional Government headed by Prince G.E. Lvov. The foreign policy course of the leader of the Cadets was aimed at uniting with the allies in the Entente and the war with Germany, regardless of any victims (the youngest son of the minister himself volunteered for the front and died), to the bitter end. The growing anti-war sentiment in the country forced the Miliukovs to resign during the days of the April crisis. He continued his political activities as chairman of the Central Committee of the Cadet Party. Participated in the Meeting of the five largest parties (the Cadets, the Radical Democratic Party, the Trudoviks, the Social Democrats, the Socialist-Revolutionaries), the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the executive committees of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' and the Council of Peasants' Deputies, where he stated that "The Soviets must leave the political arena if they cannot do state affairs.” He supported, along with other leaders of the Cadet Party, the rebellion of General L.G. Kornilov.

Milyukov took the October Revolution with hostility. All his efforts were aimed at creating a united front in the fight against Soviet Russia. In the name of defeating the Bolsheviks, the leader of the Cadets in the spring of 1918 did not disdain even to enter into an alliance with yesterday's opponents - the Germans. He became an active participant in all major anti-Bolshevik enterprises: the creation of the Volunteer Army (the program declaration of the army belonged to him), foreign military intervention, etc. An important part of Milyukov's political activity was the writing of the History of the Second Russian Revolution (1918-1921).

In the autumn of 1918, Milyukov left Russia, leaving first for Romania, then for France and England. From 1921 he lived in Paris. His main business was the development of a "new tactic" in the fight against the Bolsheviks. Uniting the "left" sector of emigration as opposed to the supporters of the armed struggle against the Soviet regime, Milyukov recognized the individual gains of this government (the republic, the federation of certain parts of the state, the elimination of landlordism), counted on its rebirth within the framework of the new economic policy and the subsequent collapse.

In France, Milyukov became the editor of the Latest News newspaper, which united around itself the best literary and journalistic forces of the Russian diaspora. He was the founder and chairman of the Society of Russian Writers and Journalists, the Club of Russian Writers and Scientists, the Committee for Assistance to the Starving in Russia (1921), one of the organizers of the Russian People's University. He lectured at the Sorbonne, at the College of Social Sciences, at the Franco-Russian Institute. At the same time, Milyukov returned to scientific work: he published a two-volume work Russia at a Turn (1927) about the events of the Civil War, prepared for publication an updated and revised edition of Essays on the History of Russian Culture (published in 1930-1937), etc.

After the attack of fascist Germany on the USSR, Milyukov closely followed the retreat of the Soviet army. In his last article Pravda o Bolshevism (1942-1943), probably written after receiving the news of the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad, he openly declared solidarity with the Russian people fighting the invaders.

Milyukov died in Montpellier (France) on March 31, 1943. After the end of the war, his ashes were reburied at the Batignolles cemetery in Paris.